Drop Beats 08

After 21 days on the road, 2557 miles driven and countless cafeteria meals – things are both different and the same. For example, before the tour our van was just another rental car with nothing unique about it. We returned it well used, more fragrant (!) and with a new name: the planet of Tranquilandia. Maybe more importantly, when the tour started the entire country was waiting with baited breath for the results of the election. Now we know that Obama will be our next US president. According to most people I’ve talked to, this means that some positive changes are likely to come about, but that we are not going to see an overhaul of the entire world order. Before the tour, political hip hop from Detroit had nothing to do with youth resistance in Colombia. Now Invincible’s rhymes and Paula’s stories of creative resistance are flowing together… in people’s imaginations, thoughts and maybe even dreams. And yet, there is still war in Colombia, displacement in Detroit and a poverty draft of young people of color and the poor.

On Monday of last week I found myself doing simultaneous translation for the play “My Name is Rachel Corrie.” This play tells the story of the young 23-year-old Olympia, Washington native who was working for the International Solidarity Movement when an Israeli tractor bulldozed her down as she was trying to protect a Palestinian house from being demolished. At moments I became light headed and realized why: I was forgetting to breathe in the rush of trying to translate as much as I could for Paula. I would stop and take a deep breath and begin again. Despite all my efforts, I’m sure I only managed to translate about half of the dialogue and had to swallow back my tears a number of times when the content of what I was translating was heartbreaking in its injustice.

Here's a slideshow of photos from the tour so far. Click the arrow in the center to start the show.

Paula Andrea Galeano Bermúdez is a 28 year-old conscientious objector from Colombia. She is an activist with the Red Juvenil (Medellin Youth Network), an organization that was started in 1990 by young people who had lost loved ones to the armed conflict. The heart of the Network's mission is to encourage young people's belief in the value of all human life, to work together to overcome fear, and to become empowered to live and espouse these values. The group trains youth in nonviolence and cooperative play, supports young men who refuse to serve with the police, military or illegal armed groups, and promotes respect for human rights and young people's ideas in Colombian society.

Peace Soldier provides a microphone for young American combat veterans to share their perspectives on the realities of war and the meaning of peace. The objective of the project is help ensure these young voices are heard loudly and considered frankly as we form our individual opinions and collective actions today and in the years to come. Peace Soldier brings together a wide range of creative works developed from the words and images of combat veterans, and distributes them using online media and public spaces. A series of peace soldier photography/essay portraits were unveiled publicly in September at 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco and Art Storm Gallery in Houston.

Me (at left) facilitating the transformation of the war machine at Goshen College in Goshen, IN. At Goshen we had over 100 people gathered for both Paula's keynote lecture and Invicible's show, and we facilitated two Not Your Soldier workshops & one Art and Action workshop, all well attended. Go Goshen!

It’s the eleventh day of the tour and we’ve introduced a new word to both the Spanish and English languages – it is a cross between “tranquila” which means “relaxed” and is a pop cultural reference to Transylvania: the place in Romania where vampires originated and the planet where the dancing extra-terrestrial transvestites in Rocky Horror Picture Show come from.  

We kicked off the Carbondale stop last Sunday with an Art and Action training attended by ~20 students and community members.

The Art and Action workshops are facilitated by Invincible and Isaac Martin. Along with a mix of pop ed, it includes Invincible's docu-music video "Locust." Directed by Joe Namy, Locust features Invincible and fellow Detroit-based hip hop artist Finale rhyming about the impacts of unsustainable development on the Motor City. The video includes interviews with community activists discussing displacement and prederatory planning vs. sustainable development in Detroit. Check it out below or at http://emergencemusic.net.

With us on the Drop Beats Not Bombs tour are Invincible, Paula Galeano, Not Your Soldier facilitator Isaac Martin, & FOR staff Liza Smith and Maryrose Dolezal. Missing from the tour, at the moment, are tour members Shauen Pearce and Brie Phillips. Shauen participated in the tour launch in St. Paul last week, and Brie will be joining at the stop in Allentown, PA next weekend. Shauen and Brie are providing back up from the offices in St. Paul and Washington DC.

Tour member Isaac Martin joined at the last minute due to staff illnesses to lead workshop facilitation. He has also been invaluable in helping with merchandise sales, translation, and packing the van! Isaac has been journaling about his experience along the way – check it out below, and check back for more soon!