Lower East Shushan: A Purim of Vacant Lots
On March 14, 2009, thirty-some Rudies took part for a third consecutive year in the Purim Extravaganza thrown by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (jfrej.org) and the Workmen’s Circle/arbeter-ring (circle.org). This year the focus was on housing and displacement, and on the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA) in particular – a five-block area South of Delancey Street that was torn down 40 years ago to be turned into affordable housing and has stood vacant ever since. Right to the City groups involved in the fight for housing on the SPURA site and other Lower East Side development issues were involved in the show – Good Old Lower East Side (goles.org) and CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities (caaav.org) in particular.
The performance and party was as ridiculous and turbulent as ever, with hundreds of people hearing a through-the-looking-glass version of the SPURA story (partly in the words of those displaced), learning from a How To Take Over A Building cantestoria, and reveling in a Busby Berkeley-inspired finale. Not to mention dancing their asses off to an RMO set halfway through the night. Certainly one of the indoor highlights of RMO’s participation in the Right to the City alliance’s work.
In added Rude excitement, two RMO trombones were featured in a cameo as the villain’s Haman’s entourage in the opening act of the show, and (perhaps due to Daniel Flag’s role as design coordinator) the spectacle’s costuming heavily featured green, black, and white stripes…
Tons and tons of pictures are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelmattson/sets/72157615320479271/
Adalah-NY’s Boycott Leviev Campaign Dec. 22 & Feb 7
Small groups of RudeMos have joined Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East (www.adalahny.org) at several energetic holiday-themed demonstrations this winter outside the Leviev Diamonds flagship store on Madison Avenue. The shop’s owner, Lev Leviev, is a diamond tycoon who made his billions in apartheid-era South Africa, went on to become the richest man in Israel, and now divides his energy between building illegal Israeli settlements on the lands of Palestinian villages, pushing gentrificondo development in Brooklyn, operating hideously exploitative diamond mines in Angola and Namibia, and funding a religious-right effort to entice Jewish New Yorkers to flee the public school system for fundamentalist academies. In other words, an all-around winner.
Adalah-NY calls for a boycott of Leviev, to make New York inhospitable to his businesses until he ceases his participation in human rights abuses, from the Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Jayyous in the Occupied West Bank to the diamond mines of Southern Africa to the streets of Gowanus and Forest Hills.
We joined up with Adalah-NY on December 22, 2008 for a round of caroling at Leviev Diamonds to celebrate the victories of the past year: Oxfam and UNICEF publicly refusing Leviev’s donations as long as he remains part of the settlement-building machinery of the Israeli government’s war on Palestinians; enough notables disassociating themselves from Leviev for his website to completely eliminate its ‘Celebrities’ section; and protests against Leviev spreading to London and Dubai. RudeMos brought a solid rhythm section to tunes from “Leviev the Red-Faced Magnate” to “Buy Yourself a Merry Little Tchotchke”, but the crowd-pleaser was definitely the following:
We wish you a loss of business
we wish you a loss of business
we wish you a loss of business
and a poor fiscal year
Lev’s bling is a bit off-putting
Lev’s bling is a bit off-putting
Lev’s bling is a bit off-putting
made from Angolan tears
The worldwide financial crisis, as well as the effects of the boycott, make that wish more likely than many to come true.
Full coverage of the event is here: http://nyc.indymedia.org/or/2008/12/102389.html
We returned to Madison Avenue for Adalah-NY’s “Valentines for Palestine” picket on February 7, 2009. Accompanying chants and songs – “Diamonds Are a Crime’s Best Friend” most notably – we brought added energy to a demonstration that didn’t need our contribution to be lively and loud, but appreciated the flavor we brought nonetheless. The demonstration preceded by a few weeks the announcement by the government of the U.K. that it would honor the boycott and break its agreement to rent a new space for its embassy in Israel from a Leviev company.
A slideshow from the demonstration is here: http://adalahny.org/index.php/photo-galleries/286-leviev-valentines-day-2009
