News

CJSW 90.9 FM Radio

Calgary, AB

Check it out. We charted on CJSW. Not only that, but we made our debut at #1 and we’ve held it for three weeks so far! Wowza! Thanks to the volunteer DJs at CJSW! Cheers to you!

Lookee!
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According to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), as well as other sources available to The Martyr Index, authorities in the Philippines have devised a plot to kill two of the arrested and tortured Food Not Bombs (FNB) activists (for more info see my other article, “11 FNB Activists tortured and arrested in the Philippines“). William Pangan, a prisoner at La Trinidad Provincial Jail in Benguet, has recently come forward and announced that he was offered money to kill Rundren Lao and Jefferson dela Rosa. However, fearing that he too will be killed after having killed the two punk rockers and FNB activists, he has come forward to confess to his acceptance of the bribe. This confirms the suspicions that the jailed youth had about a plot to end their lives and silence them (see the report UP-099-2006 by the AHRC).

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Despite what ideological affiliations someone might think are associated with punk, there is one thing that is common to all – a spirit of rebellion. But the one thing that separated punk rebellion from the rebellion of the first wave of rock n roll was that punk took a cue from the rebels of the 60s and punk rockers set their sights on the ruling elements of their own societies. Sure, punks questioned and thought (sometimes), but what it really all came down to was that they, like the rock n rollers of the ‘50s, were railing against a society that they felt was stale, boring, rigid and false.
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Hey everyone, if you check out our downloads page we have some new video footage posted on myspace and youtube. Check it out.

Also, as an update, the police who beat the FNB kids in the Philippines have had to answer to the charges of abuse and apparently came off looking like total dipshits. The kids haven’t been released yet, but there are a lot of good people in the Philippines working very hard on their behalf. All our best to everyone involved.

Iraq to Palestine: Stories of Occupation and Resistance

March 22, 2006

Joe Carr is an anti-oppression activist & performance artist from Kansas City, MO. He’s worked with the Christian Peacemaker Teams and the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine and witnessed Israeli soldiers murder international activists Rachel Corrie & Tom Hurndall. He spent May 2005 in Iraq and has just returned from organizing nonviolent resistance in Palestine.

Stories, pictures, music and poetry from recent solidarity work in Iraq & Palestine with Joe Carr.

March 22, 2006
Doors at 6:30
University of Calgary
Room 119, Cragie Hall
Admission by donation ($5 suggested)
for more info please visit The Palestinian Canadian Student Society of Calgary

Unfortunately, we have had to cancel our scheduled performance at the Bogart CD release show. James is on tour with Knucklehead and we mis-scheduled everything. Sorry to everyone who was expecting to see us there. But fret not, the UPRISE! 06 will be good times and we are working on a few other things, so we’ll be seeing all of y’all really soon!

Thank you to everyone who donated to the little ‘Free the Sagada 11′ jar and took the Oust GMA pamphlets on our merch table at the last show! The donations, which included all of the money that Food Not Bombs Calgary donated out of their T-Shirt sales, will be going straight to FNB Dumaguete City to help them put on a benefit concert to raise even more funds for the Free the Sagada 11 Campaign.

The photo to the right is of Rundren Berloize Lao, 24, from Davao City displaying some of the wounds from the torture. He broke his leg escaping from the police who tortured him and his friends. He cut off his dreadlocks to escape detection and was able to report the story.

Here are two really informative articles about the situation in the Philippines:
State of Emergency in the Philippines by Herbert Docena
To bury the truth, GMA killed Philippine democracy by AKBAYAN

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A group of FNB activists, mostly youth, were arrested and tortured by police who claim to have mistaken them as New People’s Army guerillas.

They were apparently forced under torture to confess to bogus affiliations with the NPA. However, they were all backpackers on their way to Sagada for a hike in the countryside after attending a punk concert in Tarlac and members of the anti-war activist group, Food Not Bombs.

The government of the Philippines has declared a state of martial law in reaction to a failed military coup, and has been utilizing the state of emergency to clamp down on and silence any opposition, including newspapers and peace activists. The government has had many extreme corruption scandals recently and has fallen under intense criticism from many parties, left and right. More information can be found here.

At the end of this letter is a petition. Please disseminate this information and contact a consulate of the Philippines near you to let them know that the world is watching now. If you live in Calgary, here is the contact info for the representative of the Philippines:

Mr. Felixberto M. Guerrero,
Honorary Consul General
590, 10201 Southport Road S.W.
Calgary, Alberta T2W 4X9
Tel (403) 253-7007; Fax (403) 2537-7012
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Friday, April 14th + Saturday, April 15th 2006

The Martyr Index will be playing at this year’s UPRISE! festival, which is a benefit to open an all ages venue and youth recreation centre in Calgary called the Joe Strummer Memorial Hall! We are totally excited to be helping this amazing project get off the ground! The line-up this year is killer and you can see it in the “shows” section of this website.

Below is a press release from the Joe Strummer Memorial Society…
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