For a few years now I have been in love with the works, minds, and every things of some folks out in blog land. Folks I have never met but folks that I feel very close to for what ever reasons. I came across a posting today on Rv’s facebook page, you know the page that there are 5 friends listed and that Rv uses to keep up with articles that are sent around.
Then comes in inspiration, fresh breezes from across the country, in the form of a wonderful interview between Addie Tinnell and Gaga Stigmata. The interview ::++Stigmata Dreams++::Bled Threads-Addie Tinnell is a must read. Addie has long been one of our favorite artists in our many reincarnations in blog land and we are so happy that we have made her acquaintances again.
The interview opens this way:
Gaga Stigmata: What is the relationship between anarchy and fashion?
Addie Tinnell: Anarchism as a philosophy and practice is entirely dependent on fashion- nothing about it is outside of fashion. Anarchism differs from Marxism in that it emphasizes the process by which change will happen. Therefore, each anarchist act is an expression of the politic versus Marxism which is programmatic in its approach to change, and emphasizes the ends over the means. So the big question is, how do you as an anarchist share your ideas about an egalitarian world with another person? You can try to argue with them, but they probably won’t listen, or you can demonstrate it for yourself, on your body and in your actions, and try to create resonance.
Anarchists have always been concerned with fashion. You can go back to the days following the Paris Commune and see that the anarchists running the cabarets in the Montmartre region were impeccably dressed. I’m thinking of Maxime Lisbonne in particular – he was an exquisite dresser and an amazing anarchist organizer. Or the French illegalists, like the Bonnot gang. Jules Bonnot was known to obsess over stealing/wearing expensive suits and fancy cars. Or other anarchic type groups like the Os Cangacieros in Brazil – a group of Robin Hood-esque rebels that would bedazzle their outfits with various metals and wear gobs of fancy French cologne. (more…)
In today an important new video from Alex of Cuentame. Todos Somas Ilegales/We Are All Illegals, Featuring: Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Residente of Calle 13 and Pop/Latin Rock Producer Thom Russo – As Well As Video + Photo Submissions From Over 100 Fans Worldwide! To read more about this video go to: HERE.
Leslie Feinberg visiting CeCe McDonald in Minneapolis.
Leslie Feinberg arrested in Free Cece action, Minneapolis
Make June a month of Pride, Protest and Struggle to Free Cece!
Leslie’s Statement:
“My name is Leslie Feinberg. Many people across the U.S. and around the world are watching, and history will record, what happens today— June 4, 2012–in this courtroom in South Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
CeCe McDonald survived a fascist hate crime; now she’s being sentenced today as she struggles to survive an ongoing state hate crime. As Martin Luther King Jr. reminded: “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.”
As a white, working-class, Jewish, transgender lesbian revolutionary I will not be silent as this injustice continues! I know from the lessons of histories what it means when the state—in a period of capitalist economic crisis–enacts apartheid passbook laws, rounds up and deports immigrant workers, and gives a green light to white supremacist, fascist attacks on Black peoples–from Sanford, Florida to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to this courtroom in South Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This prosecutor and judge are upholding the intent of the infamous white supremacist Dred Scott ruling in 1857.
That same year Frederick Douglass concluded: “Without struggle, there is no progress!” CeCe McDonald is being sent to prison during the month of Juneteenth: celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation—the formal Abolition of “legal” enslavement of peoples of African descent. The Emancipation Proclamation specifically spelled out the right of Black people to self-defense against racist violence.
Yet today, the judge, the prosecutor, the jailers—are continuing the violent and bigoted hate crimes begun by the group of white supremacists who carried out a fascist attack on CeCe McDonald and her friends. (more…)
We post this even if Boston’s PRIDE parade has come and gone. This invite from The Stonewall Warriors is the type of PRIDE contingent that we at this blog love. It is always good to read of others in the struggle who believe the same as us even though we are still small we grow every day. Not all of us see that our fight for liberation ended with the ringing of the wedding bells or because now we can prove we can shoot as well as straights. So enjoy this posting and know we are here, there and everywhere.
Stonewall Warriors Pride Float and Contingent
Saturday 11:00am
909 Boylston Street – near corner of Hereford
March with us and strike a blow against racism, trans/homophobia, war, Islamaphobia and all bigotry and oppression.
Money for AIDS, Healthcare and Jobs.
Solidarity with Struggle!
Tarek Mehanna – CeCeMcDonald – Trayvon Martin – Private B (Bradley) Manning
“The klansman and the gay basher drink from the same poison well.”
Coretta Scott King
Pride Unity Statement
This year our LGBTQ community stands in solidarity with those who have fought back against oppression and unjust persecution. We honor those both in our LGBTQ, allied and other communities. Our solidarity is class wide and has no borders. Because of the serious economic crises we face and the daily torrent of harassment and acts of violence against our community, youth, People of Color, women, Immigrants and people with physical or other disabilities, we cannot justify fighting for single issues and ignoring the overlap and intersection among multiple forms of oppression. By honoring CeCe McDonald, Trayvon Mar tin, Private B.(Bradley) Manning and Tarek Mehanna, we oppose not only bigotry against LGBTQ people but racism, incarceration of political prisoners, unemployment, Islamophobia and the Pentagon war machine.
Stonewall Means Fight Back!
Endorsers of Unity Statement:
ACT UP, Boston; Bet Power; Exec Director, Sexual Minority Archives; Black and Pink; Dr.Alberto Batrreto Cardona, Long Time Puerto Rican Activistl Ed Childs, Chief Shop Steward, Local 26 UNITE/HERE; Hispanic Black Gay Coalition; International Action Center; Leslie Feinberg, acclaimed author of Stone Butch Blues, Transgender Warriors ad Rainbow Flags for the Cuban 5, Mathew Justin, Occupy4Justice*, Minnie Bruce Pratt, lesbian activist, poet, Larry Goldsmith, Gay Historian, Gay Community News; Massachusetts Green Rainbow Party; Mobilization Against Poverty, Racism and War, Springfield, Ma; Nancy Kohn, International Committee Free the Cuban Five*; Robin Ochs, Mass Equality Board*; Queertoday.com; Stevan Kirschbaum, Grievance Committee Chair and Steve Gillis VP, USWA Local 1871, Boston School Bus Drivers Union; United American Indians of New England; Vets for Peace, Smedley Butler Brigade; Workers World Party
* for identification purposes
We here at Furbirdsqueerly endorse this unity statement.
Summer in California hasn’t even started and we just got word that it happened again. According to Tuesday’s Fresno Bee newspaper, Maximo Lopez Barajas died Friday while pruning in a pomegranate orchard. The Bee said Maximo “collapsed in heat that exceeded 100 degrees that day.” Erika Monterroza, spokeswoman for the state Department of Industrial Relations, said emergency crews were called and the man was taken to Coalinga Regional Medical Center, where he died. We are awaiting the coroner’s report.
Reports show that since California issued its emergency 2005 regulations to keep farm workers from dying of extreme heat, preventable farm worker deaths still occur at a similar pace as before. Not only that, but when Cal-OSHA, the state work safety agency, finds violations of its regulations, reports shows the state often does not issue citations, go back to recheck violators and make sure the violations have been corrected.
This cannot continue. Because the state has failed to adequately enforce its heat standards, the UFW is sponsoring AB 2346, the Farm Worker Safety Act by Assemblymember Betsy Butler. This bill will let farm workers enforce mandatory shade and drinking water requirements by taking delinquent employers to court. It will also make growers jointly responsible with farm labor contractors they hire to ensure that farm workers on their properties are given shade and water when temperatures soar. In addition, AB 2346 will set meaningful penalties for employers responsible for heat-related deaths. The bill’s proposed penalties are minimal when compared with those in the state Penal Code for the failure to provide animals with the same protections. AB 2346 does not impose any costs on taxpayers. Perfectly sensible restrictions, right? (more…)
You know we have been so serious lately that it’s almost getting to be a drag around here. Emma Furbird said, Hey boys and girls its time to lighten up a bit. UP UP UP. You know more folks like up rather than down. We see it all the time when we travel around blog land. Folks can get into the such silly things. But that is ok with us isn’t it mamma? Of course just as long as you don’t always stay silly and join the silly willys and that all you are and can’t escape to become anything else. Now that would be a terrible mistake. But you know maybe folks need more silly, but too much silly will make you sick like too much candy, cake, and pies. No there is no worry in that said old Furbird. We can get silly with the best of them but we know when to cut it out and hike right out of silly.
So lets have some fun, I have been singing this song on my way home. Being silly and singing it out loud when I passed a mailbox. The song is a children’s song written by Woody Guthrie, (see how some who are serious can be silly) and is sung by Pete Seeger and recorded live at the 1963 Carnegie Hall Concert. I was one of the attendees at this concert with a minister who was a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and took our youth group on a field trip to NYC to hear Pete Seeger. Now that is a whole other story. So enjoy this song by Pete Seeger, and remember I just may pop up in your mailbox someday.
We are opening a new series on this blog called Far From The Truth…We go about telling the truth. In this series we will explore in our way how certain subjects are presented to the people in americkka and the real deal truth about the subject. We came upon this series when we could not get the song Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to work we go, from the Disney cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As our old memory banks starting acting in that direction we remember how wonderful the cartoon made diamond mining look, and how those little dwarf men were all going to get rich quick by shovel and pick. How many young folks wanted to go down into the mines and get rich quick we will never know but we are sure that every mother in americkkka put an end to that silly notion. Sweet little subburp Johnny way down in the mines. Not any kid of mine will be found down in the mines. So let’s start this collage with the 7 dwarfs way down in the mine, picking at the walls for diamonds, singing songs and having a great time. Diamond mining never looked like it was so much fun.
Here’s the real deal
What price for these diamonds?
Some diamonds have helped fund devastating civil wars in Africa, destroying the lives of millions. Conflict diamonds are those sold in order to fund armed conflict and civil war. Profits from the trade in conflict diamonds, worth billions of dollars, were used by warlords and rebels to buy arms during the devastating wars in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone. Wars that have cost an estimated 3.7 million lives. (more…)
Queers Without Borders PRIDE event, NO PRIDE IN APARTHEID will be held on Friday June 15, with doors opening a 6:00, a potluck dinner at 6:30 and the program to begin at 7:30. The event will be held at the Metropolitan Community Church, 155 Wyllys Street, Hartford Ct.
In 1969 Stonewall and the early Queer PRIDE events meant ‘fight back’ and solidarity with the oppressed. Yet today’s PRiDE’s have become an orgy of corporate consumerism and homo-nationalism! Queer struggles such as racial and economic justice, immigration, anti-imperialism and anti-militarization are being lost through the “middle class whitewashing” of Stonewall and its PRIDE events. In reflecting upon PRIDE in 2012, Queers Without Borders desires to bring us Queers back to the days when PRIDE was a Political Statement and not a Gay Fourth of July festival of commercialism and blind nationalistic pride! So we invite you to join us for an evening when we discuss the pinkwashing* of Israel, and the fight by the people of Palestine against Israeli occupation.
For Further Information: email trdennels@att.net, jerimariel@yahoo.com or circlematt@gmail.com
No PRIDE IN APARTHEID brings together ideas about the ‘pinkwashing’ of Israel by many in the Gay and Lesbian community, and the Israeli government using LGBT people in the process, justice for the people of Palestine, the oppression of Palestinian queers by Israel, the boycott of Israel over human rights violations and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement.
A movie clip put together by members of QWB will be shown and a panel discussion will follow. Emcee for the evening will be Frank O’Gorman, of the Queer Liberation Front and People of Faith, Liz Aaronsohn of We Refuse to Be Enemies, Chris Hutchinson of Socialist Action, and Saffo Papantonopoulou who is involved with the BDS movement and the New School Students for Justice in Palestine.
Everyone is invited to join us for this important evening. There is no admission charge but donations from those who are able are gladly accepted.
Queers Without Borders is a radical group that defies spatial, physical, religious, gender, political and all other imposed boundaries. Their blog is found at http://www.queerswithoutborders.com/wordpress/.
Furbirdsqueerly is working on this event with QWB and ask all of our readers who are able to come out that evening to raise your voices high for Justice for Palestine. More info will be published here when it becomes available. For starters let’s get down with Lowkey Rap Song For Gaza. Long Live Palestine.
‘* the branding of Israel as a safe-haven for LGBTQ folks while simultaneously directing attention away to the heinous human rights abuses Israel is perpetrating against the indigenous people of Palestine including the brutal and illegal occupation.
For more info on the queer movement response to the ‘pinkwashing’ of Israel see: (more…)
