From Video

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The World Coup: THIEFA vs Brazil

Molly Ivins said “Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.”

In this excellent video, The Juice Media aptly summarize what is happening in Brazil with mega-event related human rights abuses: forced evictions, diverted public monies, police violence, and increased surveillance, all reported in Juice Media’s traditional style – a hip hop news report! This is truly exceptional, so do yourself a favour and check it out!

Juice Rap News – delivering a bulletin to restore your faith in the fourth estate, make you nod your head to the beat even as you shake it in disbelief.
Written & created by Giordano Nanni and Hugo Farrant in a suburban backyard studio in Melbourne, Australia.

p.s. please check out our Indigogo campaign to raise post-production funds for State of Exception. 

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State of Exception Campaign Update

JUST 11 days left for our State of Exception Indiegogo Campaign

We are entering the home-stretch of our campaign, just 1.5 weeks left!

Today, we are announcing some new campaign perks and launching a video update. Please share this video far and wide, and encourage others to donate so we can reach our goal! As most of you know, this is a grassroots project that is being funded completely outside of the corporate broadcast model – funded by YOU and others who want to take a stand against human rights injustices and the tyranny of corporate interests.

We have had tremendous success so far and we have less than $10,000 to raise! We’re asking everyone to please dig your heels in and do some personal outreach within your networks to help give our campaign a final push.

Please continue to SHARE THE CAMPAIGN on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media, as well as directly emailing anyone who would connect with this story. The statistics demonstrate that direct email is the best for inspiring people to take action, so if there’s anyone you know would be interested in joining our growing community, please send them a message today.

Please stay posted to our Twitter feed and blog at stateofexception.com for regular content posts.

As always, THANK YOU!

P.S. A huge shout out to one of our favorite NGOs: Witness.org for producing the animation in our video

Anonymous

Wavin´ Flag Reclaimed (Music Video)

In 2010, FIFA and Coca-Cola selected Somali-Canadian artist Knaan´s popular song Wavin´ Flag as the promotional anthem of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Originally a freedom song written for the oppressed classes of Somalia, K´naan was required to change the lyrics, depoliticizing them for the purposes of commercial advertising. The original freedom song has been revived by Anonymous in Brazil, calling on all Brazilians to take to the streets and protest the looting of the country by the international mafia at FIFA, who has imposed a ´state of exception´ in the country, creating militarized and exclusive spaces, squelching civil liberties and violating a number of citizen´s constitutional rights. While the extraordinary cost of hosting the World Cup is paid for with Brazilian public monies, FIFA is exempt from all taxes, and will take all of the profits, leaving a legacy of debt in a country that lacks many basic public services. Join us in the streets to protest against this heist perpetrated by FIFA upon the Brazilian people. The people united will never be defeated.

Video by Anonymous in Brazil

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Police Brutality and Race: A Personal Reflection (Video)

A lot of people have been asking me to comment on recent events in Ferguson and now this week, with the uprisings around the case of Eric Garner in New York.  I am all of the sudden supposed to be an authority on police brutality, as I inadvertently became the victim of this kind of violence when I was beaten by a number of military police in July in Rio de Janeiro, after just having completed a documentary focused on the topic of police brutality (rhythmsofresistance.info). When a privileged white foreigner receives a mild beating at the hands of Brazilian police, it makes international headlines, whereas the same police carry out summary executions every day in the favelas with complete impunity. I was also in the streets of Toronto during the now infamous G20, a rare moment where we saw police brutality reach beyond our ghettos and arrive on the main streets of Toronto, so even us privileged white folks could get a taste of the kind of repression long suffered by poor communities the world over.

Of course, the police brutality we saw on the streets of Toronto during the G20 is much the same as what I have been encountering recently in Brazil: rubber bullets, tear gas, water canons… all the types of non-lethal weapons of repression which constitute the fastest growing category of international arms sales. The new weapons are not for fighting foreign enemies, but rather are used to repress and silence one’s own people, the so-called “internal enemy.”  This term, borrowed from dictatorial politics, applies equally to silencing political dissent in many modern day “democracies” like Brazil and Canada. It’s difficult to raise one’s voice when you are choking on tear gas.

While these weapons are not without harms, my own experiences with such “police brutality” have been a picnic when compared to the far more egregious police violence perpetrated against mostly black and mostly poor people every day. As far as I can see, the discussion we should be having right now is not about police brutality, it’s about racism – two uncomfortable bedfellows. Read more

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Brazilian Hip Hop as Activism (Video)

From the first steps of the samba that were developed by escaped slaves to the hyper-politicized modern-day hip-hop movement, music has always played a fundamental role in liberatory struggles in Brazil.

While initially a form of protest music, samba was in many ways co-opted and commercialized, assisted by Carnaval, becoming a dominant form of mass culture. Unsurprisingly, many in the favelas feel samba no longer has the capacity to express their identity or frustrations. Perhaps inevitably, other musical styles more acutely focused on protest, anti-authoritarianism and anti-oppression have emerged to fill the gaps left by samba’s co-option. By the end of the 20th century, samba had taken a backseat as a powerful counter-narrative emerged in the form of hip-hop, telling stories of racism, violence, poverty and injustice.

Check out this excellent hip hop video made by a collective of young women in Brazil (Construção Coletiva) who poetically sum up the social injustices imposed by the World Cup.

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Liz Martin: Standing Up To Police Violence (Video)

BRAZILIAN POLICE KILL 5 PEOPLE EVERY DAY

For some, activism is a choice, but for many, it becomes an imperative when life circumstances thrust them against injustice, and the call to action a necessity. Such was the case for Liz Martin, whose nephew Joe was executed by Brazilian police on his 30th birthday when he was living as an expat in Rio de Janeiro. Liz’s personal story is harrowing and caused me to break down in tears when I first heard it. Read more

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Witness: Francisca’s Eviction (Video)

Long before I started this project, Witness.org became one of my favourite NGOs after I was introduced to their work by Peter Wintonick & Kat Cizek’s 2002 documentary Seeing is Believing. In fact, it was my early exposure to Witness’s unique methodology – providing human rights activists video equipment and training to document human rights abuses – that led to my own interest in participatory media. Read more