MOVE 35

MOVE 35 by vagabond ©

Twenty-eight years ago today on May 13th of 1985 the Philadelphia Police Department under orders from Mayor Wilson Goode dropped a 2 pound bomb of C4 explosives from a Police helicopter onto a row house at 6221 Osage Avenue in the Cobbs Creek area of West Philadelphia in an act of domestic terrorism. That address was the home of a commune know as MOVE, a radical environmental organization of mostly Black people who aggressively promoted a return to natural living. They held a staunch belief in eco-sustainability, promoted animal rights and advocated a strict green politic. They ate raw food, wore their hair in dreadlocks, and changed their last names to Africa in honor of that continent that is the motherland for all people.

The city of Philadelphia and MOVE had been at odds with one another going back at least a decade before the bombing. In 1978 there had been a violent year-long standoff with police that ended with the storming of the MOVE home by police. In the raid Philadelphia Police fired some 2000 rounds into the home. In the ensuing chaos Police officer James Ramp was killed. Nine MOVE members, Chuck, Debbie, Delbert, Eddie, Janet, Janine, Merle, Mike and Phil Africa were arrested and charged with the third degree murder of Police officer James Ramp despite the fact that he was shot in the back of the head suggesting that it was friendly fire and not MOVE that killed officer Ramp. The MOVE 9 have been in prison since then and were denied parole in 2008.

When the Philadelphia Police dropped that 2 pound bomb of C4 explosives from a helicopter on the MOVE house in 1985 it ignited the whole building. The temperature of the fire reached some 2000 degrees. MOVE members were in the basement when the bomb was dropped and as the fire grew hotter and spread they tried to escape the inferno. As they tried to escape Police fired gunshots into the building. MOVE was caught between burning to death or being shot by Police. In the end eleven people were killed. Among the eleven were five children. Only two MOVE members escaped the atrocity. Ramona Africa and 13-year-old Birdy Africa crawled through a basement window and into an alley only to be captured and arrested by Police. Ramona was charged with conspiracy, riot, and multiple counts of simple and aggravated assault. Ramona could have served 16 months if she would just renounce MOVE but she refused and instead served 7 years in prison for the crime of not dying when she should have.

The MOVE house was not the only one to burn to the ground. Sixty-five other homes were destroyed by the bombing. As the fire engulfed the MOVE home and spread the Philadelphia  Fire department stood by and watched the blaze consume other homes for an hour. Neighboring homeowners sued the city for their negligence and only received restitution after years of legal battles with the city.

Ramona Africa was released in 1992 and still lives with MOVE in Philadelphia. She has advocated for the release of the MOVE 9 and Mumia Abu Jamal and other US held political prisoners. She has become a spokesperson for MOVE and continues to struggle for justice… An “investigation” into the bombing of the MOVE house was done but neither Mayor Frank Rizzo nor the Philadelphia Police Department, nor the FBI or any of the “law enforcement” entities were held responsible for the terrorist bombing of the MOVE house or the murder of those six adults and five children…

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-13s

John Penley Anarcho-Yippie (Pt3)

JOHN PENLEY ANARCHO YIPPIE by vagabond ©

In this episode of John Penley Anarcho-Yippie, John compares and contrasts his experiences with the Yippies with his days in Zucotti Park and being involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement. John also talks a little bit about more his archive of 30,000 images in the Tamimnet Library at NYU. As he does he reminisces about his days as photojournalist documenting the Squatters movement of NYC’s Lower East Side.

To check out Part’s 1 & 2… click here

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-139

John Penley Anarcho-Yippie (Pt2)

JOHN PENLEY ANARCHO YIPPIE by vagabond ©

In this episode of John Penley Anarcho-Yippie, John talks about how he first came to New York and his experiences with the Yippies in New York. He talks about meeting Abbie Hoffman, Bob Fass, Wavy Gravy, Dhourba Bin Wahad, and Judith Molina of The Living Theater and many others. He also talks about how the Yippies taught him to manipulate the media to bring attention to the protests that he organizes. John also speaks about his recent occupations starting in Zucotti Park with Occupy Wall Street up to his present occupation in front of the NYU library that holds his archive of 30,000 photos from his days as a photojournalist in New York. John was protesting against NYU and their rapid gentrification of the Lower East Side and Greenwich Village. John also recounts his experiences with law enforcement from his day with the Yippies to his days as a photojournalist and to his recent encounters with police during his recent occupations.

By the way… Today is John’s birthday so be sure to wish him a Happy Personal New Year’s Day… HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN AND MANY MANY MORE!!!

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-12X

RICANSTRUCTING VIEQUES

RICANSTRUCTING VIEQUES design by Sam Lahoz

Vieques is a small island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico that was used for decades by the US military as training ground. For 200 days out of the year war games were played in Vieques with live ammunition much to the consternation of the over 10,000 Puerto Ricans who call Vieques home. In 1998 the NYC based Puerto Rican Hardcore Punk Band RICANSTRUCTION was invited to play a Kick The US Navy Festival Out in Vieques, Puerto Rico. i decided to bring a camera along to document the trip but had no inclination to make a documentary.

When we got back from Vieques we found that many people really didn’t know what was happening in regard to the destruction of the environment, the pollution, the depleted uranium shells, the unexploded ordnance, the high cancer rates, or any of the other long list of abuses by the US military in Vieques. So we decided to look at some of the footage i’d shot to see if a documentary could be put together. At the end of March 1999 we finished a short 25 minute punkumentary and decided to call it RICANSTRUCTING VIEQUES. A few days later on April 19th David Sanes Rodriguez, a civilian Puerto Rican guard was killed in an accidental bombing. A F18 fighter jet dropped a  500 lb. bomb too close to his guard post. His death sparked a global movement to end war games on the island of Vieques.

The people of Vieques led a protest in which they occupied the bombing ranges of the US military effectively becoming human shields. International media began to pay attention to the plight of Vieques and semi-permanent encampments began to spring up in the bombing zones. Celebrities and politicians began to take notice of the struggle and began to lend not only their voices but their bodies to the movement.  Famous Puerto Rican singers Danny Rivera, Robi Draco Rosa and Ricky Martin, lent their support, Puerto Rican boxer Félix “Tito” Trinidad, writers Ana Lydia Vega and Giannina Braschi, actor Edward James Olmos and Guatemala’s Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú supported the cause, as did Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Al Sharpton, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Even Pope John Paul II mentioned that he wanted peace for Vieques.

After many years of protests, occupations of the bombing zones and violent skirmishes with law enforcement, the US military relented and pulled out of Vieques on May 1st of 2003. Today marks ten years since the US military pulled out of Vieques but the struggle is far from over. The unexploded ordnance and depleted uranium and other environmental damage has yet to be cleaned up and the land that was once used by the US military is still off-limits to the people of Vieques.

This May Day is the ten-year anniversary of the US military leaving Vieques. In honor and remembrance of that struggle i’m re-releasing RICANSTRUCTING VIEQUES on the internet so people can begin to have an understanding of how destructive the US military was in Vieques and how it continues to be with the lack of clean up. As i write this i’m back in Puerto Rico and heading out to Vieques this May Day once again to try to document the ongoing struggle to get the US government and the US military to clean up the mess it left behind, so stay tuned for the follow up and in the meantime check out the punkumentary RICANSTRUCTING VIEQUES…

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-12O

Abu Jamal 59

Saint Mumia by vagabond ©

Sometime in the Spring of 1997, RICANSTRUCTION recorded a song for Mumia Abu Jamal for their first full length album Liberation Day. The song soon became an anthem for the movement to free Mumia Abu Jamal. Mumia is the US held political prisoner wrongly convicted for the death of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner on December 9 of 1981. For the next 30 years Mumia was held in isolation on Death Row. An international campaign managed to pressure the Philadelphia District Attorney to give up appeals for Mumia’s death but he remains in prison serving a life sentence without parole. Although he’s no longer on Death Row the campaign to free him continues…

Abu Jamal EP by RICANSTRUCTION (cover design by Sam Lahoz http://www.slny.net)

In 1999 RICANSTRUCTION re-released Abu Jamal as a benefit EP with the Abu Jamal Artu-Rican Re-Mix. They also released two other new tracks Slavery Daze and Asesino and a blistering and apropos cover of Abel Meeropol’s Strange Fruit made famous by Billie Holiday. In honor of Mumia’s 59th birthday RICANSTRUCTION has once again made Abu Jamal available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Google Play, Rdio, X-Box Music, Rhapsody and eMusic.

Happy Birthday Mumia, may your next one be in freedom!!!

For more information on the international campaign to Free Mumia Abu jamal click here…

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-12w

John Penley Anarcho Yippie Pt. 1

JOHN PENLEY ANARCHO YIPPIE by vagabond ©

John Penley is an Anarcho Yippie is a new web series that i’m launching today with a new episode coming each week for the next few weeks. The story of how John became an Anarcho Yippie and what an Anarcho Yippie is, has everything to do with NYC in the 1980′s… John first moved to the Lower East Side of New York City in 1985 and became a freelance photojournalist. His photos were featured in all the daily newspapers like the The Daily News, The NY Post, The New York Times and many other publications. His archive of some 30,000 images was recently acquired by the Tamimnet Library at NYU.

At the end of the summer of 2011 John became homeless. Since then he’s been a part of various Occupy movements in New York, Washington DC, and Asheville NC. In March of 2013 John returned to New York to work on his archive in the library. In true Anarcho Yippie fashion John is also holding a protest against NYU by sleeping on the sidewalk in front of the library that houses his archive to bring attention to NYU’s contribution to the rapid gentrification to the Lower East Side and it’s planned expansion into Greenwich Village. In this episode John talks about his days as a photojournalist and how he came to NYC after serving a federal prison term for jumping bail to join the Yippies on Bleecker Street.

Tune in next week for Part 2 of John Penley Anarcho Yippie…

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-12o

The Liberation Day Tapes – Pedro’s Grave

THE LIBERATION DAY TAPES: PEDRO’S GRAVE vagabond ©

On April 21st of 1965 the great Puerto Rican independence leader Pedro Albizu Campos died of radiation experiments that were done on his body by the US government while he was in prison serving a sentence for fighting for the independence of Puerto Rico. The US has been a colonial power in Puerto Rico since they invaded the island nation in July of 1898. Albizu was the leader of the Nationalist Party and was a staunch, ardent, charismatic and outspoken opponent of US colonialism in Puerto Rico and advocated independence by any and all means necessary, including the use of violence.

To get a better sense of who Albizu was check out the trailer for this documentary that is being made on him called Who Is Albizu Campos?

To give you an idea of how powerful a figure Albizu was let me tell you about the first time my mother heard the voice of Albizu Campos, after half a century. i had been working with RICANSTRUCTION on Liberation Day, their 1st full length album and the first album to be released by CBGB Records. The opening track on Liberation Day is Pedro’s Grave and Pedro’s Grave opens with a sample of Albizu giving a speech. i wanted to play Pedro’s Grave mostly because of the Albizu sample as my mom isn’t into Hardcore Punk. When i pressed play on the CD and she heard the first few seconds of Albizu’s voice she went into a state of shock and told me to turn it off. i asked why and she demanded that i turn it off. i turned it off because something was upsetting her. After a few moments she was able to compose herself and proceeded to tell me that when she was a little girl in Puerto Rico every time Albizu spoke on the radio the threat of a large-scale revolt loomed large. Her father, my grandfather was a follower of Albizu and after almost 50 years of not hearing that voice my mother was transformed into a little girl afraid of the impending revolution that Albizu’s voice might bring. That’s the kind of power and influence and dedication that Albizu had.

My film MACHETERO features several songs from Liberation Day which was a concept album  centered around the liberation struggle of Puerto Rico. While writing the script I listened to Liberation Day and found the songs influencing the narrative and the way in which the film could be structured. The songs from Liberation Day became a kind of modern-day Hardcore Punk Rock Greek chorus to the narrative of the film. Imparting important information through the songs into the narrative of the film.

Arturo Rodriguez the bass player and Joseph Rodriguez the drummer and percussionist are two-thirds of the song writing trio for the band with singer Not4Prophet (who also plays the lead character of Pedro Taino in MACHETERO) being the final piece. When we were doing the final mix for MACHETERO Arturo and Joseph came by to talk about the how the songs for Liberation Day came together. In this segment they talk about the song Pedro’s Grave…

Pedro’s Grave is a kind of poetic history lesson that names various Puerto Rican revolutionaries like Hiram Rosado and Elias Beauchamp who assassinated a police chief in Puerto Rico, Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo who attempted an assassination on President Truman. Pedro Albizu Campos is mentioned, as well as the famous Puerto Rican freedom fighter Lolita Lebron who along with three others shot up the US House of Congress in 1954 and served 25 years in prison for doing so. The song also lists a few of the towns in Puerto Rico in which their where important uprisings against US colonialism in Puerto Rico. Towns such as Ponce where a group of protesters were massacred in 1937 and Jayuya and Utado where in 1950 there were violent uprisings against US colonial rule. The very famous mountain town of Lares where there was a violent uprising against Spanish colonial rule in 1868 is also named in the song.

Using Pedro’s Grave in MACHETERO allowed me to impart part of that history in a compact and efficient way. The visuals could stay within the context of the film and continue to tell the story as the song with the lyrics placed across the screen gave a historical context to the visuals. Using the lyrics to be subtitled onto the screen allowed people to get an idea that their was a historical context for the violence that follows in the visuals. The various individual elements of the song, the lyrics and the visuals made a more cohesive whole that allowed more information to be passed onto the viewer than any one of those elements separately.

Check out the video interview of Arturo and Joseph Rodriguez talking about how Pedro’s Grave came to be followed by the song’s incorporation into MACHETERO.

MACHETERO opens in New York City for a one week limited theatrical run.

WED. JUNE 12TH – TUES JUNE 19TH
CLEMENTE SOTO VELEZ
KABAYITO’S THEATER (2ND FLOOR)
107 SUFFOLK STREET
NY NY 10002
(BTWN RIVINGTON & DELANCEY)

TICKETS $10 http://machetero.bpt.me
SCREENING TIMES • 1PM • 3PM • 5PM • 7PM • 9PM
F Train to Delancey Street or J , M , or Z Trains to Essex Street.
Walk to Suffolk Street, make a left.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-129

Tickets For MACHETERO

TICKETS FOR MACHETERO SCREENING NYC JUNE 12 -19 http://machetero.bpt.me

Tickets on sale now for the MACHETERO DIY Theatrical Release in NYC

June 12 – 19 Screening times are 1PM • 3PM • 5PM • 7PM • 9PM

Tickets are $10

Get your tickets here • http://machetero.bpt.me

MACHETERO opens in New York City for a one week limited theatrical run.

WED. JUNE 12TH – TUES JUNE 19TH
CLEMENTE SOTO VELEZ
KABAYITO’S THEATER (2ND FLOOR)
107 SUFFOLK STREET
NY NY 10002
(BTWN RIVINGTON & DELANCEY)

TICKETS $10
SCREENING TIMES • 1PM • 3PM • 5PM • 7PM • 9PM
F Train to Delancey Street or J , M , or Z Trains to Essex Street.
Walk to Suffolk Street, make a left.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-11Q

The Liberation Day Tapes – Dream In Porto Rican

MACHETERO RICANSTRUCTION LIBERATION DAY

MACHETERO features several songs from the album Liberation Day by RICANSTRUCTION. The Liberation Day album was a concept album centered on the liberation struggle of Puerto Rico. While writing the script I listened to Liberation Day and found the songs influencing the narrative and the way in which the film could be structured.

Arturo and Joseph Rodriguez are the song writers (along with singer Not4Prophet), drummer and bass player for RICANSTRUCTION. When we were doing the final mix for MACHETERO Arturo and Joseph came by to talk about the how the songs for Liberation Day came together. In this segment they talk about the song DREAM IN PORTO RICAN…

Dream In Porto Rican is the prelude to MACHETERO. It opens the film. Dream in Porto Rican, is a list of demands and desires for a better future. It’s a declaration for freedom from the ills of a colonial mentality and immediately set the tone for the film. The images of the films prelude opens with the Young Rebel cutting his own hair to Dream In Porto Rican. The cutting of hair is symbolic of re-birth while the song is a declaration of independence.

Liberation Day is available on iTunes

Liberation Day by RICANSTRUCTION

MACHETERO opens in New York City for a one week limited theatrical run.

WED. JUNE 12TH – TUES JUNE 19TH
CLEMENTE SOTO VELEZ
KABAYITO’S THEATER (2ND FLOOR)
107 SUFFOLK STREET
NY NY 10002
(BTWN RIVINGTON & DELANCEY)

TICKETS $10
SCREENING TIMES • 1PM • 3PM • 5PM • 7PM • 9PM
F Train to Delancey Street or J , M , or Z Trains to Essex Street.
Walk to Suffolk Street, make a left.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-11F

Waging Cultural War

Rooftop shot from the film MACHETERO with Not4Prophet & Jeff “AK” Akers by vagabond ©

“The guerilla wins by not losing.” – Che

I’ve never been in the military but based on observation and on what people who have been in the military have told me, film production has to be the closest thing to a military operation than anything else in terms of logistics, operations and planning. A military that goes out to war is essentially a self-contained unit. It has to bring food, shelter, medical supplies and equipment to the battlefield in order to get the job done. Filmmaking isn’t very different. A crew moves out in the early morning hours onto location eats breakfast, unloads equipment, sets up, shoots, eats lunch, sets up more equipment, shoots some more, wraps up, loads the equipment back in the trucks and moves out only do it all over again the next day. On a shoot that has several locations the unload, set up, shoot, load and move process can happen two or even three times in a single day.

Major film productions are run like a military operation with several departments acting as platoons fueled with vast budgets and deep resources. When filmmakers talk about making a film they invariably use military metaphors and go into production war stories.

No-budget independent guerrilla film production is the complete opposite of major studio productions. MACHETERO’s production was the equivalent of a small rebel guerrilla army going up against the odds of almost certain failure fueled with of a vast belief in the impossible and a deep resourcefulness that kept us going. The struggles that were waged and the risks that were taken to get MACHETERO done, in a way, were indicative of the struggles that were being portrayed within the film itself. After all, an independent guerrilla film production like MACHETERO ran on the ether of faith that we would make it through with a clever and passionate resourcefulness. And guess what? It worked.

As artists we were prepared to sacrifice for our art. We were ready for the long grueling hours, the pangs of hunger, the cold New York nights, the hot Puerto Rican days, the exhaustion that settles into the body and the frustration that seeps into the mind. And when our art required more from us we took the risks… too many to count, and like characters in the film we wanted to be free . We wanted to be free to make some art, to make a film. We wanted to bring some beauty into the world by telling a story that few people have heard or seen and bring some understanding to what is misunderstood. The world is in such a place now that in order to do that we had to lie, cheat, and steal, most of the time we got away with it and the few times that we didn’t we had to deal with the arrests, the warrants, the court dates, and the summonses.

We live in a world that talks about freedom but in order for us to be free to make our art, to make our film we had to the run and hide, we had to be clever and clandestine. MACHETERO the film and the making of MACHETERO… like a small guerrilla army waging cultural war in the streets… block by block… corner by corner… second by second… frame by frame…

We may not have won anything by making MACHETERO but we certainly didn’t lose anything…

MACHETERO opens in New York City for a one week limited theatrical run.

WED. JUNE 12TH – TUES JUNE 19TH
CLEMENTE SOTO VELEZ
KABAYITO’S THEATER (2ND FLOOR)
107 SUFFOLK STREET
NY NY 10002
(BTWN RIVINGTON & DELANCEY)

TICKETS $10
SCREENING TIMES • 1PM • 3PM • 5PM • 7PM • 9PM
F Train to Delancey Street or J , M , or Z Trains to Essex Street.
Walk to Suffolk Street, make a left.

If you’re on Facebook Check out our MACHETERO Facebook Page and check out the Facebook Event page… 

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-111