Thursday, October 22, 2009

the last dance...

Next weekend is the last Baile Crunk*. It's also my going away party. I'm not sure how to best deal with all the sadness I'm feeling about leaving my community in Philadelphia, and all the small communities I have in other cities across the US (mainly DC, yea I'm looking at you pals!!). I feel like I'll probably be crying all next weekend.

It's been such a wonderful experience to put on this party with Shoog. It's been so awesome to see so many people come out, dance and get sweaty with us every month! This party has really helped me work a lot of things out in my life. I wish it wasn't ending.

The last year and a half has been amazing and challenging. I've learned a lot about myself... now I'm moving on to the next stage in my journey. I've felt ready to take this next step, but now that it's so close, I'm doubting my preparedness, LOL. What's it going to be like to live with my parents again, for the first time in almost a decade? What's it going to be like to live in a place completely different from what I know? What's it going to be like to move somewhere where I do not have a community... or a support network?

In a few weeks I will board a plane with only two bags, my bicycle, and my memories. I'm not sure when I'll be coming back. I just hope that the connections that I've made continue to be as strong as they've ever been. I would not have gotten through the last year without my amazing friends! I will definitely miss you all dearly!

So what's the best way of saying thank you?... I just hope that all the energy that I'll be putting on my final set expresses all my emotions and gratitude!!!

keep dancing!
love, me

*Baile Crunk is a monthly dance party I throw with my roommate Shoog.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

coming soon

Some changes are going to be happening to my blog. I've decided to combine my music blog (tothebarricadesradio.blogspot.com) with this blog. So this blog will be comprised of pretty much all of my interests, not just politics and UFO's.

Anyways, I haven't added a new entry in a while. I've been really busy spending time with friends and various other tasks. I'll be posting a new entry soon, but mostly I've been working on mentally preparing myself for a new journey.

Though I will have some relative comforts once I embark on my next move, mainly a nice paycheck for 8 months and a home to live in, I'm unsure of how everything is going to play out. I'm scared to leave my community (and comfort zone) behind, I'm scared of starting a new life in a place both familiar and soooo unfamiliar to me, I'm scared of not being strong enough to help pull my parents out of the rut they are in... I'm scared that I may not be strong enough to carve out a whole new life for myself in a place vastly different than the world that I am accustomed to.

What is goodbye going to feel like? hopefully more like a: see you next summer.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

los dioses ocultos*

This entry is a tribute to every one that thinks I look like Jaguar Paw**.

I found this yesterday while looking for a Caifanes*** music video and I thought it was kinda hilarious.

Note: Apocalypto is a really gory and graphically violent film, some of the clips might include some blood. Watch at your own risk! :)


Through my experience navigating these awkward interactions, where I'm being told that I look "Indian," I've come to realize that a lot of people must be unaware of mestizos. Mestizo is a term used specifically in the former Spanish and Portuguese empires to describe a person of mixed Indigenous and European heritage . I know that me posting this will not stop random muggles**** from stopping me on the street every day to tell me I look "Indian" or ask me if I'm "Native," but whatevs, if anyone reads this and was unaware and now isn't, that makes me feel good! :)


*Los Dioses Ocultos (the occult gods), is a really good song by Caifanes!

**Jaguar Paw is the main character in Apocalypto, an historically inaccurate film about the fall of the Mayans. I would also like to mention that the actor who plays Jaguar Paw is of Comanche ancestry, native to present-day: New Mexico, Oklahoma, and parts of Colorado and Arizona. I, on the other hand, am Peruvian, native to the Andean region of South America. I'm of mixed Incan and European ancestry. We do not all look the same, for reals yall!

***Caifanes is an amazing Mexican rock band from the 80's. Some of their material still lives on in the current band Jaguares, formed by the lead singer and drummer of Caifanes.

****Muggle is a term used in Harry Potter to describe persons who lack any magical ability and were not born in the magical world. I'm sure you can deduce how I use the term, so I will not explain it here. :)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

racism is still very real!! duh!

Last week, Tim Wise went on CNN to talk about racism and the health care debate going on right now. There's really not much that I can add. Tim Wise is completely on point and articulates his argument really well.

Here's a follow up to the video, where Tim Wise responds to some hate-mail. Also on point!

Racism, Right-Wing Rage, and the Politics of White Nostalgia

Shit is real and we need to talk about it.

The same rhetoric discussed in the video also creeps into the immigration reform debate. White xenophobia rears its ugly head and people must be vigilant or these "illegal aliens" are going to take over the country. It's funny how white folks band together at any hint of a threat to their power, even when it's not in any way changing the power dynamics of the systems of oppression in place. People of color and poor people are simply not allowed access. That's some white paranoia!


Friday, August 14, 2009

why libertarians are bankrupt assholes!

Note: this entry might seem a little aggro, but it's more tongue in cheek... it's the product of years of dealing with libertarians and hating every minute of it.


Lately I've been seeing a lot of stupidity all over the blogosphere from libertarians, and it's really annoying.

Libertarians in my opinion are impossible to deal with and have their heads shoved so far up their asses they can't see beyond their privilege and textbook word vomit they spit up verbatim from an economics textbook.

First, I'd like to point out that the idea of capitalism was born out of colonialism. Its humble beginnings in the 16th and 17th centuries, well into the colonization of all of Africa and Asia, and the beginnings of the pillaging of the Americas. The current "developed" world stole land, resources, and human labor, creating vast amounts of wealth for itself. Following this accumulation of wealth came capitalism. Fast forward 500 years and you have a world in utter imbalance.

Libertarians love to speak of personal choice, often employing violent imagery, such as: "no one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to (insert whatever here: buy some good or service, work whatever job, or what have you)". What libertarians fail to see in their textbooks -- which are mostly written by upper class white males -- is that their entire ideology is based upon this imbalance.

Because the world is the way it is today, personal choice is relative. The choices available to a young, white, college educated libertarian who lives in the US are way more plentiful and vastly different than say the choices available to a landless peasant in Latin America or South East Asia, or an undocumented immigrant in the US. Libertarians fail to see this and will box all circumstances and people into their narrow libertarian rhetoric.

Here's an argument I hear a lot from many libertarians: sending labor overseas makes perfect business sense. The corporation cuts costs, in turn offering their product at a lower price to consumers, and people in whatever third world country benefit because sweatshops bring them new opportunities and a higher paying job. I mean, if they had higher paying work before the sweatshop went in, they wouldn't have gone to work there. They work there by choice. When pressed further they employ their violent imagery... no one is holding them hostage there, they chose to work there because it was a better option for them, and so on. IT'S A WIN - WIN!!!!

Normally my response to this would be FUCK YOU, but I'll break it down a little more, for the sake of argument. A lot of people in the global south, or immigrant workers in the US, DO NOT have the luxury of choice. The developed world, and these corporations and huge multinationals have robbed them of all their options, therefore that new Nike factory is the only place to work.

Because these libertarians are so privileged and lack emotion, they fail to see the realities that surround them.

Most of the people that work in the Maquiladoras on the Mexico-US border are impoverished people from rural communities or landless indigenous people. Their land stolen by multinationals. In many Latin American countries you have millions of indigenous peoples whose livelihoods and land have been robbed. They are being forced to live in a capitalistic society (they did not choose this system, it was forced on them, by libertarians, free market capitalists, the harbingers of freedom and enemies of happiness). They have no other choice than to work for money... they migrate to cities and work in sweatshops -- so they can feed their family and send their kids to school. They can no longer live off the land they've cultivated for centuries because that land is now owned by Dole or Del Monte.

Many Latin American immigrants in the US are refugees of war (created or instigated by the US, because Latin American governments don't run their countries, US and European corporations do that). Being undocumented, they are forced to work certain jobs that are either very low wage or unpaid. They don't have the choice to stand up for their rights or to leave their job, or even the ability to apply for the same jobs many of these libertarians can acquire. What would happen? they would either be deported back to their homeland (the home they are seeking refuge from), or they would just be unemployed because they are unable to acquire other work.

Do you know why labor is "cheaper" in the global south? This is the legacy of colonialism... this shit is so real!

Once I brought up the point about land and the legacy of colonialism to a libertarian. The response I got was some gibberish about private property and how if they had owned their land, they wouldn't be in their predicament. AGAIN, bringing it back to this privileged idea of personal choices and private property. It's their fault, the decisions they made or failed to make caused their current state. That's essentially what they are getting at. Just erase history and fit everyone into your libertarian rubric.

I mean, are you serious??? are you that naive and stupid??? I'm sure indigenous peoples, who have lived in the Americas for thousands of years thought to put a price on the land they nourished and worshiped, so in the case some bayonet slinging Europeans come to try to steal it, they could be like... umm, actually, you wanna get some land in the Andes? that'll be $300 per square foot, we accept cash or American Express. Oh and BTW, because these mountains are rich in gold, silver and many other precious minerals that we're sure you'll extract -- we expect 10% from your sales, thanks!

They weren't given a choice, they're not given one now either... they live in a system imposed upon them. A system that makes perfect sense to many suburban white people.

Who do you think you are that you feel you can impose your privileged European ideology on everyone on this planet??? Indigenous people don't think of the land as someone's private property. They live for the land and, in return, the land gives them life! Pachamama is not the property of anyone.

You can't just ignore the entire spectrum of human emotion, experience and historical inequities and rely on numbers, graphs, and flawed ideology. Just because free market capitalism makes sense for you, doesn't mean it will make sense for me or any other person in the global south, or in the US.

If you are so much for personal choice and liberty, why don't you STFU for one second and listen to another person's point of view? If you are so much for personal choice and liberty, why do you denounce the millions of people in this world who oppose capitalism? who oppose sweatshops? who oppose corporations sucking the life out of the earth, destroying people's lives in the process? I mean, that's the CHOICE they made! why are you holding a gun to people's heads and forcing them to love the free market?

Do these people not have the liberty to make their own decisions? are they "morons" because they disagree with you, therefore not worthy of making a decision that they feel will benefit them?

It seems like you are crushing people's personal freedoms when you do that.


PS- I'd like to point out that many of these corporations, these free market capitalists, have historically opposed people in the global south from creating products. Limiting their personal freedom and their ability to produce as they see fit for themselves. Because ultimately, we aren't really dealing with personal freedom, we're dealing with profits. Fuck the personal freedom of people in the global south because it will negatively affect our bottom line. They have, for centuries, sought to hold a monopoly on the world's resources so that global south nations will always be dependent on the "developed" world. Maintaining the aforementioned imbalance.

Do you ever wonder why most countries in the global south do not have their own auto industries? I mean, most of the resources that go into the creation of an automobile come from the global south. Or why Latin American nations do not have their own brands of coffee? They all drink Nescafe (a Swiss brand), while most of those coffee beans come from Latin America. hmmmmmmmmmm, maybe I'll google it!! or better yet, I'll ask a libertarian, they know everything!

For another take on racism, historical oppression and libertarians check out Tim Wise's essay: Racism, Free Markets, and Libertarian Deceit.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

...on creating our humanity.

Dehumanization, which marks not only those whose humanity has been stolen, but also (though in a different way) those who have stolen it, is a distortion of the vocation of becoming more fully human...

Because it is a distortion of being more fully human, sooner or later being less human leads the oppressed to struggle against those who made them so. In order for this struggle to have meaning, the oppressed must not, in seeking to regain their humanity (which is a way to create it), become in turn oppressors of the oppressors, but rather restorers of the humanity of both.

This, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well. The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves.

Only power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both.

-Paulo Freire, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

6 years ago, I was there! but I'm not there now

I just recently heard about the "Smack a White Boy" action taken by some APOC's*, from what appears to be Chicago and Philly chapters of the network, and I must say that I'm thoroughly disappointed in my comrades.

Now, I should state that I identify as an Anti-authoritarian Person of Color. I've been involved with APOC collectives in a few different cities and was present for the formation of the Northeast APOC network a few years ago, which eventually led to the first Northeast regional APOC conference in Philly last year. Though I have not been involved in APOC organizing in the last few years, I am grateful for the existence of such a network. Because of it, I feel less alone in radical spaces.

One of the reasons I distanced myself from APOC was the consistent focus on white people, white supremacy, and racist white anarchists. I mean, I totally get why this happens... I've been there, we all come together for the solidarity of being among other people of color, and so hating on white people happens. A LOT! and that's fine. I love to hate on some white folks from time to time. White supremacy is real and we need to talk about it and work against it. But seriously, I feel like it is utterly unproductive to focus so much energy on white radicals and the intent of completely undermining social justice movements led by white people.

This isn't to say that I'm fine with white-led movements. I feel it's very important to call people out on their shit. Specially white people trying to work in people of color communities, or working on issues that effect POC's, without any analysis of white privilege**. Sometimes you gotta let them know, you know? But I feel we take on the role of oppressors by foregoing dialogue and violently making white people feel shitty about themselves. Is this what we want our liberation to look like? to oppress white people?

This most recent action at the Crimethinc*** convergence in Pittsburgh is a perfect illustration of my point. Where members of APOC forcibly "evicted" attendees of the Crimethinc conference from their space. I was not present nor will I detail what I've heard through various sources. You can read the full account here, posted on the APOC website. All I will say is that I do not support the actions taken.

First off! Crimethinc, in my opinion, is completely irrelevant! No one cares about Crimethinc, no one even thinks about Crimethinc until they publish some new stupid book -- with tips on how to break a compactor so you can dumpster food, or how to navigate a poly-amorous relationship in true anarchist form -- that only suburban white kids will buy at an info shop on a Saturday afternoon. (The only time they find themselves in an urban environment).

I haven't thought about Crimethinc in like 6 years until I heard about this.

I'm not sure what my comrades were thinking when they organized this, I'm not sure why they felt this was a worthwhile action, or find Crimethinc a relevant target. (They do state on the site why they did this, but I still can't see the logic). I'm also unsure of why we continue to focus our energy on whiteness, rather than empowering ourselves as people of color and working with communities of color... who have hella more to worry about than some white, smelly, train hopping anarchists holding a gathering.

For real, try going into any Latinx or Black neighborhood and ask them their thoughts on Crimethinc... I'm positive you'll get a bunch of blank stares.

This weekend is the regional APOC conference in Philly. I hope that a lot of serious processing takes place about where APOC is right now as a network and/or collective, and where it hopes to be in the future. I want to support APOC, it is so important to have safe spaces for people of color. It's also very important to converge as people of color, and utilize our collective experiences to liberate ourselves and to work with our underserved, impoverished communities of color all over this country and abroad, for our collective liberation from oppression.

I cannot stand beside this current action however, which in my opinion is reactionary and cowardice. It's so much easier to hate on white people and blame them for all the BS we go through everyday, rather than step back, and work through our own internalized racism. I know it's hard. I've been working on this shit for years... and I still have a long way to go. But taking out my aggression on some white kids isn't going to help either of us heal.

I'll be posting a passage from Paulo Freire's 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed' as my next entry. I feel he speaks a lot of truth, and it has helped me through some rough times. Shit is so real everyone!

*APOC or Anarchist People of Color is a decentralized network of radical people of color all over the US and Canada. The first APOC convergence was held in Detroit in 2003. You can learn more about them here.

**White privilege is commonly defined as an institutionalized set of advantages (visible and invisible) enjoyed by white people, and denied to people of color. White privilege is ubiquitous and can take many shapes and forms. For more on white privilege check out Peggy McIntosh's Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.

***Crimethinc is an anarchist collective made up of mostly white people, who publish books and do various other things that I don't care about.