Feature Archives

The National HipHop Political Convention was held in Newark, New Jersey in June, and it came out with a 5-point agenda: Education, Economic Justice, Criminal Justice, Health Care, and Human Rights (plus amendments). The Bay Area Local Organizing Committee (BayLOC) came out of the Convention and planned events here in the Bay. BayLOC called for a demonstration at 12 noon on 11/2 to "Get Hype and Vote." Photos: 1 2 State of Emergency: the SF Bay Hip Hop Summit was held at Laney College in Oakland on October 3rd. Also that weekend, the San Jose Hip Hop Coup held “Beyond the Elements: Reconnecting Hip Hop and Social Change” was held on Saturday, October 2nd at the San Jose State University Union, and continues to organize events in San Jose. Both groups had recommendations for how to vote on propositions on their websites.
The League of Pissed Off Voters, which was founded by writer/graf artist William Upski Wimsatt and others, has done national voter-organizing, with a goal of engaging "pissed off 17-35 year-olds in the democratic process to build a progressive governing majority in our lifetime." The tools that they used were: the book How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office, the website www.indyvoter.org, Progressive Voter Guides, and coalition building through events from brunches to book clubs in your living room, and more, with the building of voter blocs in mind. They have also called for a November 3rd National Day of Truth and Accountability, as part of This Time We're Watching. Search for Local Actions

Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Citizen Change worked with meetup.com to organize young people and youth of color to vote. The two groups joined forces because they felt that joining a group that focused on community organizing along with an online meeting service would be useful. Citizen Change is a national, non-partisan and non-profit organization created to educate, motivate, and empower the more than 42 million "forgotten" Americans aged 18 to 30 who are eligible to vote this fall. Everyday young cultural leaders influence millions of young people to exercise their $890 billion in buying power to purchase the latest fashion, music, cars and bling. Citizen Change used the same kind of marketing, via MTV, ClearChannel, and others, to promote the urgency to vote on Election Day. Citizen Change is known for its "Vote or Die" t-shirts. Notable spokespeople for Citizen Change included Jay-Z, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Ellen DeGeneres, Ashton Kutcher, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige and Drew Barrymore.
Other notable campaigns included Rock the Vote and Rap the Vote. People for the American Way, the Drug Policy Alliance, and ACORN were just some of the organizations involved with Rock the Vote.
The HopHop Summit Action Network is the movement that hip hop mogul Russell Simmons was involved in starting in 2002. HipHop Summits and voter registration events were held all over the country in 2004, including one hosted by Eminem in Detroit. HSAN and America Coming Together joined up for a 1--state Get Out the Vote tour.
DaveyD Reflects: Hip Hop Where Do We Go From Here?

10/30/2004: The new video for Eminem's song "Mosh" was released online and on MTV last week. The video was produced by the Guerrilla News Network. GNN also produced a video for the song "White America," which exposes racism and the alienating effects of growing up in suburban America.

The lyrics of the song "Mosh" advocate political pressure as a means to bring about regime change, and in particular to the American troops home (from Iraq): "Stomp, push up, mosh, fuck Bush, until they bring our troops home..." Some of Eminem's earlier music has shown a disgust with aspects of the system, and more specifically, with parts of mainstream culture. In this song, Eminem says, "We got our own battles to fight / on our own soil." This would appear to be incitement to focus on local struggles--the soil that Eminem refers to appears to be the White House. The video indicates that women, children, and men of color, as well as white soliders are targets of the Bush administration.
Eminem seems to make a point of using language that would attract people who are already part of the movements against corporate globalization and the war: the word "Blechtell" (a reference to Bechtel, a corporate exploiter of the war and water rights all over the world) on the chalkboard, and the use of the phrase "No more blood for oil," for example.

The use of black bloc garb in the video appears to indicate anger and intent to take radical action. The video ends with the hooded-up crowd arriving at a building that resembles the White House, with Eminem at the front, ready to sign in and vote. However, the black bloc is a tactic that is largely used, at least in this country, by anarchists and anti-authoritarians, and anarchists don't vote.

Eminem has reportedly not endorsed any candidate in this race. Fans are reportedly planning to wear black hoodies to the polls on election day. Anarchist Chuck0 says, "Eminem is a fucking joke"

More articles: Beyond the Mainstream Article: Eminem Joins the ABB (Anyone But Bush) Mosh Pit | The Dead End of Electoralism
Posts and commentary on Indybay: Eminem joins the black bloc in anti-Bush video! | Eminem calls Iraq war "mess," blames president | Eminem: Incitement to Vote?!
Ongoing coverage of the election and coming protests on Indybay's Government and Elections Page

Critical Mass celebrated its 12th anniversary on Sept. 24th, 2004 in San Francisco.

10/29/2004: Thousands of bicyclists rode through the streets of San Francisco this evening for the annual Halloween Critical Mass. The riders visited some of SF's locked-out hotels (Photos: 1 | 2). Meanwhile, the City of New York was denied a court injunction against Critical Mass (propaganda); nonetheless 33 cyclists were arrested. Rides were also busted in Oregon. Modesto critical mass rode at 5:30 p.m. Berkeley critical mass rides on the second Friday of the month. The Critical Mass Radio Network took to the airwaves, as it does nationwide on the last Friday of every month.

On September 13th, organizers of San Francisco's Reggae In The Park announced that they dropped a controversial Jamaican singer following complaints from queer activists in SF and beyond. In some of Capleton's lyrics, he has espoused hanging, drowning, burning, or shooting gays. Capleton issued an apology to San Franciso gays in an effort to head off a threatened demonstration. Organizers of the event apparently agreed with protesters, decided that he would be disinvited to perform. Capleton was scheduled to be one of the headline acts at Reggae in the Park, which is a fundraiser for Global Exchange to be held in Sharon Meadow on October 2nd and 3rd. Instead, during that weekend, Capleton has made plans to head to Santa Cruz for a concert at the popular nightclub Catalyst. GLBT activists there have vowed to protest the concert of the Jamaican native. They are calling for public pressure in advance of the concert, and if this fails, protest on Sunday, October 3rd at 7:30pm. Report on Santa Cruz Indymedia

San Francisco is not the only city in which a Capleton show has been cancelled. An October 4th concert in West Hollywood was cancelled, and an October 11th (national coming out day) show at the New Orleans House of Blues was called off. Report from Chicago Anti-Bashing Network Earlier this month the organizers of Britain's urban music awards announced that they would rescind the nominations of reggae stars Elephant Man and Vybz Kartel, after they refused to apologize for their lyrics inciting the murder of lesbian and gay people. Capleton, Bounty Killer and Vybz Kartel were scheduled to perform at an outdoor concert in Newark, New Jersey in September. Organizers of the Reggae Festival said that they required that the three sign contracts that state that they will not perform songs which promote hatred toward gays. Another reggae singer associated with anti-gay lyrics, Beenie Man, is currently on a US tour that has been marked by almost daily announcements of cancellations after concert halls and organizers were made aware of the nature of the singer's lyrics. London's first-ever Reggae in the Park was cancelled due to security risks related to negative publicity about reggae in the press in London.

365gay.com reports that in May, Amnesty International stated that at a reggae concert in Jamaica, Capleton and other performers "sang almost exclusively about gay men. Using the derogatory terms for gay men - "chi chi men" or ‘battybwoys’ - they urged the audience to ‘kill dem, battybwoys haffi dead, gun shots pon dem. Who want to see dem dead, put up his hand’". Amnesty International Launches Global Action to Combat Homophobic Violence in Jamaica DJ Podp of Enemy Combatant Radio recommends some dub musicians to listen to instead of homophobic artists: Asian Dub Foundation, Dr. Israel, Twilight Circus, and Prof. Shehab of Brooklyn.

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"Music... speaks in thousands of languages and is understood by all... it has no borders and no nationality!" Dr. Motte, founder of the the Berlin Love parade has said. The Love Parade came to San Francisco on October 2nd, 2004. The Love Parade is one of the world's largest dance music festivals, and this was the US debut. The parade started in downtown at Market and Beale Streets, near Embarcadero BART. Organizers planned for the parade to being at 2pm. The parade proceeded along the Embarcadero waterfront to 3rd Street and ended at Terry Francois Blvd (just across the bridge from SBC Park, off of 3rd Street) for a post-parade festival. This festival was planned to last until approximately 9pm, although it was quite chilly by 6pm. The floats and DJs that took part in the parade were all present at thre festival. Prior to the Love Parade, organizers were promising 29 floats of electronic dance music madness, with over 200 confirmed djs and live acts. This was a fully permitted, all day, all ages event.
Coincidentally, the Fuck Parade also came to America for the first time on the same day as the Love Parade. "Music...that stands up for liberation and against the state is as universal as commercial exploitation of culture...no person is illegal, no party is illegal." Dr. Muff, Founder of the Berlin Fuck Parade. The Fuck Parade was started as an attempt to take the party back from the commercial/mainstream elements that the Love Parade represented. Organizers said to expect music on the harder side, the sound of the underground. The Fuck Parade was scheduled to gather at the end of the Love Parade. "We love to cum, we fuck to survive!"
San Francisco Love Parade | San Francisco Fuck Parade | Berlin Fuck Parade

9/19/2004: Dozens of floats made their way up Berkeley's University Avenue in the city's annual How Berkeley Can You Be? Parade this morning, then made their way to Martin Luther King Jr. Park for an afternoon-long festival. This year's celebration was unusual in that it coincided with the annual observation of Berkeley Car-Free Day. The theme of the parade was Loco-Motion. As the website stated, "In celebration of International Car Free Day and in honor of all the weird, wild, and wacky ways we move, we encourge you to rethink how you get around! Bicycle power, human power, solar, biodiesel, horsepower, muppet power - these are but a few ways to get out of the usual 'driving around' mentality and into loco-motion." Participants came through with original floats that were powered by gas motors, feet, the sun, and more. Floats ranged from creative arts exhibitions to political organizations, from decorated bicycles to art cars. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | How Berkeley Can You Be? Website

"At few times in recent history has it been more imperative that communities find ways to make their voices heard." - Neighborhood Public Radio

In January of 2004, a group of artists, musicians and local radio dj's examined, in the form of a 4 day performance, what a different kind of public radio project might look like if it were localized, open to the community and reflected in its content the kind of issues that played out in the community's daily collective lives. Over the course of 4 days at 21 Grand Art Gallery and Performance space, various artists local to Oakland created intelligent and provocative audio content, culture-jammed and stuck it to the powers-that-be. The programming ranged from a daily left wing fanatical talk show broadcast.... to manipulations of recorded signals from the local "public" radio outlet. Neighborhood Public Radio (NPR) was born.

NPR has returned to the Bay Area for a long run at Southern Exposure Gallery in the Mission from September 10 - Oct. 23. Broadcasting on 88.9 FM on evenings and weekends, radio programming includes interviews with local filmmakers (The Mission Movie and the MadCat Film Festival), local hip-hop djs and Enemy Combatant Radio's very own Radical Tea Party, which will be airing on Wednesdays from 5:30 - 6:00pm. Local listeners are encouraged to come by the gallery to be apart of the studio audience - and check out the other exhibits!

Southern Exposure Gallery is located at 401 Alabama Street in SF. NPR will be broadcasting from Sept. 10-Oct. 23, on 88.9FM.