2:00 pm By Maegan La Mala · Celebrities|Movies|TV · Comments Off
8 Jan 2009After watching this clip of Benicio Del Toro, I am understanding his sex appeal a little more. Colbert and Del Toro discuss Che, beard stroking, iconography and the making of a Communist hero.
Via / The Latin Americanist
When I read this post over at WOC Phd, my heart sank. It details the story of a black lesbian mother who was gang raped by four assailants. At least two of those assailants are suspected to be Latino. Even worse, the assailants specifically stated that they were raping the woman because she was a lesbian.
The only thing I could think about when reading about this was how the white gay community insisted post-Prop 8 on making the loss about them. That is, blacks were conservative socially and voted against the Proposition even though white gays voted for Obama. And in the tit for tat business of politics, the blacks just fucked over the gays. But because white gays found it easier to wield the “you should understand what it’s like to not have civil rights!” against the black community, it was soon lost in the fray (among other things) that Latinos *also* voted against the proposition.
I want to say that Latinos would never do something like this. But I know better. I, like so many women before me, left home as soon as it was possible because I couldn’t stand the stifling sexism of my community. Even more to the point, I couldn’t stand the sexism that was steeped in queer hatred. Men weren’t ridiculed, ostracized, or violated because they were queer (although they certainly weren’t embraced either).
I did not vote for Obama for very specific reasons. I prefer to give my vote to 3 party candidates, for one thing. And for another thing, I think he’s too much of a moderate. But every once in a while, he does certain things that catch my ear. This speech was one of them:
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One of the better parts:
This crisis did not happen solely by some accident of history or normal turn of the business cycle, and we won’t get out of it by simply waiting for a better day to come, or relying on the worn-out dogmas of the past. We arrived at this point due to an era of profound irresponsibility that stretched from corporate boardrooms to the halls of power in Washington, DC. For years, too many Wall Street executives made imprudent and dangerous decisions, seeking profits with too little regard for risk, too little regulatory scrutiny, and too little accountability. Banks made loans without concern for whether borrowers could repay them, and some borrowers took advantage of cheap credit to take on debt they couldn’t afford. Politicians spent taxpayer money without wisdom or discipline, and too often focused on scoring political points instead of the problems they were sent here to solve. The result has been a devastating loss of trust and confidence in our economy, our financial markets, and our government.
The full text to it can be found here.
The statement is the full text of Marcos’ speech on Gaza, given at the World Festival of Dignified Rage on January 4th. As Jen wrote Monday, the EZLN is celebrating their 15th anniversary through the Festival of Dignified Rage. In his statement, Marcos specifically addresses how the war crimes of Israel will create a new generation of dignified rage in Palestine.
Read the entire statement after the jump.
In December, I wrote about Colombian president Alvaro Uribe clearly rejecting any outside intervention in the latest offered release of FARC hostages. The problem is that FARC won’t release any hostages unless there are outside witnesses involved.
The Colombian leftist rebel group, FARC, said it is willing to hand over six hostages but it will only do so in the presence of an international representative.
In a statement made public Wednesday, the FARC said it wants someone from either a “brother country” or the international community to be present when it frees the hostages.
Both the FARC and the Colombian government say they will let someone from the International Committee of the Red Cross be on hand for the hostage release. But Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has said he does not want any other international participation
8:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|Colombia|Gaza|Palestine · Comments Off
8 Jan 2009While I know some readers don’t appreciate the connection I made between U.S. colonialism in Latin America and what is happening in Gaza, in Latin American protests against the continuing massacre of people in Gaza, the connections are being made.
The Colombian blog Equinoxio has some images and audio from a march on Tuesday in the capital city of Bogotá.

VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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