Carlos in DC: November 2008

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Racist attack against Bolivians at the OAS: follow up and pledge to take action!

After 10 days of the unfortunate racist attack against a group of Bolivian Indigenous dancers at the OAS building in Washington, DC, I want to express the following:

The racist remarks

The videos

The protesters

Facebook page

Jach'a Uru

I am not part of Jach'a Uru

film screening

"a intelligent politician who is not afraid..."

website that I helped design

Pukara

I have spoken over the phone

I didn’t record the videos

my Youtube channel

ARdelasH

Bolivianews

CarlosQC

I reposted the videos

The director of the Bolivian dance group

Julia Garcia

J’acha Uru

The Embassy of Bolivia

Although I am not from Bolivia

Ms. Garcia has received solidarity messages

This racist attack should be denounced

media in the US and Bolivia

Take action

Please contact and write to your local media, to your TV stations and to your US Congress members, requesting for their support to democracy in Bolivia, and for respect of the majority of Bolivians who support the Evo Morales administration.

Contact president-elect Barack Obama so that his government will work to strength ties with Bolivia, in a way that in the future both the US and Bolivia can engage in a positive relationship that benefits both Americans and Bolivians.

Media you can write to:

When you send letters, include your name and address and send it to only ONE paper. Otherwise they won't consider it.

Media in Spanish in Washington, DC area that haven’t wrote about the racist attacks at all, not even a simple mention:

El Tiempo Latino

Washington Hispanic

Los Tiempos USA

Call U.S. Congress

Call the U.S. Capitol at (202) 224-3121 and ask the operator to be connected to your Congress Member, by giving them your Zip code or the State you live in.

When you reach your Congress Member's office, ask to speak to the person who handles foreign policy issues and tell them -suggested-

"I am calling to urge you to support the Bolivian government and to press the Obama administration to strength the ties with the Evo Morales administration. I believe Morales is working to improve the lives of Bolivians and the US needs to support his democratic efforts, instead of promoting racist groups..."

VIDEO

I interviewed (in Spanish) the Bolivian ambassador to the OAS, Jorge Reynaldo Cuadros speaks about the visit of president Evo Morales to DC and the racist attacks at the OAS

Friday, November 28, 2008

Jay Winter Nightwolf talks about the Native American Heritage Day

Jay Winter Nightwolf is a Native American elder (Tsalagi or Cherokee) and he is the host and producer of the radio show is called "Nightwolf" -The American Indians Truth, the Most Dangerous Show On Radio- in Washington, DC.

This video was recorded on November 21, 2008. Here Jay talks about the Native American Heritage Month, and about the first official federal holiday for Native American people, this November 28.

Also Nightwolf mentions the disastrous legacy after eight years of the Bush administration, including the current financial crisis and the harsh reality of American Indian reservations. Finally Jay announces the meaning of the real Thanksgiving experience and the history behind that holiday celelebration.

Yesterday, I received an email from Jay that I'd like to share:

"Nightwolf"

Pacifica Radio
http://www.wpfw.org/

Fridays
7:00 to 8:00 PM
WPFW 89.3 FM

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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Today is Native American Heritage day !

Thanksgiving day? Not really, today is the day of the Native American heritage, our brothers and sisters of the turtle island.

Since there isn't that much to thank those who invaded the land of our ancestors, or to some of their descendants - who are still oppressing our peoples.

But today we remember and celebrate that we are here, we survived and we honor those who predated us in this land, who set the path for us to follow.

Here is one of my videos - one sunny day I felt like expressing myself and this is what I said:

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Video: Colombian president Alvaro Uribe speech at the NPC in Washington, DC

This video was recorded during the recent visit of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe to Washington, DC. Uribe spoke in a luncheon at National Press Club, on Friday September 19, 2008.

While Uribe was speaking to an audience of mostly supporters, and exposing his reasons for the US Congress to approve the controversial Colombia Free Trade agreement, a protest was held outside in the streets of DC - by union organizers, students, human rights activists and Colombians who oppose to the FTA.

(30.17 min.)

And this something to consider reading: an article about the last visit of Uribe to DC:

What Alvaro Uribe Won't Talk About at the United Nations This Week

(But Probably Discussed with President Bush Over the Weekend)

By Mario A. Murillo (Bogotá, Colombia)

Was Uribe Snubbed in Washington?

At a certain level, I must admit, I almost felt sorry for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe last week. His high-profile visit to Washington was unexpectedly shortened because it became readily apparent that members of the U.S. Congress were not really interested in hearing his last ditch effort to get them to approve the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, FTA.

The President had hoped to spend a few days lobbying both Democrats and Republicans about the need to give the bilateral trade deal a green light before they broke up for a long winter's nap in a few weeks. But Congressional leaders, who have been so caught up in the ongoing battles of a tight election campaign, expressed that they had very little time - and probably less of a stomach - to sit down with this close friend of outgoing President Bush to discuss trade issues that, for the most part, are not very popular in the current U.S. economic context of banks going belly-up, housing and stock prices plummeting, and the Federal Government bailing out one of the country's largest private insurers. Clearly they were not interested. This was not the time. Come back next year.

But with the propaganda skills that he has honed to perfection, Uribe was quick to save face about the abrupt "change in plans." He too had been tied up with a regional forum in Santiago to discuss the crisis in Bolivia, so it wasn't only the gringos who were too busy to meet with him. And besides, just before leaving Bogotá for the U.S., one of the two men who will most likely replace Bush come January actually called Uribe by telephone and talked with him for a grand total of 12 minutes! Despite the cool relations between Senator Barack Obama and the Colombian President, tensions that stem from the Democratic Candidate's stated opposition to the FTA, Uribe reveled in the attention he received from the soon-to-be-President of the United States of America. The brief telephone call made front-page headlines in Colombia, allowing Uribe to bask in the glare of self-importance, while once again exposing to the world the profound levels of subservience that continue to dictate relations between the two countries, regardless of who occupies the White House.

That was last week.

Since then, Uribe has met behind closed doors with the lame-duck and highly discredited George W. Bush, a mutual love fest that marked the end of a long and close relationship between two leaders cut out of the same political cloth. At a joint news conference at the White House Rose Garden on Saturday, Bush called on his successor to stand beside Uribe in the interest of the United States, and pushed the Congress to approve the FTA in order to avoid giving more ammunition to "populists in our neighborhood," referring of course to the democratically-elected Presidents in Bolivia and Venezuela. Again, front page news in Colombia, nary a mention in the U.S.

In the wake of that triumphant photo-op, Uribe is now planning a series of very important meetings in New York, the financial capital of the world which last week suffered through a psychological trauma not felt since 9/11, or worse yet, the Great Depression. Again, Uribe's timing could not be more off. Nevertheless, he's hoping to make the most of it, at least in the Colombian press, which continues to provide Uribe with a thick coating of Teflon, regardless of what he does or where he goes, nor the disturbing conditions on the ground in Colombia.

The list of dignitaries he is meeting with this week is quite impressive: French President Nicholas Sarkozy, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the head of the European Union's Foreign Ministry Javier Solana, and former hostage and "opposition candidate" Ingrid Betancourt. Uribe will address the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.

Which makes one wonder what exactly Uribe will be telling all these very important people while in New York? One would guess these leaders will get an earful from Uribe about the controversial "Operation Jaque" that led to the release of Betancourt, as well as the other so-called successes of his "democratic security" strategy. Certainly he will make the arguments about the urgent need to sustain this approach in the coming years in the interest of regional stability. Did anybody say "re-election?"

Some Disturbing Questions Should Be Raised, But Will They?

There is no doubt, however, that there are a number of issues that will not come up in these many high profile encounters. Or at least there are some things that President Uribe would prefer not be brought up during his visit, lest they interfere with the carefully crafted message he brings with him.

For example, there's the growing evidence pointing to his administration's cozy relationship with top paramilitary leaders, including the now widespread acknowledgement that members of his government met several times with representatives of these international criminals in the Presidential Palace. Apparently, these "underground" encounters - literally in the Palace basement- were designed to plan a collective response to the so-called "para-política" scandal, which over the last two years has led to the arrest of and investigation into dozens of members of the Colombian Congress, and the government, who just so happen to be allies of the President.

There's also the uncomfortable issue of the widespread corruption within the prosecutor's office in Uribe's native town Medellín, where the chief prosecutor, Guillermo León Valencia Cossio, was forced to resign after recordings of his conversations with Juan Felipe Sierra, the business representative of paramilitary boss Daniel Rendón, alias "Don Mario," were made public in August. Since then, a number of top police and security officials in Colombia's second largest city have been implicated in the corruption link, forcing them to resign as investigations into their ties with paramilitaries widen. While Uribe has publicly characterized these revelations as "lamentable," it has been difficult not to notice that Valencia Cossio's brother, Fabio, Uribe's Minister of Interior and Justice, has lost all credibility within the Congress and other opposition circles, especially in the area of the reform of Colombia's justice system.

Indeed, the unfolding revelations of links between government officials and paramilitary leaders is lending more credence than ever before to the accusations that opposition figures have been making for some time: that for the last six years, the Uribe government has been overseeing the consolidation of a paramilitary-state with close ties to some of the country's most powerful private economic interests, all under the watch of a compliant Washington. As I have written in previous posts, this process has come at the expense of some of the most dynamic movements of community organization and mobilization that we've seen in recent years in Colombia, particularly in indigenous communities. Therefore, while Uribe proudly touts the accomplishments of his policies before the United Nations, and with all the world leaders he will be meeting with in the coming days, I feel it is important to keep in mind some of these alarming issues and trends that will most likely be kept off his agenda.

Former Cauca Governor and Uribe's Ambassador to D.R. A Paramilitary?

One of the clearest examples of the expansive paramilitary-government axis can be seen in the southwestern department of Cauca, where another recently revealed component of the para-state scandal involves the former governor of Cauca, Juan José Chaux. In late August, President Uribe was forced to acknowledge to the press that lawyers of para-military leaders Diego Álvarez, alias "Don Berna," and Antonio López, alias "Job," attended a meeting at the Presidential Palace with high level government officials back in April. What was not mentioned in this press conference was that Chaux was also present at this meeting.

According to a report in Semana magazine, the meeting in the Palace was a great opportunity for Chaux to try to clear his name. This was because "Job" was seen as a direct link to "don Berna," who in turn could persuade another major paramilitary leader, Ever Veloza, alias "H.H.," from providing any more information to investigators about Chaux' ties to the AUC. It turns out that Veloza had revealed to investigators in November 2007 that Chaux had met with the leadership of the notorious Calima Block of the AUC a few years back to seek support for his gubernatorial campaign, support the imprisoned paramilitary leader says was instrumental in Chaux' eventual victory in Cauca. The startling revelations of his direct ties to the paramilitaries forced Chaux to resign last week from his post as Uribe's Ambassador to the Dominican Republic. This is the same Chaux who, as governor of Cauca, proclaimed "Not one more millimeter of land for the Indians," all the while enriching himself with the illegal wealth generated by paramilitary terror.

The endemic contradictions in these developments become even more pronounced if one considers the harsh conditions of warfare that the indigenous communities in Cauca are facing today, despite the grandiose claims of the government about the successes of the U.S.-backed democratic security strategy. Last week, as Uribe made his rounds painting a rosy picture about Colombia for his audiences in Washington, an all-out war was being waged in the indigenous towns of Toribio and Jambaló in northern Cauca, resulting in the death of at least one local in Jambaló. Another target of the fighting over the last few days was La Emperatriz estate in the municipality of Caloto, where indigenous activists have been mobilizing for years, demanding a return of lands to the communities victimized by the 1991 massacre of 20 Nasa activists, perpetrated by government forces with local paramilitaries.

The latest confrontations between the national police, the army, and guerillas of the FARC in these areas lasted several days, between September 18th and 21st, and were characterized by sniper fire, low-flying helicopters, and the launching of rudimentary explosives by FARC rebels into Toribio.

These and other confrontations are often described by the government as a necessary byproduct of the military's efforts to counter the pervasive presence of guerillas in indigenous territories. As FARC rebels continue to operate in indigenous territories, the government argues, the state security apparatus will continue to respond in kind. Televised reports over the weekend made it appear as if the indigenous communities themselves were attacking state security forces in the area.

Eyewitnesses in turn, have described a completely different scenario, one that deliberately tries to link the autonomous indigenous movement with the guerillas of FARC in order to justify a military response. The Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca, ACIN, put out a series of emergency communiqués last week, describing a pattern of strange activity in the region by what seemed to be agents of the state. This included the presence of unmarked cars with tinted windows that continuously passed by the offices of ACIN and their community-licensed radio station in Santander de Quilichao throughout those three days. Some of those same cars were also seen driving back and forth from Caloto to the town of El Palo, where some of the fiercest confrontations took place. According to ACIN, it should be seen as no coincidence that the confrontations escalated just as these suspicious vehicles made their presence felt.

For the mostly indigenous inhabitants of these areas in Northern Cauca, the constant fighting has "converted the territory of the great people - el Gran Pueblo - into a theater of operations in permanent dispute through the use of terror and death." Local indigenous leaders are denouncing the presence of all armed actors in their territories, and see the almost daily incursions as a deliberate attempt to destabilize their movement and their demands for autonomy, and respect for their territorial rights.

As I've written in previous posts, the fight in Cauca remains focused on the issue of land and territory. Among the many challenges facing indigenous communities in the current context is developing a national strategy to confront the egregious counter-reform process that has been unfolding vis a vis territorial control under the government of Alvaro Uribe, whose own minister of agriculture proudly proclaimed "no more land reform" in 2003. At the time, he was referring to the dissolution of the Colombian Institute of Land Reform, INCORA, which was replaced by a toothless multi-faceted agency with 20% of INCORA's original budget, now known as The Colombian Institute for Rural Development, or INCODER. The INCODER, for all intents and purposes, has been tasked to oversee the dismantling of collective land titles in the interest of opening up vast chunks of the Colombian national territory for private domestic development and foreign investment. Therefore, the uneven concentration of land will remain for the near future, given the limited budget and the generally weak mandate of INCODER under the Uribe government. This is not a coincidence.

Land Reform and Paramilitaries

There is a powerful sector of Colombia's political and economic class that continue to make the erroneous argument that land reform is no longer necessary in an era of smaller government, open markets, and corporate globalization. Among them is the former Ambassador Chaux, whose public declarations against the indigenous movement when he was governor of Cauca were eerily reminiscent of the dirty war communiqués put out by AUC death squads throughout the Colombian countryside.

These are the same people who take offense to the indigenous community's demands about the reintegration of land into their territories and the expansion of the resguardos, issues that were addressed in favor of the indigenous communities in the new Constitution of 1991. This powerful alliance of paramilitaries and the economic/political elite of Cauca has been fiercely opposed to returning any lands to indigenous communities, even those that previous governments had already agreed to surrender based on settlements like the one over the Nilo massacre in 1991. For these private interests and their puppets in government, represented faithfully by the Uribe Administration, the current, perversely imbalanced distribution of land in the country is not a problem: 61.2% of the land is concentrated in the hands of 0.4% of the overall population, which is less than 15,000 private landowners. Compare that with 57.3% of the country's population controlling less than 1.7% of all the land, mostly smaller holdings of less than 3 hectares. It is evident that the bigger problem for the current government is not this uneven concentration of land, but the collective land titles of Afro-Colombian communities, and the resguardos of the indigenous population.

In Cauca, the struggle for land reform has been among the most visible in the country, and has resulted in some of the most dramatic acts of mobilization in recent years, as well as confrontations between indigenous communities and state forces. But any efforts to truly address the community's demands have been set back by the intransigence of the Minister of Agriculture and other government officials, all of whom have been pressured by traditional landowners in the department to resist at all costs any attempt to hand over land to the indigenous population.

The Minister of Agriculture, Andrés Felipe Arias, is one of the most outspoken advocates of the proportional argument with regards to the population of the indigenous community and the amount of land that they collectively control. In advocating for the Law for Rural Development in 2006, he openly talked about the need to reduce the size of the indigenous resguardos in order to more adequately serve the proportion of the population living within those territories, saying that the current system was not economically sustainable in the long term, and was getting in the way of large-scale agribusiness that is ultimately in the best economic interest of the entire country.

In making this argument, he fails to acknowledge that 95% of the land that make up the resguardos is not suitable for agriculture, because they are located in dense forests, high altitude mountain peaks, and in areas in close proximity to important sources of water. This leads the indigenous communities to suspect that the government's intentions are more directed at opening up some of these sensitive areas to the development of so-called megaproyectos, or mega-projects, funded in large part by foreign investment. These mega-projects - dams, roadways, large-scale extractive mining developments - run counter to the indigenous philosophy of ecological balance and defense of the environment. The FTA that Uribe is openly promoting in Washington would facilitate this process of territorial consolidation.

To make matters worse, the government's position regarding land reform conveniently ignores the long history of the deliberate, violent expulsion of indigenous, peasant and Afro-Colombian people from their territories in the interest of large landholders. The resguardo system was set up precisely as a result of the pressures from the indigenous communities who survived the genocide of the Spanish colonialists, and was not originally meant to be a long-term resolution to the unequal distribution of land throughout Colombia. This was at the heart of the earliest struggles of the indigenous movement.

The government's current intransigence, therefore, deliberately fails to recognize the primordial importance of the concept of "territory" for the cultural, social and political affirmation of indigenous autonomy. In essence, they are completely reversing the 1991 Constitution, and declaring as irrelevant the reasons why indigenous communities participated in the Constituent Assembly in the first place.

The current government is utilizing mechanisms of the past in order to diminish the possibility of true land reform, and to allow those sectors which have either violently taken control of, or fraudulently co-opted properties, to maintain permanent control of those territories. It is a 21st century manifestation of the dismantling of the resguardos, a process that stems back to the post-independence period in Colombian history.

It cannot be overemphasized the impact the paramilitary project of the last 20 years has had, both on land reform for agricultural development, and on mining and the extraction of natural resources. This process has fundamentally altered the control of land throughout the country, with profoundly destructive consequences for the communities that have been targeted. Many human rights advocates, political economists, and historians have argued that the paramilitary strategy was deliberately executed as a way to displace indigenous, Afro-Colombian and other peasant populations from their territories in order to surrender those territories to private interests completely alien to the communities.

The brutal violence and the forced displacement that followed was justified by the AUC leadership and their political mouthpieces as a necessary evil that was required in order to dislodge the guerillas from their base. It is a deliberately misleading argument that for various reasons has been generally embraced by the Colombian middle and upper classes, who, for years, have been spoon-fed large doses of guerilla atrocities on the nightly news, while hearing much less about the political strategy behind the paramilitary terror that was being waged simultaneously, with the complicity of the state.

Today, there is widespread acceptance that the paramilitaries were deeply entrenched in the illicit, global drug trade, and as a result, its leaders have been widely condemned in the media. However, because of the manner in which the demobilization process with the AUC was executed by the Uribe administration, very little information about the so-called legitimate political and economic interests behind the AUC has been widely disseminated through mainstream channels. The truth has been tragically compromised as a result.

Only now, through the heroic efforts of human rights and social justice activists, victims of paramilitary terror, and their allies within independent sectors of the Colombian news media, is it becoming clearer how profound these connections are between so-called "illegitimate actors," and the apparently "legal" political, and economic forces that dominate Colombian politics, all the way up to the highest reaches of power.

The paramilitary state is being exposed, slowly but surely. The emperor indeed, has no clothes. Whether or not the people visiting with Uribe this week in New York will understand this - from the fancy U.N. cocktails, to the private V.I.P. meetings, from the open forums in the Colombian community, to the local news media - is a completely different issue.

Mario A. Murillo is author of Colombia and the United States: War, Unrest and Destabilization. He is currently living in Colombia.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Democracy Now! interview with Bolivian president Evo Morales Ayma

An Hour with Bolivian President Evo Morales: "Neoliberalism Is No Solution for Humankind"

Posted by Democracy Now!:

Bolivian President Evo Morales joins us in the firehouse studio to discuss the election of Barack Obama, US-Bolivian relations, the global economic crisis and more. Morales is visiting the United States at a time when relations between the two countries are deteriorating. Last month, the Bush administration suspended long-term trade benefits with Bolivia over its alleged failure to cooperate in the “war on drugs.” Meanwhile, Morales has given the Drug Enforcement Administration three months to leave Bolivia. He accused DEA agents of violating Bolivian sovereignty and encouraging the drug trade.
Aired on Tuesday, November 18, 2008.

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Democracy Now! is an independent media program that works with donations from its viewers. You can make donations online starting at $5.

Click here to support Democracy Now!

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Capital All-Stars Big Band Jazz Ensemble this week in Washington DC

In case you like jazz music as much as I do. Here is a couple of events not to be missed: the Capital All-Stars Big Band Jazz Ensemble is performing this week in DC:

Capital All-Stars Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Monday, November 24th, 2008
6:00 PM

Price: $Free

Kennedy Center
Millennium Stage
2700 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20566

Directions and parking

View Larger Map

Friday, November 28th, 2008
7:00 PM

Price: $10.00

Westminster Presbyterian Church
400 I Street, SW
Washington, DC 20024
Metro: Waterfront-SEU (Green line)

View Larger Map

Capital All-Stars Big Band Jazz Ensemble

From the Kennedy Center website:

Bobby Felder: Trombone, Bass Trumpet, Tuba, retired music professor at the University of the District of Columbia; Recordings: Jazz at the Showboat, Vol. 1 with Charlie Byrd, Bobby Felder and Friends, Jazz at Peoples Church, Amazing Grace, House Party, and Christmas Jazz at Peoples Church

Davey Yarborough: Alto, Tenor, and Soprano Sax, Flute, Chairman of the music department at the Duke Ellington School. Recording: Collaboration, First Take, It’s Time for Love. Performed with The Bill Cosby Show, Billy Ekstine, Lena Horne, Wynston Marsalis, Patti Labelle, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Chillites, and The Dells

Jacque Johnson: Alto, Tenor, and Soprano Sax, Flute, Director of the Blues Alley Youth Jazz Ensemble. Recordings: Saxman, Blues Plus, More than Smooth, At Last with Margie Clark, Golden Chocolate with Lady Mary, Jumping with Papa John DeFrancisco

Bob Montgomery: Alto and Tenor sax, Retired music teacher from Prince George’s county school system, Saxophonist with the U.S. Navy fleet band system.

Lorenz Wheatley: Baritone Sax, Flute, Clarinet, performed with Gladys Knight, the Four Tops, and The Dells. Recorded with St. Augustine and St. Martins gospel choirs.

Alvin Trask: Trumpet, Flugle Horn, Music teacher at [Montgomery College] in Rockville, MD Campus. Included in 7 recordings and] performed with Marlena Shaw, [Kelley Royal Ambassador Big Band, Howard University Jazz Ensemble], and presently with the Pan American Symphony Orchestra, [Soul Service, Sun Machine (Organic Soul and Funk) and his own Jazz Quartet.]

Keith Mathis: Trumpet, Flugle Horn, Instrumental music instructor and Jazz History teach at PGCC; performed with Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, The Four Tops, Millie Jackson and The Manhattans

Michael Thomas: Trumpet, Flugle Horn, Recordings: The Messenger featuring The Michael Thomas Quintet. Performed with Betty Carter, Jimmy Heath, Shirley Horn, Buck Hill, Joe Williams, and Larry Willis.

Douglas Gilcrest: Trombone, band director at East High School; performed with Billy Taylor, John Thaddeus, Howard University Jazz Ensemble and UDC Jazz Ensemble.

Ronnie Carthan: Trombone, retired trombonist with the U.S. Air Force Band, Musical Director at the Ebenizer AME Church in Ft. Washington, MD

Wes Biles: Acoustic and Electric Bass, performed with Tina Turner, Curtis Mayfield, The Natural Four, Buck Hill and The Jones Girls

Vincent Smith: Acoustic and Electric Piano, former assistant band director at Bethune Cookman College; performed with Dakota Staton, Ronie Wells and Ernie Andrews

David Cole: Guitar, music teacher at Whittier Elementary School, performed with Jacque Johnson Band, Bobby Felder Band. Recordings: Jazz at Peoples Church, Amazing Grace, Christmas Jazz, and The Sound of Christmas.

Ronald Compton: Drums and Percussion Instrument, teacher at John F. Cook Elementary School; performed with Bill Cosby (The Bill Cosby Show), Richard “Groove” Holmes, Roy Ayers, Al Grey, Millie Jackson, James Moody, and Jimmy Witherspoon.

Dick Smith: Vocalist and MC, Musical Director for Westminster Church, Washington, D.C. Recorded: Initial Thrust with Warner Brothers Records.

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Saturday, November 22, 2008

Another outrageous video of racist attacks in Washington DC against Indigenous Bolivians

As you might know by now, this week's protest outside the OAS building against Bolivian president Evo Morales turned into a racist attack against Indigenous Bolivian dancers.

The protesters were people with clear racist tendencies. Most of Bolivian opposition -with its stronghold in the western city of Santa Cruz- has promoted violence and racist attacks in the Andean nation, but now they are bringing that hate to DC. Among the protesters were friends and allies of former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who is requested by the Bolivian justice for genocide.

Here is another video showing this group of Bolivians shouting (in Spanish) : "Assassins, get out, fake Indigenous, sold outs, take that custom off, bastards, piece of shit, go away, Evo faggot son of a bitch, he is a faggot"

Do you know what is the saddest part of this video? that some of the protesters are actually Indigenous peoples themselves, and they use racial slurs to insult their own people! Another example why we should never use terms like Latino or Hispanic - people end up thinking they are white... great - nothing better than self-loathing Indians honoring Native American heritage month.

Shame on you people, whoever you are.

Video interview with Maurice Carney and Kambale Musavuli about the Congo conflict: worst humanitarian crisis in world today

A 30 minutes conversation with Maurice Carney, Executive Director of Friends of the Congo (FOTC) and Kambale Musavuli, Spokesperson & Student Coordinator of FOTC.

Friends of the Congo is a non profit organization based in Washington, DC, working to raise awareness about the crisis and conflict in Congo, which has caused over 6 million people dead in the last decades, in order "to work together to bring about peaceful and lasting change in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire."

"The source of the conflict in the Congo is the scramble to control Congo’s vast natural wealth of gold, diamonds, coltan, copper, cobalt, uranium, tin and many other precious and strategic minerals. Nobel Laureate Wangari Mathaai says “these wars when you look at them, they are all about resources and who is going to control them.”
A testimony

Learn about Congo and the origins of its military conflict and humanitarian crisis, and the role that coltan mineral has on it. Coltan is used to make cell phones, microwaves, video games and even digital cameras. In this video Maurice and Kambale talk about what can Americans do to help the Congo, and the historical and economical background of this conflict, including the influence of multinational corporations trying to extract the rich resources of Congo.

To understand this crisis, listen to the personal testimony of Kambale and his family, as he also talks about the steps that can be taken immediately to help the Congolese. He mentions what he hopes from the new Obama administration and what can be the U.S. government's role in the crisis.

The final part of this testimony is about the Pan African movement, the need for Africans to work together, including Afro descendants in the Americas. Also they mention the support their work have received from people in Brazil, in the U.S. and other countries; the need for people of color to take action about taking control of their resources, the responsibility of Belgium and other foreign interest groups in this crisis, Congo's government corruption and democracy, the legacy of Patrice Lumumba and the hope for a better future for the Congolese people.

Friends of the Congo also has a blog, with updates on the current crisis occurring in the central African nation. If you live in the US, please contact your political official in the US Congress and the Obama administration and raise your concern about this terrible crisis. We must do it now.

Please spread the word and help the people of Congo today.

www.friendsofthecongo.org

Friday, November 21, 2008

Bush gets no love

This happened last weekend during the G-20 Summit. Today, Bush is on his way to Lima for the 16th. APEC Summit.

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The worst president in US history.

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

Reactions in the media to President Evo Morales visit to Washington DC

Some news posts in the US, Bolivia, Cuba and Spain:

Bolivian president Evo Morales speaking at American University in Washington, DC. Photo by Chris Gregory/GWU Hatchet

Indian Country Today interviewed president Evo Morales

An interview with President Evo Morales

By Rob Capriccioso

Story Published: Nov 20, 2008

WASHINGTON – Indian Country Today sat down for an exclusive interview with Bolivian President Evo Morales Nov. 19. Time constraints and language barriers aside, Morales’ strong vision for how indigenous people can prosper shined brightly.

Indian Country Today: As an indigenous leader of your country, what unique leadership contributions do you bring to Bolivia?

Evo Morales: I feel that the indigenous movement around the world is the reservoir of moral authority for the following reasons: First, because we have lived in communities, in collectives — not only in harmony with other human beings, but in harmony with the mother Earth. The indigenous culture does not guide people to live better, but to live well. We are not part of an individualism, or sectarianism or ambition. What we try to do is seek equality amongst human beings.

The Western culture guides people to live differently. Discrimination, slavery, all of this comes from the West. Those kinds of things appeared in Bolivia because they came from capitalism, in which there were economic models that concentrated wealth in few hands. In order to concentrate this wealth of capital in very few hands, you have to destroy the environment. There is exploitation of man by man. People are not interested in their homelands, or in their life, they’re just interested in capitalism and making money.

In indigenous culture, equality is so sacred. It’s a profound difference between our model life in indigenous communities and the model of life put forward by a capitalist society.
“The indigenous culture does not guide people to live better, but to live well.”

In my case, I have said a few times, thanks to honesty, I was able to become president. Since 1988, I have been a union leader. … from ‘88-2008, it’s been 20 years. I went from being a union leader to being a president, and I still get all these offers of money — from deputy ministers, and even priests in the Catholic Church. Before the recall referendum [in August], a minister said, ‘Here, I’ll give you 100,000.’ I said, ‘Go away. …’

The indigenous culture is very important in terms of keeping people honest. That’s what I was telling people during the election, that our ancestors gave us a law: Don’t lie, don’t steal, and don’t be lazy. This worldview that we inherited from our ancestors has now been enshrined in our new constitution.

ICT: How did your meeting at the museum with tribal leaders go? Did you find any similarities between their philosophies and your own?

Morales: Well, we didn’t have that much opportunity to exchange those kinds of viewpoints. But I do congratulate the indigenous brothers and sisters of North America for their fine museum, which preserves and presents our cultural wealth and heritage. In my quick passing, I saw that [the museum] has cultural artifacts here not only from North America, but also from South America.

When we come together within a spiritual framework, and under legitimacy — and, above all, when we have solidarity with each other — this is the basis for agreement among the indigenous movements of the world. These points of view are the values of the indigenous people, and they should be the values of humanity. Ethics is so important in a human life. We do have some profound differences in ethics of morality in humanity. The Western way of thinking wants to concentrate wealth in a few hands and amongst a few clans and families.

ICT: Do you think that North American indigenous leaders should be doing a better job at reaching out to Central and South American indigenous leaders?

Morales: In 1991 and 1992, I saw great integration of indigenous movements not only in North and South America, but of the whole world. During the anniversary of 500 years of [colonization], we decided to move from resistance to taking over power. In Bolivia, we are fulfilling a promise that we made to ourselves back in ’91-92. … During some periods of time, we have not been able to coordinate our struggles, but deep down, we do have continuous contact. …

The decade of the indigenous peoples, proclaimed by the United Nations, was really nothing more than a slogan. It was like the birthday of the indigenous peoples of the world, 10 years long. So, when you have a birthday party, you have to eat well. You have cake. You have a party. But nothing happened during that decade. We didn’t have a cake, or a party or anything. And we were actually living under the neo-liberal politics that were taking more and more of our land away. The civil, political and cultural rights of indigenous peoples were never respected. And the decade ended without accomplishing anything. …

ICT: Are you at all surprised that the United States hasn’t signed on to the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?

Morales: Not only the United States. The first country to not only sanction, but also to enact it into law was Bolivia. But in the United States, all of the rules and treaties and agreements on human rights never get signed.

Thank you very much.

The Real News includes a comment on the speech of Bolivian president Evo Morales at American University. Thanks to Abiding in Bolivia for posting the video:

Democracy Now! reports: An Hour with Bolivian President Evo Morales: “Neoliberalism Is No Solution for Humankind":

Watch DN! video here

In the blogs:

Abiding in Bolivia posts: "Racist pickets OAS"

The LatinAmericanist posted: "Morales rounds out two-day Washington tour"

Ten Percent goes: "Washington Sides With Fascists Against Evo Morales" and sums several blogs, including Carlos in DC:

Down South says: "Evo Visits and the Nutters Come Out" and reports on Elena Abolnik, the "activist" mentioned by The Washington Post:

National Geographic's All Roads blog says: "Evo Morales Addresses Packed House at American University"

More media:

American University's The Eagle and Politico report: Morales urges better U.S. relations / Bolivian president visits AU

George Washington University's Hatchet reports: " Bolivian president looks to form bond with Obama"

Reuters:
Bolivian [Evo Morales] says US bugged his phone
Thursday, 20 November 2008

Media in Spanish

Bolivia's La Razon says "Evo waits for Obama to improve relations with the US - Rally: the Morales administration says that allies of Sanchez de Lozada protested against Morales"

Bolivia's Los Tiempos reports: "Evo asks the OAS for support to apply the new Constitution"

Spain's El Pais titles: "Morales assures in Washington that he has "much hope" placed on Obama"

El Pais also says "Morales accuses the US to bug his phone"

Cuba's Prensa Latina says: "Visit of Evo Morales to the US is considered as positive"

More to come...

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Gay couple 60 years together: Bob and Henry

Don't you think they deserve to get married too?

Bob Davis and Henry Schalizki met in 1943 during World War II serving as members of the US Navy. They started their relationship in 1948.

Schalizki who is 86 years old, enlisted in the US Navy in 1942, four months after the invasion of Pearl Harbor and he was a teletype operator during the war. He met Davis in the Biltmore Hotel in Providence and about 20 years ago he adopted legally Davis. Henry Schalizki is now a successful real state agent in the DC area.

Bob Davis is 87 years old, and he is a famous radio broadcaster and a renowned theater critic. He has dedicated for year to fundraising and service to theater in the US, especially in the DC area where he and Henry received the Helen Hayes Awards this year.

I had the privilege of meeting briefly Bob and Henry at their 60 Anniversary dinner. That evening, DC Council Member Jim Graham presented them with a DC Council Resolution naming October 22, 2008 as the "Bob Davis and Henry Schalizki Day in the District of Columbia".

Congratulations again to Bob and Henry, a truly inspiring couple. According to the Washington Blade, during the Helen Hayes Awards ceremony:

“I’ve been greatly loved,”

“and loved greatly in return.”

The government of Washington, DC may pass gay marriage legislation by early 2009.

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The Washington Post about Evo Morales visit to DC - Video of racist attacks at the OAS

The Washington Post has posted this article yesterday/today about the first visit to Washington, DC of Bolivian president Evo Morales Ayma.

The article was written by Pamela Constable, an experienced journalist specialized in foreign affairs and who is member of the very influential Council on Foreign Relations.

Constable points out the fact that Morales did not meet with any US officials, something that in my opinion makes no sense. US President elect Barack Obama should have met with Morales, or at least a member of his transitional team should have had the courtesy of approaching the democratic-elect Andean leader.

But as Morales has said, he is optimistic about improving relations with the next US president –something that Constable fails to mention clearly.

The article tries hard to look balanced and fair, but Constable has a very arrogant view of Morales as she calls his visit as "defiant" and ignores the important facts that motivated Morales to expel the US ambassador and DEA agents from Bolivia.

As Morales has stated, those American officials were involved in serious diplomatic offenses, acting upon internal security and political matters in Bolivia, supporting directly the racist secessionist groups of the Media Luna regions, and even shooting bullets against Bolivian citizens.

Bolivia's Morales Diplomatic, Defiant in Visit to D.C.

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 20, 2008; Page A14

Morales, who did not meet with any administration officials here, recently ordered all U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents to leave Bolivia, a major grower of coca plants that produce cocaine. He also expelled the U.S. ambassador, accusing the envoy of conspiring with his opponents. The Bush administration, in turn, expelled Bolivia's ambassador, suspended trade preferences and withdrew all Peace Corps volunteers from the poor Andean country.

Given that acrimonious official backdrop, and the deep antagonism Morales's presidency has stirred among the large Bolivian immigrant community here, his two-day visit to the capital was an odd combination of symbolic goodwill gestures and harsh rhetoric, cheering students and angry demonstrators.

In speeches at the Organization of American States and American University, as well as in meetings with the news media, Morales stated adamantly that he would not allow U.S. drug agents back into Bolivia, saying they had been used for "political vengeance" against him. On the other hand, he said he had made serious efforts to curb drug trafficking while protecting small coca farmers as the longtime head of the Bolivian coca growers' association.

"We are all obliged to fight against narco-trafficking. We know that cocaine hurts humanity, but coca leaf is not poison," he told a gathering of Latin American diplomats yesterday at OAS headquarters. "Even a superpower," he added, does not have the right to punish or spy on another government "on the pretext of fighting narco-trafficking."
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Morales also dismissed critics who portray him as a stooge of leftist Latin American leaders, such as Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and described himself as a strong believer in democracy. He noted that his 2005 election as Bolivia's first indigenous president had been ratified in a referendum in August, and he touted his proposed new constitution as an effort to create an egalitarian state where private property would be respected but public services would be a "human right."

Morales, 48, was cheered by an overflow crowd at American University on Tuesday night when, in a rambling and often emotional talk, he recounted his rise from a childhood of rural poverty to the leadership of an indigenous majority that had long been "hated, humiliated and discriminated against." But yesterday, he was jeered by a crowd of protesters outside the OAS, whose chants and placards called him a communist dictator, drug trafficker and puppet of Chávez. Most participants were middle-class Bolivian immigrants, including some from Santa Cruz, the wealthy lowland city that has been a focal point of opposition to Morales.

The increasingly ugly conflict between the Bolivian government and its domestic adversaries has led to a series of violent confrontations. The split has pitted Morales against some provincial governors, large landowners and most major private newspapers and TV stations.

"We are here to denounce what Evo is doing to our democracy, to our freedom of the press, to our constitution, to our human rights," Elena Abolnik, a Bolivian immigrant and activist from Northern Virginia, shouted into a bullhorn as Morales's limousine, flanked by Secret Service vehicles, arrived at the ornate OAS building.

Administration officials had no comment on Morales's visit. The Bolivian president said he did not meet with any advisers to Obama, but he did visit several U.S. lawmakers, who reportedly quizzed him on his expulsion of U.S. Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg and the U.S. drug agency. However, several prominent lawmakers also sought to publicly mend fences with Morales, who came to Washington after giving a speech Monday at the United Nations.

Morales said he and Obama had much in common as emerging leaders of long-oppressed groups in their respective countries. "Who would have believed 10 or 15 years ago that I could become president of Bolivia? Who would have believed 20 or 30 years ago that a black man could become president of the United States?" he said to the OAS special session, speaking in Spanish.

The protest outside the OAS building

The protesters were people with clear racist tendencies, and obviously they represent the tiny elite that are losing its long-standing privileges after Morales got elected.

For instance, in this photo posted by the WP, the white guy in the left looks to me like the nephew of former Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada who has been accused with genocide and eight other crimes.

And here is a video (in Spanish) showing these group of Bolivians who tried to insult president Evo Morales at the OAS building.

Since they didn't succeed with their nasty attempts, they went on to insult a group of Andean dancers. They shout "Assassins, get out, fake Indigenous, sold outs, take that custom off, bastards, piece of shit, get out, Evo faggot son of a bitch, he is a faggot…"

You know, I might be biased because I admire Evo Morales and the work he is doing as President. It’s obvious that he is making history and changing Bolivia for the better. But after watching that video I am more convinced that people who are against Evo are evil and vicious beings.

About the future relations between the US and Bolivia, I hope the Obama administration will change the bully attitude that Bush and his officials had showed towards Bolivia. Both countries must work for a more human, honest and respectful approach towards each other, and for the benefit of their peoples.

Update

As Abiding in Bolivia puts it:

WaPo

Elena Abolnik is a fascist

racist verbal assualts

And I just got news that the Indigenous dancers in the video were also assaulted by the racist mob. A report on that is coming up...

Second uptade - Saturday November 22

The person who posted the video in Youtube -intended to make fun of the victims obviously- has deleted the video. But I was quick to save a copy and here it is:

Another more revealing video is also online and I will include it in my next post. Truth needs to be known.

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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Bolivian president Evo Morales today in DC: a Black president in the US is a sign of change

Evo Morales honors Abraham Lincoln and African American heroes at the Lincoln Memorial
Photo Reuters

Suddenly the first snow of the season fell into the streets of DC. I was walking really fast in order to get to the Lincoln Memorial, where Bolivian president and Indigenous leader Evo Morales was scheduled to be. This was a very emotional moment for me, as I saw president Morales walk by on his way out.

Tonight's presentation of Bolivian president Evo Morales at American University was amazing! He spoke for over an hour and 15 minutes with the full attention from the over 600 attendees, who filled two auditoriums and some students were waiting outside in the cold.

Evo Morales is an authentic leader, a good man, someone who is making history.

My first time ever wearing a Press badge in a Presidential event was very exciting - and I had the chance to shake Evo’s hand at the end of his speech - no photo to prove it but hey, I recorded a video, to be posted in a few and with more comments.

Morales, who is a Quechua-Aymara Indigenous man, talked about his experience as a Native man growing in segregated Bolivia, as a farmer and a community leader, as a politician and as president of a country that for first time has an economic surplus that is being invested on the Bolivian youth and elderly.

Morales also announced that by the end of 2008, Bolivia will be declared free of illiteracy.

His testimony was very touching, and he assure his intentions to reunite Bolivia, a nation that is facing racist division attempts: interest groups are pushing for some regions to secede from the Andean nation. He also vowed to work for a better relationship with the US and praised the fact that Americans have elected a Black president, "that is already change" he said.

Early on, Morales was at the Lincoln Memorial where he placed a beautiful floral wreath honoring Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and all the African American leaders who have fought for equality in America. My friend Nestor will provide with a video this weekend.

Tomorrow!

If you are planning to attend any of these two events, be there early and don't bring bags. Security measures were very tight this evening at the AU - and the crowds filled the limited spaces. President Morales will return to Bolivia after tomorrow's program.

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Wednesday November 19

Press conference at the OAS

10:00 AM

Organization of the American States
17th Street & Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20006

______________

Native American ceremony honoring
Bolivian President Evo Morales
(Aymara-Quechua)

1:00 PM

National Museum of the American Indian
Potomac central rotunda
Fourth Street & Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20560

Directions:
The NMAI is located on the National Mall
between the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum and the U.S.
Capitol Building.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Peruvians to protest Bush visit to Lima

Peruvians will protest Bush and the APEC summit in Lima.

The protests are not to be violent. The program includes music, poetry, conferences of dialogue and a rally in Lima's streets.

I hope they won't be accused by the Peruvian government of being terrorists this time.

"Not to the APEC of the rich - Bush get out
We the people are standing up

Stop the lootings!
"Equality and Justice now!"

Anti-APEC website

Friday November 21

Tribunal Anti-imperialist
10:00 AM

Music and poetry Concert
3:00 PM

Dos de Mayo Circle
Downtown Lima

View Larger Map

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Saturday November 22

Rally against Bush and anti APEC

3:00 PM

Washington Square
600 block Arequipa Avenue
Downtown Lima

View Larger Map

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