(born under the weight of cross-sewn fields...)

"Welcome to my blog! If you would like any info about the radio documentary “This Weapon Has..."

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:00:00 -0500

“Welcome to my blog! If you would like any info about the radio documentary “This Weapon Has Heart” on the Honduran community radio movement or on my musical project autococoon, email kiteswimming(((at)))riseup(((dot)))net or visit http://www.autococoon.bandcamp.com for audio clips and songs!”

Photo

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:30:07 -0500

Saturday December 17th: in Manhattan at the International Action...

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 02:34:00 -0500

Saturday December 17th: in Manhattan at the International Action Center — 3 young activists (Honduran and U.S.’ites) report back from our solidarity work in Honduras.

HOLLOW EARTH RADIO

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:26:19 -0500

So I work with an au’some radio station here in Seattle called Hollow Earth Radio (H.E.R.). She lives in a public space next to 20/20 Cycle (20th & Union) in the Central District. She’s an internet station you can listen to from anywhere in the world through the center of the earth. H.E.R. is a participatory community radio station, meaning you can call us and tell us your paranormal experiences and weird dreams over the air, you can come to the space for all-ages shows, you can volunteer with us and make H.E.R. even au’somer. The show I co-host is OlympiYEAH — all Olympiacentric music and interviews from Olympia, WA.

Listen and engage at http://www.hollowearthradio.org !!

"This Weapon Has Heart" Greyhound Tour, September 2011

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:44:00 -0400

From Philadelphia to Olympia, in a large ~ shape across the U.S., I will be traveling via Greyhound buses to promote the audio documentary “This Weapon Has Heart,” or “Este Arma Tiene Corazón,” about Honduran community radio. During this tour, I will be playing electro-acoustic music as well as organizing with community radio networks. Matt Fu of 1985 will be joining me and he has the voice of an angel.

THIS WEAPON HAS HEART ♥ ESTE ARMA TIENE CORAZÔN

I recently returned from Honduras after a 10-week stay in Central America documenting the power that community radio holds to counter state repression tactics. Twelve extremely rich and powerful families run the country, with a menacing grip on the Honduran government, military, economy, and society. Honduran peasant families are facing severe threats to their lives and livelihoods from thousands of mining, tourism, agriculture, and hydroelectric energy megaprojects implemented by multinational corporations in cahoots with the Honduran government. This violence has increased dramatically since the June 28, 2009 military coup d’êtat and has not improved since the reintegration of the country into the Organization of American States on June 1 of this year.

At almost every one of the six community radio stations that I visited, members told me that RADIO IS THE WEAPON OF CHOICE to fight against the police, paramilitaries, military forces, and armies of private security guards employed by thieving landlords, all funded by Honduran and North American taxpayers, that regularly beat, detain, threaten, torture, and kill Honduran activists. Targeted groups include students, teachers, artists, peasants, union leaders, members of LGBTQI communities, and Jesuit priests. Honduran journalists and social communicators working with alternative radio, television, and internet media are also severely harassed daily for their exercise of the right to free speech.

Communities have achieved an incredible level of non-violent resistance to the repression, especially since the coup, which sparked a broad public awakening. Resistance-related workshops and conferences on the national, municipal, and local level are constantly taking place. One widely used and very valuable tool organizations have been launching in the past two decades, with a notable surge in stations since the coup, is community radio.

During this tour I would love to share what I experienced with activists nationwide and discuss actions we can take, such as forming local anti-militarization campaigns, or starting our own community radio station, to pressure the U.S. government to drain military funding to Honduras and end human rights abuses in Central America.

I will be promoting my audio documentary THIS WEAPON HAS HEART, which will be 1-2 hours in length, like a feature film, and will feature interviews and music from Honduran resistance groups. I’ll be making at least 3 versions, one in Spanish, one in English, and one crafted specifically for a Honduran audience. The doc is set to broadcast on at least 20 radio stations internationally.

I’ll also be performing my solo music project, autococoon, on guitar and vocals. These songs are complex musically, mostly fingerpicked, and change time signatures frequently. The lyrics are intricate, with political resistance themes and poetry about marine biology and love.

My partner Matt of the band 1985 will also be performing songs he calls from beyond with his beautiful voice, on guitar and vocals. 1985 songs often have social, political and cultural bearings, usually swimming in colorful poetics and quasi-spiritual ruminations.

Reach out if you would like us to come to your town!! The dates below are flexible. If you know about community radio stations that may be interested in syndicating “This Weapon Has Heart,” please email me: kiteswimming@riseup.net !

THIS WEAPON HAS HEART TOUR DATES

Aug 29 Cincinnati, OH: Daniels Pub
Aug 30 Asheville, NC: Firestorm Café w/ the Neapolitan Children
Aug 30 Asheville, NC: The Get Down w/ I Make the Young & Octopus and Owl
Aug 31 Greensboro, NC: Science House w/ Jordan Michael, Sailing Day, Kieran Anderson, & Stay Classy
Sep 1 Baltimore, MD: The Depot w/ Fires & Ahab’s Revenge
Sep 2 7pm Philadelphia, PA: Wooden Shoe Books w/ Impressionist & Snow Caps
Sep 2 10pm West Philadelphia, PA: Sprinkle Kingdom w/ You Me & Us & Sonni Shine
Sep 3 7pm NY, NY: Bluestockings Bookstore w/ Lior & Heather Cottin / Panel Discussion w/ Roberto Quesada, Alana Carstens & Gerardo Torres
Sep 3 10pm Brooklyn, NY: Top Tomato (1049 74th St.) for Jon Carrelli’s Birthday w/ Little Black Rainclouds
Sep 4 Boston, MA: The Muthership
Sep 5 Portland, ME: Poland St. w/ Hurricanes of Love & Billy Carr
Sep 6 Leveritt, MA: Pickling Party
Sep 7 Keene, NH: The Cootie Cave
Sep 8 Lowell, MA: Mt. Vernsworth Manor (81 Mt. Vernon Street) w/ Pure Fun, The Comrades, Inspector 34
Sep 9 Buffalo, NY: The Vault w/ Crushing Something & TJ Borden
Sep 10 Grand Rapids, MI: Mulligan’s w/ Royal Space & Ribbons of Song
Sep 11 Ann Arbor, MI: Canterbury House (721 E. Huron) w/ Mall Mutants (PDX), Breezin’ (PDX), Actual Birds, (From) The Sky
Sep 12 Normal, IL: La Casaita (305 N. Linden) w/ Gregg Brown, Vincent Aguilar, This Is My Mess, Alex Gelsthorpe
Sep 13 Champaign, IL: St. Jude’s Catholic Workers House w/ Morgan Orion, Aaron Stromberg
Sep 14 Chicago, IL: 11am-1pm Lunch at 8th Day Center for Justice (205 W Monroe) w/ Buddy Bell
Sep 14 Milwaukee, WI: 8pm Cream City Collectives
Sep 15 Madison, WI: 7pm WNPJ Conference Room (4th Floor, 122 State St.) w/ Buddy Bell
Sep 16 St. Paul, MN: Wild Tymes w/ Faith Boblett Band, Steve Sullivan & The Factory
Sep 17 Lincoln, NE: SP CE
Sep 18 Albuquerque, NM: Peace and Justice Center
Sep 19 Grand Canyon, AZ: Cave Camping w/ Druid
Sep 20 Grand Canyon, AZ: Showwow w/ Dogbreth
Sep 21 Flagstaff, AZ: The Big House w/ Dogbreth
Sep 22 Tuscon, AZ: Sandino Center (1050 S. Verdugo Ave) w/ Dogbreth
Sep 23 Phoenix, AZ: Judy (917 E Pierce St) w/ Dogbreth
Sep 24 Santa Barbara, CA
Sep 25 Santa Cruz, CA: SubRosa Infoshop
Sep 26 Eugene, OR
Sep 27 Olympia, WA

sharp-crested: ‘cocoon weaver’ for grasshut sloth/moth show (by...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:36:00 -0400

sharp-crested:

‘cocoon weaver’ for grasshut sloth/moth show (by Nicole Linde)

THIS IS WHAT AUTOCOCOON LOOKS LIKE

A MULTIMEDIA EVENT Bluestockings Bookstore in Manhattan on...

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:14:34 -0400

A MULTIMEDIA EVENT

Bluestockings Bookstore in Manhattan on September 3rd, 7-9pm, as a part of the 30-day Greyhound tour in support of the audiodoc THIS WEAPON HAS HEART on Honduran community radio

Panel discussion on free speech in Honduras with:

Roberto Quesada, Honduran columnist for Diario Tiempo

Alana Carstens, representative of Democracy Now! en español

Gerardo Torres, representative of the FNRP to North America and Secretary General of Los Necios Political Organization, calling in from Honduras!

Greg Harris, UPenn student and activist currently in Honduras, reporting back

With short music sets by 1985, autococoon (Caitlin), and Lior Hadar of Brooklyn. Heather Cottin will open the event with “A Song for Honduras.” Segments from THIS WEAPON HAS HEART will play between sets.

Photo

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:06:00 -0400

Human rights abuses continue in Honduras

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:29:00 -0400

U.S. imperialism is alive and well, this much we know. Here in Honduras, rifle-bearing soldiers and cops, or perhaps police dressed in military garb, or perhaps private security guards borrowing police uniforms – it’s never easy to tell – are vigilant at grocery stores, Dunkin Donuts, and banks, as well as rural communities. Where do these armed forces get their funding? You guessed it, your wallet.

Of all security funds pouring into Central America from Washington, 52% go to Honduras’ highly corrupt and repressive post-coup military outfit. Since the military coup d’etat on June 28, 2009, which was condoned and forgotten by the U.S. government, over 400 Hondurans have been targeted and killed in acts of state repression, whether for violating curfew, for being a feminist, or for working in alternative media. Thousands more have been detained, wounded, and tortured, and countless Hondurans are harassed daily specifically for their political views and actions.

Land use is the main struggle in this country. Peasants, or campesinos, are fighting for their right to land for subsistence farming. Thirty percent of the land in Honduras was recently promised to foreign mining corporations. Hydroelectric dams, coastal tourism projects, and monoculture megaprojects are all threats to Honduran campesinos. As indigenous, Garifuna (communities of African descent), and campesino resistance movements gain momentum, repression against them also grows stronger.

Honduras was reintegrated into the Organization of American States on June 1, 2011, after the celebrated return of ousted president Manuel Zelaya Rosales. The National Front of Popular Resistance, or FNRP, welcomed his return with the largest gathering in Honduran history but find that the reintegration of the country into the OAS is a huge step back for the resistance. The FNRP had proposed 4 requirements for reintegration – Zelaya’s return, along with all other exiles; the recognition of the FNRP as a political party; the improvement of the human rights situation in the country; and a participative national assembly for a new constitution. None of these requirements have been fulfilled, and of these four, only one has even been touched. Just a handful of exiles have returned to the country, one of which, Enrique Flores Lanza, is under house arrest.

Clearly human rights violations in Honduras continue in force, the justice system is worse than broken, and democracy is no more than a fanciful dream or a word thrown around for diplomacy’s sake. Twelve families run the country. The oligarchy owns a vast proportion of fertile land, controls legislation, business, the military, and all other state institutions. One example of this twisted web is that former president Carlos Flores Facussé, the nephew of the richest man in Honduras, landlord Miguel Facussé, founded La Tribuna, the largest newspaper in Honduras, and his daughter Lizzy Flores is the country’s new United Nations ambassador.

Facussé’s scope is enormous. He fits the image of a classic feudalistic colonial king. He controls an army of 200 private security guards, who are ruthless in their oppression of campesinos who live on his illegally claimed territory. Facussé bought up the hill of Zacate Grande little by little from families who had worked their land for generations, both through threatening them and by offering more and more money until the campesinos sold their ancestral land. The hill is now home to this oligarch’s private hunting grounds, to which he has imported exotic animals such as white deer for the sole purpose of the sport of killing.

Campesinos across the country are organizing fervently against the reign of Facussé and several other underhanded landlords. The Aguán valley, located in northern Honduras, is an incredibly militarized region where curfew is still in place in some regions. This valley is extraordinarily fertile, attracting foreign investors in African palm cultivation for export as biodiesel and palm oil. Some farming communities have been displaced for over a decade, migrating from one palm plantation occupation to the next in violent eviction processes. The author was present during an attempted eviction of a community from the land it had been holding for 11 years.

Scorched earth in Rigores, Cortez, Honduras

On July 1, 2011, a group of 18 U.S. and Canadian citizens traveling as human rights delegates with Alliance for Global Justice and Rights Action arrived to the community of Rigores, as a response to an alert that police were scheduled to evict these campesinos from their land. Upon arriving, delegates learned that about 120 families had already been evicted on Sunday, June 26 and that the police were on their way to remove them from the community center in which they were taking refuge so that the campesinos would not return to the land where their homes had stood a week earlier.

Shortly after the delegates arrived, around 9am, they received word that the police were approaching Rigores via a side street, burning houses along the way. The delegation traveled along with community members to the site and stood in a line facing the police, who were slowly approaching. Some took position by hiding behind vegetation. One sniper hid behind a tree throughout the encounter. This highly militant aspect contrasted with the respectful attitude presented by these heavily armed men. Community leaders, local human rights activists and delegates spoke to the police chief for about 45 minutes about the legality of the eviction. When asked for the eviction order, the chief presented a document of complaint that cited an event involving ”heavily armed campesinos” which had supposedly occurred on June 30^th, though it was signed by a judge on June 11^th. No eviction order was presented. After about three hours the police finally left; however, the risk that they could return remains.

The delegation members collected testimony from the campesinos about the violence perpetrated by police forces on June 26^th. One woman’s account detailed the brutality with which the police tore these campesinos away from their land. The police entered her home with guns drawn and pointed menacingly at her family members. They pulled a mattress out from under her four small children, who rolled onto the floor, treated ”like little rats.” A cop asked for her identification card and promptly burned it. These police, including a special forces COBRA unit, known for decades of human rights violations, poured gasoline around her house and set it on fire, leaving no time to collect any belongings. After this violent process, several women either gave birth or miscarried due to the physical and emotional stress of these events.

Animals such as dogs, cats, and chickens were set on fire or left to burn. Acres of community corn fields were scorched. These shameless police forces reportedly walked through the orange tree fields cutting branches off the plants and eating the fruit. They also confiscated a pig and other livestock, as well as a tractor given to the community by ALBA, the Latin American trade alliance. The brutality with which this eviction was carried out is clearly an illegal violation of human rights as part of the heavily escalated violence that still penetrates Honduran police and military forces. The United States government is pouring taxpayer dollars into this militarization, as it has been doing in Honduras for decades. One example of this horrible waste of money is the U.S. air force base of Palmerola.

Protest at Palmerola air base

On the morning of June 28^th, around 200 people gathered a few miles away from the entrance to Palmerola Air Base, which is located in Honduras but used by the United States Air Force. The marchers proceeded towards the main gate to denounce the US’s military presence and its role in the overthrow of Honduras’ democratically elected government on June 28^th, 2009. The plane that sent Honduras’ president Manuel Zelaya into exile on that day flew from the capital, Tegucigalpa, to Palmerola before continuing in the opposite direction to Costa Rica.

The protest was organized by COPINH, the Civic Counsel of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, which works to oppose multinational mining, agricultural, tourism, and hydroelectric energy projects. These projects, which have been fast-tracked under the post-coup government, work the current system to cheat Garifuna, Lenca, and other Honduran people out of their farms and land.

Also attending the march were about 25 citizens of the United States, who were present to monitor police behavior, to support COPINH’s anti-exploitation struggle, and to protest the misuse of taxpayer money on militarization in Honduras. The march followed a 2-day anti-militarization conference in La Esparanza, Honduras, with the participation of delegates from Brazil, Costa Rica, Canada, the U.S., El Salvador, and Nicaragua, to name a few.

Traffic on the highway was blocked for over two hours. At one point, a young Honduran activist got too close to the wall of the air base, bearing a large stencil and a can of spraypaint, and a police officer (dressed in military garb) pulled him to the ground in a stranglehold. As other marchers, including an elderly Lenca woman, approached the scene, the police pointed rifles at them menacingly. Without warning, at least 2 tear gas canisters were fired and the marchers fled down a nearby street, then promptly continued the march. No one was detained or severely injured, although some emerged with bruises and cuts sustained from baton strikes.

Upon reaching Palmerola’s main gate, there was a rally in the driveway in which the people chanted, “Yankee trash out of Honduras!” and “More food, zero weapons!” The crowd also remembered the hundreds of activists that were shot and killed by the police in the 2 years since the coup, chanting, “Present with us today, tomorrow, and always, they keep on living through our struggle!”

A call to action

The attitude of the Obama Administration towards the Honduran government is one of acceptance and encouragement. U.S. citizens have, albeit limited, power to influence representatives to cut the flow of money into the hands of the corrupt and violent Honduran oligarchy. The cash set for militarization in Honduras would much better serve the public interest paying for education and healthcare domestically.

The transnational economic and military forces that are violently oppressing the creative and youthful resistance in Honduras are the sames forces which are working against the personal and collective freedoms of North Americans. There are thousands of ways in which we can each fight these giants, and of course, together we are stronger. To debilitate the Honduran oligarchy, international and Honduran activists are needed in both countries. One very needed role for international activists is that of accompanier, or human rights observer. Local organizations are calling for Spanish-speaking activists to join long-term international accompaniment teams here which monitor human rights violations and live in communities in which militarization is escalating, such as Zacate Grande and in the Aguán valley. International accompaniment allows local organizers to continue with their work with a highly decreased risk of state violence.

For more information on accompaniment, go to campamentoshonduras.blogspot.com or www.friendshipoffice.org/honduras.

~Caitlin Payne Roberts

Documentary to be made about radio, for radio broadcast

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:30:00 -0400

(LA TRADUCCIÔN A ESPAÑOL ESTÂ AL FONDO)

Hello all,

Hope you are well! This is Caitlin Payne Roberts writing to you from the
community radio station La Voz de Zacate Grande, located in Puerto Grande,
a town on the peninsula (former island) of Zacate Grande in the Gulf of
Fonseca, which is on the Pacific coast of Honduras. The communities that
have lived here for generations have been fighting the richest man in
Honduras, Miguel Facussé, for at least 20 years in a land struggle.

La Voz de Zacate Grande empowers the island-wide popular resistance
movement through providing a participative, creative alternative media
channel to denounce local, national and international human rights
violations as well as play music relevant to the people who live here.
This particular station is run by young people, the majority under 21.
There is even a local band: La Alegria del Sur (the happiness of the
south) with a 13-year-old singer, who I had the privilege of jamming with
on Sunday. It’s going to be really hard to leave.

I’m producing an audio documentary about Honduran community radio. It will
be about an hour or two long, just like a feature film, and made up of
resistance music and interviews with radio folks. If you know of a radio
station anywhere in the world that would be interested in syndicating this
program, please send me their contact information. I’ll be making 3
versions: one in Spanish, one in English, and one made specifically for an
Honduran audience. Since we are in this global fight against transnational
powers, I am open to collaborating to create more versions in other
languages (i.e., French, for all you Canadian activists who are organizing
against Canadian mining and tourism megaprojects in Central America).

Since I arrived to Honduras a month ago, I’ve visited the following
community radio stations:
- Faluma Bimetu, located on the communal Garifuna lands of Triunfo de la
Cruz on the north coast, operated by OFRANEH, the Fraternal Organization
of Blacks in Honduras. This radio was burnt down in January of 2010 by
police forces due to its denouncements of the coup d’etat, and began
transmitting again a month later with international funds. 70% of its
programming is in the Garifuna language. Faluma Bimetu translates to Coco
Dulce in Spanish, or Sweet Coconut.
- Guara Jambala, in the western mountain town of La Esperanza, launched by
COPINH, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations in
Honduras. Guara Jambala fights to inform the public about the ugly face of
impending hydroelectric energy projects, which commercial media tends to
applaud.
- La Voz Lenca, another COPINH project, perched atop a lush rural hill in
Concordia de la Cruz, three hours on dirt roads west of her sister radio
Guara Jambala. This radio plays an important role in a community without
electricity since people can use the radio as a form of direct
communication between family members and friends by calling the radio and
announcing a meeting place on the air.
- Radio Orquídea, in the Bajo Aguán valley, run by MCA, the Campesino
Movement of the Aguán. This radio is located in the most militarized
region in the country and represents the voice of the people who are up
against a handful of very powerful African palm plantation owners who are
irrigating their crops with campesino blood and tears.
- Estrella, in Trujillo, in a Garifuna community near the mouth of the
Aguán river, also operated by OFRANEH. The community surrounding Estrella
is up against a large Canadian tourism project that is threatening the
inhabitants of communally owned land and buying it illegally, parcel by
parcel.
- La Voz de Zacate Grande, built on the ancestral soil of the community of
Puerto Grande, managed by ADEPZA, the Association for the Development of
Zacate Grande. Miguel Facussé claims to own the land these families live
on and people here experience constant threats of eviction. ADEPZA wants
to develop a sustainable tourism project so that they can grow more food
for their families; however, the majority of the beaches are illegally in
the hands of Facussé for personal use.

I also interviewed representatives from Radio Gualcho, a community radio
in Tegucigalpa, and Radio Progreso, a commercial radio in El Progreso that
runs programming pertaining to the resistance movements. I chose to focus
on just community radio instead of expand the scope of the project to
cover Radio Progreso, Radio Uno, and Radio Globo, which are anti-coup
commercial stations that are vital to urban organizing communities. Staff
from these stations are also severely harassed for their leftist
programming. One difference between these commercial stations and
community radio is that the latter focuses less on politics and more on
popular struggles for land and liberty.

What these community radios have in common is that they are powerful tools
to communicate within communities of resistance. At almost every station I
have visited, members have told me the radio is the weapon of choice to
fight against paramilitaries, police, armies of private security guards
employed by thieving landlords, and military forces funded by Honduran and
North American taxpayers.

More than anything I have learned how constant resistance needs to be in
order to effect change. The frequency with which organizations meet here
is unbelievable – people are constantly discussing strategy, doing
outreach, and mobilizing, even in the face of poverty, working for a
brighter future.

In a week I will return to my hometown in Pennsylvania to edit the over 50
hours of interviews plus local music I’ve collected in Honduras. In early
September I’ll be touring back to the northwest for two weeks with a
completed audio documentary about the people I’ve met here and the fight
for free speech. I’ll be sharing what I have learned about Honduran
community radio and the forces that work against it, and I’m bringing my
guitar. Let me know if you want me to stop by your town!

In solidarity,
Caitlin Payne Roberts
kiteswimming@riseup.net
267 229 9568

blog: http://crosssewnfields.tumbr.com
music: http://autococoon.bandcamp.com
radio: http://www.hollowearthradio.org

then, protesting militarization & interventionism in front...

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:49:00 -0400

then, protesting militarization & interventionism in front of the US embassy in Tegucigalpa.

a motley crüe: about 23 delegates from the US as well as people...

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:43:19 -0400

a motley crüe: about 23 delegates from the US as well as people from Brazil, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Spain, England, and Venezuela, to name a few, involved in the protest following an anti-militarization conference yesterday in La Esperanza.

& then in action, the banner says “Encounter against...

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:38:00 -0400

& then in action, the banner says “Encounter against militarization: Get out gringo troops!” (yeah, that’s uncle sam with a bird head & an arrow in his bum)

painting a banner 2 nights before the protest…

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:37:48 -0400

painting a banner 2 nights before the protest…

2nd anniversary of the coup d’etat in Honduras, June 28,...

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:36:19 -0400

2nd anniversary of the coup d’etat in Honduras, June 28, 2011. protesting in front of US Air Force base, Palmerola, where the aircraft carrying ex-president Mel Zelaya stopped to refuel after being kidnapped from his home 2 years ago.

Dispatch #3: Marcha de las Putas (Tegucigalpa, Honduras)

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:35:00 -0400

&lt;a href=”http://autococoon.bandcamp.com/track/dispatch-3-slutwalk-tegucigalpa-6-19-11” _mce_href=”http://autococoon.bandcamp.com/track/dispatch-3-slutwalk-tegucigalpa-6-19-11”&gt;Dispatch #3: SLUTWALK Tegucigalpa (6/19/11) by autococoon&lt;/a&gt;

Triumph & Hope, two towns,

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:49:03 -0400

In the early part of this week, I spent 3 nights in Triunfo de la Cruz (Triumph of the Cross), a Garifuna community near Tela on the north coast of Honduras. There are 5 radio stations on in Garifuna communities on the north coast, and the one in Triunfo was the first. It´s called Faluma Bimetu in Garifuna, or Coco Dulce in Spanish, or Sweet Coconut in English. The station is tiny, with a production room and a broadcasting room, and the transmitter in the backyard. Directly after the coup, the station was instrumental in unifying Triunfo against the coup government and sharing present-tense information, for instance, about the violence perpetrated against protesters. The radio station was burned to the ground a year ago and built back up within a month due to the outpouring of support from all sides. Faluma Bimetu and its volunteers are still facing strong threats at all times.

The bus ride along the coast was just teeming with african palm plantations, the majority owned by landlord Miguel Facussè. These trees get huge. It was surreal to drive through hundreds of miles of these trees, which are essentially large tree ferns; it felt like a manufactured forest. Facussè is in a longstanding complicated land dispute; he bought acres and acres of coastal Honduran land from a US citizen who bought them illegally. He continues to buy these lands without first consulting the peasants who live on the lands. His representatives show up on subsistence farms and kick out the people whose families had lived there for generations. Often, as is happening now in the Aguàn valley, peasants revolt and “occupy” the land that rightfully belongs to them. Since the coup d`etat 2 years ago, violence against peasants is increasing dramatically due to a more comfortable political climate for those who desire to eliminate any obstacles that stand in the way of profit, including human beings. Just a couple of weeks ago, a farmer disappeared from his cattle farm neighboring an african palm plantation. A trail of blood led from the spot where he was tending his cattle into the plantation.

In 1993, a business from San Pedro Sula bought parts of the communally owned land of Triunfo de la Cruz to develop “ecotourism.” Their plan is to turn Triunfo de la Cruz, a peaceful fishing village, into the Cancún of Honduras, with megahotels, which are not too conducive to the community´s enjoyment of life. These projects would also consume a large percentage of the community´s water and land resources.

Another issue the community is facing is the Natural Resources department of Honduras. Two years ago, an armed batallion of 13 soldiers was sent to stop fishermen from fishing, on the pretext of violating fishing codes. The soldiers opened fire on the fishermen, killing one and wounding others. Here is an excellent article on Garifuna history and current events (note: I was able to meet with the very same gentleman this journalist spoke with)…

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1195/1/

In terms of natural beauty, if I were a twisted profit-driven businessperson, I would illegally buy these lands in a heartbeat for tourism development. This is easily the most beautiful Atlantic beach I have ever been to. The water is like a jacuzzi. I literally bumped into a jellyfish while swimming in the sea. It was about softball size, but it was hard, and had 1-inch-long tentacles, not stingy at all, with tons of beautiful ethereal colors, lavender, periwinkle, rose, sea green. Later I saw a large iguana fall out of a tree next to the house I stayed in, as well as tons of small lizards and a cool tree frog in the bathroom. I also saw an empty land-turtle shell on the beach. I got to spend considerable time hanging out with kids, and they told me all bout the whales and dolphins you can see when you go out in boats.

Right now I´m in La Esperanza, staying at an extra-rural community center where they are holding a live-in screenprinting workshop til Sunday. So beautiful here, nice and refreshing weather, up in the mountains. There are 2 horses, a ton of cows and chickens, and 2 cats on the farm. I´m writing from a very awesome radio station called Guarra Jambala.

Still working on my audio segment about Marcha de las Putas, it will be ready on Monday to broadcast on olympiYEAH! on hollow earth radio.

MARCHA DE LAS PUTAS HONDURAS SLUT WALK...

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 02:22:00 -0400

"I look how I want to look!"

MARCHA DE LAS PUTAS HONDURAS

SLUT WALK HONDURAS

TEGUCIGALPA

The orange banner says “Not my sex, nor my age, nor my clothes: the problem is your assault.”

Marcha de las Putas, Tegucigalpa

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 02:09:55 -0400

Today: Honduras’ first-ever Slut Walk, in Spanish, that’s Marcha de las Putas!

We marched for about 2 hours to Parque Central. About 200 folks showed up, mainly female bodied, many LGBTQ, and allies. Chants included “it’s not how I look, it’s how you see me,” “no means no,” and “I dress how I want.”

The systemic repression of women and LGBTQ activists has been particularly strong since the coup of June 28, 2009. Gender activists are being threatened, harrassed, and assassinated for their political and social views and actions. Today the police and military did not appear on the scene until the rally at the end of the march at Parque Central, where they did not seem to be doing any harm other than imposing a patriarchical, authoritarian presence, and only reinforcing the reasons why we fight.

The march was organized by a few people who had heard about the march taking place in other Latin American countries such as Mexico, and they said, why shouldn’t we do this in our city? They created a facebook event and the march blossomed into the incredible success that it was.

One of my favorite points made at the rally after the march was that the coup would not have happened if it had not been for machismo.

A great day… I proceeded to eat gourmet home-made sushi at a neighbor’s house, drink canned beer, and learn a ton of dirty words in Spanish.

In Country

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:58:24 -0400

I’m in Honduras! The town is called Santa Rosa de Copan. I could not have imagined the terrain here, it feels like a dream. The hills are made of alternating bright reddish orange stone and limestone-looking rocks, and there are a lot of big rocks hanging out everywhere. I could imagine this being the site of The Pointless Forest and the Rock Man (from the classic film The Point!). I have encountered so many more pines that I would have expected thus far. In Guatemala, there are these amaaazing pines with giant tufts of long blue-green needles. Here they are a distinct olive green, and not too densely growing, and they shower the ground with needles the shade I would expect a on soft baby cow. This place reminds me of Montana for the hills, and of New Mexico for the colors.

Yesterday I was in El Salvador, unfortunately for only one day and one night. TOTALLY went to the Pacific ocean and boogeyboarded at Playa San Diego, just south of La Libertad on bus #80. San Diego is a superb town, it consists of several very long straight streets parallel to the beach, with mostly just residencies, schools, and small corner stores and street food vendors. The best part is that everywhere you look there is another person on a bike, many with bike trailers, and another cypress tree.

I’d really like to return to that beach again for the 5am just-after-high-tide shell hunts… hint: if you go, don’t leave anything unattended on the beach (duh) — not even shoes, cause mine were stolen! Either that or I had a blind spot.

I tried pupusas today for the first time… breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s a maize tortilla with a thin layer of beans and cheese packed inside. Ain’t gonna stop til I get enuff. I also noticed today, probably not for the first time, that the word “corazon,” which means heart, is used as a pet name, kind of like honey or sweetheart. The lovely pupusa maker called all her customers corazon… with that word, there’s no need to say sweet.