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Reproductive Justice part 2: Reproductive 101, Deconstructing the current anti-abortion efforts targeting Black women; also, doulas and midwives.

unusualmusic — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 05:09:25 +0000

Reproductive Justice: 101

Loretta Ross of SisterSong on “Reproductive Justice 101″ Part 1

Loretta Ross of SisterSong: Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, gives a lecture on “Reproductive Justice 101″ in Miami during June of 2008, sponsored by Women’s Fund of Miami and Mi Lola. Check out their website at http://sistersong.net/

Loretta Ross of SisterSong on “Reproductive Justice 101″ Part 2

Loretta Ross of SisterSong: Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, gives a lecture on “Reproductive Justice 101″ in Miami during June of 2008, sponsored by Women’s Fund of Miami and Mi Lola. Check out their website at http://sistersong.net/

Reproductive Justice: Abortion

Loretta Ross: The Economic and Racial Dynamics of Abortion

Loretta Ross, reproductive justice and human rights activist, talks about the racial and economic dynamics of abortion, STDs, teen pregnancy and health care.

The 2010 Documentary “The Abortion Conspiracy

Abortion Conspiracy Part 1: The Billboard Campaign

Part 2

Episode Two of a five part series looking at a right wing conspiracy theory that abortion in communities of color is genocide. This video covers Pro Life Freedom Rides staged by Priests for Life in the summer of 2010.

Part 3

Abortion Conspiracy Episode 3: This video examines a right wing documentary which alleges that abortion in the African American community is genocide. Through fear mongoring and guilt by association, it tires to make the case that this is a conspiracy led by Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood.

Abortion Conspiracy Part 4: Racial Uplift

Part 4 of a five part series on the right wing effort to portray abortion as genocide in communities of color. This episode profiles several African Americans who work in the field of reproductive health: an abortion provider, a volunteer at a hotline which offers counseling and two escorts at an abortion clinic in the south.

Abortion Conspiracy Part 5 The Mid Term Elections

One of the strategies of the right wing conspiracy theory that abortion amounts to genocide in the African American community is to try to fragment the Democratic base in the 2010 mid term elections. This episode asks if this strategy will have any effect.

2010: Are Black Children an ‘Endangered Species’? (The shorter version)

Reproductive Rights: Birth

Atlanta: The Doula Story

This video profiles Perez Ridley, a Doula in Atlanta, GA, who counsels pregnant teens on behalf of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention.

Northwest Doula Conference 2010

Shafia M. Monroe – Certified Midwife, founder and president of International Center for Traditional Childbearing – presenter on Full Circle Birth Traditions

The Legacy of the Black Midwife Part 1/6

The Legacy of the Black Midwife Part 2/6

The Legacy of the Black Midwife Part 3/6

The Legacy of the Black Midwife Part 4/6

The Legacy of the Black Midwife Part 5/6

The Legacy of the Black Midwife Part 6/6(end)

Reproductive Justice part 2: Reproductive 101, Deconstructing the current anti-abortion efforts targeting Black women; also, doulas and midwives. -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Linkspam: Unpacking the invisible knapsack Straight privilege edition

unusualmusic — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 02:30:14 +0000

So apparently this month is LGBT Pride Month. I therefore snagged this from ontd political which gives the info that it was first put together by students of Earlham College and then link-enhanced by the current poster. Do I need to mention the part where ‘phobic assholes of any kind will be summarily deleted and banned? Oh who am I kidding? Homophobic, transphobic, any ‘phobic assholes of any kind will have their comments summarily deleted and be considered for banning depending on the severity of the offense. That having been said…on with the show.

I can be pretty sure that my roomate, hallmates and classmates will be comfortable with my sexual orientation. (Example: “Gay bulling in schools ‘common’” – BBC | Campus Climate for LGs – The Task Force).

If I pick up a magazine, watch TV, or play music, I can be certain my sexual orientation will be represented. (Example: More gay characters on TV now than before – Variety | LGBT Character Shows May Lose Tax Credit – SD G&L News).

03. When I talk about my heterosexuality (such as in a joke or talking about my relationships), I will not be accused of pushing my sexual orientation onto others.

04. I do not have to fear that if my family or friends find out about my sexual orientation there will be economic, emotional, physical or psychological consequences. (Example: PFLAG Rejection Statistics – PFLAG)

05. I did not grow up with games that attack my sexual orientation (IE fag tag or smear the queer). (Example: From Bullies to Heroes: Homophobia in Video Games – Student Pulse.)

06. I am not accused of being abused, warped or psychologically confused because of my sexual orientation. (Example: “Camp that ‘cures’ homosexuality” – Times Online.)

07. I can go home from most meetings, classes, and conversations without feeling excluded, fearful, attacked, isolated, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, stereotyped or feared because of my sexual orientation. (Constance McMillen Wanted to Take Her Girlfriend to the Prom, So the School Board Canceled it – CBS News.) It’s also worth noting that CBS probably chose the worst picture of her to pair with that article. It’s hard to say if that was motivated or not.

08. I am never asked to speak for everyone who is heterosexual.

09. I can be sure that my classes will require curricular materials that testify to the existence of people with my sexual orientation. (Example: Banning Gay Books – Alternet).

10. People don’t ask why I made my choice of sexual orientation.

11. People don’t ask why I made my choice to be public about my sexual orientation.

12. I do not have to fear revealing my sexual orientation to friends or family. It’s assumed.

13. My sexual orientation was never associated with a closet.

14. People of my gender do not try to convince me to change my sexual orientation.

15. I don’t have to defend my heterosexuality.

16. I can easily find a religious community that will not exclude me for being heterosexual. (Example: Homosexuality and Religion – Religion Facts).

17. I can count on finding a therapist or doctor willing and able to talk about my sexuality. (Example: Rekers and the Barbarism of Anti-Gay Therapy.)

18. I am guaranteed to find sex education literature for couples with my sexual orientation.

19. Because of my sexual orientation, I do not need to worry that people will harass me. (Largest Ever Study on Anti-LGBT Harassement – GLSEN).

20. I have no need to qualify my straight identity.

21. My masculinity/femininity is not challenged because of my sexual orientation. (Examples: Are Gay Stereotypes true? – ABC).

22. I am not identified by my sexual orientation.

23. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help my sexual orientation will not work against me. (Example: ‘Doctor Shock’ – Huffington Post.)

24. If my day, week, or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has sexual orientation overtones.

25. Whether I rent or I go to a theater, Blockbuster, an EFS or TOFS movie, I can be sure I will not have trouble finding my sexual orientation represented. (Example: Before ‘Bruno’: A brief history of gay characters in movies and TV – NY Daily News).

26. I am guaranteed to find people of my sexual orientation represented in the Earlham curriculum, faculty, and administration.

27. I can walk in public with my significant other and not have people double-take or stare. (Example: Kiss Off: A gay couple cited for holding hands on Main Street Plaza – Salt Lake City Weekly).

28. I can choose to not think politically about my sexual orientation.

29. I do not have to worry about telling my roommate about my sexuality. It is assumed I am a heterosexual.

31. I can remain oblivious of the language and culture of LGBTQ folk without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

32. I can go for months without being called straight. (I suppose this depends on where you are and who your friends are.)

33. I’m not grouped because of my sexual orientation.

34. My individual behavior does not reflect on people who identity as heterosexual.

35. In everyday conversation, the language my friends and I use generally assumes my sexual orientation. For example, sex inappropriately referring to only heterosexual sex or family meaning heterosexual relationships with kids.

35. People do not assume I am experienced in sex (or that I even have it!) merely because of my sexual orientation. (Example: GLBT Stereotypes – GLBT Social Sciences).

36. I can kiss a person of the opposite gender on the heart or in the cafeteria without being watched and stared at. (Example: Is Main Street USA Ready For Gay PDA – ABC News).

37. Nobody calls me straight with maliciousness. (Example: John Mayer’s Apology Wanted for Use of Gay Slur – Aceshowbiz).

38. People can use terms that describe my sexual orientation and mean positive things (IE “straight as an arrow”, “standing up straight” or “straightened out”) instead of demeaning terms (IE “ewww, that’s gay” or being “queer”).

39. I am not asked to think about why I am straight.

40. I can be open about my sexual orientation without worrying about my job. (Example: Bias in the Workplace: Consistant Evidence of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination [.doc download] – UCLA).”

Can you add more?

Linkspam: Unpacking the invisible knapsack Straight privilege edition -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Linkspam: Diverse women’s voices in rock

unusualmusic — Wed, 26 May 2010 17:05:47 +0000

original entry is here with astonishing no. of recs in the comments. As usual, be not an asshole.

I read all of these which are about the experience of white, cis, ablebodied women for the most part, and was inspired to do a post featuring vocal diversity among women rockers. .LADYPALOOZA PRESENTS: I Went To Your Concert and There Was Nothing Going On, or, A Meditation on Dude Music

LADYPALOOZA PRESENTS! The World At Large: How Privilege works in Rock Music

(NOT REALLY A) WEEKEND ARTS SECTION: Manic Pixie Songwriting Dream Girls, A History in Youtube and Published Slur

TORI AMOS

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Classically trained pianist; frequently constructs songs in complex, non-standard time signatures (9/4? Is that even a thing?) and uses more than one of said time signatures over the course of a song; said songs also feature carefully worked-out, highly complex piano-vocal melodies and harmonies, often referencing classical pieces or styles of note, with unusual chords, non-standard voicings and keys, and frequent key changes; improvises substantially on and/or re-arranges those highly complex songs on every tour; can play piano, synth, harpsichord, Hammond, and basically anything else with a keyboard on it; on last tour, switched between four keyboards, often playing two simultaneously, on nearly every song.MORE

The Lost Women of Rock and Roll

I was able to do a bit of correcting for WOC rockers, but came up blank on disabled and/ or transwomen rockers. If you have any recs, put em in the comments! Albay Philippines I – How Albay Makes A Scene which while a bit off topic, I found interesting.

Also: Asian American women in rock

Shonen Knife: 23 years since forming, the groundbreaking group asserts control over its affairs

Yoko Ono:In a recent Tokyo visit, the septuagenarian sounds off Which reminds me that I need to repost this: Yoko Ono: A Feminist Analysis (Introduction: Oh Yoko!), Yoko Ono: A Feminist Analysis (Part One: The Ballad of John and Yoko), Yoko Ono: A Feminist Analysis (Part Two: Don’t Let Me Down), Yoko Ono: A Feminist Analysis (Part Three: Woman), Yoko Ono: A Feminist Analysis (Addendum: Just Like Starting Over)

In addition to which: Rock On: Saudi Arabia’s All-Girl Rock Band, 2nd article The Accolade: An All-Female Saudi Rock Band

New generation of Latin rockers earns points for artistry and Layin Women Rockers: Artists Redefining Images of Hispanic women and rock n roll

Where Are the Black Female Rock Stars?

And finally, Black Women Who Rock Links to:

Anti-Divas

The black female rock singer is invisible. By rock, I don’t mean popular music, as the two terms are often injudiciously interchanged, but the loud, guitar and drum-driven energy of the actual genre. Though black music—rhythm and blues—is essentially the DNA of rock music, social and industry barriers confront black female artists who embody the aural and visual aesthetics of the rock idiom.

What leads to this invisibility is the way black female vocalists in pop are consistently relegated to specific genre categories created by the music industry and the media that exclude them from rock music. In the post-Woodstock landscape of popular music, these categories essentially consist of soul (Aretha Franklin), pop (Dionne Warwick), dance (Donna Summer), R&B (Anita Baker), hip-hop (Lauryn Hill) and rap (Missy Elliot). Because of these rigid parameters, black female singers who pursue rock are often met with opposition, confusion and commercial disappointment. Nona Hendryx, for example, is essentially a rock singer whose palette is diversified—not determined—by R&B and dance music. Her first solo album rocked as hard as any record released in 1977, but radio (and Epic Records) was puzzled by the supposed incongruity of her racial identity to the music. Donna Summer, who fronted a rock band in the late 1960s (The Crow), has often stated that were it not for disco, she would have steered towards a career in rock music. As disco retreated to the underground in the early 1980s, Summer released a rock-oriented album, The Wanderer. Rock-formatted radio was hesitant to embrace Summer, even though her songs were not stylistically dissimilar to the songs of white female rockers like Pat Benatar.

So black women in rock have existed, but have been by and large invisible, with the exception of the anomalous Tina Turner. Her indisputable talent notwithstanding, the support of British male rock artists such as Rod Stewart and David Bowie were still necessary to facilitate her comeback in the mid-1980s and reintroduce her to rock audiences. A rare combination of forces enabled Turner, a middle-aged black woman, to achieve mainstream success with rock music—a unique combination ultimately impossible for her black female peers to replicate. But that doesn’t mean they are not out there. The galvanizing voices of Betty Davis, Joyce Kennedy, and Sandra St. Victor are but a few who have electrified rock music over the last four decades, but remain relatively obscure to mainstream audiences.
MORE

So we start with JD Natasha’s Plastico The IDIOT Music Company EMI has disabled embedding. I cannot STAND these freaking dumplings, but moving along.

THE ACCOLADE – PINOCCHIO

Yoko Ono: "Yes, I’m A Witch" (1974)

Skunk Anansie – Twisted (Everyday Hurts)

Shiina Ringo – Sakuran

BJORK HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Skeletons

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Kiss, Kiss

ELY GUERRA – PELIGRO

Aterciopelados – El Estuche

yui – cherry

ARCH ENEMY – My Apocalypse (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

Nina Simone – Ain’t Got No…I’ve Got Life (yes I know she isn’t rock, I love this song and how her voice sounds here)

Otep "Confrontation" Official Video

Deerhoof – The Perfect Me

Joanna Newsom – Peach, Plum, Pear

The The Empty – Le Tigre

Apocalyptica/Nina Hagen – Seemann

Noiseaux – Cessation

Tori Amos – Welcome to England

FlyLeaf – I’m so Sick

Shonen Knife – It’s a New Find

Orphan Hate – Circus

"You Will Remember" by Lumaya

Straight Line Stitch “Black Veil”

ETA: HOW COULD I FORGET: Tanita Tikaram!
Twist in my sobriety

ETA2: Tessanne Chin Black Books

Anyone else ya’ll wanna rec?

Linkspam: Diverse women’s voices in rock -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

The myth of atheists being “less” than religious people

unusualmusic — Tue, 18 May 2010 16:35:10 +0000

The Linkmistress would like to interrupt her regular linkspams to bring you an actual blog. With words. As usual, civility is requested and will be enforced. Iron fist, velvet glove etc.

crossposted. The following critique is based on the media I have consumed and the experiences I have had. Feel free to rec media in which the things I am complaining about have been fixed. Except that Pullman fellow. I tried. I tried. But.

Pharyngula is linked to my old blog, and thus, when I go over there, I sometimes check his feed. I say sometimes, because the writer thereof is like many white middleclass atheists in that FAIL! on race issues, and the difference in scale between religions affected by the past how many hundreds of years of colonialism and Christianity is constant and unremitting (and the comment section is WORSE.) This post however Letting go of gods is a reason for joy…like being free of prison, sparked an annoyed rant that I had been turning over in my mind for a very long time.

I am an atheist. A black atheist at that. And I am HAPPY AND FULFILLED ABOUT THIS. I do NOT run around wistfully gazing after religious people, feeling sad that I am missing out on the experience of faith. Nor do I run around feeling nihilistic and angry at the world because there is no God and therefore LIFE ON EARTH HAS NO MEANING !!!!!!!!!!!!! And I sure as hell do not run about committing crimes and hurting people left, right and center because God isn’t in my life. I have ethics. And morals even. And NO that it NOT because God is in my life and I don’t know it, WHAT!!! Hell I formed my ideas of ethics and morals in direct opposition to some of the things in the Christian Bible (fer instance, the idea of a god sending his people to go kill people and take their possessions reminds me of European colonialism and is WRONG WRONG WRONG in my ethical universe. Women are intelligent and sensible and should therefore have been in on the equal human rights from the beginning of time, no excuses. In fact, in my ethical universe, strict instructions about the equality of EVERYONE from transpeople to disabled people to poc to people with alternate sexualities to people in different classes to anyone who has a mix of these identities, plus anyone else who might have been left out of this list would be MY FIRST FREAKING COMMANDMENT. And that’s just the beginning.)

I am SICK AND TIRED of encountering those tropes in most of the tv, movies and books which even deign to acknowledge the fact that people who don’t believe in gods exist in the first place. Almost every black movie and tv show or book mentions God somewhere. If a character does not believe in God, the person is taught a firm lesson, which is usually accompanied by humiliation of some sort, so as to bring them back into line (praise ye the Lord!!) For white characters in tv shows, more latitude is given in that there are atheist characters, but we end up with people like House, or atheists who are made to accept that the fact that someone has faith makes them a better person. (I think I have seen that dynamic in Bones but I may be wrong. Anyone watch the show and can clarify?) Which. It doesn’t. It makes you a different person. Good for you. But my lack of faith is just as good as your abundance of it and gives you no moral cookies over me, kthx.

So. I want proudly atheist characters who are happy about it in my media. Minorities of every kind, even. Because we exist. And our stories deserve to be respectfully told.

The myth of atheists being “less” than religious people -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

linkspam: Why didn’t you call the police? Part One

unusualmusic — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:16:28 +0000

TRIGGER WARNING

NO VICTIM BLAMING IN THE COMMENTS OR YOU WILL BE BANNED. WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE. AND MALICE AFORETHOUGHT. I HAVE. NO. PATIENCE. PERIOD. you have been warned.

Because you cannot trust them. No really.

Of course, not all of them do that. But how do you know that your cop won’t?

And even when you get a good cop, the system and society itself is really, really, really really, fucked.

And then to top it off, POC face the extra burden of cops deciding to frame men of color instead of investigating to find out the real rapist. (And do not even BEGIN to think that you can use that last sentence to start propagandizing about how all women are liars and how all rape cases are made up etc. I will delete your comment and ban your ass so fast your head will spin. Just go read this: The Duke Lacrosse Case: Exploiting the issue of false rape accusations Thanks Alas a Blog). The point of the comment is that race and class sometimes intersect in the criminal justice system so that instead of properly investigating crimes, the police will go after vulnerable populations because it is easier.)

I have not even begun to consider the maelstrom that is domestic violence and abuse. Nor have I begun to look at stalking. Or street harassment. Never mind the subject of how state violence intertwines with and perpetuates violence between individuals.

To say nothing of the truly complex and so important issues when class and race and disability and various sexualities and whatever else intersect. Think the police response to transwomen of color who have been raped and beaten and killed by boyfriends and sometimes the police themselves. Think the police response to undocumented gay immigrants being abused. Think police response to poor POC vis a vis rich white women. think police reaction to poor white gay domestic violence and rape, never mind gay POC domestic violence and rape. Think police response to disabled people who might be communicating though American sign language, or be blind, or mentally disabled. Think about religion fer instance. How might police respond to Muslim couples, what with the widespread prejudice in America now? As compared to Christians? And exactly WHEN is the federal gov’t going to fix the total fuckery that has made Native American women among the most battered and raped community in the united states? If police pay little attention to rape, how much do they pay to street harassment? And those threatening behaviors that are not illegal, like forcing someone to stay in a room and watch sex acts? And what happens when domestic violence and rape touch down in the middle of activists fighting the prison and police industrial complex? Call the police? Really? And what about sex workers Never mind sex workers who happen to be transgender? Hell trans people when murdered are regularly assumed to be sex workers even when they are not, and this is one more brick that is used against them. And then we have male POC survivors. Exactly how many of those, having been on the butt-end of police racially profiling them, immigrant raids and all the other manners of BS, are going to overcome that, plus societal pressures that say that men do not get raped because they always want sex, men don’t get beaten up because they are stronger than women, all of this; to report domestic violence and rape to the police? Precisely how do you think the police would respond?

And i can’t remember if I linked this and I am too tired to look through that thicket in html We Are the Dead: Sex, Assault, and Trans Women

*sigh* I am tired but I know I have missed stuff. So drop links and debate in the comments but again I warn you that victim blaming of any sort will result in comments being deleted and me resorting to banning if you insist on being an asshole.

ETA: Remember when I said our society was really fucked up? What about the Menz Indeed

In what is one of the most deplorable examples of “What About the Menz” I’ve ever seen, Milwaukee County’s chief mental health official, John Chianelli, decided to placate violent male psychiatric patients by housing female patients in the previously sex-segregated locked ward. When the integrated ward resulted in a surge of sexual assaults against the female patients, Chianelli then defended the decision as a “trade-off.” MORE

Our society is FUCKED.

linkspam: Why didn’t you call the police? Part One -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

EARTH DAY!!!

unusualmusic — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:43:00 +0000

Earth Day at the Climate Justice Frontier

There are no shortage of ideas today for how global capitalism can be marshaled to slow down global warming. Never mind that we’re in this mess in the first place largely due to the take-no-prisoners industrialization that today’s wealthier nations built their fortunes upon. And many of the world’s poorer nations are paying the price, with intensifying rainstorms and lengthening droughts, among other things. Few of the market-driven ideas for dealing with climate change have addressed this hard reality.

This week’s World People’s Conference on Climate Change—a gathering of more than 20,000 in Cochabamba, Bolivia—hopes to redirect that narrow discussion into one about climate justice. ColorLines’ correspondents in Cochabamba have compiled a slideshow of climate justice heroes at the meeting. Some are big name government officials; others are community-based organizers. They are all the sorts of voices that have been too often dismissed in the global discussion about how we’ll save the planet.
SLIDESHOW

First we come to greenwashing:Greenwash of the Week: Earth Day!

Greenwash of the Week: Chevron’s Solar Project Bulls#%t

Greenwash of the Week: The Copenhagen Accord

ETA: The Rainforest Action Network is the maker of those greenwashing videos above. There is a rather interesting article on them here. Saving Trees and Capitalism Too basically, teh article made me grab for my copy of The Revolution will not be funded.

In fighting the corporations news:Tuvalu v. ExxonMobil?The coming wave of transnational lawsuits

and in more corporations running amuck news:French State-Owned Company "Poisoning" Poor

Lack of Data on Causes of Death Buffers French Company

Feminist Intersection: On hipsters/hippies and Native culture

Specific excerpt: Organic living and environmentalism as “new” concepts. One of my friends jokes that all Native people should get green energy for free because that’s how we’ve been living for centuries and also taught the colonizers how to live (which may or may not have screwed us in the end). I really do love the resurgence of the green movement and how things are becoming more environmentally friendly – but I don’t need certain members of the movement pretending like they started this or ignoring extreme realities we’re facing like environmental racism and justice. I also think we need actual Native people being in charge of and leading the responses to environmental degradation that are happening in our own territories. It’s not to say we don’t need allyship and support – but it’s also rather irritating when I read an event posting for a cause of some sort for a First Nation where there’s like two Native people in the whole place (who either barely say anything or are supposed to go along with the way the hippies organize without complaint because they’re “doing something for us”).

Removal of Elwha dams to bring back salmon, bear, eagles

New Brunswick Natives challenge limitations on salmon rights

The Sustainability Revolution

Copenhagen was a clusterfuck, and therefore we have Cochabamba
World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth: Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 19 to 22, 2010 WordPress

Bolivia ‘s answer to UN climate summit

Lessons from Cochabamba on Borders, Labels and Justice

It’s fitting that migration has been a major focus at the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which brought thousands from all around the world to gather and discuss the racial, socioeconomic and human rights issues that were all but ignored last year in the disastrous Copenhagen summit. The surge of activists in Cochabamba was a reverse reflection of the kind of climate migration that has exploded around the globe, as environmental turmoil begets mass displacement and the destruction of communities and indigenous cultures.
The working group on climate migrants linked population migration and the framework of social, environmental and cultural rights at the crux of the climate justice movement.MORE

In Defence of Pachamama

LA PAZ, Apr 16, 2010 (IPS) – Through their ancestral knowledge and traditions, indigenous peoples will make a unique and invaluable contribution to the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which begins Monday, Apr. 19 in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba.

Julio Quette of the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Bolivia (CIDOB) told IPS that the 74 different indigenous groups who inhabit South America’s Amazon region "have traditionally coexisted with nature and the forests," and that it is up to the industrialised countries to halt the pollution and destruction of the planet.

For her part, Jenny Gruenberger, executive director of the Environmental Defence League (LIDEMA), commented to IPS that "Bolivia could make an enormous contribution based on the traditional knowledge of the indigenous and aboriginal nations that make up this plurinational state." MORE

All eyes on Cochabamba

LA PAZ, Mar 30, 2010 (IPS) – A different way of fighting global warming will be tried out in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba when government representatives and thousands of activists gather for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.

The social organisations sponsoring the Apr. 19-22 conference have announced an alternative platform to the efforts of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-15), which ended in failure in icy Copenhagen in December 2009.
MORE

Voice of Civil Society Loud and Clear in Cochabamba

SANTIAGO, Apr 19, 2010 (Tierramérica) – The success of the climate change conference taking place in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba will depend on how unified civil society ultimately is in its efforts to influence the United Nations climate summit, in Mexico, say Latin American activists.

The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, Apr. 19-22, convened by Bolivia’s President Evo Morales, has brought together some 12,000 people from 130 countries, including international personalities, representatives from citizen groups and government officials.
MORE

Save the Planet from Capitalism, Morales Says

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, Apr 21, 2010 (IPS) – Activists meeting at the people’s conference on climate change in this Bolivian city booed a message from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon but cheered at host President Evo Morales’s chant of "planet or death!"

A football stadium in Tiquipaya, in the suburbs of Cochabamba, was inflamed Tuesday with temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius and the fervor of around 20,000 environmental activists and delegates from 125 nations.
MORE

Opposition Mounts to Carbon Compensation Schemes

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, Apr 19, 2010 (IPS) – The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which opened Monday in Bolivia, will reflect vigorous resistance to financial compensation for forest conservation in return for permits to emit greenhouse gases, activists told IPS.

The United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD) is the main topic at panel number 14, which aims to develop an alternative proposal to strengthen conservation of natural forests while recognising the rights of indigenous communities.

The REDD mechanism proposes that the richest countries pay to maintain forests in tropical regions, as compensation for their emissions of greenhouse gases.

Bolivian indigenous and social organisations, meeting in advance of the Conference, approved a resolution demanding that developed countries drastically reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, responsible for global warming.
MORE

Then a quick visit to coal:Earth Day: Profiling Coal’s Eco Heroes

A stop in a Detroit:Green Detroit: Why the City Is Ground Zero for the Sustainability Movement

And then a hearty congrats to this years Goldman Prize winners!!
Enviro Heroes: Meet This Year’s Prestigious Goldman Prize Winners

Photo Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

The Goldman Environmental Foundation has announced the six recipients of the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize, grassroots leaders who are taking on some of the most challenging environmental problems affecting local communities and the planet.
The prize recipients are dealing with issues surrounding factory livestock farming in the United States, shark finning in Costa Rica, the protection of wilderness in Poland, sustainable agriculture in Cuba, conservation that focuses on human rights in Swaziland and wild elephant conservation in Cambodia.MORE

2010 Goldman Prize for Africa: Thuli Makama

Thuli Makama, Swazilands only public interest environmental attorney, won a landmark case to include environmental NGO representation in conservation decisions and continues to challenge the forced evictions and violence perpetrated against poverty-stricken communities living on the edges of conservation areas. Learn more at Goldman Prize:Africa

2010 Goldman Prize for Asia: Tuy Sereivathana

Tuy Sereivathana worked to mitigate human elephant conflict in Cambodia by introducing innovative low-cost solutions, empowering local communities to cooperatively participate in endangered Asian elephant conservation. Learn more at Goldman Prize:Asia

2010 Goldman Prize for Islands: Humberto Ríos Labrada

A scientist and biodiversity researcher, Humberto Ríos Labrada promoted sustainable agriculture by working with farmers to increase crop diversity and develop low-input agricultural systems that greatly reduce the need for pesticide and fertilizer, encouraging Cubas shift from agricultural chemical dependence. Learn more at Goldman Prize: Islands

2010 Goldman Prize for South & Central America: Randall Arauz

Drawing international attention to the inhumane and environmentally catastrophic shark finning industry, Randall Arauz led the campaign to halt the practice in Costa Rica, making his country the new international model for shark protection. Learn more at Goldman Prize: South and Central America
And more here

Climate change is going to be a problem. We know this. Take a look at how US politics will be transformed:Democrats, Republicans and the Sunscreen Party

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration isn’t known for its political forecasts, but last spring, the agency quietly released a 40-page study that should give a jolt to any campaign strategist who hopes to work in the next dozen election cycles.

Simply called "Scenarios for 2035," the report never once mentions voting trends or red-blue divides, but it does explain how changes in climate could quickly and radically reshape American politics – upending the power balance in Congress, scuttling traditional paths to the White House, and igniting new fights over natural and financial resources.MORE

We then hold a while on the subject of water:

Rivers of Gold: An Examination of the Water Crisis

Lesoto:Getting Community Consultation Right on Water

IPS NEWS PORTAL Troubled Waters

Mexico City’s water crisis

Finally we take a quick look at whose behind the Canadian tar sands
Royal Bank of Canada Awarded Most Environmentally Irresponsible Company

EARTH DAY!!! -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Sometimes the world does not suck: Part Two

unusualmusic — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 02:36:40 +0000

Before we get to the good parts however: A Signal Fire via jonquil: Do not trust Clitoraid, the charity being promoted by Betty Dobson that offers surgery to FGM victims

I WOULD NOT OBJECT TO OTHER ORGANIZATIONS ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN CIRCUMCISED!

In fact, I agree that there is a need for services to such women. According to the research I’ve done, there are indeed local Burkina Faso doctors offering surgeries to reverse the tissue damage. Indeed it seems that the government of Burkina Faso itself offers these surgeries and since 2001 975 women have had state-funded genital repair surgeries. (If Good Vibrations had done their due diligence they would have known this!)

Some of the people performing the surgeries include Dr. Michel Akotionga, a gynaecologist and one of the first gynaecologists in Burkina Faso to perform the reconstructive surgery.

I am NOT opposed to Clitoraid because it offers reconstructive surgeries. I am opposed to it because of their demeaning campaign. Again, I am ALL for women’s pleasure! But I am also for respect and against humiliation. Nobody’s genitalia should be talked about in the way that Clitoraid is talking about African women’s genitalia. In fact, no part of anyone’s body should be up for adoption in this way that reminds us too much of the slave trade (Oh no, I went there!).

Seriously, what does it mean to ‘adopt a clitoris’? Does that mean you own said clitoris or are you just fostering it for a little bit? Do you get to name it? What are the implications for the person whose clitoris is being adopted?MORE

And now for the happy-making stuff:
Gay Family Adoption and Foster Ban in Arkansas declared Unconstitutional

Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled today that Act 1, an initiated act approved by voters in 2008 that bans any unmarried person living with a partner from serving as an adoptive parent, is unconstitutional, and amounts to an unwarranted invasion of privacy. Jerry Cox of the Family Council, the group who sponsored Act 1 and fought for its passage, called the decision “judicial tyranny” and says they plan to appeal the decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Here is a copy of Judge Piazza’s order. Piazza writes, “Due Process and Equal Protection are not hollow words without substance. They are rights enumerated in our constitution that must not be construed in such a way as to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people.”MORE

Obama Orders Hospital Visitation For LGBT Families

In a move that could begin to mollify the rift between President Obama and the gay rights community, the President announced in a memorandum new rules mandating hospital visitation rights for all families, including gay and lesbian partners. The ruling applies to everyone, but is clearly shaded toward LGBT families. From the memorandum:MORE

FINALLY: Caster Semanya cleared to compete as a woman.

After months of speculation and gender testing, South African runner Caster Semenya is finally being allowed to compete again:

“Semenya’s lawyers told the eNews channel Wednesday that her medical team looked at test results following the 2009 world championships and their own tests and concluded that she was clear to compete.”

…

Pending official “gender verification” from the track and field’s governing body, the IAAF, Semenya plans to make her return to competitive racing at Spanish competition on June 24.MORE

A bit on the British Elections. An American who lived there for a bit is writing blogposts to explain the election system to us. Any Brits who find any errors in what he has to say feel free to correct at will!

Brit Vote 2010 Introduction In which its is said that the British take 1 month in which to hold their election. Holy Shit!!! I would KILL for that schedule here!

Brit Vote 2010: More Background

Brit Vote 2010: Labour’s Manifesto

Brit Vote 2010: Conservative Manifesto

Brit Vote 2010: Liberal Democrat Manifesto

And JK Rowling has her say about the elections but PLEASE DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS.:The single mother’s manifesto:David Cameron says the ‘nasty party’ that castigated people like me has changed. I’m not buying it

I had become a single mother when my first marriage split up in 1993. In one devastating stroke, I became a hate figure to a certain section of the press, and a bogeyman to the Tory Government. Peter Lilley, then Secretary of State at the DSS, had recently entertained the Conservative Party conference with a spoof Gilbert and Sullivan number, in which he decried “young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing list”. The Secretary of State for Wales, John Redwood, castigated single-parent families from St Mellons, Cardiff, as “one of the biggest social problems of our day”. (John Redwood has since divorced the mother of his children.) Women like me (for it is a curious fact that lone male parents are generally portrayed as heroes, whereas women left holding the baby are vilified) were, according to popular myth, a prime cause of social breakdown, and in it for all we could get: free money, state-funded accommodation, an easy life.

An easy life. Between 1993 and 1997 I did the job of two parents, qualified and then worked as a secondary school teacher, wrote one and a half novels and did the planning for a further five. For a while, I was clinically depressed. To be told, over and over again, that I was feckless, lazy — even immoral — did not help.

…

Yesterday’s Conservative manifesto makes it clear that the Tories aim for less governmental support for the needy, and more input from the “third sector”: charity. It also reiterates the flagship policy so proudly defended by David Cameron last weekend, that of “sticking up for marriage”. To this end, they promise a half-a-billion pound tax break for lower-income married couples, working out at £150 per annum.

I accept that my friends and I might be atypical. Maybe you know people who would legally bind themselves to another human being, for life, for an extra £150 a year? Perhaps you were contemplating leaving a loveless or abusive marriage, but underwent a change of heart on hearing about a possible £150 tax break? Anything is possible; but somehow, I doubt it. Even Mr Cameron seems to admit that he is offering nothing more than a token gesture when he tells us “it’s not the money, it’s the message”.

Nobody who has ever experienced the reality of poverty could say “it’s not the money, it’s the message”. When your flat has been broken into, and you cannot afford a locksmith, it is the money. When you are two pence short of a tin of baked beans, and your child is hungry, it is the money. When you find yourself contemplating shoplifting to get nappies, it is the money. If Mr Cameron’s only practical advice to women living in poverty, the sole carers of their children, is “get married, and we’ll give you £150”, he reveals himself to be completely ignorant of their true situation.

How many prospective husbands did I ever meet, when I was the single mother of a baby, unable to work, stuck inside my flat, night after night, with barely enough money for life’s necessities? Should I have proposed to the youth who broke in through my kitchen window at 3am? Half a billion pounds, to send a message — would it not be more cost-effective, more personal, to send all the lower-income married people flowers?
MORE

Also via Daily Kos we got Bread lessons From Something the Dog Said.Sunday Bread and Bread Sunday One and Two and Three, which are part of the same series, he just tagged them wrong. *eyeroll* Then again I missed Food Sunday

About time: Federal Court Rejects National Day of Prayer as unconstitutional Cue rightwing heads exploding and screams of persecution from every side.

Makeshift Magazine Issue 7 is out.

Also new, cheaper issue of Arise Magazine. You can browse the issue on the website and buy at Barnes and Noble. I particularly like the articles on the experiences of the Ethiopians Jews in Israel and the efforts of various African countries to get into space.

And finally from Rod 2.0

Toni Braxton debuts the new music video for her single “Make My Heart”. The track is destined to be a clubbanger especially because the Billie Woodruff-directed video is a love letter to black and Latino LGBT youth. It fuses the vintage “house” music club scene of the 80s to the ballroom scene of the 90s and 00s.

Fat Dancers! Muscled women! Church Ladies! And all other sorts of hot LGBT dancers!!! And the music! SQUEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Toni Braxton – Make My Heart [Official Video]

On the Wendy Williams Show

have a happy weekend!

Sometimes the world does not suck: Part Two -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Sometimes the world does not suck

unusualmusic — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:35:03 +0000

I tend to write posts when I am pissed. Now this is great motivation, but unrelenting gloom and doom tends to leave me ridiculously depressed, and pessimistic about the fate of the world. So this is a post for good news, my readers. Because sometimes the world does not suck!

The first same-sex wedding in Washington DC

what is happening in this world that makes you think that the world is cool after all? Leave in comments.

Sometimes the world does not suck -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Linkmistress has posts that she doesn’t want to lose so she is unleashing them on the world

unusualmusic — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:30:44 +0000

The Texas Tribune is tracking the catastrophic “only conservative white people matter in American History textbooks clusterfuck” that will soon be unleashed on the unsuspecting American child population here

In their January meeting, State Board of Education members came armed with more amendments to the state social studies curriculum than they could vote on — a process hardly helped by the acrimony between the board’s socially conservative bloc and more moderate Republicans and liberal Democrats. And so the SBOE kicked the process of revising the standards down the road to this week’s meeting, where social studies rewrites will resume today.

Because of the flood of amendments under consideration, we’ve produced this annotated version of the high school U.S. History standards, which have been the focus of controversy. You can see exactly what the board has added, deleted and rewritten, along with our analysis of the current arguments and historical context behind each change.MORE

A. And here I thought my American History class was a piece of shit.

B. IF I ever do have kids I’ll have to homeschool them.

C. And Texas is actually apparently majority POC. I suppose at some point there will be a grassroots movement to throw this shit out. Hopefully it won’t take too long.

Hipster Racism Because Amanda Palmer showed her ass. AGAIN.

Closeted politicians and bi-invisibility

…Amanda Mennis recently wrote me with an interesting question: Does this story of a secretly gay public figure — and the absurdly long parade of stories like it — contribute in some way to bisexual invisibility?

After all, most of the guys in these scandals (and it has just been guys so far) are married, or have some sort of sexual/ romantic relationship with women. Many of them have children. They’re clearly capable of having sex with women. Doesn’t that make them bisexual, not gay? Or at least, doesn’t it suggest the possibility that some of them are bisexual and not gay?

An interesting question. And one that I’m finding tricky to answer.

Part of the problem is that we don’t have a standard definition of what it means to be gay or lesbian or bisexual. It’s not like there’s a gay person in a vacuum in the Smithsonian, against whom we all measure ourselves to determine our own sexual orientation. Everyone defines these terms — gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, bi-curious, heteroflexible (that was a new one on me!), questioning, queer, “basically straight but wouldn’t kick Jon Stewart out of bed,” whatever — in subtly different ways. Or not so subtly different ways.

So ultimately, it doesn’t really make sense to talk about whether someone is “really bisexual.” There is no such thing as “really bisexual.” Within reason (and please don’t ask me to define what “within reason” means), we get to decide for ourselves what sexual orientation we are, and what language we use to describe it.

But what does that mean for someone who’s closeted?MORE

Some of the downsides of the Health care bill in terms of women Yes, its more than teh abortion executive order. Which is a Big Fucking. Deal.

Fact: The bill also permits gender-rating, the practice of charging women higher premiums simply because they are women. Some are under the mistaken impression that gender-rating has been prohibited, but that is only true in the individual and small-group markets. Larger group plans (more than 100 employees) sold through the exchanges will be permitted to discriminate against women -- having an especially harmful impact in workplaces where women predominate.

We know why those gender- and age-rating provisions are in the bill: because insurers insisted on them, as they will generate billions of dollars in profits for the companies. Such discriminatory rating must be completely eliminated.MORE

He’s a Terrorist. Just say it. Terrorist. For F*%k sake!

You see, the very definition of terrorism has changed, right beneath our feet. A man with strong idealogical beliefs against the government of the United States tries (and succeeds) to kill himself and take as many civilians (federal workers) as he can with him. But they don’t call it terrorism. That sacrosanct term is now reserved only for non-white people with funny sounding names. Preferably Muslim.

Trans Murder Monitoring Project: 333 cases of reported murders of trans people in the last 2 years

Integrating Primary and Mental Healthcare

Currently, primary care providers (PCPs), also called general practitioners, provide over half of mental health treatment in the United States – which results in up to 50% of mental health problems going unindentified, undiagnosed, and untreated through the primary care system. This is a wasted opportunity, as PCPs have significant opportunities to identify behavioral health problems early and provide interventions and treatments to prevent further deterioration.MORE

Videos: Dance party!

The Male “P” Spot: Why het men are so afraid to discover their own bodies’ capacities for pleasure, from a sex organ that ISN’T a penis

Has anyone, anywhere, seen a medical illustration of the prostate gland and men’s other sexual organs depicted with the prostate being touched and the penis erect? Why not? And why do these diagrams only exist to promote “checking for cancer”? Talk about stigmatising an organ!MORE

Gemini Mini Documentary

TransGriot Note: Mini Documentary on Chicago drag queen Saya Naomi Diaz Deleon or Gemini. It includes commentary from Christina Kahrl, who was recently featured on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.MORE

And finally, Movie rec: Sleep Dealer

Now on sale

Linkmistress has posts that she doesn’t want to lose so she is unleashing them on the world -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Black women rockers

unusualmusic — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:01:18 +0000

To be blunt…I love rock music. Rock is portrayed as pretty darn white and male. Hence the inspiration for this post.

Lot of featured artistes located via this discussion at Quirky Black Girl which also has some gorgeous MP3′s in the thread

Felony Melody from the band Objex – Eat This

Carol Thomas

Graph Nobel Fyah

More of her songs here Which are a mix of rock and pop and whatever.

Santi White AKA Santogold With band Stiffed- What you going do?

Gracefully feat. Honeychild Coleman – Inside Trois

Toshi Reagon One More Today

Toshi Reagon “I Hate I Love”

Wicked Wisdom “Something Inside of Me” (jada Pinkett Smith)

Shingai Shoniwa from the Noisettes – HD Never Forget You Live – 2009

Skin from Skunk Anansie – Selling Jesus

Daniella Cotton Make U Move

Fefe Dobson – Take Me Away

Sophia Ramos Torn Down

Betty Davis – They Say I’m Different (1974)

Lisa Kekaula from The Bellrays – Sister Disaster

Straight Line Stitch “Black Veil”

and more in this Bitch Blog post White washed: Black Woman in Rock

Black women rockers -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman