The anti-war association Iraq Veterans Against the War has been staging guerrilla theatre warfare in cities all over the U.S. for the past year. They call it Operation First Casualty…and they most recently brought the battle to the streets of Denver, CO, where the Democratic National Convention is meeting this week. This video is of one of their earlier operations in Chicago, but it shows the strange juxtaposition of everyday American life in “wartime” with the everyday life of Iraqis in wartime. Same war, very different experiences. It’s funny watching people lined up for the bus - because gas is so expensive - and seeing their day interrupted by the reason for the gas and food price hike. At least you are not being tackled at gunpoint in your own home before you even leave the house to catch the bus!
The veterans who form I.V.A.W. set an example for all of us - they have committed acts of violence and murder that most of us never will, and they are taking responsibility for their actions, even though the government tells them they are wrong for doing so. In fact, even Obama, who has repeatedly, if unconvincingly, claimed he will withdraw all troops from Iraq, won’t meet with them. Check out www.democracynow.org for more details about IVAW, footage from the recent Operation Casualty in Denver, and their request to meet with Obama and other major Democrat representatives.
?¢‚Ǩ?ìThis is my last show,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù the rapper M.I.A. announced from the stage of That Tent, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìand I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m glad I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m spending it with all my hippies.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù If, as she announced at least three times, it was M.I.A.?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s last gig ever, she went out with a boom. The seismic riffs of her songs, which sound like they?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re made on the world?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s cheapest equipment, puffed bass notes at everyone?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s chest, and M.I.A. was all of her interlocking selves: fighter, lover, immigrant, instigator, party girl.
Wearing an outfit that included shiny streamers as tails, she shook every part of her body sooner or later, yelping her hooks and spitting out her rhymes, dense with allusions and snappy enough for slogans. She brought ?¢‚Ǩ?ìgirls?¢‚Ǩ¬ù and then ?¢‚Ǩ?ìboys?¢‚Ǩ¬ù onstage, surrounding herself with happy dancers, and brought the Nigerian rapper African Boy onstage for her encores,
rapping about how immigrants have to hustle. For her finale, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìPaper Planes,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù the audience that spilled far outside the tent pumped fists happily at the gunshot sounds that are also one of the song?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s hooks. ?¢‚Ǩ?ìThanks for coming to my last gig,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù she said, amid noise that continued well after she was gone.
From forthcoming album ‘Slime & Reason’ released August 2008….roots manuva rootsmanuva bigdada buffnuff buff nuff hiphop rodney smithbanana klan ricky ranking slime and reason.
