Immigration | Et Cetera: Publick and Privat Curiosities

Born Free: A Powerful Stand Against Genocide

May 4, 2010 — Patrick Zimmerman

Born Free: A Powerful Stand Against Genocide

Show me a country where the bombs had to fall
Show me the ruins of buildings so tall
And I’ll show you a young land
With many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I
You or I

-Phil Ochs

Born Free is a new music video by M.I.A., which is foremost a starkly compelling short film directed by Romain Gavras. Gravas is a co-founder of Kourtrajmé, an art and filmmaking collective in Paris known for provocative explorations of contemporary social issues. Born Free is the harrowing tale of a company of shock troops in an unnamed American city that is rounding up “ginger” headed children and adolescents, and transporting them to a desolate brushland for execution.

The film provides a startling metaphor for the very real pictures we see in ongoing news coverage of murderous violence occurring in places where we don’t actually live. But in our current political atmosphere, with the increasing influence of right-wing groups advocating ever-more draconian social policies, those images are rapidly coming home to America.

Born Free: A Powerful Stand Against Genocide

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Gov. Bill Richardson Delivers Ringing Endorsement for Obama

March 21, 2008 — Patrick Zimmerman

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson Endorses Senator Barack Obama

Bill Richardson, the nation’s only Hispanic governor, threw his strong support behind Senator Barack Obama for president Friday, enthusiastically delivering one of the most coveted and tightly held endorsements in the race for the Democratic nomination. The New Mexico governor joined Obama at a rousing rally in Portland, Oregon, and claimed that the Illinois senator demonstrated his leadership abilities this week with his speech on race. “You are a once-in-a-lifetime leader,” the governor said from the stage. “Above all, you will be a president who brings this nation together.”

“There is no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama has the judgment and courage we need in a commander in chief when our nation’s security is on the line,” Richardson said. “He showed this judgment by opposing the Iraq war from the start, and he has shown it during this campaign by standing up for a new era in American leadership internationally.”

Obama embraced the endorsement of Governor Richardson as a man who is an accomplished figure on the world stage who “understands the importance of restoring diplomacy as a central part of our national security strategy.”