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Netroots Nation : Invisibility and Identity in Progressive Spaces Part 1

15 Aug 2009

I have been hesitant in many ways to write about Netroots Nation 09. As always, I am grateful to have the opportunity to come to these spaces, even if it ends up being an isolating experience. Trust me, NN09 is not like the Allied Media Conference, where while yes I faced challenges, as an activist rwoc blogger I didn’t feel so completely alone, so compelled to render myself invisible and confront that invisibility all at the same time. That has been my experience here at NN09.

I won’t get into the more personal ways I have been marginalized and forced to make myself invisible. I will write about that over at Mamita Mala, pero I want to write about how in these so called progressive spaces, women of color, specifically radical women of color who dare to question the way feminism is framed and the way struggles done in our name are framed, are forced to make a statement by their absence.

NOI Summit Part I : The Art of Coming to the Table

9:37 am By Maegan La Mala · Blogs|Internet|media justice|Netroots Nation|Pittsburgh · 3 Comments

13 Aug 2009

noi_logo
Gracias a America’s Voice I am in Pittsburgh for the Netroots Nation conference. After a almost full day here I have many thoughts on Netroots Nation and the role of independent activist bloggers within the wider blogosphere or netroots, if you will. Pero even before that, I was invited to be part of a summit hosted by the New Organizing Institute . The summit specifically joined LGBT and immigrant bloggers to sit at the mesa. The conversation included some people whom I consider not just co-luchadrores pero amigos as well.

The conversation was centered on how we can cross support each others’ efforts especially in the context of marriage equity and comprehensive immigration reform. Unfortunately, especially in the mainstream progressive blogosphere, these issues are still viewd as mutually exclusive, as if there are no gay undocumented families. DreamActivist talks on this intersectionality specifically.

What was more interesting for me personally, given my 16 year history of activism on various levels and in various mediums, was an issue of language if you will. Semantics. Word choice. It’s a theme that has reared its head here in Pittsburgh a few times. For example, is calling a legislator pushing for a specific legislation to be passed the moves of an organizer? Is that the activist thing to do? Is a desire to work with the Hill activist? What about this huge move towards list building as a strategy? Can activist bloggers also be wed to mainstream orgs and maintain legitimacy? Can you be both outsider and insider?

Blog Plug: Taco Journalism

9:13 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Blogs|Food|Internet|Linking Latinos · 1 Comment

5 Aug 2009

As a food obsessed blogger, I was delighted to see that a food blog I frequent, Taco Journalism out of Austin, was featured in this great video from The Austin American Statesman.

At Taco Journalism, taco freak Mando Rayo takes you on a culinary tour of taquerías great and small, dazzling and disappointing. If you like tacos and like blogs, then I think you might love Taco Journalism. Pay Nando a little visit here.

Via / Austin American Statesman

Charges Against Twitter User in Guatemala Dropped

7:35 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Guatemala|Twitter · Comments Off

9 Jul 2009

Nearly two months age we wrote about the “tweet heard ’round Guatemala” and how that tweet landed Jeanfer, also known as Jean Anleu, in jail facing charges of inciting financial panic. Well it looks like he’s a free man and that all charges have been dropped.

Via / Boing Boing

Is it “Adios” for MySpace Latino?

4:33 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Internet|Marketing|social networking · Comments Off

2 Jul 2009

About 2 years ago we told you about MySpace’s bid for Latino market share, aptly named “MySpace Latino”. Back then, MySpace was leading the social networking revolution, but fast forward to today, and we find that MySpace “original” is becoming more irrelevant by the minute in the shadow of Facebook. Perhaps that’s why the Latino version of the service might be going the way of the Walkman. GigaOm’s Jennifer Martinez reports:

As MySpace struggles to regain ground it’s lost to Facebook and sort out its revenue woes, executive departures from MySpace Latino, a combination Spanish-English site targeted at U.S.-based Latinos that launched a little over a year ago, indicate it may be on the chopping block. MySpace Latino’s VP of Hispanic sales and strategy, Manny Miravete, has left the company, and the site’s managing director, Victor Kong, has reportedly left as well. The site itself hasn’t been refreshed in over a week amid a wave of layoffs at MySpace’s U.S. and international offices.

I’m not sure how successful the Latino version was, but it’s no loss to me. I never touched it, and I don’t know anyone who did. This is an instance in which the brand didn’t need to niche itself out to appeal to Latinos – it did it just to please advertisers who wanted to target the Latino segment. Disingenuous attempts at catering to an audience are seldom successful, and much less when the main brand is already creaking under the weight of one hefty competitor and a series of dispersed services and sites that have innovated while MySpace has remained asleep at the wheel.

Martínez also reports that an email statement from MySpace says that the site will “remain live and not shut down” and that MySpace Latino is merely “restructuring”. Whatever the case, I won’t be visiting anytime soon.

The phenomenon apparently extends beyond the U.S. Latino operation. Late last month it was reported that MySpace Brazil, Mexico and Argentina would also be shutting down. That was quick.

Via / GigaOm and Salon

Surreal Sports News: U.S. Soccer Crushes Spain, the World’s Greatest Team

5:14 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bizarro|Spain|Sports|Twitter · 4 Comments

24 Jun 2009

I’m not a huge sports fan, but I can get into futbol. One thing I always get from my soccer fan friends from Latin America and Spain is what a joke the U.S. team is. But what you expect from a country who thinks soccer is for sissies and only knows David Beckham for his modeling gigs. Sheesh.

So what was my surprise when I saw that the number one trending topic on Twitter was the word “Spain” and found that the world was tweeting this astonishing outcome in the FIFA Confederations Cup semifinals today: the U.S. mopped up the floor with Spain in a 2-0 win. For those of you who don’t know, Spain is the number one team in the world, and boasts some of the sport’s most talented athletes.

Spain went into this game with the confidence of the jock who always clobbers the wimpy kid and got clobbered themselves. But this isn’t just shocking to me; this is world soccer history: the U.S. today became the first team to beat Spain since 2006 and some experts are calling the victory the best performance since they defeated England 1-0 in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

Might this help get some momentum moving in making soccer a more popular sport in the U.S.? I doubt it. I mean, how many of you had ever heard of the Confederations Cup before this? How many even care to know what it is? Yeah, I thought so. But it would be nice though!

In the end, Spain loses more than just a game (and their chance at the finals for this tournament): they lose face. As you might expect, Spain is devastated and fans are blaming the loss on the cockiness and overconfidence of their (nearly) invincible team.

Via / Twitter

Hugo Chavez Says “Drink Your Juice, Support Iran”

22 Jun 2009

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez continues his quest to drive the population towards consumption of local goods and, like a good marketer, he’s telling his people to set down their Coca Cola and pick up a new grape juice product called Juvita. On Chavez’s weekly TV show this past weekend, the message rang like a late-night informercial: Juvita means eternal youth, Coke means evil. From Reuters TV transcripts:

“It is a soft drink that is healthy, nutritious, here it is, its called Juvita. To maintain eternal youth, Juvita. Drink Juvita. Be young eternally instead of drinking that soft drink that, I don’t know, coca, I don’t know, cola, I don’t know what. Drink Juvita. Let’s taste it to see, to stay young eternally. You fathers and the mothers, encourage all parents to drink Juvita.” CHAVEZ BEGINS TO DRINK FROM BOTTLE OF JUVITA SOFT DRINK, SAYING: “Let’s see. Ah, eternal youth. Drink Juvita. How tasty. Did you all try?”

Getting Latin Americans to put down Coca-Cola is a mission impossible. Kind of like getting people in América Latina to give up corn-based products. Not gonna happen. Read more…

Court Sticks Mom of 4 with 2 Million Dollar Fine for File-sharing

19 Jun 2009

downloading music The RIAA is at it again, trying to “teach people a lesson” about illegal file sharing — what they call “piracy” — through our judicial system. I guess they think the lesson is best taught by going after innocuous users of file-sharing sites like Kazaa, like Minnesota mother of 4 Jammie Thomas-Rasset, who has been saddled with a 1.92 million dollar fine for sharing 24 songs. That’s $80,000 per song.

Thomas-Rasset sat glumly with her chin in hand as she heard the jury’s finding of willful infringement, which increased the potential penalty. She raised her eyebrows in surprise when the jury’s penalty of $80,000 per song was read.

Outside the courtroom, she called the $1.92 million figure “kind of ridiculous” but expressed resignation over the decision.

“There’s no way they’re ever going to get that,” said Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year-old mother of four from the central Minnesota city of Brainerd. “I’m a mom, limited means, so I’m not going to worry about it now.”

Her attorney, Kiwi Camara, said he was surprised by the size of the judgment. He said it suggested that jurors didn’t believe Thomas-Rasset’s denials of illegal file-sharing, and that they were angry with her.

AP reports that the jury could have fined Thomas-Rasset up to $150,000 per song. So she got off easy then?

I find it interesing that a jury was so harsh with her. Did they not understand what the “crime” was? She had her music collection open for sharing with others, she didn’t kill any of the artists who recorded the music.

What kind of country do we live in when someone gets fined nearly 2 million dollars for that and others get away, literally, with murder?

Via / AP

Lessons in Swine Flu: How NOT to Wear a Facemask

11 Jun 2009

While most of the world media seems to be over its love affair with swine flu, in the world of viral video (no pun intended) it appears to still be thriving. Take this video from Colombia (where new cases of the flu are still appearing, including a death yesterday) that’s making its away around the Latin American web:

Not very effective.

This poor guy has since become a laughing stock. But to me what is really “interesting” is how after he puts the mask on, the journalist says “well, that’s one way”!

Via / CityTv.com.co

Fuerte Pushback Against Sotomayor Hate

7 Jun 2009

Don’t let the last post fool you. The pushback against the anti-Sotomayor messages and anti-Latino messages in general are coming strong from organizations in the form of websites, videos and kick ass images.

Take for example the art coming from Presente.org, seen here. Presente! also has a petition at their site urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to Confirm Judge Sotomayor.

Speaking of petitions, The National Council of la Raza, has set up a site along with a petition directed at Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele, House Minority Leader John Boehner, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, to stop the racist/sexist speech against Sotomayor and Latinos overall.

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