From DC to Detroit: another United States is coming

Another United States is coming, as more young progressive leaders and organizations are emerging, putting efforts together to learn, educate, organize, and get ready for true change.

The last three weeks have been extremely eventful and educational for me, as I had the extraordinary chance to attend four valuable conferences on politics, community organizing, social media, civil rights, social change and labor organizing.

From June 7-9, I attended the 2010 America’s Future Now! Conference, a meeting of left-leaning Democratic Party affiliates, organizers, political activists [See AFN videos and handouts here]. While from June 10-13, I visited briefly the AFL-CIO’s first ever Young Workers Summit [Next Up] which gathered over 400 young union leaders from across the U.S.



The Blogging While Brown 2010 Conference was held from June 18-19, and it was the biggest meet for U.S. bloggers and online activists of color. Finally, from June 22-26 I was at the 2010 United States Social Forum [USSF website], which was truly a summit of the most progressive and conscious grass roots organizers and thinkers of this country.

In all these events I have met incredibly smart people, and I learned from each of them. Also I reunited with friends that I hadn’t seeing in a while, and listened to plenty of ideas and facts about the constantly changing world we live today. I have lots of videos and photos, which are yet to be posted in this blog and my other websites, a work that I will be doing in the next few days.

For now I just wanted to write about my whereabouts, in a moment that is very defining to me, and my work as a video blogger and even as a person. The past days have taught me so much about everything, just by observing people and living many extraordinary experiences in those places.



The America’s Future Now! Conference allowed me to learn about the impressive work of young leaders and progressive organizations are doing, along with the Democratic Party. Thousands of young organizers met with the most prestigious progressive leaders in the country, and they also had the chance to speak in stage.

During the Young Workers Summit, held at the Washington DC Hilton hotel, I spoke to several participants. Even though some kids were honest to tell me they were there mostly to party and meet people –perhaps they thought I wasn’t going to publish their opinion- but there were many convinced and committed organizers, who told me they are ready to apply what they learned once they travel back to their hometowns.


At the Blogging While Brown Conference I met with over 210 bloggers from across the country, most of them African Americans. This was my second BWB conference and this time I realized that more young activists are getting involved with blogs and online activism. The conference was very educational, and a good way to meet other bloggers. Lots of info will be posted here soon.


This past week, I was in Detroit, where over 20,000 activists met at the U.S. Social Forum. This was the second USSF after 2 years, and my impression is that the progressive, leftist, socialist, inclusive movement in the United States is stronger and growing. It was impressive to see so many young activists, from all walks of life.

This month of June has been one of the most intensive learning periods for me. I have had in the last years. But I will need a few days to digest all the information I gathered, and publish some of it.

In all these conferences I saw many common elements: big numbers of young organizers, eager to learn from the adult leadership. A sense that the U.S. is changing not for the good necessarily, but that we all have the power to direct that change towards a positive transformation.

The young leaders of the U.S. have a strong will to fight for human rights, equality, end of racism and wars, support Immigration Reform, LGBT and women rights, democracy and to stop violence and mass incarcerations among non-white youth.

Right now, I am in New York and even though this is one of my favorite cities, I miss D.C. very much, I can’t wait to seat down and start writing again, editing videos, blogging about the new America that is coming. Because another world is possible, a different United States is necessary.

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Journalist Attacked in G-20 Protests: Jesse Freeston of Real News Gets Punched by Toronto Cops [VIDEO]

Real News Network's reporter Jesse Freeston was attacked by Canadian police officers, while covering the huge protest against the G-20 G-8 Summits in Toronto.

Watch this video showing the moment when police thugs arrested a deaf man and then attacked journalists, including Jesse Freeston:

Jesse Freeston has been a supporter of this blog and we have collaborated in several events. I met Jesse in Washington, DC, where he worked as an independent journalist covering mostly issues related to social justice and human rights.

Last May 2010, I was interviewed by Jesse Freeston on the immigration crisis in the U.S. and the rights of undocumented workers.

Back in February 2010, we had also a conversation about Freeston's trip to Honduras, where a regime supported by the Obama administration is violating human rights while Honduran civilians are being tortured and killed.

In his Facebook page Jesse wrote:

Video about how I got a fat lip at the G-20. And how many of my friends are in jail. For all the coverage of police state Toronto, check out http://2010.mediacoop.ca/

Also, watch this video of the violent response of Toronto police to the biggest anti-G20 rally yet.

The repression by police and military forces against civilians is increasing worldwide.

Corporations and interest groups are pushing governments and authorities to use violence against social movements. Those uniformed thugs are supposed to protect all peoples, not the interests of corrupted corporations and abusive governments. If we remain silent, they will increase the abuses and people will lose our rights. Independent journalism is crucial to denounce these abuses.

My solidarity with Jesse Freeston and all the civilians who were arrested in Toronto.
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Film Review: Oliver Stone’s South of the Border or The Other Americas [VIDEO]

The theater was so full, some people sat on the floor.

Oliver Stone’s newest film “South of the Border” is a documentary, but at the end it feels more like an advertising movie in favor of Hugo Chavez and other progressive presidents of South America and the Caribbean. Mostly, it is a film with a clear message against Fox News, CNN, the Bush administration and the International Monetary Fund, mostly.

At the end of the film, the whole auditorium applauded. Actually they clapped several times during the screening. I recorded this video last night:

South of the Border can be very revealing for those people in the U.S. who don’t know much about the political reality of the countries located south of the U.S. border with Mexico, and it describes the new leadership rising in the last decade in the region -especially since Chavez won elections in Venezuela- and why this is happening.

It is a good film for its content, but I have doubts that right-wingers or skeptics in the U.S. or the rest of the Americas, will have the guts see it completely. It will be a favorite for progressive folks –watching it at the U.S. Social Forum surrounded by many Chavez supporters was a bit annoying, because of the cheerful noises they made every 10 minutes.

For those of us who read often about Latin American politics, without relying on what Fox-News and other idiotic U.S. corporate media would show us, this film has few details that we didn’t know previously, at least I knew most of its content. However, the conversations with the leaders of the Latin American leftist movements happening now, are very interesting.

Listening to the presidents of Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Cuba –in that order- confirms that all of them are moved by the same goals, and they all are inspired by the Cuban revolution of Fidel Castro, and the previous revolutionaries of the continent, including Tupak Katari, Simon Bolivar and Haiti’s Toussaint L'Overture.

The words of Raul Castro are very inspirational and honest, while Bolivia’s Evo Morales participation caused many laughs among the "progressive" audience, which I didn’t share at all. Even for leftists, watching Morales and Stone chewing coca leaves is something funny. I won’t mention other details about this film, to avoid spoiling your experience if you are planning on seeing it.

The film is not everything that I expected, but it was worth seeing it for sure. At the end of it, one feels very optimistic about the new model of socialism being implemented in the Americas, a political movement that is being invented within the societies of our continent. It’s a growing current that will not go away anytime soon.

Although South of the Border doesn’t include any direct criticism against the Obama administration –it was produced right after the 2008 elections- but it makes it clear that the U.S. government policies are in the wrong direction, when it comes to the other nations of the Western hemisphere.

The message is clear: leftist presidents don’t hate the U.S., much less its people. What cause tensions among the U.S. and leftists governments in the Americas are the failed imperialistic policies created in Washington, DC, and Wall Street --which unfortunately the Obama administration is perpetuating. The film shows a historical context of the U.S. negative influence in the nations of the continent, which the audience supported with repeated applause.

The film includes footage from U.S. "news" channels, that sound so ridiculous that people laughed out loud. A moment I keep in mind, is when the former president of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner states that George W. Bush told him that "wars produce progress for the U.S."

The final images and soundtrack of the film are very cheerful, especially among those of us who believe that alternatives for neo-liberal capitalism are necessary for the Americas. Undoubtedly, South of the Border is a one-sided documentary with too much of Oliver Stone walking with his new southern friends, but it has enough information that the U.S. corporate media will never broadcast, about the new Americas. Go see it.

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Reporting from Detroit: Learning Humanity at the U.S. Social Forum - more like a Family Reunion

Hello from Detroit. I am here attending the U.S. Social Forum (USSF), an amazing conference with over 20,000 activists and organizations from all over the U.S. and other countries –-I’ve met people from Mexico, India, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia so far).

This is the second USSF, and I also attended the previous one in 2007 held in Atlanta. So I am glad to see that USSF has evolved to a well organized community, with lots of younger activists getting involved –seriously, I see so many youth here in Detroit, this is very promising!

Today is the 3rd. day of USSF, but my second day. I arrived here yesterday from DC, so I missed the opening ceremony and march, which brought over 10,000 peoples to the streets of Detroit.

Let me say this, Detroit is a beautiful place, it is not the horrible run down city that corporate media says. It has a poverty crisis, there are plenty of poor people, but this is nothing like I thought. The people of Detroit are working hard to rescue its beloved city.

About the USSF, I found it a bit confusing to register at first, and the program was too much to digest after a tiring trip. However, I felt the enthusiasm of the crowds that I was already attending panels on LGBT Queer rights, women workers rights, Indigenous knowledge in education, U.S. militarization, Black communities education and the prison system.

You see, the USSF program is extremely diverse, with hundreds of workshops in several locations, mostly at the COBO Hall convention center and the WSU campus, among others. Here I want to say that it’s virtually impossible to attend all the workshops that might interest you, so what I am doing is walk around 5-6 workshops per time. Later on I go online and with the name of the topics and organizations, I can find more information. Try this.

I should also mention the fact that USSF has attracted several thousands of visitors, and all the hotels in downtown Detroit are sold out –no more than 1,000 beds- so most attendees are sharing rooms, using the tent city, or the Housing Solidarity services which is conditioning empty offices buildings into temporary housing. In my case, a fellow gay activist –and a ready of my blogs! - is sharing his hotel room with me. Thank you Martin!

Today I’m already in my second workshop; it’s about 11:30 am. I was at a panel on sexual worker’s rights –the room was packed by young activists- and CISPES’ anti-mining activism in Central America, now I am listening to an Indigenous man from Mexico talking about economy of solidarity. From here I’m going to listen to workshops on racism in anti-immigrant groups, and many others.

Tonight there is the Indigenous People’s Assembly and the Immigrant Rights from Below Movement Assembly. Also, the premiere of Oliver Stone’s South of the Border film. Among so many other events!

I’m so glad that I made it to Detroit. I’m running into friends, colleagues, amazing thinkers and organizers, also I’m meeting new friends who I know will stay in touch for a long time. This feels like a big family reunion, one of the most educating experiences I can remember in a long time.


So, I just wanted to write this to let you know about this amazing experience. I am recording videos and taking lots of photos. Stay tuned, I will be back tonight. Until then, chau.

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Latinos in Social Media: I was part of panel workshop “Web 2.0 Social Media, Advocacy and Being Latino"

Latinos are a community of diversity, of many races, cultures, ideas. We have Indigenous, African, European, Asian heritages but we also share commonalities, ways of lives, cultures, and beliefs.

Those were my first words yesterday in front of dozens of legislative professionals participating at a workshop on Latinos in Social Media. I was part of the panel workshop "Web 2.0 Social Media, Advocacy and Being Latino" organized by Latinos in Information Science and Technology Association (LISTA).

There I was talking about my experience as a blogger and online activist, what moved me to start blogging, how do I use social media to express my voice as an immigrant, a gay man, a person of Indigenous heritage. How I currently use social media tools to promote social justice and advocacy, what advice I could give to others.

It was a great conversation that I shared with savvy and sharp fellow social media activists Kety Esquivel [read Kety's blog post] and Lance Rios of Being Latino, a successful Facebook group for Latinos with over 33K members.

This event was part of the 3rd Annual Tech Latino 2030 Legislative Forum, hosted by LISTA, Latinos in Information Science and Technology Association, an organization founded in New York City in 2000 [see LISTA's website]. The panel was held at Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

I am more than grateful to Jose A. Marquez- Leon, the national President and CEO of LISTA for inviting me to participate in this event. Also to Kety Esquivel, who has all the skills to be a good politician, and Lance Rios who I think should be on national TV.

We all agreed on the need for more Latinos to participate in social media, blogging and online activism, especially in issues that affect our communities directly, as immigration reform, racism, public health, education, etc. regardless of our races or nationalities. In this sense, we can't forget the importance of corporate media especially when there are not a single TV station in the U.S. owned by Latinos.

At the end of my participation someone asked about how we bloggers make money. I responded from my personal experience: money wise I’m poorer today because of blogging, but I’m richer in experiences, opportunities and knowledge learned. This to me is truly a work of love.

Thanks to the LISTA staff for taking these photos.

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Move the Game: Activists in DC rallied at Nationals Park to demand MLB to Move 2011 All-Star Game Out of Arizona

A protest was held in front of the Nationals Park baseball stadium in Washington, DC, in order to demand a boycott campaign against Arizona's law SB-1070.

The protesters are asking the Major League Baseball to move the 2011 All-Star Game to another state, unless the controversial law is revoked.

All photos by Gerard Medrano & Carlos A. Quiroz

Activists from several DC-based organizations and individuals, demanded the Major League Baseball to move the All-Star Game out of Arizona. The rally was held last Friday June 18th before the game between DC's Nationals vs. Chicago's White Sox, which was attended by president Barack Obama.

This is my video of the protest, including opinions from baseball fans attending the game:

The MLB All-Star Game is scheduled to be played in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2011. But after the anti-immigrant law SB-1070 was signed by governor Jan Brewer, some say the game should be played somewhere else. Twenty eight percent of MLB players are immigrants, mostly from the Caribbean and South America,

The All-Stars Game could bring as much as $60 million dollars to the state's economy. By moving the game, the State's economy will be hurt. Presente.org says:

Now that Arizona has passed SB 1070, which essentially legalizes racial profiling, Latino players like Padres infielder Adrian Gonzalez are pledging not to attend the game. Let's support their stance and tell Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to move the game unless Arizona changes the law.

The protest was organized via Facebook by Reform Immigration For America "and allied organizations [...] We are going to show Obama that we want immigration reform in 2010. And we're telling Major League Baseball to move the All Star game out of Arizona in protest of the state's new immigration law."

One Peoples Project attended the rally and posted this:

The small group of demonstrators saw little opposition. Very few baseball fans objected to their presence, while far more were seen wearing RFIR decals that were passed out. One group of white men even yelled out "Fuck Arizona!" as they walked past the protest.

During the demonstration, two banner drops took place, one outside the stadium from the parking lot and one unveiled during the eighth inning inside as the game reading "MLB: Boycott AZ, Move the 2011 All-Star Game." President Obama, a White Sox fan, and who was called upon by the protestors in flyers to take action on immigration reform, attended the game.

This is a pic of one the banners, which was taken away by the stadium personnel withing a few minutes:


During the rally I spoke with anti-racism activist Daryle Lamont Jenkins, co-founder and spokes person of One Peoples Project. Jenkins denounced that White supremacist groups are behind the SB-1070 law in Arizona:

Meanwhile, more organizations have joined a coalition to "Boycott Arizona" while governor Jan Brewer is asking her supporters to support the state's economy by shopping locally in Arizona, which economy depends tremendously in tourism and conventions.

This morning, ABC confirms that the White House will start a legal suit against Arizona, "for its immigration law, likely next week". Initially this was announced last Thursday by Secretary Hillary Clinton, during an interview with a TV station from Ecuador.

See more photos of the DC Nationals protest here.

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The 2010 Blogging While Brown Conference Started Today in DC with a Blogger's Boot Camp [VIDEOS]

The 2010 Blogging While Brown conference started today in Washington, DC.

This annual meeting for bloggers of color is a good chance for us to learn from each other's experiences, get updates on social media, Internet, blogging while meeting and networking with other bloggers in person.

This is the third year for Blogging While Brown, and its founder Gina McNaul -an attorney who blogs about topics related to Black women- has confirmed that 212 bloggers registered this year for the two-days event, which is twice the number of the previous conference held in Chicago in 2009.

BWB started with a blogger's boot camp held early today at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library with about 23 blogger attending.

After blogging for over two years, I can still learn new things and trust me I did. For instance, I didn't know about Let me Google that for You, or Kontactr, nor Domai.nr and I had forgotten how useful Delicious can be.

Here is a brief video of Gina McNaul's presentation.

This is Scott Hanselman, a blogger and social media expert working for Microsoft. His presentation was really good, complete and informative. Check out his website.

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I'm Attending America's Future Now! Conference - Nancy Pelosi Interrupted by Health Care Protesters [VIDEO]

Photo and video by Carlos A. Quiroz

I'm attending the America's Future Now! 2010 Conference in Washington, D.C. which is organized by the Campaign for America's Future. Check out the conference's website here. Follow the tashtag #AFN10. These are my twits from the conference's site:

TWITTER UPDATES

This morning, Nancy Pelosi was interrupted when she was speaking, by health care protesters who demanded that Congress passes legislation to secure home care for disable patients. Here is the video I recorded of the full speech given by Pelosi. It was interesting to see the reaction of people who are supposed to be progressives, but at the end the protesters were a bit annoying, they made their point but kept yelling. More surprisingly was the attitude of Pelosi, who kept talking like nothing was happening:

CarlosQC on Vimeo

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Q’orianka Kilcher and her Mother Siaska Kilcher Arrested at Protest against Peru’s President Alan Garcia at White House [VIDEO – PHOTOS]

A protest was held outside of the White House as Peruvian president Alan Garcia met with president Barack Obama on June 1st, 2010. The protesters reminded Garcia of the killings of Indigenous peoples that he ordered a year ago in the Peruvian rainforest region of Bagua.

Actress and activist Q’orianka Kilcher and her mother Siaska were detained alter protesting against Peru’s president Alan Garcia who met with president Barack Obama at the White House. Photo by Carlos A. Quiroz, June 1st, 2010.

Actress and activist Q'Orianka Kilcher and her mother Saskia Kilcher got arrested after they participated at an act of civil disobedience, demanding the respect of Indigenous peoples and the protection of the Amazon forest in Peru.

The protest was held while president Barack Obama welcomed the Peruvian president in the White House, to discuss bilateral topics which weren’t released to the press. The Peruvian president had to enter the residence by a side door to avoid the protesters.

The protest against the president of Peru Alan Garcia turned into a tense moment when actress and activist Q’orianka Kilcher chained herself to the White House fence and later got arrested along with her mother Siaska Kilcher.

This is my video of the moment when the act of civil disobedience occurred:

Activists and non profit organizations rallied yesterday in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples of Peru and in defense of the environment. A year ago the Bagua massacre of June 5th, 2009, caused the killings and injury of hundreds of Indigenous peoples including Peruvian police officers, after a civil protest against free trade decrees was violently repressed under Garcia's orders.

The protesters demanded the end of destructive plans of the Peruvian government, which would allow access to the Amazon rainforest and the Andean mountains of extractive industries corporations.

Peru is abusing the rights of its Indigenous population, through violence and militarized police repression against social movements. Indigenous leaders are being prosecuted by the Peruvian Judiciary and some are still incarcerated.

Q’orianka Kilcher screamed as she was being detained, demanding a public apology from Alan Garcia who said last year that Indigenous peoples are “second class citizens, savages who oppose progress”.

Q’orianka who is of Indigenous Quechua heritage from Peru, had just returned from Peru, where she traveled with her mother to support Indigenous leader Alberto Pizango, who was detained and later released after international pressure from human rights organizations.


Among the protesters were Peruvians and U.S. citizens who are concerned about the increasing social violence in Peru, the destruction of the environment by oil and mining corporations, and the corruption of the Alan Garcia administration.

The Bagua massacre, as well as other attacks of the Peruvian government on its civilian population, were motivated by free-trade and neoliberal economic policies that promote destructive extractive industries, favoring big multinationals while ignoring the rights of Indigenous peoples and the preservation of the environment.

About 73% of Peru's Amazon forest has been leased to multinationals for oil, mining and lodging without consulting Indigenous peoples and residents, while entire towns of the Andes mountains are being affected by air and water pollution, the environmental destruction, labor abuses and corruption caused mostly by the mining industry.

The meeting of Barack Obama with Alan Garcia might have being about bilateral agreements between the governments of Peru and the United States, in order to assure the control of the natural resources of Peru, especially after Peruvian workers, farmers, students and Indigenous communities have resisted the invasion of private corporations backed by Garcia, throughout social movements and regional uprisings.

A year after the implementation of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement [FTA] the environmental and labor rights in Peru have deteriorated and the Garcia administration have increased the access of destructive corporations to sensitive territories, while unions and labor protections are weakened.

The growing agribusinesses have decreased the access of land to small farmers, while increasing food prices and directing the production for exportation. Meanwhile the privatization of seaports and airports along with the telecommunications, have given all the communications of Peru to private corporations, mostly foreign owned.

Alan Garcia is benefiting from the silence and support of the Obama administration. The Pentagon's interest to reinforce its military presence in South America, like in Colombia, coincides with the increasing of the production of cocaine in Peru.

In this regards, the U.S. military presence in Peru is gradually becoming more obvious, which might be intended to prevent the influence of the neighboring countries Bolivia and Ecuador, whose governments are applying development models opposed to Lima.
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Gaza Flotilla Protest in Washington DC [VIDEOS]

Hundreds of people came out to the streets of Washington, DC, to protest the military attack of Israel over an unarmed humanitarian mission of nine vessels, that were bringing humanitarian relief to Gaza.

Gaza is a region of Palestine where over 410,000 Palestinians are facing harsh living conditions after 3 years of an Israeli-enforced blockade.

People protested around the world with over 10,000 people in Istambul [see some photos here and here]. In the U.S. there were protests in DC, NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and Miami.

These are videos I recorded at the rallies that started in DC around 3:00 PM at the Israeli embassy (Van Ness) and moved to the White House around 5:00 PM:

Gaza, Gaza, don't you cry!
Palestine will never die!




A Palestinian man born in Kuwait
describes the living conditions in Gaza

The U.N. Security Council is calling for an investigation on the Israel attack, and demanded the release of all detained flotilla activists. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the only country that still supports Israel.

TODAY second protest in DC
White House 12:00 noon

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