MF GALAXY

GLOBAL VISIONS FILM FESTIVAL Reviews by Minister Faust Battleground: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge. 84 min. Dir. Stephen Marshall. Garneau Theatre. Friday, Nov. 4, 7 pm. Insightful, must-see interviews with ordinary Iraqis , an Arabic-speaking Asian-American Al-Jazeera reporter (!) and US officers struggling to do right (or are they?) in the midst of US-driven chaos. An African-American tank commander delivers a stunningly eloquent and accurate Marxian analysis of the imperial nature of the US invasion , only to indicate that he backs the aggression because it’s what “his country” needs; an Iraqi translator unloads a torrent of resentment at her country’s conquest; an anti-Hussein former rebel is tearfully reunited after 13 years with his family. A must-see. Speaking Out: Women of Uganda. 34 min. Dir. Peter Campbell. Garneau Theatre. Saturday, Nov. 5, 3 pm. Speaking Out is largely interviews with parliamentarians and academics from Uganda and South Africa at a 2002 conference in Kampa...

I'll be appearing this weekend as Guest of Honour at E-Town's very own Pure Speculation Convention at the Coast Terrace Inn South, which promises to be infinitely better than all those kot-tam "Creation Cons" I attended in my misspent early 20s. Contact these fine folks here .

Tonight on The Terrordome , we’ll hear from Reverend Sharpton , as well as from speakers Ayinde Jean-Baptiste, Ricardo Alarcon (the President of the National Assembly Cuba), PJ Patterson (the PM of Jamaica), and cofounder of the American Indian Movement , Russell Means, plus a tribute to one of the heroes of the American human rights struggle, Sister Rosa Parks. All that, and music from around the Afrikan planet, 6 pm Mountain Time tonight on CJSR FM88.5 and cjsr.com for The Terrordome: The Afrika All-World Ne ws Service.

The Rosa Parks of "liberal" news reporting is always the same, even at the hour of her death: she was a woman who was tired and didn't feel like giving up her seat to a Euro-American on the segregated bus. But the real Rosa Parks wasn't merely some weary loner . She was a seasoned activist who'd spent twelve years helping lead her local NAACP chapter , and the summer before her protest "Parks had attended a 10-day training session at Tennessee's labor and civil rights organizing school , the Highlander Center, where she'd met an older generation of civil rights activists and discussed the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision banning ''separate but equal'' schools. In other words, Parks didn't come out of nowhere. She didn't single-handedly give birth to the civil rights efforts. Instead, she was part of an existing movement for change at a time when success was far from certain." Most discussion of Rosa Parks, including t...

"Col. Theoneste Bagosora , 64, denied that he masterminded the killings in Rwanda , which claimed the lives some 937 ,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus . 'The accusation that I masterminded the killings is malicious,' Bagosora told a fully packed courtroom" in Arusha.

It’s a new millennium. It began with what may have been a stolen election in the mightiest country on Earth; it trundled forth on roads lubricated with blood before it descended into rumours of plagues, catastrophic storms and earthquakes, and international pillage powered by mortar shells and stealth bombers. Ten years ago last weekend , millennium minus five, I stood shoulder to shoulder with a million African men at the centre of global power . And last weekend, I returned for a reunion of sorts, a look back and a launching forward, a commemoration of the Million Man March and a call to action to hold back the night by stealing back fire from false gods.

The answer to that question is depressing. Read Michelle Garcia's article here.

Br. Amiri Baraka, the famed playwright, poet and Africentric activist , writes of the need to establish in the US a functional, powerful, Afrikan "Left Caucus" in the wake of the Millions More Movement march scheduled for next Saturday, Oct. 15 in Washington DC (ten-year anniversary of the MMM), . I couldn't agree more, Br. Amiri. Meanwhile, Lenni Brenner, in a fascinating discussion in Counterpunch, discusses Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Millions More Movement march, opposition to Zionism, advocacy of Afrika and a host of other issues. The man gives a fairly balanced accounting. People who hate Farrakhan without knowing anything of him except the propaganda against him should give the article a reading. There are a few errors of fact, exaggerations and noteworthy omissions, but I'd definitely give the article a B+. For an excellent discussion of Farrakhan and the NOI , from a surprisingly fresh perspective , see the book by Scandinavian professor Mattias...

Bill Clinton compared Br. Philip Emeagwali to Bill Gates . He's a Nigerian computer genius who "won the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize for his work with massively parallel computers. He programmed the Connection Machine to compute a world record 3.1 billion calculations per second using 65,536 processors to simulate oil reservoirs . With over 41 inventions submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Philip Emeagwali is making big waves in the supercomputer industry, amazing achievements only surpassed by an even more amazing life." The Brother also, as we used to say, comes correct. Listen to an essay he published in The Black Commentator: "George Bush understood Hollywood was a propaganda machine that could be used in his war against terrorism. Shortly after the 9/11 bombing of New York City, Bush invited Hollywood moguls to the White House and solicited their support in his war against terrorism. "Some will even argue that schools play a significa...

Yes, it’s FunDrive 2005, and as a news and music programmer since 1989 DJ I’m charged with seeking out real support for our excellent station. And for the first time in a long time, CJSR is a registered charity, so you will get a tax-receipt for your donation! Please read below on: WHY YOU SHOULD HELP HOW YOU CAN HELP If you can help, please email me. But best of all, please call Wednesday between 6 and 7 pm Mountain Time at 780-492-CJSR (but if you’re planning to do that, please email me in advance so I know). 1. HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULD HELP: CJSR is the only campus-community station in Edmonton . Nearly all our broadcasters (including me) are volunteers. Almost 150 of us donate our time to keep CJSR on air 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, bringing you news, politics, culture and music from around the world. Unlike commercial stations, DJs at CJSR choose their own music--they’re not given orders by a program director to shill for the corporate monsters of Big Music. Personally, I’ve g...

"Snoop has elevated his content from white America's favorite gangsta rapper , to corporate America's favorite coon .Yes, I said it--Snoop is cooning. What else can be said when viewing his latest commercial venture--for Chrysler no less--in tandem with that corporation's former chief executive officer, Lee Iacoca? "...The simple truth is that America understands our ability to hawk a product better than we ever did. And even if they have to go to the most disgraceful of us to pander to the nation's love affair with Black culture , they will. With Snoop, they did, garnering one of the most popular, who is also one of the most disgraceful. Corporate America understands how it works, even though most of us never give it a second thought. "Popular culture is based on Black culture. Whatever we do, if it becomes popular, they will take it mainstream. The biggest problem is that when it goes mainstream and generates revenue, very few of us will partake of the...