Joel Tena

May Day 2013 ¡Musica! Playlist

Wed, 01 May 2013 16:37:00 -0400

(in somewhat chronological order…)

What is a revolution without music??? Songs of empowerment, songs honoring labor, songs honoring migrants. Viva la Musica, ¡Viva la Revolución!

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLN_PUgmK-srlhW6lB2-jN_fejFUTAdbO

Studs Terkel remembers Haymarket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWvgXO6T_Gw

A LAS BARRICADAS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32mMk9kQOmM

“Land and Freedom” - La Internacional (w/subs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ylKMmvGuU

“The Internationale” conducted by Arturo Toscanini—BANNED by U.S. censors!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OPvWFDzDlA

HYMN TO NATIONS (with Lyrics) - Paul Robeson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMA5A17IZSo

Solidarity Forever (Pete Seeger)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCnEAH5wCzo

LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE el mojado acaudalado
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58qBd_HBAPc

Tracy Chapman -Talkin’ ‘bout a Revolution (Official Video) (HD 720p) (1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItFij7emQ4Q

Public Enemy - Fight The Power
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WHe5fxS3dA

The Coup - Dig It [Official Video HD]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU_RZNk1Kfs

PARIS - Break The Grip Of Shame
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WYJk2EQgZ4

Arrested Development - Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWlvOolOic4

El vals del obrero- Ska-P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI3P0IetobI

Los Miserables - El Pueblo Unido.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdRm8xq63hs

Dead Prez - HIP HOP ( Uncensored ) ”Best Quality” + Lyrics !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l0DOsg3PhI

Rage Against The Machine - The Ghost of Tom Joad / Live 1999
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GePOtynZ9EA

The Coup - Ride The Fence (with lyrics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sCWvHeNXaI

Immortal Technique - The Poverty Of Philosophy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bURgTLHryrg

Lila Downs - La niña
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOgbbR0lcCc

Ana Tijoux - “Shock” in Arizona
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkvgAXkd7yM

Occupy Dame Street introducing Billy Bragg- The Internationale 22nd October 2011.mov
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AL8_ElpStg

La Santa Cecilia - Ice El Hielo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNJviuYUEQ

World Cup QualifiersNational Team Tactical AdvantagesUnited...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:27:19 -0400

World Cup Qualifiers
National Team Tactical Advantages
United States & Mexico
Which will help in the Azteca on Tuesday?

Documentary Playlist: Hugo Chavez & Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:29:00 -0400

Greetings comrades/friends/allies,

In light of the recent passing of Companero Presidente Hugo Chavez, many have taken to the internet to learn more about this man and his place within the greater Bolivarian Movement in Venezuela and throughout Latin America. To help this process I’ve compiled several video documentaries from the last 10 years in a playlist that will deepen the knowledge about the current situation in Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution. Those I couldn’t find online I upload from my collection, including (what I hope is!) an improved version of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. Please click on the playlist or the individual links below.

Viviremos y venceremos…¡Adelante!

-Joel

2013.03 Hugo Chavez and Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution (Playlist)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLN_PUgmK-spKbxMuhSiYMdaYZKBbk9rd

South of the Border (Oliver Stone, 2009)
http://youtu.be/b0bI9KQQ_fo

The War on Democracy (John Pilger, 2007)
http://youtu.be/oeHzc1h8k7o

The Assassination of Hugo Chavez (Greg Palast, 2006)
http://youtu.be/2qmcUIOLrsI

Venezuela from Below (Dario Azzellini & Oliver Ressler, 2004)
http://youtu.be/DoxEA8qoc3o

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Donnacha O’Briain & Kim Bartley, 2003)
http://youtu.be/kWk1iiKzIjQ

Another World Is Possible… In Venezuela (Elisabetta Andreoli, Gabriele Muzio & Max Pugh, 2004)
http://youtu.be/55vEPeW7k4I

Venezuela Bolivariana - Pueblo y Lucha de la IV Guerra Mundial Part 1 (Marcelo Andrade, 2004)
http://youtu.be/dvKSIrhL-m8

Venezuela Bolivariana - Pueblo y Lucha de la IV Guerra Mundial Part 2 (Marcelo Andrade, 2004)
http://youtu.be/xZQ3NO4Q7NM

Venezuela - Revolution from the Inside Out (Clifton Ross, 2008)
http://youtu.be/faDoxJoHGCw

No Volverán - The Venezuelan Revolution Now (Melanie MacDonald & Willian Roche, 2007)
http://youtu.be/0xITZJL9ZiM

#VivaChavez #HastaLaVictoriaSiempre

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:08:24 -0500

#VivaChavez #HastaLaVictoriaSiempre

One of the defining moments of my life: meeting Compañero...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:04:51 -0500

One of the defining moments of my life: meeting Compañero Presidente Hugo Chavez #VivaChavez #HastaLaVictoriaSiempre

#MrsB

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:02:06 -0500

#MrsB

“…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,...

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:27:18 -0500

“…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” -Isaiah 2:3-4

Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares.

Remember & honor all victims of gun violence #CarlitosNava...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 21:47:22 -0500

Remember & honor all victims of gun violence #CarlitosNava #Oakland to #Newtown #GunControlNOW (at All-Mart)

#GunControlNOW... #Newtown

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:35:23 -0500

The United States doesn’t have a lock on crazy. There’s crazy and pain and violence the world over. What we are is the largest, most powerful industrialized country in the world WITHOUT SENSIBLE GUN CONTROL. Oakland has had 121 homicides so far in 2012 - including several children - the great majority of which done by guns. There have been an estimated 31 school shootings since the Columbine massacre in 1999. Aurora, Tuscon, Oikos University, Oregon… these types of incidents don’t happen if all the perpetrators have access to are knives. They happen with guns. Guns kill. That’s all guns do. That’s all they do. We need a radical revision of the Second Amendment. Guns should be outlawed, plain and simple.

And while we’re talking about guns, let’s be clear that there is a direct connection between the violence in our streets, violence in our schools, and the violence on TV, movies, video games, violence against women, as well as the militarization of our foreign policy, drug policy, immigration policy, and local law enforcement. We can’t expect to tell our children to solve their problems without violence when we as a nation perpetuate war through bombs and drone warfare throughout the world. We all need to look in the mirror and reflect at what we have come to and what we have wrought.

Prayers and mercy to all the little ones who started the day today thinking about Christmas, Hanukkah, or just being warm and cozy with their families this weekend… #Newtown

An East Bay Progressive's Case Against Voting for Obama

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 21:35:00 -0400

I’ve been asked by many people why I am not voting for the reelection of President Barack Obama, and, by extension, who I do plan on voting for in the November 6, 2012 Presidential election. Let me respond by answering two questions first and foremost: *NO* I do not want Mitt Romney to be president. I am a left wing activist. Republican, conservative, right-wing, and libertarian politics are, in my opinion, wrong-headed and immoral. After a hundred thousand years of human evolution I’d like to think that we have evolved to a point where we have compassion and a sense of right & wrong, and that the state exists for the communal good and if need be to help us all, even (especially) the most downtrodden. As my son and I like to say- “Everyone needs a little, no one needs a lot.” And *NO* I don’t think I am wasting my vote.

Why will I not cast a vote for Barack Obama? Frankly he hasn’t earned it. I voted for Obama in 2008 when the world (certainly many folks on the left) were flush with the ideas of “Hope” and “Change”. I voted for Obama even though I knew that, as a moderate-to-conservative Democrat, he would disappointment on many issues from Day One.

I never imagined how disappointed I would be.

As much as I adhere to a radical left wing politic I am no revolutionary when it comes to voting in the US. It is next to impossible to be too much of a radical and still have some effect on electoral politics in this country. I find that more often than not I am a pragmatic left-wing member of the Democratic Party, more in line with former President Jimmy Carter and his policies (side-note: Carter was considered a southern conservative when he was elected… my how times have changed!). While I will vote when necessary for Democrats I don’t necessarily agree with (i.e. “holding my nose”), I have a principled line that I will not cross. I do not cross that line for Dianne Feinstein. I did not cross that line for Gavin Newsom. And I will not cross that line with Barack Obama.

There are many reasons that folks I know will vote for Obama, but to sum them up, from my perspective they can be divided into two camps: those who think Obama is great, and wholeheartedly support his reelection; and those who think Obama sucks but will vote for him because they think he is the lesser of two evils and they shudder to think what kind of right-wing craziness a Romney administration might bring.

To the former folks, I really don’t have a whole lot to say. If you are still a cheerleader for Obama in spite of his Drug Wars, his militarization of the border, his drone attacks with thousands of people hurt or killed, his lack of transparency, his lack of policies that will economically help the working class and communities of color that voted so heavily in favor of him, his lack of following through with his most progressive promises like comprehensive immigration reform and the closing of Guantanamo Bay, then there isn’t a whole lot I can say that might change your mind.

To the latter, I would just say that though things can and might get worse under a Romney Administration, things are bad already under Obama. And frankly I’m tired of voting based on Fear, of being threatened by the specter of the Republican bogyman that the Democrats put up every four years to scare many of us into voting for them. I’m tired of not voting based on my principles. I want to vote for leaders who I can wholeheartedly support.

The lines Obama has crossed, in my humble opinion:

the deportation of more than a million struggling immigrants, the great majority of whom are not guilty of any crime save the crime of caring so much for their families and communities that they would trek hundreds/thousands of miles into unknown territory to provide for them.
drone attacks that kills and maim hundreds if not thousands of victims, with absolutely no due process, the great majority of whom are innocent of any crime, with a few even being US citizens
financial policies that saved and enriched the banking and auto industries while at the same time leaving hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing a foreclosure crisis
instead of persecuting Wall Street corruption, tapping in to that market for his staff and advisors on economic issues
causing more economic inequity than under the Bush Administration
abandoning unions who supported him in 2008, especially in places like Wisconsin
using policies that greatly affect the LGBTQ and immigrant communities as political pandering instruments (in the later case keeping DREAM-eligible young people in limbo for 3 years before finally signing an Executive Order that he could have done his second day in office)
ramping up military spending ($500 billion!), keeping troops in harm’s way, using our military muscle to prop up dictatorships in Egypt and Bahrain (to name a few places), continuing to station hundreds of thousands of troops worldwide, continuing to fund and staff the unwinnable Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (STILL!)
continuing George Bush’s “War without End” and perpetuating the neo-conservative strategy of striking perceived enemies first, without consulting congress
continuing to push the failed “War on Drugs”, attacks on medical marijuana facilities, doing nothing to stem a prison population (made up mainly of non-violent drug offenders) and the prison industrial complex that houses more people, at a higher rate of incarceration, than any other country in the world, including such so-called repressive countries as Russia and China
continuing the rightward corporate shift of the Democratic Party

I imagine that if Obama had turned back the clock on even two or three of these issues I would consider voting for him. I *really* don’t want Mitt Romney to be President. However, there is no reason - NONE - to think that Obama’s course of action will change if he were to be elected to a second term. And that is the biggest reason of all to not vote him: I neither agree with many of his policies nor do I believe that his administration represents the right direction our country should be headed and that it is, in fact, a continuation of the deeply wrong direction our country has been headed in for far too long.

If Obama loses on Tuesday it will be because of the wrong direction that he and the leadership of the Democratic Party have been taking us and our country.

That is why I’ve decided to vote for someone whose platform incredibly aligns with my ideas and principles and who is on enough ballots to be elected President of the United States- Green Party nominee Dr. Jill Stein (www.jillstein.org)

Suffice to say, our country has been on a rightward leaning path since at least the 50s… with a few hiccups here and there. While we have become more socially progressive in many areas, economically and militarily we continue to be backwards and belligerent. Do I think my one vote against the machine will significantly change this path? No, I’m not delusional. But there are many hundreds of thousands of people who are just as dissatisfied with the current state of politics of our country, and who are demanding more accountability from our leaders.

I am being strategic in NOT voting for Obama. I want the numbers crunchers to note that there was one less Democrat who voted for Obama. Ultimately, what I hope my vote, along with thousands of others, will lead to, and what I think would be best for this country, is if either the core of the Democratic Party- unions, the working class, folks of color, immigrants, social progressives- get tired of the corporatist shift in policies and practices of the current Democratic Party leadership and kick them out *OR* major progressive leaders in the Democratic Party finally get fed up and leave en mass, with the support of the rank and file, to form a new third party. Though I will vote third party this year, I have no illusions that the current offerings out there (the Green Party, for instance) do a horrible job speaking to the everyday issues of folks of color and working class folks.

Hopefully we can see something similar than what took place in the late 80s/early 90s with the rise of the Partido de la Revolución Democrática, who broke away from the old, stale, autocratic and authoritarian Partido Revolucionario Institucional.

Will this happen overnight? Of course not. As my good friend once told me about the addiction he battled- when you walk for years into the forest, you can’t just turn around and walk out in one. This will take time and a lot of hard work. But as every journey needs a first step to begin, so too do we need to make a first move that will signify that we are no longer susceptible to the politics of fear, to the politics of threats, to the politics of “the lesser of two evils.”

Our vote, our voice is sacred, and we should use it wisely, with short and long term goals in mind. This country is a disparate, chaotic mess of parts barely held together by the vices of militarism, addiction, repetition, isolation, greed, selfishness, and disbelief… that another world is possible. However we are more, much more than this. Hurricane Sandy proved to the world that no matter if we act or not, change a come. The hurricane also showed our resilience and ability to come together in time times of need and crisis. Better to help be the hammer that helps shape this change for the benefit of the great majority of us… here in the US and throughout the world.

Social justice, social equity, and peace. That’s my baseline, and that’s why I am not voting for the reelection of President Barack Obama.

This is a memorial page for Jason Dedge, a homie and friend. He...

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:12:00 -0400

This is a memorial page for Jason Dedge, a homie and friend. He touched our lives. Let us remember him…

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Dedge-Memorial-Page/167841716611366