Feature Archives

Local diva/artist/poet Aya de León held her annual Alternative Valentine's show, on Tuesday, February 14th at 8pm at the La Peña Cultural Center. Flyer This spoken word and musical event celebrated "love of self, of spirit, of family and community, of peace, of democracy!" The evening was hosted by Aya de León, with guests such as members of Kreatibo, Alicia Raquel, Mike Molino, and the band Panama. Aya de León married herself in 1996 and has been throwing celebrations of self-love ever since.

La Peña Cultural Center | Aya de León

El Enemigo Común (The Common Enemy) scratches beneath the surface of neoliberalism, and looks at some of the most hidden atrocities in recent North American history. The film documents instances of paramilitary activity against indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico from 2002 through 2005, and includes footage of protests in Cancun against the World Trade Organization, and in Miami against the Free Trade Area of the America's. The three locations in isolation expose the disparities in North American resistance movements, but also bring us closer to understanding the nature of an emerging common struggle.

Bouncing back and forth from community to community, El Enemigo Común is both an introduction to some of the many ignored resistances in North America, and an urgent call to action for international civil society, to stand in solidarity against state sponsored repression and for human peace, dignity and justice, in Oaxaca, Mexico. The film provides a historical context for the current violent incarnation of capitalism and empire, and provokes action against it as a common enemy. Read more

Preview: Watch the Video Trailer! || El Enemigo Común

Audio from Santa Cruz Screening: Simon speaks on El Enemigo Común || Ryan Harvey performed: COINTELPRO | Open Song to the U.S. Occupying Forces | Remember Me | Freedom | New Orleans Got Iraqed | The Plan Puebla Panama | Give It Time

Stew Albert, a prominent member of the "Youth International Party" (Yippie!) an unindicted co-conspirator in the infamous Chicago 1968 "Conspiracy Trial," an instigator of People's Park and so much more died in his sleep on January 30th. Albert had incurable and inoperable liver cancer, but his belief in a better world and his unfaltering activism reportedly kept him busy until the very last moments of his life. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, February 1st at 1:00 at the Havurah Shalom at 825 NW 18th Ave in Portland, Oregon. Albert kept a weblog- "a personal log by an American radical activist who knew he was dying of cancer, but stoically continued to rant against empire." Read more

Stew Albert's Yippie Reading Room website | Stew Albert's Blog | Read more about the Yippies

Over a thousand people joined the Dia de los Meurtos (Day of the Dead) procession through San Francisco’s mission district November 2nd. Dia de los Muertos is an annual Meso-American holiday dedicated to ancestors and loved ones now gone. The procession was lead by the Rescue Culture Collective and ended at the Festival of Altars in Garfield Park at 25th Street and Harrison. Not in Our Name joined others, including CODEPINK, in remembering the over 100,000 Iraqis and 2,000 US troops killed due to our government’s current war without end on that country.
Photos

On September 10th, 2005, the 7th Annual 911 Power to the Peaceful Festival (PTTP) took place at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. (Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4) PTTP is an annual series of free, outdoor music and arts festivals with a social justice message bringing together international musicians, local artists and renowned speakers in a large festival atmosphere. Tens of thousands of people atteneded the concert. This year, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office proclaimed September 10th Power to the Peaceful Day at the festival. Saturday's theme, Bring ‘Em Home, seeks to remind the public that the best way to support American troops abroad is to bring them home today.

This year, PTTP included a skate ramp, a zero-waste program that included bio-diesel vegetable fuel for power, an open-air art gallery, earth-conscious vendors, massage and yoga, a DJ dance floor, eco-village, kid’s zone, a food drive, and the SF Bike Coalition. Social, environmental and political organizations such as Indybay had tables with information and wares for sale (cell phone pics). The event was broadcast live on KPFA radio. A festival after party and all-star jam closed the night out on the 10th at 1015 Folsom.

On Sunday, September 11th, Michael Franti will host the Social Justice Forum at Cell Space on Bryant Street from 11am-5pm. There will be a ‘Power To The Peaceful Yoga Workshop’ at 2pm on Sunday at the Yoga Tree-Yoga Flow classroom in the Castro District. PTTP will also include a 1st Annual International Film Festival, co-presented by Amnesty International, at the Roxie Theater on September 12th and 13th with highlights including a clip of Robert Greenwald’s upcoming release "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" and Michael Franti’s film about his journey to Iraq, Palestine and Israel last year titled "I Know I’m Not Alone."

Past Indybay Coverage of Power to the Peaceful

Melissa Gira, in the June issue of Fault Lines, writes:
The prospective client on the other end of the line is in Mississippi - somewhere ill-fit for submission. I am stretched on my bed, as is the cliché, but no, no cigarette, and no cosmo, either. I really am resting on my pillows, nursing a cough, but now late to the start of the Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival that is kicking off just as the phone rings.

Carol Leigh (aka Scarlot Harlot), the Festival’s founder and producer, has already tipped me off, so through some underground connections I now have a clip from The Tonight Show. Leno is tweaking at the class war, his quips aimed at none other than Whore College, which opens this week as part of the 2005 Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival. “What do you fall back on when you flunk out of Whore College? Your typing skills?” Nervous laughs burble & recede, as Red and Blue State audience members pause for perhaps the first time and ponder how it is that all the whores got that way.

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On Saturday, June 11th, La Peña Day will be celebrated in Berkeley with a 30th Anniversary Street Festival. The La Peña Cultural Center is a community space that includes a cafde, music and dance classes, and performances. The festival will be held from 12pm-6pm at the intersection of Prince & Shattuck streets. There will be free live music, food, drink, free kids' activities, including a kids' stage, and arts and community booths. With Pachasiku, Rafael Manriquez, La Peña Afro Cuban Youth Ensemble, La Peña Bomba Class, Jesus Diaz & QBA, La Familia, Youth Movement Records, and DJ José Ruiz. La Peña is creating a community history project- they ask that people visit La Peña's booth at the Street Festival and bring photos or memories from past events to enter into the community history journals.

Other Celebratory Programs:
Fri. & Sat. June 10th and 11th ¡Vivan los treinta de La Peña! with CANTINFLAS!, a celebrated bilingual play written and performed by Culture Clash's Herbert Sigüenza. This tribute to comedian & movie actor Mario Moreno captures the fusion of the comic's clever word play.
On Friday, June 17th, the La Peña Community Chorus celebrates La Peña's 30th Anniversary in a concert of retrospection and vision with some of its favorite songs from the last 25 years, as well as the most recent additions to its repertoire of music that celebrates justice, peace, unity and hope.
On Saturday, June 18th, Quetzal will be in concert. The leading Chicano band from LA returns to Berkeley with its high quality songs with upbeat rhythms and powerful lyrics in a mix of Mexican, Cuban, Latin American rhythms, jazz, and rock supercharged by its dynamic vocals. Read more