Trial begins next week! Call the DA, join us on Wednesday, and sign up to pack the courtroom!
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Pack the Courtroom!
We need your support! Carlos’ trial begins next week, on May 15! The LA Committee to Stop FBI Repression is calling on all supporters, activists, and friends to pack the courtroom! If you can come out, please let us know when to expect you by filling out the sign-up form on our website: www.stopfbila.net/pack-the-courtroom.

Other ways you can help:
Call D.A. Steve Cooley (213-974-3512) and demand that all charges against Carlos be dropped!
Sign the new petition to drop the charges!
Share this video about the case with your friends!
Join us on Facebook!
Defense Committee meets on Wed., 5/9!
Finally, the LA Committee to Stop FBI Repression is meeting this Wednesday, May 9, at 7pm. The meeting will be held at the IAC office (1905 Rodeo Rd, Los Angeles). Please join us this evening as we continue developing a plan of action for our defense campaign. For more info, email stopfbila@gmail.com or call 626-523-7164.

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Trial Begins 5/15!
Carlos Montes’ trial begins May 15, 2012! Join us at the LA Criminal Courts building downtown, 210 West Temple St., 13th Floor, Department 100. We will be there every day beginning at 8am, to demand justice for Carlos!
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Families Affected by Border Brutality Joined By Vigils Across the U.S.

Media Advisory For: May 3, 2012

Contact: Ricardo Favela, 760-468-4519
Rafael Noboa y Rivera, 202-455-4673

San Diego, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities – Supporters of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas in 9 U.S. cities are holding events as part of a National Day of Action Against Border Brutality organized by Presente.org and the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC).

In San Diego, the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium will host a vigil and march starting at Balboa Park on the corner of 6th and Laurel Streets. We will march to the Hall of Justice with the family of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas. The vigil begins at 6:00 pm.

In Los Angeles, the widow of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, Maria Puga, and Shena Gutierrez, the wife of Jose Gutierrez (who survived a brutal beating at the hands of the Border Patrol over a year ago), will meet for the first time to share their stories of how these events have taken a toll on their families and to talk about the next steps in the struggle to bring justice home.

Press conferences, vigils and other actions are planned across the country aimed at bringing the issue of border brutality to national attention. Cities across the border region, from San Diego to Texas as well as across the nation, including Miami, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles, among others, will be holding actions. Since 2010, Border Patrol agents have killed at least eight other residents of border communities and have left many others seriously wounded. Presente.org, the Southern Border Communities Coalition and communities across the United States are asking the President to direct the Department of Justice to conduct an open and thorough investigation of the US Border Patrol.

WHAT: National Day of Action demanding justice from the Obama Administration in the case of San Diego resident, Anastasio Hernandez Rojas , who was beaten and tased to death by the U.S. Border Patrol.

WHO: Maria Puga (widow of Anastasio H. Rojas), Shena Gutierrez (wife of Jose Gutierrez), Christian Ramirez (Director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition), Pedro Rios (San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium Chair), and Arturo Carmona (Director of Presente.org).

WHEN: Thursday, May 3rd – 6:00 pm vigil and march in San Diego. 11:00 am Press Conference in Los Angeles. Contact us for further details.

WHERE: Vigil and march starting at Balboa Park (6th and Laurel Streets) to the Hall of Justice. In Los Angeles Press Conference: 255 E Temple St Los Angeles, CA 90006. Actions will take place across the nation, including Miami, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mercedes, TX, San Juan, TX, Las Cruces, NM, Albuquerque, NM.

WHY: To build momentum for the White House and the Department of Justice to respond and conduct an investigation of all the killings by Customs and Border Protection (Border Patrol) since 2010.

For details about each action contact Ricardo Favela 760-659-3620 or Rafael Noboa at 202-455-4673.
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Ricardo Favela, Strategic Communications Coordinator
Equality Alliance of San Diego County
www.equalitysandiego.org
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Ya’a'teh,
Heres a quick update with some quotes and pics.
Stay tuned for a full news release.
High resolution photos at: www.indigenousresistance.com

Please read this Peaks update as well: Stop Snowbowl: Upcoming Flagstaff Elections, Know Where They Stand (http://indigenousresistance.org/stop-snowbowl-upcoming-flagstaff-elections-know-where-they-stand/)

- Klee Benally

Marchers Declare ‘State of Human Rights Emergency’ in Arizona

FLAGSTAFF, AZ — More than 300 people including dozens of organizations rallied in Wheeler Park, then marched through the streets of downtown Flagstaff, Arizona in response to escalating human rights violations.

“Arizona is in a state of human rights emergency,” stated Eli Isaacs, a volunteer with the Repeal Coalition and an organizer of the march. “We may come from different parts of this community and face different issues, but this racist state & greedy corporations can only push us so far. With our backs against the wall, its easy to see the same forces are oppressing us all, its natural to find unity against common oppressors.”

Community members and students addressed reproductive justice, hetero-sexism, cultural survival, racism, sexism, ageism, police brutality and racial profiling. The gathering spoke out against racist laws such as SB1070 & HB2281, & John McCain and John Kyl’s water settlement. They urged protection of the San Francisco Peaks and all other sacred places. They agreed to be in solidarity and to support one another in the struggle for human rights.
Luis Fernandez, from Arizona ALCU, asked the crowd what human rights were. Voices rang out, crying “Access to shelter, enough food, safe birth control, freedom to worship as you please” and more.

In August 2011, The Havasupai Tribe, Klee Benally, a Dine’ (Navajo) activist, and the International Indian Treaty Council, filed an Urgent Action / Early Warning Complaint with the United Nations (UN) CERD Committee, on the desecration of Sacred San Francisco Peaks, Arizona. The complaint addressed Arizona Snowbowl’s clear-cutting of 40 acres of pristine forest and the laying of over 5 miles of a waste water pipeline in furtherance of a US Forest Service and City of Flagstaff supported project to spray artificial snow made of waste water effluent on the Holy San Francisco Peaks.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, known internationally as the CERD Committee is charged with monitoring compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
“The Forest Service, the City of Flagstaff, & the courts have proven that they do not understand or respect our spiritual ceremonies and practices and our spiritual relationship to the Earth,” said Klee Benally, arrested multiple times while demonstrating to protect the Holy Peaks. “We have no guaranteed protection for our religious freedom as Indigenous Peoples in the US. The desecration of this Holy site is an attack on our cultural survival.”

Steve Kugler, an advocate for the homeless, stated, “During 2007’s winter solstice, a Homeless Memorial Day Service was conducted on city hall lawn. Twelve names of the city’s unsheltered people that died from exposure during the winter were read.
Unknown to the public, twelve more people had died. These twelve were not acknowledged by city officials, nor were they mentioned in Flagstaff’s media. I feel that the officials did this, because the unreported twelve people were not substance abusers, they are a blight to Flagstaff’s service industry.
My take is that Flagstaff has 2,500 all season, homeless, people who do not have a voice. Thirty percent of the 2,500 homeless are students. Let me be their voice. Flagstaff’s city’s officials were elected by the people to be a proxy voice for the people. Do Flagstaff’s citizens have justice when its elected officials feel that they are above the law, adhere to their own agendas and are not accountable to the people that elected them to office?”

Ofelia Rivas from O’odham Voice Against the Wall, talked about resisting border militarization and how she just testified before a UN special rapporteur in Tucson, AZ. “The rights of mother earth is what we need to protect today to survive as human beings.” stated Rivas.

Paloma Allen, O’odham, who has been working to stop loop 202 from desecrating the sacred South Mountain in Phoenix stated, “Indigenous rights and indigenous identity don’t mean anything to this state, thats why we have to be vocal.”

Lola, a youth member of a new Flagstaff based group called B.L.A.S.T. spoke passionately about how she has been impacted by Arizona’s immigration laws, “This has affected me by my family getting deported, I cannot see them any more because they are on the other side of the border. It just hurts me inside to have them leave and just wake up one day and they’re not there. What if that was your family getting deported, what if that was your mother getting put in jail? That is not good, that’s not a way we as humans should be treated. We all have rights we all should be treated equal, so I do not understand why they are trying to take away our families.”

Raquel, a former member of Tucson based U.N.I.D.O.S., the youth organization that occupied Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD) school board meeting last year, stated, “It’s very clear the path that this state lays for youth of color.
It’s very clear from the militarization of schools, from the militarization of neighborhoods, from the militarization of the border itself on O’odham lands. The reason that ethnic studies is under attack is because these classes represent a rupture in the plan that Arizona had for youth of color. The TUSD fears resistance so much that every parent or teacher has to go through metal detectors.”

Claire Bergstresser, an NAU student and member of Immigration Action Research Team, directly addressed SB1070 and HB2281. Bergstresser quoted HB 2281 as “prohibiting ethnic solidarity” and responded to it by expressing, “I could not understand why our government had mixed politics with education, why students were being limited education on ethnic studies, the things that they can connect with, understand, and love.” Bergstresser addressed the crowd, “Your voice and your passions hold no borders and will be heard. At the end of the day, it is not the loudest voices that are remembered but the ones with the passion and courage to listen, express and act in the name of something bigger than yourself. We will march today for our passions, we will march today in the name of human rights, but also we will march today to have our voices heard.”

We were invited by the Brown Berets to perform last minute at a benefit for Border Angels this past Friday the 28th of April. Border Angels distribute water to people attempting to cross the border so they have a chance to survive. Brown Berets of LA are a group of youths who organize on behalf of their community. We had an excellent time as they are such good and caring people. We performed an unearthed set that included Caxo and Raul Herrera. I think the ancestors were with us that night. Anyway, also at this event were other spoken word artists who were kick ass!!!! The power of art and intention!! These artists imprinted our mind!! I can only remember one of the artists name which is leon of corazon del pueblo who incorporates commanding theater in his work but the other artists also brought their own unique stylings… Overall it was a good night with great art and good intentions…

As promised, the info for the Hollywood show at the House of Blues:

This performance is for the Quinto Sol CD Release Party.

The House of Blues is located at 8340 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069 [map]

Doors: 07:00 PM

Show: 08:00 PM

Price: $15.00 Gen Admission / Standing only

Ages: 18+

 Tomorrow!  The Phoenix show initially scheduled for Sunday the 25^th is now to be played tomorrow.  Also, note more shows upcoming including this Tuesday the 27^th at the House of Blues in Hollywood [map]  Details are as follows:

424 N. Central Ave Downtown Phoenix, AZ [map].

Show starts at 7:30 PM, ends at 10. Details yet to come for the Hollywood show.

Urban Native LA Band Aztlan Underground Honors the Spring Equinox with New Song, “Our Nature”

UPDATE: Video link corrected

Los Angeles, CA (March 19, 2012)— LA’s Urban/Native/Post-Punk fusion band, Aztlan Underground honors the reproductive forces of nature by releasing their new single,  Our Nature, on the spring equinox, March 20, 2012. The single is their first release since the success of their last self-titled album released in 2010 and will be available as a soft-launch on their soundcloud and youtube pages.

The retro/gothic sound of the new single takes the band in a fresh and intriguing musical direction while keeping true to the original Aztlan Underground sound. The dark tones in the single seek to juxtapose the darkness and negativity associated with the natural occurrence of sex with lyrics that praise the act as an essential part of life itself.

“Society often dictates that sexuality and procreation are to be narrowly addressed in the confines of certain people’s belief systems, but we feel that does not and should not apply to everyone,” said bandleader Yaotl. “Those of us that walk in the natural, Indigenous spirit world understand that the act of reproduction should be celebrated, honored, and enjoyed.”   The song was inspired by women artists— punk-electronica singer Hannin Elias and printmaker/digital artist Favianna Rodriguez Gianonni —both of whom espouse voracious political messages. Favianna’s most-recent work is a direct response to the current Republican Presidential candidates assault on women’s rights. “We looked to our sisters in the struggle for inspiration on this song. Earth is female, our mother, and if we punish and impose our will on her, she will react and lash out, just like many of the outspoken women of today, demanding to be heard. We have a lot to learn if only we would listen or pay the consequences that nature will reap. It’s all about balance, the ying and yang, the spring equinox,” said Yaotl.

The darkness vs light conflict is embodied in the spring equinox which witnesses the equal balance of day and night on this day. It represents the male and female forces, procreation, and new beginnings. Springtime brings an outburst of life and a chance to begin again. The band also looked to the Mayan Tzolkin calendar where the days of the spring equinox support the idea of renewal with greater wisdom and stronger grasp on one’s purpose.

Our Nature

Soundcloud
YouTube

Video

YouTube

Lyrics

Hedonism permeates motivations
Human condition
Underlying lust
Feels good admit it
Immersion diversion
Swim in the liquid zoo
Feel the sensations
Of procreation 2x
The director we all ignore
Yet honor in our private lives 2x
The profane is also the sacred!!
The sacred and profane
Villainize creation with shame
The director we all ignore
Yet honor in our private lives 2x
For without it we wouldnt exist-repeat
Biological mechanisms
Animal proof
Walking molecular strucures
Animal proof
Scientific organisms
Animal proof
In the end
Dont feel shame
Embrace
Dont feel shame
Affirm
Dont feel shame
Insight
Embrace affirm insight
Incite! Insight!!