The release from the United Nations News Centre stated that the World Health Organization (WHO) was releasing medical supplies for the treatment of over 200,000 people. Waterborne diseases are now a great risk to the population, and ensuring safe drinking water is a high priority for relief workers.

UN Photo/WFP/Amjad Jamal

“There is a tremendous need for more medical and related materials to treat people affected by the humanitarian emergency, as well as to immunize children, particularly against polio and measles,” said the WHO in a news release.

The flooding began on June 29 from the rains of a monsoon storm, washing away bridges and roads and isolating the people of the northern region. More rains continue to threaten the country, as August is typically considered monsoon season.

The hardest hit province was Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), where the UN World Food Programme has estimated up to 1.8 million people are in need of food relief. The UN organization has stated that it has reached 40,000 people with food rations in the three days since the floods hit.

“Those who survived the punishing floods are still at grave risk,” said António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

“The Pakistani people of this region have been serving as the generous hosts of more than a million Afghan refugees,” he said. “Now is the time for the international community to demonstrate the same kind of solidarity with them.”

Hazel Scott

Harlem in the 1920s was a place for rejuvenation of the spirit of African American people, a city that could embrace Blackness and provide a space for the development of the great artists of their generation. Jazz created the rhythm of the city, while writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen are all still icons of Black literature.

At this year’s Harlem Book Fair, author Karen Chilton presented the story of Hazel Scott, who grew up in the city during this golden era and became one of America’s most beloved jazz musicians of her time. Though she has become a nearly forgotten figure, Scott was one of the first African American women entertainer to find mainstream popularity. But rather bending to the expectations of the entertainment industry, she was able to demand respect and equality for herself at a time of segregation and overt racism in the US. Chilton was presenting her book, Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, from Cafe Society to Hollywood to HUAC.

Scott moved to Harlem from Trinidad with her mother, Alma Scott, when she was a young girl. She was soon recognized as a child prodigy for her piano playing, attending Julliard by the age of 8. Alma was herself an accomplished musician and music teacher who established an all woman orchestra, featuring a 14 year old Hazel as lead pianist. Her mother is credited as the most influential person in her life.

Chilton explained to the book fair audience that the experience of being a prodigious artist at such a young age made a lasting impression on Scott. She was able to obtain Scott’s journals from her son, Adam Clayton Powell III, delving into the writings of an artist reflecting on her own experience. To many, Scott is best known for her eleven-year marriage to the renowned Senator Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

“In her journal she spent so much time writing about her childhood, and what it meant to be a prodigy,” said Chilton. “I spent time really exploring that experience of her being a little girl and sort of the outsider, always the different one. And that habit sort of followed her throughout her life, she was always the outspoken artist, she was always the artist that wasn’t willing to go along with the status quo, and it cost her I think throughout her career.”

By 1950, Hazel Scott was a star in entertainment world, and was the first African American woman to have her own television show. She also appeared in five MGM musical films, becoming one of the most recognizable jazz artists of the era.

While the entertainment industry regularly had expectations for African American artists, Scott was defiant, demanding unprecedented contract clauses to blaze a trail for the uplifting of future Black artists. Perhaps most significantly, Scott would not perform in front of a segregated audience, refusing to sign a show contract unless this clause was included.

“In Hollywood she demanded not only some of the highest pay of any Black artist at that time,” said Chilton, “she also demanded she never perform as a maid or servant. She demanded in her contracts if the costumes were not up to par and didn’t fit the glamorous image that she constructed for herself, that she would wear her own clothes. And she also demanded that she never be a character, that she would always be credited as Hazel Scott as herself.”

In the 1950s, McCarthyism swept through the US like a tornado, overwhelming those with ideas viewed as defiant under the paranoid influence of the Senator Joseph McCarthy. Her open opposition to racial segregation made her a target of the conservatives of her era, and after she was found to have performed for an organization with Communist ties, she became an expatriate and spent twelve years in a Paris community that included James Baldwin and Richard Wright.

“I didn’t set out to write a book about Hazel Scott,” said Chilton. “Initially what I was interested in was the black expatriate experience, and I was researching black women artist expatriates, women not only who would not only go to France, would go to Africa, South America, and I wanted to know what that experience was really about, to be away from home and creating a new life for yourself.”

Scott would return to the States in 1967, and passed away in 1981 after an illustrious career. Her legacy is that of empowerment for African American women in the entertainment industry, breaking stereotypes and exhibiting strength in the face of racial segregation.

A sleeping giant, a passionate people crying silent in front of the world’s powers, exploited and overpowered during the past century’s frantic pace to produce. Africa is a mother, a tree from which many people hold a broken branch, and music has long been way to bring people back to those roots. The new album from Nas and Damian Marley, Distant Relatives, is a celebration of the life that has come from the continent and a call for unity in creating a new Africa.

The pain of Africa knows few bounds. The catastrophic AIDS epidemic, a failing system of education, food shortages induced by the greed of financial speculators – the ravaging this land has suffered seems endless. Their resolve is strong, their voices are powerful, but the land has still been relatively absent from the daily consciousness of the international public.

Nas and Marley formed a brotherhood at the height of their remarkable careers, coming together to produce a musical dedication to Africa. Individually, they have both paid intellectual tribute in previous releases to the motherland of a global Diaspora. Distant Relatives takes their interest to a new level, providing the people with an inspirational tribute to the strength of those struggling to survive and fighting to make lasting beneficial change.

Distant Relatives begins with the lead single, “As We Enter”, reminding their listeners that both Nas and Marley are two of the best lyricists in the business. The song is a short but fierce beginning to a project that takes the audience through an array of styles, invoking the languages of the people, from Patois to Rap Star.

The album continues with the song “Tribal War”, which addresses the brutal reality of Africa, a continent at war with itself, committing the most brutal atrocities in people’s misguided efforts to have success in a neo-colonial world. The song features K’Naan, one of the most inspiring artists on the scene today, whose own history of growing up as a child soldier in Somalia lends a personal aspect to the song.

“Leaders “ features Stephen Marley lending his vocals as a tribute to all of those dedicating their lives to leading others out of the struggle, a generation’s opportunity to change the conditions under the oppression. The track is self-reflecting, as these artists are the some of the most honest and revered voices representing the world’s ghettos.

Distant Relatives is a focused effort, matching purposeful lyrics with clean and powerful production. Nas and Damian Marley would be just as comfortable dropping harder lyrics over raw drums and samples, but their intention was to create an accessible masterpiece that could uplift a world audience.

The album is a message to an entire continent of Africa, a call to uplift the spirit of a people who have been set at war against themselves by the wicked powers of the world, both from the outside and within. Also, it is a call to consciousness for the Diaspora, giving inspiring words to help awaken from the poisonous messages of commercial music. With so many social ills to address, this is music for a new generation of leaders.

Grace Lee Boggs

At this year’s United States Social Forum (USSF) in Detroit, veteran activist and organizer Grace Lee Boggs participated in the Education People’s Movement Assembly, and has issued a statement based from this experience. Including a ten point resolution, the statement is a powerful message to those seeking to develop a fair and progressive system of education in their communities.

Boggs, 94, is a longtime Detroit resident, and a powerful figure for her career in social activism spanning over the past seven decades. Her book, Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century, published with her late-husband James Boggs in 1974, remains an influential title in literature for inspiring power to the oppressed.

The Boggs Center is a non-profit organization supporting community development in the city of Detroit, founded in 1995. Goals of the Boggs Center include developing community leaders, building cross-generational dialogues and creating visions of positive neighborhood change.

Various People’s Movement Assemblies (PMA) were organized for different topics at the USSF, as a way to share ideas and build resolutions democratically on topics such as health, environment, housing and other pressing community issues.

Over 300 people from over 25 different organizations participated in the Education PMA, facilitated by Shea Howell of Detroit and Scott Nine of Chicago. The gathering was split into groups of 12-15 individuals, discussing methods of democratizing education to bring community change. The different groups then came together to share their findings, ultimately generation the following resolutions:

Strongly Affirmed Resolutions

1)    We face a crisis that is both deeply challenging and full of possibility.  We can move beyond a dying system to transform our educational practices to prepare youth to participate in a democratic, multiracial, and sustainable society.

2) Young people who experience democratic education are

•    confident, creative, generative, passionate, empowered, independent, interdependent.

•    have power; their school belongs to them, they count.

•    possess knowledge of history and solidarity.

•    feel honored, nurtured, respected, connected

•    have no sense of artificially imposed limitations.

•    have lost the sense of entitlement that many Americans often have.

•    connected to their life purpose and the future before them.

•    filled with the joy of being alive;  know the joy of play.

•    know they come from some place and have a sense of purpose and connection and tools to interact with that place.  Know they are going somewhere and have the skills and tools to enter into a new place and connect with new people, spaces, and challenges.

•    understand that learning is a collaborative process.

•    possess creative and critical thinking skills and the ability to synthesize.

•    have a reverence for other beings and the planet.

•    understand food and its relationship to the ecosystem.

•    see the world clearly and beyond the current moment.

•    leave school feeling healed, expanded.

•    have the tools, literacy, and power to move through the world they inhabit.

3)    We call for all people taking up the education of our youth to the responsibility of understanding and connecting with people, place, power, oppression, and the history relevant in that location.  We think this must be a fundamental and required aspect of teacher training.

4)    We call for the elimination of high-stakes, standardized tests and replacing them with relevant, rigorous, community-based assessments.

5)    We will network, document, and share our work more effectively with each other.  We begin by sharing the contact information of PMA participants and the documentation of the PMA.

6)    We seek to reform the property tax system and other formulas that create inequitable funding for schools.

7)    We seek to replace zero tolerance polices in schools with restorative justice practices.

8)    We affirm October 7th as a National Day of Action for youth, parents, educators, and all allies who want educational justice and transformation.

9)    We support the creation of a National Student Bill of Rights and effort to ensure Quality Education as a Constitutional Right.

10) We aim to reconcile or incorporate some of what seems right within community-powered alternative charter and private schools (more local control, more flexible, more personal) while challenging the corporate led privatization of schools.

Photo by Benno Hansen

The issue is not simply the use of lethal handguns, but in the deaths of both Grant and Jones, the presence of weapons designated as “non-lethal” were a contributing factor. The officer who killed Grant made the claim during his trial that he was reaching for a Taser while the man was incapacitated, instead pulling his gun and firing point blank into the boy’s back. For Jones, she was sleeping in the front room of the home when a police flash grenade was thrown through the front window, just before an officer’s bullet entered her neck and exited her skull.

The Taser stun gun and flash grenade are two technologies developed and distributed by corporations that serve the technology needs of the police military industrial complex. This is a lucrative industry in the US, one that not only influences economics, but also the political landscape.

“Non-lethal” weapons include tear gas, stun guns or “tasers”, flash grenades, smoke bombs, rubber bullets, sound cannons and other devices designed to incapacitate suspected criminals. Even these weapons’ explicit purpose of incapacitating their victims is an affront to recognized systems of justice, where an individual must suffer physical punishment from the state before their conviction of any crime.

Photo by EKavet

Even more troublesome, though, is that far too many individuals have become severely injured or even killed by their use. Their effects are always unpredictable, dependent upon the physical condition of the victim, the intent of the officer, and the area in which they are used.

In June in Hempstead, Texas, a criminal suspect was brought down by a police officer’s use of a Taser, and a witness stated that the officer had stunned the man four times while on the wet ground, leading to the man’s death. According to a 2008 report from Amnesty International, over 300 people in the United States had been killed as a direct result of receiving a Taser stun gun shock.

Even family friendly sporting events are not immune to violence of stun guns. At a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game this year, fans were subjected to the horrific display of a 17 year old young man falling flat to the ground after he was shocked by security while playfully running across the field during game play. Though he suffered no lasting injuries, in an instant, his body went from vibrant to nearly lifeless in view of thousands who came to witness this family event.

Flash grenades are known to blast at 170 decibels – the human threshold for pain is 140 decibels, a level highly capable of causing permanent hearing damage. The burns suffered by Jones were from the extreme temperature that these grenades are known to reach, and its been suspected by the family’s attorneys that the explosion may have startled the officer into firing his pistol. The intention of using them is to disorient any potentially harmful individual inside the room in order for the officers to gain a tactical advantage in overtaking the suspects, as in, for example, a barricaded gunman.

The New York City Police Department has effectively banned the use of flash grenades following the 2003 death of a 57 year old woman in Harlem. Police obtained a warrant for a drug search and entered the home of Alberta Spruill, detonating a grenade and inducing a fatal heart attack. No drugs were found. After a long run in the 1990s of their use by the NYPD in drug raids, the death caused a severe re-evaluation in their effectiveness, and there have only been two detonations since the incident in 2003.

Also threatened by the increased arsenal of “non-lethal” are citizen’s ability to create and sustain organized demonstrations. Last year at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a massive security effort coordinated by the US Secret Service added 1200 state police officers to the city’s police force to suppress violence amongst the demonstrators. The Pennsylvania National Guard led 2500 troops from their unit and the US Department of Defense.

A predictable amount of individuals demonstrating did in fact incite some violence, throwing rocks at the squads, but from the accounts of peaceful demonstrators, the response from the officers was disproportionately aggressive. Flash grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets and sound cannons were all used both in reaction to the tensions. The use of sound cannons, which release an incapacitating, shrill noise that can project through entire neighborhoods, was their first public use in the US.

After one demonstration was announced as illegal, cryptically robotic voice projected an announcement on behalf of the police. “If you do not disperse, you may be arrested and/or subjected to other police action. Other police action may include actual physical removal, the use of riot control agents and/or less lethal munitions which could cause injury to those who remain.”

At the nearby University of Pittsburgh, students walking through campus were even targeted by these militarized weapons. Nearly 200 demonstrators were arrested in total over the course of the summit, and a majority of them were arrested in an area located near the campus. Dozens of students who were arrested claim the police actions were wrongful, and that they were not participating in any demonstration at all.

According to witnesses, the police called for protestors to disperse, though some of those present were residents at a university dormitory located near the demonstration. As those students filed out of the dorms thinking that the police helicopters were announcing demands for their evacuation, the police used the sound cannon, a 140 decibel blast that had formerly been reserved for the military to repress battlefield insurgents.

The world is in the midst of a turbulent period, one in which peace is being forsaken for the semblance of order. While wars still rage, it is outside the battlefield where the true disturbance lies. Militarized police and security organizations have engaged society in the US and across the world with an increasing number of violent actions, and civilians are being expected to surrender their own freedoms and physical safety at the hands of these forces.

The entire culture of police departments and security forces seem to have been altered by the proliferation of these “non-lethal” weapons, where an officer can inflict physical punishment upon a citizen with little consequence, simply because a system of justice has designated these weapons as an acceptable use of force.

For a democracy to truly work, citizens must not be subjected to the violence of its own police force. As more and more weapons are proliferated across the country by public law enforcement agencies, it is increasingly clear that this buildup is contrary to the freedoms of the people.

Before the release of the album, they are dropping a number of singles to introduce themselves to the world. They will also be featured on the compilation album NECESSARY!, a tribute to Malcolm X that will be released in conjunction with the reprinting of The Autobiography of Malcolm X with three previously unpublished chapters.

Rush is a member of Arabian Knightz along with Sphinx and E-Money, and he is also co-founder of Arab League Records, the international independent record label that will release new artists from the Middle East. Arab League Records will also support artists throughout the Arab diaspora as a way to create unity.

This interview with Rush discusses his discovery of hip hop growing up in Arabia, and the potential impact that hip hop created in Egypt could have on a worldwide audience.

What was the first hip hop song you ever heard?

Rush: My first one, it may have been “Fuck the Police”, but I also remember “Walk this Way”, Run-DMC and Aerosmith. That just crossed over rap globally

They both were amongst the biggest ‘80s songs though. “Fuck the Police” wasn’t anywhere commercial, but people traded it around like it was crack or a forbidden spell book. I was the first song I did wanna memorize though.

I was in Oman dude there was no way we would have gotten underground or street shit back then, “Fuck the Police” was a special case.

It wasn’t till we started having MTV though that I started getting all that extra knowledge. And I remember they wouldn’t play all the rap songs I was buying even then. I’d hear about Snoop and Dre and so on in the early 90s, but it wasn’t till like late 1994 that I saw Snoop on TV, “Gin and Juice”, and I just went and bought his album and Dre’s Chronic the same day, and that was one hell of a listen.

Life changing no doubt.

Rush: Then few weeks later, I saw “Slam” on TV by Onyx, and I bought the tape and I was out with my family cause I was like 14. The place in Oman where the outtings and the malls are was 60 kilometers away from my place, so I had to be with family to go out back then. So on the way back I’m like, “dad can I play this tape?” And you know Onyx yeah?

The first words on the tape “MOVE BACK MOTHER FUCKER, THE ONYX IS HERE, BACK THE FUCK UP, BACK THE FUCK UP!”

Boom, my dad clicked eject and the tape played Superman on its way out the window. I ain’t ask what’s wrong, what you doing all that, I just sunk in my back seat and stayed quiet. That’s when I discovered hip hop sometimes is something that you listen to on your own, don’t share with family.

The music made me rebel openly and bump the music loud in my room. I was 15 when I first heard Pac, I was smart though, I’d turn “Dear Mama” up loud when its on to make my peeps at home know rap ain’t so bad.

But to be honest till I was 15 rap wasn’t my number one music. Until Pac, rap was occasional for me.

What did you listen to?

Photo by Cain and Todd Benton

Rush: Oh Michael Jackson, man, I used to bump MJ since I was 7, since Bad came out. I knew his moves, I’d perform the whole Thriller movie at home, I moonwalked, I sung along, I had all his concerts, his world tour documentaries. Moonwalker came out and that was my year. That year I don’t think I played anything else on my VCR but Moonwalker.

That was emotional when I was with you all when he died. I knew he had a worldwide impact, but I really got to see it in everybody’s face. You, Qusai, Amin, Fredwreck.

Rush: Man, I think the most it hit was me, Fred and Sphinx, we grew up on him. Music to us was MJ. Sphinx won a Moonwalking contest when he was 5. My first ever tape I ever bought was Bad.

Then 2pac, then Wu Tang, then Biggie, then I started lending my ears more and more to rap and started understanding it as a art form not just dope lines.

It’s amazing cause that’s such a modern thing, how the music can spread. MJ opened doors for African American music around the world, then the MCs followed through, and hip hop came with all its different elements.

Rush: Yeah man, but since I heard Pac, it became rap only for a long while. Then Wu-Tang, man, Wu was just crazy.

The clothing line was the smartest shit ever. That was what crossed them over, the clothing line, the logo being everywhere.

It started here in like 2000, fake Wu Wear pants. They’d just put the logo on jeans here cause it looked fly, sometimes it be some fucked up easy to tear tight pants too, but the logo was used here on knock offs.

Was it a symbol of rebellion?  What did Wu-Tang mean to the people?

Rush: Well, we’re talking about people in the slums here, who don’t know shit about jack. Some of them don’t even know the top selling Egyptian artists name, so to them it was just a cool logo. And of coarse some bought it cause they knew, some cats in the hood in 1998 onwards picked up on rap man.

B-boys always been big here, waaaaay before the rap scene itself was. I remember some TV shows used b-boys in the theme on of the show and the intro, and even commercials, and there used to be b-boy contests here in clubs in ‘99, and the prize was the Wu Tang Forever CD or the Puffy No Way Out CD, and so on, and people would kill themselves to win it.

Arabian Knightz: E-Money, Rush and Sphinx

The criticism of hip hop in Arabia, from the old folks, is that it’s a Western music and culture. So is going towards hip hop a rebellion to the old generation?

Rush: Oh yeah and we still have that debate now here, but I have the ultimate answer that shuts everyone up. We all learned in school that poetry was an Arab invention, and it was huge in Arabia before Islam. And rap is rhythm and poetry, only difference now is we do it to a beat, deal with it.

But there’s always been a rhythm to it. But now it’s a different kind of beat, funk.

Rush: Yeah, Western.

But to me it’s so appropriate that hip hop spreads to that part of the world, cause its like coming around full circle. Nobody can really say anymore that this art belongs to any one part of the world, this art belongs to everyone who is a part of hip hop culture.

Rush: Exactly, and that’s what made me rap.

Hearing Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin”, no one in New York back then knew but that was Egyptian music. That song made it big here, every car was bumpin it, no one knew what the song was about, no one cared, and no one even remembered the rappers name. They called it the Abdel Halim rap song.

That was the sample, from Abdel Halim?

Rush: Yeah, from the “Khosara” song. Timbaland took a lot of Arabic samples and didn’t even ask and didn’t even write it in his credits that he did. “Don’t Know What To Tell Ya” by Aaliyah was sampled from the Algerian singer Warda, “Make Me Better” by Fabolous and Ne-Yo was a straight sample from Sherine’s song, “Ale Sabaan Alaya”. He sampled from 0:14 to 0:20 and looped it and boom, top 10 in the US. Sherine didn’t even know that she got jacked or that her music is on the top 10 in the US.

For your upcoming album, Uknighted States of Arabia, you produced songs that feature some of these traditional Arabic artists. You’re giving them a chance to really contribute to hip hop.

Rush: Yup, because I know our music, we made it the top 10 in the US many times and we didn’t even know, so why cant we make it there again and actually get known for it for once.

We got Latifa, who is a legend in Arabia, we have Mahmood El Leithy, who’s a giant in the ghetto urban singing scene we call Shaaby music. And Lana, she’s known as an actress here.

So Arabian Knightz are taking those styles and putting them into hip hop?

Rush: Yeah, we have many styles and many sounds, that’s one of them. I also listen to Western music, so I would sample some oldies sometimes, or I can just go crazy one day and work with live bands. I change my style every time I have a mood swing, that’s what makes music amazing.

I get that, I’m getting Attention Deficit Disorder as I get older, that’s why I have so many categories on the Common Breath website, I can’t just write about one thing.

Rush: I think being ADD ain’t too bad, it makes your art and your work less repetitive and boring.

I heard somebody say it shouldn’t be called Attention Deficit Disorder, it should be called Hyper Attentive Advantage.

Rush: Or jus simply ADD, as it adds to the talent.

Or just HAA, because we can laugh at others for being slow!

Rush: LOL, HAA hahahahaaaa!

Story and Photos by Steve Furay

Berkeley, California, September, 1973 ~ “Yes, the Roller Derby, that brainchild of the 1930’s, that archetype of the 1950’s which doesn’t even possess the cool to be worshipped in revival like Chuck Berry. Where men and women, regardless of race, color, creed or national origin can skate miles and miles to nowhere to the admiration of dimwitted fans. What a vulnerable target for a journalist to sink his teeth into.” ~ by J. from “The Reel Story of Roller Derby”, Berkeley Barb, Sept 1973.

Madison, Wisconsin, May, 2010 ~ There was a madness in the arena this particular weekend, something between a bazaar and a bullfight. The Mad Rollin Dolls were hosting their annual championship bout to before crowd that had arrived early, ready for the kitsch, courage and passion of these modern women on wheels.

The above critic of the 1970s was skeptical of a sport gaining a foothold in pop culture through a legion of followers he could not grasp, a phenomena fueled by weekend televised bouts and a range of corporate endorsements. The writer continued the article by equating the sport with VFW hall wrestling and televised pro bowling, as if those activities were an existential dimming of society’s imagination.

As sure as people come together for spectacles, a few will separate on the other side of the gate called cool. That writer used their foresight to demean the sport on eight silly wheels, not figuring that roller derby and the other two targets of mockery actually had a fighting chance of surviving in a future of sports media that would be dominated by the 24/7 airtime of million dollar athletes.

The self-aggrandizing sports networks survive upon the fame of their featured athletes, making it difficult for independent sports to gain a foothold with a loyal audience. Only the events that truly make people who they are could possibly continue to earn popularity as a spectator sport without the backing of the machine.

The independent road dogs of pro-wrestling give their all to their fans, gassed up on speed and soma, getting their kicks while numb to the choke slams. In real life, wrestlers may be some of the least admirable people in the world, but people love them precisely because they embody a fantasy. Those are real steroids, real thumbtacks and real paychecks for which they bleed. And these sportsmen respond by enterprising, from the traveling independents all the way to those who built their own empires with TV contracts, video distribution and unlimited merchandising.

Tumbling the ten pins is no different in its Americana. The United States heartland is born in a cornfield, buried in a factory and eulogized at a bowling alley. Television exposure comes and goes for pro bowlers, but show up to any local tournament, from Taylor, Michigan to New Berlin, Wisconsin, and you’ll find a full house to support their local rollers.

Roller derby has been able to revive itself on the strength of its independent spirit. The most obvious difference between the derby of today and that of the 1970s is that the largest competitive leagues are comprised solely of women. Beyond that, the leagues are a proper homage to the real life comic book hero-and-villain spectacle of the bye-gone era, from the nicknames to the mascots. Madison’s league has become one of the largest in the country and home to some of the sport’s most popular competitors.

The Mad Rollin Dolls championship match concluded a hard fought sixth season of the league, featuring the two survivors of the elimination bouts held two weeks prior. On this Saturday evening, the Vaudeville Vixens were led by SugaLumps and Major Kusaknocky against the Unholy Rollers, who featured such stars as Rita Slayworth and Jewels of DeNile.

A small contingent of the University of Wisconsin marching band made an appearance for the playing of the national anthem and the occasional crowd favorite. The Rocky Horror “Time Warp” was one appropriate recital, an invocation of the adored 1970s camp the sport wears like a prized accessory.

SugaLumps

From whistle to whistle, the ladies rolled through the turns with all the angles of an auto race, grinding for position against the skillful strength of their competition. The pace of the first half action varied, from packs moving at breakneck speeds with furious scoring runs, to a slow defensive crawl where the blockers lock in their opponent’s jammer and keep the other team from gaining points.

The scoring went back and forth between the two teams. SugaLumps of the Vaudeville Vixons was controlling a lot of the action for her team, but a solid collective effort from the Rollers put their team ahead after the first half of action.

Halftime Score: Unholy Rollers 57, Vaudeville Vixens 47

Up and down the stands, the ladies were cheered on by friends, neighbors, lovers and loners, all present to witness the bruising and maneuvering through the wheeled packs. Picking a favorite team is nearly impossible without a loyalty to a particular skater. With only a modest shred of media attention throughout the season, the fans kept showing up to the roller derby to support their favorite players, regularly packing 1500 people and more into the arena.

Before they ever lace up a single skate, these ladies have typically all flirted with the boundaries of safety in some way. The faint of spirit need not apply, as a high velocity sport like roller derby demands the fury and grit of women willing to break their lacy legs and necks for the show. After bout meet and greets are no different, as they always take place at bars and bowling alleys, shedding the family fun in exchange for the hard camaraderie of cold spirits.

The modern revival of roller derby doesn’t quite resemble the commercialized version of the 1970’s, Madison’s league is still a bit of a novelty in the conciousness of the city. But it is still a tall middle finger to the massive sports marketing mainstream, an opportunity for people to spend ticket money and not support overpaid athletes.

The daredevil ladies came back for the second half with a fierce intensity, ready to leave everything on the track as the season came down to the final thirty minutes of play. Eyes cut in every direction on the oval proving ground, looking for any advantage possible to help lead their team to victory.

The second half played out much like the first, with the teams scoring back and forth until the Unholy Rollers began to extend upon their lead. By the final minutes of play, they were up by as many as twenty points. The Vixens would need a miraculous charge to catch them.

With their best players on the track, the Vixens fought hard for points, but exhaustion clearly became a factor as the ladies could not come up with the strength to even the score. Those final jams brought them closer, but they still fell short of the championship. The Unholy Rollers skated to their first league title.

Final Score: Unholy Rollers 104, Vaudeville Vixens 93

For that cynical writer of the 1970s, the self appointed gatekeeper of the era’s sense of cool, their perception of the derby girls has not aged well. That is to the credit of the women on the track, risking their bodies for the thrill of the ride and the joy of the crowd. Derby fans are proud of their attachment to the players, and they’re not willing to sell their attention out to the conformed drone of cable anchors chatting endlessly about million dollar athletes.

“The only distinction that the crowd has is that they en masse don’t realize how uncool they appear to a keen social commentator. Not socially aware enough to channel their energies creatively, not hip enough to be able to lie on the floor blitzed out listening to the Grateful Dead, not educated enough to separate themselves consciously from their entertainment, they yell and cheer and make raving idiots of themselves enjoying an amusement.” – Berkeley Barb, 1973

By Steve Furay

The state of Wisconsin prides itself on its agricultural industry, providing top quality products and employing tens of thousands of workers. As the industry continues to grow, large scale industry continues to develop, particularly animal feeding operations. While these facilities represent economic growth, they are also an enormous challenge for the environment, with water supplies perhaps being the most sensitive. In response, citizens groups in Wisconsin are banding together to fight for their rights to a clean ecology, even conducted their own testing of waters.

Sarah Grainger is civil engineer specializing in pollution control in water systems, and has lived in Wisconsin since 2008. She is a member of the Valley Stewardship Network, holding the position of Water Quality Program Manager. On this spring day in the state’s west side, she has come to train citizens in the process of gathering water quality data to be used by the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

About 15 people have gathered at Mother Earth Green Center in Steuben, Wisconsin, sitting around a table that held equipment to be used for water testing. Most of the participants have become active around the issue of water quality, as the region has seen large scale controlled animal feeding operations (CAFOs) being developed in their area. A CAFO is defined as having 1000 or more animals confined on the site.

 “It’s beyond just coming in and learning about water quality and that awareness, there is this real scientific part about what we would be doing,” explains Grainger to the group. “We’re going to do some actual hands on work.”

Grainger continued by explaining the three different levels of testing, and that at this session the training would be for level one, the most basic level. For level one testing, the five parameters that would be measured include temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen levels, turbidity and stream flow. She recommends that this testing take place once per month, being careful that the dates are a month apart, and that the testing occurs at the same time of the day each time.

The first step of the testing is to take a reading of both the air temperature and the water temperature. As Grainger notes, it doesn’t take a scientist to understand the significance of water temperature, even people who fish regularly understand the importance when trying to take home a catch.

Sarah Grainger instructs the attendees on water monitoring techniques

“After temperature we talk about pH. So pH is actually measure of hydrogen ions in water,” said Grainger. “And basically what you’ll be doing is taking both of these tubes, you’re filling it up with the same sample, then you’re adding a solution to it. And this is the bromothy-…what is it called?”

 “Bromothymol?” responds a man assisting in the training.

 “Thank you, that’s what I’m trying to say,” says Grainger with a giggle. “And this will turn it a bluish color. And you only want to do that on one of them because the other one is the sample that you have. And then you put them in here with the color wheel in it. And when you’re through here you’ll turn this little dial (on a color wheel), and match up these two colors. That will tell you a pH.”

“You think, that’s kind of subjective, you’re looking at colors,” she adds, “but it actually has a fair amount of precision. When they do testing, they started to move away from this, but even in drinking water where they’re testing your chlorine in your water, the city wide systems, they actually still in certain places use color wheels.”

When the water’s pH has changed, it is a good indicator that there is an increased amount of photosynthesis occurring. A polluted stream or river experiencing higher amounts of algal and plant growth will see an increase in pH. A change in pH can impact the water by altering the solubility of nutrients in the stream, as well as affecting the health of fish and other aquatic life that are present.

Next to be measured during the testing are dissolved oxygen levels, which is of importance not only to fish, but also the microorganisms that make up a lower end of the food chain. A healthy amount of oxygen is needed to sustain life, but too many organisms present can cause a depletion.

“It gives an indication of the health of the water,” says Grainger. “So if you have high contamination, particularly like runoff, high organic levels, manure, that kind of thing, it will actually take the oxygen out of the water. Not in itself, but the bugs that are eating that as a nutrient source or the other habitat in that could be depleting the oxygen source.” 

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As a historic farming community, residents of this region understand the potential for environmentally dangerous runoff from animal facilities. Having a large concentration of animals produces an enormous amount of manure which cannot easily be processed. This leads to the potential of harmful runoff into local waterways.

“We’re concerned about a number of issues, including water quality, especially from Vernon and Crawford County where many of us are from,” said Matt Urch, owner and operator of a family farm specializing in grass-fed beef, speaking at a December protest against the close relationship between the DNR and the DBA. “We have very fragile carse topography, and easily contaminated water.”

The tools of water monitoring

Last month, a group of organizations stood up and announced a proposed “Citizens Memorandum of Understanding” between their members and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regarding how the DNR regulates Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). They have contended that the DNR works too closely with the Wisconsin Dairy Business Association (DBA), a lobbying organization of statewide dairy industry professionals, and as a result they have catered to the large farm interests at the expense of environmental safety.

Last September, the New York Times reported on the contamination of over a hundred wells in Brown County, Wisconsin, due to agricultural runoff from the local dairy cow factories. Water tests had shown widespread contamination from E. coli bacteria in the region.

Citizens groups have rallied to have their voices heard against the large agriculture lobbyists. In the meantime, however, the presence of these massive operations has created a threat to their shared water resources. Stepping in to act as stewards of these waters is their way of demonstrating their own control while taking a stand against the DBA’s arrangement with the state.

A particularly sensitive topic with the citizens groups is the DNR’s issuance of general permits to large factory farms, which opened up the question of whether these represent a relaxation of environmental standards.

“The general permits are the result of DNR’s back room deal with the Dairy Business Association, and do nothing to protect Wisconsin communities or water quality,” said Russ Tooley of Centerville Citizens for Air, River, and Environmental Solutions (CARES), in a statement announcing the citizen’s memorandum. “DNR should instead focus on better enforcement at the factory farms we already have, to prevent even more pollution of our waters.”

From these general permits, one of the issues the groups specifically cite is the allowance of excessive nutrient runoff. This is a known culprit in creating excess plant growth in the water, throwing off the habitat’s natural balance.

“Nutrient management plans (NMPs) under the general permit would continue the practice of allowing CAFOs to apply 15% more nutrients than actual crop yield averages,” stated Edie Ehlert in a letter to Gordon Stevenson of the DNR Bureau of Watershed Management. Ehlert is a member of the Crawford Stewardship Program, a group actively fighting CAFO development in Crawford County. “This practice defies both science and common sense, and virtually guarantees excess nutrients will find their way into surface and ground water over time.”

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Grainger examines specimen samples from the water

These are the issues that have brought the residents together to participate in the water testing training session. The audience is attentive while the monitoring steps are described, knowing that soon it will be there turn to gather data.

Turbidity is the next measurement to be taken, which involves taking a sample of the water in a long tube and determining how much water the tube can hold before the bottom is no longer visible from the top of the water level.

“That’s a good indication of sediment that’s in the water,” said Grainger, “a good indication of things that are in the water that make it unclear. And that can have an impact on habitat.”

The final measurement to be collected is stream flow, or how fast the water is moving through the stream or river. The process can prove a bit awkward, but is important in understanding a waterway’s overall health. Grainger notes that this often fun for her, as it involves timing the movement of a tennis ball as it moves from one point of a stream to a marker 20 feet away.

“You’re taking the cross section, how wide it is, how deep it is, and then you’re going to figure out how fast the water is flowing, and that is going to come together to be a calculation for the volume of water that is coming through the stream at that time.”

Having a calculation of water flow helps to understand how the amount of potential contaminants could be in the water, based upon the overall volume of water moving through the region. This is the water that the residents drink from, and that allows so many crops to be sustainable.

As the state government continues to hear statements about the future regulations of the agricultural industry, the concerned citizens who have gathered for this water monitoring training represent the front lines of the state’s protection. There is no guarantee that their efforts to change the current system will be fulfilled, a fact of which they are acutely aware. In the meantime, this water monitoring training session is scientific observation meeting activism, perhaps the best hope for the region’s future.

Perhaps most importantly, it is an opportunity to come together and share their concerns for the health of their lands.

Shadia Mansour

An upcoming hip hop tour of Palestine is getting ready to launch, the Hip Hop Bus Tour 2010. The tour has been organized by Existence is Resistance, the South West Youth Collaborative (SWYC) and the University of Hip Hop Chicago (UHHC). Daily musical workshops will be conducted for children in refugee camps and the occupied West Bank.

Twelve musicians from the United States and United Kingdom will join eight youth performers from SWYC and UHHC in conducting the workshops. The performers are of a diverse ethnic and religious background, including people of Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths. The tour plans to reach eight different cities.

The goal of the tour is to reach out to children living under occupation who are in danger of not receiving a proper education for creative expression. Many factors lead to this gap in opportunity, including a lack of funds, an inadequate education infrastructure, and the daily threat of violence. Inspiring these children to create art is a key development in allowing them to help create a new society for themselves as they continue to become empowered.

The Hip Hop Bus Tour will feature Shadia Mansour, the first lady of Arabic hip hop. Mansour is one of the most passionate, fiery and beautiful voices of the movement for global justice through hip hop. Her relentless verses are matched with her amazing singing voice, a combination that have led critics to draw comparisons to the great Lauryn Hill.

Joining her is Lowkey, already one of the UK’s most successful hip hop artists, he is a voice of conscious and strength for the movement to liberate Gaza from the Israeli siege. His hit single “Long Live Palestine” is an anthem, invoking some of the more complex dialogues and insights about the regional struggle for human rights and freedom, set to a track that has made the whole world listen.

Finally, DJ Vega Benetton will also be on board, a prominent independent DJ who has previously toured the West Bank to support the cause of the Palestinians. He is of Haitian decent, and his human rights sensibilities were on display as he responded to the recent earthquake and aftermath in Haiti with a number of fund raising events.

Photo by bixentro

This weekend, the New York Times published an article detailing the Somali military’s use of children as soldiers in their war to stem the tide of terrorism in their country. The impoverished nation receives aid support from Western nations, including the United States, to assist with the delivery of humanitarian support to their people.

The Transitional Federal Government (TGF) of Somalia is considered a key ally for the United States in stemming Africa’s growing movement of radical Islamic militants. The NY Times article states that American government has confirmed that it does pay the salaries for some of the Somali government’s soldiers, while those government officials have recognized that they have not properly vetted those who have been hired.

This raises the great concern that US aid money to Somalia has gone directly to paying for hiring of child soldiers.

The article details the story of 12 year old Awil Salah Osman patrolling the streets of Mogadishu with a Kalashnikov rifle in an effort to combat the country’s radical militants. Somali human rights groups and United Nations officials have claimed that possibly hundreds of child soldiers, as a young as 9, could be working for the TGF.

The militant rebel forces are well known to use child soldiers as combatants, so the violation of these children’s innocence is already a major problem for the poor nation. Ali Sheikh Yassin, vice-chairman of Elman Peace and Human Rights Center in Mogadishu, has said that up to 80% of the radical army are children.

In March, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson told reporters that the US was not providing direct military aid to the TGF, though these new developments seem to contradict this statement.

Somali Postage Stamp: Child Welfare

The Convention of the Rights of the Child was a global initiative in 1989 that set out to provide a framework of rights for children under the age of 18. The articles prohibited the use of soldiers under the age of 15, though the United States and Somalia are the only two nations to not have ratified this initiative.

The United Nations Children’s Fund recently made an appeal to the international community to increase the amount of aid to the country to support the welfare of children, including education, health, nutrition and clean water. The TGF provides no public funding for health care. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35040&Cr=somali&Cr1=

“Somali communities, families, parents, local administrations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donors and international organizations should have a collective responsibility to put the best interests of the child first,” said Rozanne Chorlton, UNICEF’s representative in Somalia in a press release.