Dubs Up! Hip Hop Occupies Call-to-Action for West Coast Port Shutdown

Hip Hop Occupies to Decolonize issues solidarity statement & artist all-call for participation in 12/12 rallies

Seattle, WA–Hip Hop Occupies is calling upon youth and artists in Seattle and beyond to come out in full force December 12^th in support and solidarity for the West Coast Port Shutdown. HHO endorses this day of direct action as not only an opportunity to make a political statement against budget cuts and on-going police brutality, but also to create a strategic profit loss within the toxic capitalist economic system. From Seattle to San Diego, oppressed peoples of all backgrounds are mobilizing to shut down the power of the 1% in this coordinated national effort. We choose to occupy capital, not capitol buildings, because we are no longer waiting to have our voices validated at the whim of elected officials.

It is the fact that the Port Shutdown is pushing the “Occupy Movement” in a more active, coordinated direction that Hip Hop Occupies stands in solidarity. It has historically been a West Coast tradition to push the envelope of culture and struggle in this way. From the Black Panthers to Freestyle Fellowship, from NWA to the 1919 Seattle General Strike, the West Coast stays innovating. Following in the footsteps of these West Coast innovators in both Hip Hop and Revolutionary struggle, Hip Hop Occupies to Decolonize Seattle is helping to coordinate rallies at 1pm, 3pm, and 6pm on Monday, December 12^th. We are asking all our allies in the artist community to come MC, paint, dance, and create in the name of freedom and self-determination.

Event Date: Monday, December 12^th, 2011

Event Locations: Westlake Park, 4^th & Pine in Downtown Seattle, Port of Seattle

Event Schedule:

12:00pm: Hip Hop Occupies Artist Check-In at Westlake

1:00pm: Rally and Performances at Westlake Center

3:00pm: Rally & Performances at Port of Seattle

6:00pm: Rally & Performance at Spokane Street Fishing Area

To participate, perform, speak and/or share at any of the D12 rallies in Seattle, call (425) 223-7787, email HipHopOccupies@gmail, and then show up at Westlake Park on 4^th & Pine at 12pm on 12/12 for the artist check-in.

Video of Support featuring Boots Riley of the Coup:

For more info on the West Coast Port Shutdown visit:

www.westcoastportshutdown.org

POC Caucus of Decolonize Occupy Seattle's Letter to the Community on D12:

http://occupyseattle.org/blog/2011-12-05/letter-poc-caucus-friends-family-and-community-dec-12-port-shut-down

More on Why Hip Hop Occupies to Decolonize Supports:

Hip Hop Occupies openly supports, endorses, and stands in solidarity with the December 12th West Coast Port Shutdowns. From Seattle to San Diego, oppressed peoples of all backgrounds are taking steps to take control of their lives by shutting down the power of the 1% stopping the flow of capital. We at HHO have been active in much of the on-the-ground organizing in an attempt to walk the walk and not just rhyme a lot…about freedom. Following in the footsteps of west coast innovators in both hip hop and revolutionary struggle, HHO and those organizing/participating in the shutdowns are attempting to raise the bar and advance the struggle. Hip Hop and the Occupation Movement began on the East but were revolutionized by the West. The East keeps creatin’ it but the West stays innovatin’ it.

It is the fact that the port shutdown is moving the movement into a new more dynamic direction that we at HHO support. No matter the outcome the networks and unity creating amongst workers, students, people of color, queer folks, and the unemployed will set the foundation for major moves toward freedom. We are no longer asking a minority to live when they continue to show us their disdain for our lives as they cut budgets killing thousands, allow the destruction of unions by corporations, and leave millions unemployed.

It is a west coast tradition to push the envelope in culture and struggle in this way. From the Black Panthers to Freestyle Fellowship, from NWA to the 1919 Seattle General Strike, the West coast rocks steady. We say this in jest to our allies nationwide who claim Hip Hop; where you at with your organizing and analysis? Albums sales aren’t the marker, and YouTube hits lose meaning. The question is how many people can you get to a rally then to a meeting? Are you willing to flier and develop organizations in you city connecting groups and people with all types of ideals, methods, and personalities?

We hope the West coast Port Shutdowns will prove to be a major turning point in terms of the aims and goals of the movement at large. We choose to occupy capital not capitol buildings because we are tired of waiting to have our lives validated and maintained at the whim of people who have ignored our needs for years. We are the leaders we are looking for. We have to take our lives into our own hands and make the world we want to see even if that means breaking with old organizational and methods of resistance trying the unknown. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Hip Hop Occupies with "Rise & Decolonize! Let's Get Free"

Unique blend of art, culture, and community empowerment broadens the ‘Occupy Movement’

Hip Hop Occupies and the POC Caucus of Occupy Seattle present an urban arts-infused event that redefines protest and self-determination. In solidarity with All People's Revolutionary Front, and in partnership with 206 Zulu, Dope Emporium, Black Orchid Collective, and over a dozen other local Hip Hop organizations, collectives, and businesses, “Rise & Decolonize! Let’s Get Free” aims to create a new model for engaging and empowering youth, people of color, and other voices in the ‘Occupy Movement’.

The “Rise & Decolonize” program will feature a march down to Westlake, performances from over twenty local DJs, emcees, and b-boy/b-girl crews, speakers, live art and cipher spaces, as well as a survey to canvass and identify local demands around youth service, media justice, economic displacement, and other issues directly impacting underrepresented communities in Seattle. “Beyond entertainment, Hip Hop is a potent organizing base,” says Julie C, emcee from Hip Hop Occupies, “and through this event we are providing a timely access point and channel for our communities to be represented.”

“Hip Hop History Month [November] is a reminder of the struggle's intensity and how under any circumstance and by any means, change can be made,” says King Khazm, Westcoast Regional Director of Universal Zulu Nation and founder of 206 Zulu, “Let us remember and overstand this legacy so that we can be the change we want to see, shaping our own future.” Jace Ecaj, veteran emcee from Black Stax and founder of Dope Emporium adds, “The actions of the movement are aligned with the consciousness of Hip Hop Culture. The time is now to create an infrastructure that reflects the attitude and respect for basic human rights and balance to the people.”

Event Date: Friday, November 18, 2011

Event Location: Westlake Park, 4^th & Pine in Downtown Seattle

Event Schedule:

4:30-5:00pm: March from Seattle Central Community College to Westlake Park

5:00-5:30pm: Press Conference

-Opening Statements, Background on Hip Hop History Month, Mission of Event

5:30-9:30pm: Rally & Performances

-Featuring Black Stax, Sista Hailstorm, Suntonio Bandanaz, Waves of the Mind, DJ SeaBefore, Korvus Blackbird, DJ Intylekt, Sean Malik, Graves 33, Greg & Jerome, Jamil, Youth Speakin' Truth, G.M.F Squad, JJ, Massiah, Black Magic Noize, Sire One, Khazm, Julie C, E-Dawg, and B-Boy/B-Girl cyphers from Circle of Fire, Crisis Crew, North City Rockers, & More!

9:30-10:00pm: Closing cipher

Rise & Decolonize: Let's Get Free! National Call-to-Action

National-Call-to-Action: Rise & Decolonize! Let’s Get Free Rally

DOWNTOWN SEATTLE – WESTLAKE CENTER [and Nationwide]

Seattle, WA, Friday, November 18, 2011 at 5:00pm – In solidarity with All Peoples Revolutionary Front and the POC Caucus of Occupy Seattle, Hip Hop Occupies organizes a rally to claim spaces as people-of-color, youth, and artists in local “occupations”. Meeting at the intersection of arts, culture, and the Movement, the rally will feature speakers from the frontlines, not politicians, and community advocates, not career activists, woven into narratives of Hip Hop and all its elements: B-boy/B-Girling, DJing, Graffiti, and Emceeing. When we imagine decolonization, we do not make demands of those in power; we create power and frame the alternative.

Hip Hop Occupies embraces the term “occupation” as it has been reclaimed by militant workers of color from Latin America (Oaxaca, Buenos Aires, South Korea, China, among other places) to describe their occupation of factories, schools and neighborhoods, to strike back against oppressive forces. But while it is in this context that we use the term “occupy”, we fully endorse the “Decolonize” framework as a necessary expansion of the Occupy Movement. In the face of brutality in the legacy of capitalism, a system that relied upon the enslavement of African and Caribbean peoples, the genocide and displacement of Indigenous Peoples, and the violent seizure of lands for colonial profit, we embody a vision of intersectional social justice and self-determination.

In the strength of “making our own power”, Hip Hop Occupies announces our solidarity with “Rise & Decolonize! Let’s Get Free” National Call-to-Action, and encourages all those who share our commitment to this vision to come out in full force 5pm on November 18, 2011, to create, build, and affirm the decolonization of the Occupy Movement, in order to fulfill its revolutionary potential.

Background Information on Hip Hop Occupies

From its genesis, Hip Hop has been a vehicle of expression and liberation for oppressed peoples. Disenfranchised youth in the development-torn 1970s Bronx responded to the economic violence imposed upon their neighborhoods by resistant occupation of public spaces through art. It was in these acts of occupation that the elements of Hip Hop, b-boy/b-girling, graffiti, DJing, and emceeing emerged and spread. It is in this spirit that Hip Hop Occupies was founded by a group of artists on the ground of Occupy Seattle. We are a growing network of artists, activists, and cultural advocates from the Hip Hop grassroots who are educating, organizing, and agitating from the frontlines of Occupy actions all over the world. In just two weeks, our growing local and national network has expanded to over 22 allies including All People’s Revolutionary Front, Umojafest P.E.A.C.E Center, Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, 206 Zulu, One Hood, Hidmo, Occupy the Hood, Davey D, Black Orchid Collective, Grassroots Artist MovEment, Black Magic Noize, Truth About Tupac Movement, Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign, Rosa Clemente, Bump Local, Hip Hop Congress and more. We seek to continue this growth and collect the representative allies from every city as well as support emerging leadership from our underrepresented communities in order to fuel the resistance, and to feed the vision of a better world for the generations that follow.

Click here to read the Decolonize Declaration of Occupy Seattle

Click here to read All Peoples Revolutionary Front's Open Letter to Occupy San Diego

We Are Hip Hop Occupies

Peace and Solidarity.

We are Hip Hop Occupies, a growing network of artists, activists, and cultural advocates from the Hip Hop grassroots who are educating, organizing, and agitating from the frontlines of Occupy actions all over the world.

Inspired by the revolutionary potential of the rapidly expanding Occupy Movement, and seeking to bridge the gap between occupations, communities of color, and youth, a group of Hip Hop artists on the ground of Occupy Seattle established a Hip Hop working group at the October 9th, 2011 General Assembly.

Within two days of outreach, through our existing networks of urban arts, youth service, and Hip Hop crews, collectives, and organizations, we had more than 14 partners, locally and nationally. Through our daily meetings, actions, and livestream-broadcasted cyphers, we began generating a groundswell of energy, excitement, and attention, expanding our in-the-field numbers more quickly than we ever imagined. Even through nightly stand-offs and morning raids from Seattle Police Department, we grew.

By October 12th, 2011, we had established the www.HipHopOccupies.com domain, framework, and Phase 1 Goals and Plan of Action. We drafted the language, garnered donated graphic design, print, and web support (thank you Mean Mouse), and continued our outreach from the field, meeting at Westlake Center at 9pm, during the height of our local Occupy internal struggles, as well as police activity. Through the chaos, we persisted, and quickly realized our vision was bigger than Seattle, and bigger than Hip Hop.

We seek to grow this network locally, nationally, and internationally, and collect the representative partners and contacts we need from EVERY city to support emerging leadership from our underrepresented communities, shape collective vision, and create a process and forum through which to outline Phase 2 Goals and Plan of Actions, including our own list of demands that address our issues, those of educational disparity, youth violence, media justice, the economic displacement of gentrification, the prison industrial complex, and more. But we cannot do this without you.

Even as I am writing this blog post, Occupy Seattle faces yet another eviction from Seattle Police Department. Such efforts to quash this growing movement from law enforcement, city, county, and federal government will continue, and will become more coordinated, strategic, and subversive every day. As they collectivize their efforts, so must we. We ask you to Join Us in solidarity to fuel the resistance, and to feed the vision of a better world for the generations that follow.

We out here. Get at us.