Dropping Beats in Carbondale

We kicked off the Carbondale stop last Sunday with an Art and Action training attended by ~20 students and community members.

The Art and Action workshops are facilitated by Invincible and Isaac Martin. Along with a mix of pop ed, it includes Invincible’s docu-music video "Locust." Directed by Joe Namy, Locust features Invincible and fellow Detroit-based hip hop artist Finale rhyming about the impacts of unsustainable development on the Motor City. The video includes interviews with community activists discussing displacement and prederatory planning vs. sustainable development in Detroit. Check it out below or at http://emergencemusic.net.

Invincible frequently says that Detroit is what the rest of the country has to look forward to — the failure of industrialism and capitalism and the opportunity to create new alternatives for resistance. Militarism in the belly of the beast. Further south in the Americas, the people of Colombia are getting hit by the other side of US militarism — a 66% increase in extradudicial killings during the first 5 years of US military aid to Colombia, with a total of $5 billion spent from 2000 to 2008.

Monday we started the day with a radio interview at WBDX 91.1 FM on the weekly radio show "The Composters," online at radiolive.com, where we continued to make connections between militarism in the communities in the US and in Colombia, focusing on creative youth resistance.

Invincible spoke about starting her independent label, Emergence Media, her solidarity with the people of Palestine, and her work with Detroit Summer.

Briefly, Detroit Summer is "a multi-racial, inter-generational collective in Detroit working to transform ourselves and our communities by confronting the problems we face with creativity and critical thinking. We currently organize youth-led media arts projects and community-wide potlucks, speak-outs and parties." Learn more at: http://detroitsummer.blogspot.com/

Paula Galeano, our guest from the Red Juvenil in Medellin, Colombia, spoke about the empowering tactic of reclaiming public spaces with art. Red Juvenil frequently turns streets or parks into direct action opportunities, creating a carnival atmosphere that engages and invites others to be part of the action. One impressive example of this is the anti-mili sonoro, an annual concert of political musicians that takes place every year on May 15 to celebrate and mark International Conscientious Objectors day.

In Carbondale, Paula participated in a US version of reclaiming the streets through music — the Carbondale Students for a Democratic Society’s Funk the War dance party. A few dozen students danced in the busiest pathway on campus, passing out balloons with a "Books Not Bombs" message to passerbyers.That evening, we shared vegetarian and vegan food with Carbondale students and community members at the Interfaith Center while Paula shared stories from Colombia.

On Monday night, the eve of Veteran’s Day, the Drop Beats Not Bombs tour participated in an IVAW benefit show at the local Independent Media Center. Liza Maytok, Dave Adams, president of the Carbondale chapter of Iraq Veteran’s Against the War, gave an emotional appeal to young vets and vet supporters to join in IVAW’s strategy to end the occupation in Iraq, provide reparations for the Iraqi people and provide full health care for vets. More on the Carbondale IVAW chapter at: http://www.ivaw.org/node/2232

Following Carbondale we hit Goshen, Indiana. Check back here for our next blog on that! And tomorrow we hit Wooster College in Ohio. We hope to see you there!