Saludos y feliz 2010 desde Buenaventura, Colombia! This announcement from Berta Jottar at Williams College:
New Meanings: Afro-descendant Percussion Practices explores the impact and direction of musical developments in the African Disapora.Through workshops, panels, lecture-demonstrations, films and two concerts, the symposium will explore the contemporary interconnectivity that exists between percussion practices from West Africa, the Caribbean and the U.S.
Guest lecturers and artists include: Pedrito Martinez, Roman Diaz, M’bemba Bangoura, Ilu Aye, Café da Silva, Mike Wimberly, Barbara Browning, Bobby Sanabria, Ali Jackson, Frisner Augustine, Atiba Rorie, Bashir Shakur, and more!
Para algunos, ni la cultura, ni la religion, ni la propia vida humana tiene valor. En el Pacífico sur, estan entrando en las fechas folklóricas del año, empezando con las fiestas de la Vírgen patrona y extendiéndose hasta las fiestas de Epifanía y del Niño Dios. Se prenden los equipos, se cogen los bombos, se abren las botellas, se arman los arrullos y las familias y grupos de amigos gozan sus vacaciones y veneran sus santos.
Originalmente se estaba hablando de que alguien "dejó caer" a una granada, ahora las autoridades culpan a las FARC. No se sabe bien las circumstancias pero inclusive si fue un accidente, que una persona se sienta obligada a andar con una granada en una procesion navideña apunta hacia la degeneracion de la situacion inclusive en un pueblo que, hasta yo sepa, nunca ha presenciado semjante evento en el caso urbano, algo que nos hace recordar - bien que se promueva la música, pero mil Petronios no llegan a atender las necesidades de la zona. Es más, no ayudan a salvaguardar prácticas culturales cuya existencia - como la de sus practicantes - se ve amenazada sobre todo por la proliferación de las dinámicas de la violencia en la cotidinianidad e inclusive en el campo ritual que le da significado a esas prácticas.
Quisieramos expresar nuestros profundos pésames a la familia de Nelsy y Nasly y a la comunidad guapireña, y los deseos de pronta recuperación a los lesionados.
Indiscutiblemente, Uribe es "para bases militares" pero bueno, para el alcalde de Manizales es un"irrespeto" no solamente a Uribe sino también "a todos los colombianos de bien". Dijo también: "Yo asumo las consecuencias, pero estoy en condición también de asumir la posición de defender el honor de todos los colombianos." Así que uno que no sea uribista no es colombiano, o al menos no es colombiano de bien.
Aproximadamente 400 mercados, 200 kids de aseo y varias toneladas de ropa, serán enviadas a Guapi, en la costa pacífica caucana, debido al desbordamiento del Río Guapi, que afectó a cerca de 450 familias. Desde Bogotá y Popayán se enviarán a través de la Fuerza Aérea, la ayuda humanitaria para estas familias que perdieron sus cultivos de pancoger por las aguas que destruyeron dos viviendas y afectó a 32. El director de socorro de la Cruz Roja en Popayán, Alexander Sánchez, anunció que a Popayán llegarán las ayudas enviadas por la Oficina Nacional de Atención de Prevención de Desastres de la Presidente de la República y de la Cruz Roja Nacional y posteriormente en un avión de la Fuerza Aérea serán trasladadas a Guapi. Por su parte el presidente de la Cruz Roja en Guapi, Wilson Micolta, aseveró que por lo menos seis meses sin alimentos estarán los habitantes afectados por el desbordamiento del Río. Riesgo de hambruna en Guapi por ola invernal El Gobernador del Cauca, Guillermo González, indicó que la creciente del río Guapi en la cabecera del afluente arrasó con decenas de hectáreas de cultivos de pancoger lo que tiene en este momento en riesgo la seguridad alimentaria de cientos de familias en la costa pacifica caucana. "Según el informe de la Cruz Roja el problema afecta principalmente cultivos, es muy duro que la gente pierda los cultivos de pancoger. Lo más grave es el problema de hambre que puede presentarse por eso estamos enviando víveres que es lo principal, hay que hacer una reconstrucción de la zona, me preocupa mucho la niñez", manifestó a Caracol Radio el mandatario departamental. El principal problema que enfrentan las autoridades en este momento es la entrega de estos víveres por las condiciones geográficas de la zona de emergencia. "Estamos trabajando en la movilización para el envío de los víveres, por ser una zonas de difícil acceso, estamos buscando el apoyo de la Fuerza Aérea para enviar estas ayudas para palear el tema de alimento que es lo más difícil", indicó el gobernador del Cauca. El funcionario precisó que son cerca de 400 las familias damnificadas y descartó, por el momento, que se hayan presentados víctimas mortales por cuenta de la crecida del río.
The Marley name, look and sound are estimated to generate an estimated $600 million a year in sales of unlicensed wares. Legal sales are much smaller — just $4 million for his descendants in 2007, according to Forbes magazine. The Marleys refuse to give a figure.
Now the family has hired Toronto-based Hilco Consumer Capital to protect their rights to the brand. Hilco CEO Jamie Salter believes Marley products could be a $1 billion business in a few years.
The Bobo Rastas are apparently on board too.
"Bob Marley was and still is a stepping stone for many around the world who seek Rastafari roots and culture," said the Rasta rep who identified himself as the Honorable Prophet Moambeh Acosta in an e-mail. "We can only hope and pray for the (family's) success ... as the task seems insurmountable due to the years of piracy and counterfeiting."
Continues the article,
The turn to big business has stirred some grousing from die-hard fans in Internet chat rooms, who say it goes against the grain of a singer who preached nonmaterialism and popularized the Rastafarian credo of oneness with nature and marijuana consumption as a sacrament.
Rather than focusing on street vendors, who hawk everything from Bob Marley T-shirts to beach towels, the partnership is creating a new line of products dubbed "House of Marley" and will police the trademark vigilantly.
The family says it cares less about moving merchandise than about preserving the patriarch's legacy in such efforts as the Marley organic coffee farm, whose product is dried, roasted and packaged in bags emblazoned with Marley song titles such as "One Love" and "Mystic Morning."
"People need to know what they're getting is from the Marley movement, a movement of sustainability," said son Rohan as he showed The Associated Press around the farm...
Narco News and its team of technical engineers and counter-surveillance consultants has identified the apparatus as the LRAD-X Remote Long Range Acoustic Device, manufactured by the American Technologies Corporation.
The instrument is an offensive weapon, used on US Navy warships and by other nations, which can emit sounds that, “Through the use of powerful voice commands and deterrent tones, large safety zones can be created while determining the intent and influencing the behavior of an intruder.”
The LRAD-X machine can shoot sounds of up to 151 decibels. According to the US National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders sounds less loud than those it produces can cause Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL): “Sources of noise that can cause NIHL include motorcycles, firecrackers, and small firearms, all emitting sounds from 120 to 150 decibels. Long or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 decibels can cause hearing loss. The louder the sound, the shorter the time period before NIHL can occur.”
The front of the device looks like this:
And this is the back of the device:
In other words, the LRAD-X is the source of the high-pitched and pain-inducing sounds that have been fired both at those inside the Brazilian Embassy and turned around when anti-coup demonstrators have tried to come close to it. As such, it interferes with the Vienna protected inviolability of the Embassy and its free communications.
Under international law, this violation already serves as sufficient justification for intervention by UN Peacekeeping Forces of the multinational kind that the country of Brazil has led in Haiti.
DJ BLACK CHUCHA DE SU MADRE LYRICS tiempo del pique hey mr bombo, el pueblo ta bien cabriao de este negro... black wutan clan!
coro esta es la cancion del xuxa de su madre dedicado pa los xuxa de su madre pa q lo suenen como xuxa de su madre y se pege de aki hasta la xuxa de su madre (bis2)
dice letra..
En el pais hay un problema bn xuxa de su madre que nos tiene hasta la xuxa de se madre y trabajamos como xuxa de su madre pa resivir un sueldo bien xuxa de su madre y cada 4 años se aparece un xuxa de su madre prometiendo como xuxa de su madre pidiendo voto como xuxa de su madre VOTEN POR MI!.. xuxa de su madre pero en la asamblea si hay xuxa de su madre que no hacen na x ningun xuxa de su madre se olvido de todos los xuxa de su madre´ y se roba la plata hey xuxa de su madre
coro esta es la cancion del xuxa de su madre dedicado pa los xuxa de su madre pa q lo suenen como xuxa de su madre y se pege de aki hasta la xuxa de su madre
oye lo q me paso a la 1 de la mañana
espero taxi como un mismo xuxa de su madre y x se negro no me llevan los xuxa de su madre y a los lejos se me acercan los xuxa de su madre CEDULA CIUDADANO xuxa de su madre me llevan pa el cuartel los xuxa de su madre me sueltan a las 4 los xuxa de su madre llego a mi ksa y la xuxa de su madre de mi mujer tu tabas con una xuxa de su madre
coro esta es la cancion del xuxa de su madre dedicado pa los xuxa de su madre pa q lo suenen como xuxa de su madre y se pege de aki hasta la xuxa de su madre
en el pais hay un problema bn xuxa de su madrE el seguro hasta la xuxa de su madre los doctores asiendo huelga los xuxa de su madre dietilendlicol xuxa de su madre mato un poco de viejo el xuxa de su madre y los taxi hasta la xuxa de su madre hasta los buses se prenden xuxa de su madre hay no meten preso a nigun xuxa de su madre sige el transporte hasta la xuxa de su madre gasolina hasta la xuxa de su madre la comida hasta la xuxa de su madre y el salario del ghetto! hasta la xuxa de su madre
coro esta es la cancion del xuxa de su madre dedicado pa los xuxa de su madre pa q lo suenen como xuxa de su madre y se pege de aki hasta la xuxa de su madre (bis2)
el pais esta creciendo hasta la xuxa de su madre rantan de edificio como la xuxa de su madre q lindo q bonito los xuxa de su madre y kien va a vivi hay? los xuxa de su madre brother esto ta hasta la xuxa de su madre to mundo sufre como un xuxa de su madre el pobre mas pobre hasta la xuxa de su madre justica pa el pueblo!! xuxa de su madre tamos kabriao hasta la xuxa de su madre sufriendo como xuxa de su madre llorando como la xuxa de su madre trabajando como xuxa de su madre echando pa lante como un xuxa de su madre
ya tu sabes.. y si te menciono en todas las listas de lo malo q pasa una lista q ta mas larga q xuxa de su madre
Matthew Sumera, Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at U. Wisconsin - Madison, has posted a bibliography on music and violence on his blog, here. In related news, the Music and Violence sub-group or special section or whatever it is of the Society for Ethnomusicology will be meeting at the annual meeting in Mexico.
10.19.2009
GRAMMY NOMINATED MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA directed by BOBBY SANABRIA to honor
MAESTRO RAY SANTOS: A LIFE IN LATIN MUSIC
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the School’s BORDEN AUDITORIUM
Concert to feature Ray Santos’s
Suite for Puerto Rico
The recently Grammy nominated
Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra directed by Maestro Bobby Sanabria honors another Maestro, the legendary composer, arranger Ray Santos on Friday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the School’s John C. Borden Auditorium. That evening, showcased will be music that will span Maestro Santos’s entire prolific career. Performed will be specific pieces that he either composed and/or arranged for such legends as Machito & The Afro-Cubans, Tito Puente, Mario Bauza’ as well as his work for the soundtrack of the Mambo Kings and vocalist Linda Rondstat. A program highlight will include Ray Santos’s Suite for Puerto Rico. Bobby Sanabria says, "Maestro Santos’s Suite for Puerto Rico traces the imaginary journey of a native Puerto Rican with his folk music traditions from the mountainside to the modern urban environment of New York City where jazz and mambo rule."
Tickets, priced at $5 are required. They are available at the Manhattan School of Music Concert Office by visiting www.msmnyc.edu or by calling 917 493 4428.
RAY SANTOS -
Born of Puerto Rican parents in New York City where he was raised 80 years ago, is a legendary, four-time Grammy Award winner for Latin music, and Academy Award nominee for Best Song in a Motion Picture - "The Mambo Kings." A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, Ray Santos has played, recorded, composed and arranged for front line orchestras throughout the Latin music industry for more than 50 years. He has collaborated with artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Julio Iglesias, Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, and Dizzy Gillespie to name a few. Hailed "El Maestro" by those who have known, worked and studied with him, Santos is considered to be one of the most prodigious contributors to Latin music for the last half-century.
Ray Santos reveled in the atmosphere of the Big Band Era. During this period he absorbed the popular music of his folk traditions from the Caribbean and the Swing Music of the 1930’s and 1940’s. In 1948, while listening to Symphony Sid on the radio, he heard Charlie Parker soloing with Machito and His Afro-Cubans. The thrill of that moment still in his voice, Ray excitedly describes his reaction, "WOW, This is it! This is the real meeting between Jazz and Afro-Cuban Music."
Creative determination compelled the young saxophonist of the 1950’s to arrange and compose music that captured the incessant rhythmic drive of the Afro-Cuban Sound fused with the power and sonority of Big Band Jazz. The ace arranger penned an extensive output of charts, recorded by two generations of the most influential musical figures in contemporary American and Caribbean music, such as Machito, Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez. His career from the 1960’s into the early 1980’s matured in Puerto Rico where he wrote and directed music for television, produced recordings for established and emerging Salsa Bands, and played for many top stars in the business. Upon returning to New York, Santos contributed several arrangements to Eddie Palmieri’s 1986 Grammy-winning album in the Latin Music category. His career as a music educator at City College of New York has established him as an authority on Caribbean music, teaching a new generation of musicians. Media and film producers have contracted him as an arranger and music consultant and he remains an artistic innovator in the field.
In 1999 Ray collaborated with Paquito D’Rivera in the production of Maestro D’Rivera’s album, "Tropicana Nights" that was awarded a Tropical Latin Grammy. In December 1999 he co-produced, with David Chesky, the CD titled "The Conga Kings" featuring Candido Camero, Carlos "Patato" Valdes and Giovanni Hidalgo, three world-class exponents of conga drumming. In 2000, Ray Santos did arranging for the "Masterpiece" production with Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri. This CD was awarded a Grammy. A second CD "Conga Kings Jazz Descargas" with Alto Saxophonist Phil Woods, has been recorded and released in July 2001 on Chesky Records.
* * * * *
BOBBY SANABRIA -
Multiple Grammy nominated as a leader and on numerous other projects as a sideman - drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, conductor, producer, educator, film-maker, bandleader, and multi-cultural warrior, Bobby Sanabria has performed and recorded with such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaráa, Paquito D’Rivera, Ray Barretto, Candido, Henry Threadgill, Larry Harlow, and Afro-Cuban jazz Godfather, Mario Bauzá. His first solo recording, N.Y.C. Aché’ has been become a cult classic. His first big band recording, Live & in Clave!!!, was nominated for a mainstream Grammy in 2001. In 2003 he was nominated for a Latin Grammy for, "50 Years of Mambo", A Tribute to Damaso Perez Prado. His 2005 Quarteto Aché’ disc was hailed by the critics as giving a new vision to the standard jazz quartet. The readers of DRUM! magazine named him Percussionist of the Year in 2006. His 2007 recording "Big Band Urban Folktales" on the Jazzheads label was a 2008 Grammy nominee. This South Bronx native of Puerto Rican parentage is a 2006 inductee into the Bronx Walk of Fame where he has a street named after him. His latest release, the 2009 "Kenya Revisited Live!!!" on the Jazzheads label is a re-imagining of the legendary "Kenya" album by the Machito Afro-Cubans with incredible new arrangements with Bobby conducting an incredible big band of young lions from Manhattan School of Music that has astounded critics and fans has just been nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz recording of 2009.
He holds a BM from the Berklee College of Music and is on the faculty of the New School and Manhattan School of Music where he conducts Afro-Cuban Jazz Big Bands at both schools. He leads his own Quarteto Aché’, nonet Ascensión, and his multiple Grammy nominated big band. He was associate producer of the TV documentaries "The Palladium: Where Mambo Was King" shown on BRAVO, winner of the IMAGINE award for best TV documentary of 2003 and "From Mambo to Hip Hop", ALMA award, best documentary for TV which was shown on PBS in 2007. He is the author of the acclaimed video series, Getting Started on Congas and he is a featured performer on the DVD, Modern Drummer Festival 2006, from Hudson Music. Mr. Sanabria is featured in the upcoming documentary, LATIN MUSIC USA, which airs on PBS in October 2009.
* * * * *
The recently Grammy-nominated
Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra was established in 2000 by Bobby Sanabria and is made up of an international ensemble of student musicians from both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra has reached international acclaim by performing to standing room only audiences at the 2001 International Association of Jazz Educators Conference (IAJE) as well as other New York City venues such as Birdland, the Jazz Standard and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center. In October 2007, they performed an outdoor concert with Candido Camero on the plaza of the Harlem State Office Building located on 125th Street, as part of MSM’s 90th anniversary celebration. The MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra is dedicated to performing the music of ‘la traditión’ and pays homage to these legends while continuing to pass on and advance the tradition to the next generation by also premiering new works. Jazz artists who have been guest performers with the ensemble include Tom Harrell, David Sanchez, Dave Valentine, Arturo O’Farrill, Hilton Ruiz, Ronnie Cuber, Conrad Herwig, among others.
"Kenya Revisited Live!!!",
featuring Bobby Sanabria and the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra has been nominated for 2009 Best Latin Jazz Album in the Latin Grammys. This recording also features NEA Jazz Master and Living Legend Candido Camero as guest artist. Kenya Revisited Live!!! was recently released on the Jazzheads label, and was recorded at a historic concert held at Manhattan School of Music on April 1, 2008 titled Kenya Revisited. The concert celebrated the 50th anniversary of Machito & The Afro-Cubans 1957 Jazz Masterwork, Kenya, and showcased the legendary recording in its first-ever live performance, in its entirety with updated new arrangements.
Bobby Sanabria says about the recording of
Kenya Revisited Live!!!, "Now 50 years after it was released to the public, we honor Mario Bauzá, Machito, and all of the musicians who participated on the original recording with KENYA REVISITED LIVE!!!! Recorded live in concert, you’ll hear a new generation of players tackle this incredible music as it is re-worked with new progressive arrangements that reflect the current state of jazz virtuosity. Rejoice as the torch is passed to these young fire breathing dragons who have dedicated their lives to America’s greatest art form jazz, and the branch of that art form that represents all of the America’s, Latin jazz."
Jueves, 15 de Octubre de 2009 15:02 Por: Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, Titular para Colombia, Oficina sobre asuntos latinoamericanos en Washington (WOLA).
Durante las últimas décadas Washington, D. C. se convirtió en uno de los lugares principales de recepción de refugiados Latinoamericanos que huyen de conflictos sociales y políticos en países Centroamericanos, pero también de las guerras y desastres naturales en Etiopia, Somalia, Eritrea y otros países africanos.
Hoy en día se ha vista un crecimiento número de afro descendientes- colombianos que también llegan a DC huyendo, principalmente y en su gran mayoría del conflicto interno armado que vive Colombia por más de 40 años. Muchos de ellos han sido víctimas de la crisis de desplazamiento interno como consecuencia de dicho conflicto, las guerras entre los narcotraficantes y por la situación general de pobreza que genera desempleo y pocas oportunidades para la mayoría de los colombianos, pero que afecta principalmente a las comunidades afrocolombianos.
Este número creciente de afro-colombianos en DC han venido construyendo sus proyectos de vida y estableciendo raíces en su nueva ciudad adoptiva. Varios de estos afrodescendientes han mantenido su cultura viva con el establecimiento de un grupo de baile y danza tradicional del pacifico llamado Tangaré. El propósito de ese grupo es promover la riqueza de las tradiciones afrocolombianas, aumentar el conocimiento cultural y demostrar su aporte pacifico en una guerra que destruye su proyecto de vida y los somete día a día a una situación de violación de sus derechos humanos y el derecho internacional humanitario.
Para corroborar esa trágica realidad y educar a los ciudadanos del común y corriente en la Capital de Estados Unidos, un artista amigo de los afrocolombianos, llamado Joel Bergner, pintó un Mural Afrocolombiano en la calle “U’ de Washington DC. Esta calle es un símbolo de la lucha de los afro-estadounidenses de la ciudad, conocido también por su contribución a la música jazz y como un sitio de rumba para locales en las noches y fines de semana, donde también se encuentran varios restaurantes africanos etíopes y somalíes. Este es un homenaje a los afrocolombianos que han llegado en tiempos más recientes, por eso este mural será una linda obra de arte que se suma a esa lucha. Este mural fue inaugurado el 12 de septiembre de este ano, con el apoyo de la Comisión de Artes de la Capital, el Consejal de Ward 1 de la ciudad Jim Graham, TransAfrica Forum y la Red de Defensa en Solidaridad con las Comunidades de Base Afro-Colombianas (NASGACC). Roland Roebuck, un activista afro-puertorriqueño nota que "el área donde está ubicado el mural es muy importante porque es un sitio que es un corredor cultural de mayor importancia para un gran sector de la comunidad multi-étnica en DC."
Joel Bergner, un reconocido muralista originalmente de Chicago, cuyo sitio web es: www.joelsmurals.com, ha dedicado su vida a pintar las experiencias de vida de inmigrantes, refugiados y personas en los Estados Unidos que han formado parte de la cultura multi-étnica de este país. El artista Joel fue inspirado por los testimonios personales de varios afrodescendientes en DC quienes le contaron de las experiencias de guerra y violencia que ellos vivieron y de la belleza ambiental que se encuentra en los territorios colectivos ancestrales.
Los relatos personales de dichas personas llevaron al artista a visitar Colombia, en particular Buenaventura y las comunidades de Timbiquí. Durante su tiempo en Colombia, Joel conoció los familiares de sus amigos afrodescendientes en DC, estudio la cultura tradicional afrocolombiana y empezó a desarrollar imagines visuales de las experiencias cotidianas de personas en el Pacifico.
De un lado, el mural contiene imágenes de dos gigantescos bailarines afrocolombianos bailando el currulao y un hombre tocando la marimba. Del otro lado, la mural muestra la belleza natural de lugares como las tierras colectivas de Timbiquí y la vida cotidiana de la gente. También muestra el sufrimiento y fortaleza de muchos afrodescendientes que han tenido que huir debido a la violencia generada por los diferentes actores armados (paramilitares, guerrillas y ejercito nacional de Colombia) y las fumigaciones aéreas financiadas por el gobierno de los Estados Unidos. En el mural se ven árboles de palma aceitera y el rostro de industrialistas quienes han pagado a grupos paramilitares para que mediante su poder armado y usando la fuerza desplacen violentamente e ilegalmente a los propietarios de sus tierras para luego usurpar las tierras de los afro descendientes y pasar a manos de terratenientes y compañías que cultivan palma aceitera en esa región. Aunque las imágenes conflicto representado por el desplazamiento forzado y los actores armados es muy tristes, el mural, en general, es un homenaje a la resistencia del pueblo afrocolombiano y su capacidad de seguir adelante a pesar de su historia tan trágica. En el mural se ve el triunfo de la cultura y alegría de música y danza pese a estos problemas tan graves y generalmente desconocidos para muchos que no conocen Colombia.
Para los bailarines del grupo Tangaré, como Yensy Cundumi que es originaria de Buenaventura, “el mural es un sueño” y dice estar muy agradecida de Joel por su trabajo tan importante. Para ellos el mural es un recordatorio al mundo que ellos - afrocolombianos- existen y tienen su cultura propia. Wilder Pena, originario de Jamundí, agrega que "una de las cosas que confrontamos mucho cuando recién llegamos a DC es que muchos en los Estados Unidos no saben que existen afro descendientes en Colombia" y que nosotros tenemos tradiciones ancestrales. Ambos mencionan que ellos y sus familias han sufrido debido a la situación del conflicto y al racismo estructural en Colombia y que lo más importante es que se conozca la cultura de los afrocolombianos y las tradiciones que tienen. Otoniel Paz, refugiado de Santa Barbara de Iscuandé agrega que, el mural muestra el problema que hemos vivido los afrocolombianos, muestra que no permite que estemos tranquilos en nuestro territorio…significa saqueo, pobreza, muerte y falta de atención gubernamental hacia nuestra comunidad." Para el activista Marino Córdoba de AFRODES USA y sobreviviente de la Operación Génesis en Riosucio, una operación militar y paramilitar que inicio varias olas de desplazamiento masivo en el Chocó desde 1996, el mural es una "herramienta importante para educar a los estadounidenses sobre la diversidad que existe en Colombia y la lucha de las personas afrocolombianas en medio del conflicto por sobrevivir."
Para muchas de las ONGs en Estados Unidos, esta es una obra que nos recuerda diariamente de la gravedad de la situación en Colombia y nos invita a luchar día a día para lograr cambios positivos en la política de los Estados Unidos hacia Colombia, queremos aumentar el apoyo político internacional en favor de los derechos territoriales y de DD.HH de los afrocolombianos e indígenas que son los más afectados por la degradación del conflicto. Las fumigaciones que han resultado en la pérdida del pan coger de muchos afrocolombianos, problemas de salud en niños, contaminación de los ríos donde la mayoría de afrocolombianos en zonas rurales beben consumir las aguas de cómo agua potable, han contribuido al aumento significativo de una gran mayoría de la población campesina y afro descendientes que ingresan a las filas del fenómeno del desplazamiento interno y refugiados fuera del país.
Las fumigaciones tampoco han logrado su objetivo de disminuir la producción de coca en el país y de reducir el tráfico de cocaína a los Estados Unidos. Por el contrario, las fumigaciones han resultado en la dispersión de coca dentro de territorios afrocolombianos e indígenas en el Pacifico y ha aumentado la presencia de actores ilegales en el pacifico quienes amenazan, asesinan y desplazan a miembros de las comunidades étnicas. El mural es también un recordatorio a la comunidad internacional para que tomar acciones que ayuden a proteger la diversidad cultural y biodiversidad en los territorios afrocolombianos y que hay que asegurar que las inversiones económicas a Colombia y futuros acuerdos comerciales como el TLC no deben agudizar la situación de desterritorialización y practicas industriales sin éticas que enseñan al desplazamiento interno y violencia contra esta población.
Adicionalmente, la mural ahora forma parte de la historia de la diáspora africana en los Estados Unidos. La directora para Latinoamérica de la ONG Africana Americana, TransAfrica Forum, Nnenna Ozobia, resalta que “el mural que pintó Joel no solamente es una obra impresionante sino que es un homenaje digno a la lucha afrocolombiana para los derechos humanos y culturales. Hay que aplaudir también el coraje artístico de parte de Joel en integrar imágenes claves sobre el conflicto armado y la crisis humanitaria en Colombia y los actores responsables.” Ella agrega que: “la ubicación estratégica en el barrio de la calle U en Washington, D.C., un barrio de mucho significado para la comunidad afroamericana en D.C. y en el país, es muy importante. Antes de los 1920s, era el barrio en los Estados Unidos con la mayor concentración urbana de afroamericanos. Hoy en día, la diáspora africana sigue enfrentando profundos retos socio-económicos tanto en áreas rurales que urbanas. El mural es un recordatorio importante de los nexos importantes entre nuestras comunidades y del espíritu vencedor de nuestra gente.”
Peace Brigades International (PBI) Colombia Project, The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), TransAfrica Forum, AFRODES USA and the Network for Advocacy in Solidarity with Grassroots Afro-Colombian Communities (NASGACC) cordially invite you to a workshop on
Afro-descendant and Mestizo Rural Farmers' Efforts to Prevent Further Displacement and to Improve Human Rights and Self-Sufficiency for their Communities
with
Bernardo Vivas, Community Council Member Cacarica Community for Self-Determination, Life, and Dignity (CAVIDA), Chocó
Álvaro Manzano, Executive Board Member Peasant Farmer Association of the Cimitarra River (ACVC), Magdalena Medio
Fabián Laverde García, Director Social Corporation for Community Advisory and Training Services (COS-PACC)
There are a host of problems facing Colombia's rural Afro-Colombian and mestizo farmers, many of whom must confront these difficult issues with few resources and from very remote areas of the country. CAVIDA, the ACVC, and COS-PACC work in different regions of Colombia facing varied challenges, however, the mechanisms they utilize to confront these situations are similar. All three of these rural farmer movements will present their situations and provide recommendations for how U.S. organizations and policymakers can assist them with seeking protection for their members and improvement in the human rights situations in their regions. They will share their experiences organizing their respective communities in confronting the internal armed conflict, violence, persecution of their leaders, the effects of the international food crisis on their region, and other challenges faced in their territories. All three organizations are accompanied by Peace Brigades International.
Saturday, November 14, 2009 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM
WOLA 1666 Connecticut Avenue N.W., Suite 400 Washington, DC 20009
Refreshments and Spanish translation will be provided.
Space for this workshop is limited. Please RSVP to Rachel Robb at (202) 797-2171 or rrobb@wola.org by November 1.
Further details on these three organizations is provided below:
Cacarica Community for Self-Determination, Life, and Dignity (CAVIDA) CAVIDA is a community of 1,200 rural farmers, the majority of whom are of African ancestry, who became internally displaced in February 1997, as part of Operation Genesis, a joint military and paramilitary operation that was implemented in the northwestern part of Chocó Department. After much suffering and living in a gymnasium in the town of Turbo, this community organized itself and decided to return to their collective territories. In 2000 the IDPs from Cacarica organized themselves into the group CAVIDA and began their return process to their homes located in collective territories in the Cacarica river basin. This brave effort has become a model of pacifistic resistance for internally displaced persons worldwide who choose to return home in spite of on-going conflict in their areas of origin. CAVIDA pioneered the use of humanitarian and biodiversity zones as a tool to distance the civilian population from the conflict and to support the sustainable use of land in biodiverse areas. As an organization CAVIDA is based on the principles of life, liberty, justice, fraternity, and solidarity. The community remains at risk due to the presence of illegal armed actors including non-demobilized or rearmed paramilitaries and guerrilla groups who operate in the peripheries of their territories. The northwestern part of Chocó remains a highly militarized region whereby armed groups continue combat operations and violent activity in order to control drug trafficking routes and access and use of natural resources in the area for economic interests.
Peasant Farmer Association of the Cimitarra River (ACVC) The ACVC is a rural farmer IDP association that works to promote the human rights, sustainable agriculture and community building through workshops, development planning and cooperation with rural communities in the Magdalena Medio region. Magdalena Medio is a region that continues to be negatively affected by Colombia's internal armed conflict. In this region, there is a high rate of extrajudicial executions of civilians committed by the Colombian security forces. The ACVC's membership consists of internally displaced rural farmers that became displaced due to the violence committed by the armed groups. The ACVC has developed various community organizational mechanisms to resist further displacement of its members. As part of this organization's effort to prevent displacement, it pioneered the concept of a Campesino Reservation Zone as a means of distancing civilians from the conflict and protecting their economic and social rights. In 2007- 2008, 12 arrest warrants were issued against ACVC members, and six members of their board of directors were detained. After international concern was raised about the case, the warrants were rescinded and all but five of the detainees were released when the evidence against them was shown to be baseless charges. Despite security concerns and baseless prosecution of its members, the ACVC continues to work for the promotion of peace, justice, sustainability for farmers and human rights in the Magdalena Region.
Social Corporation for Community Advisory and Training Services (COS-PACC) COS-PACC is a grassroots organization that was formed in Bogotá in 2002. It is an organization dedicated to supporting victims of the internal armed conflict with a view towards rebuilding the social fabric of communities by emphasizing psycho-social support of these communities. COS-PACC works in the departments of Casanare, Boyacá, Arauca, Tolima and Cundinamarca. It works on documenting and reporting human rights violations, and provides legal, and organizational, support and accompaniment to victims; promotes food sovereignty through agro-ecological programs and works on organizational capacity-building. COS-PACC works with IDPs, political prisoners, families of the disappeared, families of victims of extrajudicial executions, youth movements, and women. COS-PACC has done extensive research on the impacts of British Petroleum's oil extraction practices in Casanare, and the effects of these practices on the environment and human rights in the region.
Washington Office on Latin America 1666 Connecticut Ave, NW Suite 400 Washington, District of Columbia 20009 US
Pablo Mayor's Folklore Urbano
"...authentic and refreshing ...taking Latin music to an entirely new dimension." (Latin Beat Magazine)
SUNDAY, October 18, 2009
Public Performance @ 2PM Tickets: Adults- $12 / $10 members& students; Children- $8 / $6 members A proud leader in the realm of "contemporary folkloric" music, Pablo Mayor's Folklore Urbano performs Mayor's compositions that are deeply rooted in centuries of Colombian culture. The high-energy, danceable, wildly fun 12-piece ensemble offers lively traditional rhythms, paired with jazz harmonies and orchestrations, reminiscent of Frank Zappa and Gil Evans.
Interactive Arts @ 1PM Tickets: $4 Adults / $2 Children / free for members with ticket purchase to 2 pm show Interactive Dance Workshop featuring Colombian rhythms & dances.
Save 50%! Buy one ticket, get one FREE ticket of equal or lesser value. Mention the code "PM50TMD" when ordering by phone, (718-463-7700 x222) or bring a printout of this offer to the FlushingTown Hall box office.
AFRODES USA Strongly Condemns Armed Groups’ Violations of Afro-Colombian Rights and International Humanitarian Law Violations in Timbiquí (Cauca) AFRODES USA condemns the violent actions committed by the guerrilla groups against civilians in Timbiquí (Cauca) on October 2nd. It also condemns the indiscriminate use of force applied by members of the Infantry of the Marines that resulted in injuries of civilians in living in these communities. AFRODES USA wishes to remind all of the parties to the internal armed conflict that these actions armed groups currently based in Cauca that these actions violate international humanitarian law. According to theGeneva Conventions, combatants must distinguish between combatants and “to limit and avoid human suffering during the times of armed conflict” (Article 3). Also the Colombian armed forces that they are obliged to protect the rights of Afro-Colombian civilians living in this area. We remind the Colombian government that placing military bases in the community centers utilized by the civilian populations, as is the case in Timbiqui, is a violation of Condition F, the human rights condition pertaining to Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities of the foreign appropriations act of the United States.
Given the above, AFRODES USA:
-Demands that the Colombian authorities respect and apply IHL and the human rights of the Afro-Colombian communities. They should take steps to ensure the following:
Recognition of the existence of an internal armed conflict in Colombia, the persistence of illegal armed groups (both paramilitary and guerrilla) operating in areas of the country inhabited by Afro-Colombians. Recognition of the problem is required in order to implement the legitimate demands of these communities for protection and respect of their fundamental rights. If the State does not recognize the problem then it cannot provide the adequate solution to the problem.
Dismantle military bases that violate IHL. For example, move the current military installations that are located near Afro-Colombian civilian settlements (town centers, riverbanks near houses and schools, farms, etc) that endanger the lives of civilians including women and children. Violations of this IHL principle lead to civilians being caught in the crossfire between the warring groups and to their deaths, physical injury and internal displacement.
Implement Colombian Constitutional Court Order 005 of 2009, which orders Colombian officials to take a number of steps to protect Afro-Colombian communities at high risk of displacement and to protect the rights of those already internally displaced.
Increase its political will to take steps towards a politically negotiated settlement to the internal armed conflict that is having devastating consequences for Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities.
-Demands that the guerrilla groups respect Afro-Colombian communities’ territorial rights and respect IHL. They should:
Cease and refrain from engaging in violent activities against civilian Afro-Colombian persons, community leaders and their organizations, goods and services.
Refrain from engaging violent activity in city centers and areas inhabited by Afro-Colombians.
-Urges civil society and the international community to take steps to ensure the following:
Denounce violent acts that convert communities into human shields, such as the latest actions in Timbiqui.
Demand the removal of all military bases from areas in close proximity to civilians, such as town centers, riverbanks, zones of cultivation, etc.
Advocate a for a peaceful resolution to Colombia’s internal armed conflict, which is now concentrated in areas populated by Afro-Colombians and indigenous communities, and is the underlying cause of the worst humanitarian crisis in the hemisphere.
In solidarity with the community of Timbiqui.
Respectfully yours,
AFRODES USA
For more information, please contact Charo Mina Rojas at (434) 760-0663 or Marino Córdoba (240) 350-2903
Posts
