Feel the Love! Send the Love!

***OPEN CALL***

Please pass this on to all artists, craftspeople and musicians, and anyone else who might be interested in participating in the event.

Tidings of Joy-
Arts For Social Justice Holiday Party and Sale
-make art, have fun and save lives!

Saturday December 13th, 11-7
at Rebecca Migdal Studio, Paper City Studios, 80 Race St. Floor 3, Holyoke

FEATURING

-Art for Darfur -art show and sale benefiting Doctors Without Borders
-Amnesty International Write-A-Thon - write letters to free prisoners of conscience
-Stationery Printing Workshop
-Christmas Ornament-Making
-Bake Sale; Coffee, Tea, Hot Spiced Cider
-Organic candy, Fair trade costumes and accessories
-Music, Poetry and Performance open mic

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Amazing links to the YES MEN, Bureaucrash and more!

Everybody’s talking about the spoof New York Times (this link is to a pdf) distributed last week, announcing the end of the Iraq war. The major entity involved in the spoof was a media activist group called the Yes Men. They also created a spoof NY Times web site.

I had the privilege of meeting Yes Man extraordinaire Andy Bichlbaum last night at a screening of their documentary film.

Andy Bichlbaum demonstrates the “Employee Visualization Appendage” in Helsinki

After my heady indoctrination into the world of Yes-Manigans I did some research, and I found out that the Yes Men did a spoof involving “Captain Euro“ - a strangely naziesque comic/cartoon action hero, created by PR firm Twelve Stars Corporate Vision Strategists, advocating Eurofederalism to children.

The mission of Captain Euro is to "successfully eradicate any possibility for divergence from the common vision" of the European Union.

Apparently the Yes Men dressed up as Captain Euro characters and interviewed real children in London. Then they showed up at the offices of the PR agency, were welcomed, and asked the questions (without revealing their source.) Twelve Star’s Eduardo DeSantis was delighted to answer, and finally proclaimed “This is what I like about America. Any idea is accepted - without discussion!”

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Curtly Loathe tricks Nurdt Nobrain into matrimony- or does she?

Yes, just in time for Halloween, you can now read the grisly tale of Nurdt Nobrain online and you can even buy the new oversize edition right now!

The story begins when Nurdt Nobrain pulls the trigger.

“Zombie Punk #1-The Curtain Falls”, being the tale of the life, death and afterlife of Nurdt Nobrain, was released by Gonzo Comix on October 25th at The New York Art Book Fair. Copies of this limited edition oversize comic are on sale now through this web site only.

Read more about the making of Zombie Punk here.

I was asked by the Indypendent to come up with a cover on the theme, “Does My Vote Matter?” Although they declined to use the artwork for the cover, it will be posted to their web site. Here’s a sneak preview of the artwork.

At times voting can seem pointless, as if it hardly matters what choices we make, because the system will continue on with business-as-usual regardless.

You can investigate all my recent editorial cartoons in detail in: “Editorial Cartoons by Rebecca Migdal”.

I was asked to illustrate the review by Nicholas Powers of Obama's "Dreams from My Father" in the October 27, 2008 issue of The Indypendent.

Well folks, you can look forward to another flurry of posts from me in the next few days. Lots has happened in the past couple of weeks and there hasn’t been much time to catch up on my postings, but I promise to get you all up-to-date by Halloween. For starters, check out the cartoon that was published in the new issue of the Indypendent, illustrating a review of the first volume of Barack Obama’s memoir: Dreams From My Father. I’m pretty proud of it, and prouder still to be a contributor to the Indypendent. You can read the interview here.

You are invited to GET MAD in “Happy Valley” this October -and dig the Fall Foliage on the way!

Come play in a fiery landscape of autumn colors, scenic canals and grand industrial antiques.

Please join us at a haunted extravaganza of spooky-cool art installations, performances and parties:
The Paper City Studios: First Annual Open Studios & Installation/Sculpture Event, all this coming weekend.

On Saturday, witness legendary comic artist and media activist Seth Tobocman's unique mixture of multimedia, live music and politics.

Featuring Seth Tobocman with ahh-some sounds courtesy of The IED’s. Opening act: The Yours Trulies*, with Rebecca reading comix, accompanied by Andy Laties, Eric Blitz and Steve Wishnia.

Busy all weekend? You’re in luck. Next week, you can hear a live radio broadcast on Valley Free Radio, or catch the complete show at Food For Thought Books. There’s even a stencil-making workshop for youth.

Don’t miss these fun-o-lishus events:
Paper City Studios: First Annual Open Studios & Installation/Sculpture Event
_______________________________________________
- Friday, October 10 through Sunday Oct 12; 80 Race Street, Holyoke MA

>>> - RECEPTION Friday, October 10. 6-9 pm
>>> - Saturday October 11, 3pm: performance by
Seth Tobocman, with The IED’s, and The Yours Trulies*
>>> - Friday afternoon and evening, Saturday 12-9 PM and Sunday 12-5 PM:
Fabulous art, video and sound installations on view, throughout
Paper City Studios and Parsons Hall Project Space (next door)

BUT WAIT–here are more local appearances by Seth Tobocman, and The IED’s,
(opening with The Yours Trulies*), coming up!!!
_______________________________________________________
- Monday, October 13, 9-10 am; WXOJ-LP 103.3 FM, Valley Free Radio Northampton:
Live Radio Broadcast — spicy ear candy for hardworking folks!!!

- Tuesday, October 14, 5-8 PM; Food for Thought Books Collective, 106 N. Pleasant Street, Amherst

>>> - Youth stencil-making workshop 5-6 PM with Seth
>>> - Performance 7-8 pm, followed by a reception and book signing

READ ON for Detailed Information >>>>>

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The Lord of Xibalba chases Ana, trying to get back the magic Calabash Head.

Gonzos Andy and Rebecca are going on the road, as an opening act for Seth Tobocman’s “Disaster and Resistance” book tour. Music by Steve Wishnia and Eric Blitz of the IED’s, with Andy on winds. Art by Seth Tobocman and Rebecca Migdal, and video too! It’s going to be great! Here’s where you can catch the show in September:

Friday Sept. 26 7 pm
Wooden Shoe Books, 508 S. 5th St., Philadelphia

Saturday Sept 27, 3 pm
Baltimore Book Fair, Radical Book Fair Tent
Mount Vernon Place, 600 block of North Charles Street;
Monument Circle-West

Sunday Sept. 28, 6 pm
Chop Suey Books 1317 W. Cary St. Richmond, VA 23220

Over 1400 demonstrators gathered in Anchorage yesterday to voice their objection to Governor Palin’s policies. Although the counter-demonstration was considerablly larger than Palin’s homecoming rally, it got no attention from the mainstream media. According to AKMudraker’s Mudflats blog, it was the largest protest in Alaskan history. Click here to read more and see photos.

A sign along the Southern Highway in Toledo District betrays the extent of "benefits" received by the GOB in return for oil concessions.

I find the likelihood of an environmental catastrophe based on an oil-spill to be by far the largest risk Belize faces. I think that all the players — rich and poor — face the same risk. This is why I think that it may possibly be averted. Because Belize depends on tourism, and tourism is famously an industry that can be wrecked by freak events. The second longest barrier reef in the world!! I simply cannot understand why the Belize Government and the tourism industry — top to bottom, big companies and small operators, catering to 600,000 visitors each year, many of whom come for the diving –aren’t now fixated on a fear of damage to the reef.

Imagine — a stream of supertanker traffic off Livingston, Guatemala — and a hurricane comes through. It just seems like supertanker traffic means that inevitably, in the ensuing decade, there will be one or more oil spills. When a supertanker breaks open in rough seas — goodbye tourist traffic. For a long time. No-one predicted what happened to the Exxon Valdez.

So the solution is that the story has to be taken international. This amazing coral reef in Belize is one of the Western Hemisphere’s treasures. The oil industry doesn’t want anyone to realize they are poised to drill right next to the reef.

Here’s an op-ed piece from an Australian newspaper, in which a major oil industry executive says that there should be lots of new oil drilling in the offshore waters of Australia. EVEN THIS MAJOR BOOSTER OF OIL DRILLING SAYS:

“the Australian oil and gas industry believes that such areas as Ningaloo Reef and the Great Barrier Reef are sacred and should be protected….Australia has more than enough frontiers far from our iconic attractions to explore.”

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/bring-home-the-search-for-oil/2008/06/23/1214073146212.html

So – these top oil industry people in Australia would certainly also say that it’s not smart to drill near a major reef system such as the one in Belize.

“…It is not the view of the government that that judgment applies to all the villages….the first case…was not vigorously argued by the Government’s side….When next this matter comes to court it is going to be vigorously argued.”

Belize Attorney General Wilfred Elrington, June 13, 2008

“…The people of Golden Stream have customary rights to these lands, and the fact that the government has never recognized or respected our rights to this land, and therefore never granted any legal title to those lands to these people, should not cost them their right to those lands.”

Cristina Coc, Maya Leader, Executive Director of the Julian Cho Society, Belize, June 13, 2008

These excerpts are from a radio program on Belize Love FM radio, transcribed here.

Melissa Coc of Blue Creek, Toledo District plays with her pet parrot.

The Maya of Toledo remain at risk. Their farms are being bulldozed, in the village of Golden Stream and elsewhere, by government-sanctioned developers. Indigenous rights are being eroded; meanwhile the Kuwaiti-sponsored roads that will facilitate oil drilling in the region will be completed within the year. Most residents of the area have accepted the assurances of the government that environmental impact studies are enough to insure that the destruction of agricultural and natural resources just won’t happen, and that oil development will bring prosperity to the local economy. If only this were true! Similar cases throughout the world, from Nigeria to Ecuador, have invariably been launched with the same credulous enthusiasm. The results have not been economic security for local communities, nor the careful protection of the environment. Instead, there have been the inevitable land grabs and corruption, the theft of resources and the disempowerment of local voices. If the Maya leaders’ voices are not heard and respected, outsiders will profit while indigenous communities are forced to subsist in toxic wastelands.

The delicate loveliness of the coastal reefs and rainforests here are fragile ecosystems. Their beauty alone gives them intrinsic value, while they harbor rare and endangered species of wildlife, and provide a livelihood for the equally rare and endangered human communities that live sustainably among them. In addition, the potential value of the medicinal herbs and the historical archaeological sites that are still being discovered and explored, is unfathomably rich. And finally, so long as tourism is the primary legitimate economic engine in Belize, the choice to place at risk the natural resources that sustain the tourist trade is a shortsighted one, and can only be explained as self-interest in the short term, by those in power and by those who hope in vain to benefit.

Stay tuned for a more detailed narrative of this important struggle for indigenous rights and the environment in Belize.