Cultural Resistance to Militarism
Featuring:
Hip-Hop Artist Invincible
Discussion with Colombian conscientious objector Paula Galeano
Activist and artist Katie Yamasaki
Saturday November 22
4:00 - 7:00 pm
at the
Yippie Museum
9 Bleecker Street
Between Bowery and Elizabeth
212-677-518
A collaboration of the War Resisters League and the Not Your Soldier Project, Cultural Resistance to Militarism brings together young activists from Colombia and the United States committed to resisting militarism collectively and creatively. Through powerful personal narrative, insightful political music, and interactive workshop, the evening will engage issues that affect young people and militarism.
Invincible, who has been described by Talib Kweli as "one of the most talented emcees I've ever heard, black or white, male or female..." – said, "I joined this tour because it illuminates the connections between violence against marginalized communities in the U.S. with our government's oppressive foreign policies abroad. Through hip-hop, community media, and creative expression we can show how injustice - in the form of police brutality, the prison system, the military poverty draft, etc. - can be resisted, and create alternatives to these limited options."
Paula Galeano, who joins the tour directly from war-torn Colombia. Galeano serves as director of the Medellin-based conscientious objector organization La Red Juvenil, which uses arts-based organizing to educate youth about alternatives to the military in the face of extreme daily violence.
Katie Yamasaki leads a large scale mural project, Informed, Empowered for the Voices Her’d Series. The mural, located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, was painted with a team of 13 young women and addresses the topics of women in the military, the war in Iraq, and the government’s wartime exploitation of disenfranchised communities, particularly young people of color. Katie is completely devoted to the use of art as a tool for social change.
Across the world, young people are standing up and saying “No” to military recruiters and refusing to fight what they deem as unjust and unnecessary wars. Hundreds of U.S. soldiers have applied for Conscientious Objector status since the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003. The Drop Beats Not Bombs tour will support youth and communities that are mobilizing to find positive opportunities outside of the military.
