La Frontera

Nortec Collective

enlacezapatista — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 16:03:00 +0000

SURPRISE ‘SESSIONS’Another Nortec Collective team effort celebrates Tijuana culture and history~ By DENNIS ROMERO ~

NORTECHIES: (L-R) Roberto Mendoza (Panoptico),Pedro Beas (Hiperboreal), Pepe Mogt (Fussible), Ramon Amezcua (Bostich) ~

fter three years of spreading out and working on solo projects, members of the Nortec Collective are on the verge of a surprise return with a second collection of techno-meets-Mexican music it calls, oddly enough, Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3. It’s odd because Vol. 2 has yet to be released and may be a lost episode. The story of the crew’s latest offering is one of perseverance despite unexpected global attention and a record label that didn’t seem to know how to take the next step.

After the success of 2001’s Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1, the Collective was, perhaps involuntarily, used by the media to represent the emergence of its hometown as a major (two-million-plus) West Coast population center. The young middle-class musicians used synths and samplers to lay the Germanic oomph of Mexican norteno music over modern electronic beats. They allied themselves with graphic artists, fashionistas, filmmakers, and an emerging creative community in Tijuana that began adapting the bicultural Nortec ethos. That year, Time magazine celebrated the Collective as part of a cover package on “The New Frontier.” The magazine said the Nortec members shrug off “Tijuana’s reputation as a cultural void and address the contrary realities of a place that’s neither First World nor Third World; a culture that is neither Mexican nor American.” The first Tijuana Sessions – sampladelic, loopy, and lyric-less – sold a comparatively low 40,000 copies. But the attention it received put the Collective’s members in the money with gigs around the world.

As individual members cut their own singles in the ensuing years, the Nortec brand seemed to be expanding without leadership or approval. It seemed that every Mexican kid with an iBook was performing under the Collective’s banner, not to mention graphic artists, T-shirt makers, and writers. “Who are these people?,” says Jorge Verdin of Nortec member-act Clorofila. “I never knew there was Nortec poetry.”

At the same time, Nortec delivered the follow-up to its label, Palm Pictures, which sat on the still-unreleased Tijuana Sessions Vol. 2. With the Collective’s A&R person, Kim Buie, out of the Palm picture, the crew was left to float in a borderland of the music industry, without a label to truly call home. Their management company, Cookman International, approached them with a proposal: Release Vol. 3 on its own Nacional Records. They agreed, and the album hits stores July 26. “We had newer tracks here that we just wanted to get done at one point, and it felt stupid waiting for things to happen,” says Verdin.

For Vol. 3, the Collective has been pared down to five core acts; even popular members Terrestre and Plankton Man were left out. And this time, Collective acts decided to go live, using members of Tijuana’s Banda Agua Caliente to jam in the studio on tuba, accordion, and clarinet. Contributing artists laid out beats and wrote melodies on laptops, keyboards, and sequencers, but the melodic parts were replayed live in-studio by musicians from the band. Music was critiqued via e-mail and the group’s own FTP site. (Verdin, an art director for an advertising firm, has lived in Los Angeles since the early ’90s.) The results might leave the crew’s faithful “horrified,” but it’s a natural evolution from the mechanical romp of Vol. 1, Verdin says.

“After a while, you were trudging through all these samples looking for something to fit, and you say, ‘Why am I doing it like this, this is stupid,’” says the 40-year-old. “So instead of basing the melodies on samples we started writing our own melodies on the keyboards. We had the clarinet player and accordion player reproduce those tracks.”

The Vol. 3 sound is flowing, organic, and knee-slapping, with tracks that seem purposely rough-cut, to get that on-stage sound. At one point, a musician hums along, and it’s left in the mix. Bostich gives a nod to the city’s rich musical past – Carlos Santana, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and, of course, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass all performed there – with “Tijuana Bass.” Vocals have a big presence, unlike the last Tijuana Sessions. Fussible gets all corny on “Tijuana Makes Me Happy,” a silly but heartfelt ode to the city that serves both as Mexico’s northern future and America’s historic steam-valve to the south.

“We’re really proud to be from Tijuana,” says Roberto Mendoza, the 36-year-old behind Nortec act Panoptica. “We’re not trying to change anything. We are prostitution and gay bars and Marine bars and a dump for San Diego. We are also one of the biggest drug centers in Mexico. But we’re artists. We’re all of that.”

US: More immigrant deaths in desert border crossings

enlacezapatista — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:59:40 +0000

By Shannon Jones

18 July 2007

Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the authorThe US Border Patrol reported the deaths of two more undocumented immigrant workers July 16 in the southern Arizona desert, as the number of border crossing deaths climbs toward a new annual record.Border agents found the body of a young woman lying by the side of a highway on the Tohono O’odham Reservation about 60 miles southwest of Tucson, Arizona. Identification on the corpse indicated the deceased was an 18-year-old from Guerrero, Mexico.A 28-year-old man from Iztapalapa, Mexico died after being picked up by paramedics. His brother had flagged down Border Patrol agents southwest of Tucson about 10 miles north of the US-Mexican border, telling them the man was having convulsions.The rising toll is a product of beefed-up patrols and surveillance along the US-Mexican border, particularly around urban areas in California and Texas, which have forced immigrants into remote mountain and desert regions. Locations in Arizona are now the most commonly used crossing points.The death count is expected to rise as the US government further militarizes the border in response to pressure from right-wing, anti-immigrant forces.Desert temperatures often reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius) or higher in the summer, which can cause dehydration, sunstroke and permanent kidney damage.In addition, immigrants face the danger of accidental injury, sexual abuse and murder. The number of deaths by drowning is also increasing, as immigrants attempt to cross remote parts of the Rio Grande river in Texas. There is no evidence that the token steps taken by US officials to reduce border deaths, such as installing rescue beacons, has had any significant effect.According to a Mexican Congressional report the bodies of at least 275 Mexicans have been found along the border since the beginning of 2007. At that rate the death toll this year could set a record, topping 500.The report says that at least 4,500 Mexicans have died trying to cross the border since 1994.This figure does not include the unknown number of immigrants from Central America and other regions that die each year in border crossings.An independent survey by Coalición de Derechos Humanos in Tucson reports 147 deaths along the Arizona border this year through June 30. It notes that many more border deaths go uncounted because remains are never found. The Coalición, like many other human rights groups, calls official Border Patrol reports of immigrant deaths unreliable.The number of US border agents has risen to 13,500 from less than 4,000 in 1993 and the US plans to add another 9,600 agents by 2012. The Bush administration sent 6,000 National Guard troops last year until more agents were hired.According to a 2006 US Government Accountability Office report, between 1995 and 2005 the number of border-crossing deaths doubled, even though there was not a corresponding increase in the number of attempts by undocumented workers to enter the United States. Further analysis indicated “that more than three-fourths of the doubling in deaths along the southwest border since 1995 can be attributed to increases in deaths occurring in the Arizona desert.”The report noted that the total number of border crossing deaths increased from 241 in 1999 to 472 in 2005, the last year analyzed.Over the past decade exposure has surpassed traffic accidents as the major cause of deaths.The increase in border crossing deaths has taken place since the implementation in 1994 of the Southwest Border Strategy under the Clinton administration, but has escalated sharply since 2000. According to a report from the University of Arizona, 802 bodies were found in the desert between 2000 and 2005, compared to 125 between 1990 and 1999. That total has now risen to more than 1,000, according to a recent report. The figure does not include those who died on the Mexican side of the border.A study by the Binational Migration Institute (BMI) at the University of Arizona notes “a unprecedented increase in the number of deaths each year among unauthorized border-crossers in the deserts and mountains of Southern Arizona,” citing the government’s “prevention through deterrence” policy as the major factor behind the increase.The report notes that researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have concluded that the increase in border deaths is emerging as “a major public health issue.”The BMI continues, “To put this death toll in perspective, the fortified US border with Mexico has been more than 10 times deadlier to migrants from Mexico during the past nine years than the Berlin Wall was to East Germans throughout its 28-year existence.”http://www.ailf.org/ipc/policybrief/policybrief_020607.pdf The increase in immigrant deaths is a foreseeable consequence of the brutal and undemocratic policies adopted by the US government. In an interview with the Arizona Republic in 2000, former INS commissioner Doris Meissner indicated the INS knew its policies would push immigrants into remote desert areas. She said, “We did believe that geography would be an ally to us … It was our sense that the number of people crossing the border through Arizona would go down to a trickle, once people realized what it’s like.”See Also:Senate immigration “compromise”: Democrats join Bush in assault on democratic rights[21 May 2007]Hundreds of thousands march across US for immigrant rights[2 May 2007]US immigration agents arrest 1,282 in raids at six meatpacking plants[14 December 2006]The implications of the immigrant demonstrations for the class struggle in America[4 May 2006]

Tijuana Makes Me Happy

enlacezapatista — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:56:51 +0000

TIJUANA MAKES ME HAPPY is a feature film that shows lives of human and decent people in Tijuana, Mexico.

In an era of reality television shows that feel even more scripted and formulaic than the latest Hollywood romantic comedy, it is easy to be cynical about the capacity of today’s film and television industries for genuine storytelling. More often than not when the lights come up, we in the audience are left with the feeling that if art reflects life, then our particular existence is some off-kilter cross between the melodramatic and the ridiculous, with all the depth of Norbit and the pathos of American Idol.

I was rejuvenated when I left the IFC Center in New York City after seeing TIJUANA MAKES ME HAPPY, directed by Dylan Verrechia and produced by James Lefkowitz, which won the Grand Jury prize for Best Narrative Feature at Slamdance in Park City this year and the Indie Max Award at the San Antonio Film Festival. A coming-of-age story about a young boy growing to manhood in Playas de Tijuana, Verrechia and Lefkowitz’s film is an invigorating fusion of fiction and reality that rises to the challenge of powerful storytelling and fun, innovative film-making.

TIJUANA MAKES ME HAPPY is all the more compelling because the actors in the film are actual Tijuana residents essentially playing themselves. Jhonny and Indio are played by father/son duo Pablo Tendilla Rocha and Pablo Tendilla Ortiz. In real life, Pablo and Pablito live with the rest of their family–a mother and two sisters–but they do a marvelous job channeling the friction and co-dependence of a father and son alone together in the world, trying to negotiate each other’s needs and expectations. In fact, there are no professional actors in the cast, and the scenes are refreshingly authentic as a result.With subdued pacing and un-staged shots of the Tijuana red-light district at night, the morning ceremony at a local school, the ever-expanding development of bright pink houses where the families live, and the local slums, the film has a documentary sensibility that is enlivened by the carefully constructed story the characters live out.What it lacks in sharpness, TIJUANA MAKES ME HAPPY more than makes up for in sincerity and pizazz. The title song will be stuck in your head for weeks, and the poignancy of Indio’s adolescent struggle and redemption never fades. That Verrechia and Lefkowitz have succeeded in creating a universally appealing Tijuana-based tale at a time when the American government and countless citizens regularly denounce people from south of the border is an accomplishment and a contribution.

An article published in IndieIN by Rebecca Wiegand. Catch the full article at IndieIN .

Maquilapolis

enlacezapatista — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:56:39 +0000

Just over the border in Mexico is an area peppered with maquiladoras: massive factories owned by the world’s largest multinational corporations. Carmen and Lourdes work at maquiladoras in Tijuana, where each day they confront labor violations, environmental devastation and urban chaos. | Read the synopsis »

Premiered: Oct. 10, 2006 at 10PM | Check for Rebroadcasts

“The film deals with the costs of hyper-consumption and allows the viewers to understand where their goods are coming from, making a connection between themselves, their TV and the factory work in Mexico.” —Sergio De La Torre

Read the complete interview with Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre »

WASTING AWAY

Author Elizabeth Grossman talks about the environmental impact of electronics manufacturing, the health risks faced by the maquiladora workers, and the necessity of enforcing environmental regulations across borders. Find out more on how you can be a responsible consumer. »

GROWING A GREEN ECONOMY

“Maquilapolis: City of Factories” makes the case that the well-being of factory workers in Tijuana is directly linked to a consumer’s individual spending habits. Two experts in social investing explain how one educated shopper’s dollar can wield clout and influence corporate practices. »

INM: 210 mexicanos muertos en frontera de EU en 2007

enlacezapatista — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:56:34 +0000

La VozJulio 11, 2007

México, D.F. (EFE) Unos 210 mexicanos han muerto este año en su intento de entrar de manera ilegal a Estados Unidos, aseguró esta semana la comisionada del Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM) de México, Cecilia Romero. Al proporcionar estos datos en una rueda de prensa, la funcionaria mexicana indicó que la cifra a finales de año podría ser superior a los 425 mexicanos muertos en 2006, debido a que la época de condiciones climáticas más extremas en la línea fronteriza aún no ha llegado.

publicidad

“No ha comenzado todavía el período en el que las temperaturas se incrementen de manera significativa en el desierto, por lo que de no atenderse esa situación, el número de mexicanos muertos o desaparecidos será mayor” dijo Romero. La titular del INM presentó en un acto oficial la cuarta edición consecutiva del programa anual de repatriación voluntaria de Estados Unidos a México. Romero recibió a los primeros 74 indocumentados que llegaron el pasado lunes al aeropuerto internacional de Ciudad de México, como parte de esta iniciativa que culminará en septiembre próximo. La funcionaria elogió el programa que de manera conjunta se desarrolla desde el 2004 con el gobierno estadounidense y que ha permitido repatriar un total de 50 mil 011 mexicanos en situación irregular. En 2006, detalló, fueron repatriadas 2 mil 135 personas, mientras que en lo que va de 2007 las autoridades estadounidenses han rescatado a 703 personas en el desierto para enviarlas de regreso a su país. Romero dijo que los mexicanos que buscan trabajo en la nación vecina son principalmente oriundos de las regiones del centro mexicano, como el estado de México, y del sureste, como Chiapas y Oaxaca. Aclaró que la repatriación de los mexicanos que se someten a este programa es voluntaria y subrayó que gracias a este sistema se ha disminuido la mortalidad por el fenómeno de la migración ilegal. El programa, denominado Memorándum de Entendimiento sobre la Repatriación Segura, Ordenada, Digna y Humana de Nacionales Mexicanos, fue suscrito en febrero de 2004 por los gobiernos mexicano y estadounidense, y contará este año con una inversión de alrededor de un millón de pesos (100 mil dólares) por parte de México, anunció. Hasta el próximo 30 de septiembre, habrá dos vuelos diarios gratuitos hasta Ciudad de México provenientes de Tucson, (Arizona, EU), con alimentación y un boleto de autobús con destino final a las regiones originarias de cada mexicano indocumentado, gastos que también serán sufragados por el Estado. La Patrulla Fronteriza estadounidense informó en abril pasado que entre septiembre de 2006 y abril de 2007 murieron 153 inmigrantes ilegales en la frontera, mientras que en el mismo período, entre 2005 y 2006, fallecieron 166, lo que representó un descenso del ocho por ciento.

Enlace Zapatista

enlacezapatista — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:36:03 +0000

Actividades del delegado zero y la Comisión Sexta, julio:

Participaciones de la Comisión Sexta en la mesa redonda: “Frente al despojo capitalista, la defensa de la tierra y el territorio”, del 19 de julio en el CIDECI de San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas

2404 lecturas, 5 comentarios

Escuche las participaciones en el mitín por la defensa de la tierra y en contra de la represión. 19 de julio en Tuxtla Gutiérrez

1051 lecturas

Escuche y lea las participaciones de la mesa redonda: “Frente al despojo capitalista, la defensa de la tierra y el territorio”, del 17 de julio en el Club de Periodistas de la Ciudad de México

3260 lecturas, 10 comentarios

Lea y oiga aquí la ponencia del SCI Marcos, “de redentores e irredentos“, así como las demás ponencias de la mesa redonda del 16 de julio en la ENAH

5111 lecturas, 13 comentarios

II Encuentro de los pueblos zapatistas con los pueblos del mundo

Transmisión desde el Caracol de MoreliaVaya aquí

Galería de fotos del II Encuentro: Oventik y Morelia

Que se realizará en Territorio Zapatista del 20 al 28 de Julio de 2007

Lee la Convocatoria aquí

11046 lecturas, 63 comentarios

Encuentro de Pueblos Indígenas de AméricaVaya aquí a la página del Encuentro

11, 12, 13 y 14 de octubre de 2007 en el pueblo de Vicam, territorio de la Tribu Yaqui, Municipio de Guaymas, Estado de Sonora, México.

Actualizada, ya puede consultar el reglamento, los requerimientos para la realización, un número de cuenta bancaria para apoyar económicamente y más información sobre el Encuentro

Actividades del Delegado ZeroJunio 2007 Cierre de la segunda etapa en el Norte

Libro Noches de fuego y desvelo Textos del SCI Marcos, obra pictórica de Antonio Ramírez, diseño de Efraín Herrera.

A la venta en Zapotecos 7, en el Rincón Zapatista, DF. Tel: 57614236

…más notas

La Frontera

Nortec Collective

US: More immigrant deaths in desert border crossings

By Shannon Jones

18 July 2007

Tijuana Makes Me Happy

Maquilapolis

WASTING AWAY

GROWING A GREEN ECONOMY

INM: 210 mexicanos muertos en frontera de EU en 2007

Enlace Zapatista

II Encuentro de los pueblos zapatistas con los pueblos del mundo

Transmisión desde el Caracol de MoreliaVaya aquí

Que se realizará en Territorio Zapatista del 20 al 28 de Julio de 2007

Región Noroccidental y Pueblos Indios

Región Norte-Centro

Región Nororiental