Nepal Film Festival seeks Indigenous women films

By Nepal International Indigenous Film Festival
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photo: Monsoon Reflections film
.
Indigenous Film Archive (IFA) is delighted to inform you that 5th edition Nepal International Indigenous Film Festival (NIIFF) 2011, is being organized in Kathmandu, Nepal. from April 22-25, 2011 coinciding with World Earth Day. The festival will be preceded by a day long International Conference.

Indigenous Film Archive is a NGO which works for the collection, preservation, dissemination of indigenous culture and practices through films.

NIIFF 2011 is dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the indigenous woman. The festival aims to bring out the sensitivities, strengths, skills, knowledge and wisdom that enables the indigenous woman to play a key role in holding societies and communities together. The following criteria has been set for NIIFF 2011.

- Films made by women filmmakers or films about indigenous women (Directed by either male or female filmmaker/s).
- Submission to the Festival is open to all kinds of films: Shorts or feature films, music videos, animation or documentaries of any length.
- Deadline for the Final Submission: 28 February 2011

I just came across your blog http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/04/indigenous-women-ofelia-rivas-and.html
You are doing a great job with your blog.
We would appreciate if you can spread the message of Indigenous film festival to fellow filmmakers and if anyone is interested, please let us know.

Looking forward to your positive response.
Yours sincerely,
Ngawang Dolma Tamang,
Festival Coordinator
Nepal International Indigenous Film Festival (NIIFF) 2011
Organized By:
Indigenous Film Archive(IFA)
P.O. Box: 10487
Anamnagar - 32 , Kathmandu
Phone: 0977 - 01 - 4102577
For festivals: ifa_festivals@yahoo.com
Website: www.ifanepal.org.np

Roberto Rodriguez: Arizona State Leg. Seeks to Nullify International Laws

ARIZONA STATE LEG. SEEKS TO NULLIFY INTERNATIONAL LAWS
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

Last week I wrote that after the cameras left Tucson, the Arizona hate that is focused on Mexicans/migrants – on brown peoples, which is about 95% of all the hate in Arizona – will be back to normal. I was wrong. The massacre helped to obfuscate that hate; the cameras have not yet left Arizona and already we are being treated to a feel-good national narrative, predicated on denial, this while this war against brown peoples continues unabated.


The latest salvo is an attempt by the legislature to nullify international laws in the outlaw state of Arizona. Yes. You read this correctly.


This past week, the national narrative has been crafted as a story about heroism and healing. And it is a true and uplifting story. Yet, Arizona’s actual hate has generally been off the radar. And again, this hate isn’t necessarily about right-left, Republican vs. Democrats, conservatives (Tea Partiers) vs. Liberals. Instead, most of the hate – as manifested in the state legislature and in the public discourse – is about Mexicans/migrants and the border. And it is ugly.

Perhaps an argument can be made that this massacre is not the appropriate time to address this hate. So the question then is: when is the right time? Since 2000, thousands of migrants have died along the border. And since 2,000, the anti-Mexican legislation has steamrolled through the state legislature. And since 2000 (actually, 2001), the hate rhetoric against them has ratcheted up to unprecedented levels. Most of the world knows about the 2010 racial profiling sb 1070. Less known is the 2010 anti-Ethnic Studies hb 2281 – an attempt to impose upon Arizona schools – a Eurocentric Master Narrative of History. On Jan. 3, Mexican American Studies-TUSD was declared illegal by the outgoing state schools superintendent. The only remedy is it elimination. This year, at least two more outrageous measures are being added to this list; one would nullify the 14th Amendment and the other will require children to turn in their parents [immigration status] to school authorities.

Maria Brumer, Mexican American Studies-TUSD , Tucson High school teacher

Worse, last week, members of Arizona’s state legislature wasted no time or did not let the tragedy get in their way of addressing Arizona’s actual hate… in their own peculiar way. Just a mere 4 days after the Jan. 8 massacre – and on the same day that the president was attempting to heal the nation – a 2012 proposal (SCR 1010) to exempt Arizona from International Law was introduced. It is not certain whether the legislators are engineering Arizona’s secession from the United States, from the community of nations or from humanity.

It was introduced by: Senators Gray, Allen, Antenori, Gould, Griffin, Nelson, Pearce R, Pierce S, Reagan, Smith; Representatives Burges, Weiers J: Senators Barto, Biggs, Bundgaard, Crandall, Klein, Melvin, Murphy, Shooter, Yarbrough. Here is the full text of SCR 1010:

Be it resolved by the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of
Representatives concurring:
Article VI, section 1, Constitution of Arizona, is proposed to be
amended as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the
Governor:
1. Judicial power; courts
Section 1. A. The judicial power shall be vested in an
integrated judicial department consisting of a supreme court,
such intermediate appellate courts as may be provided by law, a
superior court, such courts inferior to the superior court as
may be provided by law, and justice courts.
B. IN MAKING JUDICIAL DECISIONS, THE COURTS PROVIDED FOR
IN SUBSECTION A, WHEN EXERCISING THEIR JUDICIAL AUTHORITY, SHALL
UPHOLD AND ADHERE TO THE LAW AS PROVIDED IN THE UNITED STATES
CONSTITUTION, THE CONSTITUTION OF THIS STATE, THE UNITED STATES
CODE, FEDERAL REGULATIONS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO THE UNITED STATES
CODE, ESTABLISHED COMMON LAW, THE LAWS OF THIS STATE AND RULES
ADOPTED PURSUANT TO THE LAWS OF THIS STATE AND, IF NECESSARY,
THE LAWS OF ANOTHER STATE OF THE UNITED STATES PROVIDED THE LAW
OF THE OTHER STATE DOES NOT INCLUDE INTERNATIONAL LAW. THE
COURTS SHALL NOT LOOK TO THE LEGAL PRECEPTS OF OTHER NATIONS OR
CULTURES. THE COURTS SHALL NOT CONSIDER INTERNATIONAL LAW.
2. The Secretary of State shall submit this proposition to the voters
at the next general election as provided by article XXI, Constitution of
Arizona.

One feature of extreme conservative philosophy is its innate disdain not simply of the federal government, but their demonization of the United Nations and international laws. A question to ask; why would a state propose that the state courts “not look to the legal precepts of other nations or cultures.” Because they are conscious of, and have examined, their own rogue legislation? It very much appears to be the same tactic of the W. Bush administration, in the prelude to the Iraqi invasion, which attempted to exempt itself from the International Criminal Court.

Again, why this preemptive move, and why the attempt to wash its hands and pass the blame on to the citizens of this state? Perhaps because the legislators have little doubts about the mood and passion of the electorate?

A cursory examination of international laws, treaties and conventions that focus on human rights will convince the average person that Arizona’s laws this past decade that are directed against Mexicans/migrants are absolutely outside not simply of international law, but also outside of the U.S. Constitution (see: http://drcintli.blogspot.com/2011/01/updated-hornes-law-or-hornes-great.html). Virtually all international human rights laws are designed to prevent bigger nations and cultures from swallowing up smaller peoples and cultures. Perhaps Arizona’s legislators are preemptively reading their own tealeaves?

For the international and national media that is still here in Arizona, please take heed: In this state, a reinstatement of slavery would probably stand a good chance of passing … maybe not if directed at African Americans, but at brown peoples, probably.

Rodriguez, a professor at the University of Arizona, can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com

Column of the Americas
PO BOX 3812
Tucson, AZ 85722
COLUMN: http://drcintli.blogspot.com/

ARCHIVED COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
http://web.me.com/columnoftheamericas

You change my way of writing, you change my way of thinking. You change my way of thinking, you change who I am.

Roberto Rodriguez: After the cameras are gone

The Tucson Massacre: After the cameras are gone
By Roberto Dr.Cintli Rodriguez


As a journalist/columnist of nearly 40 years, I can tell you what will happen in
Tucson in a few days. Better yet, I will tell you what the media will do in the
next few days; the cameras will leave.

It's called parachute journalism.

The whole country is exposed to or gets a glimpse of Arizona, and then it's
off to the next rampage.
Blood and gore sells, but it only has a shelf life until the next crisis.

What will the country have learned from the saturated and instantaneous coverage
(much of it unverified, expectedly wrong or exaggerated)? They will have learned
that there's a lot of hate in Arizona. That the inflammatory and incendiary
political rhetoric, with subliminal and even blatant calls to violence, from the right and left have to be toned down, that we all need to be civil and we all need to be positive.

Nice try. But that is not a description of Arizona, nor the nation. With very
few exceptions, only the right wing engages in this constant talk of targeting
and taking out their opponents and of 2nd Amendment solutions.

The rampage is/was the rampage. It was carried out by what appears to be a
right-wing lunatic. He may have had a co-conspirator. His target appears to
have been first, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and secondarily, with his weapon of
choice, anyone else who was in the vicinity. Giffords, a conservative democrat,
was literally in the crosshairs of the Tea Party and the Sarah Palin wing of
the conservative movement. Everyone knows that.

Yet in Arizona, most of the hate here is directed specifically at
Mexicans/immigrants. That cannot be left unsaid by all those who have
discovered Arizona overnight. All the hate that Arizona is famous for emanates
not simply from right wing hate radio but from the state capitol itself. Here,
Mexicans/immigrants and Indigenous peoples are fair game for the loudmouth talk
show hosts and their cult followings, but also from the highest officials in
state government. Here, Mexicans/immigrants are daily demonized. The
viciousness and dehumanization here has become normalized. There?s a
consensus that everyone is conscious that we need to be civil, that we need
to respect each other's rights, except when talking about 'illegal
aliens.' Racial profiling (read Indigenous) is a way of life here in
Arizona, and truthfully, when it comes to brown peoples, it has been
normalized across the country. That's what sb 1070 is about. But it's also
about hb 2281, the effort to kill ethnic studies.

There is no leftwing equivalent to the Rush Limbaughs and Glen Beck's of the
world, and there's plenty local ones in Arizona who revel perversely every
time their names are mentioned. They preach unadulterated hate because
'illegal aliens' are not human to them. It is not uncommon to hear people
talk on the radio about killing Mexicans along the border, as if they were
speaking of flies or cockroaches.

The hate here is deafening. We have been sending signals for years now and the
hate continues. It is relentless, whether from minutemen, hate-radio loudmouths
or from state legislators.

To the parachute journalists and all those that have discovered Arizona
overnight, don't forget that. Long after you leave, long after this
massacre has ceased to be headline news, we will continue to have to contend
with the normalized bigotry and hate against brown peoples that continually
comes out of the state capitol and that is nowadays prevalent throughout the
state. Please remember this and look at your own communities to see if all this
hate is already festering there. I can almost guarantee you that it is. Bring it
to light before the next massacre. Perhaps you will prevent the next massacre.

* For an in-depth look into the Arizona hate, go to:
http://drcintli.blogspot.com/


thnx

Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
Assistant professor
MASRC-UA
Cesar Chavez Bldg Room 207B
PO BOX 210023
Tucson AZ 85721
520-626-0824

Arizona Racism: Creation in a Time of Resistance

Creation in a Time of Resistance
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
photo by L.M. Hernandez


In March of 2010, I announced the end of Column of the Americas; that would have marked the end of 16 years of writing a deadline-based nationally syndicated column, first with Chronicle Features in 1994, then Universal Press Syndicate, and finally, independently with several national publications and syndications, including New America Media.

And then came Arizona’s notorious racial profiling SB 1070… then the anti-ethnic studies HB 2281. (In Arizona, we don’t refer to them as laws. At best, they are anti-laws). Of course, more are on their way – nullification of birthright citizenship – and they are being exported and as welcomed as a cold arctic blast from hell.

Well, I didn’t change my mind about Column of the Americas. But I was supposed to write less, not more. Someone forgot to tell Russell Pearce (president of the state senate), Joe “pink underwear” Arpaio, Jan (Gov.) Brewer, Tom Horne (state schools superintendent and soon to be attorney general), and now, John Huppenthal (Horne’s successor). Honestly, can someone who knows these cats write to them and tell them that they need to move on to other issues so I can retire from column writing? I need to move on.

Seriously, Arizona legislators need to move on. In an irony of history, they are proof that: In Arizona, Darwin was wrong. Apparently, somebody (a legislator, no doubt) has nullified evolution in Arizona. I think they’ve also nullified intelligence and thinking. Elected officials here also disprove another famous adage that: the march of history is always forward.

But back to my story… or would you rather that I continue digressing about the regressive, repressive and reactionary insane asylum we call Arizona? … OK, but when do I get to finish my____ story?!@#!!!

Truth is, there is no mystery about Arizona. It’s a ruse. Even a subterfuge. While we fight what appear to be illiterate political troglodytes on the issue of the browning of this nation, this nation continues to devolve into the United States of War. The Tea Party rails against deficit spending but is all thumbs up on permanent war – which not only permits the U.S. military to take lives without the benefit of trials by the thousands anywhere in the world, but it is also the chief cause of our deficit. The Republican Party (Tea Partiers in suits) demands that we cut spending on everything, except for all things military and law enforcement… in other words, to hell with human needs and the needs of the planet and let our permanent wars continue unabated (Hey this a digression upon another digression).

The point is, this war against brown people in Arizona and in this country is actually related to this notion of permanent worldwide war. But we’re not supposed to look at the big picture. We’re only supposed to be able to point out the narrow-mindedness of Arizona legislators and their effort to nullify the 20th century, etc, etc. The idea that more than two dozen states are set to follow Arizona’s lead regarding dealing with “illegal alien invaders” (This new dehumanizing term comes compliments of Daryl Metcalfe, a Republican Pennsylvania state rep.) is actually a mis-analysis. Arizona is not the leader in these politics nor does it constitute an aberration; it actually typifies the history of this country and continent. If you are not certain about this, please read Decade of Betrayal (Rodriguez and Balderrama), Brown Tide Rising (Santa Ana) and Open Veins of Latin America (Galeano).

And yet, while Arizona cannot be ignored, it should be contextualized in relationship between resistance and creation, here in the desert. What is developing in Arizona is a resistance/creation culture. It is awesome and I happen to have front row seats. Resistance by any other name is still reaction. Creation is what is developing, when people act from an axis mundi that does not point to hate, fear or ignorance as its center. The resistance/creation culture that is developing in Arizona is youth-led, the result of having to battle over their/our very humanity and our very existence, but also as a result of an understanding that their/our knowledge and essence is not dependent upon what Western or modern culture permits or outlaws.

In the recent December conference we held at the University of Arizona that examined hate, censorship and forbidden curriculums, many of us witnessed pre-K-12 students and college and university students stand up and speak for themselves. Amidst massive dehumanizing assaults on who they are, they are courageous, determined and resilient. They are clear-headed and tienen Coraje! They are awesome and the continual battles here are producing them on a daily basis.

And thus, it’s time for us to listen to their stories, their experiences, their organizing efforts and their visions. And many indeed are great writers and great story-tellers. Its time to give them the mic.

Now I’ll finish my story: Under intense pressure, I’ve been instructed to publish academically or else? So I have a book I just finished and another one on the way… plus I will be writing a few journal articles (about 11 people will read them) about this dehumanizing experience we’ve all been living here in Arizona. So I’ll reiterate, I won’t stop writing the column, it just won’t be deadline-based nor on a regular schedule. It will be written when the need arises (again, someone call Pearce, Horne and company to slow down). But I will also do my best to continue to keep you posted on the continuing war here in Arizona. Question is, can I still run?

Photo L.M. Hernandez Dec 4 Ceremonial Run in Defense of Raza/Indigenous/Ethnic Studies
(60-80 runners ran from Tucson's A Mountain to El Rio Neighborhood Ctr)

Hasta Pronto… wishing it were Hasta Nunca!

Rodriguez, a professor at the University of Arizona, can be reached at: XColumn@email.com and http://drcintli.blogspot.com/. Older columns are archived at: http://web.me.com/columnoftheamericas





Column of the Americas
PO BOX 3812
Tucson, AZ 85722

520-626-0824