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Colombian Army building base on Kofán Lands

We want you all to know about an issue very close to us. The Colombian Army is building a military base on land occupied by the indigenous Kofán people. Construction has begun that is both in violational of national and international law, violating ancestral land, and endangering the local ecosystem and the well being of the Kofán people. Read the press release issued today.  More information to come.

Updates on the Drug War

(the policy, that is, not our song about it...)

Curious how government efforts to eradacite drug use are going? If you haven't checked it out, take a look at the Documents page where we're posting updates and commentary. Let us know what you think!

Track List for DRUG WAR

The new record is almost ready!  It is will be called DRUG WAR, with 4 new songs recorded with Don Zientara (Fugazi, Minor Threat) at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, VA. The track list is:

Drug War
Bible Belt
The Shift
Vamos Juntos

This will be a 7" release.   The artwork was done by Rob Hanna of Aborted Society and looks great.   We'll post the cover and an MP3 in the next couple of weeks..

In the Studio

New BLOWBACK music is coming soon! We will be recording at Inner Ear Studios in DC with Don Zientara, and can't wait to be in the studio with a guy who has recorded more great albums than any of us can count.

Also, we have a new posting from our good friend and political pundit Sam Smith.  It's actually an old one that reads like it was written yesterday. We're caught in a time warp.

Save Kenneth Foster

Word has come to us from the ever-disturbing world of state-sponsored murder, whose main cuplrit continues to be the State of Texas. In this case, a person who was driving a get-away car who did not intend to be party to a murder is facing imminent execution, wth the prosecutor invoking the ever-hysterical trigger point of 9/11 to ensure another state-sponsored murder.

If you are a Texan, please consider making an urgent appeal THIS WEEK to your state legislator and governor. If you are not a Texan, please consider calling the governor’s office.

MORE DETAILS

We Shall Not Be Moved

Thanks to Alan and Anna Shockley for sending over a video of protest in action.

From Alan: "Nine people were arrested at the Supreme Court practicing their first amendment rights (protesting the death penalty).  I edited the video to No Nos Moveran."

From Anna: "Our purpose, collectively, was to call attention to the fact that our government is killing people in our names and that we do not wish to be accomplices to state sanctioned murder, and also to exercise our first amendment right to petition the government for a redress of our grievance."

To get the full story, go to the Charleston Peace site and the Abolitionist Action site.

America 2.0

Sam Smith is at it again. Click here and find his latest call and proposal to "bring America back to life, back to its constitution, back to its ideals, back to sanity and back to reasons for enthusiasm and pride in being an American."    We can promise you that you will not be bored.

Thanks!!!

Thanks to EVERYONE we met in the Pacific Northwest!    Please sign up for the email list so we can keep in touch -- new music and more shows should be coming soon.  Super thanks to Brian & Funhouse, CLR, Eight Hour Disease, Kyle Nixon, The Ignorant, Damien, John, PC-PDX and Brainstains, Arya & KPSU, The Taxpayers, and everyone else! Also thanks to Christina and Matt for the great pics! All coming on the website soon.

Also:

- Please try to watch HELL: Our Fear and Fascination, a segment that will air on ABC's 20/20 program this FRIDAY JULY 13th at 10pm. As part of addressing the concept of Hell 20/20 will talk with torture survivors including Sister Dianna,founder of TAASC (Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International) in Washington, D.C.

- If you missed listening to BLOWBACK live on KPSU last week, the whole thing is posted in their archives for the next few weeks at http://archive.kpsu.org:8080/node/5917.   Our favorite part: the disclaimer voiceover when we played SMF --"The opinions expressed... do not necessarily reflect those of Portland Public School, Portland State University, KPSU or the participating sponsors."

Tour Flyers Now Posted!!

NEW SEATTLE SHOW INFO ADDED:

SEATTLE - JULY 3 - AT THE FUNHOUSE
SEATTLE - JULY 3 - MR SPOTS (ALL AGES) UPDATE - THIS SHOW NOT HAPPENING!
SEATTLE - JULY 5 - GALWAYS ARMS
PORTLAND - JULY 6 - BLOWBACK LIVE ON KPSU
PORTLAND - JULY 7 - 7-7-7 PC-PDX PUNK BBQ BLOWOUT AT BRAINSTAINS

SHOW DETAILS

NW Bar-B-Tour 07

BLOWBACK is hitting the Pacific Northwest!!

UPDATE - MORE NORTHWEST SHOW INFO ADDED!
SEATTLE - JULY 3 - FUNHOUSE w/CLR and LADY ELAINE
SEATTLE - JULY 3 - MR SPOTS (ALL AGES)
PORTLAND - JULY 6 - BLOWBACK LIVE ON KPSU
PORTLAND - JULY 7 - PC-PDX PUNK BBQ BLOWOUT AT BRAINSTAINS

SHOW DETAILS

Of note: a nation-wide project organized by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT). 1000 congregations will show the film "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib," an 80-minute HBO film, features the familiar and disturbing photos of torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. Screenings are being organzied June 10-17 and October 21-28.  Acclaimed filmmaker Rory Kennedy digs beneath the headlines to investigate the psychological and political context in which torture occurred and to ask critical questions about how it happened and how it affects America's credibility as a defender of freedom and human rights. Learn more: http://www.tortureisamoralissue.org/spotlight.aspx

We’d also like to call your attention to a new initiative called FIESTA! that looks at the intersection of politics and culture...Since we’re more than a little interested in that. Check out this link from FPIF (Foreign Policy In Focus). BLOWBACK's For Whom The Bells Toll is linked at the end of the article.

READ HERE:   http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3869

"Diary of a Massacre" to Air on Al Jazeera International

A 20 minute documentary on the February 2005 massacre in the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado in Colombia will air today Monday May 21, 2007. The community was nominated earlier this year for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Colombian Attorney General's office in February called on 69 military soldiers to testify in connection to the massacre.

The documentary entitled "Diary of a Massacre" is scheduled to air on the program "Witness" at 12:30pm and 7:30pm EST but you may want to check the schedule at: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9ACBA90A-7036-44F4-87C0-754AE9ABA44E. htm?
depending on where you are in the world.

Since Al Jazeera English does not have a broadcast channel in the US it will air on line at: http://www.relavista.tv/ by clicking on the Al Jazeera Icon in blue font and you should be able to watch it.

Some of the footage is very graphic and the documentary as a whole is difficult to watch.

Two new postings in The BLOWBACK Files:

An essay by Sam Smith, one of BLOWBACK's longest standing friends and supporters, on the challenges of enacting social change.

A statement from survivors of torture, and action to repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

CLICK HERE to read them both.

BLOWBACK is proud to be a part of the latest compilation from Love and Rage Records, 'A Poke In The Eye With a Burnt Stick', featuring some great bands like The Oppressed and Anti-Flag. Ordering info on the MUSIC page. Here's the track list:

The Oppressed - Fuck Fascism
Che Chapter 127 - Ashes of Hiroshima
Autonomia - Mundo Enfermo
Anarchoi - Pigs In Their Troughs
Zemezluc - System Kanibal
Naked Aggression - Right Now
The Bakunins - Black Flags
Blowback - No Nos Moveran
Ginger Tom - Hey Hey USA
Rusty Barnacles - Rats in the Race
Anti-Flag - 911 For Peace
Criatura - A Tu Maner A No
Mischief Brew - Roll Me Through the Gates Of Hell