Michael Franti And Spearhead- Power To The Peaceful

so much for lively debate.

Power to the Peaceful is counterproductive because it dresses up a hippie-dippie dance and homage to michael franti as oppositional when it's nothing more than a day to blow off steam for people who like their politics watered down to a thin patchouli-scented groul.

keep it on topic.

what would real opposition to the war look like?

-->tens of thousands in the streets totally uninterested in the cops' free-speech zones, protecting corporate property or business-as-usual.

-->night-time demonstrations with torches, loud pumping music, and no predetermined march route

-->resistance within the armed services (already happening, but more needed)

-->strikes, particularly in strategic industries that can break capital at the knees.

just some thoughts.

i'm going to step back an inch from my previous characterization of "power to the peaceful."

i was dissing PTTP based upon having gone to a couple PTTP events in the early 2000s. they were severely lacking. franti was at the center, yet he had nothing to say except hippy-dippy generalities about peace and a few quick nods to the trendy issues of the day. i remember feeling like an extra in an after school special depicting an anti-war demonstration. groovy.

but, then again, perhaps franti has changed or maybe the PTTP is bigger than just him. in any case, i will state-my-hope/acknowledge/admit that it could be better and more multi-faceted than what i grew to expect from PTTP events. we'll see.

music
makes the bourgeoisie
seem like rebels

yeah

9TH Annual Free Music and Arts Fest Set For September 8th in Golden Gate Park

On Saturday September 8th, renowned and outspoken musician and filmmaker Michael Franti and his group Spearhead – along with Guerrilla Management –present the 9th Annual 911 Power to the Peaceful Festival at Speedway Meadow in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The free music and arts festival is dedicated to social justice, non violence, coexistence and environmental sustainability and aimed to educate, enrage, enlighten and inspire. It drew over 60,000 attendees in 2006.

Artists confirmed to appear alongside Anti-recording artists and headliners Michael Franti and Spearhead at the event include Indigo Girls, Hot Buttered Rum, Bassnectar and DJ Spooky. The event will be hosted by Hard Knock Radio and broadcasted live on Pacifica station KPFA. Special guests and speakers will count journalist, author and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and more to come!

In addition to the mains stage of International Musical Artists and award-winning speakers, the PTTP Festival will also feature morning yoga, an open-air art gallery, a healing arts tent, vendors and food booths, eco village, bicycle coalition and social, environmental & political organizations tabling and forums. Festival Ambiance by dalabil and the Visual Consciousness. This years DJ Tent will be headlined by DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid and Bassnectar.

A family-friendly kid’s zone will boast arts and crafts with an amazing peace flag-making workshop with Daily Acts, live theater with the Big Tadoo Puppet Crew, games, story-telling, face-painting, organic “snack time,” and exhibit from the Museum of Children’s Art and a mid-afternoon Kids Parade. A favorite in the kid’s zone is the sing-a-long with Michael Franti, where the festival founder visits and sings with the youth. An exciting addition to this year’s festival will focus on Franti’s new children’s book, What I Be.

Since 1998, the free, outdoor 911 Power to the Peaceful Festival has been a fun, educational, hip and diverse annual experience. The first event was held in a neighborhood park and drew 6,000 people. In recent years, it has grown to draw over 60,000 people to the spacious Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park. Past artists and speakers have included String Cheese Incident, John Butler Trio, KRS-One, Digital Underground, Woody Harrelson, Angela Davis, Dennis Kuciich, Ram Das, Blackalicious, Alice Walker, Talib Kweli, The Coup, Saul Williams, Keller Williams, Lyrics Born and many others.

In a year that is shaping up to be his most active year yet in support of the peace movement, Michael Franti visited and performed for injured soliders at Washington’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center this past April, before participating in a fundraiser for Iraq Veterans Against the War. In May 2007, he performed an extremely rare San Quentin Prison concert, extolling the virtues of peace in a performance before some 2,000 inmates.

The award winning filmmaker Franti, who is responsible for I Know I’m Not Alone, the heralded 2005 documentary about the Iraq War, and the subsequent 2006 Anti- debut Yell Fire!, which was inspired by his travels to the war-torn area, has been praised for his commitments to peace, tolerance and co-existence from journalists and formal and informal leaders throughout the globe.

Franti and Spearhead will celebrate the success of their breakthrough 2006 Anti- debut Yell Fire! by releasing a live, digital-only version of the acclaimed disc this October. In advance of its extensive U.S. autumn tour, the group is currently at work with producer Matt Wallace (The Replacements, Faith No More, John Hiatt) on its next album, due via Anti- in 2008.
For more information contact Hilary Villa at Anti- hilary [at] epitaph.com


Getting to the Festival:
Carpool, BART, Bike or Walk with Your Neighbors
Power is in Community, so travel to the festival with your neighbors!
Whether you drive, walk, bike or BART, SpaceShare's travel & neighbor-match will connect you with peace-loving folks in your neighborhood. You tell us where you live, how you're traveling here, and the issues you care about. We'll connect you with neighbors who want to go to the same parties or heal the world on the same path you do.


MORE INFO TO BE ANNOUNCED... STAY TUNED!

It's a free concert. Stop arguing about social theory. They know this is not the means of overthrowing capitalism, or causing rebellion. But sometimes you need to kick it and chill.

Since September 2002, we have rallied and marched to the 911 Power to the Peaceful Concert to draw attention to the taboo topic- the truth about 9/11. We have also marched to "Blow the Whistle on Cheney, Impeach the Terrorists, Stop the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Construction of the Global Police State." This year we will be rallying and marching for 9/11 Truth, Impeachment, Peace and we hope you will join us September 8th at 10 am @Ashbury at the Panhandle. At 11 am, we will parade up Ashbury, down Haight, through Golden Gate Park to the 911 Power to the Peaceful Concert where we hope to overcome fear and raise consciousness amongst the crowd.

We have signs and banners. The Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance also publishes the Deception Dollars, and is organizing a 9/11 Film Festival on Monday and Tuesday (September 10th and 11th at the Grand Lake Theater- culminating at 7:00 pm 9/11/07 with- 9/11: Blueprint for Truth 130 Architects & Engineers Examine the Evidence with Richard Gage, AIA, Architect. We could use help passing out Deception Dollars and cards that give details about the Film Festival. Overcoming psychological fear has been our greatest challenge over the years, recently we published version #10 of the Deception Dollar which features Cheney, front and center and the graffiti- "Impeach Cheney First!" and version #1 of the Conception Dollar which features Cindy Sheehan and websites which point towards solutions, hope, possibilities. We invite all who care about the future and feel that truth is a vital, powerful ingredient, missing from the more timid peace and impeachment movements to join us. Truth doesn't have to be scary, and we hope that art, humor, courage, a powerful vision of a world that works for all will win over the concert goers, the public and the world to shift us from "endless war" towards "beloved community."

I personally like the PTTP events. The music is great and it is a place to connect and network with others but, having said that, I have noticed that there does seem to be a culture of "me"ism by many of the counter-culture types. It seem to me that they are so into their clothing and yoga and chai that they can't seem to bother ruffling their dredded heads by really getting down and working for peace, justice and truth. Like the party girls and boys of the rich, who are so into their little world of wealth and materialism, ironically, on the opposite side, you get much of the same self-centeredness with the countercultures. It is quite dissappointing.

Our reality today is so dire that all of us need to get on board and take risks. Now is not the time to become self-absorbed in a cult of culture. Those Halliburton/Wackenhut concentration camps are not going to serving organic, vegetarian meals and put you in the latest hemp fashions. You may not care today while you still have freedom to sing and dance, but if we come down to martial law in this country there will not be much to dance or sing about.

people are being / have already been drugged against their will. they could say you are ''psychotic'' inject you , could have paroxysms and heart damage. you should know this! ''americans'' dont realize the death dealers behind closed doors! this is not a joke! get aware!!