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GREENVISION
on B.C.A.T.
Brooklyn Community Access Television
Wednesdays at 2:30pm and 10:30pm
Channels 35 and 68
Video streaming at www.bcat.tv (ch. 2)
Producer: Carl Lawrence
ph: 718-875-3134 Email: clawx@earthlink.net

“You will never succeed in joining their club (the rich).”
-Seth Tobocman, World War 3 Illustrated

GREEENVISION presents this week, April 4, 2007, “Songs Not Bombs–World War 3 and UFPJ Take On Bush”.
Two things the military and ANTI-military organizations have in common are parades and drums. One is to impose regimentation and the other is to oppose loudly legitimization (of war) through music…a celebration of resistance or a passing on of souls.
The weekend of March 17-18 brought together thousands across the country, especially here in New York (at the UN) and in DC, to protest via art, dance, poetry, and massive marches, the beginning of the 5th year of the Iraq war!! Greenvision was on the street at the UN and ‘in the house’ at that mainstay of social ferment-Judson Church.
The Judson event was a stirring eclectic day of performances and audio-visual presentations: notably the never-say-die Living Theater’s satire of military discipline (brainwashing) ‘marshaled’ by Judith Malina–still going strong after 40 years as director.
Seth Tobocman of the venerable anti-war comic, WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED, MC’d the event in his usual offbeat, turgid style. The tragedy and injustice of New Orleans was a theme running through both the street marches (with upbeat jazz funeral bands) and at Judson, where Seth’s graphic allegorical slide show was punctuated by his band, playing a kind of crashing, angry, funeral dirge.
The next day we hit the streets. One of the protest organizers, Leslie Cagan (who has lead United for Peace and Justice in countless demonstrations against ‘The War’ and occupations) laid out this argument: grassroots activists are acting as cover for the Democrats. The Dems are rolling over to the war machine, content to leave it to cash-starved peace groups to tell it like it is–Stop Funding the War for the sake of Big Oil, Bechtel and Halliburton, and Bring the Troops Home Now!
I include a recent performance at the Big Apple Convention of “Agent Alpha, the Pentagon’s Tiniest Covert Operative”, an anti-nuclear puppet show created by Rebecca Migdal. Looking like a moldy green Mr. Burns, but sounding like Edith Bunker, the sinister Pentagon-boosting little Alpha is the personification of a single particle of depleted uranium. That’s the radioactive coating, essentially nuclear waste, that the military has been slathering artillery rounds with for 17 years. It “cuts through tank armor like butter”, says Alpha. It also causes birth defects, cancer and radiation sickness, and has contaminated most of the Middle East and the Balkans! With over 3000 tons of U-238 particles forever drifting with the sand in Iraq alone, some analysts have suggested the country should be declared uninhabitable! As the puppet play points out, only through urgent public outcry, led by scientists of integrity like Helen Caldicott and physicist Mishio Kaku, does Agent Alpha finally get the boot. Ditto our elected officials if they continue to ignore their own constituents.

Please tune in to Greenvision today and every Wednesday, for state-of-the-art political activism- coming to a TV or computer near you.
Special thanks to Rebecca Migdal for her invaluable advice and assistance.

Carl Lawrence,
producer

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 at 4:19 pm and is filed under Activism, Art, Greenvision, Puppetry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.