We at RAIM like trouble-making punk kids. You know, the kind that piss off Cracker invaders who talk shit in the Mexican homeland. Below are some of our favorites.
Some 5 year olds sticking it to some Cracker-ass Minutemen:
A couple of kids stand up to adult Cracker threats:
Remember, the children are our future.
Yes, we get comments. Some we don’t post simply because the troglodytes that write them are altogether dumb as a fucking brick and to post them wastes precious space on the internet. However on occasion, we get some whoppers from Amerika’s proud White Proletariat. Therefore, in the spirit of free speech, we’d like to share some of them with you:
“Ronnie” said in response to: “Obama Shocks Arab World, Touts Imperialist Credentials“
The article is jewish bullshit.
Due to total jewish US mainstream media control,
Obama had to deliver this lip service before the
AIPAC. Eating crow and assuring everyone what
they want to hear is part of the election process
and does not mean anything.
“Mike” said in response to: “Why We Say… Fuck the Troops!”
Just stumbled across this website. I assume this is some sort of nigger run site, where you pretend that you’re real human beings, and not human/chimpanzee missing links, which you are, of course. Have a banana and carry on. Try not to eat each other, ok?
“Mike” also said in response to: “Yippie: A Blast from the Past!“
Ah, yeah, that Jew-boy Rubin. Did you know that you’re sorry nigger asses were brought over to America on Jewish-owned slaves ships? Jews have such love for the “schvartzes,” don’t they? Come to think of it, everybody; Whites, Jews, Asians, Hispanics; they all hate you.
No matter what, you blacks always end up at the bottom of the pile. Affirmative action and welfare, and you still can’t get your sorry black asses together.
Hey, I’m all for Black Nationalism, You chimps can go back to Africa and leave the humans alone. Just think, you could fuck monkeys, cannibalize and eat each other, put ashtrays in your lower lips, do voodoo magic to your hearts content, and do whatever it is you do in your natural state, to your hearts content!
Just think of the “black utopia” you could create! Tin shacks, starvation, murder and rape! It’s a “black paradise!”
US Marine said on: “Why We Say… Fuck the Troops!”
Fuck it throw a couple Flash Bangs out the window at those little fuckers. Or throw some Sting Gernades… That will stop the fuckers.
And finally, Fuckyou, responding to the same post said,
You call that a beating? I actually fapped while watching that. They deserved way worse you cunt.
Enlightening indeed.
Liberals, even some calling themselves ’revolutionaries,’ have a chronically false ideal of Amerika. Instead of seeing historical injustices carried out by Amerika as part of its overall development, liberals see such things as disconnected aberrations which can be resolved through in a piecemeal fashion through progressive determination. They see Amerika, though flawed, as an unfinished experiment in freedom and democracy.
Revolutionaries see Amerika as a product of unending injustices carried out upon oppressed peoples. Revolutionaries see Amerika and all the decadent elements which constitute it as something that needs to be destroyed as part of the global struggle to build a better world. While revolutionaries hate Amerika, liberals love Amerika: they are always trying to save it, to reform it, to make it realize its so-called historic potential.
To this end, an Obama presidency marks a major step. White liberals are projecting their own hopes and aspirations regarding Amerika onto Obama. Having a Black man lead a nation founded on the slavery of Blacks is for many a confirmation that Amerika is still the land of hope. An Obama presidency represents evidence that even into the 21st century, Amerika is still becoming a better, more perfect democracy. Because of this, the historical narratives spun around Obama are endless. For much of Amerika, Obama is a near-messianic figure.
Within the liberal paradigm, by electing Obama, Amerika can go from a country shamed by the Bush administration to one reformed, made better. An Obama presidency proves that Amerikan democracy works. Amerika can arrive as a more pluralistic open society whose legitimacy as the leader of the world is reaffirmed. An Obama presidency represents the continuation of Amerikan supremacy without Bush’s overtly hee-haw element. Obama represents a form of imperialism which liberal Amerikans can be proud of.
But liberal love-amerika types are not the only force driving the Obama campaign. Within the imperialist camp, many view the overly belligerent Bush administration as a disaster. Over the last 8 years, Amerika’s actions have rightly inspired hate and resistance the world over.
Loosing the iron fist and taking up the velvet glove is understood by many to be a more effective approach to imperialism. Within much of the imperialist camp, a popular Obama presidency is seen as more conducive to their own long term interests. Obama is seen as a figure who can recover what power Amerika has lost over the last 8 years.
Obama, and the forces behind him, are not revolutionaries. They are not trying to end Amerikan imperialism. Rather, for those who benefit from imperialist exploitation, Obama is seen as savior, a messiah who can bring the return to Amerika’s power and so-called greatness. These are the social forces that will, in all likelihood, drive Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States.
Abbie Hoffman telling it like it is:
Jerry Rubin freaking out the Squares:
Obama Shocks Arab World, Touts Imperialist Credentials
Released by RAIM-Denver, 6/12/08
Hours after he secured the Democratic Party nomination, U.S. presidential contender Barack Obama spoke before the Amerikan Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). “We will never compromise when it comes to Israel’s security… Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and must remain undivided,” he said, receiving standing ovations before the influential lobbying group’s annual meeting.
Israel captured and occupied 85% of the city of Jerusalem during the 1948 war. After successive years of forced relocations of Palestinian residents, Israel seized the remainder of the city, East Jerusalem, in the 1967 war. Israel continues to this day to push Palestinians into an ever-shrinking, un-occupied territory. Palestinians recently recognized the sixtieth anniversary of the 1948 event, which they call al-Nakba, or the Catastrophe.
Although Obama has thus far received much attention because of his proclaimed message of change, recent comments have left many puzzled and angry. Mahmoud Abbas, the pro-Western leader of the Palestinian Fatah Party, rejected Obama’s pro-Israel pandering stating, “We will not accept an independent Palestinian state without [East] Jerusalem as its capital.” “That should be clear,” he continued. (1)
Obama described the bond between Israel and the U.S. as “unbreakable today, unbreakable tomorrow, unbreakable forever… Those who threaten Israel threaten us.” Saying he would bring an “unshakable commitment to Israel’s security,” he promised to ensure Israel’s “qualitative military advantage” over its neighbors.
Israel has long been the largest recipient of U.S. direct foreign aid. Obama, if elected, said he will increase the amount to 3 billion dollars per year over the next decade. He highlighted the hegemonic imperialist aspect of such aid by summarizing it as “investments to Israel’s security that will not be tied to any other nation.” (2)
In the First World, the ‘green’ movement is rather large. The Democratic Party has announced that this year’s Democratic National Convention will be the first green convention of its kind. Speaking to the Zionist crowd, Obama tied his environmentalism directly to Israel and Amerika’s security and proposed joint green ventures: “We must free ourselves from the tyranny of oil. The price of a barrel of oil is one of the most dangerous weapons in the world. Petrodollars pay for weapons that kill Amerikan troops and Israeli citizens… It’s time for the United States to take real steps to end our addiction to oil. And we can join with Israel, building on last year’s U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act, to deepen our partnership in developing alternative sources of energy by increasing scientific collaboration and joint research and development.” ‘Progressive’ indeed.
Obama vowed to continue George Bush’s policy towards Hamas: “We must isolate Hamas… There is no room for terrorists at the negotiating table.” In early 2006, Hamas, an anti-Western Palestinian liberation movement, won a large majority in Palestinian parliamentary elections. The Bush Administration refused to recognize the new government, retained communications only with the comprador Fatah Party and placed sanctions on Hamas-controlled areas of Palestine. Reacting to Obama’s speech, a Hamas spokesperson remarked, “These recent statements slash any hope of any change to U.S. foreign policy.” (3) (4)
Obama singled out Iran as the greatest threat in the region. “There is no greater threat to Israel or to the peace and stability of the region than Iran… the danger from Iran is grave, it is real and my goal will be to eliminate this threat.” He promised to use “aggressive, principled diplomacy… backed by real leverage.” Elaborating he said, “I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel.” One can only assume that there are numerous regional threats which Obama feels should be dealt with in the same manner. (5)
Adding weight to Obama’s threats towards Iran were hints that U.S. military involvement in the Muslim world would not be ending anytime soon. Earlier in the evening during his acceptance speech for the Democratic Party nomination, Obama said that leaving our troops in Iraq was not an option, “especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.” (6) At the Zionist AIPAC assembly later in the evening, Obama proposed a “phased redeployment” of the troops “from Iraq.” (7) In the past, Obama has stated that more troops are needed in Afghanistan and that incursions into Pakistan are possible. ( 8 )
Despite his hawkish language, the anti-war movement has largely rallied around Obama. Much of his campaign thus far has been focused on “change” and a “new way of doing things.” Obama has stated he is against the war in Iraq and thinks of it as a failure. Likewise, throughout his campaign he has promised to enhance the role of dialogue in foreign policy while also making token statements about issues dear to ‘progressive’ Amerikans: the environment, healthcare, education and the Amerikan economy. For these reasons, Obama has picked up the support of many anti-war progressives and even so-called radicals.
But what kind of change is Barack Obama really about? Does Barack Obama really want to create a new world based on equality and mutuality of interest, or would his presidency merely herald in years of marginally different tactics towards the same end? What is the actual change Obama wants to bring?
From Obama’s AIPAC speech: “Contrary to the claims of some, I have no interest in sitting down with our adversaries just for the sake of talking. But as president of the United States, I would be willing to lead tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing — if, and only if, it can advance the interests of the United States.”
On Iran, Obama continued his diatribe about ‘dialogue,’ “We will present a clear choice. If you abandon your dangerous nuclear program, support for terror, and threats to Israel, there will be meaningful incentives… If you refuse, we will ratchet up the pressure.” As earlier referenced, Obama pledged to keep the threat of military intervention on the negotiating table.
What becomes clear is that Obama remains faithful to the paradigm of bullying nations into subordination, and that he maintains the right to use military force against those who resist. The change that Obama will bring is merely a difference in how to pursue such an imperialist imperative.
Particularly, Obama declares that he will find the “appropriate leaders” to talk to. While the tactic of splitting movements and nations through selective diplomacy and incentives is not new, it has not been widely or as effectively used by the Bush Administration.
Going further into the issue, Obama says he was against holding Palestinian elections in 2006, “with Hamas on the ballot.” Obama stated, “I will strongly urge Arab governments… to fulfill their responsibility to pressure extremists and provide real support for President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad.” He also said he would urge Israel to improve conditions in the Fatah-controlled West Bank as a way of further isolating Hamas.
While clearly stating he is not opposed to the most aggressive of actions, Obama presents himself as making Amerika stronger through such one-sided, bullish ‘dialogue.’ In terms of foreign policy, Obama is simply promising to be a better imperialist.
Speaking again before AIPAC he himself summed it up, “My presidency will strengthen our hand… [I will bring] change that restores America’s power and influence.” Such a message, combined with his token ‘progressive’ promises about further improving conditions for the parasitic Amerikan “working” and “middle” classes, has made Obama a candidate who garners support from both hawkish Zionists as well as Amerikan so-called anti-war ‘leftists.’ (9)
It is our sincerest hopes that those who truly seek radical humanist change will recognize and reject Obama and what he represents. Instead of embracing promises of a more effective, ‘peaceful’ imperialism, with presumably a more equitable distribution of the profits within Amerikan borders, we urge real progressives and radicals to make a complete break with imperialist politics. We urge people seeking true change to instead embrace the struggles of those actively resisting U.S. imperialism and working to build a new world. Only through the destruction of imperialism and similarly oppressive and exploitative structures can a world of true equality, mutuality and peace exist.
Notes.
1. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/018DB5D0-3C59-46D9-97AE-3F7BB909CD4F
2. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432
3. http://www.demconvention.com/
speaker-pelosi-dncc-announce-green-delegate-challenge-for-2008-democratic-national-convention/
4. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/93FE247B-452D-4022-8374-088D8704C1DE
5. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432
6. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/98FEB6B7-E363-4AD7-A5F8-200415B9924F
7. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432
8. http://www.ogpaper.com/news/news-0821.html
9. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432
A hellofabunch of Amerikkkans are having spasmic fits over an Absolut Vodka ad that features the previous borders of Mexico before the U.$. invasion, land grab, and occupation of 1848. Under pressure, Swedish-based Absolut pulled the ad. (see: “Absolut apologizes for Mexican vodka ad,” ).
The crack analysts as Monkey Smashes Heaven look at the wider implications of the vodka ad controversy and what it means for Amerikkka:
White trash throw hissy-fit over Absolut Vodka Advertisement, re-unified Mexico
(source: monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com)
Controversy has erupted in White Trashland over a recent advertisement for Absolut Vodka. The ad features a map of Mexico prior to the losses in territory suffered between 1836 to 1848. In little over a decade, White settler imperialists stole and occupied roughly half of Mexico. Texas, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming and Colorado continue to be occupied to this day.
Predictably, racist pundits like Michelle Malkin are using the ad to whip up anti-Mexican sentiment. (1) The Drudge Report made sure to link to the L.A. Times’ blog where the story originally appeared. The L.A. Times’ blog post is sardonically entitled, “Mexico reconquers California? Absolut drinks to that!” (2) Yet more evidence of the Mexican reconquista plot planned by Lin Biao, executed by MECha. If only. (3)
Do you believe this?
This past weekend, Colombia invaded Ecuador, killed a guerrilla chief in the jungle, opened his laptop – and what did the Colombians find? A message to Hugo Chavez that he’s sent the FARC guerrillas $300 million – which they’re using to obtain uranium to make a dirty bomb!
That’s what George Bush tells us. And he got that from his buddy, the strange right-wing President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe.
So: After the fact, Colombia justifies its attempt to provoke a border war as a to stop the threat of WMDs! Uh, where have we heard that before?
The US press snorted up this line about Chavez’ $300 million to “terrorists” quicker than the young Bush inhaling Colombia’s powdered export.
Read the rest here
By Nick Brown
The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement- Denver is a movement for global equality. We stand for the end of the imperialist system: the system whereby a handful of powerful nations exploit the peoples of the world. We see the termination of imperialism as a necessary first step to a world of lasting peace and real equality.
Anti-imperialism is foremost a fight for national liberation. Most broadly construed, national liberation is the struggle to not be exploited by outside oppressors, but to exist as a self-determining, free nation.
National liberation struggles happen throughout the world on a variety of levels. Venezuela is an example where a progressive section of the ruling class is now leading a campaign for national salvation; providing much needed reforms for the masses while challenging U.S. supremacy on a regional level. There are the numerous armed groups in Mexico, numbering in the mid-teens (not just the Zapatistas), who are fighting a comprador government. Hezbollah, the patriotic Islamic party in Lebanon, has challenged Western influence in the country, provided social welfare for the people and aligned with various Lebanese parties [including Christian ones] in their struggle against Amerikan/Zionist aggression. And we cannot forget the heroic Iraqi resistance.
These forces, taken together, form a worldwide movement against Western imperialism. These diverse individual movements, insofar as they are challenging imperialism, should be supported by freedom and peace loving peoples everywhere.
If Third World anti-imperialist struggles are capable of cutting vital lifelines [of wealth and resources] to imperialism, national liberation struggles internal to the U.S. are capable of delivering blows from within. In the grand scheme of things, within the worldwide movement towards anti-imperialism, these national liberation movements represent a mighty ally, behind enemy lines, within what is geographically called the United States. Because of this, and because these struggles are so close to home, national liberation for internally oppressed nations hold a special significance for us.
While national liberation is not currently the dominant trend amongst oppressed nations within Amerika, national struggles themselves are part of the dialect of everyday life. These struggles manifest in a variety of ways but carry common themes.
For Mexicanos, Indigenous Peoples and Blacks, theirs is the struggle not to be criminalized and disproportionately held captive in White-Amerika’s prison system. It is the struggle to not have their cultures mocked, repressed, co-opted and whitewashed. It is the struggle to not have the lowest life expectancies within the United States. It is a struggle to practice one’s national culture with pride; to be treated as equal members of society; to exist free from the oppression leveled on them by Amerika.
Typically, national struggles take one of two routes: one, the route of liberation as a nation, and the other, integration into the imperialistic, Amerikan oppressor society.
The latter, integration into the Amerikan oppressor society, is the main trend today. This is the path favored by poverty pimps, white chauvinists and the state. The integration route was made widely available through the widening and deepening of exploitation abroad while given impetus by the explosive successes of national liberation struggles during the 1960s and 70s. The reformist integrationist route, while also a national struggle, is antithetical to revolutionary national liberation. Ending oppression through integration means being absorbed into Amerika’s “multi-cultural” oppressor society. It is the democratization of imperialist privilege and the diversification of the labor aristocracy. Integrationism is not revolutionary and is not in the least bit anti-imperialist.
For oppressed nations inside Amerika, the struggle for national liberation is mainly tied to the struggle for a territory on which a free nation can exist. Without such a land, oppressed nations are doomed to live within White-Amerika–forced to suffer oppression while at the same time being lured by trickle-down imperialist privilege. While the goal of national liberation struggles is the creation of sovereign national territories, the planting of seeds for such political power is a necessary first step.
While full-blown national power will not develop quickly or easily, national liberation movements themselves are of utmost importance today. The strengthening of national liberation movements, the expansion of networks and the creation of independent spaces from which these networks and broader movements can operate is a task for which the outcome will weigh heavily on the future.
As success for peoples of the Third World build up, national liberation struggles inside the U.S. can become a destabilizing force within the heart of imperialism. This will make the prospects of revolution greater. At the same time, national liberation struggles will be a focal point of revolutionary gravity within the First World. In the long term, successes made today in creating the basis for independent national power [for oppressed nations within the U.S.] will translate into much wider successes for all people oppressed by U.S. imperialism further down the road.
It is with these considerations in mind that we champion national liberation struggles within United States. We do so not to advance ourselves or to look edgy. We do so from our general anti-imperialist perspective. For us, any single movement for national liberation here is part of the broader international revolutionary struggle to end oppression once and for all.
Slave Farm “Marade” “hijacked” … about fucking time
by a RAIMer
Okay, here’s the deal. Denver has a farce MLK celebration every year: The Marade, brought to you by State Farm insurance. Of course, local “good neighbor” corporate insurance company doesn’t give a shit about Black people. In the Marade mix are many sell-outs, reformists and city officials. The Marade is a photo-op for these greedy bastards.
[State Farm Safety Patrol]
Now, we are not fans of King’s politics. We lean more toward Robert Williams and the Black Panther Party in its revolutionary years. But, the Marade should be opposed, if merely on the grounds of historical accuracy. The only thing the Maraders know of King’s politics is the “I have a dream” speech, incidentally, so does State Farm according to their signs: “We share the dream — State Farm.” Another irony is that King Soopers was the other major Marade sponsor. It was King Soopers security guard Deshazer, an off duty pig, who called a Black disabled elderly woman and her daughter “niggers” in 2006. When Loree McCormick Rice and her 12 year old daughter Cassidy complained, Deshazer called the pigs. (1) This led to a beat down of McCormick and her daughter behind the store. Both suffered injuries, the daughter’s collarbone was broken. Some of the images were caught on the store security tape.
In 1967, King was a critic of the Vietnam War and correctly called the U$ “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” The City banned overt political banners, so this King quote would, ironically, not be permitted in the Marade. King’s politics, which were not good to begin with, have been made worse, sanitized by liberals and reformists.
[Shareef speaks at the anti-Marade]
The Marade gathered at City Park around 9AM. There was a counter gathering that attempted to draw people away from the Marade (brought to you by State Farm). A small crowd gathered to listen to anti-Marade speeches calling out the bullshit version of history spewing from the main fountain area where the Marade had gathered. A couple hours later, the Marade headed for the Capitol, Civic Center park. Several long-term stalwarts of the Denver activist scene decided to attempt to take the front of the Marade with anti-war and anti-police banners.
[Local rebels, Daniel and Glenn, make trouble.]
Because of city security, it was not possible to take the very front of the Marade. The Marade was led by a marching band. Between the band and the bulk of Marade marchers, the local activists pushed through security with anti-war and anti-police banners. Security continued to threaten the activists, but eventually pulled back and allowed the anti-war activists to occupy a wide area of space between the leading marching band and the bulk of the Marade. The pigs followed the anti-war activists in several unmarked black blazer-type trucks the whole time of the march.
This action was a good example of how groups with widely different politics and approaches can work together tactically.
1. http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_4534061
[Please credit RAIM-Denver when using photos]
In Amerika, Christmas is a sick imperialist consumerist celebration of exploitation.
The Santa myth obscures the real origin of commodities. Santa is an imperialist!
Amerikans teach their children that if they are obedient to the system, a magic
jolly old White fat fart delivers goodies made by elves. Toys are not made by happy
elves at the North Pole! Toys are made by Third World workers, often child laborers,
toiling in slave-like conditions. Third World children are basically enslaved by
corporations so that First Worlders can have the latest idiotic toy or gadget.
Bill O’Reilly and similar idiots are always spewing nonsense about a so-called “war
against Christmas.” Truth be told, there has never been a war against Christmas —
until now.
RAIM-D is formally declaring an all out people’s war against Christmas in Amerika.
It’s on, piggies. It’s on. Fuck Yeah!
Fears of Aztlán, Fears of the Reconquista: Why do WASP’s think they can be Native Americans?
FEATURING DR. ARTURO J. ALDAMA.
DR. ARTURO J. ALDAMA TO SPEAK AT AURARIA CAMPUS.
WHO: Dr. Arturo J. Aldama was born in Mexico City, and grew up in northern California. He has BA in Ethnic Literatures/ English from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He went on to receive both his M.A. and his Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, 1993 and 1996, respectively. He served as an Assistant-Associate Professor of Chicana/o Studies at Arizona State University (1996-2003) and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara 1999-2000.
His publications include:
* Disrupting Savagism: Intersecting Chicana/o, Mexican Immigrant and Native American Struggles for Representation; Duke University Press
* Ed, Decolonial Voices: Chicana and Chicano Cultural Studies in the 21st Century; Indiana University Press
* Violence and the Body: Race, Gender and the State; Indiana University Press
* Associate contributing editor, Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art: Artists, Works, Culture, and Education, Bilingual Review Press
He was elected as the Rocky Mountain Regional Delegate of the Modern Language Association. He made an experimental digital short on the “ism’s” that Chicanas/os and immigrants negotiate on a daily basis, called Border Haiku: Scenes of Everyday Life with David Martinez. His most recent project is to serve as senior subject editor and contributor for the Encyclopedia of Latina and Latino Popular Culture, a 400,000 word, multi-volume project that is the first of its kind.
Future projects include books on the politics of subaltern representation for Latino immigrants and criminalized youth, a study of time and violence, and a book length collection of essays with images with Dr. Elisa Facio as co-editor called Hidden Legacies/ Enduring Struggles: Ethnic Histories and Cultural Survival in Colorado. The volume will consider the rich and complex histories and struggles for cultural survival in the Native American, Mexican-Chicana/o, African American, and Asian American communities in the Colorado Borderlands.
WHAT: A Discussion On Fears Of Aztlán, Fears Of The Reconquista: Why Do WASP’s Think They Can Be Native Americans?
WHERE: AURARIA CAMPUS, TIVOLI ROOM 440/540.
DATE & TIME: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2007. 11:30 A.M.
This event is FREE and open to the public.
Sponsored by: The MSCD Department of Chicana/o Studies,
Los Herederos of Change & Esperanza, and Conscious Journey.
also…
THE BEYOND CHICANISMO ORAL HISTORY PROJECT PRESENTS:
¡NO SOMOS CRIMINALES: FACTS & MYTHS ON LATINA/O IMMIGRATION!
FEATURING DR. ARTURO J. ALDAMA.
WHO: Dr. Arturo J. Aldama was born in Mexico City, and grew up in northern California. He has BA in Ethnic Literatures/ English from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He went on to receive both his M.A. and his Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, 1993 and 1996, respectively. He served as an Assistant-Associate Professor of Chicana/o Studies at Arizona State University (1996-2003) and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara 1999-2000.
His publications include:
* Disrupting Savagism: Intersecting Chicana/o, Mexican Immigrant and Native American Struggles for Representation; Duke University Press
* Ed, Decolonial Voices: Chicana and Chicano Cultural Studies in the 21st Century; Indiana University Press
* Violence and the Body: Race, Gender and the State; Indiana University Press
* Associate contributing editor, Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art: Artists, Works, Culture, and Education, Bilingual Review Press
He was elected as the Rocky Mountain Regional Delegate of the Modern Language Association. He made an experimental digital short on the “ism’s” that Chicanas/os and immigrants negotiate on a daily basis, called Border Haiku: Scenes of Everyday Life with David Martinez. His most recent project is to serve as senior subject editor and contributor for the Encyclopedia of Latina and Latino Popular Culture, a 400,000 word, multi-volume project that is the first of its kind.
Future projects include books on the politics of subaltern representation for Latino immigrants and criminalized youth, a study of time and violence, and a book length collection of essays with images with Dr. Elisa Facio as co-editor called Hidden Legacies/ Enduring Struggles: Ethnic Histories and Cultural Survival in Colorado. The volume will consider the rich and complex histories and struggles for cultural survival in the Native American, Mexican-Chicana/o, African American, and Asian American communities in the Colorado Borderlands.
WHAT: ¡No Somos Criminales! is a fun, informative, and interactive workshop on the facts and myths about how immigrants are criminalized through an examination of the issues around this using the census, demographics, and purchasing power.
WHERE: AURARIA CAMPUS, TIVOLI ROOM 440/540.
DATE & TIME: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2007. 2:30 P.M.
This event is FREE and open to the public.
Sponsored by: The MSCD Department of Chicana/o Studies,
Los Herederos of Change & Esperanza, and Conscious Journey.
On 144th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre ‘Indigenous Survival Week’ will be held at CU Boulder. All of these events are free.
WEDNESDAY, November 28th
Performances by: The Tortuga Project, REBEL DIAZ and SAVAGE FAMILY
Club 156 on the first floor of the UMC, 6:00 to 11:00
THURSDAY:
Panel on Hip Hop, indigenous resistance, and community self
determination and self-definition.
Glenn Miller Ballroom at the UMC,
6:00 to 8:00
Tryworks beat us to the punch celebrating Veterans Day. Check out their great coverage.
Here’s some more counter to the sick jingoism celebrated by Amerika today.
More fuck the troops fun:
From the great work of Shubel Morgan:
Meet at the west steps of the State Capitol building at 8am on October 6th. Bring a friend and your radical passion for justice.
Every Day is Columbus Day in Amerikkka
Final Solution, “Indian Residential Schools”
both videos courtesy of Shubel Morgan
[Special thanks goes out to comrades who helped on this. Your work is appreciated.]
With the recent news of Newmont Chair Wayne ‘Dirty’ Murdy getting a humanitarian award despite the mining company’s numerous human rights violations, and the outrage it has generated, in some of this coverage our own blog has received attention.
From the blog of Al Lewis, who wrote an article giving fair time to activist criticisms of Newmont:
Some of these activist complaining about Newmont are reasonable. Some are not. Like the Anti-Imperialist Movement of Denver (sic), which refers to Albright as a “mass murdering lunatic hiding behind the ‘legitimacy’ of the United Snakes.”…(I guess, being a proud American, this makes me a snake, too. Slither. Slither.) (1)
First of all, Lewis can’t even get the name of the group right, the “Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement of Denver.” For making an accusation that we are “unreasonable” he should at least get our name right! And in being unreasonable about Newmont, he focuses on what we said about Madeleine Albright.
This is in reference to when she was UN Ambassador, in a widely quoted remark on 60 minutes, where she responded that even though the sanctions killed 500,000 children they were ultimately “worth it.” A year later she was confirmed as Secretary of State under Clinton, which continued genocidal sanctions imposed on the people of Iraq. She sort-of apologized for the statement in her memoir “Madam Secretary”, but that apology was hardly adequate.(2)
Two days after Al Lewis’ snide comment, the main Public Relations guy of Newmont wrote in, and here’s what he had to say:
Deserving of DU award?
Re: “Not all that glitters is good,” Aug. 5 Al Lewis column
I believe your readers should judge for themselves if Newmont Chairman Wayne Murdy is deserving of the University of Denver’s International Bridge Builders Award. The stated purpose of the award is to recognize people who have “distinguished themselves as builders of ties between Colorado and the world beyond our national frontiers.”
As such, I invite your readers to visit our 2006 sustainability report at: www.BeyondTheMine.com. This report is compiled as part of our ongoing obligations under the United Nations’ Global Compact (www.unglobalcompact.org) and in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative’s guidelines(www.globalreporting.org). In addition, World
Monitors Inc. (www.worldmonitors.com) provides independent assurance of the objectivity, materiality and credibility of the report.Also, I invite your readers to visit the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement of Denver’s Web page describing why they think Wayne Murdy should not receive the award: http://raimd.wordpress.com/2007/08/05/pre-tcd-2-for-1/
Omar Jabara
Senior Director of Communications and Media Relations
Newmont Mining Corporation
Denver”
Mr Jabara urges people to judge for themselves whether Wayne Murdy should be honored for “building bridges,” while he gives a link to Newmont’s whitewash website and at the same time he urges people to visit RAIM-D on what we think about Wayne Murdy.
It would be a great stretch to think that Newmont’s PR department would want people to get into revolutionary politics. Rather both Lewis and Jabara are engaged in classic PR tactics against radical activists. Here is an article from Covert Action Quarterly(4) that describes these tactics:
Ronald Duchin, senior vice-president of another PR spy firm Mongoven, Biscoe, and Duchin …. A graduate of the US Army War College, Duchin worked as a special assistant to the secretary of defense and director of public affairs for the Veterans of Foreign Wars before becoming a flack. Activists, he explained, fall into four categories: radicals, opportunists, idealists, and realists. He follows a three-step strategy to neutralize them: 1) isolate the radicals; 2) cultivate the idealists and educate them into becoming realists; then 3) co-opt the realists into agreeing with industry.
According to Duchin, radical activists:
want to change the system; have underlying socio/political motives [and] see multinational corporations as inherently evil….These organizations do not trust the… federal, state and local governments to protect them and to safeguard the environment. They believe, rather, that individuals and local groups should have direct power over industry. … I would categorize their principal aims right now as social justice and political empowerment.
The article continues:
“Idealists are also hard to deal with. They want a perfect world and find it easy to brand any product or practice which can be shown to mar that perfection as evil. Because of their intrinsic altruism, however, and because they have nothing perceptible to be gained by holding their position, they are easily believed by both the media and the public, and sometimes even politicians. However, idealists have a vulnerable point. If they can be shown that their position in opposition to an industry or its products causes harm to others and cannot be ethically justified, they are forced to change their position…. Thus, while a realist must be negotiated with, an idealist must be educated. Generally this education process requires great sensitivity and understanding on the part of the educator.”
Opportunists and realists, says Duchin, are easier to manipulate. Opportunists engage in activism seeking visibility, power, followers and, perhaps, even employment. … The key to dealing with [them] is to provide them with at least the perception of a partial victory. And realists are able to live with trade-offs; willing to work within the system; not interested in radical change; pragmatic. [They] should always receive the highest priority in any strategy dealing with a public policy issue. … If your industry can successfully bring about these relationships, the credibility of the radicals will be lost and opportunists can be counted on to share in the final policy solution.
By bringing attention to RAIM-D and labeling us “unreasonable,” they are first attempting to isolate the radicals. The rest of the strategy dealing with the idealists and realists is with their “social responsibility” facade.
Newmont Mining and companies like it exploit the resources of the Third World for profit. Newmont itself has left a trail of ecological destruction in places like Peru(5), Indonesia(6), Ghana(7) and in the Western Shoshone nation(8) Despite how badly Al Lewis and Newmont’s Public Relations hack would like to portray this as a RAIM-Denver vs. Newmont issue, those with brains know that it is not the real issue. The real issue is between Newmont and the affected populations. While Newmont enriches itself and raises its credibility amongst amerikans, the people of Peru, Indonesia, Ghana and the Shoshone nation remain in poverty and are often times poisoned by such operations.
The main opposition to Newmont Mining and companies like it are not First World radicals but rather the people they oppress. RAIM-Denver isn’t going to chase Wayne Murdy down with sticks and rocks, but Newmont employees have met similar opposition from the local population of places where they do business. (9) Radicals, on the other hand, whole heartedly stand up with and lend support to the struggles of oppressed peoples.
In the case of this particular protest, even without Al Lewis and Omar Jabara mentioning RAIM-Denver, it is unlikely many “realists” or “opportunists” will show up. Instead, Lewis and Newmont’s PR puppet gave more publicity to us and this protest than otherwise would have been received. For our part, we’re going to be working overtime to promote this protest and we’ll be putting in an extra effort to radicalize the idealists once they are there.
1)http://blogs.denverpost.com/lewis/2007/08/07/gold-miners-academicians-and-activists/
2)http://www.fff.org/comment/com0311c.asp
3)http://blogs.denverpost.com/eletters/2007/08/09/newmont-deserving-of-du-award/
4)http://mediafilter.org/CAQ/CAQ55prwar2.html
5)http://www.csrwire.com/News/9314.html)
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/peru404/
http://www.foe.org/WSSD/newmont.html
6)http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14481
7)http://www.24hgold.com/printarticle.aspx?pagedest=98854&langue=en
8)http://www.wsdp.org/minewatch.htm
9)http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press698.htm
According to a recent report by the U.$. Census Bureau, Denver is now 50.01 percent non-white as of last year. So now, so-called minorities, or more accurately the non-white oppressed nations, outnumber members of the oppressor white nation in the Denver area.(1)
And not just in Denver. In nearly 10 percent of the counties in the U.$. white people are now a minority compared to non-white people, a trend that continues as time goes on.(2)
The growth of the non-white population is mostly due to the increase of “Latinos,” most of whom are Mexicanos, others Central Americans. This has affected Denver and counties around it, likely to make the latter majority-minority too.(3) And with the changing demographics, everything from Spanish-language classes to buying more tortillas than white bread is changing also. And with the growth of “Latinos” comes with it white nativism, exemplified by fascist groups like the Minutemen and idiot cracker politicians like Tom Tancredo.
On the Cracker Talk Radio circuit, this news has the radio blowhards rattling their pinhead brains. In one documented instance, Gunny Bob of 850 KOA falsely reports the news that Hispanics are now the majority. This is contradicted by the official figures, and a caller even corrects him. Gunny Bob denies saying it, but later repeats the same lie he is
on record of saying, and denied. He even gives some nonsensical crackpotism about a “sunset clause” on Manifest Destiny, and bemoans the fact that whites will be a minority by 2050.(4)
Another white trash radio yapper is Peter Boyles of 630 KHOW-AM. In his virulent hatred of Latinos, he can’t get his facts straight either. He bemoans about a Denver clinic serving Spanish-speaking peoples. He states “99 percent of Denver’s ‘Spanish-speaking population’–meaning Spanish only–coming to a health clinic are here illegally.(5) This report cited another bald-faced lie Boyles asserted: “I’m not an idiot.”
With all this, the white trash nativist right wing will use this in their continuing spasms against “illegal immigration,” despite what the facts are. No matter, we at RAIM-D welcome this news.
The United Snakes is an empire and has been an empire since its beginning. It has committed genocide against First Nations and stole their land, enslaved millions of Africans and continued national exploitation against the Black Nation, and committed imperialist aggression against Mexico and stole the northern half of the country along with oppressing the Chicano/Mexicano people on their own land. And it has committed and continues to commit imperialist atrocities in hundreds of countries since, the most recent being in Afghanistan and Iraq.
And the benefactor of this piggery has been all sections of the white nation of the U.$. The reactionary drivel from some sectors of this opppressor nation is only the more visible of the decadence of these parasites.
There is something we agree with from Gunny Bob. There is a sunset clause on Manifest Destiny, or there soon will be. Amerikkka’s pig-ass imperialism will soon have its day and we welcome its destruction. We support national liberation struggles of the captive nations inside the United States, and build a base of nation traitorism within the white nation. Less white people in the city? It’s nice to have good news once in a while.
1. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_6577663
2. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008152013
3. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_6588057
4. http://colorado.mediamatters.org/items/200708100001
5. http://colorado.mediamatters.org/items/200708100003
