Special documentary, about the Chicano musical movement inspired on Zapatismo.

Alejandro Reyes – Radio Zapatista

English: (Descarga aquí)  

Spanish: (Descarga aquí)  

(Also listen to the musical collection Rola la Lucha Zapatista, with over 70 works by musicians from Mexico and the world, as part of the campaign Thousands of Rages, one Heart, in honor of the Zapatista struggle, as well as our musical collection Las voces rebeldes del Otro Lado, Zapatista music made in the USA.)

(Continuar leyendo…)

This program recounts the story of the Movement for Justice in el Barrio, in East Harlem in New York. It explains how a movement of migrants has organized to defend itself against eviction. The Movement takes its inspiration directly from the Zapatistas, and their forms of organizing and struggling.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Español. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Por más de 17 años, con el levantamiento público del EZLN en el 1 de enero 1994, l@s zapatistas han hecho una enorme aportación a las luchas sociales, culturales, y políticas de tod@s l@s de abajo por un mundo mejor. Así, han tocado los corazones de miles de personas de buena conciencia en muchos rincones del mundo, y han demostrado que la justicia, la dignidad, y la democracia no son simplemente ideas para imaginarse o discutirse, sino realidades para vivirse y hacerse.

L@s zapatistas han abierto con éxito espacios de autonomía y democracia verdadera. En sus comunidades, practican la auto-determinación y desarrollan sus propias instituciones comunitarias auto-suficientes que reflejan y abrazan culturas y saberes indígenas.

Ell@s son prueba viviente que crear este otro mundo que queremos sí es posible.

Como la historia nos enseña, para los pocos poderosos y privilegiados que controlan nuestra vida y saquean a nuestro planeta, una lucha así debe ser rechazada, callada, violada, golpeada, encarcelada, e ignorada.

La autonomía zapatista les da coraje a los sirvientes del sistema capitalista que forman los malos gobiernos. En México, los gobiernos a nivel federal, estatal, y municipal –encabezados por el represor presidente Felipe Calderón y controlados por los dominantes partidos políticos del PAN, PRI, y PRD– utilizan a sus fuerzas policiacas y militares y a sus grupos de choque paramilitares para intentar destruir la autonomía zapatista y aniquilar a los dignos pueblos indígenas del EZLN.

Queremos denunciar que durante todo el año pasado, específicamente los pueblos autónomos indígenas de San Marcos Avilés, San Patricio, y Rancho La Paz han padecido numerosos actos de violencia, hostigamiento, y desplazamiento. En meses recientes, estas acciones graves se han intensificado en un porcentaje alarmante. Desde septiembre del 2010 hasta la fecha, la población de San Marcos Avilés ha enfrentado amenazas de muerte, hostigamiento, despojo, agresión sexual (violaciones intentadas inclusive), desplazamiento forzado, y desnutrición, la cual ha tomado la vida de por lo menos dos niñas. Estos crímenes horribles son perpetrados por los miembros de los partidos políticos del PRI, PRD, y PVEM.

Asimismo, desde el 7 de septiembre de este año, los pobladores de la comunidad de San Patricio han recibido amenazas constantes de desplazamiento y hasta muerte por un grupo de choque paramilitar llamado estratégicamente “Paz y Justicia,” el cual busca arrebatarles su territorio. Además de estas atrocidades, los de “Paz y Justicia” siguen destruyendo y saqueando los cultivos, animales, y pertenencias de la comunidad de San Patricio y con eso, la forma de ganarse la vida. A las mujeres y niños, en particular, la violencia les ha afectado de manera directa, ya que el grupo de choque concientemente los ha buscado y amenazado por ser mujeres y por ser niños.

Desde el 6 de octubre, el pueblo de Rancho La Paz también ha padecido ataques graves, tales como amenazas de muerte repetidas con armas de fuego, despojo y destrucción de alimentaciones, y golpeos, el ataque con machetes contra un grupo de mujeres inclusive. Los culpables son habitantes de comunidades cercanas protegidos por el mal gobierno.

Estos ataques son parte de una estrategia deliberada para tomar represalias contra l@s zapatistas por ejercer sus derechos a ser autónomos y por no dejar   al mal gobierno o a sus lacayos quitarles de lo que les pertenece: sus territorios ancestrales, recursos naturales, y su trabajo. El mal gobierno, con su partidos políticos corruptos, hacen esto para desalojarlos de su tierra para que puedan apoderarse de ella y luego construir zonas turísticas lucrativas para el beneficio de los de arriba.

A luz de dichas formas de violencia contra los pueblos indígenas zapatistas de San Marcos Avilés, San Patricio, y Rancho La Paz en Chiapas, México, declaramos que:

1.         L@s zapatistas no están sol@s en su lucha por un mundo de dignidad, justicia, y democracia. Hacemos ec}co y repetimos a su digno reclamo “¡Ya basta!” aquí en la Ciudad de Nueva York.

2.         Denunciamos enérgicamente las violaciones que están pasando en Chiapas, México, y estaremos pendientes.

3.         No dejaremos que el mal gobierno de México logre su meta de aniquilar a las comunidades zapatistas.

4.         Hacemos responsables a los tres niveles de gobierno (federal, estatal, y municipal) de México por toda la represión que enfrentan los pueblos indígenas zapatistas por ejercer su innegable derecho a ser autónomos y practicar la auto-determinación como pueblos indígenas.

Por lo tanto exigimos:

1.          El respeto por la autonomía y auto-determinación de los pueblos indígenas zapatistas.
2.          El cese inmediato a la represión a l@s zapatistas y sus bases de apoyo, como lo son San Marcos Avilés, San Patricio, y Rancho La Paz.

On June 11th, 2011, the South Central Farmers remember the aggressive eviction that took place 5 years prior. After having cultivated what was thought to be the largest urban farm in the United States, the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department carried out an eviction imposed by owner and developer of the plot, Ralph Horowitz. For nearly 14 years, the South Central Farmers worked the 14-acre plot that was located in the heart of the Alameda Corridor by the community of South Central Los Angeles, feeding hundreds of families in the community and providing a model for autonomous greenspace in urban areas. This is a brief update discussing where the South Central Farmers are currently in there struggle to get back their land.

On this month’s show we bring you three in-depth interviews: 1) Oakland librarian “Agnes” on public libraries in a time of austerity, when 14 of 18 libraries were threatened with closure; 2) reporter and author John Gibler on his new book, To Die in Mexico, which analyzes the so-called “drug war” in Mexico; and 3) two compañerxs from UA in the Bay announce the Anarchist General Assembly that will take place on July 16, along with an update on the continuing occupation of Glen Cove. (2 hrs, mp3)

Four audio files are available here: 1) the full show; 2) interview on libraries and austerity (28 min); 3) interview with John Gibler (42 min); 4) interview on Anarchist General Assembly (14 min).

This month’s program, broadcast on June 5, tries to think through the relationship between two concepts: autonomy and austerity. Here we’ve uploaded two interviews as separate segments/files that can be easily downloaded and listened to. The first (both in Spanish and translated into English) deals with the so-called “Spanish Revolution,” the massive popular mobilizations against the electoral system that have been taking place in Spain since May. The second focuses on a series of actions organized against austerity politics and their local manifestations. The two interviews also reflect on the question of how best to articulate an anti-austerity politics that’s at the same time anti-state.

The audios are also available on the Indybay website: 15-M Español, 15-M English, and austerity.

Speech written by Mumia Abu-Jamal for a conference titled PRISONMENT OF A RACE
The conference was held at Princeton University on March 25th, 2011

Dear Friends, Activists, Scholars and Colleagues: On A Move!
Thank you for your invitation to join you and to participate in this conference. It is an honor to share these brief moments with you – a nod and a salute to your panelists, many of whom I know and admire.
Your topic, is, to say the least, a daunting one, for the sheer numbers are breathtaking, especially when you consider its familial, social, communal and political impacts. I dare say, for those among you who are African-American, no matter your class or income, you won’t have to think very long to recall a nephew – and far too often a niece – (not to mention a son or daughter!), who, if not presently a prisoner, is then an ex-prisoner of some country, state or federal system.
That speaks to the ubiquity of the problem, of the vast numbers of men, women and juveniles who populate the prison industrial complex here in America. As many of you know, the U.S., with barely 5% of the world’s population, imprisons 25% of the world’s prisoners. As Michelle Alexander (whom many of you will hear from in this conference’s evening program) has noted, the numbers of imprisoned Blacks here rivals and exceeds South Africa’s hated apartheid system during its height.
We shouldn’t take this analogy lightly, for the South African apartheid was the epitome of the racist police state, second only to Nazi Germany in its repellent nature. Moreover, much of its energy was consumed in a de facto war (or, at the very least, in military-espionage jargon, a low-intensity conflict) with the Black majority that criminalized almost every feature of African independent life, restricting places to live, work, study and even love.
This speaks to how blind we are in this country to the scope of the problem (much less its resolution), and how it has been normalized in social and political consciousness, in part because the corporate media neglects or slants such a story; for if they can fail in reportage leading to a hot war (here I mean Iraq) they certainly can fail in reporting the parameters of a low-intensity conflict that crushes Black lives. Perhaps the words of a non- American (I hesitate to call him a foreigner), but long an observer of this country, can give us some insight. At 71 years, South Africa’s great musical gift, Hugh Masekela gave an interview in which he made note of the post-apartheid South Africa:  “The majority of the population only got the right to vote and a lack of harassment from the police. But any further changes would be bad for business. Same like here in the United States – the fruits of the Civil Rights Movement are very minimal.”
I quote Masekela here not merely because of his celebrity (nor because I love his music), but because he, like millions of Africans, lived under the madness of apartheid, (even though he escaped it by later moving abroad) and therefore knows it intimately. He therefore is able to recognize its elements in American life. Buy why is apartheid seen as so repellent and the U.S. prison industrial complex (PIC) seen as benign?
I think the answer is twofold: 1) the political elites of both [U.S.] political parties reached bi-partisan consensus on this issue; and 2) the presence of Black political actors in various offices act as a shield repelling attacks on the racist nature of the system.

As in South Africa, Black political elites have benefited from an economic system that is profoundly unfair to the vast majority of African people, especially the poor and working-class. Thus, race protects a class divide, and despite its imagery, social inequality. In essence, the post-apartheid regime achieved a result that the apartheid era tried to, but failed to construct:  a buffer class that protected the lands, property and material wealth of the white minority settler class.

It is one of the ironies of history that the government led by the African National Congress (ANC) would achieve this result, albeit by negotiated settlement.

Let us depart from theoretical political constructs to note an example of the real. Several months ago, a police squad raided a Black working-class home, shot into it from outside, and killed a Black child. That, in itself, unfortunately, can’t be called noteworthy. Yet it has a certain resonance when we note that both the mayor of the city, and its police chief, were Black. Those aware of this incident may recognize the name of the beautiful child involved, Aiyannah Jones, I believe, and the city: Detroit. Surely this provides some insight into the political function of Black leaders, and their impotence when it comes to curbing state action that endangers Black poor life.

One of the keynoters, law professor Alexander addresses some of these points in her book, but what had the best salience for me was something that I’ve not seen in any of the reviews I’ve read (understanding that as most prisoners don’t have computer access, I’ve probably missed scads of reviews). It was her observation that the Black working-class/poor constitute a caste position in U.S. society.

In a nation that promotes democracy, one would think the charge that a distinct racial caste exists at the heart of it would provoke controversy. Judging from what I’ve read, this central point has been glossed over.
In closing, I, of course, commend her book to you all for study, but I must do more.
We must call for, agitate for, and if all else fails, create a new popular movement that struggles to break this caste system, once and for all. Indeed, it is in our collective interest to do so. For most Black scholars, intellectuals, academics and political elites are one generation removed from the ghettoes of distant memory. With the collapse of the U.S. economy, where do you think the cuts will occur, as the welfare state – and the State itself – shrinks?

Finally, we know that the impact of felon disfranchisement laws led, inexorably, to the election of George W. Bush, in 2000. Think of what the world may’ve looked like, if that political event didn’t happen.
It is in the interest of all.

I thank you. On  A  Move!

Mumia Abu-Jamal, M.A.
Death Row, Pa.