In Which I Blather About Musicals in The Kenyon Review

My friend Molly Rice surveys Morgan Jenness, Adrien-Alice Hansel, and others (including me) about musicals in The Kenyon Review. Here's an excerpt:

"I hated musicals, with their relentless, dated lameness, and gravitated towards the 'real' and the 'gritty' stuff taught at my performing arts school, and at that time personified (to me) as the likes of Mamet and Shepard: cinematic, macho stuff, existing in strident opposition to the sentimentality and artificiality of the musical. Some 20 years later, obeying more or less the same contrarian logic, I have come around to the complete opposite position: the American play as most know it, that fourth-wall drama, is dead and ossified, not far advanced beyond the TV plays of the 1950s, while musicals, or music-theater, or whatever you want to call it, is truly alive, truly at one with the conventions of the art form."

Whole piece here.

Episode 39 of The Acousmatic Theater Hour on WFMU

This is a GREAT one: Mac Wellman's 1965UU, performed by Paul Lazar, directed by Steve Mellor, produced for radio by Karinne Keithley.

SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS

As mentioned previously, I'm part of an online writing experiment called Significant Objects, orchestrated by the NY Times' Rob Walker and Hermenaut's Joshua Glenn. Here's their description:

"A talented, creative writer invents a story about an object. Invested with new significance by this fiction, the object should — according to our hypothesis — acquire not merely subjective but objective value. How to test our theory? Via eBay!"

Here's my story. Excerpt:

"I wish to reassure anyone who is considering purchasing me that it is not my look of need, afflicting though it may be, that is responsible for the fate of my last three owners. For reasons that I can only imagine are aesthetic, I tend to be attractive to elderly people, specifically elderly women, and can not be blamed for their mortality. The fate of my third owner, the young man, was some sort of freak event. I assure potential buyers that I am not cursed. At least I am not cursed in that way.":

The Dome Doll is for sale here, with a starting bid of 99 cents. Auction lasts a week.

There are a whole bunch of writers involved with this project, some of them pretty famous. So please bid on my object, to save my self-esteem! You will also be the proud owner of my story. I get whatever money is raised, but the average sale price so far has been under $20. So if you win the object I'll buy you a beer.

Here's some press:

NY Times Book Review
NY Times Magazine
LA Times
The New Yorker
Boston Globe
Washington Post

And a lot more here.

And of course feel free to pass this on.

R.I.P. Merce Cunningham

A true master.

Last month in Indiana, I found a whole bunch of late-60s issues of The Saturday Evening Post in a junk shop. On the cover of one of them was a vaguely familiar hawk-faced fellow in what looked like Star Trek makeup. It turned out to be Cunningham -- I had never seen him as a young man. Try to imagine an experimental choreographer on the cover of our most widely-read national magazine in 2009! (for that matter, try to imagine a widely-read national magazine in 2009, though that's another story).

Episode 38 of The Acousmatic Theater Hour on WFMU

Under The Volcano/Studio One.

NYC: From Reverend Billy

Dear Lovely Friends,

We've just been in San Francisco and are filled up with joy at the success of our Elect-a-lujah show at the DNA lounge. We preached at City Hall and that shining city by the bay designated July 21st, "Reverend Billy Day in the Era of the Shopocalypse!" Thank you to the wonderful revolutionaries of San Francisco!

Now we're back at New York HQ and energizing for the fundraiser at the Highline Ballroom with Joan Baez, Quitzow, the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir, and many other wonderful guests. Tickets are available at http://voterevbilly.org/events/elect-a-lujah-07-27. Please come and be with us at this once-in-a-lifetime show. If you can't make it, please sponsor a friend and buy a ticket or two for someone who might not have the bucks.

There's so much to be grateful for and so much we've accomplished so far in this campaign. Signatures are growing, events are skyrocketing, so please help keep us going. Donate today!

Spread the love,

Rev. Billy Talen

NYC: My Co-Host Has A Show This Weekend

This From Cloudland
a tender onslaught
of text for speaking

featuring Kate Ryan, Kristen Kosmas, and Karinne Keithley

written by Kristen Kosmas & broadcast to you live
by the Choral Division of the Ladies Auxiliary Playwriting Team

@ Barbès
379 9th Street
Brooklyn 11215
8 PM
suggested donation $10

This Saturday July 25

SEMINARS

New Dramatists Call For Interns

Please pass this along. It is probably the best theater internship in NYC -- you learn a tremendous amount, get to meet people from every walk of NY (and often US and some international) theater, and it's probably the best first step to becoming a resident there. I was an intern in 2003 and became a member in 2006, and I'm not the only one.

---

Bernard B. Jacobs Internship Program

New Dramatists seeks interns to assist in all areas of administration in supporting a company of resident playwrights. In addition to stage managing for play readings and workshops, the interns work as full-time assistants in our Literary, Casting, Development and Administrative offices. While interns are not hired within a specific department, their professional aspirations often guide their experience to be focused on a particular discipline. Please see the New Dramatists website for more information.

The best candidates will thrive in a fast-paced environment, have strong written communication skills, computer and general office skills, work well independently, and be incredibly organized.
Self-motivated, enthusiastic individuals excel in such an environment, because an internship at New Dramatists is truly what you make of it.

Application Details:

A complete application should include: 1) the application form; 2) a statement of interest; 3) two letters of recommendation from theatre professionals; and 4) your resume.

Visit our website to fill out an application.

The application deadlines are as follows:
Summer (June 1 – August 31): April 15
Fall (September 1 – December 31): August 1
Spring (January 1 – April 31): December 1

About New Dramatists:

Founded in 1949, New Dramatists strives to give playwrights the time, space and tools to develop their craft so they can fulfill their potential. Fewer than 10 members are chosen to participate annually, and memberships last for seven years. Notable alumni include Maria Irene Fornes, Donald Marguiles, John Patrick Shanley, Paula Vogel, Suzan-Lori Parks, Nilo Cruz, John Guare, Lynn Nottage, David Lindsay-Abaire, Doug Wright and August Wilson.

Please mail the completed application, along with all supporting materials to:

New Dramatists
Intern Coordinator
424 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036

How Heath Lost His One Black Friend

A funny Funny or Die video from my friend Heath Cullens, the very talented director who helmed the premiere of my play The Southridge High School Forensics Team Presents Assorted Tales of Robin Hood at The Keen Company a couple of months ago.

How Heath Lost His One Black Friend - watch more funny videos

Episode 37 of The Acousmatic Theater Hour on WFMU

Robert Ashley/John Barton Wolgamot.

Kristin Bricker: "US Drug War Money Funded Peru Indigenous Massacre"

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/06/us-drug-war-money-funded-peru-indigenous-massacre

US Drug War Money Funded Peru Indigenous Massacre

Posted by Kristin Bricker - June 20, 2009 at 5:57 am

US Government Trained the Police Department that Participated in the Operation and Invested "Heavily" in the Killer Helicopters

On June 5, the Peruvian National Police (PNP) massacred up to fifty unarmed Awajún and Wampi indigenous people in Bagua who had blockaded roads in protest of land reforms related to a recently implemented US-Peru free trade agreement. Witnesses report that the PNP shot live ammunition from the ground, rooftops, and police helicopters. Anywhere between 61-400 people are reported missing following the attack.

Narco News has discovered that US drug war money is all over the massacre. The US government has not only spent the past two decades funding the helicopters used in the massacre, it also trained the PNP in "riot control."

The Peruvian National Police

The Peruvian National Police is a militarized police force and Peru's only national police force, meaning that Peru lacks a civilian federal police force. For this reason, the militarized PNP carries out regular policing functions in Peru, such as maintaining the peace and providing public security. Furthermore, "Counternarcotics operations in Peru are implemented primarily through the Ministry of the Interior by the Peruvian National Police," according to the US Government Accounting Office (GAO, now known as the Government Accountability Office). For this reason, the PNP receives a significant chunk of US drug war aid to Peru.

Basic details of the Bagua massacre such as exactly which police departments participated and how many indigenous protesters died remain unavailable two weeks after the massacre. Peru's La Primera newspaper--the only news outlet to provide information on specific police departments that participated in the massacre--writes, "The police operation was carried out by about 600 armed police from the Dinoes [Special Operations Department] and from the Anti-Drugs Department (DINANDRO), who shot head-on at protesters' bodies." Dinoes and DINANDRO are two forces within the Peruvian National Police.

Of particular interest is the participation of the anti-drugs police force, known as DINANDRO in its Spanish abbreviation. Between 2002 and 2007, the United States spent over $79 million on the PNP. 2002-2004 funds were for "training and field exercises to enhance the capabilities of DIRANDRO to conduct basic road and riverine exercises, as well as to provide security for eradication teams in outlying areas. These enhanced law enforcement efforts will require additional vehicles, communications, field gear, emergency/safety reaction gear, and drug detector canines." In 2007, the US government's funding for the DIRANDRO was expanded to "enhance the capabilities of DIRANDRO to conduct advanced road interdiction, riot control, greater security for eradication teams, and interdiction in hard-core areas." [emphasis added]. In 2007 the US government also debuted the first of at least four "Pre-Police Schools" for students that have completed secondary school education (that is, these schools are an alternative to high school). The "Pre-Police Schools" are free and designed to recruit and train young people to be members of the PNP.

Counterinsurgency

As Peru became further militarized under the pretense of the drug war, the US State Department justified its 2008 budget request for Peru by noting, "The major change in the FY 2008 police program will be the requirement to support a much-enlarged presence of the Peruvian National Police anti-drug police (DIRANDRO) in the coca growing valleys." While the region in which the massacre occurred is not by any means a major coca-growing region, it is certainly on the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) map (PDF file--see page 192).

The US government has a propensity to fund "anti-narcotics" operations in rebellious territory, which is then used, either overtly (note the DIRANDRO's US-provided training in riot control) or covertly, to fund counterinsurgency operations. The mere mention of the region on the UNODC's coca cultivation map combined with the presence of indigenous resistance organizations practically assures a military-police build-up in the region. In fact, a 1991 GAO report stated, "The [Peruvian] executive branch policy is to use counternarcotics aid against drug traffickers and insurgent groups linked to the drug trade....we believe the policy is reasonable." The GAO report goes on to say:

"Of the 702 police trained for counternarcotics purposes since 1989, only about 56 per cent were from units having a counternarcotics mission. The remaining 44 per cent were from police units having a primary mission of counterinsurgency. These units include the Sinchis and the Departamento de Operaciones Especiales [Dinoes, who also participated in the massacre]....In December 1990, the State Department instructed the Embassy that it could not train certain types of units, including the Departamento de Operaciones Especiales, because they were not directly involved in counternarcotics missions. Despite this notification, the Narcotics Affairs Section provided training to 32 personnel who should not have been trained; these 32 made up almost 14 per cent of the total number of police trained after the instruction was issued. According to section officials, providing special operations forces with training would help US efforts to solicit their support for future operations.... Although police from the Sinchis and the Departamento de Operaciones Especiales may perform some counternarcotics operations, their primary mission is recognized to be counterinsurgency."

While the GAO report is from the Fujimori era, the right wing presidents that followed him have done little to rectify past wrongs. One of the more blatant examples of this fact is Peru's amnesty law that protects dirty war criminals. Furthermore, current Peruvian President Alan Garcia is currently serving his second non-consecutive term; he served his first term in 1985-1990, when Peru's dirty war was in full swing. The Garcia administration has always been characterized by massacres in the face of social unrest: the current president presided over the Accomarca massacre in August 1985 (47-74 dead peasants), the Cayara massacre in May 1988 (about thirty dead and more disappeared), and various prison riots in which over 200 inmates were executed.

Unfortunately, Garcia's massacre of the Awajún and Wampi indigenous peoples at the Bagua blockade is only the latest in a series. Garcia himself seems entirely unrepentant regarding the latest massacre, reportedly calling the indigenous organizations that participated in the Bagua blockade "ignorant" and relying on typical racist arguments to downplay the indigenous movement. Implying that indigenous people are incapable of thinking for themselves and making their own decisions regarding their well-being, he told press that the indigenous organizations were being manipulated by foreign leftist forces.

Helicopters

Witnesses to the Bagua massacre claim that police fired tear gas and live ammunition from police helicopters. The helicopters, Russian-made Mi-17s, were not purchased with US dollars, but US drug war money has maintained them for years.

As part of the Andean Counterdrug Initiative, a George H.W. Bush program that spawned the infamous Plan Colombia, the US government undertook the task of upgrading Peru's fleet of police aircraft. Peru's La Republica reported that the US government aimed to upgrade the PNP's entire fleet. The US began providing funds for Peru's aircraft under the auspices of counternarcotics efforts in 1988. In 2004, the US government provided "funding for pilots, aircrews, and support personnel for 15 USG-owned UH-1H helicopters and 14 Peruvian Mi-17 helicopters," the latter being the same type of helicopter used in the Bagua massacre. Given that US foreign aid can be delayed for several years before it arrives in the recipient country, it is within the realm of possibility that the US government funded the pilots and crew that were in the Mi-17s that were allegedly used to murder indigenous Peruvians in Bagua.

In 2007, the State Department mentioned the Mi-17s amongst other PNP aircraft in its budget justification, writing that "FY 2007 funds will also cover fuel, maintenance, hangars and warehousing, aircraft rental when needed, and operational support for PNP Aviation (DIRAVPOL) personnel." A year later, the State Department wrote, "FY 2008 will continue heavy investment of funds in training and career development of PNP aviation personnel in addition to budgeting for increased flight hours."

In addition to funding Peru's existing Mi-17 helicopters, the United States has donated about 24 armed Huey II (UH-II) helicopters to the PNP. Hueys were not used in the Bagua massacre, but the massacre should make the US government think twice about donating combat helicopters with multiple guns and rocket launchers mounted all over the aircraft. The donated Huey II's came with the M16 armament system, which includes a combination of M6 flexible quad M60C 7.62mm machine guns and two seven-tube 2.75 inch MK-40 rocket launchers.

STOP HIGHLINE RAINFOREST WOOD HORROR

Friends of the High Line - Enemies of the Rainforest

Dear Friends of Rainforests,

We need your help to highlight the City's latest
rainforest wood horror: the highly-touted High
Line. This new, media-darling of a park runs on
the old elevated train line on the west side of
Manhattan. But to apportion the park, the
designers chose to rape the rainforests of the
Amazon for all the wood for the benches, the
massive chaise lounges, and the decking bleacher seating at 16th Street.

We need your help to stop the completion of the
remaining 50% of the park with more rainforest wood.

Starting this Friday, June 26 at noon, we will be
flyering the Highline to expose their High Crimes. Please join us.

Meet at the Gansevoort entrance to the High Line
at 12:00 noon. Call 917/543-4064 with more
details or to connect near the entrance.

Here's a letter on the issue by Rainforest Relief
member Tim Doody in this week's Villager:

http://www.thevillager.com/villager321/letterstotheeditor.html):

On the wrong track

To The Editor

Re "Off and Rolling" (editorial, June 17):

At first glance, the High Line appears as
innovative and green as anyone could hope for.
But did you know that all the benches, decking,
chaise lounges and bleacher seating throughout
the park are composed of ipê, a rainforest wood ripped out of the Amazon?

The ipê tree grows throughout the Amazon at an
average of one to two trees per acre. Criminal
cartels, which control most logging operations
there, build an extensive network of illegal
roads to extract these scattered, high-demand
trees; for every ipê tree that is logged, an
estimated 28 other trees are destroyed.

Friends of the High Line have ordered tens of
thousands of board feet of ipê for their project.
Even worse, they've turned one of today's
most-watched public works projects into a global
advertisement for tropical deforestation. Friends
of the High Line have become enemies of the rainforest.

It's not too late for them to act responsibly. If
they use alternative materials - like recycled
plastic lumber or sustainable domestic hardwood -
for the two sections of the High Line still
awaiting construction, they can send a powerful
message about the need to protect rainforests and battle climate change.

The United Nations Environment Program states
that an area of rainforest the size of a football
field is destroyed every second - that's an area
the size of Manhattan every three hours. It's
incumbent upon those of us from the neighborhood
to act responsibly - to speak out, to spread the
word, to withhold funds from Friends of the High
Line until they face up to the biggest challenges of our time.

For more info on the High Line see
www.rainforestrelief.org. For more on New York
City's addiction to rainforest wood, visit rfny.org.
--

"The Earth and myself are of one mind. The measure of the land and the
measure of our bodies are the same..."
- Hinmaton Yalatkit, Nez Perce chief
____________________________________________

R A I N F O R E S T R E L I E F

Sparing the World's Rainforests from Consumption

Rainforest Relief works to protect the world's
remaining tropical and temperate rainforests by
reducing the demand for the products and
materials of rainforest destruction such as
timber and paper, industrial agricultural
products such as bananas, beef, coffee, chocolate
and cut flowers, and mining products such as oil, gold and aluminum.

New York, NY: (917) 543-4064
Portland, OR: (503) 236-3031
http://www.rainforestrelief.org

Church Street Station * PO Box 298 * NY, NY 10008-0298

New Basement Tape of the Mole Cabal!

This is one of my favorite things ever: radio plays/audio art by the amazing Karinne Keithley of Joyce Cho (and my WFMU cohost, currently host, until I return). Actually these are why I asked her to cohost. And the best part is, they're free!

SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS

I was invited to participate in this awesome project with a bunch of big-shot writers (see below), conducted by the NYT's Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn of The Boston Globe, The Baffler, Hermenaut, Taking Things Seriously, and The Idler's Glossary, among many other cool projects. The project is based on something called "cathexis;" as I understand it, the value of an object being determined by the narrative surrounding said object. By involving authors and eBay, they take this notion to its logical extremes. See below for Rob and Josh's explanation for the project.

So far it's been written up in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Wired, Fast Company, The Christian Science Monitor, MediaBistro's GalleyCat, the SF blog io9, and the design blogs PSFK and Core77.

Here's the full list of writers (pretty cool, eh?):

Adam Davies
Annie Nocenti
Ben Greenman
Bruce Sterling
Cintra Wilson
Claire Zulkey
Curtis Sittenfeld
James Parker
Jason Grote
Jennifer Michael Hecht
Jenny Davidson
Jonathan Goldstein
Kasper Hauer
Kurt Andersen
Lizzie Skurnick
Luc Sante
Lucinda Rosenfeld
Lydia Millet
Mark Frauenfelder
Matthew Battles
Matthew De Abaitua
Matthew Sharpe
Michelle Tea
Mimi Lipson
Rebecca Wolff
Rob Baedeker
Sara Ryan
Sarah Rainone
Sheila Heti
Stewart O'Nan
Susannah Breslin
Todd Pruzan

And, from the website:

About the Significant Objects project

THE IDEA
A talented, creative writer invents a story about an object. Invested with new significance by this fiction, the object should — according to our hypothesis — acquire not merely subjective but objective value. How to test our theory? Via eBay!

THE PROJECT
The project’s curators purchase objects — for no more than a few dollars — from thrift stores and garage sales.

A participating writer is paired with an object. He or she then writes a fictional story, in any style or voice, about the object. Voila! An unremarkable, castoff thingamajig has suddenly become a “significant” object!

Each significant object is listed for sale on eBay. The s.o. is pictured, but instead of a factual description the s.o.’s newly written fictional story is used. However, care is taken to avoid the impression that the story is a true one; the intent of the project is not to hoax eBay customers. (Doing so would void our test.) The author’s byline will appear with his or her story.

The winning bidder is mailed the significant object, along with a printout of the object’s fictional story. Net proceeds from the sale are given to the respective author. Authors retain all rights to their stories.

The test’s results — photos, original prices and final sale prices, stories — are cataloged on this website. The project’s curators retain the right to use these materials in other venues and media. For example: Maybe we’ll publish a book.

THE CURATORS
Rob Walker’s 2008 book, Buying In, and Joshua Glenn’s 2007 book, Taking Things Seriously, examined — using very different approaches — the manifold ways in which all of us, whether we realize it or not, invest inanimate objects with significance. But “significance” is such a hazy concept… so they agreed that it would be both interesting and fun to set up an experiment in which significance was artificially cooked up under controlled conditions and applied to insignificant objects.

Episode 36 of The Acousmatic Theater Hour on WFMU

Call-in community theater! I contribute from Virginia with an original piece. Also featuring Kate Ryan, Yoko Ono, Scott Adkins, Amber Reed, Kenneth Koch, Jean Baudrillard, and many more.

Hilobrow Heroes: Robert A. Heinlein

I wish SF's greatest dirty old fascist a happy birthday here.

New from YETI -- "The Art of Touring" book + DVD

Dear friend of YETI

Following on the heels of YETI SEVEN, published in early May, we now have a new book to tell you about:

Edited by Sara Jaffe (Erase Errata) and Mia Clarke (Electrelane), THE ART OF TOURING is a book of art, photographs, and writing reflecting life on the road. Beautifully printed on glossy paper, this 7-inch-square, 156-page book also includes a DVD of documentary and live footage.

Contents:

ART by Beth Murphy (Times New Viking), Julianna Bright (The Golden Bears), Devendra Banhart, Tara Jane ONeil, Nathan Jerde (The Ponys), Hannah Mae Blair, Jason Sanford (Neptune), Erika Spring Forster (Au Revoir Simone), Tony Lazzara (Atombombpocketknife), Fay Davis-Jeffers (Pit Er Pat), & more.

PHOTOGRAPHY by Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Emma Gaze (Electrelane), Andy Moor (The Ex), Munaf Rayani (Explosions In The Sky), Rebecca Gates, Elizabeth Sharp (Ill Ease), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Lynne Angel (Tartufi), Alissa Anderson (Vetiver), Veronique (Lesbians On Ecstasy), Buck 65, Annie Hart (Au Revoir Simone), & more.

WRITING by Johanna Fateman (Le Tigre), Drew Daniel (Matmos), Carla Bozulich, Everett True, Sharon Cheslow, Jean Smith (Mecca Normal), Sara Jaffe, Sara Marcus, Cynthia Nelson, Brian Case (The Ponys), Mia Clarke, Noah Leger (Milemarker), Bobo Boutin (Les Georges Leningrad), Sons & Daughters, Miranda Mellis (My Invisible), & more.

ON THE DVD: Tara Jane ONeil; The Ex on tour, filmed by Jem Cohen; Mecca Normal live; Erase Errata’s video tour diary; The Jeffrey Lewis Band, by Jasmin Steigler; Electrelane, live at la Route du Rock; Andy Moor’s video collage art; Neptune, shot by Adrianne Jorge, Sharon Cheslow and Bromp Trev, live at Wow Cool, filmed by Andrew Kesin.

See http://yetipublishing.com/Art-of-Touring.html for sample pages and ordering information.

Next up: a new LUC SANTE book in September, followed by YETI EIGHT some time around Halloween.

Best wishes for the summer,

Mike McGonigal and Steve Connell

I Have Been Interviewed by Adam Szymkowicz

And the results are on his blog.

Episode 35 of The Acousmatic Theater Hour on WFMU

Our last Sunday night show, sans me! Super spacey, with Beckett, Scanner, and more.

Scott Campbell: "In Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz orders the assassination of a leader of CODEP"

http://angrywhitekid.blogs.com/weblog/2009/06/in-oaxaca-ulises-ruiz-orders-the-assassination-of-a-leader-of-codep.html

In Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz orders the assassination of a leader of CODEP

June 8, 2009
By CODEP
Translated by Scott Campbell
Spanish original: http://codepappo.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/en-oaxaca-ulises-ruiz-manda-asesinar-a-dirigente-del-codep/

For several weeks, from the highest levels of the government of [Oaxaca governor] Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, a state-wide campaign of defamation, harassment and persecution has been orchestrated and unleashed against the Committee in Defense of the Rights of the People (CODEP-APPO), a campaign that brings as one of its first consequences the assassination of Sergio Martínez Vásquez, member of the State Council of CODEP. It is important to mention that this calculated murder was preceded by the police surveillance and tracking of our offices and of veiled and open threats against different members of CODEP.

Comrade Sergio worked as a taxi driver and according to initial reports, yesterday, June 7, he made a trip to the Pino Suarez agency in the district of Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca, was assassinated last night with high-powered weapons, and his body was found today, June 8, around seven in the morning. The way in which it was done and due to some information gathered everything points to the fact that the material actors of this assassination were paramilitary groups that Ulises Ruiz has operating in the region.

It is clear that the campaign against CODEP, orchestrated by the government and carried out by different individuals and groups in the state, is trying to destroy one of the oldest and most important organizations in the state (this year we turn 28), made up of indigenous Mixtec, Triqui, Zapotec and Mazatec communities, now that we have been denouncing groups that in brazen or hidden ways have acted on behalf of state or federal government interests, dividing movements, taking control of them, or completely surrendering them in exchange for group or personal benefits and cushy positions. It is a situation that has intensified as a result of CODEP’s work against the mines in the Ocotlán Valley communities, work which has extended to other regions in the state and has linked up with other ecological struggles on a national level.

As part of the aggressions against CODEP it is pertinent to mention that during the removal of the blockade of the mine in San José del Progreso, Ocotlán, after almost beating to death comrade Agustín Ríos, when the effects of the beating began to appear, the government issued arrest warrants for this comrade and several other comrades, including those who were not in the state, such as Professor Jaquelina López Almazán, which is evidence of URO’s discretionary and perverse application of the law.

As a result of the assassination of comrade Sergio Martínez Vásquez, and the attacks and assaults that aim to isolate and destroy CODEP, we call for the broadest solidarity from individuals and organizations, nationally and internationally, to participate and call widespread attention to the denunciations and information about the activities we will be carrying out.

AS A RESULT OF THE ABOVE, WE DEMAND:

1. AN IMMEDIATE EXPLANATION REGRADING THE MURDER OF COMRADE SERGIO MARTINEZ VASQUEZ.
2. AN END TO THE AGGRESSION AND HARASSMENT UNLEASHED AGAINST CODEP.
3. THE JAILING OF ULISES RUIZ ORTIZ FOR CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA.

• WE HOLD THE GOVERNMENT OF ULISES RUIZ ORTIZ RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT MAY HAPPEN TO MEMBERS OF CODEP.
• WE REPUDIATE THE DEFAMATION, HARASSMENT AND AGGRESSIONS AGAINST CODEP

THREE YEARS SINCE THE ATTEMPTED DISPLACEMENT,

FOR OUR DEAD, DISAPPEARED, AND POLITICAL PRISONERS,

NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET!

COMMITTEE IN DEFENSE OF THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE - POPULAR ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA

COMITÉ DE DEFENSA DE LOS DERECHOS DEL PUEBLO-ASAMBLEA POPULAR DE LOS PUEBLOS DE OAXACA

CODEP-APPO

YOU CAN CONTACT US AT: codep_cnpp_oax@yahoo.com.mx

------------

EN OAXACA, ULISES RUIZ MANDA ASESINAR A DIRIGENTE DEL CODEP

Desde hace varias semanas, desde los más altos mandos del gobierno de Ulises Ruiz Ortiz se orquestó y desató una intensa campaña estatal de difamación, hostigamiento y persecución en contra del Comité de Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEP-APPO), campaña que trae como una de sus primeras consecuencias el asesinato de Sergio Martínez Vásquez, integrante del Consejo Estatal del CODEP. Cabe mencionar que este artero asesinato ha estado precedido de vigilancia y seguimiento policiaco en nuestras oficinas, y de amenazas veladas y abiertas a distintos miembros del CODEP.

El compañero Sergio trabajaba como taxista y según los primeros informes, el día de ayer, 7 de junio, realizó un viaje a la agencia de Pino Suarez, distrito de Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca siendo asesinado en la noche de ayer con armas de alto poder, encontrándose el cuerpo el día de hoy, 8 de junio, alrededor de las 7 de la mañana. Por el modo de operar y alguna información recabada, todo apunta a confirmar que los actores materiales de este asesinato fueron los grupos paramilitares que Ulises Ruiz mantiene operando en la región.

Es claro que la campaña orquestada por el gobierno y operada por distintos personajes y grupos en el estado en contra del CODEP, pretende destruir a una de las organizaciones más antiguas y de mayor consecuencia en el estado (este año cumpliremos 28 años), integrada por comunidades indígenas mixtecas, triquis, zapotecas y mazatecas, mas ahora que hemos estado denunciando a los grupos que de manera cínica o encubierta se han puesto al servicio de los intereses del gobierno estatal y federal, dividiendo a los movimientos, mediatizándolos o de plano entregándolos a cambio de beneficios y canonjías personales o de grupo. Situación que se agudiza a raíz del trabajo contra las minas que el CODEP viene realizando con las comunidades del Valle de Ocotlán, Oaxaca y que ha estado extendiéndose a otras regiones del estado y vinculándose a otras luchas ecologistas a nivel nacional.

Cabe mencionar que como parte de las agresiones en contra del CODEP, durante el desalojo de la mina de San José del Progreso, Ocotlán y después de casi matar a golpes al compañero Agustín Ríos cuyas secuelas por la paliza empiezan a aparecer, el gobierno liberó ordenes de aprehensión contra de este compañero y de varios compañeros mas, incluyendo a quienes no se encuentra en el estado, como la profra. Jaquelina López Almazán, lo que evidencia el manejo discrecional y perverso que de las leyes hace URO.

Ante el asesinato del compañero Sergio Martínez Vásquez, y los ataques y atentados con que pretenden aislar y destruir al CODEP, convocamos a la más amplia solidaridad de las organizaciones y personalidades nacionales e internacionales, difundiendo y participando generosamente en las denuncias y la información sobre las actividades que habremos de realizar.

POR LO ANTERIOR EXIGIMOS:

1. ESCLARECIMIENTO INMEDIATO DEL ASESINATO DEL COMPAÑERO SEGIO MARTINEZ VASQUEZ.
2. ALTO A LAS AGRESIONES Y HOSTIGAMIENTO DESATADO EN CONTRA DEL CODEP.
3. CARCEL A ULISES RUIZ ORTIZ, POR LOS CRIMENES COMETIDOS CONTRA EL PUEBLO DE OAXACA.

• RESPONSABILIZAMOS AL GOBIERNO DE ULISES RUIZ ORTIZ, DE LO QUE PUEDA OCURRIR CONTRA INTEGRANTES DEL CODEP.
• REPUDIAMOS LA DIFAMACION, HOSTIGAMIENTO Y AGRESIONES EN CONTRA DEL CODEP

¡A TRES AÑOS DEL INTENTO DE DESALOJO,

POR NUESTROS MUERTOS DESAPARECIDOS Y PRESOS POLITICOS,

NI PERDON, NI OLVIDO!

COMITÉ DE DEFENSA DE LOS DERECHOS DEL PUEBLO-ASAMBLEA POPULAR DE LOS PUEBLOS DE OAXACA

CODEP-APPO

PUEDES CONTACTARNOS EN: codep_cnpp_oax@yahoo.com.mx

On The Honduras Coup

From Democracy Now:

Zelaya Vows Return as UN, OAS Condemn Coup

Honduras is facing growing regional and international pressure to restore the overthrown President Manuel Zelaya. Earlier today, the thirty-five-member Organization of American States said it would suspend Honduras unless Zelaya is returned to office within three days. The ultimatum follows Tuesday’s unanimous decision by the UN General Assembly to condemn the coup. Addressing the UN, Zelaya stuck by his vow to return to Honduras on Thursday despite threats of arrest.
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya: “A crime has been committed, a crime against humanity, a crime which we all regret. I am going to return on Thursday, because they expelled me by force, and I’m going to return the same way I always return: as a citizen and as the president.”
Zelaya is expected to meet with US officials in Washington today, but not President Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile in Honduras, protests against the coup continued with traffic blockades in various parts of the country and the teachers’ union announcing an indefinite strike. There were also reports of the brief jailing of at least seven journalists.

Click for full story.

Buzzine Interview

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed for Ben Kharakh's "Seriously Funny" column at Buzzine:

"Rutgers University is a massive institution, but when taking a class with Jason Grote, one forgets that there’s nearly 30,000 Scarlett Knights dispersed among the school’s various campuses. One should expect no less from the critically lauded playwright behind 1001 and Maria/Stuart, not that Grote needs to mention his rave reviews to win the class over — his quick wits and wealth of knowledge take care of that. And whatever the subject Grote’s teaching — be it composition, screenwriting, or otherwise — his students, like the audiences who attend his plays, will leave having laughed, been entertained, and gained some valuable insights.

Ben Kharakh: When did your interest in writing develop?

Jason Grote: I used to write my own comics as a kid, which were generally incomprehensible to anyone but me. I would also “direct” other kids in stage productions that were based on stuff that already existed, like Star Wars or the musical Sweeney Todd. In high school, I studied acting at a performing arts school and attempted some playwriting and sketch writing there — none of it very fruitful. Around the same time, I wrote an embarrassingly bad sci-fi novel about werewolves in a post-global-warming world, heavily derivative of the Frank Miller comic The Dark Knight Returns. A popular girl who sat next to me borrowed it and started reading it. She liked it and started circulating it among a bunch of other popular girls, and when they were done, they would give it back to me and I would keep hand-writing it in this little journal in serialized form. I never knew where it was going and I never finished it. I studied acting and directing in college in the early ’90s, and therein wrote my first real play, which was entirely derivative of John Patrick Shanley’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea and Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story. It won an award and was produced, and seemed more successful and fulfilling than my acting work, so I set out to become a playwright. I had no idea what I was doing, practically or artistically, for a long time, but eventually I wrote some odd short plays and produced them in Equity showcases throughout my 20s. I also did some film writing with a DIY indie director, but that never really went anywhere. Eventually, I decided to get an MFA and formalize my education."

Click here for the full piece.

Hilobrow Heroes: Gilda Radner

Click here for my tribute, plus more great pieces by Joshua Glenn, Franklin Bruno, Luc Sante, Ingrid Schorr, Patrick Cates, and Joe Alterio.

Episode 34 of The Acousmatic Theater Hour on WFMU

Radioland Theater, a radio play presented by students of the Hudson School in Hoboken, NJ.