9/7/17 U.S. Militarism and Intervention in the Asia Pacific

Tonight we will be talking about U.S. militarism and intervention in the Asia Pacific. Since Trump’s presidency, the U.S. has has escalated bombings, airstrikes and troop deployments abroad and intensified repression at home.  Trump’s slogan of America First has been a battle cry to maintain U.S. global hegemony in a crisis-laden multipolar world.

The U.S. has had a long presence in the Asia Pacific with many of its 900 military bases abroad base in the region.  Since the rise of China as a world power and an economic and military threat to the U.S., former President Obama declared the Asian Pivot strategy. Trump promises to fulfill the Asian Pivot with renewed threats against North Korea and the Philippines.

Our guests today are organizers from the Korean, Chomorro, and Filipino communities. will talk about the current threats, what people on the ground are doing to resist U.S. intervention, and what people here can do.

Die In Action at the Solidarity and Fightback Anti US-led War Conference

Joining us are:

• Mari Choi with HOBAK (Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans) provides some perspective on North Korea; U.S. military interests in the Korean peninsula; and what peace, reunification, and self-determination can look like. 
• Kerri Ann Borja is with Independent Guåhan. and will share with us the current threats to Guam and what people there are doing to resist.
• Irma Shauf- Bajar is the chairperson for GABRIELA USA.  GABRIELA is the largest alliance of Filipino women’s organizations in the Philippines and around the world fighting for national sovereignty and genuine democracy.  Irma is also a leader for the International Women’s Alliance which organized the Solidarity & Fight Back Conference in Toronto last month.
• Guest host is Raquel Redondiez, who has been an anti-war and international human rights advocate for the last 20 years.

We also hear from speakers at the Emergency DACA Rally on Tuesday.

ASPIRE activist speaking at the Emergency DACA Rally at the SF Federal Building

Community Calendar

• On Friday, Alameda County will host the controversial SWAT training, war games and weapons expo, Urban Shield. At the same time, communities around the world are gathering to resist police militarization! In Oakland, starting at 4 p.m., Stop Urban Shield Coalition offers trainings and resources on People’s Fire Safety, Earthquake Kits, and How to Be Cop-Free. The rally is at the Alameda County Board of Supervisor’s Office, 1221 Oak St.
• In DACA news, on Saturday, September 9th at 2 p.m. in Oscar Grant Plaza, Oakland, unDACAmented folks, families and allies are invited to participate in a rally and march to show love and support for #DACA. This peaceful demonstration will be centered around showing endless support and love for our community members who are under attack by this administration.
  

2/16/17 Thi Bui, Art Shibayama and Moazzam Sheikh

We’ll be in conversation with author Thi Bui about her debut graphic novel, “The Best We Could Do,” which offers a haunting and intimate portrayal of one family’s journey from war torn Vietnam. Then, we’ll hear from the lead petitioner seeking justice for the Shibayama brothers, who continue to demand that the US government be accountable for its ongoing failure to provide redress for war crimes perpetrated against them as children during World War II. We will round out the hour in conversation with contributors of the newly released South Asian American Issue released by the Chicago Quarterly, guest edited by Moazzam Sheikh, who explains that “The new South Asian American writer is a wild beast.” We’ll delve into that wildness. We have all that and more, so tune it.

More information about the Campaign for Justice for Shibayama Brothers case here.

Information about the petition in support of the Shibayama Brothers here.

 

Download the show here.

 

 

12/22/16 Responding to Hate, Now and in the Past

Everyone is welcome here poster up at Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore. Photo by Anirvan Chatterjee.

Guest contributor Oliver Saria talks with Anirvan Chatterjee with the Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour. Anirvan published an op-ed entitled “Post-election hate in Berkeley: 14 troubling stories and 5 ways to respond.” Their discussion brings us hope as we wind down 2016 and prepare for the new year.

Trial of 63 Japanese American draft resisters from the Heart Mountain Relocation Center

We also hear from Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. In addition to the forced relocation away from the west coast, we hear from the draft resisters who rose up from within the camps.

We sprinkle holiday music throughout the show. Songs include a flashback to 2014 when the Colorful Mamas of the 99% went caroling with their children for love and liberation in Oakland for Black Lives Matter. We also share holiday tunes from Digital Crafts Night and Largesse.

4/30/15 The Spirit of Viet Nam Is Stronger Than US Bombs

Today is April 30th, a very significant date to the Vietnamese people. It was 40 years ago today that the U.S. imperialist army was forced out of Viet Nam, ending what was known in the U.S. as the “Viet Nam War” and what was known in Viet Nam as the “American War,” a war that marked a long history of anti-colonial struggle in the country and that killed millions in Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Colonialists, International Traitors, Think Carefully Before You Take Vietnam – To Lien (1978)

Download the audio by clicking here

Tonight’s APEX Express is dedicated to commemorating the legacy of the Viet Nam War on the Vietnamese people – both in Viet Nam and in the Vietnamese diaspora here in the U.S. A complicated history in a divided country, we want to hear the voices of those impacted by the war, as well as those who resisted that war 40-50 years ago.

We will hear a personal commentary produced by APEX Contributor Yvonne Tran, pieced together out of conversations she had with her mother. Then, we have three guests live in the studio to talk more about the impacts of the war and to preview a community intergenerational teach-in happening in Oakland this Saturday called “Spirit of Viet Nam Is Stronger Than U.S. Bombs.” Our speakers include:

• Thuy Trang Nguyen (VietUnity)
• Michael Wong (Veterans for Peace, Chapter 69)
• Armael Malinis (Migrante SF)

And we’ll play some awesome songs and historic speeches that came out in the ’60s and ’70s during the war!

Don’t miss it.

Tonight’s show is also in tribute to the thousands who lost their lives, and are still recovering, from the devastating earthquake in Nepal.

Below is a list of women-led organizations that have asked for support for their long-term responses to the crisis. They are already mobilizing their communities to take action and welcome donations at this time.

• ACHA Himalayan Sisterhood – Funds will go to support recovery efforts for Tibetan refugees, and other minority groups, in Nepal.
• The Global Fund for Women – Funds will go to support grassroots women’s groups in Nepal to assist women and girls impacted by this disaster.
• The Nepal Women’s Fund (TEWA) – Funds will go to support community needs assessments and to mobilize grassroots women’s groups to rebuild and strengthen rural areas of Nepal.
• The Women’s Rehabilitation Center (WOREC Nepal) – Funds will go to support essential services and infrastructure to women most in need, including new mothers and pregnant women.
• Women’s Awareness Centre Nepal (WACN) – Funds will go to support recovery efforts for Indigenous women in rural areas of Nepal.

4/8/15 Purvi Patel, Mauna Kea, and Marshall Islands

Image by Dignidad Rebelde

Download the audio by clicking here
Tonight we’ll hear an eclectic line-up taking us all over the globe:

• First we’ll cover the stunning Indiana verdict that sentenced Purvi Patel to decades in prison after she sought medical help after suffering a miscarriage.
• Then, we’ll hear about action the Republic of the Marshall Island took today in United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, demanding that the U.S. adhere to its commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This David and Goliath lawsuit calls on the U.S. to immediately take action to disarm.
• We’ll then go to the Big Island in Hawaii, where native Hawaiians have been protesting and blockading the mountain of Mauna Kea, stalling plans to build a mammoth telescope.
• We’ll round out the hour in conversation with the Rupert Estanislao and Josh Castro, founders of Filipino punk rock label Aklasan Records. Rupert will be playing with Bankrupt District at a KPFA fundraiser at 924 Gilman.

8/28/2014 – Ferguson and Urban Shield

Tonight, in solidarity with the people of Ferguson and the ongoing repression by the police, we dedicate our show to organizing and teaching which attempts to fight back against the rampant killing of young black men and women at the hands of the cops.

First, we hear from Lara Kiswani – a member of the Stop Urban Shield Oakland and Executive Director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center – over the phone as she talks about the militarization of police right here in Oakland and how they’re planning to stop the Urban Shield Police Conference. You’ll also find out what you can do to help.

Then, we host a panel discussion with Cayden Mak the New Media Director from 18millionrising.org, Scot Nakagawa from change lab, and Bhavik Lathia Campaign Manager for Rapid Response at Color Of Change, on the importance of Ferguson and police brutality in the Asian and Pacific Islander community – why we should care, what we should do about racism in our own homes and spaces, how our own experiences of police/military intimidation have affected us in our motherlands and here in the US, and how we can form solidarity with our brothers and sisters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special thanks to Marie Choi for interview sound and for production help.

Hosted by Salima Hamirani

1/23/14 Moana Nui Teach In

Click here to download this episode.

This week, APEX Contributors Karl Jagbandhansingh and Marie Choi bring us APEX’s final segments recorded at the Moana Nui 2013 Teach In. Speaker Bios below (generated from Moana Nui conference):

Kyle Kajihiro (Hawai’i) See Video
American Friends Service Committee; DMZ Hawai’i/Aloha Aina
Kyle Kajihiro is a board member of Hawai’i Peace and Justice, the successor organization to the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Hawai’i Area Program. From 1996 to 2011, Kajihiro served as a program coordinator, and later program director, for the American Friends Service Committee Hawai’i. Born and raised in Hawai’i, Kajihiro was involved in human rights activism, Central America solidarity, and immigrant worker organizing while living in Oregon in the 1980s and 1990s. His current work focuses on research, education, and action to counter U.S. militarization in Hawai’i.  He has published numerous articles about militarization and resistance in Hawai’i and has participated in solidarity delegations and international conferences to speak about resistance to the U.S. military occupation of the Hawaiian Islands.

Dante C. Simbulan (Philippines)
Professor, Author
Dante C. Simbulan earned his doctorate in Political Science from the Australian National University, received his master’s degree from the University of the Philippines and his Bachelor of Science from the Philippine Military Academy. He taught politics, government and sociology at the Philippine Military Academy, University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and Maryknoll College. His book, The Modern Principalia: The Historical Evolution of the Philippine Ruling Oligarchy (University of the Philippines Press, 2007, 2nd ed.) based on his doctoral dissertation written in 1965, was a pioneering study of the socio-economic elite in Philippine politics and government—the ruling family political dynasties of today. Dr. Simbulan was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines when Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. A former political prisoner, he was arrested and detained for more than three years, without charges, when he actively and openly opposed the dictatorship; he was adopted as a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International. While in exile in the United States, he served as the first Executive Director of the Church Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (based in Washington, D.C.), which worked for the termination of U.S. support to the Marcos dictatorship. He has since been a leader of the Philippines’ protest movement opposed to U.S. military presence and intervention in the Philippines. He taught at Montgomery College in Maryland and lectured in several universities in the United States and Canada.

Arnie Saiki (Hawai’i)
Research Director, Statehood Hawai’i /’Imipono Projects, Co-Coordinator, Moana Nui 2011
Imipono Projects received a 2008, “We the People, National Endowment for the Humanities” grant for Arnie Saiki’s research, presentation and program, “Statehood and Hawaii: Correspondences between the State Department, Congress and the United Nations.” He was one of the coordinators for the Moana Nui 2011 meeting in Hawai’i and has since been writing and helping to coordinate the Moana Nui 2013 conference.  Other presentations and programs that he organized include “Impact of Immigration on Hawai’i’s Past, Present and Future”; “International Routes: De-occupation, Decolonization and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”; “History of Hawaiian Political Activism 1887-Present”; “Recovering our Political Past while Probing toward the Future”; “Ho’opunipuni: the Myth of Statehood”; and many short programs related to issues of statehood and colonization in Hawai’i and in the Pacific. He lives in Los Angeles with his family.

8/29/13: Bumabalik: Reporting from the Philippines

[audio http://archives.kpfa.org/data/20130829-Thu1900.mp3]

To download this episode click here.

(Bumabalik translates into “returning.”)

On this installment of APEX Express:

APEX contributor R.J. Lozada is back from the Philippines!

Contributor R.J. Lozada amidst a crowd at the SONA ng Bayan (People’s SONA, or State of the Nation Address). Photo Courtesy of A. Beltran

Aerial shot of the crowd that joined the ‘Million People March.’ Photo courtesy of Architect Paulo Alcazaren.

Monday, August 26 drew nearly 100,000 Filipinos in peaceful protest against political corruption and pork barrel politics. R.J. brings us an interview with author Laurel Fantauzzo who participated in the peaceful rally.

Farmers and organizers from Hacienda Luisita protest the distribution of lands in front the House of Representatives in Manila. Photo courtesy of R.J. Lozada

Land is life. When Spain forcefully took and claimed land from the Philippines in 1521 they created a sociopolitical climate that would birth long-standing systems of oppression, manifesting in everything from political infrastructure to psychology to cuisine. Among the remnants and ghosts of colonization is Hacienda Luisita. The farmlands that belong to natives long before the Spanish were taken, and ended up in the hands of the family of the current President Benigno Aquino III, since the late 1950s. R.J. spent some time with farmers of Hacienda Luisita to learn what agrarian reform can really look like.

Flordia Sibayan, or “Pong,” is the chair of AMBALA, the farmworkers union at Hacienda Luisita. She and about 50 farmers and organizers camped out in front of the offices Department of Agricultural Reform. They’re protesting the lottery system, and other divide and conquer tactics to disrupt the movement for genuine agrarian reform. Photo courtesy of R.J. Lozada.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

• On Saturday, August 31st at 7:30PM at the Solespace in Oakland, RAMA presents this months installment of Go! Ohana, featuring musicians Ben Ahn, Cynthia Lin, hosted by Tim Huey, and Leila Ramanculova. http://www.facebook.com/events/185431461636494

• On Thursday, September 5th at 6:00PM, Undocu-Health: Healthcare and the Undocumented — this event at the Asian Resource Lobby in Oakland will feature a talk regarding the Affordable Care Act otherwise known as Obamacare, and the undocumented community. http://www.facebook.com/events/203747449792250

• On Friday, September 6 at 7:00PM, the “Ordinary Guy,” Afro-Filipino Joe Bataan, will be at the I-Hotel in San Francisco for a meet and greet! http://www.facebook.com/events/574934042570084/

6/6/13 SPIRIT: A Panel on Queer APA Artists and Activists, plus Fire Dragon Love Sauce

This week, we welcome LGBT Pride Month with a show featuring queer voices.

Click here to listen to the audio archive.

Trinity Ordoña, Madeleine Lim, Amy Sueyoshi, and Stephen Funk. Photo by Kirstie Haruta.

First, we bring you excerpts from an inspiring panel of queer Asian American activists and artists organized last month by Queer Rebels. It featured conscientious objector and founder of Veteran Artists, Stephen Funk; filmmaker and founder of the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project, Madeleine Lim; scholar, mentor and activist Trinity Ordona; and associate dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State, Amy Sueyoshi. Scholar Margaret Rhee moderated this powerhouse of panelists.

Fire Dragon Love Sauce

We feature Fire Dragon Love Sauce, the “official” hot sauce for gay marriage, which is created by Filipino and Colombian performance artist Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa and her partner Heather Cox Carducci.

Learn about our international reporting venture spearheaded by RJ Lozada.

Sta-Prest (1995)

We also hear music by queer punk band Sta-Prest and band off the Bindlestiff Studio CD.

Community Calendar
From June 5th to 9th, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts will host the now annual New Filipino Cinema 2013, featuring both the big-budget and underground. From questioning nuns to man-eating creatures with a taste for fetuses, you can check out all the films, including CAAMfest’s sold-out Harana. Tickets are $10, or you can see all you can until Sunday for $60.

This Friday and Saturday, at ODC, award-winning composer and musician Marcus Shelby and elder artist Flo Oy Wong bring us a musical gift titled Gwah Guy: Crossing the Street. Honoring Flo’s husband Ed Wong, who grew up during segregation, and fueled by Flo’s literary interpretation of the times, Shelby’s original music aims to inspire people to “eradicate the fear of our differences.”

Brought up not to cross the street from her Chinatown childhood home to West Oakland, Flo describes the project as a collaboration with “the African American community she had been taught to fear.” Celebrate her 75th birthday at this performance brought to us by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center.

On Saturday, join the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum for their publication launch of Wing Nien Brand: A Story of Longevity. A new book by Connie Young Yu and Effie Hall Dilworth, the book chronicles the the early years of the first company to manufacture soy sauce in the U.S. and how they realized a dream of success.

The same day at the Oracle Arena, Deepak Chopra joins us for the Legacy of Health Symposium centering on children. Aimed at parents and professionals, it will provide tools, demonstrations, and resources to help educate caretakers on how to support the health, happiness, and well-being of growing youth. Sat. 7-6:30 p.m.

That night, Join 3rd i Films for an evening of drag, satire and comedy presented by Kareem Khubchandani and Anuj Vaidya. Bollywood Divas: Queering Desi Cinema includes a lesson in film by a drag queen professor and a performance exploring Bollywood vamp.

On Wednesday, June 12 from 8 to 10 p.m., KPFA API Radio Specials will be broadcasting the annual Philippine Independence Day Special on KPFA. Hear music and words from: the late, great painter and professor Carlos Villa, singer/songwriter Cynthia Alexander, the father of Filipino independent film Kidlat Tahimik, and much more!

Lastly, Kearny Street Workshop brings APAture back to the bay this October, featuring emerging Asian Pacific American artists in film, music, literature, performance, visual and experimental media. Think you’ve got the goods? Submit your work.

5/30/13 Stories of Resistance and Resilience — APEN Laotian Leader Lipo Chanthanasak, Poet Kosal Khiev, Moana Nui and Hopie Spitshard’s New Album!

[audio http://archives.kpfa.org/data/20130530-Thu1900.mp3]

To download this episode, click here.

This week we’ll be covering stories of resistance and resilience. Tune in to hear inspiring stories from the Southeast Asian community — first, the story of Lipo Chanthanasak a laotian member leader of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network who was recently honored at the White House as a Champion of Change.  Then, we bring back on air the voice and story of poet and ex-prisoner Kosal Khiev.

Photo credit: APEN
Photo credit: Kosal Khiev

We’ll also get a sneak preview of this weekend’s big Moana Nui teach-in in Berkeley — a two-day event covering militarism, globalization and the “Pacific Pivot”, with 45 speakers coming from 20 different countries!

And we play some tracks from Hopie Spitshard’s latest album “Sugar Water” which drops next week!

 COMMUNITY CALENDAR

• Friday, May 31st, 7-11pm at SOMArts Cultural Center (934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103)
  Kearny Street Workshop presents KSW Runway: Celebrate Your Body. An alternative fashion and music show that pays homage to the creativity and plurality of the Bay Area. For one night only, SOMArts’ Bay Gallery will be transformed into a street fair, replete with battling models, live performances, a DJ, food stalls, vendors, prizes, and surprise guests.  APEX contributor Robynn Takayama will be co-hosting!

• June 1st & 2nd at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School (1781 Rose Street, Berkeley)
  Moana Nui: Peoples of the Pacific — Confronting Militarization, Resource Theft, Globalization and America’s “Pacific Pivot” The International Forum on Globalization (IFG), in collaboration with a broad range of Asian, indigenous and small-island peoples of the Pacific, and activists from countries throughout the Pacific Basin, will present a two-day series of public events in Berkeley with panels and events focused on responding to some of the greatest threats ever to face Pacific peoples.
• June 5th at 8pm at Brick & Mortar (1710 Mission St, SF)
  Hopie Spitshard’s “Sugar Water” Album Release Party