US Tax Dollars at Work: Egyptian Army Viciously Beat Unarmed Girl…

Many of us recall last January when the Arab Spring broke out in Egypt, we cheered as Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak was ousted as many talked about how the army was revered.

After Mubarak stepped down, most of us here in the US went about our day-to-day lives thinking that Egypt’s darkest days were over.. Because many of us here in the US pay little attention to foreign affairs, we were caught off guard when we ‘discovered’ that things were on and popping once again in Tahir Square..

The truth of the matter was all those thousands of people we saw early on in the square never left. Large demonstration numbering in the tens of thousands with demands for full equality never ceased. The only that ceased was CNN and other network news coverage….Sadly the young folks in Egypt who ousted Mubarak suddenly found themselves facing a new and more deadly foe, the once revered Egyptian Army.

Beatings and torture increased as more and more young folks determined to have a brighter tomorrow boldly faced down an institution that is pretty much funded with American tax dollars. In seeing the latest wave of brutality we see the army tearing down and burning tents that have now ‘occupied’ the square and we also have come to understand why they have been hell-bent on removing people from Tahir Square..

Tahir was as a gathering place was fueling the revolution.. It was more than symbolic it was and has been the proverbial town square.. In looking at the latest footage of an out of control army viciously beating and stomping out unarmed women, if such scenes will not soon be visiting us here at home.. Whats most interesting is that as the brutality you see unfolding in the videos below continue, the media controlled by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is blaming the brutality on Egyptian protestors. Many who are into 30 second soundbites pick up on this and run with it, refusing to believe that those designed to protect the people would harm the people. Here many of us wanna hide from the fact that our money is paying for oppression all over the globe. Its hard pill for many to swallow..

Here is a you tube playlist of over 120 videos showing the brutality being waged against Egyptian demonstrators..

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF4AA350FC45ED5E8

Unknown unarmed woman being brutally beaten by a horde of SCAF soldiers.. warning some of this may be quite disturbing..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5IiKfU0n44

Egyptian Army using live rounds to clear out Tahir Square

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bTnETBYusk8

Our interview with a young woman named Al-Shimaa’ Haidar from Egypt who is now in the states.. She gives agreat overview of whats been going on in Egypt since Mubarak was ousted and contrasted her experiences in Tahir with the Occupy Movements here in the states which she’s been a part of..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urk0CNG5fD8

4 Hip Hop Videos Addressing Key Issues Everyone Must See

This has been a good week for music, especially on the video tip as we’ve had three stellar offerings to raise your awareness and peak your conscience. Two of the videos deal directly with police brutality and I’m hoping folks will pay close attention, being that much that is shown happened over the past couple of years… As we peep these vids we should all be asking ourselves whats going on? How will folks be brought to justice and what will we do as individuals or a collective body of people..

The third video comes from Lupe Fiasco who gives us serious food for thought by laying out an array of movies many of us came up on and questions what sort of impact they may have had on the past few generations…

First up is a song called ‘Film The Police‘. It’s a remake of the NWA classic ‘Fuck Tha Police’ and features great performances from B-Dolan who steps in for Ice Cube, Toki Wright who fills in for MC Ren and Jasiri X who fills in for Eazy E..Sage Francis kicks things off as the judge ala Dr Dre.. He does a great job, but I gotta be honest it would’ve been nice to see what lyrics he would’ve spit on this song..Big shout out to producer Buddy Peace who actually reconstructed the beat..

The video has struck a chord with lots of folks as it chronicles a lot of violence we’ve seen directed at peaceful occupy protests. within a day of its release its garnered well over 40k views. These guys do a great job at connecting the dots to what has gone down in the Occupy Movement which all are a part of and what has gone on for way too long in communities of color…

The call to Film the Police doesn’t have a s strong a ring as fuck the police, but it speaks to the importance of us documenting and giving voice to our own realities especially at a day and time where police departments are fighting to make filming them illegal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hyT1buoyTnY

Next up is an incredible video from San Francisco rapper Metro P and Oakland rapper Mistah Fab. Their new song Price Tag hammers home the plight many in the Bay Area have been dealing with around the issue of police terrorism and the literal price tag on people’s heads.

They start off by bringing to light the Oscar Grant situation. They also highlight footage from the scandal that rocked San Francisco where police were found to have placed drugs and lied on the reports of 56 different felony cases …Metro P drops gems about the long struggle we as Black folks have had with the police as he takes us back to the March on Washington up to modern day situations. Mistah Fab’s lyrics focus on the point that far too many of us have started hating on each other vs turning that aggression toward the police..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TABatCtJCqg

On a related tip folks, we can’t really talk about police terror in SF without making mention of the drama surrounding Fly Benzo who has been kicking up a lot of dust by constantly stepping to SFPD.. His video ‘War on Terror‘ speaks to the issue and highlights the fact that he’s looking at 4 years for a trump up charges which all stem from him speaking out on police brutality in his native Hunters Point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1H8Q2DENr0

Our last featured video comes from Lupe Fiasco..This brother has been a roll lately and sadly is seriously underrated. He’s been speaking up on key issues and trying to make sure his music reflects the political sentiment many are feeling..

His newest offering is to a song called Double Burger w/ Cheese where he goes in the power of images and how they may have impacted several generations of Black Youth.. The video starts off by showing footage from the 1965 Watts Riots and then juxtaposes it with an array of videos and images from movies in the early to mid 90s that focus both on South Central LA and the crack era..

We see footage from everything like; Juice, Menace II Society, Boyz N The Hood, New Jersey Drive, Poetic Justice, Dead Presidents, South Central, Sugar Hill, New Jack City, Paid In Full,& Colors. Although many of the movies shown have strong anti-gang messages, many of us have come to romanticize and glorify the gang drama and trauma shown in them..

Many who have seen the video are really appreciating where Lupe is coming from. Each line he spits hits the issue hard. Sadly there are many who see the video montage and they fondly look back at the movies sans the politics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMQwl8o_kmw&feature=youtu.be

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Goldman Sach’s is a Main target on the December 12th West Coast Port Shutdown

Yesterday the city of Oakland was on fire as Occupy Oakland and other organizations went in on banks foreclosing on homes…It was a day of activity which including shutting down a foreclosed Housing auction at the Alameda County Courthouse and reclaiming a couple of houses the banks had foreclosed on and moving families back in..The day was pretty successful..

We caught up Boots Riley of the Coup to talk about the days activities and get updated about what we should expect on December 12th during the day of action when all West Coast Ports are to be shut down….In our intv Boots pointed out how one of the families in West Oakland had lived in their home for over 15 years.. The mother lost her job and fell two months behind on her mortage and instead of working with her the bank came in like gang busters to foreclose on the property.

With respect to the D12 Shut down.. Boots noted that momentum has been picking up and that Vancouver will be shutting down their port and that there will be an action in Houston, Tx to shut down their ports..

In this interview, Boots gives all the details as to why shutting down the ports are important.. He points out how Goldman Sach’s is a main target for these port shut downs and how they are deeply connected to the activities that occur there on the daily. He also noted the plight of many of the truckers who are paid below market wages and are denied to unionize and get health insurance..

Obviously the threat of a West Coast port shut down has caused enough concern that management at the Oakland Port paid over 10k for a full page ad asking the public not to support the strike. In the words of Chuck D of Public Enemy-Don’t Believe the Hype..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzug9mwlYs

We included a a short snippet of an interview with some prominent union leaders about the D12 strike..

As pressure builds for the Dec. 12 West Coast port shutdown, the capitalist owners and their media began a battle of ideas to blunt this powerful threat to their profits and control — even for a day.

Two International Longshore and Warehouse Union members — Clarence Thomas, who is a third-generation longshoreman in Oakland, and Leo Robinson, who is now retired — spoke with Workers World reporter Cheryl LaBash. Both men have held elected office in ILWU Local 10 and have been key labor activists during their years of work in the ports.

WW: The Nov. 21 ILWU Longshore Coast Committee memorandum states, “Any public demonstration is not a ‘picketline’ under the PCL&CA [Pacific Coast Longshore & Clerk’s Agreement]. … Remember, public demonstrations are public demonstrations, not ‘picketlines.’ Only labor unions picket as referenced in the contract.” What is your reaction?

Clarence Thomas: A picket line is a public demonstration — whether called by organized labor or not. It is legitimate. There are established protocols in these situations. To suggest to longshoremen that they shouldn’t follow them demands clarification. It is one thing to state for the record that the union is not involved, but another thing to erase the historical memory of ILWU’s traditions and practices included in the Ten Guiding Principles of the ILWU adopted at the 1953 biennieal convention in San Francisco.

Leo Robinson: The international has taken the position somehow that the contract is more important than not only defending our interest in terms of this EGT [grain terminal jurisdictional dispute] but having a connection to the Occupy [Wall Street] movement in that when you go through the Ten Guiding Principles of the ILWU, we’re talk about labor unity. Does that include the teachers? Does that include state, county and municipal workers? Those questions need to be analyzed as to who supports whom. The Occupy movement is not separate and apart from the labor movement.

CT: Labor is now officially part of the Occupy movement. That has happened. The recent [New York Times] article done by Steven Greenhouse on Nov. 9 is called ‘Standing arm in arm.”

The Teamsters have been supported by the OWS against Sotheby’s auction house. OWS has been supportive of Communication Workers in its struggle with Verizon. Mary Kay Henry, International President of the Service Employees, has called for expanding the Occupy movement by taking workers to Washington, D.C., to occupy Washington particularly Congress and congressional hearings demanding 15 million jobs by Jan. 1.

LR: There was the occupation in Madison, Wis. That was labor-led. People are trying to confuse the issue by saying we are somehow separated from the Occupy movement. More than anything else the Occupy movement is a direct challenge or raises the question of the the rights of capital as opposed to the rights of the worker. I don’t understand that the contract supersedes the just demands of the labor movement. It says so right here in the 10 guiding principles of the ILWU.

Article 4 is very clear. Very clear. “‘To help any worker in distress’ must be a daily guide in the life of every trade union and its individual members.” Labor solidarity means just that. Unions have to accept the fact that solidarity of labor stands above all else, including even the so-called sanctity of the contract. We cannot adopt for ourselves the policies of union leaders who insist that because they have a contract, their members are compelled to perform work, even behind a picket line. It says picket line. It doesn’t say union picket line. It says picket line.

Folks can get more information and see the rest of the interview by going to http://westcoastportshutdown.org/
We wanted to include another interview we did last night.. This is with a sister from Egypt named Al-Shimaa’ Haidar who has been involved with the revolution at Tahir Square.. She talks to us about whats going on in Egypt and how it connects with the Occupy Movement here.. check this out below..(please forgive the mispelling in the video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urk0CNG5fD8