A beautiful combination of poetry, hip hop and fighting for justice! Check the project out and the artists' music pages too:
Omar Offendum
Mark Gonzales
Ragtop
Some songs I've listened to and really liked:
Ragtop "1948"- Get Down for Life & Lyrics: Get Down for Gaza
Mark's Letter to Our Loved Ones
Omar Offendum (USA/Syria) Live at Words Beats Life
Justice Tomorrow, Arab Summit.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Works related to Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i
Some books about Hawaii's resistance to colonialism that i'm curious about:
From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii (Revised) (Latitude 20 Books) by Haunani-Kay Trask (Paperback - April 1, 1999)
"Light in the Crevice Never Seen" - Trask's poems
Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism (a John Hope Franklin Center Book) by Noenoe K. Silva
Colonizing Hawai'i by Sally Engle Merry (Paperback - Dec 21, 1999)
Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity (Narrating Native Histories) (Paperback)
~ J. Kehaulani Kauanui (Author)
Please post if anyone knows of any similar work regarding Puerto Rico ;-)
From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii (Revised) (Latitude 20 Books) by Haunani-Kay Trask (Paperback - April 1, 1999)
"Light in the Crevice Never Seen" - Trask's poems
Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism (a John Hope Franklin Center Book) by Noenoe K. Silva
Colonizing Hawai'i by Sally Engle Merry (Paperback - Dec 21, 1999)
Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity (Narrating Native Histories) (Paperback)
~ J. Kehaulani Kauanui (Author)
Please post if anyone knows of any similar work regarding Puerto Rico ;-)
Monday, January 11, 2010
Learning afresh
I really like this article I just read:
Songs of Shared Living
...By contrast, I find consistently that the least privileged Indian men and women — Hindu, Muslim as well as of other faiths — are intuitively far more respectful to the faith of others, even as they are very deeply devout in their own faith. I recall sitting with women from one of the most oppressed Dalit communities in Madhya Pradesh. It is evening, and the call of the azaan is heard. The instinct of the women is to immediately cover their heads, fold their hands and bow in the direction of the mosque. To them there is no question, that a mosque is as worthy of reverence as a temple. It is a lesson that I wish many of my educated friends would learn — or re-learn.
It is this idea of freedom, fraternity and secular democracy, which ordinary Indians intuitively comprehend, and practise. It is a way of life rooted in millennia of lived experience — including of Bhakti and Sufi traditions — which they defend. It is a way of life in which reverence for one's own God or Gods, does in no way exclude, but instead necessarily entails, equal respect or reverence for all other Gods or God. It is this idea of freedom that many Indians are losing as they read books, and accumulate wealth. Central also is the notion of equal citizenship based not on a denial of faith, but equal respect for every faith, including the absence of faith. Freedom in India would not mean a bar on turbans or head scarves in the classroom, as in France. It would be the defence of the right of Sikh boys to wear turbans, and Muslim girls to wear head scarves if they so choose.
....
And we can do this best if we turn to our ordinary working people, to those who have often not had the opportunities of formal education. We need to learn afresh from their deep, wise, unshakeable respect for the beliefs of other people who are different from us in some ways. We need to listen to their voices, to their songs, to their worship and to their irreverence, to their laughter and to the silences of their shared suffering. And then maybe we would learn the most robust defence of freedom in this vast and ancient land.
The last paragraph reminds me of a quote from Achebe:
“Whatever you are is never enough; you must find a way to accept something however small from the other to make you whole and save you from the mortal sin of righteousness.”
Why is it that the formally educated are the ones most likely to be guilty of this mortal sin of righteousness? mmmm....
Songs of Shared Living
...By contrast, I find consistently that the least privileged Indian men and women — Hindu, Muslim as well as of other faiths — are intuitively far more respectful to the faith of others, even as they are very deeply devout in their own faith. I recall sitting with women from one of the most oppressed Dalit communities in Madhya Pradesh. It is evening, and the call of the azaan is heard. The instinct of the women is to immediately cover their heads, fold their hands and bow in the direction of the mosque. To them there is no question, that a mosque is as worthy of reverence as a temple. It is a lesson that I wish many of my educated friends would learn — or re-learn.
It is this idea of freedom, fraternity and secular democracy, which ordinary Indians intuitively comprehend, and practise. It is a way of life rooted in millennia of lived experience — including of Bhakti and Sufi traditions — which they defend. It is a way of life in which reverence for one's own God or Gods, does in no way exclude, but instead necessarily entails, equal respect or reverence for all other Gods or God. It is this idea of freedom that many Indians are losing as they read books, and accumulate wealth. Central also is the notion of equal citizenship based not on a denial of faith, but equal respect for every faith, including the absence of faith. Freedom in India would not mean a bar on turbans or head scarves in the classroom, as in France. It would be the defence of the right of Sikh boys to wear turbans, and Muslim girls to wear head scarves if they so choose.
....
And we can do this best if we turn to our ordinary working people, to those who have often not had the opportunities of formal education. We need to learn afresh from their deep, wise, unshakeable respect for the beliefs of other people who are different from us in some ways. We need to listen to their voices, to their songs, to their worship and to their irreverence, to their laughter and to the silences of their shared suffering. And then maybe we would learn the most robust defence of freedom in this vast and ancient land.
The last paragraph reminds me of a quote from Achebe:
“Whatever you are is never enough; you must find a way to accept something however small from the other to make you whole and save you from the mortal sin of righteousness.”
Why is it that the formally educated are the ones most likely to be guilty of this mortal sin of righteousness? mmmm....
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