Slave Resistance in America (Berkeley audio)

CC Liu and Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly; Prof. Gerald Horne (UH), Mitch Jerserich ("Letters & Politics," KPFA.org), norcal.cpusa.org

Counter-Revolution of 1776

Dr. Horne will be appearing at UC Berkeley today, at UC Santa Barbara tomorrow, and Saturday at 2:00 pm, Ebony Theatre Los Angeles (KPFK.org). For those unable to visit any of these appearances in person, Dr. Horne sat down with Pacifica's Mitch Jeserich this morning in the City of Berkeley (KPFA 94.1 FM).

• PLAY NOW or download (MP3)
• (Letters and Politics, May 7, 2014, 10-11 am)
  

• When: May 7, 2014 4:00-5:30 pm
• Where: UC Berkeley, Barrows Hall, Rm. 652
• University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
• When: May 8, 2014
• Where: UC Santa Barbara

This is not a mere exercise in American history; slavery exists today! (freetheslaves.net)

Stephen Colbert vs. Angry Asian (comedy)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Colbert; Suey Park (Angry Asian Woman); Josh Zepps

So long as we tolerate remnants of the patriarchy and colonization, are we free? (FEMEN)

(95Colbert) Stephen Colbert responds to the controversy was epic humor, irony, and biting satire. It is the genius of wit that redeems a person not in need of redeeming.

 

The eye roll that turned the tide (Huff Post)

Suey Park has a point, more than one, but anger is no way to express it. Here she tackles the white male and the racist patriarchy in general menace by attempting to take down Josh Zepps, who was concerned enough to let her air her side of the controversy on Huff Post Live. She may have explained, but she may also have made things worse by biting the hand that holds the mic. Indeed, there is racism in  this country, and some fight it with satire. Others with anger. Which side is Park on when we could all be together? (And, privileged Josh, let guests talk).

FEMEN activists agitate for Muslims, too

Woody Allen pointed out that liberals are like fish that eat each other. There are bigger pieces of plankton to pry from the sea, Suey. So please aim it at those guys rather than worrying if all of the rest of us are PC enough to end sexism, racism, stereotyping, bias, prejudice, and inequality with you. If we join forces, each approaching the cultural inequities of the day in our own way and as a team, we can bring about a better world. If we squabble, aren't the real movers-and-shakers, the problem-makers, just loving it as they multiply and coat this baby blue watery planet in green slime?

• VIDEO: Angry white male may nevertheless have a point
• VIDEO: Another white male gives his analysis on Park
• Herbal alternative:  the healing wonders of Yucca Root
• FASHION: Is Vogue trivializing domestic violence?
• LAPD shooting: How to keep public out of police stations?
• Elections: Garcia, Dunn head to Long Beach mayor runoff
• 2020 Commission issues blunt challenges to City of LA

Review: Pussy Riot in L.A. (video)

Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly;  Library Foundation L.A. (lfla.org)

Nadia T. (right) and fellow Pussy Riot member post-prison; Euro TV (RTE 1) last month (S).

 

What were we expecting to find at author (Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot) Masha Gessen's Pussy Riot lecture in LA? Riot Grrrl protests in a staid building in the middle of the largest library in town? There were crowds taking advantage of the extra hour afforded by daylight savings time. It was cool and breezy, yet there was not a single balaclava in the audience. DayGlo hair yes, "Free Pussy Riot" teeshirts yes, feminists yes. Activists? Not so much. No nude protesters, no riot police, no mobs of newsmen after photos of topless demonstrators.
 

Don a balaclava and you, too, are Pussy Riot

The capacity crowd was here to be intellectually stimulated by researcher Masha Gessen, who somehow managed to survive gay and out in increasingly draconian Russia. She relayed the arresting details of a sham trial that was a "trial" only in one sense: The Pussy Riot defendants got to read their own prepared statements near the end. It almost brought us to tears as Nadia (pictured above, right), who conceived of a Wee-wee (later changed in English to Pussy) Riot, a radical feminist art protest collective, read a statement that explained our whole reason for working on Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal. Nadia speaks for us by her brave court statements. She was a philosophy major, after all.

 

(HBO Special) "A Punk Prayer" the American Pussy Riot documentary

 

We got to hear first hand from Gessen how Putin is, indeed, a dictator the likes of which have not been seen since George W. Bush stole a pair of American elections. (She is also the author of Man Without a Face: Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin).

He appointed himself "president" three times then rigged elections after the fact to confirm and legitimize the appointment. He was suffering from a great deal of unpopularity, particularly at the time Pussy Riot was singing a "Punk Prayer" (see entire HBO special above) against him in the former empire's most famous Christian church.

Russian Buddhist temple (Alexey Savransky)

(The Buddhist temples, such as the famous monastery in Elista, tend to be in the east, in Europe's only indigenously Buddhist country, Kalmykia, which is part of Russia). But, Gessen pointed out, traditionally the Eastern Orthodox Church has always been the last resort of scoundrels in officially atheist Russia.
 

If Imperialist Hillary says so

Russia was never actually atheist; that was just the official party line, and most Russians were never members of the official party, which was for elites. The Church was always there to back a dictator if called upon, according to Gessen. (This was because the KGB killed or defrocked any resistors within the Church then replaced them with spies and cronies, much like our American mainstream media).

Protesting Putin, promoting Pussy Riot (FP)

Putin has only recently seen his numbers skyrocket because of his incursions into Ukraine and Crimea, moves which most Russians seem to approve. Moscovites and Kremlin insiders certainly love it, as do the very rural areas of the country. Why? As Gessen reveals, 85% of Russia is wholly dependent on state-run media [and, we would guess, the other 15% is involved in making and/or disseminating that media].

 

But now, as of the day of her lecture, it's worse. What little independent media there was has been dismantled in the past two weeks. Since Sochi things have only gotten worse. Pussy Riot activists have been attacked, as aided and abetted by the police state. But Russia has never known democracy or any real freedom in their lifetimes, yet Nadia and the others recognized the lies and faux freedoms were lies.

 

Men conquer, and I'm The Man.

For instance, how could Russians not see how Pussy Riot was trying to help and liberate them? The state-run media saw to that: A "Punk Prayer" has the lyrics "oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," and due to this and some spin doctoring, most of the surprisingly pious country to this day thinks Pussy Riot members defecated inside the church. Thus their sensibilities were hurt, accused and convicted of a hate crime.

RT helped WikiLeaks

And as ludicrous as it may seem, even RT -- which has done so much to reveal what American media/propaganda tries to conceal -- has been forced to go overtly pro-Moscow in reporting new propaganda. The channel was always funded by the state but exhibited editorial freedom that made it one of our favorite outlets to turn to get a view on what our own government wouldn't tell us. An opposition party, no matter how awful, is always needed in a democracy.

• Datelines, maps - casualties of Russia’s Crimea invasion
• Yes, there are bag guys in the Ukrainian gov't [but never mind that, the U.S. loves friendly dictators]
• AUDIO: Pussy Riot: Words Will Break Cement!

Retrospective on Radical Feminism (audio)

Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly; Moira Rankin, Deborah George, From the Vault (FTV 409)

According to author Masha Gessen, Pussy Riot's Nadia was inspired by the radical history of women's liberation in the West. It inspired her to awaken a movement in Russia (AFP).

 

Russia's Pussy Riot

Guest host Lynn Ballen, producer of KPFK (L.A.) Radio's "Feminist Magazine," introduces "A Retrospective on Radical Feminism."

It was produced in 1980 by Moira Rankin and co-produced by Deborah George for Sophie’s Parlor Collective, the oldest women’s radio collective on the air at Pacifica’s youngest station, WPFW in Washington, D.C. Composed of interviews, actions, and music, it includes:

• AUDIO podcast: PLAY in new window (or download)

Oh, ladies, do behave! (MO)

Alix Kates Shulman, activist and author of Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen, is interviewed and reads from her book, Burning Questions. 
Fannie Lou Hamer, founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, recalls the physical abuse she suffered in prison in a 1966 KPFA (Berkeley) interview. 
Joan Byron, a member of The Furies, [which as part of the Lavender Menace was] one the first radical lesbian separatist groups describes, their reasons for organizing. 

Anais Nin, From the Vault (FTV 408)

Betty Friedan renounces her position on the lesbian issue she had dubbed the "Lavender Menace" and supports the sexual preference resolution at the 1977 United States International Women’s Year Conference in Houston, Texas. 
Carol Downer, one of the founders of the Los Angeles Feminist Health Clinic, speaks about the need for women to control their own bodies and have access to abortions. 

Manhandled Femen topless activist (femen.org)

Edith Barksdale Sloane, Executive Director of the National Committee on Household Employment, is interviewed about the need for basic services for women. 
Donna Keck, a founder of Women: A Journal of Liberation, speaks about race within the women’s movement.
Activist Cynthia Washington speaks about all the aspects of oppression including racism, classism, elitism, sexism, and ageism.

From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the GRAMMY Foundation and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission at the National Archives and Records Administration, and past grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the support of Pacifica listeners. It also thanks its partners and collaborators at the Pop-Up Archive, Amara, Other Minds Archives, George Blood Audio, and the California Audio Visual Preservation Project.

  

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about the historic archival recordings used within this episode. Buy a CD copy by phone at Pacifica Radio Archives: (800) 735-0230 extension 262. 

• PHOTOS: favorite funny women

"At Berkeley" (new film)

CC Liu, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Frederick Wiseman (zipporah.com); KPFK.org

"At Berkeley" is a documentary film by Frederick Wiseman about the University of California at Berkeley -- the oldest, most prestigious, and most radical member of California's ten-campus public university system.

Berkeley is one of the finest research and teaching facilities in the world, excelling most of the world's private institutions while rivaling Ivy League schools. This film shows the major aspects of university life with particular emphasis on the administrative efforts to maintain the academic excellence, public role, and the economic, racial, and social diversity of the student body of America’s premiere public university.

(Mandy Whittles) "Berkeley in the Sixties" documentary of the student movement in Berkeley in the 60's. Uploaded for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only.

 

Berkeley in the Sixties

All of this is taking place in the face of drastic budget cuts imposed by the State of California, big business (represented by its hand selected Board of Regents), and competing colleges. The goal of the film is to show how a major American university is administered and to suggest the complex relationship among its various constituencies -- students, faculty, administrators, alumni, the City of Berkeley, the State of California, and the federal government.

 

In a more abstract way, the film looks closely at Berkeley’s intellectual and social mission, its obligation to the state, and to larger ideas of "higher" education. It illustrates how decisions are made and implemented by the administration in collaboration with its various constituencies. Tickets

Rave review (The New Yorker)
Jordan Moore (Nov. 13, 2013)
Frederick Wiseman, one of our greatest and most prolific documentarians, always delves deeply into his subjects. And for his latest, "At Berkeley," that’s truer than ever. He found one of California’s great treasures, U.C. Berkeley, such a rich subject that it required a four-hour film. It is receiving some rave reviews, including one from astute film critic David Denby of The New Yorker. Laemmeles is proud to open the movie at the Music Hall, Beverly Hills.

 

REVIEW (Oliver Lyttelton, The Playlist, indiewire.com) Over the years, veteran documentarian Frederick Wiseman has covered what sometimes feels like almost [every] kind of institution and every aspect of life in America (and occasionally, life abroad too). "Titicut Follies," "Juvenile Court," "Zoo," "Racetrack... More