“Borders Are” from the new Serj Tankian album “Imperfect Harmonies”

More: www.serjtankian.com

BORDERS ARE…
by Serj Tankian

Borders Surround
Borders Bound
Borders Marginalize
Borders Frame
Borders Divide
Borders Kill

Borders are the ultimate man-made walls separating and differentiating us beyond our cultures, beyond our beliefs, beyond economic hierarchies.

Borders are subjective, unnatural lines drawn by humans delineating land, water, and air for partisan collective utilization.

If borders were natural, other animals, in fact all beings would be bound by them. Obviously, they aren’t.

Indigenous cultures never recognized borders, cognizant of the fact that the land owns us and not the other way around.

Borders lead to war, occupation, and bigotry, even genocide.

Worst of all, borders are a deceptive, yet constant reinforcement of the notion that we are alone, separate from each other and all things around us.

The multi-layered borders of our lives stratify separation in its undignified definition.

There are people dying in Kashmir due to border disputes. Shots are fired daily between North and South Korea over border disputes. The Berlin Wall separated the German people for almost half a century, at the border. Israel and Palestine continue to endure conflict over their borders, and the predecessors of modern-day Turkey (Ottoman Empire) felt they had to carry out genocide to protect their borders.

Borders represent the foundation of civilization, expansionism, abusive capitalism, and presumptive occupation.

Floods don’t recognize borders.
Earthquakes don’t recognize borders.
Diseases, famine, and drought don’t recognize borders.

Why should we?

We deserve to live without the borders of mind, body, and spirit.
Given the unprecedented changes we are witnessing in the world.

We really have no choice.

(AP, JEANNINE AVERSA) It’s official: The longest recession the country has endured since World War II ended in June 2009, according to a group that dates the beginning and end of recessions.

The National Bureau of Economic Research, a panel of academic economists based in Cambridge, Mass., says the recession lasted 18 months. It started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. That was the longest of any recession since World War II. Previously the longest postwar downturns were those in 1973-1975 and in 1981-1982. Both of those lasted 16 months.

The decision makes official what many economists have believed for some time, that the recession ended in the summer of 2009. The economy started growing again in the July-to-September quarter of 2009, after a record four straight quarters of declines.

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Axis founder Serj Tankian has teamed with the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) in calling on President Obama to honor his pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide and take decisive action to end the genocide in Darfur, with the launch of the “Yes, It’s Genocide” campaign.

The effort, named in honor of the song of the same name to be released on September 21st on Tankian’s “Imperfect Harmonies” album, encourages Tankian fans and anti-genocide activists to visit http://www.anca.org/yesitsgenocide and send a free ANCA Webmail to President Obama to take immediate action.

“We are honored to team up with Serj and the AYF once again to expand Armenian Genocide education and anti-genocide activism through this innovative ‘Yes, It’s Genocide’ campaign,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “No doubt, President Obama’s actions to date on the Armenian and Darfur Genocides have fallen far short of his own commitments and, more importantly, of the core American values that should guide our nation’s policies. Together, through continued vigilance, increased outreach and broad grassroots activism, we must, as citizens, create the political will necessary to compel our government to deal truthfully and justly with all genocides.”

AYF Western U.S. Chairman Arek Santikian concurred, stating “As activists and concerned citizens, it is our duty to struggle against crimes against humanity at every turn. Serj’s recording of this powerful new song provides us with yet another opportunity to raise awareness and inspire the youth to take action. We commend his long track-record of standing up for social justice and look forward to this opportunity to work together.”

Tankian has invited the AYF and ANCA to expand genocide education outreach to his concert venues, with “Yes, It’s Genocide” activism tables set up at the September 18 th Greek Theater show in Los Angeles and the October 3 rd New York Show at the Hammerstein auditorium. AYF members will be providing information about the Armenian Genocide and the current situation in Darfur and encouraging fans to send their message to President Obama to honor his commitment to ending the cycle of genocide. Additional concert venues featuring “Yes, It’s Genocide” activism tables will be announced as they become available. Tickets to these and all concerts in Tankian’s “Imperfect Harmonies” tour.

The campaign also includes a video contest, in which activists are encouraged to film videos explaining why President Obama needs to act on the issue of genocide.  Videos should be 30-60 seconds long, and can be submitted to the Armenian Youth Federation website.

Hrant Dink was an Armenian-Turkish journalist who was outspoken in his defense of human rights.  After numerous death threats for his calls for the absurd crime of “denigrating Turkishness” (calling for recognition of the Armenian genocide), Dink was assassinated in 2007 by a Turkish teenager with ties to far-right Turkish groups.  The assassin seems to have been treated as a hero by Turkish police after Dink’s murder.

In a recent hearing, the European Court of Human Rights found that the Turkish government failed to protect Hrant Dink’s life, and did not make much effort to investigate his murder.  The Court also heavily implied that members of the Turkish government should be investigated for their role in the murder and cover-up.

European court: Turkey failed in protecting Dink’s life

Imperfect Harmonies is the second solo release from the System Of A Down frontman, following up his critically acclaimed 2007 solo debut Elect the Dead. As with Elect the Dead, Tankian produced Imperfect Harmonies himself at his home studio in Los Angeles.

You can stream Serj’s brand-new album, Imperfect Harmonies, in its entirety via his official iTunes app one week before the album is released by Serjical Strike/Reprise Records on September 21.

“This is definitely a headphone record and one that should be experienced in sequence.” says Serj Tankian.  The first video to be available through the app will be the previously unreleased fan favorite “Sounds of War,” live from London. This exclusive app-only video will be available beginning September 21.

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American politics has been excruciatingly scary and depressing lately. I doubt I have to explain what I mean. Things are very bad, and I’ve had trouble seeing through this doom and gloom.

Until today.

Today I realized why the situation has seemed so bleak.

I happened to be listening to an old radio interview I did several years ago with anti-racist activist Tim Wise. We were talking about the Minutemen and the beginnings of the new anti-immigration movement. Tim was saying that it’s completely rational for these white Americans to be afraid for their jobs, but that they were jumping to the wrong conclusion by blaming immigrants from Latin America for their problems. The real story, he said, is that powerful corporations are exploiting workers around the globe, and governments are pitting workers against each other with “free trade” treaties. American jobs are not in danger because of Mexicans crossing the border to feed their families. American and Mexican jobs are in danger because vicious corporations and uncaring governments are crushing us.

That’s the real story. Illegal border crossings as well as the anti-immigration movement in the US are not the story, they are reactions to the actions of greedy corporations and corrupt government policies by people trying to live and survive.

After listening to this interview, I realized that our outlook is so bleak is because we’ve been telling ourselves the wrong stories.

The story is not that immigrants stealing American jobs, it’s that corporations screwing over any worker they can. The story isn’t that one oil company had a huge industrial accident in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s that nearly all corporations do their best to make money no matter how many lives or environments they destroy. The story isn’t that America is trying to fix Afghanistan with soldiers and bombs, it’s that the United States has perpetually overthrown governments it didn’t like and replaced them with governments it did. The story isn’t that Democrats are cowards and Republicans are villains, the story is that they are powerful people who have agendas and are susceptible to the influence of money and public opinion.

I’m not saying that every story has to be a towering tale. Every person is important, as is everyone’s story. But we need to remember how our little stories relate to the bigger stories.

This perspective is important. For as long as there have been these horrible stories above, about power and oppression and corruption and greed, there have also been stories of opposition. Wherever there is a story of injustice, there is also the story of someone who fought against it. Stories of oppression are matched by stories of rebellion. Stories of failure are followed by stories of renewal, struggle, and then victory. Stories of war, stories of peace, stories of hate, stories of love, stories of fear and stories of hope.

What I’m saying, folks, is that we’re living this story now. Your breath is the paper, your voice is the ink, and your every action spells a word on the page. Together, we write the plot with our very lives, never knowing what the ending will be.

The story that we tell will have a happy ending. I know this because we hold the pens.

WASHINGTON — With every new swipe at President Obama’s exotic background or cultural influences, a contingent of Republican leaders are signaling that they believe the coming elections are more than just a referendum on the administration’s economic policies. Rather, to a degree that is striking, conservatives are also trying to make the fall campaign about the president himself and the kind of societal change he actually represents.

To understand why, one need only look to the Republican Senate primary in Delaware, where Christine O’Donnell this week became the latest in a series of conservative insurgents to jolt the party establishment. Such divisive primaries have threatened to reopen longstanding rifts within the party. And the increased focus on Mr. Obama’s personal history is probably less about persuading the electorate as a whole than it is about unifying the disparate strands of the conservative base.

The latest controversy over Mr. Obama’s identity involves — once again — Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, who this week accused Mr. Obama, whose father was a Kenyan economist and spoke out against the occupying force in his country, of exhibiting “Kenyan, anticolonial behavior.” Mr. Gingrich was shorthanding an essay in Forbes by the conservative theorist Dinesh D’Souza, who, in exploring Mr. Obama’s attitudes toward business, settled on the theory that Mr. Obama was taking directions from the anticorporate apparition of his long-departed father. (That Mr. Obama never really knew his father is apparently beside the point.)

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Guests:

Tom Morello & Boots Riley, Morello is the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, and Riley is the frontman for Oakland-based hip-hop group the Coup. Their new band together is Street Sweeper Social Club.

JUAN GONZALEZ: On Monday, we played an excerpt of Amy Goodman’s interview with guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine in the context of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s comments on President Obama and Kenyan anti-colonialism.

Well, today, as part of our ongoing series on music and resistance, we’ll play the full interview. Last month, Amy interviewed Tom Morello and Boots Riley of The Coup just before they performed at the Rock the Bells festival. They’re in a new band together called Street Sweeper Social Club.

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Axis of Justice Summer Service Program Continues at PATH in downtown LA.

Volunteers: Tom Morello, Mary Morello, Allie O’Brien, Kirsti Ann Urpa, Nicole Marie Mire, and Leah Cevoli with AOJ Host, Leah Cevoli.

To Volunteer, please email Allie O’Brien.