Saturday, July 9th, 2005

Deconstructing Live 8

Last weekend’s Live 8 concerts–which provided images of people around the world gathering to support the cancellation of debt to some African nations–had a visceral effect on me.

In a world in which the primary trend is toward atomization and isolation, to absorb you into capital’s matrix and then reduce you to the sum of the niche markets you buy into, the sight of so many gathered for a worthy cause provided a kind of comfort: “you’re not the only one, there are millions who also believe”.

This is the power of the (capital C, capital M) Cultural Moment, something that marshalls contradictory currents into a something that feels like a surge from the depths.

So it’s important to separate the supposed leadership from those supposedly being led. Often times, the potential in any moment doesn’t lie in what was officially said and done, but in how the heart may have been moved.

To that end, here’s one powerful critique of Sir Bob Geldof and Bono Vox from the critical-minded folks at Rock Rap Confidential on the events of this past week…Your comments are most welcome:

HOW TO DISMANTLE A TICKING TIMEBOMB…

A few days after the July 2 concerts, Live8 organizers Bob Geldof and Bono traveled to the G8 summit of the world’s leading capitalist nations in Edinburgh. They went at the express invitation of British prime minister Tony Blair to discuss the African “debt relief” package promoted by Live8. To the best of our knowledge, Bono and Geldof went into the meetings unaccompanied by a single African or a single poor person of any nation. None of the G8 nations is African. None of the leaders who gathered in Edinburgh is poor.

What could G8 leaders have discussed with this pair? Bono and Geldof can’t possibly believe that Blair, Bush and the rest don’t know the facts—that 35,000 children starved to death worldwide on July 2 and every day afterward. They know because these kids die as a direct result of the policies of the G8 nations, including the massive debts with which poor nations are saddled under the guise of “foreign aid.”

Bono and Geldof asked the G8 nations to cut in half the debt carried by poor African nations. But if you only have a quarter in your pocket and I say you owe me $50,000,000, what difference does it make if I decide you only owe me $25,000,000? They also asked the G8 countries to double the value of relief sent to Africa–even though they must know that aid comes with “austerity” requirements that further ruin the lives of the poor and that the nature of that aid makes it easy for corrupt rulers to siphon it off.

All of the G8 nations have large-scale domestic poverty problems of their own, although not as glaring as the catastrophic situation in Russia. The disintegration of living standards in the former Soviet Union has been accelerated by the guidance of Bono’s good friend, Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs, to whom the U2 frontman dedicated a song at their recent Madison Square Garden concert. None of the G8 governments is even slightly inclined to end poverty among their own citizens: Bush recently signed a law that prevents heavily indebted Americans from seeking bankruptcy relief. Why do Bono and Geldof believe that these men will listen?

Because the Live8 leaders don’t say anything the G8 bosses don’t want to hear. Bono and Geldof’s “debt relief” schemes do nothing to restore any of what has been stolen from poor countries. The poor are not empowered. And, true to their allegiance to the likes of Sachs, the only proposal to end poverty put forward by Live8 leaders is that G8 staple, “free trade.”

Live8 also did the G8 leaders a huge favor. Gatherings of the powerful are haunted by the specter of the 1999 World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, where tens of thousands marched and rioted to protest “free trade” policies and their consequences. By diverting millions of people with fairytale “solutions,” Live8 helped keep the lid on in Edinburgh.

What’s in it for Geldof, Bono, and the other rock stars? For Geldof, a knighthood and now, a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. For Bono, further confirmation of his own righteousness. For the rest, not much.

The Live8 leaders seduce rockers and their audiences by making this claim: We must deal with the world as it is. In that world, only the powerful can make change and the only way to get the powerful to listen is to treat them kindly. The first assumption begs the question, since the nature of the world is very different for even a one-hit wonder than it is for a homeless person or a peasant farmer. The historical evidence for the second two assumptions is nonexistent.

Geldof compares the movement he hopes to create to those led by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela. But none of those movements sent “representatives” on bended knee to ask the rulers to yield. All of them activated the energy and vision of the people affected by the policies of those rulers. All of them grew strong precisely to the degree that they allowed the disenfranchised to speak for themselves.

There is no evidence that Geldof, Bono or any of the Live8 leaders from the non-governmental aid organizations reached their conclusions about what Africa needs by consulting poor Africans. Geldof dismisses as “ineffective” all those who criticize him, claiming that they’ve done nothing because, after all, there’s nothing else to do. This is also Bono’s justification for working with Bush cabinet members, the most right-wing members of the American Congress (most notoriously, Jesse Helms), and even his little-noted support for anti-Semite evangelist Billy Graham.

Don’t believe the hype: There is something else to do. Rock stars and their audiences can align themselves with movements led by the poor themselves. There is no nation affected by the G8 policies that lacks such a movement. Some musicians–Steve Earle, rapper Immortal Technique, Tom Morello, and Bruce Springsteen in the U.S., Thomas Mapfumo in Zimbabwe–have lent effective aid to such movements. The results aren’t sent out by satellite TV, but the leaders of those movements regularly attest to them and are eager for more involvement by musicians.

Rock stars can do a lot to help organizations of the poor: gaining publicity, making connections across state and national borders, raising funds. Instead, we are confronted with the ridiculous spectacle in which RRC, a newsletter for God’s sake, is in touch with more poor people than all of the Live8 artists and organizations combined. These range from the MST, Brazil’s huge movement of the landless, to the hardy band of sick and disabled TennCare recipients who, at press time, were in the second week of a sit-in at the office of the governor of Tennessee.

We would love to correct this imbalance–we urge artists who want to be part of helping the poor end poverty to contact us at rockrap@aol.com or 310-398-4477. Operators are standing by.

posted by @ 9:50 am | 1 Comment

Friday, July 8th, 2005

‘Tsunami Song’ Producer Starts New Job In Bay Area

Weeks ago, Gerald of the REACHip-Hop Coalition let us know that San Francisco station WILD 94.9 had hired Rick Delgado, the producer behind the infamous “Tsunami Song” that aired on Hot 97, spawned a worldwide protest, and led to a new wave of hip-hop media justice organizing.

Brad Kava of the San Jose Mercury News writes about Delgado’s hiring here and here. Clear Channel supervisors say they will be keeping Delgado on a short leash, and local Asian American activists have already begun to monitor the morning show.

posted by @ 4:03 pm | 0 Comments

Friday, July 8th, 2005

Don’t Miss These Events

This weekend in Chicago…

A DISCUSSION ON RACE AND HIP-HOP

July 9, 1pm @ Betty Shabazz School
7823 South Ellis, Chi-City

with authors and activists
Raquel Z. Rivera: New York Ricans From the Hip-Hop Zone
William ‘Upski’ Wimsatt :Bomb The Suburbs, No More Prisons.
Oliver Wang: Classic Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide
Ernie Paniccioli: Who Shot Ya?
Bakari Kitwana: Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop: Wankstas,
Wiggers, Wannabes and the New Reality of Race in America

Moderated by Amina Norman Hawkins, Chi Hip Hop Initiative
and poetry by Kevin Coval

For Further information call 773-651-0700.

And next month in Philadelphia…

“THE STATE OF BLACK-ASIAN RELATIONS:
INTERROGATING BLACK-ASIAN COALITION 50 YEARS AFTER BANDUNG”

Tuesday, August 2 from 6:30pm-9:30pm

Complete info is here.

AFSC Friends Center, 1515 Cherry Street/Philadelphia (Rufus Jones Room)

In April of 1955, 29 African and Asian nations came together in Bandung, Indonesia for the Asian-African Conference to promote economic and cultural cooperation and oppose colonialism. More popularly referred to as “Bandung,” this gathering was historic because it brought together newly independent colored nations and posed a challenge to western and white dominance. It is believed that the notion of the “third world” emerged from Bandung to demonstrate a rejection of both the west and ideologies associated with it. Bandung has been celebrated and referenced by many activists and intellectuals including W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, Richard Wright, Malcolm X, Yuri Kochiyama, Vijay Prashad, Robin Kelley, and Makani Themba-Nixon.

Today, calls for coalition between Blacks and Asian American are common and therefore rarely interrogated. But since Bandung, the world has changed somewhat, with the Asian population in the US growing rapidly through immigration. Today, Asian Americans have more wealth and education than Blacks and are also less residentially segregated. Since the 1992 LA Riot, the call to “go beyond Black and white” has gained more political momentum among both the left and right. Blacks have been charged with anti-Asian racism, including the murders of Chinese food delivery workers, Shaq versus Yao and the Hot 97 “Tsunami Song.” Today we also have Asian Americans opposing affirmative action, generating wealth from owning businesses in Black neighborhoods, creating the board game “Ghettopoly” and using Black cultural and political expressions to critique African Americans.

Thus, fifty years later, we seek to explore the possibilities and reality of Black-Asian relations in the US. Join us in Philly as Black and Asian American activists come together to discuss tensions between Blacks and Asians, what we see as the roots of conflicts, how this informs our activist projects, and whether coalition is viable between our communities. Panelists will draw from their activist experiences, which includes international solidarity work, educational justice, immigrant rights organizing, non-profit funding analysis, anti-gentrification projects, queer justice, and anti-police violence work. We hope you join us as we convene a panel and community dialogue that honestly explores the state of Black-Asian relations today and whether solidarity is really possible.

Sponsored by the Third World Coalition of the American Friends Service Committee

Free and open to the public

Panelists will include:

Rodney Camarce
Nijmie Dzurinko
Kenyon Farrow
Helen Gym
Tiffany King
Tamara K. Nopper
Ewuare Osayande

Moderated by Darryl Jordan, Director of the Third World Coalition of AFSC

For further information, please contact Tamara K. Nopper at tnopper@yahoo.com

posted by @ 4:01 pm | 1 Comment

Thursday, July 7th, 2005

Live From Iraq and London and…

Here’s my review of Live From Iraq in SPIN this month. Check Big Neal’s website here. (Buy the mag and get a bonus sidebar interview with him.)

BTW Gunner Palace is now out on DVD. Both these works are very very important.

Peace to London.

posted by @ 11:54 am | 0 Comments

Wednesday, July 6th, 2005

Biggie Case Declared A Mistrial

Straight from the wires:

+ LA Times

+ AP Wire

This from the wires:

There were only three days of testimony in the trial, which began June 21 but was interrupted when an anonymous tip led to the discovery of large numbers of LAPD documents that hadn’t been turned over to attorneys for the rap star’s family…

Family attorney Perry Sanders Jr. said the family – including Wallace’s mother Voletta and widow R&B singer Faith Evans – didn’t want to have to go through another trial but would do so. He said the case would now delve into a corruption scandal in the LAPD’s Rampart division dating to the 1990s.

“We’re about to get to the bottom of Rampart,” Sanders said. “We’re about to peel the onion back to its rotten core.”

Perez was a central figure in the scandal, which involved alleged misconduct or brutality by corrupt officers in an anti-gang unit at Rampart. More than 100 criminal convictions possibly tainted by police misconduct were reversed. Perez alleged wrongdoing by others after he was found to have stolen cocaine from an evidence room.

Perez was the focus of most of the recently discovered documents, which had been sitting in an LAPD detective’s desk drawer until last month. The detective said he forgot about them, a claim the judge called “absolutely incredible” during Tuesday’s hearing.

The plaintiffs filed a motion Tuesday seeking a mistrial based on what they claimed was deliberate concealment of evidence and on the need for time to further investigate Perez.

The court did not immediately make the mistrial ruling public. A written ruling will be issued Thursday, the judge’s clerk said in confirming the mistrial.

For more background on the hidden documents, check this:

+ New York Daily News

As my man Cheo says, it’s about to get really deep.

posted by @ 4:30 pm | 0 Comments

Wednesday, July 6th, 2005

LB Rocks The Bay, Joe Morgan vs. Moneyball, E-A-Ski: A Good Week For Bay Alt-Press

Really, a great week…

+ Lyrics Born graces the cover of the East Bay Express.

+ The San Francisco Weekly asks: Why is Joe Morgan such an A’s hater?

+ E-A-Ski, more New Bay, and the Brazilian post-punk in the Bay Guardian.

Of course, behind the scenes, it’s not all love, just shitty monopoly media politics. Clear Channel and the New Times, owner of the East Bay Express and the SF Weekly, have cut a deal to isolate the Bay Guardian. See the article below…

As the three covers this week illustrate, competition is good. If the editorial staff are being inspired to new heights, the suits at New Times or Clear Channel, clearly, don’t believe in good old competition.

The Bay Guardian has filed suit against New Times for predatory pricing, charging that SF Weekly and the East Bay Express are selling ads below coast in an effort to drive the Bay Guardian out of business.

‘SF Weekly’ cuts deal with Clear Channel
Two anticompetitive chains seek to dominate concert ads
By Tim Redmond and Kimberly Chun

New Times, which owns SF Weekly and East Bay Express, has cut a deal with Clear Channel, the giant entertainment conglomerate, that could shut other print media, including the Bay Guardian, out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in concert advertising, representatives of Bill Graham Presents, a Clear Channel subsidiary, told Bay Guardian ad sales staffers June 23.

Under the terms of the deal, New Times will pay Clear Channel a sum in the high six figures for naming rights to the Warfield Theatre, which for the next three years will become the SF Weekly Warfield, BGP representatives said.

In exchange, Clear Channel will spend so much money on advertising in the Weekly and Express that there will be little or no money left for competing print media.

In effect, one of the nation’s largest media oligopolies has joined forces with the nation’s largest alternative weekly chain to squeeze out an independently owned competitor.

“It’s bad,” Jeff Perlstein, executive director of Media Alliance, told us. “As all these dark tentacles become entwined, it gets more and more serious as a threat to independent media.”

Nobody at New Times, SF Weekly, or Clear Channel would return our calls seeking comment. But a press release sent out June 27 from SF Weekly and BGP described the naming-rights deal and stated that SF Weekly and BGP “will collaborate across business fronts.”

The press release never mentions New Times or Clear Channel and presents the deal as if it were just a friendly agreement between local companies.

The BGP staffers who informed the Bay Guardian’s entertainment account manager, Adam Shandobil, and marketing manager, Warren Spicer, of the deal said it was effective immediately. And in fact, BGP has pulled all of its ads from the Bay Guardian this week.

BGP presents concerts and events at the Fillmore, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Chronicle Pavilion, Punch Line, and Mountain Winery in the Bay Area, and at Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Marysville, among other venues, and ads from all of these are affected by the deal.

Media observers we contacted said they’d never heard of a similar deal – but the arrangement comes as little surprise. Clear Channel, which owns 7 local radio stations and more than 1,200 nationwide, is known around the country for its savage, anticompetitive policies and its attempts to establish hegemony in entertainment markets (see “Clear and Present Danger,” 4/24/2002). New Times, which owns 11 alt-weeklies, has become an icon of cutthroat, anticompetitive behavior in the alternative press (see “The Predatory Chain,” 6/27/2002).

In the 1990s Clear Channel developed an aggressive strategy of buying up not only local radio stations but billboard companies and concert and sports promoters. The idea, as the Wall Street Journal reported June 24, was that “Clear Channel figured its radio stations and billboards could shill upcoming concerts, and performers would gravitate to its venues for the extra marketing. The radio stations would push concert offerings in each market.”

But it hasn’t worked out that well. “Instead,” the Journal noted, “the combination irked music fans, record labels, and artists, who complained that Clear Channel used its might to punish artists who didn’t play by its rules and contributed to the sharp rise in ticket prices at venues it controls.”

That’s why Clear Channel recently announced plans to spin off its concert business as a new subsidiary.

The media company has also been accused of censorship. The day after the Sept. 11 attacks, Clear Channel issued a list of songs that its stations were advised not to play, including John Lennon’s “Imagine” and anything by Rage Against the Machine. Shortly after Clear Channel bought Bay Area radio station KMEL, the station fired producer David “Davey D” Cook, who had dared to air a show about Rep. Barbara Lee’s objections to the invasion of Afghanistan. The corporation has close links to the Bush administration, and in 2003 Clear Channel stations sponsored rallies supporting the administration’s war in Iraq.

These are the people SF Weekly is getting into bed with.

New Times and Clear Channel have at least one thing in common: They hate competition. In October 2002 New Times cut a deal with Village Voice Media in which the two chains agreed to end competition in Los Angeles and Cleveland by shutting down a pair of alternative papers. New Times closed its LA paper and secured the Cleveland market for itself; VVM reciprocated by shutting down its Cleveland operation. The US Justice Department declared the deal illegal (see “New Times Nailed,” 1/21/03).

Sherry Wasserman, a senior official at Another Planet, a BGP competitor, said the deal sounded highly unusual. “Look at the Chronicle Pavilion, which still advertises in the Contra Costa Times and every other place,” she said.

Guy Carson, owner of Café du Nord, said the arrangement might have a negative affect on the local music scene. “Obviously this has big implications,” he told us. “To the extent that it hurts the Bay Guardian and [the] Chronicle, it’s going to hurt the local scene.

“Maybe,” he added, “SF is not immune to general homogenization.”

posted by @ 3:30 pm | 0 Comments

Wednesday, July 6th, 2005

Davey D at the G8

Hip-hop journalism in full effect at the G8. Check here.

posted by @ 9:44 am | 0 Comments



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