One Earth One Tribe

Earthtribe were formed before the ‘Asian Underground’ had arisen, and remain at the core of the British-Asian ‘scene’. But their style has always been as much about the west as it is east. They break down all musical and racial barriers and communicate through the ethnocyberfunk sound, a universal language. It’s a rhythm thing: electro, trance and breakbeat are subtlely blended with global grooves from India, Africa and South America. Add a generous sprinkling of funk, dub, tabla and sublimeIndian vocals to the melting pot and the music is complete: an indefinable concoction...

Why am I talking about Earthtribe? Because their powerful album One Earth One Tribe that speaks the language of ChaleChole from London to Sydney, is now out! Check it out here.

More emphasis on Us and Them

Where are you from? What do you do? What is you background? Uh, I see, but where is your accent from? Interesting, were you born there?

Sohail Dahdal was actually asked these questions in party last week, all by the same person, and in the same sequence! This situation poses a dilemma.

Sohail’s Dilemma (as posted on mediamedia)

Country of Origin: Palestine (now called Israel as opposed to when my parents left it)
Country of Birth: Libya (not that I ever lived there, we left when I was too young to remember)
Nationality: Australian, but I also feel Palestinian, and let’s forget the whole issue around Arab nationalism, that's another story
Original Nationality: I was holding a Jordanian passport, but was considered Palestinian by Jordanians (again refer to Arab nationalism issues). Confusing?
1st Language: None (but I'm thinking about mastering Spanish and making it my first language)
2nd Language: Arabic (with an Australian accent), English (with an Arabic accent)
Ethnicity: Of Middle Eastern Appearance (although a taxi driver told me last night that I look Italian or of Mediterranean Appearance, when I asked him, why not Middle Eastern he said I smile too much to be Middle Eastern!)
Culture: Hmm, this is a tough one: I like poetry, the desert, mountains, and the moon, I read lots, and love soccer too, I like Salsa... and the beach
Religion: Christian (not really practicing, and most people think I'm Muslim being of Arabic background)
Sexuality: Heterosexual, but being gentle, soft spoken and considering, people always think I'm gay, and sometime I'm called Metrosexual, again having a hairy chest (and not interested in shaving it) I might not entirely qualify to be Metro, is there such a things as gentle manly man?

Confused? Me too.

I'm beyond confused, I'm fed up, I want to celebrate who I am without having to define exactly that I belong to this group or the other, I think the tribal mentality is really, really hard to sustain these days. Having said that, and knowing very well that we are heading to an era of even more emphasis on "US" and them "Them", I propose that if you (the receiver of this email) feel fed up too, and can't think of one single group that represents "YOU" wholly then join me in calling for a PLU "People Like Us".

This will be (Yes, yet another group) all of us that don't feel like we simply can be grouped as this or that, we are the fringes, we are not the war on terror, nor are we the terrorist, we are not the masses, nor we are the elite, we don't just spend the day watching footy, nor do we live in the library. We don't work 9-5 same job for ever, nor do we live in a commune, smoking hash, We are simply PLUs.

People Asking

People ask ya:
“Where ya from!?”
As if they were saying
“Oh I’m so sorry”
“What’s wrong?”
And I stand there,
don’t know what to say,
like when your friend’s friend
has passed away.

I have a mother and a father,
like all of us,
once.
“And fortunately I happen to know who mine are,”
I reply.
“They came from their parents,
as far as I know,
and beyond that;
god knows
it if was apes”.

To Kiss The Wind

Still in the air your eyes hang,
carried by dissolving imperfections.

Blind
I seek your scent,
naked
I feel.

My tears trace these words,
falling from this autumn pen.

Drums and flutes charm your presence
slithering away.

I wear my clothes you wore,
wearing out the smell of you.

There is no air to keep,
there are no footsteps to remember;
only your breath walking away
to kiss the wind.

Poets With Websites

Cordite Poetry Review believes "words are bullets". So do I. "Moses Iten" is proudly listed on Poets With Websites. That's why I occasionally post something purporting poetry.

Cordite Editor David Prater (pictured above in photo by Kim Hyun-tae) is currently on an Asialink Residency in Seoul, and was just recently written about in a feature for the The Korea Times by Bridget O'Brien:

Over the course of two months Prater has visited a different PC bang in Seoul every day and wrote about an ``imaginary city’’ in each one. As he says, PC bangs are imaginary places: Business people go there to shoot aliens, gamble and check out Cyworld homepages.

His project was initially influenced by Italo Calvino's book ``Invisible Cities,’’ in which Marco Polo described a series of fictional cities (all of which were really Venice) to the Emperor Kublai Khan. "For me this book, with its meeting of East and West, says a lot about the Western imagination and how it projects its own view of the world upon ``the other,’’ whether this be Asia or any other alien place. So, instead of writing about invisible cities, I decided to write about imaginary cities.’’

Of course Invisible Cities has been covered before on this blog, right here.

Dialect-ic on Edge Radio :: Socrates

These flyers 'bout my radio show on www.edgeradio.org.au (you can stream so listen via internet) are now hitting the alleys of Hobart. So far the beard has been identified as "Karl Marx", "Terrorist" and "Leonardo da Vinci".

In fact it is Socrates...check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Philosophy

Arrested for exhibiting gang-affiliated tattoos

Whilst living in Mexico, I would occasionally spot an article in a local newspaper detailing the capture and deportation of members of Mara Salvatrucha or Mara 18. A gang of Guatemalan origin, passing through Mexico or embroiled in violent clashes with local gangs. For reasons I am writing a book, essays and short stories about, I chose to use the above photo as a cover for my first sakamoiz mixtape (ask me for the CD if you want a copy).

Inevitably, the civil wars of the 1980s have now become the gang violence of the 21st century. I have been reading the work of academic Patricia Gonzalez whose specialty is post-conflict violence. She generously put me up when I found myself without cash in Guatemala City. For a brief but concise introduction to the contemporary troubles of Central America, check out the latest issue of Five Minutes To Midnight:

"People are now being arrested for what is known as "illicit association," following which two or more gang members are prohibited from being together. Youngsters can also be arrested for simply exhibiting gang-affiliated tattoos," reports Jennifer Yang in The Gang Crisis in Central America.

These are Yang's sources:
Grim News in Central America: Wave of Gang Violence Grows - Resource Centre of the Americas. 29 Jan. 2004. 1 Dec. 2005.
Gangs: The Fatal Compulsion To Belong - Resource Centre of the Americas. 26 Apr. 2004. 1 Dec. 2005
Central America's Gang Crisis - Resource Centre of the Americas. 17 Sep. 2004. 1 Dec. 2005
Ex-gang members find jobs in region scarcer than ever - Resource Centre of the Americas. 25 Apr. 2005. 1 Dec. 2005
Central America's Crime Wave Spurs Plan for a Regional Force - Resource Centre of the Americas. 16 Aug. 2005. 1 Dec. 2005
In Guatemala, a rise In vigilante justice - Christian Science Monitor. 6 Oct. 2005. 1 Dec. 2005
A South American Import - National Alliance of Gang Investigators ASsociation. 12 Apr. 2005. 1 Dec. 2005
Central America's Street Gangs Are Drawn into the World of Geopolitics - Power and Interest News Report. 26 Aug. 2005. 1 Dec. 2005

Anti-hero, God :: Maradona

Maradona. Some call him a God, but anti-hero is more appropriate. I grew up with this man. A hero, who became spaghetti-western. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-hero to find a list of anti-heroes. Someone should add Maradona. This photo from Reuters was in an article quoting the man as being sued by his illegitimate son (living in Naples with a former flame of Maradona) for defamation.