Outside Lands Festival Part I

After much negotiating with myself, I decided to go to the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco. The compromise that I made with myself was that I would only go to one day. I am so glad for the times that I can bring myself to agreement!

This year's Sunday line-up did not disappoint, on the contrary, it rocked so much, I felt it on the Richter Scale!

Here is some of the video I shot from that day of Aterciopelados and Al Green. I will post part II later today with more Aterciopelados and Social Distortion.



One main highlight from the festival is that I got to meet the amazing Andrea Echeverria, lead singer of Aterciopelados! She stayed for a while after their set greeting people, giving hugs (including to me!), signing autographs, kissing babies (literally), and just being her ephemeral and chill self. She also signed my favorite Deporten a la Migra shirt, which I can now never wear again, but its a sacrifice I am more than happy to make. This gives me a chance to support Liberation Ink, who print the Deporten a la Migra shirt!



I was so excited to see Al Green on the line-up. Come on, its Al Green! That man's music is probably responsible for so many children being conceived over the last 40 or so years.



His songs are sexy, timeless, and have so much energy. Also, the man can still move!

lolita lebrón ¡presente!

lolita lebrón
19 noviembre 1919 - 1 agosto 2010

in 1954, 34-year-old lolita lebrón & her comrades walked into the visitors' gallery at the u.s. capitol building, shouted que viva puerto rico libre, and opened fire on the house of representatives, wounding five congressmen. upon her release from prison 25 years later, she returned home to her island and proudly declared herself unrepentant, that it is the right of all people to fight for their freedom. in 2001 she was arrested for "trespassing" at the age of 81, in an action to oppose the bombing of vieques, and was sentenced to two months.

lolita lebrón is adored throughout the americas for her many beautiful acts of rebellion & defense of her homeland. she will be missed!

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here is a bit of audio from freedom archives where she speaks about the decision to take up arms in the fight against u.s. imperialism...



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and here's some archival newsreel from the time of the attack on the congress, including an interview with her & rafael cancel miranda shortly afterwards where they are asked if they are sorry for what they've done ;)






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and finally carlos puebla's lovely dedication written for her during her detention...

guajira por lolita lebrón




¡que viva puerto rico libre! ¡que viva lolita lebrón!

we will not comply

tomorrow is the day that sb1070, otherwise known as legalized racism & xenophobia in arizona, is scheduled to take effect. a judge has issued a partial injunction but it's not enough. and people know it's not enough. families have already started to flee. but immigrants are also fighting back, preparing to defend themselves, educating each other about their rights, and organizing neighborhood defense committees. after so many years of debate on watered-down reformist bullshit concessions, this wicked law and impending fascism has forced a different conversation. not we are not terrorists or we are not criminals. bleh! not please can we have access to the tiny crumbs of american dream you are making us beg for. more like fuck anti-immigrant racism and fuck the sheriffs & politicians & pigs and WE WILL NOT COMPLY. finally.

our beloved camarada marisa is there now, organizing on the ground in her hometown of phoenix.



she wrote this...

The fact is that in the last 5 years, over 6,000 immigration related bills have been proposed in the State Legislature - that's more than one a day per session. Rather than finding solutions to problems of unemployment, foreclosures, and in the educational system, it seems as though the state capital has become a legislative laboratory to make the lives of migrants miserable. It has become the status quo to blame immigrants for virtually every problem the state faces. In southern Arizona, the Border Patrol's presence has become the norm, as has the death toll of people found in the desert.

...

Somehow, this law and what it represents has become a marker for the future of this place. A line has been drawn in the sand. Its for what kind of Arizona this will be now and in the future. And I don't know about you, but I don't think I want to place it all in the hands of a judge. We don't want half injunctions of an immoral law, we need full justice for our community.

we hear you, compañera. we'll be in the streets here tomorrow, in sf & oakland & san jose, like they will be in phoenix & tucson, and in cities all over!

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as i'm contemplating the inherent repressive nature of the imperialist state, the violence that always underlies private property and capitalist accumulation, i'm also appreciating a lot the myriad expressions of popular resistance & solidarity that fight their way to the surface at moments like this...





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sheriff arizona : amandititita




arizona apartheid : marcel cartier (of rebel diaz)



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que viva el boycott!! que vivan los inmigrantes y que vivan los trabajadores!!!

and que se vayan a la chingada all those racist pieces of shit in az! you want a race war? bring it. we will win. brown is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Sound Strike / Artists boycott AZ

So you could have expected Rage Against the Machine to join the artists' boycott of Arizona. And you could have even predicted Sweet Honey in the Rock, Calle 13, Cafe Tacvba, Los Tigres del Norte, and maybe even Juanes. But Joe Satriani! Yes!!! Way to keep the resistance movement rocking!

If you're in L.A. this weekend, don't miss this show (fundraiser for AZ groups working to defeat SB1070)...

the crisis of capitalism

... as told by david harvey. and illustrated!! my heart is warmed :)



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and on more or less the same topic, in nuevo jipjop-flamenco style...

ojos de brujo : el confort no reconforta

Para Ghana...Black Stars Anthem!

Like I mentioned in my previous post, my little heart is broken that Ghana did not advance to the semi-finals. They just played so well and really deserved to win. The fact that Uruguay did a hand ball on what would have been their winning goal made their loss even harder to digest.

Ghana's team can be proud that they not only represented their country and their continent well, but that they also have inspired another generation of young Ghana soccer players.

Here is the theme for the Black Stars, the name of Ghana's national team, Jay Ghartey. Ghana si va a ganar el Mundial un dia!

Marx a la Katy Perry

In the midst of Ghana's heartbreaking loss to Uruguay in the World Cup and the oil spill disaster of the Gulf of Mexico that is barely being talked about here, there are the small moments of comedy and cleverness. Today I share with you one of those moments of cleverness in the form of a parody of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl"..." I Read Marx and I Liked it".

If my Marx Study Group had a soundtrack, this would have been one of the songs on the soundtrack. Here are the words:


I thought I just wanted to pass;
Good grades were all I cared for.
My college made me take the class
More stuff for me to ignore!
But then I found out that
His theories weren't so bad:
Labor and class combat,
What a very clever man!

CHORUS
I read some Marx, and I liked it;
The friend of the proletariat.
I read some Marx, just to try it;
Hope Adam Smith don't mind it!
It felt so wrong,
It felt so right;
Men of the working class, unite!
I read some Marx, and I liked it;
I liked it!


There is a spectre hanging o'er
The face of Europe!
'Tis communism, and it's more
Than just a social hiccup.
A time will come soon when
The masses rise as one
To carve out their place in
The brand new poetry to come!

CHORUS

Marx is the man, he's working for you;
The bourgeoisie, they just ain't your crew.
Alienation of labor is bad,
Commodification is not a good fad.
The capitalists are greedy you see;
A shorter workday, now that's what we need!
I'm reading some Marx, and I'm liking it;
Rise up now, proletariat!

CHORUS

and now without further delay... the video!