Global
Coverage and discussion of the Fanni Willis trial with Ray McClendon, Alexander Petrovnia with https://transformationsproject.org, advocating against the anti-trans legislative crisis. Rosedanie Cadet talking self-sustaining Ag in Haiti http://noramise.org/. Tim Judson and Kevin Kamps talking anti-nuclear.
The 32nd Pan African Film & Arts Festival, America’s largest Black-themed filmfest, took place Feb. 7 – Feb. 19 in Los Angeles. During Black History Month PAFF annually screens movies ranging from Hollywood studio productions and Hallmark Channel TV-movies to indies, foreign films, documentaries, low budget productions, shorts, animation, etc. Films span the spectrum from Oscar nominees to hard-to-find gems from Africa, the Caribbean, America and beyond that L.A. viewers are unlikely to be able to see at any other venue. Here are reviews of short films that audiences had an opportunity to see at PAFF as part of the “New Media” screening:
MOMENTS: A GROUP HUG FOR GROUP THERAPY FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS
The 32nd Pan African Film & Arts Festival, America’s largest Black-themed filmfest, took place Feb. 7 – Feb. 19 in Los Angeles. During Black History Month PAFF annually screens movies ranging from Hollywood studio productions and Hallmark Channel TV-movies to indies, foreign films, documentaries, low budget productions, shorts, animation, etc. Films span the spectrum from Oscar nominees to hard-to-find gems from Africa, the Caribbean, America and beyond that L.A. viewers are unlikely to be able to see at any other venue. Here is a review of just one of the off-the-beaten track films that audiences have an opportunity to see:
THIS IS LAGOS: A CRIME DRAMA IN URBAN AFRICA
The rich history of genocides does not show us combination like the one we
have today:
1) Overwhelming evidence of intent broadcast and available to everyone on
instant communication devices (phones, tablets, computer) and based on a
messianic model of chosenness linking to biblical mythologies of conquest
of Canaan, wiping out other nations etc
2) Wanton destruction of people and their livelihood. Destroying all their
means of livelihood denying them food, medicine, water, fuel etc. Man made
famine of thsi scale and meanness never happended before. Addedto direct
bombing of civilians, hundreds die daily and so far 1 in 20 people in Gaza
iskilledorn injured.
3) Wanton destruction of property to make life unnlivable even after the
genocide stops. 70% of all building are destroyed so far: homes hopsitals,
mosques, churches, civil defence, police buildings, water facicilities,
trees etc
4) Wanton attack and destruction of humanitarian aid organizations and
their facilities(e.g. the UN agencies)
5) Never in history do we see such division between the wishes of hundreds
The problem is not the absence of a Palestinian state, but Zionism itself.
What is the use of a Palestinian state, if Zionism, as a racist, exclusivist ideology continues to define Israel, and impose that definition on the Palestinians?
This ideology calls for racial purity of Jews in Palestine, of course, at the expense of the native inhabitants of the land. To achieve this, millions of Palestinians had to be forced into exile, hundreds of thousands needed to be killed, wounded or incarcerated.
Neither two states, nor even one state is possible if Zionism is not entirely defeated - not revamped, not ‘fixed’, but eradicated.
Excuse me as I ponder eternity — briefly.
Like it or not, this is the essence of . . . uh, aging. As I wrote a year ago: “. . . once you actually hit it — that three letter word, ‘old’ — watch out: ‘An aged man (as Wiiliam Butler Yeats pointed out, as he sailed poetically to Byzantium) is but a paltry thing,/A tattered coat upon a stick . . .’”
Nonetheless, hooray for my good fortune! I’ve been dancing around at age 77 for a while now, and before I start complaining about the aches and pains that come with it, I have to acknowledge — indeed, revere — the mere fact of making it this far. So many people don’t, due to the random will of fate, but also due to the hell of war, which remains humanity’s cancerous addiction. How can I complain when the bombs I help pay for are killing children?
