43 Students that Do Not Want to Disappear

From by Simón Sedillo, El Enemigo Común

Ayotzinapa Presente. Photo by: Brenda Burgoa

The Mexican federal government has pronounced all missing 43 Ayotzinapa students dead. Parents and supporters continue to ignore any official declarations in the matter because the government only has DNA evidence proving the death of one student. Austrian experts have declared the supposed evidence used to declare the death of the remaining 42 inconclusive and impossible to work with.

The sad truth is that average everyday folks in the USA are just not paying attention.

The disappearance of 43 rural education students in Mexico has struck an international chord elsewhere however. “Disappearance” as a concept is a tough pill to swallow anywhere. When it comes to Latin America, disappearances are not just a painful past; they are an ever painful present, and an extremely terrorizing future.

Disappearances, in particular, state sponsored disappearances, are Latin America’s terrorism. The disproportionate number of acts of state sponsored terrorism against the general population versus acts committed by non state actors has rendered the entire Latin American consciousness immune to institutional declarations about law, order, justice, and, well, terrorism.

The 43 disappeared students are a real problem for the Mexican federal government.

They are not a problem because it is absolutely horrific that 43 students can “disappear” in 2014.

They are not a problem because the mayor’s wife of Iguala, Guerrero gave the order to “teach them a lesson.”

They are not a problem because there is evidence that local authorities, federal police, and the military itself have been implicated in the disappearance.

They are not a problem because one of the students cell phone tracking device led to a final destination in a military base in the state of Guerrero.

They are not a problem because now over 300 bodies have been recovered from mass graves in Iguala alone, 4 months into a citizen initiated search.

They are not a problem because over 25,000 people have disappeared in Mexico in the last 10 years.

The 43 disappeared students are a problem because the story has gained a tremendous amount of traction, not just in the mainstream media around the world, but in the consciousness of average everyday citizens all over Mexico.

The disappeared students are a problem because all official government declarations about the case have lost all credibility, unraveling pathetically on multiple occasions.

The disappeared students are a problem because since the disappearance, 8 massive marches have taken place in Mexico City despite an official ban on unpermitted marches.

The disappeared students are a problem because since the disappearance, the town hall in Iguala, the state government offices, state political party offices, and the front door of the nation’s capitol building have been set on fire by students, teachers, and average everyday Mexicans fed up with this reality.

The disappeared students are a problem because they overshadowed Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s visit to the United States.

The disappeared students are a problem for the Mexican federal government because they simply will not disappear.

Disappearances are acts of terror not intended for the disappeared.

Disappearances are acts of terror intended for those left behind. Disappearances are intended to terrorize entire communities, if not entire countries, into submission and into silence. Disappearances are about controlling entire populations with fear.

The problem with the 43 disappeared rural education students from Ayotzinapa is that what was actually disappeared is the fear used to control entire populations. The students’ parents have declared that voting in electoral politics in Mexico is the same thing as supporting the organized crime cartels the government accuses of committing this heinous crime.

Behind closed doors nothing has changed. The same cynical and criminal workings of a government which is capable of disappearing 25,000 people in 10 years are still functioning at full throttle. 43 students that simply will not disappear have done nothing to stop the corrupt narco-government responsible for tens of thousands of deaths over the last decade in a never-ending and hypocritical so called “drug” war.

Read the entire article here.

Sakej’s Reflections on Anti-Columbus Tour

Sakej will be speaking at Oakland’s Qilombo on Sunday, November 23rd at 6PM. For more details, go here.

Reposted from Native Youth Movement Warrior Society

First, I want to acknowledge the land of the Tongva and Chumash people that I visited. I also wish to thank the organizers who put this tour together and a special thanks to Joaquin Cienfuegos for his hard work, time and dedication to making the tour happen. Another special thanks to a close brother and sister, Hawk and Centzi, who helped organize the tour, housed us, coordinated activities, drove us around, showed us the area and cooked awesome meals for us. They are also a great example of Indigenous parents who are setting the example by teaching cultural based dance, committing to ensure the safety and healthy upbringing of their children, maintaining active lifestyles and avoiding the pressures of joining a gang life, which starts at such a young age. Their dedication, generosity and hospitality would make their ancestors proud.

The concept for the Anti-Columbus Speaking Tour followed the release of the video of the Mi’kmaq warrior tour. Suzanne Patles and Coady Stevens did a great job of speaking at Cheam Fist Nation, B.C. (as well as other places along their tour) where I had also presented on the purpose of the Indigenous warrior. Defining the warrior intrigued several people and groups who wanted to hear more about it so the tour was created.

The objective of the tour was to raise the awareness around the definition, purpose, role and responsibilities of a warrior in the southern California area.

The method used to raise awareness around warriors and warrior societies was a two pronged approach. The first was to conduct talks (teachings) about warriors. Each teaching was modified to fit that particular audience. The teaching would lead to questions, answers and more discussion.

The second approach was for activists group seeking skill building activities. These engagements were designed around warrior skill development after the warrior teachings. It was decided that the two key skill sets would be survival techniques and knife fighting.

Survival skills need to be interpreted as Indigenous cultural skills as they are skills that are needed to be out on the land and to live with the land. These are skills that have been appropriated by the colonizer and renamed “modern survival skills”. It is important to take these skills back if we truly want to revive our land-based culture…

Read the rest of the presentation here.

Mayan Q’eqchí Communities Violently Evicted in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala

From Upside Down World

Written By Jeff Abbott

The Q’eqchí Mayan communities along the River Dolores in the Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz have relied on the river’s waters for their fields, and their livelihoods for generations. But when the proposed construction of the Santa Rita dam down river threatened their land, the communities decided to resist the construction of the dam, and demand that the government of Guatemala respect their communities rights to their land and water; yet their resistance and defense of their land has been greatly challenged and dismantled by the Guatemalan state.

On the morning of August 14, well over 1,600 members of the Guatemalan National Police (PNC) and elements of the Guatemalan military arrived in the indigenous Q’eqchí communities along the Dolores River in Alta Verapaz to begin forcibly evicting the communities to make way for the construction of a hydro electrical project.

In the communities of Monte Olivio and 9^th de February, police burned houses and destroyed the property of the families; an action that echoes back to the scorched earth polices of Guatemala’s 36-year internal armed conflict. Hundreds of families were left internally displaced.

The evictions turned deadly in the local community of Semococh when the police shot and killed Luciano Can, 40, and Oscar Chen, 35, in confrontations during the eviction. A third man, Sebastian Rax, 22, was also shot by the PNC, and would later die in the hospital. Sixty others were injured, and 26 were arrested in the operation to evict the communities. READ IN FULL

Unist’ot’en Camp Evicted a Fracked Gas Pipeline Crew from their Territories

From Vice

The Unist’ot’en Camp, a pipeline blockade on unsurrendered indigenous land in the interior of BC, peacefully evicted a pipeline crew that was found trespassing in their territories earlier this week. The crew was conducting preliminary work for TransCanada’s Coastal GasLink pipeline project, which the company hopes will carry fracked gas from north eastern BC to Canada’s pacific coast.

Where the eviction took place, multiple fracked gas and tar sands pipelines have been planned without consent from the Unist’ot’en clan. The clan has never surrendered their lands, signed treaties, or lost in war to Canada or BC. Under a system of governance that predates Canada by thousands of years, the Unist’ot’en have taken an uncompromising stance: All pipelines are banned from their territories.

[video] Fear of a Black Nation: Black Radicalism in Canada

Watch Video Here: Black Radicalism in Canada

About the video:

Racial conflict and the Black Power movement of the 1960s have long been seen as American phenomena, but in 1968, Montreal’s black activists rose up in protest against racial discrimination and exclusion. Their struggle is documented in David Austin’s book “Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex and Security in Sixties Montreal. ” David Austin sits down with Piya Chattopadhyay for a feature interview on Canada’s history of black radicalism.

 

Report Back: Anti-Fascist/Imperialist Action in Murrieta, CA in support of Migrant Children Refugees

Originally Posted on Potentiality and Other Musings /  Anti Delusions

FIRSTLY– Friday July4 was a really important day and a strong convergence of indigenous, undocumented and anti – colonialist anti- fascist action on #farceofjuly against the reactionary racists holding down Murrieta. The Danzas called upon a strong spirit to hold that space and i think that is what moved a lot of the rightwingers down the road (though they were worried the bus would come in from the other direction). 

It’s important we got out there and got more information on what the conspiracy is between the police, border patrol and the anti immigrant protesters (as if they are any different). After going down the street to take pictures of the right wing reactionaries, a right winger punched someone who was with us. The police intervened and began to use excessive force on the people targeted by the right-wing. As we tried to leave the area, more police arrived and began brutalizing our group instead of holding accountable the right wingers (big surprise here..). We were assaulted by police, then charged with assault and Lynching. One comrade was arrested and charged with a felony, even though they were far from the conflict but were filming the brutality and excessive force of the police. His phone was confiscated. It appears we will be facing multiple felonies, if anyone in the So Cal areas knows of any legal support help or suggestions please email me at artofexisting@gmail.com.

Rights Versus Responsibility [Video ft Toghestiy and Mel Bazil]

A short film featuring Toghestiy and Mel Bazil. Filmed on stolen Gixtsan and Wet’suwet’en territories.
Learn more about their project at unistotencamp.com

Rights Versus Responsibility from BeyondBoarding on Vimeo.

Is This Shirt ‘Racist’? A Tribe Called Red Threatened With Boycott

 Originally Posted In:

Ian Campeau, better known as Deejay NDN of A Tribe Called Red, is an outspoken cultural critic, both as official mouthpiece of the DJ trio and a twitter provocateur. Campeau was instrumental in getting the Nepean Redskins football club to change its name (they’re now the Nepean Eagles), and sports mascots is one of his favorite topics to discuss.

It has to be a sign that you’re being heard when an irony-impaired curmudgeon calls for a boycott.

In a recent Instagram post, Campeau shared a note apparently written to the organizers of Westfest, a music and arts festival taking place June 13-15 in Ottawa’s Westboro Village. A Tribe Called Red is scheduled to play the final concert Sunday night.

“So we’re supposed to play Westfest next Sunday,” Campeau wrote. “The organizers have been receiving thinly-veiled threatening emails in protest to me performing. Here’s one of them. This is my hometown. So disappointing.”

 

Comprehensive Immigration Reform is Anti-Immigrant & Anti-Indigenous

Posted In Infoshop News

By Franco Habre and Mari Garza

Comprehensive Immigration Reform is inherently anti-immigrant.  It is presented as a “path to citizenship” and as a temporary solution to halting the incarceration/deportation of some migrants, but it is actually an attack in disguise.  The reform package known as Senate Bill S.744 is a blatant plot to further immobilize, mold, and reduce the lives of migrants.  Comprehensive Immigration Reform, otherwise known as “CIR”, is not about restoring the dignity and human rights of migrants.  It is, however, an opportunity to reinforce white supremacy, the rule of law; racist/imperial borders; free trade and exploitable labor from the global south, and will further invisibilize the existence of Indigenous/First Nations peoples living in and around the so-called US/Mexico border, which at the time of its creation, bisected the homelands of four Indigenous tribes.

The title of Senate Bill S.744 is, “The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act”.  The title makes it easy to infer the priority of the bill–border security. The policing/surveillance of the 1,933-mile colonial boundary called the US/Mexico border has grown exponentially in the last decade.  Communities along this border have experienced the unrelenting infestation of increasingly abusive Border Patrol agents, aerial drones, in-land weaponized checkpoints during daily routines in their own neighborhoods, and increased freight traffic.  In addition, despite the increased border security, people still die in the deserts of the border region, those migrating north from Mexico and Central America to flee economic and/or political injustice.  This bill will continue to limit the freedom of movement for Indigenous peoples as the bill contains provisions for increased militarization of their homelands, and will thus continue shifting border crossers through the perilous deserts of  Lipan Apache, Kickapoo, Tohono O’odham, and Yaqui homelands.

[Video/Tour Dates] Warrior Hip-Hop West Coast Tour: Building A Culture of Resistance

From Warrior Hip-Hop West Coast Tour – Donate: Here

Turtle Island

[Watch More Videos From Performers Here]

Zro Prophet of X Vandals  * Savage Family * Alas * Shining Soul

Welcome to the Warrior Hip-Hop Tour fundraising page! The purpose of this tour is to begin to build a culture of resistance through hip hop and art, and to inspire and educate others through hip hop all throughout Turtle Island. 

This tour is bringing together conscious rebel artists from areas now known as new york, washington, arizona and southern cali. There will be tour stops at reservations and illegally occupied cities up and down the West Coast. We are taking our music to the communities where it is most sought after.  We are definitely not going on this tour to get rich, but we would like to accomplish this without going into debt. If you are able to contribute to this crowd-funding initiative, we would like your help to bring our message of strength and dignity to communities that are underprivileged and ignored.