FeMMeAGaNdHi FiRe

Dates, blog, Deets & links about My Trans Atlantic DIY FEMiNIst QuEEr RevoLUtion 2010 tour in the UK with the BrILLiaNT Ste McCabe

2010-10-09T20:59:00.000-07:00

i will be touring with the brilliant Ste McCabe and other amazing feminist performers, playing shows & doing radio appearencex in the UK from Oct. 28th thru Nov. 6th

Ste McCabe is a political queercore punk rocker of the highest caliber!!!! he challenges patriarchy with his wonderfully cathchy electro punk songs & lefty working class politics!!! how great is THAT!!!! ste is most definitely what a feminist looks & sounds like!!!! he is a fabulous comrade in diy feminist queer revolution!!!!
I am super excited to be joining forces with him in this UK tour!!! xxxx to find out more about ste mccabe and his wonderful music & queer politics... http://www.myspace.com/stemccabe

we will be playing in some of the most fabulous feminist & queer space in the UK!!!
i am supppper excited also about playing in the UK. i really think that places like leeds and other spots in the UK were sooooo important to the riot grrl queercore movement, and need to be mentioned & honored mooorrre!!! there are many places that were as significant as olympia, like places in the UK!!!! ( also in the american south i might add)
i could write soooo much about how excited i am to be doing this tour & why i fell its important to do,,, and i will write more soon!!!! xxxxx

the amazing poster above was made by Ste's Mccabe's super talanted BF Lukas!!!

10/28/2010 Under The Pavement Radio Show with Ste McCAbe,
Under The Pavement Radio Show, Manchester
Myself and the Brilliant Ste McCabe will talk about tran national revolution, feminism, etc. etc... our forthcoming tour of the UK and maybe play a few songs live on Manchester's radical, anarchist, underground radio show.
Tune in on 96.9 in Manchester or listen online anywhere at www.allfm.org - 11pm start. (UK time)
Manchester,

10/29/2010 Pussy Whipped @ Taurus w/ Ste McCabe,
Cost : 4 quid (ahhh wahtever that is??)
I am performing at the wonderful queer-feminist-punk-electro band night Pussy Whipped with the brilliant Ste McCabe!!!! ste is also
this is our first live show kicking off our trans atlantic tour and we will be joined by the lovely electro feminist band Tingle in the Netherlands

here are some sweet wordz by ste mccabe...
- "first generation Riot Grrrl and true revolutionary - who I will be touring the UK with around this time. Stella will be flying over from USA for a full UK tour which we will both be embarking on. Veeeery exciting!" ....

yes it is suppper exciting, i agreed!!!
Manchester, Northwest
8:00 PM

i will write more about the dates below soooooon....and i will b adding two other appearances, one more UK show & another radio appearance woooot!!!

10/31/2010 The Return of Hebden Undead w/ Ste McCabe
@ Hole in The Wall, Hebden, Hebden
7:00 PM

11/2/2010 Gambretta with Ste McCabe, Glasgow, Scotland
8:00 PM

11/4/2010 Barhouse with Ste McCabe and Death of The Elephant, Chelmsford, Exxex
8:00 PM

11/5/2010 Club Milk @ Birds Nest with Ste McCabe, London London SE8 4RZ

11/6/2010 Riot Grill @ Chemic with Ste McCabe & Aminty, Leeds, Yorkshire
7:00 PM

.... below are some vids.---> auto-ethongraphic on pre-paring for a DIY trans national womynist, feminist, queer queer queer UK 'the bitches have nothing to loss but chains' tour.

‘Jesus is HIV +’

2010-09-05T22:10:00.000-07:00

‘Jesus is HIV +’ a song about the intersections & parallels in the life paths of an SM leatherman who is living with HIV in a sex-negative world to that of jesus.

a write up in the LA WEEKLY by falling james about my song jesus is HIV+ inspired me to write a blog post… here is the part of his write up that I’m addressing …..

music pick L.A. Weekly Sunday, July 4, 2010
RIOT GRRL CARNIVAL AT THE SMELL
“Apart from the patriotic fireworks and feel-good pomp and circumstance of typical Fourth of July concerts, the Smell presents a contrarian riot-grrl celebration to benefit the Downtown Women’s Center…..
…. billed with the fierce Georgian riot-grrl tribe Stella Pace, whose “vocal harmonic revolution” and stirring melodies evoke X-Ray Spex. “Jesus drives a pickup truck/Jesus likes country music, likes to two-step/Jesus likes to have sex in cars,” Ms. Pace sneers on the lo-fi anthem “Jesus Is HIV Positive.”
…..Happy birthday, America, but get ready for another revolution.” (Falling James)

i really liked that he mentioned my song 'jesus is HIV+' out of all my songs on my myspace page for an article for the a main alternative music weekly in a city like LA. and that he called it a lo-fie anthem. bravo on falling james.
at some point it would be really nice to go into even more detail about the song. Briefly, what it is about, is the intersections & parallels in the life path of an SM leatherman who is living with HIV in a sex-negative world to that of jesus. their are alot of parallels. Both dealt with being condemned & stigmatized by unconscious masses. Both stood up (&/or stand up everyday) for personal freedoms with their lives, and both stand for the freedom & courage it takes to love.

the song was directly inspired by about three friends of mine and indirectly by countless others. one of theses brave friends died in 1998. He was an amazing sm leatherman who inspired me sooo much to stay strong in my sex-positive convictions & to stay shame-free. I witnessed him being brought out of a house in a body bag in front of me. It was so hard & painful saying good-bye. This wonderful soul here one minute then just gone. this happened in the late 90's. and during the early 90's late 80's funerals were so fucking common. another friend of mine that inspired this song also an amazing SM leather man, was a counselor at AID atlanta and became an Episcopal priest and stayed a sober out leatherman too!!!!!

i just find soooo much strength & courage in these sex-positive friends of mine who kept & keep the faith to stay alive, love unconventionally & consensually, embrace their sexuality -- > all in the face of a condemning sex-negative society & many times with lack of family/community supports. (see the parallels to jesus).....

this song is also about my own inner boy, cause that's the kind of boy he is. with the exception that i am not HIV+ (although in a sense we all are). i worked as a sex worker for over fifteen years and i feel a kinship to the kind of stigma people with HIV or really any people who are sex-positive live with. cause sex-workers live with one hell of a stigma from being sexual beings. it really takes a fuck of alot to stand up as sexual being in our society. it's like people get so stigmatized & vilified for an being out & proud sexual being. i feel that people that are HIV+ positive in a way are standing up to & resisting the shame with their lives on the line more than any of us. brave muther fuckers or rather father fuckers!

so i feel that spiritually we can learn alot from those souls who are HIV+ and how they resist or rather how they continue to embrace life in the face of a condemning sex-negative society. and honestly i like to use humor too & there’s something super fun about singing about a queer jesus in the bible belt. ;)

Find more artists like STeLLa PaCe at MySpace Music

here's the lyrics to 'jesus is HIV+'

jesus is cumming, cumming, cumming,
cumming, cumming, cumming,
jesus is a butch bottom
jesus isn't pissed.
He liked to get pissed on.
jesus drives a pick up truck
jesus likes country music, likes to two-step
jesus likes to have sex in cars.
jesus looks like one of those beautiful beautiful beautiful
Tom of Finland guys.
beautiful Tom of Finland guys.

jesus is HIV+
that would be our savior has AIDS
jesus likes to go to glory holes
and jesus likes to go to leather bars.
jesus likes to go to those back rooms
and jesus likes to have sex with men.
jesus sometimes likes to wear leather
and i believe he's into SM.
i believe.
i believe
i believe
i believe NOW
and i believe he's into SM.

Jesus sometimes wonders if his fathers forsaken him.
but there's more faith in that mans' doubt than all the kudzu in the deep south.
there's more faith in that mans' doubt than all the kudzu in the deep south.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Falling james is spot on too with his suggestion to America to get ready for a new revolution….. I may add that America can get ready for a sex-positive revolution lead by queers, whores, indigenous people, poor people, differently-abled & diversly-thinking people…….

Here’s the article from the LA WEEKLY by falling james in it’s entirety…..

RIOT GRRL CARNIVAL AT THE SMELL

Apart from the patriotic fireworks and feel-good pomp and circumstance of typical Fourth of July concerts, the Smell presents a contrarian riot-grrl celebration to benefit the Downtown Women’s Center. Las Sangronas y El Cabrón crank out a crudely effective, caustically feral brand of 1977-style punk, as Susy rants unsentimentally about such grim subjects as “Pipe Dream,” “Bitter Youth” and the ominously sludgy eeriness of “Cold Dead Valley Girl.” They’re billed with the fierce Georgian riot-grrl tribe Stella Pace, whose “vocal harmonic revolution” and stirring melodies evoke X-Ray Spex. “Jesus drives a pickup truck/Jesus likes country music, likes to two-step/Jesus likes to have sex in cars,” Ms. Pace sneers on the lo-fi anthem “Jesus Is HIV Positive.” San Gabriel Valley’s Sin Remedio create “border-hoppin’ hardcore” that contrasts the sonic silliness of “Chipmunk Grind” with melodic experiments like “Aun Despierto” and the trio’s namesake song, “Sin Remedio.” Desmadre en Krisis hail from “San Joakland,” spitting out guttural Spanish-language hardcore, while Sacramento/Chico femmes Social Concern’s heavy punk anthems are fueled by Sarah’s soulful howling. Locals Angustia are far less interested in hooks, slamming out metallic riffs at hardcore tempos with shredded cookie-monster vocals. Happy birthday, America, but get ready for another revolution. (Falling James)

Color in the Gaps: Madness Pride & Brilliance

2010-08-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

I have been co-curating an art show at Georgia College in Milledgeville Ga. with Bill Fisher chair of the art dept. at GCSU. it has been an amazing experience. Below (half way down this page) is a beautifully written press release that Bill Fisher has sent out to the students at GCSU & probably to some press around georgia.

I have been working with the artists that are exhibiting for the past two years as a peer consilor utilizing 'art interventions'.
and art & music are my 'methods' .... interventions & methods are the words commonly accepted by mainstream psychiatry.

what i am really doing is working to empower an invisible population to become visible and to stand for themselves. And revolution in the spirit of people like martin luther king jr., gandhi, malcom x, emma goldman, & SNCC of the 60's is my method.

During the late 80’s I was institutionalized & experience forced medication with first generation psych med. Called ‘stellazine’ that put me into sesures (it’s sister drug to thorazine--- the drug stellazine is now illegal because of cort cases in georgia), I was held in what I have found out is called a 5 point take down. This happened in my early twenties

At that point i walked away from mainstream psychiatry & big pharma. & stopped self emedicating….I undiagnosed myself of bi-scitzo-adha-scitofeniaboiopolainhdad-depression- what ever……ya kno the label dajour from the DSM of that year with the pill that goes with it…..some label I never identified as ….I started reclaiming languge…..& not identifying as “mentally ill”...& took the darkest thing that ever happened to me & re-claimed it ….even with my identity by renaming my self 'stella-zine'. then empowering & healing myself by utilizing creativity~~performance*art*music (I started an all grrrl punk rock band)/ utilizing peer support systems!!! /self advocacy/ political & cultural activism / becoming a community educator & peer councilor~~~~~

these are the things that healed me & that is my ‘interventions’ that is my mad gift to help others and what my work is with these artists that r exhibiting…..i Became & am an artist, activist & catalyst for social change and I show other my process esp. the disenfranchised to empower them to do that too. I am a personal activist coach

So not only am i coaching people to paint pictures & render an image but i am working to empower an invisible population of human beings to become activists & cultural workers themselves. to use art to express there questions and distresses about de-humanizing system with in mainstream psychiatry, big phrma, gender, race and being in the rural south. what I do is coach people To use there art to educate and create change. what is the purpose of art if not to help elevate culture. I believe that artists in the truest sense are cultural workers.

That is why we came to the art dept to put on this show instead of any other deptment. i knew artists would get it.

Psychiatry needs to get behind the peer movement and not upstage it any longer.

my cultural work includes coaching theses artists To come out of industrial complexes as a powerful alliances rather than as a lone individuals at the mercy of an unconscious systems of oppression.

this is the power of peer driven recovery. we help each other and we become a team. and we use our mad gifts to help ourselves & our comunities heal.

the group of artists that are being exhibited here are the red road alliance. the red road is an indigenous north american recovery concept. and they are are on the red road coloring the gaps produced by racism, sexism, homophobia & southern rural poverty.

the art work that people who have been in industrial complexes has been called folk art (which is cute but unfortunately can seem low brow- like people view rural people) & outsider art- but that in the name states someone is out side of society--- which is de-humanizing in a way....... but a more enlightened and insightful term that I saw used recently is contemporary americana. Because these invisible voices & hidden stories also part of America.

My goal is to be empowering an invisable popualtion to question these systems, challenge these systems & to become visible by any means necessary (in this case thru their art & thru sharing in a documentary work-in-process we are making about the artists, creating a arts based peer group in rural georgia & an art show).

Color in the Gaps: Madness, Pride and Brilliance
An art exhibition by members of the Red Road Alliance
July 19-September 10, 2010
ArtFix Gallery, Wooten-Garner House
131 Clarke Street
9:00 AM-5:00 PM, Monday-Friday

Panel Discussion: August 30, 2010, 12:00-1:00 PM
Reception: August 30, 2010, 5:00-7:00 PM

Red Road's mission includes the education of the dominant social structure and the medical community, re-humanizing those in danger of existing only as malfunctions, clients, embarrassments and unspoken fears in the minds of "normals." Viva Mad Pride!

Dear Friends,

All are invited to the Wooten-Garner House ArtFix Gallery next Monday for a panel discussion and exhibition reception for one of our many diverse communities, artists of the Red Road Alliance. Red Road is an advocacy organization dedicated to supporting and raising awareness of those who have been clients of institutionalized mental health care in central Georgia. Often facing a lifetime of misunderstanding, invisibility, lack of diagnosis or misdiagnosis, fear, poverty and hostility, these individuals have joined together with the help of many including the Milledgeville Central Care Community Homes to form this artists collective.

Co-curator Stella-Zine, exhibitor Greg Cabe and myself have collaborated on the hand-pulled silk screen print used on the attached poster (from Greg's painting "Mad Hatter"), and we'll have a signed and limited numbered edition of 19 prints available to raise funds in support of the Red Road Alliance artists, $30 each (that's cheap!). All collections will go towards art supplies for members of the alliance, and public sales begin at Monday’s panel discussion, 12:00-1:00 PM. Several of these fine art prints are already spoken for, so please let me know if you’d like one reserved. Greg’s fitting choice of the Mad Hatter reclaims and deflates the words and imagery of stigma and oppression.

The Department of Art is proud and honored to be able to provide a venue for the important work of these artists. Many thanks go to our panelists, and the insights they will share.

Color in the Gaps panelists:

Taryn Giles, GCSU student

Stella-Zine (Pace), peer counselor, cultural worker, psych survivor advocate

Jack B. Taylor III, Service Director, Central Care Community Homes

Darcy Shores, Forensic Psychologist

Scott Dillard, Assoc. Professor of Rhetoric

Amy Pinney, Asst. Professor of Theatre

Moderator, Bill Fisher, Assoc. Professor and Chair, Dept. of Art

Bill Fisher
Associate Professor, Chair
Department of Art
Georgia College & State University
CBX 094
Milledgeville, GA 31061
Phone: (478) 445-4572
Fax: (478) 445-6088
email: william.fisher@gcsu.edu

Tweeting for #Gaza ,#Haiti & for #Sexworker Human Rights, Reclaiming Peace & some train of thought.

2009-12-28T22:50:00.000-08:00

I started writing this on the 28th of Dec. now it's 14th of Jan.....now it looks as tho i'm finishing on Feb 4th

Dec. 28th
This past year Two significant life changing experiences have happened for me. One of which is that i was in a major automobile accident last earth day. Another is that the cause of the Palestinian people became near & dear to my heart. I think the accident happened first before my awakening to palestine but it all kinda blended for me. But now here it is Dec. 28th 2009 a year anniversary of the 22 day israeli assalt on the Palestinian people on the gaza strip. Over 1300 people have assembled in cairo egypt hoping to be able to continue a freedom march to be joined by 50,000 palestinians and i find it difficult to leave my computer because quite frankly i care about what going on. (okay maybe there's some isolation/computer addiction issues but at least i can put it to good use to help somehow).

I am on the other side of the world...a world and half away from cairo & the gaza strip....my physical body is in rural ga. in the southern US, but my heart is with those freedom marchers & the palestinians in gaza. Today multiple people took to the street to give a voice to a voiceless people & give hope to a hopeless cause. My heart is with them.

I hope the people trapped in gaza see as evident by the all of the peace activists world wide & palestinian activists , that there is hope, they do in fact have a voice and are being heard!

i started this blog 'femme*a*gandhi fire' a couple of weeks after my accident this year and right before I found out about the gaza freedom march. I even became the first Georgia contact during the early stages of organizing the march. I also found out about Norm Finkelstein. I saw his brilliant youtube vid about the march using/applying the non-violence tools of civil disobedience that both King & Gandhi used.

this blog was started specifically as a 'peace' blog. & what i mean by that is for peace activism. Also for exploring the concept of peace. like what is it anyway? What is this emblem mean that has been co-opted as a baby boomers/hippies and found it's self on cheap t-shirts at walmart made in sweatshop in india or china? What the fuck is peace any way? So that is why I have started this blog. In a way to reclaim Peace. To make it mine. To make it Punk. To make it for all of us. Not just some abstract sudo-sentimental idea on a shirt that someone in some sweatshop made. I am a queer musician, artist & sex-positive 3d wave feminist and that has been the main focus of most of my life work. i am a sexworker advocate, and i am still all these things, but recently i have been haunted by a huge desire to some how integrate my feelings about peace activism into my life. This has been challenging because i have previously identified as well...ummm a militant...yep!....

And also i have always & still do strongly feel that the causes (sex-positive feminism & queer politics) that i have advocated for ARE totally interrelated with peace activism. This is a form to make space for that kinda thing to happen.

there are a few cause that are near & dear to my heart and anyone who has know me through the years would say sex-positive politics specifically that of the cause of human right for sex industry workers. i myself spent 15 years as a full time sex-worker mostly a stripper, but i have a well rounded resume in other aspects of the sex industry. I've experienced being a public eye out sexworker/advocate had articles sent to my mom outing me. I have done many actions & interviews for either talking about my experiences as a sex-worker or advocating for sexworker human rights. I am well acquainted with 3-wave sex-positive feminist theory that shakes up many 2'd wave feminist, & fuax liberals and put's them in a tailspin.. Sex-positive feminist theory & progressive queer theory is gospel to me it is true. At first I didn't even even mean to shake up the status quo, thought that's what it has done and now i'm very glad i have always just spoken my mind because it was the right thing to do not because it was the trend. Now I know that shaking up the status quo IS important and that is what much of what I do is about.

i am no stranger to embracing & giving my heart to 'unpopular' causes. I have found many time it takes embracing what is 'not popular' to find what is true & ethical.[ also what appears to be 'unpopular' is only that way because it needs the right audience] We must see through the lies that tell us standing up for disenfranchised people is not 'popular'. as an american southerner and child of the civil rights movements. (my mother was a SNCC member in the 60's) i saw the fruits of standing up for disenfranchised people you just fucking feel better when u you do!!!! it just the right thing to do. Also we are all connected and we must stick up for each other. (i could write a book about that!....well it's actually a topic in lots of my music, esp my newer music) also see or google Gandhi, Carter, Mandela,King, Tutu, the band 'Crass' & the South African Umbuntu philosophy for more about how we are all connected & why it's sooo freaking important to stand for each other.

Oh yeah of course the riot grrrl/ queercore movement during the 90's!!!!!!! i mean jeeeeze there a nother 'unpopular' (as in the mainstream rock world at-the-time-in the SOUTH!!!) we met sooooooo much hostility. skin heads attacking us verbally & physically...i mean wow!!! it was an intense time too!.....we also had ppl that fiercely supported us which sustained us, that and the inner knowing that ALL WIMMIN REALLY DO MATTER & that our underground network was sharing this knowledge & hope thru our bands, shows, zines & diy festivals etc. At the time i was sporting more of a malcom x philosophy & it was a movement in which i was a native of as oppose to a movement where i am an outsider just trying to help the best that i can.

......15 days later i am writing again on a whole new human rights issue, but with many parallels.

Jan. 14th
The Earthquake in Haiti. WoW (Vid's for Haiti- The Welfare Poets: Sak Pasé ...'Sak Pasé From its monumental revolution and establishment as the first free Black nation in the Western Hemisphere, to its current crisis, Sak Pasé is a cry for liberty and freedom'

here's a vid of wyclef from haiti with his org. yele

an earthquake hit haiti this week and created a more hardship for a group of people that have already been dealing with extreme, coue, dictatorships & Bush. it's is horrible. an unfathomable amout of people have been killed, are still trapped in crumbling destroyed buildings. Millions have been displaced and further pushed deeper into extreme poverty.
it makes me want to screeeeeeaaaaaaammmm!!!!!! i HATE the US goverment for how it is making it difficult for doctors to land....i hate them...the military....i know this ins't really so peace ful of me.....i'm crying know....i just don't fucking get it....where is peoples humanity....i' mean WTFFFFFFFFUCK!!!!!!!
how can we sit by and let theses things happen.......HOW???? This is GOT to be what the people in germany felt like when Hitler was in power. NO i'm not trying to be a tea bagger ( i mean tea partier lol)... calling Obama Hitler. It's the same bullshit as with Bush, Clinton all of them ...It's the USA.....a horrible flawed country.........I will say this it is a human country because being flawed is a human quality. This is where a super duper ULTRA RADICAL forgiveness comes in.

there is a concept called RADICAL FORGIVENESS. that is the only thing that i know can help me, i can' t speak for everyone ...but it a spiritual tool designed to heal hatread & hatred is what I feel for the US gov. & it's poicies. I think, I now, in my heart only identify as a peopson from Turtle Island. (Turtle island is what the native americans called this land where i live) I feel the US is not my home or my country. I guess it seems like maybe i want to bail from thmy country i don't like the leadership....yep!

.....this earth quake has been like getting the air knock out of us....i know that is such a huge understatement. I feel like I did when I heard about Katrina in New Orleans. My family is from Mississippi in the middle of the state, they were effected a little by the Hurrican but not as bad as the coast of coarse. But time & time again I've watch the fucking South come in last, ignored, suffing human rights violations over & over & over....i whatched southern blacks deal with the most horrible forms violence of all, PoVerty!!!! Also i might add i've seen poor white southerners go thu the same shit....i've watch us all deal with this shit!!!!!!!....i currently do an art & music group with folks just coming out of an indigent mental hospital in the rurall south.....a radical peer advocy group using art & music.....a job i got because i've had expiernebnce on the inside of an indigent industirial health complex as an ex-pateint.......a job i managed to keep after my accident......they let me have a whole month off with out fireing me.........not w/ pay but i still kept the job......... & i seen soooooooooooooooo much of what life the contemporary amrerican rural south is like and how poverty/rsism/sexism/homophobia and all the thing that make up the south, how it has manidfested in these lives!!!!!!!!! (just for the record there are LOTS of wimin who have been sexworker also with experiences in indigent industruaila mental health complexes..... Also i want to acknowledge a HUMAN SPIRIT in the people in the south that is MORE THAN A BY PROUDUCT OF POVERTY . that is more than the illness's of racism , sexism & homophobia.

i guess the truth is i can relate to have felt invisable for various reasons........well, because i have been at different points in my life. For whatever the reasons wheather it is because of being queer, a southerner, sex worker vetran, an ex-patient for some reason i guess the truth is i can relate to having felt invisible

My life has really been an awakening to the fact that i am NOT invisiable, simply because i exist...this is what i was finding through riot grrrl ,,,,also to a degree throught the sex indiustry.....i think in the sex industrial i felt a sense of visability & freedom that i had never felt before. i felt seen & heard....all though there was still abit of a price......your seen & heard more if you bleach your hair blond & are white....can we say racism exists there too just like any other field.....i had pink hair, blue hair & mohwks & sometimes i bleached my hair & did the the bleach blond bombshell thing...for the money moneyyyyy for the hustle of it all....i finally got to a ppoint & said fuck it i'm going to keep my hair blue or just do what i want.........Some times it about creativity for me not politics.....just about expression......politics all the time will make anyone unbalenced and deeply unhappy....( but as a white person i must always be aware of the unfair 'privilege' that comes with it. & that treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity. (tho in the south even white ppl deal with sever poverty)

I am FOR #GAZA, but I’m really over the word Zionist. I feel that labeling people is too easy---- we can creat these term to aim our hurt and frustration at. but i think we need to seek other answers rather than labeling people.

When I hear the word Zionist used I think of the word’s nazi & redneck…it’s just way to easy, and ‘old school’. It’s not really effective in the long term. i realize that there is this distinction between zionism & the religion of Judaism. I also understand that the US is funding This military 'state of' whatever the fuck this ‘Israel’ is ( to me it is a puppet for the US to get it's foot in the door to the middle east for oil.) I AM FOR #GAZA but in NO WAY have I ever been against, nor am I now or will I ever be against the jewish people!!!!

I think of the john lennon song "imagine there are no countries it's easy if you try. no hell below us above us only sky" I feel both groups of ppl. have roots & ties there for sure. Maybe our whole world needs to be a one state solution.

YeS I feel quite frustrated (to put it mildy) at times with US apathy & at the US ‘s compliance through silence. I mean I heard 80% of Americans think the Gaza strip is a dance!!! Yes It’s is hailarious, but it show the actual ignorance….not really avarice or evil, just plain in the dark! Mmmmm could this be strikingly similar to what the German people must of been going through during WW2…...an apathetic & silent majority.......i think so….

incinerating 400 children with white phosphorus & PURPOSEFULLY bombing hospitals, mosques & ambulances ....is not part of a strip tease I know cause i was a stripper!!!!! (never part of my dance!!!)

Musical explanation by Lowkey of what happened in Gaza...

But what I think is essential to point out is that it appears that whenever there is lots of apathy & ignorance combined with an oppressive imperial military state wrecking havoc what has come first was POVERTY. A beaten down & ignored people that gravitate to the only game in town,,,,ya know the one actually feeding them . … I kno this be cause I’m from the American south & have spent time living in the rural south….we kno about poverty……we also know about controlling military police states and oppressive government, we kno about sexist racist & homophobic organization (i.e. the churches) that are the only game in town that help people. WE KnOw about this! I am only two generations away from being a southern dirt farmer from Mississippi. My great grandparents parents that I visited a lot as a child WERE rural farmers in Mississippi. By a few degress of separation I have not dealt with this kind of southern rural poverty myself being mostly a southern urban grrrl but it has always loomed very near.

So I guess what I’m saying is when I start hearing words thrown around like Zionist, Nazi, Redneck….we all kno what that means had how to player hate….but I think it would be far more effective to find out what's really causeing humans to get to a point of treating other humans so cruelly. In other words I think we need to look at the real problems behind the 'isms…PoVerty just about 100% of the time is the real culprit or plays a big part….

Feb.4

Dear readers you can help & here's how!!!!!

ok here I am again feeling passionate about hash tagging on twitter for #GAZA!!!! we have a campain this week and it is to keep @avinunu aka Ali Abunimah an irish-palestinian author & the co-founder of the electronic intifada in first place for the #PolItics catagory at the shorty awards. At an award ceremony all the winners will get to talk about there activism and i feel his voice needs to come out. here's some more links with info about the twitter campain & how it started.

justicentric's blog
http://ow.ly/12Nwu @justicentric

Nadine Moawad's Blog
http://bit.ly/b84lnX @nmoawad

here's where you can vote tonight the blogs describe how to do it if yr new to twitter
http://shortyawards.com/avinunu

votes close at noon 02/05/10.

here are some video's intended to inspire strength and that either directly relate to what I'm writing about or tangentially relates xxx

here's a ViD of a fabulous billy bragg song about the amazing & couragous rachael corrie 'Music Video of current condition in Palestine. A song about Racel Corrie, an American peace activist who was run over by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003'

Holocaust Survivor protests Israel's response to Hamas rocket attacks. She says it's not fair since Israel is so much stronger

Invincible- people not places feat. Abeer
words from the chorus...
my Ima misses people not places
has she seen the towns with names in Arabic the Hebrew replaces?
The policies are evil and racist, deceitful and heinous
You’ll never be a peaceful state with legal displacement
(Abeer- Arabic translation)
Remember the names of our cities before you came and replaced it
Remember and tell me how am i supposed not
to miss a nation living within us?

grrlz & boiz in ATL->PeAcE DEMO2morrow 'NO more blood4oil' !!!

2009-12-01T18:34:00.000-08:00

This is my response on Dec. 1 2009, knowing that Obama is making a lame speech about how a surge in military (34,000 troops to afghanistan) is needed....

Also here's information for peace activism in GA. Cause that's what i kno about, but i'm sure you can find something near were U are. I encourage you to stand for PeAcE.....

here's some emails, links & info i got to pass along to local ATL. grrlz & boiz (or label of yr choosing or none) just come if U can!!!! esp. if yr already in little five or downtown. it's being called a 'protest' but that is not what i will do. i, myself will be standing for peace not against anyone, any goverment or any organization.

simply standing 4peace in afghanistan
standing4PeAcE in the US
standing4Peace in Iraq
standing forPeace in Palestine
standing for Peace in Isreal
this is how we can support the troops,,,,,,stop making them be fucking troops!

PeAcE is for everyone......absolutely everyone
i feel this is a Reeeaaally an important distiction. because 'protesting' is what 'they' want us to do. 'They' being war profiteers, corporation & the folks that want a war.
some feel that peace is boring & weak .....well PeAcE is probably the most gutzy fucking thing anyone will ever do in their life....WORD!

also why just blame obama, bush, the US senate & US congress......any one who pays taxes of ANY kind, well....the hands are bloody... ( i will extend this responsibility to other countries doing the same thing)......unless yr will in to move to canada (which i have also heard is funding the war aganhistan) or somewhere else where U kno yr tax dollars aren't funding a war, we need to share in this responsibility. cause one mo beer just wont kill the pain....... Express or Depress? come stay alive!!!!

yoko ono in a song says "bless you for your anger, it's a sign of rising energy"....well my energy is rising, i'm sure others are feeling this too. it's what we do with it that matters. There are"many bombs in our souls that need to be diffused...& we need to defuse the bombs in our souls first." this a quote by Thich Nhat Hanh,,, this one helps to give courage to stand 4 PeAcE...instead of just turning into to the same violent bullshit.

i live 2 hrs out of ATL but there is a good chance i will be able to come for the last half of the demo.....i hope so....this shit reeeeaaally not only helps tell the communities/goverment what we want, it makes you feel better. like mayb i don't have to put my head under the covers, listen to obamas lame speech trying to convince me how more ppl need to die, & drink myself to death cause i just can't fucking except reality of whats going on.....There R other choices.....YaY!!!! thank effin GaWWWd(dess).....Express or Depress.........we can choose 2 make a stand 4 peace....with art/music/activism/love/speech/performance/demonstration or whatever feel best to U,.... just stand.

XXXXX
STeLLa

Meia Georgia

Friends:

On December 1st President Obama will travel to West Point Military Academy to announce plans to expand the war against and occupation of Afghanistan through a 34,00 troop surge. The only solution to this conflict that is in the interests of the people of Afghanistan and the world is for the US to get end of military occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq and to disinvest from Israel and it's 42-year occupation of Palestine.

In Atlanta, Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition is initiating a "No Escalation! There Is No Military Solution! Bring the Troops Home NOW! protest from 4:30-6:30pm on Wednesday, Dec. 2.

Please assemble at Freedom Park, the intersection of Moreland Ave and Freedom Parkway. Bring banners, signs, drums, etc.

Similar protests are encouraged at other busy intersections. For more information, go to or call 404.522.4500.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

hear are some songs/videos that seem appropriate for the day......

universal soldier....buffy sainte-marie..... song about individual responsibility.....

the dead kennedy's ...as jello sings '.....jane fonda on the screen today convinced the liberals it's okay....kill kill kill the poor....... prophecy hummmm?

Bitch playing "afganhistan" she wrote this to create peace & make the world a better place...FuCk YEAh!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

also check out these links in yr a ga peace activist
http://www.gpjc.org/
http://www.meiag.org/
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Memorial_day_events.vp.html

PuNk MoNk -> Dharma PuNx

2009-10-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

An Interview with Noah Levine author of 'Dharma Punx' & 'Against the Stream'
Noah Levine has a GREAT and accessible approach to spiritual transformation! XO

'Meditate and Destroy' trailer for the film about the PuNk MoNk Noah Levine ..AwEsOmE!!

Thich Nhat Hanh - Peace is every Step

2009-10-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

beautiful film (51:54 min.)

it is super important to study peace activist to end the current war in afghanistan and to create peace now! i have watch this film at least twice all the way through. to create peace on a national level we need to create peace with in our selves. watching Thich Nhat Hanh is a great way to start.

"Thich Nhat Hanh has had a profound impact on contemporary thinking and, importantly, social action. His efforts to achieve an early peaceful end to the American war in Vietnam earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a forty-year exile from his homeland.
Peace Is Every Step is an intimate and direct portrait of of a monk who has lived through war and fought back with meditation, love and grace under fire, testimony to the faith that simple practices and insights drawn from (but not by any means limited to) the Buddhist meditative tradition can help change conditions for the better: on a personal level, in the family, in the community, in a nation and in the world."

Nonviolence: The Metta Center; & The PeAcE and Conflict Studies program at UC Berkeley

2009-10-11T20:29:00.001-07:00

http://ow.ly/tqBx Through this link you can find "...inspiring lectures of Prof. Michael Nagler, Introduction to Nonviolence and Nonviolence, they were recorded and transmitted via webcast in 2006/2007 at the University of California at Berkeley, within the Peace and Conflict Studies program (PACS)."
GREAT nonviolence PeAcE information & links to an amazing FREE course on peace & conflict resolution! via MettaCenter
when U click on the metta center U will see a link for nonviolence courses, that's the UC Berkelely classes!

Obamas' Speech the night before the GLBTQ National Equality March

2009-10-11T20:12:00.001-07:00

http://ff.im/-9DW4uA Video of Barack Obama's FaBuLoUs speech and a link to... RemindObama.org http://act.ly/o2 2keep momentum 4 GaZa & afganistan

It's a GREAT speech, now come on Obama, stand up for Gay rights with your actions & pen. Also keep the momentum for Gaza & Afganistan!!! EaRn that PeAcE prize! YeS U CaN! (i hope he will anyway!)

Video; I AM A SeX WoRkEr & link to a blog post by Audacia Ray

2009-10-11T19:48:00.001-07:00

7 Key American Sex Worker Activist Projects
http://ping.fm/cyrJH
SexWorkerActivistProjects
sexworker Human rights

New York-based advocacy organization Sex Work Awareness recently implemented its first day-long Speak Up media training workshop for sex workers, which took place at the Harm Reduction Coalition in mid-April. At the end of the day, the workshop participants made a public service announcement video.

2009-10-11T19:32:00.001-07:00

Ben & Jerry's "Hubby Hubby" celebrates gay marriage http://ping.fm/09guu // NiCe even tho i'm VeGaN

2009-10-11T19:11:00.001-07:00

http://ping.fm/6N82t this vid. shows reeeaallly troubling internalized racism in children. HeartbrEaKing :-(

2009-10-11T18:49:00.001-07:00

http://ping.fm/PRCf5 Go Ga Ga Go!!!-lady gaga speaking @ the NEM 2DAY

2009-10-11T18:44:00.001-07:00

Operation Hey Mackey! - Whole Foods, Oakland http://ping.fm/qUb6N (non-violent direct action & musical guerilla theatre...mmm YeAh!)

Operation Hey Mackey! - Whole Foods, Oakland from Jamie LeJeune on Vimeo.

StAnD up for GaZa...do the right thang!!! xox

2009-10-04T02:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a GREAT animated video about the situation in Gaza.

i am putting lots of energy into supporting this the gaza freedom march jan. 2010. i am researching funding/fundraising possibilities, because i would like to go. come join me or sponsor me! xoxoxo it's a worthy cause & a front burner world issue that we all need to get behind. we are all connected.....lets create peace.....

GLOBAL GaZa PeAcE March Meetings!! ❤❤❤

2009-07-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

GLOBAL GaZa PeAcE March Meetings!! ❤❤❤
PeAcE NoW!!!!
a march is a PoWeRfUL response to unconscious hate & fear!!!
xo
S

2d organizational meeting 8/4/09 7:00pm
@brecht forum 451 west street, New York, NY 10014
contact NormFinelstien@gmail.com
Everyone Welcome!

washington-area strategy meeting:
contact: peacenut57@yahoo.com

Activists plan March to break Gaza siege

info from OP's bullitin
www.myspace.com/takbiir

Activists plan March to break Gaza siege
..
07.01.2009 | The Daily Star
By Richard Hall
Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 01, 2009

BEIRUT: A coalition of activists belonging to various Palestinian solidarity organizations are planning an international march in Gaza aimed at ending the blockade of the territory. The event will aim to bring thousands of demonstrators from around the world to march alongside Gazans as they breach the blockade imposed upon the population since the election of Hamas in 2006.

“This march draws inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi,” said a draft statement of purposes and principles written by the “Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza,” obtained by The Daily Star. “Those of us residing in the United States also draw inspiration from the civil rights movement,” it added.

The statement also outlines plans for the march, which will take place on January 1, 2010. “We will march the Long Mile across Erez checkpoint alongside the people of Gaza in a nonviolent demonstration that breaches the illegal blockade,” it said, adding that “We conceive this march as the first step in a protracted nonviolent campaign … If we bring thousands to Gaza and millions more around the world watch the march on the internet, we can end the siege without a drop of blood being shed.”

Professor Norman Finkelstein, a political analyst and author of several books on the Israel-Palestine conflict, is one of the organizers of the march. “We want to send over several thousand people from around the world to march alongside several hundred thousand Gazans,” he told The Daily Star.

Finkelstein hopes that large numbers of international activists and world leaders will attend the march, and as a result, prohibit a violent response from Israeli authorities. “If the likes of Jimmy Carter, Noam Chomsky, Bishop Tutu and Nelson Mandela are at the head of the march; if behind them are students holding high signs of the schools from which they hail - Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge; if behind them are the ill and the lame, the young and the innocent of Gaza; if behind them are hundreds of thousands of others, unarmed and unafraid, wanting only to enforce the law; if around the world hundreds of thousands are watching the internet to see what happens - Israel can’t shoot,” he said.

“The first formal organizational meeting of the coalition is set for July 13,” said Finkelstein. “We hope then to create an umbrella steering committee. Right now the working group consists of individuals who belong to organizations that have been active on the Israel-Palestine conflict such as CodePink.”

..Members of the coalition are now contacting Palestinian solidarity groups around the world in preparation for the march.....
Contact: Forgaza10@gmail.com

the video above is of Norman Finkelstein is FaBuLoUs!!!
He is 'effin BriLLiAnt & not because he has a phd & written tons of books (though he has),
but because he courageously combines his smarts with his HeArT! <3

xoxo,
STeLLa

Thoughts on the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Comittee SNCC & KWAME TURE (Stokely Carmichael)

2009-07-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

This peace post is about SNCC & KWAME TURE(Stokely Carmichael)

I wanted to research more into the Student Non-violent Coordinating Comittee (SNCC) and it's philosophies, which i still plan to do. But I was so draw to learning about one of SNCC's leaders, Kwame Ture. so this post is a great deal about him. Also, i have written some thoughts and feeling that came up for me when learning about him.

Kwame Ture in the US is probebly more well know as Stokely Carmichael.
Kwame was also a former Black Panther leader and he was, a former leader in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

I can bet Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) today would not be defining himself as a peace activist, though i maybe wrong about that. But, I think all of his life , his motivations, his words, actions & the organizations he was apart of are sooooo important to study, Especially to create lasting peace in our world today.

i am very aware of SNCC because my mom (white womyn born in alabama) was a member of the SNCC branch in tenn. when she was in college there. i was born in 1964 and the first song my mom taught me was 'we shall overcome'. so if you know me or getting to know me that should make alot of sense to why i'm like i am. i really thank my mom for instilling this strong sense of caring about human rights issues in general. And also at 3, 4 & 5 years of age she was teaching me in depth about Gandhi, King & the student non-violent coordinating committee. We still talk about stuff like that. Yes, on one hand alot of my life i've been a slutty punk rock party grrrL from the urban south but, guess what, i can still fuckin care about the world too!!...and do the right thang!! xo a whole fuckin lot of us need to care to create some change!!! <3

Kwane Ture worked on the freedom summer project in 1966 and became chairman of the SNCC. he was a 'freedom rider', and was arrested at least 27 times and was beaten by white mobs during marches through the south during the sixties practicing non-violence. so it makes sense that he felt non-violence was pretty fuckin futile.

but the truth is he IS a peace activist (that's how i feel anyway), and it was the courage & blood of men & wimin's like his own at that time that over turned soooooo much racism, and started turning the tides in america.

of course he doesn't want anything to do with America, who can blame him. he lives in new Guinea, Africa.

in the movie Gandhi. gandhi he talks about how in fighting warS blood gets shead anywaY, and he talks about hoW WHEN THE WORLD LOoks on and see's the people standing up to fear peacefully, it's more effective. I would have to say it is time tested and does appear to be more effective. * (although there was much less bloodshead useing gandian techniques in later 'wars', such as with the exchange of political power in south africa during the 80's.)

i think in the big picture when the rest of the world looked on and saw what was happening and how the white power structure looked like bullies, during the civil rights in American for black people that was when it was emotionally won atleast....Proof being that horrible segregation laws were over turned at that time & legally black people got the right to vote (although, we here in the south we know that lame laws that still make it hard for black people living in poverty to actually get to the polls)......i don't think segregation laws would of been over turned or that pan africans would have gotten the vote in america with out all the civil disobedience, the Marches, the freedom riders, the Gandhian techniques used by the leaders.

Kwame was trained in non-violent techniques, during the civil rights movement & he was chairman of SNCC in 1966, but decided he agreed more with Malcom X and the 'by any means necessary' philosophies & use of violence for revolution in the fight for freedom. He became very active in the Back to Africa Pan-African movement. What is also interesting is that later, Malcom X did a total switch, & became a peace activist (and promoted using non-violence) torward the end of his life after he went to Mecca. I feel Malcolm X is one of the most misunderstood peace activists. He is also one of the most influential to me, personally. i can relate to having believed that 'by any means necessary' philosophy is obviously the way, then changing your mind to embrace non-violence & love as the most powerful tool to create freedom. Malcom X was a street hustler too & had an education from the streets. i can relate with that, too.

on a side note, it's my feeling (hypothosis) that by being beaten down emotionally or physically there is a post traumatic aftermath that must be address to make non-violence & civil disobedience possible really. When an animal has been traumatized and lives through it, it goes through a natural response and it is able to literally shake it off somatically and continue on with out being traumatized the way we humans are. The animal must literally shake and release the energy somatically then it can get back up stand tall again and move on. Human on the other hand get very trapped in the response for some reason. Get very beaten down & Trapped in 'victim mentality'. I have been working through this myself. I myself am a survivor of haveing walked away from an uncousion violence alcoholic life on the street, non-consensual treatments at various times during my 15 years as sex worker, horribly tramatic treatment in an industrial indegent mental health complex (being resrained, drugged against my will, & resulting seziers), mutually abusive relationships, & most recently walking through the somatic healing process from an auto crash. I feel this auto crash has been a huge awakening & is giving me a chance to radically forgive everything tramatic that's happened previously. And i don't mean the old school kind of forgiving ......,,,,i mean RADICAL FORGIVENESS!!!!........there's a great book and philosophy on fovineness by colin tipping, named 'radical forgiveness'

I think we activists in the DIY anarcha peace movement, eco/animal right activists, GLBT movement, sex-worker rights movement, american indian movt. activists & the many other activists practicing gahndian & Umbuntu techniques really could beniffit from Peter Levines book 'healing trauma'. these books by peter levein & colin tipping have really helpful suggestions, that can be applied for peace activists who have been on the frount lines especially. Because it is reeeeaaaallly hard pill to swallow alot of gahndian philosophies & rad forviness by yrself, when one has survived much painful treatment, by goverments, communitites, sexist & rasist organizations or from ones own internalized rasism, sexism, classism, homophobia on a more personal level. I have found these books have helped me boaden my persective & bring to transend my own victim consciousness...... The ultimate goal of the direct non-violent actions are to create peace. the goal is to avoid bloodhead for all and to stop the victim cycle totally. The goal is To totally transend victim conciousness, so our souls need never (re)create abuseive treatment of oureselves or each other.

here's a link to an article about him
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcarmichael.htm

here' a like to a vid
fabulous historical vid.

FaBuLoUs current vid. & he clearifies many things.
discusses difference between the religionof Jewdaism (apology i know i misspelled) & Zionism

I love Rachel Carns! You can too...

2009-07-21T14:37:00.000-07:00

http://theneedisdead.com/donate.html

this is for rachel carns from the NEED!!! i got this info from a mel yorks (the BUTCHIES/ex-mebers) tweet. in PAGAN HOLIDAY i got the honor of sharing the bill with both the BUTCHIES & the NEED in 98ish, both bands were soooooo revolutionarilyfabulatastic!!!! i <3 them!!!!
the Need were a band of two peaceful queer warriors willing to bring this DIY grrl/queer revolution birthed in OLY. Wa. into the south. rachel & radio are so fucking fabulous!!!! i played the Need LOTS on my radio show the last few years!!!!

i also have many feeling on integrating the DIY movement into healing dis-ease which i will be writing/speakings/singing/activisting about... i myself healed early stages on breast toximia (some call cancer, i just choose not to give it that power) with out surgery or chemo. i did it doing raw & living food & other stuff i will be bloging about. i also plan to post an insurance company i found out about that helps musicians i found. As i wrote about in a different part of my blog i also right now am currently healing from an auto crash i survive a few months ago. i wrote all about it in a previous post. Belive it or not this has phisically, emotionally & spiritually challeged me more than brest toximia. i feel on a bright note this has also been one of the greatest awakenings of my life, and it has givin me lots of insentive to become deeply involved in self-healing with in the DIY anarcha peace movement.

"In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. " -- Albert Camus via

Rachel Carns is interviewed alot in this vid. also lots of other fabulous influential revolutionaries are in it like SLiM MooN!!!
the <3 of what is discussed in the video is why i think the DIY movement has always been & still is so worthwhile to get behindl!!!
and why i still feel it's worth it to pick up yr guitar & play even in the face of so-called revolutionary mainstream rock!

here just a wonderful vid of the need...I sooo love them ...have i said that yet? lol

You can Watch THE FUTURE OF FOOD (the full movie) for free

2009-07-19T01:34:00.000-07:00

You can Watch THE FUTURE OF FOOD (the full movie) for free. Important & well done documentary!!
those who control the seeds control the food!!!!

this is a FaBuLoUs full feature film for free!

you may have to cut & paste the link...

http://www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/2009/06/watch-the-future-of-food-on-hulu-totally-free.html

KPFK-Susy Sepulveda Chicana Feminist discusses Riot Grrl

2009-07-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

Wednesday July 8, join your hosts Christene Kings and Melissa Chiprin for another fiercely independent edition of Feminist Magazine.

We will have a critical conversation with Eva Golinger. Golinger has been reporting up to the minute news on the coup in Honduras. Eva Golinger is a Venezuelan-American attorney, writer and investigator. Author of The Chávez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela (2005) and Bush vs. Chávez: Washington's War on Venezuela. A native New Yorker currently residing in Caracas, living passionately every moment of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Later, Susy Sepulveda one of the young organizer's for this year's Riot Grrrl Carnival held on the 4th of July at all ages club, The Smell. We'll be talking with Susy, about what goes into curating an all ages, feminist, 1 day music festival and the community of emerging young feminist artists & supporters. As a Chicana feminist musician Susy Sepulveda is breathing new life to Riot Grrrl and helping us understand what young women want from feminism today and what it means to them.

And, If you haven’t heard yet, you will this Wednesday what you need to know for the upcoming LSB election.

Tune in this Wednesday, July 8, at 7:00 PM (PDT) to KPFK's, Feminist Magazine heard at 90.7 FM, Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, and streaming live and archived at kpfk.org.

Please Re-Post, Ty!-melissa fem mag

A StaTement AbOuT what happened 2 me on April 22 and OVERDUE UPDATE: on MY MUSIC/PERFORMANCE ART/& FEMMEAGANDHI RADIO <3

2009-06-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

A StaTement AbOuT what happened 2 me on April 22 & an OVERDUE UPDATE: on MY MUSIC/PERFORMANCE ART/& FEMME*A*GANDHI RADIO <3 (this post is a taken from my myspace blog www.myspace.com/stellapace )

something very significant for me happened on earth day april 22, which i will describe below-....

this update is also allll about rising to meet the challenges that living life entails........Matter of fact it 100% about FaCiNg the most MAJOR challenges in life.........................
which is really what my music/performance art/ActiViSm and femme*a*gandhi radio are all about any way!!<3<3<3
....this update is about how i am reclaiming the will to LiVe,
2 be an AcTiViSt,,
2 Be a FeMiNiSt,,,
2 b a MuSiCiAn,,,
2 support other wimin....
2 CARE,,,,,,
2 ExIsT.....

this post is about how i'm reclaiming my VoIcE!!!!.....

the above listed is the ESSEnCe of the music/activism/performance art i choose to engage in.....

PeAcE posTs & new BlOg called 'FeMMe*A*GaNdHi FIRE':
-As you may have noticed i've been doing lots of what i call 'peace posts'. I will continue to do this and i will especially be channeling those post into my new blog about peace activism & sex-positive feminism.
http://femmeagandhi.blogspot.com/

back to april 22...
,, this post is on a more personal note of what's going on w/ me/ my own music/activism /my performance.art & FEMME*A*GANDHI RADIO......

I've needed some processing/healing time before posting anything about what's been going on with me,,,

truth be know is, i fucking love myspace & all my friends on it!!!!!
For all of myspaces' problems, it still an amazing way to be a cyber-grassrootsy activist /musician artist,,,etc... & connect/re-connect with all kindza amazing people from all over the world etc....

...so it's time to COME OUT about what's going on with me HERE..........

on april 22 , EARTHDAY, i had a HUGE fucking awakening.
i even see this as 2d huge awakening in my life thus far.
my first was in 93'ish when i consciously STOPPED trying to kill myself w/ druggs , alchol & mutually abusive, unconscious relationships. At that point in my life i was a black out drinking party girl. I totally *ACCIDENTALLY* had an AwaKeNiNg and STARTED becoming a CONSCIOUS RiOtGRRRLlady activist using music & whatEVA to express ReVolutIOn!!!......

which brings me back to my most recent AwAkEnInG....it's very similar in some ways....'ACCiDeNT'ally being the key word...

AuTo CrAsH/ AwAkEnInG:

-i had a car accident
....i was in an AuTo CrAsH two months ago 04/22/09.
i survived. At certain points on april 22d, i DiD NoT KnOw If I was going to live. It was really scary.
But, i did survive, i'm alive and i'm having major soul-stirring awakenings right & left because of it.....

the people who were at my LiVe MAY 2d show at karvarna know what happened to me....i came out there...i had to there was a bandage over my left cheek where i'm healing a wound (an awakening mark, i suppose, that is know as a scar).

this may 2d show was the only appointment i kept....i took a break from EvErYtHiNg job/school etc.. ( i had too really)....But I kept my commitment to play the MaY 2d show @ KaVaRnA......the show was booked for ten days after my accident/awakening,,,,,,i choose to play it & i believe playing that show was an ESSenTiAL part of a somatic healing expierience for me. And in a way a healing experience for my community of friends, and anyone there (i believe there is a fine line between performing & a tribal soul retrieval, shamanic healing !). To me, ThIs is WHY we bother doing art/music/activism anyway: to symbiotically HeAL OURSeLvEs & OUR CoMMunItIES.

PuNk RoCk shamanic HealIng tools I used.....

for me ArT, LiFe & PROCESS are interwoven
& create a symbiotic relationship.

u may ask WTF???

YES!!!
in other words i believe punk rock shows are healing as fuck!!! <3

here's more of my
PUNK ROCK ANARCHA
ArT/LiFe/HealInG PROCESS & PhIlOshophy in practice.......

what i remember of the moments right after & during the accident/awakening on april 22 ,,was that ,in my head i kept saying the affirmation 'I RECLAIM THE WILL TO LIVE!'..over & over & OvEr in the ambulance. Yes, an ambulance was involved, as was air bags, a stretcher & an emergency room too. It was all scary as fuck!

also, another important punk rock healing tool i used was that i kept visualizing playing my guitar & singing at a show.......i kept this visualization in my head as i recited how fucking much i really do love life ...times a ZZZillion<3<3<3!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......

i felt it was a good time to remind the great spirit (or whatEVa!?!) that, yes i do, in fact, love my life because at different points in my life i've struggled w/ suicidal feelings. (this is okay -it's what we do about it, that matter's most<3)....

-i as i stated above May 2d (10 days after the accident/awakening) i did play a show that was previously booked at KAVARNA in atlanta of SoNgS & spoken word. i added to my planned spoken word piece & performed songs pertinent to the accident/awakening & reclaiming the will to live),,,,,With black fishnets, day glow green stockings & a bandage on my face, i came out there.
... only two friends new before i got there knew.....as i said above, i took a break from my job & EVERYTHING ELSE that month (i had too), but i knew i needed to keep this show that was booked if possible over everything else........for my own healing, & reclamation/recommitment to LiFe---> i KNEW i needed to do it...........i kept visualizing playing it even though i was sore and even scared of doing things other than resting.....But i intuitively knew keeping the show was a healing and transformative way to deal with the trauma of what happened.....

it was one of the most personally powerful & transformative shows i've ever played!.....i'm looking forward to building on this healing creative energy....and doing more creativity around this in the future, channeling it.

i'm now writing this two months into my soul retrieving AwAkening...with two months of healing under my belt i feel more grounded.....
i am dealing with a cut on my face, on my cheek, that took seven stitches (now a healing wound). It's so early in my physical recovery @ this point to know if i will need some plastic surgery or if i will feel like it's simply a FaBuLoUs beautiful amazon warrior's badge for LIVING through ThIs!!! Or if i will completely heal it**
(Witch i've been know to do too)
...(i've experienced amazing physical healing from eating vegan raw foods, and life affirming thoughts)...i am using all kinds of effective, powerful natural healing techniques like;

-therapeutic grade helichrysum oil****.
-wheatgrass poltices/ALOE & turmeric poultices..fucking amazing!!!!
-therapeutic grade lavender oil
-mineralizeing the fuck out of my body w/ COLLOIDAL minerals!
-raw food grade enzymes

......3 years ago a mole that was growing at an exponentially rate just fell away gently by using helichrysum /wheat grass poultices & eating raw foods...no surgery or anything.....it just dropped off...))))

.also 3 years ago i healed early stages of toxemia (cancer) with raw foods, wheat grass EVERY WHERE!!! ..i even shot it up my butt....Wheat GrAss butt ANARCHYYYY <3..LOL!!....any way i healed myself w/ no surgery chemo or radiation* i know 7 other people who have done the same thing*........... i'm doing lots of that kind of stuff....i'm doing somatic healing exercises too for my soul & whole body..... for dealing with Post Traumatic Stress 'Response' . PTS'R' (to me -and Peter Levine, author of 'healing trauma'- this is no disorder!!!!...it is a health Response!!!).......FuCk getting another LaBeL from the DSM !!!

... i have been a person that has spent many years focusing what i looked life. This is especially because i was/am an award winning stripper/burlesque dancer for most of my adult life-15 years...........so i could of really taken this hard, and freaked the fuck out.
It's weird but i feel more beautiful in a deeper way, & (even physically) than i have for a long time. It's like I'd been taken my own true OuTeR & InnEr beauty for granted and not appreciated it or myself in the past few years. I'm quick 2 appriciate others' beauty (inside & out) & this is helping me to fuCkinG really LOVE MYSELF 2 & see my true beauty<3......this whole experience is helping me to realize all of this, and to become more present & grateful for myself & others.....I have impressed myself by how i've handled this whole situation. At other points in my life, i HAVE become absolutely suicidally devastated by things not nearly as traumatic or life threatening(although it's really impossible to compare situations)...but my point is i feel like i'm having an awakening to life, and I FEEL STrOnG.....i'm not saying that i haven't had some ReeeeAaLLy hard days these past two month, but i've handled everything with more strength & dignity than I even knew i had....This is something i really feel good about. This is what my life/music/art/radio show/my punk rock& anarchism is about....

Is success about selling the most records, &
making the most money?
Or is success about NoT buying into the FREAK-OUT?!?!......
to me it's about not buying into the freak out. Success to me is about finding our amazing strengths & sharing it! Success is about finding & nurturing our powerful inner resources & sharing THAT with each other!!! And it is about sharing our amazing resources through things like music, zines, books, friendship,arts, festivals, crafts, food, love etc. Within our various grassroots & anarcha' diy cultures we have amazing healing resources to share with each other!!!!

here is the set list of songs i played @ my live performance on May 2d @ KaVaRnA in ATLAnTa....
(the show was billed as part of the whores, wars & desert shores tour...witch i'm still on. I feel the tour will continue until there is peace, esp. in the middle east!!! )

-krispy kreme donuts (aka...femme whore * butch pimp)

-hir heart is an amplifier

-amerikkkan burka

-zen teacher grrrl

-angles of anarchy

-city magic, rural tantra & the wimin pirates MEOW

-spoken word *whoreffirmations* with an addition about reclaiming the wilL to LIVE!!!!!!!)

-king grrrL

-femme*a*gandhi

there's power in a 'SEX-WORKER' union
(i re-wrote the words to a woody guthrie labour right protest song to include sex-workers!!!)

Also right before the accident/awakening i played a show
in milledgeville ga @ a 'TaKe BaCK the night' RaLLey that went over really well on April 16 th......
i played similar set list with the exception of adding
another human rights protest song i re-wrote. I took the tune of
'ain't gonna let nobody turn us around'...(1960's civil right march song based on an pan-african spiritual)...and i
re-wrote it to include 'were gonna put a wimin's shelter into Baldwin county....& some other pertinent lyrics about a rural ga county with no wimin's shelter, but a high intimate partner violence rate. this was in honor of where the TAKE BACK THE NIGHT rally took place.....

AnD about FEMME*A*GANDHI RADIO.....

it would take a serious accident to keep me away from doing my radio show....

and well, that's what happened ....the last radio show before the summer for femme*a*gandhi radio was scheduled for april 24th ....only two day's after the accident...@ that point in bed, sore as fuck & was staying with two friends that were taking care of me & there was no way....i apologize <3.....i've not been feeling right about not making a statement or a post on myspace to what was going on with the radio show.........it's like i was making a post every week and then nothing.......but i wasn't ready 2 say anything at that point about my awakening/accident....now i am...

so again that's what my post today is about ..........
reclaiming the will to LiVe,
2 be an AcTiViSt,,,,,
2 HeAL,,,,,,,
2 Be a FeMiNiSt,,,
2 b a MuSiCiAn,,,
2 support other wimin (and MeN allies)......
2 support other wimin HeAlInG........
2 CARE,,,,,,,,
2 b an anarchist,,,,,
2 b a Dee JaNe,,,,
2 b queer
2 ExIsT.....
2 reclaiming my VoIcE!!!!...
witch is soooooooo what every thing i'm apart of is about anyway <3.....

here's some songs from the last few
FEMME*A*GANDHI RADIO shows in (march/april '09) that i dee janed (streaming & broadcasting) from GCSU college radio station)...

Rebel Girl -'Bikini Kill'
Jarboe- 'the soul continues'
Cindergarden -'Genisis'
Gossip -'girls all dressed in black'
howard zinn- excerpt for spoken word 'advise for history teachers'
found objects of desire- 'desert shore girl'
hurray for the riff raff -'fly away'
DQE- 'one million kisses'
Nomy Lamm- 'townsquare meeting' from the transfused sound track
X- 'Because I Do'
mecca normal- 'beaten down'
jane county- 'deviation'
angela davis -spoken word excerpt- 'rebellion from california to new york'
Sleater-Kinney -call the doctor
Angela Motter (Bucky) -I'm free
Lydia Lunch- why don't we do it in the road
Noam Chomsky (except from spoken word) Pacification
Rea Spoon- 'Come on Forrest fire burn the...'
Stella Pace - i played 'transgender warrior' live in the studio over the air.
Karen G- you are not alone (spoken word w/ teresa davis)
Hope & Anchor- Ending of November
Sassy- Bamboltta
Hole- 'season of the witch'
Riots not Diets- Riots Not Diets
Hub Cap City- Ring around the Rosie
Courtney Love -'reasons to be beautiful'
Tribe 8 - 'Hapa girl'
billy brag- 'sexuality'
Stone Fox - 'HIV+'
Bonfire Madigan -'lesson in Ride'
Lucid nation -'Landmark'
Black Kali Ma -'How Ya Do It?'
The Need- 'don't touch the Ribbon'
Pagan Holiday - 'Real Words'
Bangers- 'Baby Girl let me pass out on You'
CumbaWamba - 'Homophobia'
Kathleen Hanna- 'I wish I were him'
Bitch- Mother's Day
Gentle- 'No Water for You Tea'
Mumia Abu-Jamal -excerpt from a spoken word over the phone from jail- A daily Terror
Ani Defranco - Subdivision
Tereasa Davis -Time
Le tigre- TKO
YoKo OnO & Le Tigre -Sisters' O SiSter's

and LOTSSSSSSa more of that kinda of thinggggg

ABOUT the NEW SONG ON MY PAGE.....

******i uploaded a new song on my myspace page called DaNdeLiOn SuPerCharGed ...a song & commentary on so-called 'eco-terrorists'!!..
here's some info on the song...
last sept this song was given honorable mentions as part of an electronic music installment for an environmental Justice symposium @ georgia college state university,.......The people hosting the symposium were so curious after hearing it, i was even asked to stand up in the auditorium at the symposium and speak about my song....i talked about the so called 'eco-terrorists' that are being thrown in prisons for exercising there first amendment rights to speak out about environmental injustice & animal rights issues, such as with daniel mcgowan, the shac 7 & many other. The song is a metaphor relating the brave environmental activists to the tenacious power of the dandelion plant......DaNdIlIon is BaD Ass........................................i'm used to playing at punk rock clubs & all ages shows and this was an interesting place for my music 2 b played...i still prefer playin @ anarcha' DIY punk shows!!!<3

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
<3<3<3<3
sooo much PUNkPeAceLuV&ANARCHY to U,
STeLLa

Desmond Tutu on peace in the middle east FaBuLoUs!

2009-06-15T01:04:00.001-07:00

link to hear desmond tutu's talk.....

may have to cut & paste ,,,it's a GREAT talk!

he's a VeRy important person to study especially because of his expierience during the exchange of power in south africa.......could of been a blood bath , but it wasn't ,,,it was AmAzInGLy peaceful!!!!!

http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/files/wcc-main/sounds/2009/tutu_middle_east_comments.mp3

"There is really no situation that is intractable – none," said Nobel peace laureate and retired Anglican Archbishop of Capetown Desmond Tutu in a speech at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey near Geneva, Switzerland, on Sunday, 7 June.

here's the article

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1722/change-is-in-the-air-as.html

CiViL DISOBEDIANCE=LOVE & COURAGE ***PROP.8=HATE & IGNORANCE

2009-05-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

all of polk st. in frount city hall in san fran.

http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=a4s.jpg&via=tfrog

Don't hate, EDUCATE! Prop 8 fuels Hate!

"those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." -abraham lincoln

"it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws" ThomasJefferson

"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

www.myspace.com/peaceandfreedomparty (the socialist feminist party of america -California branch)

For Immediate Release (reposted from the Peace & Freedom Party)

News Release, Peace and Freedom Party California State Central Committee

For further information: Kevin Akin (951) 787-0318 kevinakin1950@hotmail.com

Peace and Freedom Party Pledges Prop 8 Overturn, Human Rights Fight in 2010

"The fight for human rights is back on the ballot for 2010, and if it fails, then 2012," says Peace and Freedom Party State Chair Kevin Akin. Reacting to the California Supreme Court ruling upholding Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage, Akin reports that his party's State Central Committee is dedicated to whatever work is needed to wipe the constitutional amendment from the books.

"Frankly, we wouldn't be in this position if the leaders of the Democratic Party had not abandoned the fight for human rights," says Akin. "Even though Obama was obviously going to win the state, they failed to step up against Prop 8, in a cynical attempt to gain every vote possible in November. Without any leadership from their party, a great many Democrats voted for Prop 8, and it passed. This is part and parcel of a failure of the Democratic Party to support human rights around the world. The unending occupation of Iraq, sending more troops to prop up a hopelessly corrupt regime of warlords in Afghanistan, the brutal suppression of the majority in Haiti, the continuing exile of the Chagossian people from Diego Garcia, the reauthorization of the military commissions, and the list goes on - the Democrats have shown that they are basically continuing the Bush-Cheney policies abroad."

"And at home," Akin continues, " the much-touted reform to allow workers to join unions without persecution by their bosses has stalled in the Senate, with Senator Feinstein one of those who has discarded all pretense of support for labor rights. In California, rather than give us the tax reform we need, with the burden returned to the wealthy, the Democrats are cooperating with Governor Schwarzenegger to put the whole burden of the economic crisis on the working class. Terrible cuts in programs that even now fail to meet our needs will result in extreme poverty, sickness, and death. Anyone who still thinks a vote for the Democratic Party is a vote for human rights and the needs of working people is just not paying attention. Like the Republicans, the Democrats will do nothing to annoy their wealthy backers."

In addition to pushing for passage of an initiative to repeal Proposition 8, Akin reports that the Peace and Freedom Party plans to run a full slate of candidates for statewide offices in 2010, as well as many candidates for Assembly, State Senate, and the US House of Representatives. "Every Californian will have an opportunity to vote for candidates who really support human rights, and support the needs of the working class," says Akin. The Peace and Freedom Party, with ballot status in California, describes itself as favoring "socialism, feminism, democracy, environmentalism and racial equality."

GrEAt lessons from NAVAJO PEACEMAKERS <3<3<3

2009-05-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

this artilcle came from YES magazine. I loved it so much.
here is there link.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/

Navajo Justice

This year, the Navajo Nation quit jailing people for dozens of offenses that used to land people behind bars. Now tribal courts are turning to peacemakers

by The Honorable Robert Yazzie Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation

http://www.yesmagazine.org/

posted Sep 30, 2000
In January 2000, the Navajo Nation Council decided to revamp the Navajo Nation Criminal Code. The Council eliminated jail time and fines for 79 offenses, required the use of peacemaking in criminal cases, and required that the courts see to the rights of victims. The Council also incorporated the traditional concept of nalyeeh into the criminal code. Nalyeeh refers to the process of confronting someone who hurts others with a demand that they talk out the action and the hurt it caused so that something positive will come of it.

This decision represents a serious challenge to the courts of the Navajo Nation, whose jurisdiction includes tribal members in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Navajo Nation judges had gotten used to the western revolving-door approach to wrongdoings — jailing, probation, new charges, revocation of probation, and the rest of it. Those hurt by crime were left out — the $1,000 restitution orders did not address the trauma caused by the crimes. But the Navajos now realize that the prison approach to crime does not work.

The western criminal justice system assumes that the problem is the actor, and imprisonment is primarily designed to work on convicted defendants. In contrast, traditional Navajo justice deals with people's actions. Western adjudication is a search for what happened and who did it; Navajo peacemaking is about the effects of what happened. Who got hurt? What do they feel about it? What can be done to repair the harm? The Navajo Nation courts get close to 28,000 criminal cases each year. The largest categories of crime are assaults and batteries (most often among family members), other crimes against family members,
driving while intoxicated and other alcohol-related crimes, and disorderly conduct. The judges have few sentencing options because there is jail space for only 220 people at any one time. Instead, the Navajo justice system is turning to peacemakers.

In Navajo peacemaking, offenders are brought in to a session involving the person accused of an offense and the person who suffered from it, along with the “tag-along” victims of the crime, namely the relatives of the accused and of the person hurt by the accused. (I am hesitant to use the term victim, because we know that in many situations such as fighting within the family, the roles and accompanying labels are not that simple. See page 38 for an example.)

The sessions are moderated by a community leader called a “peacemaker.” The action is put on the table. People talk about what happened and how they feel about it.

A harmful act is “something that gets in the way of living your life,” and Navajo peacemaking deals with such an act by identifying it, talking about it, and devising a plan to deal with it.

One factor especially leaps out that is part of Navajo traditional knowledge. Navajos know post-traumatic stress disorder as nayeeor “monster.” What is the essence of the cycle of violence, in which children who are abused or neglected become offenders themselves? Nayee. Antisocial personality disorder? Nayee.

Peacemaking is based upon family therapy. As Philmer Bluehouse and James Zion of the Navajo peacemaker system have said, peacemaking is a ceremony that uses traditional practices now being “discovered” by the western world to kill or weaken “monsters.” The act is the focus of peacemaking; you get it out, put it on the table, and look at it. The process is much the same as the ceremonial practice of turning abstract monsters into something tangible and concrete before you, and then dealing with them.

Traditional Navajo law requires families to take responsibility for their family members. It is not a
coerced responsibility, but one that comes from the respect and love people should have for their relatives. In peacemaking, the relatives of those who hurt someone else come forward to help with restitution and to watch over their relative to be sure he or she does not offend again.

Rewriting the script
Donald Nathanson, a psychiatrist in the restorative justice movement, tells us that the key to violence control is “affect modulation.” He says that as we grow from childhood, we learn scripts — ways of responding to things that frighten or anger us. These scripts follow what he calls the “compass of shame,” relying on withdrawal, avoidance, “hurting self,” “hurting other,” or some combination of these. If the script is an intense one, we see withdrawal into alcohol, avoidance by becoming a street person, literally hurting others, and hurting self in drug-dependence, suicide, and other self-destructive behaviors.

Those kinds of scripts are familiar. Harmful scripts cannot be addressed using suppression tactics. They are best addressed by showing people the harmful effects of their conduct and the fact there are better ways of dealing with the things that frighten or challenge them. Navajo peacemaking speaks precisely to “the compass of shame” by subduing harmful scripts and teaching people how to avoid hurting others.

In Navajo thinking, thought is the inner form of speech, and speech is the inner form of action. It's a simple enough concept — as you think, so will you speak, and as you speak, so will you do.

If your action is fueled by alcohol or drugs, it is going to hurt others. What does someone who hurts others think or reflect about that? In the Western system, there is nothing other than ineffective punishment to compel someone who hurts another to reflect on what he or she has done. There is nothing to make people face their actions and their effects. There is little to involve those who get hurt, including the tag-along victims — spouses, children, and relatives.

We say you should start your day with prayer and by seeking inspiration, and take that inner thinking and turn it into a plan. The plan then becomes action, following on what you thought, planned, and spoke. At the end of the day, you reflect on what you did so that you can do better tomorrow. That is the good way.

A symbol of healed relations
Some are surprised to learn that in traditional Navajo justice, restitution for a wrongdoing can be symbolic. It can be a piece of jewelry or some other item of little nominal value but great symbolic value. Horses are prized highly by Navajos, and they are a form of restitution for serious sexual insults.

How does symbolic restitution help someone who is hurt? Navajos are more interested in what the restitution means than its value. Does the item used for restitution say, “I'm sorry”? Does it say, “I honor your worth and dignity with this thing that we Navajos prize”? Does it say, “Let this be a symbol and something tangible to remind us that we have talked this hurt out and entered into good relations with each other”?

We know that peacemaking works. It has proven successful in problem areas such as driving while intoxicated, delinquency, family violence, and alcohol-related crime. It allows families to be involved in helping their relatives (whether they were the ones doing the hurting or the ones who got hurt), and it helps everyone look at the monster of the action and its effects.

Can Navajo peacemaking prevent harm in addition to dealing with crimes after they happen? About 25 percent of all Navajos are children nine and under — a huge youth cohort. If we know that a child who is abused or neglected is more likely to enter the cycle of violence, doesn't it make sense to put resources in place for children? Peacemaking supplements child protection programs to help both children and parents. Philmer Bluehouse left the Judicial Branch recently to take Navajo peacemaking into the schools, where he can reach out to the children who are hurt.

The peacemaking challenge
The Navajo Nation Council exercised a great deal of courage and foresight in declaring the system broken and making traditional Navajo justice the preferred criminal justice method.

Will this new approach work? It poses difficult logistical problems. There are now approximately 250 peacemakers; how can the Navajo Nation courts recruit and train enough peacemakers to handle 28,000 criminal cases a year?

If you can't build new prisons and fill them, what do you do? You leave the process of putting serious offenders in prison to the federal government under the Major Crimes Act (which punishes felonies committed in Indian Country), and you direct the Navajo Nation justice system to focus upon traditional Navajo justice.

This is a bold experiment, but if it works, it may offer lessons to an America that is beginning to recognize that you can't lock up a major portion of the population (usually people of color).

Perhaps there are other ways to deal with crime; the answers may lie in dealing with actions, not actors, allowing people to face and solve their own problems, using peacemaking for crime prevention by getting at the nayee early on, and rewriting old scripts.

We Navajos knew about all that stuff traditionally, and it is time for us to remember.

Fucking Brilliant tribute to peace activists from inside a prison.....

2009-05-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

Amazing and snazzy bonny tyler cover that may make you tear up

i got this from Le Tigre's youtube channel...

they are also brilliant unconventional peace activists!!!

Peace * PACE * PAIX * Frieden * Paz * Vrede * Ειρήνη * Мир *

和平 * PeAcE * 平和 *

Peace * PACE * PAIX * Frieden * Paz * Vrede * Ειρήνη * Мир *

和平 * PeAcE * 平和 *

peaceful (amazon) warrior

2009-05-15T00:45:00.000-07:00

i think i'm coming out as a fuckin huge PeAce activist..... i've always been a radical anarcha peace activist but it feels different somehow or mayb just i'm digging in deeper.....it's wierd but it feels like it takes more courage 2 pimp PeAcE than really anything else.....

today's post is about creating peace on the inside.....
today's post is about a book & a movie
that has effected me greatly

the movie is 'peaceful warrior'
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6770941457560349256

based on the book
'way of the peaceful warrior' by Dan Millman
http://www.peacefulwarrior.com/site/store/dans-books/45-way-of-the-peaceful-warrior

i re-wrote a quote from the movie from a femisnt perspective....
"an (amazon) warrior does not give up what s/he loves.... s/he finds the love in what s/he does..."

i like this quote from the movie too...
i call myself a peaceful (amazon) warrior because the battles we fight are on the inside...

xoxo
<3
STeLLa

HaMpShIre CoLLeGe- leaders in non-violent direct action.....

2009-05-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.endtheoccupation.org/

non-violent direct action is WORKING!!!!!!!!!

i am soooooooo fucking proud of HaMpShIre CoLLeGe.....i went there for a couple of years...and at that time they were the first college to divest from south africa....i so remeber that......now hampshire is the first to divest from IsreaL's occupation....read on......

WE CAN DO SOMETHING!!!!

Since Hampshire college became the first U.S. academic institution to divest from Israel's occupation in February, we've been contacted by dozens of campuses interested in starting boycott & divestment campaigns, including 25 campuses that applied to host our campus boycott & divestment organizing tour this coming October. We hope to announce selected cities for the tour by the end of the May, and have already started working with our summer intern from Hampshire Students for Justice in Palestine to formulate workshops and training sessions for the tour.

http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1993

hang up on motorola

Stop Caterkiller

General Boycott & Divestment

FeMMe*A*GaNdHi FiRe