This is a three-minute audio vignette about the New York Times Special Edition. On the morning of the action, I followed a Brooklyn couple, Michelle and Maikel, as they spread the good news of the war’s end to perplexed New Yorkers.

The music clip is from Podington Bear.

The very fact that the states in the U.S. continue to execute anyone, even if they are “guilty,” is deplorable. The justice system’s propensity to convict and sentence indigent people, black men in particular, is a practice that must end now. Every citizen deserves a fair trial, no matter what his or her race or economic status.

Yet, this injustice is not new. It has historical ties going back to the institution of slavery, the post-Bellum oppression of black communities and the thousands of lynchings of the early 20th century. This makes the execution of a black man in Georgia even more disparaging.

I beg you, the men and women of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to take the higher moral ground and reconsider the case of Troy Davis.

Think of the consequences of executing an innocent man. It would be tragic and prove that justice is not blind.

Think of the implications of executing a ‘guilty’ man. Execution is not a proven deterrent of crime. To the contrary, it demonstrates that the so-called correctional system is punitive and does nothing to ‘correct’ or help those who are warehoused in prisons across this nation.

Sincerely,

Fivel Rothberg

Take action at http://www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis

The animation was made in about two days because it needed to be ready for a NYC City Council hearing about the above issue.

The Spanish/English text freely mixed sports analogy with movement building and generally avoided staid Leftist jargon. It begins with an intro that gives some background into the Z’s motives for the Other Campaign. Then it goes on to reprint the Sixth Declaration itself as well as an interview with Subcomandante Marcos, or Delegate Zero as he was known during La Otra.

The essential point of the book is that the Zapatistas are fed up with trying to work with an absolutely corrupt system and with corrupt individuals in and around that system. With that in mind, they are committed to social change that is built from the “bottom up.” They change they make will be their own. It will be free of the trickery that the leading political parties embody. They will not bow down to the military or threats of violence. And just as importantly, they will not bow down to the capitalist, neo-liberal machine that gobbles everything in its path.

The patience of the Z’s is truly impressive. They are clearly in it for the long haul. La Otra was very much about listening to their compañeros in the struggle, finding out what people are doing in various parts of Latin America, hearing about their successes, failures, needs, tactics, wants, aspirations, etc… Not to mention the fact that the Sixth Declaration pays its respects to the numerous people who have left their families to work in the belly of the beast up north.

As for the book itself, I wouldn’t recommend it as a primer on the Zapatistas because there is not that much background info. But it’s a good ‘update’ as to what the Z’s are working on. As they put it in the book they “learned to learn” over their years of perseverance.

I went to an interesting talk with Mohamad Bazzi at Hunter College today.  According to thenation.com he “was Newsday’s Middle East bureau chief for four years” and ‘is currently the Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.”He’s won some pretty impressive awards, including: a 2003 Silver Medal from the UN Correspondents Association for his coverage of the UN, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Print Reporting on South Asia for his coverage of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the 2002 Newsday Publisher’s Award for Specialist Writing for his reporting on militant Islam, and the 2001 Young Reporter of the Year Award from the New York Press Club for his coverage of the Syrian president’s death. Essentially he talked about a his coverage of the Iraq war and conflict, as well as his other Middle East reporting.  One major thing that he brought up is how the market economy, newspapers concern for the bottom line, is now hurting the quality and quantity of international reporting.  Papers like the Philadelphia Inquirer used to have their own foreign correspondents, that might cover Iraq or the current situation in Pakistan for instance.  But covering forgeign news is expensive and it is most cost effective to reprint articles by newswire services like AP and Reuters.  This, in turn, vastly reduces the range of perspectives and greatly reduces the depth of coverage that is available to the majority of readers.  Oh, and I got interviewed by The Word, a Hunter student-produced online newspaper.  We’ll see if it makes it to their site. Here is an interview with Bazzi on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman.  The Nation has a number of his articles in their site here.

On Saturday, November 10th, members of Local One, the Broadway Stagehands went on strike.  That makes two significant simultaneous strikes in NYC’s entertainment world.  Again, a vast majority of the Local One Stagehands are white.  In this case they may be working class, yet I have a feeling that it is a fairly closed shop, so to speak.  Every time I’ve passed by the theatre district and watch stagehands run around they have all been white males.

Coincidence? I doubt it.

Where were these union members when the Taxi Workers Alliance went on strike against the City’s unfair, forced GPS and credit card installments into their cabs???  It gets me really pissed that these workers want others to by sympathetic to their cause when they’ve done jack shit for their fellow unions. Think about what those Hollywood writers do.  They’re the ones who write a great deal of the asinine, racist material that graces our TV screens.  They write the crap soap operas, late night comedies and über racist programs like Anderson Cooper 360.*

Meanwhile, cabbies live off of $60 a day or less.  Straight-up poverty wages, especially in this expensive city.  They have to work 12 hour shifts just to make sure they earn back the money they have to spend for the cab rental and gasoline.  On top of that many cabbies work 6 or 7 days a week to stay afloat.   A vast majority of them do not have health insurance for themselves or their families.   Then, the city forces cabbies to have faulty GPS and credit card systems in their vehicles which makes their jobs harder, not easier like the TLC and Mayor Bloomberg would like us to think.

So, where was Local One when the cabbies went on strike?  What were members of the WGA writing about cabbies when they were striking?  Were they making fun of taxi drivers who don’t look or talk like them?

Guess I’ll see if I can get a refund for those Les Mis tickets.   ; – p

*Does anyone else remember a giant billboard on the west side highway that showed a very white Anderson Cooper leading some very black men.  he looked like a journalistic version of Indiana Jones.

her show today, like many of the past, was about the rampant violence that is currently taking place in Philadelphia.  her guest, at least for the part i listened to, was Elmer Smith a columnist for the Daily News. not long after tuning into the show a man, white, probably middle class, from outside of Philadelphia – Feasterville i think – brought up “civil rights.” he started out saying, “we need to decide whose civil rights are more important.  that of law abiding citizens or that of criminals who are carrying guns.  those people should be taken off the street and thrown in prison.  there are laws for that kind of thing and they shouldn’t get off easy like they are now. they come right out of prison and cause more crimes.”  as i was just about to put my fist through the radio, fantasizing about strangulating this racist, backward, pig-fuck caller, Elmer Smith spoke up and talked about how it is pretty evident that folks in north Philly and the like where these crimes are currently being committed, where the murder rate is highest are not in favor of tougher gun laws necessarily because it is their community that is so often subject to civil rights abuse by the police.  it is their men who are being “thrown in prison.”  he then went on to talk about the current police commissioner, Sylvester Johnson, and how he was being criticized for not taking a harder stance.  apparently Johnson had the gall to say that it takes more than policing to turn things around, from employment to education to community participation  god forbid a man of the law speak a tiny bit of sense.  smith rightly noted that many people come to expect a foaming at the mouth tough on crime commissioner, that “people from dog catchers to mayors have run utilizing the tough on crime” rhetoric popularized by fascists like Giuliani. *

if we are going to imprison black men for bullshit petty crimes, for turning to violence out of frustration, out of the insanity that poverty and oppression cause, why can’t we imprison this country’s leadership for crimes against humanity?  for invading a sovereign nation?  for lying to the public? for supporting and carrying out torture?  for advocating human rights abuses?  “what is the difference?!!”  i felt like shouting at Marty.  You stupid fuckwad, you don’t want to connect the dots, do you?  is that why you fling such bullshit softball questions at guests?  is that why, like so many other media outlets you barely scratch the surface?  because i can believe that if someone brought up the larger issues on air you would dissuade them and ‘bring them back to the issue at hand,’ as it were.  ARGGGHHH!!!

* for more on Giuliani as fascist see Kevin Keating’s documentary film “Giuliani Time.”

UNITE HERE and CUPE joined forces on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 to march against poverty and draw attention to the twenty locked-out workers of Toronto’s Holiday Inn on King Street. This video contains photos from the rally and a short interview with one of the locked out hotel workers.

after checking out a few more galleries i started to head back to the sheraton and happened to pass a dozen people marching back and forth in front of a Holiday Inn on King St. As they were wearing UNITE HERE placards i swung over to see what was up. * They said they were there b/c twenty workers were locked-out of the hotel (put on temporary leave) for three consecutive weeks after pushing for better working conditions and wages. they asked me to come back the next day, wednesday, to catch the larger demonstration.

i returned at noon on wednesday, oct. 17th, and witnessed a pretty amazing rally and march from Metro Hall on John St. to the Holiday Inn on King. one significant observation was that, compared to my experiences in Philly and New York, there was barely a police presence. No cops in riot gear, no 50 squad cars and sirens blaring. i’m sure there could have been some cops undercover though. the rally was also distinct as there was a heavier focus on conquering poverty in general and standing in solidarity w/ non-industrialized nations besides addressing the union members’ own needs. according to the Hotel Workers Rising website some 2000 people participated in the march and demonstration. It was really cool to see all of the CUPE members out supporting UNITE HERE.

i took the opportunity to record a bit of the rally and march on my digital camera and get an interview w/ John Sultana, a locked out union worker.

check out the slideshow w/ interview and the brief footage of a hotel worker speaking at the rally.

* back in Philly the Media Mobilizing Project is working in collaboration with UNITE HERE and the Hotel Workers Rising Campaign.