Aspecks was in attendance this weekend as the TUC organised March for the Alternative took place in London on Saturday 26 March 2011. The number of people protesting against the Government’s cuts was somewhere between 350,000 and 700,000 depending on who you believe, but the turnout was certainly higher than expected. Indeed, the carnival like atmosphere contained a real fruit salad of people, with greater variety in demographic than we at Aspecks have ever seen at a comparable event, as families, students, pensioners, trade unionists, environmental movements, the Green Party, the Labour Party, nurses, teachers and other public sector workers and general members of the public demonstrated peacefully together. This march was the biggest public demonstration since the Iraq War in 2003 and the diversity and humour at work in many of the signs and placards people carried reflected a real unity and expressed their collective frustrations and determination. You can see a quite a few of the signs in the footage we filmed below as well some scenes of the infamous “black bloc” walking peacefully down Piccadilly.

Now obviously there has been a tendency amongst some sections of the media to focus on the few hundred protesters who participated in more direct action than just marching and chanting (after all as Dan Hodges in the New Statesman points out – what are we marching to?), but are we really suggesting that such acts are not reflections of the real anger that is felt by many people? After all the minor damage caused will cost little to repair in comparison with the amount of money that some of the companies targeted (such as Fortnam & Mason, owned by Whittington Investments) manage to save each year through tax evasion. Indeed, even the Treasury admits that tax evasion costs about £40 billion per year to the UK economy which is significantly more than the £80 million worth of Government cuts happening this year even before you consider the fact that different sources (including the World Bank) put the tax evasion figure at somewhere more like £70 billion.

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Here at Aspecks we are delighted to be able to introduce you to one of our newest affiliates Rafiqi Rafiki, a collective of artists and media practitioners whom have collaborated with the Myndz Community to create media and art. They are community activists, professional journalists, students, indigenous cultural performers, non-governmental organization board members, African vocalists, street performers, and individuals dedicated to the creation of media for the promotion of social change and development in Africa. And for those that do not already know “Rafiqi” is Swahili for “friend”,  so a rather appropriate affiliation indeed! A special thanks has to go out to Jothee also known as Kiiru wa Ngotho who hooked up this exchange of culture, knowledge and skills. Jothee is a rap lyricist, and chanter who executes the audio effects, coordinates musical projects for the Rafiqi project and is also a audio and sound specialist.

The Myndz Community‘s mission is to employ media to provide quality, efficient and accurate information to encourage communication for a harmonious social, political and economic environment in service of social change, human and media development throughout Africa. The Myndz Community is comprised of Myndz Visual, Myndz Audio, Myndz Literature and Myndz Theatre. More details after the read more jump…

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Check it out!! The first single from Wanlov the Kubolor’s new album, “Brown Card” is the vibrant “African Gypsy” which makes it clear that the three months spent in Paris were extremely productive for Aspecks’ favourite Transylvanian Ghanaian.

Wanlov The Kubolor – African Gypsy ft Keziah Jones by Wanlov

Supported by the French Embassy and l’Institut français, Wanlov is the first Ghanaian ever chosen for an artist residency programme in Paris called “Visa for Creation”. The 3-month artistic Residence at the ‘Cité des Arts’ in Paris, is where Kubolor found inspiration writing songs for the new album working with two Ghanaian musicians and accordion player Jérôme Pierre Soulas and violinist Filippo Bonini Baraldi from Paris. The album was produced in Ghana by Pidgen Music and you can check some footage of the launch party in Ghana after the jump. Below Wanlov explains to the BBC the fusion of sound and culture that came together during his time in France.

wanlov_2010 -BBC interview mp3 (418KB)
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“Movement never lies,
It is a barometer telling the state of the soul,
Weather to all who can read it.”
-Martha Graham

IRC Dance Movement is a beautifully shot and choreographed three-minute music/dance short film by Seb. from Shueti, for the rocking Dutch breakdance, hip/hop crew Illusionary RockAz.

Reblogged from: disembodied.wordpress.com

More video of them in action here.

A video from globalsolutions.org (Citizens for Global Solutions) about the concept of global citizenship. They are a U.S. based organisation promote the Global Citizen agenda in their country by “by educating Americans about … global interdependence, communicating global concerns to public officials, and developing proposals to create, reform, and strengthen international institutions such as the United Nations.“