Undercurrents

It’s something I continue to not understand–planning protests and rallies (other than direct action) at places and times where a limited number of people will witness the action, placing the effectiveness of the message in the hands of a news media that isn’t interested in real news.

Word has it that this year’s Rose Parade might be disrupted by human rights and peace activists. This is not by any means a first, and yet it is an opportunity for protest that seems to be forgotten. For instance, there are several major events that are held in Hartford every year. I’m thinking of things like First Night, which attract thousands of people from the suburbs. Unlike a sporting event or concert, this sort of gathering has the potential to attract a more diverse crowd because there are more activities offered. For those not participating in First Night, there are going to be a lot of other people in the bars downtown. Chances are pretty good that the local news media is going to be out anyway.

The Veterans for Peace do something similar during Veterans’ Day parades. Any thoughts on why this is not happening on a larger scale?

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I put together some video from last night’s Hope Out Loud Coffeehouse at La Paloma Sabanera. Some of the A/V quality is not the greatest, but I think it’s still a nice testimonial to the musicians who have helped make La Paloma the best venue of the Coffeehouse yet.

Eric Paradine:

(more…)

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Tonight’s Hope Out Loud Coffeehouse will be the final one hosted at La Paloma Sabanera. The open mike begins around 7:30 and anybody wanting to speak out or perform is invited to participate. It’s not yet known where the open mike will be housed next, but we’ll keep you posted.

If you can’t make Hope Out Loud but still wish to say goodbye to La Paloma, you can stop by after 7pm on Saturday.

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President Bush may have condemned today’s assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, but his administration has done little to curb the corrupt rule of Pervez Musharraf. Bush and company are happy to keep friendly relations with Musharraf’s regime as an ally in the war on terrorism, despite what now is clearly a terror-inspired state where political opposition will be violently suppressed.  There have been reports that Bhutto feared assassination at the hands of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani counterpart to the CIA.  Now conveniently, al-Qaeda and/or other extranational extremists are blamed for the killing.  (more…)

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The white nationalist organization North East White Pride has announced that it plans to hold a meeting in Meriden, Connecticut on Saturday, January 12.

http://www.newp.org/bbs/index.php?topic=4729.0

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Spoken word artist MIRA will be heading to Ghana in April with Bright Star Vision, a locally grown organization concerned with helping residents of the village of Dalive. Among their many projects, Bright Star Vision has stocked a library and constructed water filters there. Currently, they are building a kindergarten.

To coincide with their upcoming trip, they are collecting items to send out on January 15th. If you would like to donate any of the following items, you can drop them off at My People Clinical Services on 151 New Park, Suite 15 F-K, or call 656-0450: books, sandals/flip-flops, and summer clothes.

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This morning a stick-figure drawing of a lynching was discovered in a CCSU men’s restroom. In a letter to students and faculty, CCSU President Jack Miller called the drawing a “racial insult” and said the incident would be treated as “a hate incident.” (more…)

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From Workers World:

New Orleans City Council incites brutal police attacks and tear-gassing of public housing tenants and their allies

Today, Dec. 20, in the City Council chambers in New Orleans, public housing tenants and their allies gathered to exercise their democratic right to speak against the vote to demolish their homes.

The city council’s response was to call in the city council security, the NOLA (New Orleans, LA) swat teams and police force to forcibly remove, arrest, beat, drag, brutalize and tear-gas those who wanted the to express their opposition to the loss of stable housing stock.

An elderly woman with a cane was seen being dragged across the city council parking lot by the police. Media persons, tenants and community supporters were tear-gassed at rapid fire by an over zealous NOLA woman cop as if she was on the battle field in Iraq.

[To see the video footage of cops using pepper spray and tasers to force back protesters, click here.]

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I like to bash the Courant as much as the next newspaper junkie. But I have to give them credit for running a series of weekly articles called Hartford Faces. Each week a different person is profiled, people who are taking matters into their own hands, making a stand, stirring things up, cultivating community in Hartford, a place that is often held up to the Big Apple and Beantown and found wanting. The Hartford Faces are not concerned with woulda, coulda, shoulda or wannabes. They’re making it happen here. The first person profiled was Dave Rozza of Food Not Bombs . This week it’s Julia Rosenblatt of Hartbeat Ensemble.

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We Beg Your Pardon Governor
(“re-mix” of Gil Scott-Heron’s We Beg Your Pardon America)

We beg your pardon Governor because the parole you took away this time, was not yours to take.

You call it due process yet some people were well overdue,
We beg your pardon Governor,
Somebody said “brother-man gonna break a window, gonna steal a hubcap, gonna smoke a joint, brother man gonna go to jail,”
The Governor who took away brother-mans rightly earned parole does so without any consequences,
“Get caught with a nickel bag brother-man, get caught with a nickel bag”, says the lady on your way to get your hair fixed,
“You’ll do Big Ben, and Big Ben is time,”
But the people who try to fix Connecticut do not talk to the families of those who did Big Ben and earned their right to parole. (more…)

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