How 'Occupy Wall Street'

has seized the moment

By dream hampton 3:34 PM on 10/05/2011

Police carry away a participant in a march organized by Occupy Wall Street in New York on Saturday Sept. 24, 2011. Marchers represented various political and economic causes. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

 

Nevermind that the Tea Party has held the media and by extension the public, and finally, its policymakers over a barrel for the past two years with a "movement" that began as wide and wildly as Occupy Wall Street. That the ragtag bunch who came together to demand economic justice at the symbolic site of the crime is pitch perfect.

For too long it seemed the Tea Party and rabidly reactionary conservatives were successful in convincing their fellow Americans it was the barely middle class overspenders who couldn't afford their McMansions that brought this country's economy to its knees. Obama's financial reform TAARP rescued banks with billions of taxpayers dollars but about only 30 million homeowners managed to get their mortgages reduced in its Foreclosure Prevention Program. The four biggest banks, deemed too big to fail, were barely slapped on the wrist for their deceptive and discriminatory practices.

 

WATCH OCCUPY WALL STREET PARTICIPANTS DISCUSS THE MOVEMENT HERE:

VIDEO shot by Chika Oduah
VIDEO edited & produced by Todd Johnson

 

Instead of functioning as public utilities given their tax breaks and recent bailout by taxpayers, they nickel and dime their customers "because of recent regulation" as if last year's financial reform, which largely called for transparency, went far enough. That the banks' top executives and trading houses who'd treated taxpayers pensions and mortgages like Vegas chips, received the same multi-million dollar bonuses they would've had they not gone to Congress with their hats in their hands, seemed too much for the American people to bear. But silently bear it, we seemed to. Until Occupy Wall Street took over the square, the millions of victims of some of the biggest corporate crimes committed in this country seemed invisible.

The demand within and outside the Occupy Wall Street movement that they come up with a clear set of actionable demands seems both reasonable and beside the point. (And the declaration they drafted and released did little to make clear any demands). Protest as public spectacle, even as performative, is part and parcel of any effective movement.

The regular protests in the 80s and 90s under the expansive pink triangle, the Women's Movement of the 70s and yes, the Civil Rights protests, all included diverse and conflicting protesters with varying sets of interests and palettes for reform or revolution. Some of the protesters who joined those successful movements were activists and organizers, but many more were moved to make visible, with their very bodies, their opposition to injustice.

That the Occupy Wall Street protesters have only clearly declared they demand economic justice makes this movement both amorphous and diffusive enough to include the many millions across the globe who were affected by America's cowboy bankers. Tomorrow, teacher's unions are set to join the Occupy Wall Street protests reminding us there has been no bailout of public education. The teachers' presence also is a reminder labor unions have exhausted much of their ability to collectively bargain and negotiate even with their elected officials, as tied as those officials are to corporate America.

Last week, in Athens, the European ground zero for months long anti-corporate protests, the trend in the streets pointed to the unification of the far right and the political left. Despite the reported presence of some Tea Party types at Occupy Wall Street, that doesn't look as likely in America. In fact, only a few days ago, the evangelical Apostolic Reformation movement, who received a bit of media attention when they lead a prayer rally attended by Texas Governor and flailing Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, began a theocratic takeover of D.C. They plan to occupy the nation's capital for 40 days, demanding much of the nation be ridded of demons.

I truly hope the majority of Black people in this country don't, even secretly, identify with those loons more than they do the "fringe movement" that's taken center stage in downtown Manhattan. We have more to lose than most, and whether we believe in taking our grievances to the streets anymore, we've certainly received little result in lobbying the administration we put in office for some attention. Take off your bedroom slippers indeed.

 

 

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Short video piece on Jelani Gibson, a 16-year-old protester who traveled with his grandmother from Pontiac, Michigan to New York to join the protests Wall Street. He also has a 4.0 GPA.  He had never slept on the street before.  Tell that to US media.

>via: http://africasacountry.com/2011/10/06/grandmas-going-so-i-am-going-too/

 

 

__________________________

 

 

 

Occupy Wall St. group

speaks up for America

 

by Rev. Jesse Jackson

People are turning. The misery is too widespread. The privileged are too brazen. The injustice too apparent.

On Wall Street, young students have created a free democratic space in a place they call Liberty Square. They protest that Wall Street has been rescued, but there is no help for most Americans. In a moving statement, they presented their view:

“We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we are working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.”

Their demonstrators were scorned in the beginning. They had no clear demands. They were organized with no formal structure. They were squatting out in the rain, not allowed tents or bedding.

But they understood the value of nonviolence. In the face of pepper spray and police provocation, they stayed disciplined. As they were being dragged away to be arrested, they said to the police, “We are the 99 percent. We are fighting for your pensions. You should stand with us.”

They made no demands but their analysis was dead on. The wealthiest few are capturing all the rewards of growth in this society, while the large majority falls behind. Wall Street got bailed out, rescued without being reorganized, while homeowners were left to fend for themselves.

Inequality has reached levels not seen since before the Great Depression. With this kind of inequality — with the top 1 percent having as much income as the bottom 60 percent the economy doesn’t work well. The rich turn to speculation. The middle class sinks. And the country suffers.

Now conservatives are talking about sending the bill for Wall Street’s excesses to the most vulnerable — cutting Medicare and Social Security, slashing spending on public education.

Many of the kids in Occupy Wall Street are graduating from college with thousands in college debt and no jobs are to be found. They are the 99 percent.

The discipline of their demonstrations, the clarity of their moral voice, has touched a chord. Now groups are organizing to occupy financial districts in some 57 cities. Demonstrators have been arrested in Boston and San Francisco. The New Bottom Line is leading sit-ins at big banks in cities across the country. And this Wednesday, labor unions and civil rights and community action groups will join in New York in a march to support Occupy Wall Street.

A movement for change is building across the country. In July and August, without much press attention, citizens flooded congressional town hall meetings to demand jobs. Congressional caucuses created jobs tours. And they made a difference. The president chose to put out the American Jobs Act and demand that Congress act. People are turning.

Occupy Wall Street is in that tradition of nonviolence with a moral voice organizing to challenge entrenched power and privilege, a movement that stands with the majority against a powerful elite. To date, this has been a remarkable commitment to nonviolent protest, with creative and new techniques.

It was reported that the Wall Street traders drank champagne in their offices as they looked down on the drenched and straggly demonstrators in Liberty Square. They should hold their scorn. This is how change takes place. The courageous stand up — and more and more people come to their side. The movement for jobs and justice has started up again.

>via: http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/8010360-452/occupy-wall-st-group-speaks-...

 

 

__________________________

 

 

Is black America sitting out

'Occupy Wall Street'?

By Todd Johnson   11:45 AM on 10/06/2011

Chika Oduah/TheGrio.com)

 

In an appearance on MSNBC recently, media and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons suggested he could help bring hundreds of thousands of people to the protests.

"I think we need some adjustments and I think the protesters represent a growing number of Americans who feel that there is a class warfare and the rich are waging a great war on the middle class and working class," he told MSNBC's Martin Bashir.

TheGrio: 700 arrested after protest on NY's Brooklyn Bridge

Some participants said Simmons' presence, along with other high-profile African-Americans, such as Cornel West, will help show black America that Occupy Wall Street has as much to do with them as anyone else.

The protests have spread all over the U.S. - from Los Angeles to Chicago to Connecticut - with no signs of slowing down. The protests, which originated in lower Manhattan, saw a spike in black and Latino participation around the time of the Troy Davis debate and execution but then tapered off.

"I think the [African-American] presence is definitely missed," said Anne Baxter, 60 and a registered nurse. "There are individuals here, like myself, but not to the extent where you can say 'African-Americans are here and are taking on the struggle.'"

A Facebook page, 'Occupy The Hood,' has attracted one thousand 'members' and has a specific focus on getting more African-American voices heard throughout the protests. The group has a Twitter account as well.

But social media may not be enough.

"Black people are tired," said Cassandra Freeman, an actress and drama instructor. "They've been feeling what a lot of these protesters have been feeling for years, so they support the movement even though they are not physically here."

Freeman, 32, says those who have jobs are lucky and need to hold on to them. She says that may be a reason why African-American women especially have not been a strong presence at the protests.

"They want to be a part of this, but you can be a part of it and not physically be here."

Tillery, whose research specializes in social movements, said the question of black involvement in the occupy protests is a serious one - and one that deserves more critical coverage.

"What we know from social science research is that people need resources that increase their sense of efficacy and facilitates their ability to break out of such hardship conditions and participate in protest actions," Tillery adds. "I am not ready to say that African-Americans are underrepresented in the movement because their participation may not yet be fully visible."

NBC News associate Chika Oduah contributed to this report.

 

>via: http://www.thegrio.com/politics/occupy-wall-street-leaves-black-america-behin...

 

 

Professor Derrick Bell

(Nov. 6, 1930 - Oct. 5, 2011)

 

Rest In Peace Professor Derrick Bell

 

7:29am  |   URL: http://tumblr.com/x3553j8oge

Derrick Bell, Law Professor and

Rights Advocate, Dies at 80



Steve Liss/Time Life Pictures, via Getty Images

 Derrick Bell walking with a group of Harvard law students after taking a voluntary unpaid leave of absence to protest the lack of tenured minority women professors.

By FRED A. BERNSTEIN

Published: October 6, 2011

Derrick Bell, a legal scholar who saw persistent racism in America and sought to expose it through books, articles and provocative career moves — he gave up a Harvard Law School professorship to protest the school’s hiring practices — died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 80 and lived on the Upper West Side.

 

The cause was carcinoid cancer, his wife, Janet Dewart Bell, said.

While he was working at the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department in his 20s, his superiors told him to give up his membership in the N.A.A.C.P., believing it posed a conflict of interest. Instead he quit the department, ignoring the advice of friends to try to change it from within.

Thirty years later, when he left Harvard Law School, he rejected similar advice. At the time, he said, his first wife, Jewel Hairston Bell, had asked him, “Why does it always have to be you?” The question trailed him afterward, he wrote in a 2002 memoir, “Ethical Ambition,” as did another posed by unsympathetic colleagues: “Who do you think you are?”

Professor Bell, soft-spoken and erudite, was “not confrontational by nature,” he wrote. But he attacked both conservative and liberal beliefs. In 1992, he told The New York Times that black Americans were more subjugated than at any time since slavery. And he wrote that in light of the often violent struggle that resulted from the Supreme Court’s 1954 desegregation decision, Brown v. Board of Education, things might have worked out better if the court had instead ordered that both races be provided with truly equivalent schools.

He was a pioneer of critical race theory — a body of legal scholarship that explored how racism is embedded in laws and legal institutions, even many of those intended to redress past injustices. His 1973 book, “Race, Racism and American Law,” became a staple in law schools and is now in its sixth edition.

Mr. Bell “set the agenda in many ways for scholarship on race in the academy, not just the legal academy,” said Lani Guinier, the first black woman hired to join Harvard Law School’s tenured faculty, in an interview on Wednesday.

At a rally while a student at Harvard Law, Barack Obama compared Professor Bell to the civil rights hero Rosa Parks.

Professor Bell’s core beliefs included what he called “the interest convergence dilemma” — the idea that whites would not support efforts to improve the position of blacks unless it was in their interest. Asked how the status of blacks could be improved, he said he generally supported civil rights litigation, but cautioned that even favorable rulings would probably yield disappointing results and that it was best to be prepared for that.

Much of Professor Bell’s scholarship rejected dry legal analysis in favor of stories. In books and law review articles, he presented parables and allegories about race relations, then debated their meaning with a fictional alter ego, a professor named Geneva Crenshaw, who forced him to confront the truth about racism in America.

One his best-known parables is “The Space Traders,” which appeared in his 1992 book, “Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism.” In the story, as Professor Bell later described it, creatures from another planet offer the United States “enough gold to retire the national debt, a magic chemical that will cleanse America’s polluted skies and waters, and a limitless source of safe energy to replace our dwindling reserves.” In exchange, the creatures ask for only one thing: America’s black population, which would be sent to outer space. The white population accepts the offer by an overwhelming margin. (In 1994 the story was adapted as one of three segments in a television movie titled “Cosmic Slop.”)

Not everyone welcomed the move to storytelling in legal scholarship. In 1997 Richard Posner, the conservative law professor and appeals court judge, wrote in The New Republic that “by repudiating reasoned argumentation,” scholars like Professor Bell “reinforce stereotypes about the intellectual capacities of nonwhites.”

Professor Bell’s narrative technique nonetheless became an accepted mode of legal scholarship, giving female, Latino and gay scholars a new way to introduce their experiences into legal discourse. Reviewing “Faces at the Bottom of the Well” in The New York Times, the Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse wrote: “The stories challenge old assumptions and then linger in the mind in a way that a more conventionally scholarly treatment of the same themes would be unlikely to do.”

Derrick Albert Bell Jr. was born on Nov. 6, 1930, in Pittsburgh, to Derrick Albert and Ada Elizabeth Childress Bell. After graduating from Schenley High School near Pittsburgh’s Hill District, he became the first member of his family to go to college, attending Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1952.

A member of the R.O.T.C. at Duquesne, he was later an Air Force officer for two years, one of them in Korea. Afterward he attended the University of Pittsburgh Law School, where he was the only black student, earning his degree in 1957.

After his stint at the Justice Department, he headed the Pittsburgh office of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, leading efforts to integrate a public swimming pool and a skating rink. Later, assigned to Mississippi, he supervised more than 300 school desegregation cases.

In 1969, after teaching briefly at the University of Southern California, he was recruited and hired by Harvard Law School, where students were pressuring the administration to appoint a black professor. Mr. Bell conceded that he did not have the usual qualifications for a Harvard professorship, like a federal court clerkship or a degree from a top law school.

In 1980 he left Harvard to become dean of the University of Oregon School of Law, but he resigned in 1985 when the school did not offer a position to an Asian-American woman. After returning to Harvard in 1986, he staged a five-day sit-in in his office to protest the school’s failure to grant tenure to two professors whose work involved critical race theory.

In 1990 he took an unpaid leave of absence, vowing not to return until the school hired, for the first time, a black woman to join its tenured faculty. His employment effectively ended when the school refused to extend his leave. By then, he was teaching at New York University School of Law, where he remained a visiting professor until his death. Harvard Law School hired Professor Guinier in 1998.

Mr. Bell said his personal decisions took a toll on his first wife, Jewel, who had cancer when he left Harvard in 1990 and died that year. In 1992 he began a correspondence with Janet Dewart, who was the communications director of the National Urban League. Ms. Dewart proposed marriage before the couple even met. A few months later, Mr. Bell accepted.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three sons from his first marriage, Derrick A. Bell III and Douglas Dubois Bell, both of Pittsburgh, and Carter Robeson Bell of New York; two sisters, Janet Bell of Pittsburgh and Constance Bell of Akron, Ohio; and a brother, Charles, of New York.

In “Ethical Ambition,” Mr. Bell expressed doubts about his legacy: “It is not easy to look back over a long career and recognize with some pain that my efforts may have benefited my career more clearly than they helped those for whom I have worked.”

But Professor Guinier, who continues to teach at Harvard, differed with that view. “Most people think of iconoclasts as lone rangers,” she said on Wednesday. “But Derrick was both an iconoclast and a community builder. When he was opening up this path, it was not just for him. It was for all those who he knew would follow into the legal academy.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: October 6, 2011

An earlier version misstated the surname of Mr. Bell's wife. She is Janet Dewart Bell, not Dewart.

>via: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/us/derrick-bell-pioneering-harvard-law-prof...

 

Congolese urban music

in a world of global influences

(Part 1)

For better or worse, technology has changed the way we humans interact with one another.  Though geographically distant, we are only a phone call, Facebook message, Skype chat, or YouTube clip away from one another. In other words, the world is truly becoming a global village. But this new community isn’t merely cyber. With the flux of emigration and immigration going on all over our planet, our communities are overlapping a lot more than ever, and as a result are influencing one another to an ever greater degree. And nowhere is this more apparent than in music.

There’s nothing novel about incorporating foreign sounds into one’s own – many elements of the blues can be traced back to the 'motherland', for example – but there’s now a slew of respected contemporary American bands like Vampire Weekend, Fool’s Gold, Dirty Projectors, and Givers, who can all be categorided as indie Afro-Pop. What their success has done is help make African music more palatable – and much less “foreign” - to Western indie and mainstream audiences. It’s no longer uncommon to read rave reviews from culturally relevant American music blogs and magazines like Pitchfork, Spin Magazine, and The Fader of contemporary urban African artists like Spoek Mathambo, The Very Best, Die Antwoord, K’naan, and Nneka. These artists differ stylistically, but they share a common talent for organically mixing Western aesthetics with African rhythms, melodies, and sounds.

In fact, some say a reluctance to incorporate “foreign” sounds into music has contributed to the perceived decline in Congolese pop music. As a recent article on allAfrica.com pointed out, Congolese pop music dominated the African scene for decades. But in Congo, adding different sounds to the music is regarded as unoriginal at best and unpatriotic or inauthentic at worst. Ironically, the origins of rumba, considered one of Congo’s “truest” art forms, can be traced to Cuba.

Because of traditions that eschew outside influences – or at least recognised outside influences – the global revolution happening in the music world forms an antithesis to the psyche of the Congolese artist.

Yet a growing and vibrant class of Congolese urban artists is taking Congolese pop to new heights. The landscape is wide – hip-hop, electro-coupé décalé, pop, R&B, urban rumba – and it is my pleasure to introduce a few of these artists to anyone new to the contemporary urban music scene in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For anyone who's glanced at the pix and is about to scream, "where's Fally Ipupa?!", please note that the focus here is on emerging artists and artists who've been around a while but are yet to receive their fair due. So, kick back, relax, and welcome to Congo!

LIL SAM

LiL Sam is the 17-year-old protégé of DJ Meji, one of Kinshasa's leading DeeJays. The emerging rapper creates his own South Florida-influenced beats and knows how to make catchy, danceable hip-hop and crossover records. This kid has what it takes to export his music beyond Kinshasa.

Là bas

Lil Sam Feat Stematik - First Session (2010)
Soundcloud
Facebook

PATHY PACHEKO

Pathy Pacheko is a former member of Viva La Musica, a popular band founded by Congolese icon Papa Wemba. Pacheko is a soulful singer who’s taking Congolese rumba in a new direction. His work blends soul music and traditional rumba, giving birth to a new urban rumba sound, à la Papa Wemba’s Emotion album. I hope more rumba artists will take this route.

Official site

KIBISTONE

When it comes to diverse sound, Kibistone is your man. He does hip-hop, R&B, afrobeat and even messes with a bit of South African kwaito. He also raps in various languages: French, Lingala, and Zulu. I believe with such a range he has all the elements necessary to push him to the forefront of the African music scene.

Official site

LEXXUS LEGAL

When it comes to hip-hop crafted in Kinsasha, Lexxus Legal is the key figure in the game. This politically-conscious and didactic emcee was voted Best Hip-Hop Artist during Congo’s 2009 Ndule Awards and earned a place in the finals for the 2010 RFI World Music Prize. Mark my word, Lexxus will one day be seen as a giant in African hip-hop.

MySpace

YOUSSOUPHA

Youssoupha, son of Congolese rumba musician Tabu Ley, is an emcee par excellence. He’s known as the Lyricist Bantu for his poetic brand of hip-hop, and he’s helping to re-focus hip-hop on lyrics rather than just on a hot beat.

Official site

MAITRE GIMS

Maitre Gims is the leader of the French platinum group Sexion D’asault and has a solo track on the group’s latest project, En Attendant L'apogée: Les Chroniques du 75. If this track serves as any indication of what we can expect from a full-on solo album, Maitre Gims’s eagerly awaited project could be one of the francophone hip-hop highlights of the year. Keep an eye on this guy.

Official site, Sexion D'assault

 

This is just a small taste, and in Part 2 I’ll introduce you to the artists modernizing the style of music known as coupé décalé.

Written by Yves-Alec Tambashe

 

__________________________

 

 

The Congolese urban music

(Part 2): Modernisers of

Coupé Décalé

Our spotlight on Congolese artists you should get to know continues with the modernisers of the style of music known as coupé décalé.

Although coupé décalé originated in Ivory Coast, its rhythms are audibly Congolese, which is why Congolese people immediately connect with it and feel right at home when they hear it. 

This music style is barely a decade old but some up-and-coming Congolese artists are already refreshing it by blending in some electro music, or hip-hop, and so on. It is my pleasure to introduce you to the key modern-afro-coupé décalé artists on the scene right now.

TONY SAD

MC/Producer Tony Sad is based in Miami, Florida, and recently won the title of Best Diasporan Artist at Congo’s Okapi Awards. Tony mixes hip-hop and coupé décalé to create music that appears to have one purpose: to get you on your feet.

Facebook

BANA C4 

The group Bana C4 is not yet widely known in Congolese music circles, but this lack of fame is by no means synonymous with a lack of talent. In fact, I’d say this youthful group has the potential to be a major player in the not too distant future. 

Bana C4 is led by the charismatic Hiro Le Coq, who is credited with creating “La danse du coq”. 

Fun, energetic, radio friendly, dance-floor-ready records is mandatory for success in coupé décalé, and Bana C4 seem to have this mastered. 

MySpace

JESSY MATA D’OR  

Jessy is the 2011 winner of the coveted Congolese Ndule Award for Best Artist from the Diaspora. His brand of coupé décalé mixed with electro and ndombolo took off big time in 2008 when his song Décalé Gwadabecame a megahit in France, across Africa, and among the urban crowd in DR Congo. As a direct result he was selected to represent France at the Eurovision Song Festival in 2010. (He lives in France.)

For those questioning his Congolese-ness, I believe his recent appearance at JB Mpiana’s side will put any lingering doubts to rest. 

(In case you’re wondering why people questioned the Congolese-ness of an Ndule Award-winner? Well, sure he won the award, but he won as a “diasporan” artist. In DR Congo you have two Congolese audiences, the urban well-to-do’s, who are usually down with modern sound, and the masses. It’s similar to what you have in the States where an artist like Drake or Whiz Khalifa will win Best New Artist and the “purists” will say that isn’t “real” hip-hop, it’s too commercial. Glad to say that Jessy is finally starting to get his due in DR Congo, too.)
MySpace

LODIA H²O

Coming from a family of artists meant Lodia H²O was introduced to the music scene at an early age. He honed his talent by MCing at various clubs and parties. He then carried that Congolese MCing style into his solo project and incorporated elements of the soukous and ndombolo that he grew up listening to, specifically the rhythm, pace and guitar licks. His brand of coupé décalé is thus easier for the diehard soukous fans to accept, and heaven knows they are bloody hard to please! 

Official blog

TUTU CALLUGI

Tutu Callugi is the legendary former “atalaku” or animator from the Grammy Award-winning Wenge Musica BCBG before it split up in December 1997. 

An atalaku is like an MC but not in the sense of a rapper. Every Congolese band, regardless of style (souks, ndombolo, etc.) has an atalaku. Most Congolese songs have a singing part followed by a dancing part, which is where the tempo goes up a bit (called the “sebene”). The guy doing the singing in the dancing part is an atalaku. (You find something like this in New Orleans Bounce music, where one guy shouts out dances and people respond.)

Anyway, the guys in the following video are doing the Ndombolo dance(which Tutu is responsible for popularizing), and Tutu, the guy singing, is the “atalaku”, “animating” the dancers. 

Before Tutu, atalakus used to just shout out the dances, then Tutu came along and added some singing elements to the “animation”. It caught on, and so he shaped the next generation of animators. 

This is a good spot to offer a fuller explanation of coupé décalé and the Cote D’Ivoire connection: coupé décalé is pretty much a mix of Congolese sebene with a backbeat from zouglou. Ivorian artists just got rid of the slow, singing part, but if you listen now to coupé décalé from Ivory Coast you'll hear Tutu Callugi’s influence on the artists. And this is why Congolese people feel at home in the genre.  (Actually, you hear his influence in Lodia H2O and Bana C4’s music, too, as well as in that of DJ Arafat. But not so much in Jessy Matador’s music as he, like Tony Sad, uses more hip-hop.)

Now a solo act, Tutu makes some pretty good urban music. He’s a bit old-school in some ways – he still makes nine-minute love songs with no dance parts – but I see the potential for him to have a great solo career. 

(Note: DJ Eloh, the third guy in this vid, is from Cote D’Ivoire.)
Facebook

Ok, that concludes our round-up of coupé décalé modernizers, because the next two artists should have been included in Part 1 – our apologies – but we’d be doing them an injustice if we left them out altogether because of our omission last week, so here they are:

BALOJI

Baloji, whose music is a mix of hip-hop, soul and rumba, is probably my, and the TIA team's, favorite artist in this entire round-up (Parts 1 and 2). He doesn’t seem to have any weaknesses: great music videos, an impeccable style, a conscious message, and metaphors that make Drake’s wordplays seem like child’s play. His album Kinshasa Succursaleis a masterpiece, even though it didn’t cause much of a splash in DR Congo. What a pity! Why didn’t it make a splash? Hard to tell, but it couldbe because his style taps into the 60’s, and mixing that with his great lyricism might be just a tad too innovative for the Congolese audience. I mean, no offence to my fellow Congolese but the home audience doesn’t seem to appreciate people being that innovative. Not that people don’t like Baloji, but with the quality of music he’s producing he ought to everyone’sfavourite. Alas, some Congolese music fans don’t even know he exists. Like I said, what a pity.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing which direction his next project takes.

Official site

MOHOMBI

Mohombi does straight pop and R&B with a dash of zouk, and he’s been generating some buzz in the pop world, receiving airplay on MTV and BET. Of all the artists in this round-up  he’s the one most likely to have the biggest crossover success, as he sings in the language of Shakespeare. 

Facebook
MySpace

Well, that’s it. We hope at least one of these artists makes it on to your regular playlist.

Written by Yves-Alec Tambashe

via thisisafrica.me

 

What Does the Congo Think

About Apple’s iPhone

Announcement

October 5, 2011 Posted by: Swank

The Democratic Republic of Congo has rich deposits of gold, diamonds, copper and other minerals that unscrupulous business people have been eager to exploit. Rebel groups have used the sale of raw materials to fund civil war, and Rwandan militias in eastern Congo are capitalizing on the sale of coltan, a crucial raw material in the manufacture of electronic devices.Now, developed countries are stepping up pressure on industry to buy exclusively clean, or conflict-free, raw materials.

The United Nations has suggested developing a certification scheme to stamp out the trade of dirty or illegally mined materials.

 

Apple’s announcement yesterday was a major buzz kill. The new iPhone will only be a version of the current 4th generation, and won’t be shatter-proof (we know a lot of you are walking around with busted iPhones). We wonder what folks working in the coltan mines in the Congo, where 80% of the world’s supply of this mineral can be found, thought about Apple’s unsatisfactory announcement. For them, it’s probably just another day on the job (we use the word “job” loosely because that would imply compensation for work done – which is not always the case).

For those who don’t know, coltan is one of the key minerals used in the iPhone’s circuit board, as well as the inner workings of many other electronics including computers.  It is also what Adam Hochschild has described as one of four main reasons for ongoing deadly violence in the Congo. So much violence in fact, that it has been coined the ‘blood mineral’ – joining the ranks of the ‘blood diamond.’ In addition to the violence, working conditions in the mines can be also be deadly. We’re not here to preach, but it’s always good to be reminded of the price others pay for our technologies.

To support efforts for peace in the Congo, check out Falling Whistles, Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Oxfam.

cafe writers open poetry competition 2011

The Cafe Writers Open Poetry Competition 2011 is now open to entries. 

Poems should be no more than 40 lines on one side of A4 only.

Entries accepted by post or by email.

Closing Date 30th November 2011

Competition Details

PRIZES

1^st £1000        2nd £300             3rd £150

Five Commended Prizes of    £50

Funniest Poem not winning another prize £100

Norfolk Prize   £100  
awarded to best poem from a permanent Norfolk resident not winning another prize

Entry Fee  
£4 per poem; or £10 for 3 poems and £2.00 per poem thereafter  

SOLE JUDGE Pascale Petit

Pascale Petit has published five poetry collections. Her latest, What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo, published by Seren in 2010 (UK) and Black Lawrence Press in 2011 (US), was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and was a Book of the Year in The Observer. Two of her previous books, The Zoo Father (Seren, 2001) and The Huntress (Seren, 2005), were also shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and were Books of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement and Independent. In 2004 the Poetry Book Society selected her as one of the Next Generation Poets. Pascale Petit's Website

Competition Rules                 Printable Entry Form               Email Entry

Flash Fiction Contest

This year, Compass Rose is holding its inaugural contest in flash fiction. The final judge is Tim Horvath.

Horvath is the author of Circulation, published by sunnyoutside press in 2009, and stories in Conjunctions, Fiction, Alimentum, Puerto del Sol, and various other places. His debut collection, Understories, will be published by Bellevue Literary Press in early 2012. He is an associate prose editor for Camera Obscura, a contributor to the literary/cinema blog Big Other, and teaches creative writing at Chester College of New England and Grub Street, as well as through Turnstyle, an intensive program for high school students. His website is www.timhorvath.com.

Guidelines

All entries must be made via our new submission manager.

Please submit no more than three (3) pieces of no more than 1,000 words between August 1 and November 15, 2011.The contest fee is $5. We read our contest entries blind. Please do not put your name or your contact information on the work itself; instead enclose a cover letter with your name, titles of your work, and contact information. Entries that include your name and/or contact information will not be read and fees will not be refunded. No postal submissions, email submissions or previously published work will be accepted.

Relatives, friends, students, and colleagues of the judge are not eligible.

PRIZE

The winning entry will be selected in January 2012 and published in Compass Rose Vol. XII in May 2012. A cash award of 50 percent of total entry fees will be paid to the author. A list of finalists will be published on this blog, and emailed to all entrants.

We do not accept email submissions, but are happy to answer questions that way. Contact us at compass.rose@chestercollege.edu.

Patricia Parnell Poetry Prize

This prize will not be awarded again until Volume XIII (2012-2013)

Named after the founder of Compass Rose, Professor Patricia Parnell, this contest is designed to bring poetry of the finest quality to the pages of our magazine.

The winner of the contest receives $400 and publication in Compass Rose.  Final judge Barbara Louise Ungar selected “Grief,” by Anna Scotti as the 2011 prize winner. The list of finalists for the 2010-2011 contest is available here.

THE MILTON KESSLER MEMORIAL

PRIZE FOR POETRY

The annual winner receives a $500 prize and publication in the winter issue of Harpur Palate.


Opens: September 1 
Postmark Deadline: November 15


Contest Guidelines
Harpur Palate accepts previously unpublished poems in any style, form, or genre.  The $15 entry fee includes a one-year subscription to Harpur Palate.  No more than five poems per entry.  Please send checks drawn on a U.S. bank or money orders made out to Harpur Palate.


All poems entered will be considered for publication, and all entrants will receive a copy of the issue in which the winning poem appears.  Please include a cover letter with your name, address, phone number, e-mail address and poem titles.  Entrant's name should only appear on the cover letter and should not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Manuscripts cannot be returned.


Send entries along with fee and SASE to:

Milton Kessler Poetry Contest

Harpur Palate

English Department

Binghamton University

Box 6000

Binghamton, NY  13902-6000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congolese Wrestling 

You may have heard and seen Senegalese wrestlers, but take a look at these dynamic images of Congolese wrestlers by photographer Colin Delfosse. The photography throws you into the spirit of the matches. Enjoy.

About The Author

Jepchumba

Jepchumba is a digital artist originally from Kenya. She focuses her passion for technology and creativity around Africa. She specializes in Web Design, Digital Art, Audio/Visual Production and UI/UX. She is a freelance designer and the Founder and Creative Director for the African Digital Art Network.

Field Notes:

Church Fans

 

by Kristy Tillman

The church fan has long been a fixture in the ritual of worship in African American churches. In the days before air conditioner became ubiquitous, hand held paper fans displaying religious motifs became a staple in southern churches to cool parishioners. Over the last century they have transitioned from simple ephemera into an iconic cultural symbol in the black church. The church fan has been on my list of ʻcurious aboutʼ subjects for some time now. Last week on one of my favorite social media outlets the topic came up again and I decided to dedicate this weekʼs Field Note to taking a closer look at the church fan as a piece of art.

 

One of the most striking things about the church fan are the motifs displayed that range from traditional religious iconography such as the last super to imagery of black families in worship and children in prayer. It was not uncommon to break from immediate religious representations to feature prominent black leadership such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Outside of its functional use as a body cooling the device the fan took on a life of its own acting as a graphic messenger to the black community. The scenes work as poetic meditations that reflect a point of view of everyday black life. The imagery also serves as a visual narrative of changing ideals over time within a community.

 

 

Within their historical context, it would be safe to say that the scenes represent an enthusiastic idealism that provided a source of strength within what was often one of the few safe havens for Blacks, the church. In their imagery, black church fans, reveal much about the past and their use as a cultural icon which is supported by their continued relevance despite the prevalence of air conditioning.

 

 

The use of the fan as an advertising space came to prominence around the early 1900s when the commercial printing press came into wide use. All sorts of businesses from funeral homes to insurance companies placed advertisements on the back of fans. The fans became the best means of advertising to a captive black audience, and solidifying the church as an early economic power.

//

 

F for Effort

The migrant teacher fiasco.

• Timothy Noah

  Timothy Noah

  view bio

   

  • I Still Have Nothing To Say About Herman Cain
  • Wall Street Bolshevism, Part 3
  • Page One-ology
• September 28, 2011

Fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy had a great idea. He would create an agency, the Peace Corps, to send idealistic young Americans abroad to spread their wealthy nation’s know-how among the impoverished peoples of the world. Lately, public schools in the United States have taken JFK’s idea and turned it around. Why not invite the impoverished peoples of the world to come here to enlighten us?

America is still the planet’s wealthiest country, but it is no longer, by international standards, a particularly well-educated one. The foreigners come as migrant workers, but, instead of picking lettuce or grapes, they teach science and math. Retiring baby-boomers have created an acute shortage of science and math teachers in public schools. If you’re a school principal, recruiting foreigners from desperately poor countries to come to the United States on temporary visas is a handy way to avoid paying a premium to people skilled in these subject areas who already live within U.S. borders.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the bracero (“strong arm”) program, which brought migrant farm workers from Mexico to California and the Southwest for limited periods of time starting in the 1940s. Edward R. Murrow exposed these foreign laborers’ inhumane working conditions in the 1960 CBS News documentary Harvest of Shame. Within five years, the program was shut down and Cesar Chavez was organizing native-born and immigrant Chicanos into the United Farm Workers. The temporary visas that public schools secure for foreign science and math teachers are a bit like the bracero program, except immigrant and native-born teachers in the United States already have two national unions, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA). These are widely believed to exert a stranglehold on U.S. education. But I don’t see how that can be if public school districts are importing foreign labor right under their noses. The unions represent the newcomers as best they can under preexisting labor contracts and try to obtain green cards for the ones who’d like to stay.

The presence of bracero teachers is a notable humiliation for the United States, because it suggests that our own citizens are no longer willing to pass on to the next generation the tools necessary to maintain a leadership role in the world. But it has not, for some reason, attracted much attention. A high-ranking AFL-CIO official told me it was news to him. I first learned of the migrants a few months ago when I read in The Washington Post’s Metro section that the Labor Department had levied $5.9 million in fines and back pay from suburban Maryland’s Prince George’s County for ripping off foreign schoolteachers working on temporary visas. Pretty steep penalty, I thought, until I saw that the number of foreign teachers involved exceeded 1,000. Foreign migrants accounted for more than 10 percent of the county’s entire teaching staff! Baltimore, I learned, employed a comparable proportion.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the migrant-teacher flow has slowed amid widespread school layoffs. But, for most of the aughts, about 8,000 migrant schoolteachers arrived each year, most headed for Texas, Georgia, New York, Maryland, and California. That’s two to three times as many teachers as Teach For America was fielding annually. Initially, the recruits came on J-1 cultural-exchange visas from the State Department, but, when these became scarce after 9/11, the favored vehicle became the Labor Department’s H-1B visas. (Since 2006, bracero teachers have been largely exempt from the annual H-1B ceiling of 65,000 recipients.)

A plurality of the bracero teachers comes from the Philippines, the sketchy available data suggests. Labor markets don’t come much cheaper. A 2009 AFT report notes that 40 percent of the Philippines’ population earns less than $1 per day. “I am earning twenty-five times more than what I was earning in the Philippines,” a bracero high school teacher says in The Learning, a documentary about the travails of Filipino migrants teaching in Baltimore schools that aired on PBS in September.

One quality the Philippines is not known for is the excellence of its primary and secondary education system. In math and science, the Philippines consistently ranks at or near the bottom among Asian nations (and well below even the United States). That means, among other things, that the Philippines can ill afford to send its best teachers here.

The Learning, which was made by a Filipino-American named Ramona Diaz, is a heart-wrenching film focusing on the anguish four Filipino women suffer in leaving their families behind and the extreme culture shock they face on entering classrooms filled with unruly inner-city Americans. But it’s no Harvest of Shame. By that I mean that—apart from one teacher remarking early on that she paid $7,000 up front to a U.S.-based recruiting firm that is never identified—the documentary sheds no light on whether these migrant teachers are exploited. Nor does the film examine the extent to which the guest workers’ presence undermines the bargaining power of American schoolteachers. The Learning’s indifference to such questions reflects how mainstream liberalism has, since Harvest of Shame, drifted away from matters of economic justice (the very phrase sounds antique) toward celebrating multicultural diversity for its own sake.

Exploitation of bracero teachers is, of course, routine. In Prince George’s County, new recruitment was suspended after the county compelled the teachers to pay the cost of their H-1B visas and other fees associated with their entry to the United States. In Louisiana, a group of Filipino migrant teachers and the AFT last year sued a Baton Rouge school district alleging that the recruiter deceived them about the ultimate size of her ($16,000!) fee. VIF International Education, the highest-volume recruiter in the United States, once required many of its bracero teachers to lease cars from a company owned by VIF’s owner, according to a 2003 report by the NEA. The practice was later discontinued. “We are not an employment agency,” a VIF spokesman assured the NEA. “We are a cultural-exchange organization.”

Nonsense. When 10 percent of a school district’s teachers are foreign migrants, that isn’t cultural exchange. It’s sweatshop labor—and a depressing indicator of how low a priority public education has become. 

Timothy Noah is a senior editor at The New Republic. This article appeared in the October 20, 2011, issue of the magazine.