The Freire Project

Hi all,
The Freire Project has a new webmaster! You can contact Giuliana Cucinelli (CritPed Webmaster) HERE
I've loved being the Freire Webmaster, and it was a rare privilege to help build this vital, necessary community. Long may it prosper.
As Joe would say, In Solidarity,
David
Freire Webmaster

 In recent posts, I have argued for the resurgence of real hip-hop.
Since today is Bob Marley's birthday, I figured I would pay tribute to one of the most powerful and courageous critical thinkers of our time. I also decided to take this opportunity to put my money where my mouth is in regards to hip-hop music.
Here is a track I did with my rap group GHOSTTOWN that pays tribute to Bob Marley and provides a sample of what real hip-hop sounds like.
This is also a taste of what's to come with my upcoming book and my groups upcoming mixtape.
ENJOY !!!!!!!

Last week, the Chicago Tribune featured a front page report on the marketing of sugar-saturated, nutrient-deficient cereals to kids. It revealed how in spite of a commitment by leading cereal companies in 2006 to market more healthy options to children under 12, most had made very little progress since: still "aggressively" promoting unhealthy products and, what's worse, under fraudulent promises like a "nutritious way to start the day."
 

Democratically-elected President Zelaya of Honduras has spent the past four months in exile in his own country, and is now being shipped to Domincan Republic as part of an agreement established under the new, what Zelaya calls "sham", regime. The US wil be represented at ths inauguration by a senior State Department official. The six military officers, graduates of the School of the Americas (enough said), have been given amnesty for their role in kidnapping and forcefully removing Zelaya from office.
 
Democracy should mean something but does it?
 

We in Oz tommorrow (26th January) celebrate our national day, ‘Australia Day’ (or, alternatively, ‘Invasion Day’ as dubbed by some of our Indigenous brothers and sisters) to commemorate the day European colonisers irrevocably changed Australian culture two and a bit centuries ago. 

Sisters and Brothers...the words have been said for the past 8 days about Haiti....here are words from a dear friend of ours in Montreal, done while he was home in Haiti...send it around.  send the music...

[A slightly altered version of this essay can be read here: http://www.opednews.com/articles/3/Do-Youth-Count-on-the-Left-by-Tolu-Olorunda-100125-697.html]
 
Very few issues today should command the attention of progressives more than the future awaiting young people—a future dictated by the ethics of neoliberalism; a future hostile to the humanities of low-income and minority youth; a future devoid of all public and democratic possibilities. And even fewer issues should elicit greater address than the current reality under which young people—from all walks of life—live.
 

The situation is grave.
Some US media reports have focused on how substantive, generous and focused the US response to the crisis has been. The attached Democracy Now interview questions this thinking, providing arguments that the Cubans may have been more substantic, generous and focused in their response to the crisis, especially in light of the fact that Cuba has been educating Haitians to become doctors for years as well as sending large numbers of Cuban doctors to Haiti over the years.

Haiti needs our help. With the country being in crisis for years, the catastrophic earthquake that hit the island yesterday has literally shattered the nimble infrastructrure that existed. The is a human tragedy, one that should not happen in a world of such wealth.
 
It is time to stop the senseless quest in the name of hegemony, empire and military domination, and to seek peace. Canada, the US, France, Britain and other countries need to focus on helping people, and our governments should be compassionate, generous, and strident in providing the solidarity that is required.
 
Haiti does not deserve this incessant torture, and we are not idle passers-by on the street.
 
We can, and should, do something.