This Weapon Has Heart // Este Arma Tiene Corazón

From Cincinnati to Olympia, Caitlin Roberts and Matt Fu will be traveling via Greyhound buses to promote the audio documentary “This Weapon Has Heart,” or “Este Arma Tiene Corazón,” about Honduran community radio. During this tour, they will be playing politically charged electro-acoustic music, as autococoon and 1985, as well as organizing with community radio networks.

THIS WEAPON HAS HEART // ESTE ARMA TIENE CORAZÔN

Caitlin recently returned from Honduras after a 10-week stay in Central America documenting the power that community radio holds to counter state repression tactics. Twelve extremely rich and powerful families run the country, with a menacing grip on the Honduran government, military, economy, and society. Honduran peasant families are facing severe threats to their lives and livelihoods from thousands of mining, tourism, agriculture, and hydroelectric energy megaprojects implemented by multinational corporations in cahoots with the Honduran government. This violence has increased dramatically since the June 28, 2009 military coup d’êtat and has not improved since the reintegration of the country into the Organization of American States on June 1 of this year.

At almost every one of the six community radio stations that Caitlin visited, members told her that RADIO IS THE WEAPON OF CHOICE to fight against the police, paramilitaries, military forces, and armies of private security guards employed by thieving landlords, all funded by Honduran and North American taxpayers, that regularly beat, detain, threaten, torture, and kill Honduran activists. Targeted groups include students, teachers, artists, peasants, union leaders, members of LGBTQI communities, and Jesuit priests. Honduran journalists and social communicators working with alternative radio, television, and internet media are also severely harassed daily for their exercise of the right to free speech.

Communities have achieved an incredible level of non-violent resistance to the repression, especially since the coup, which sparked a broad public awakening. Resistance-related workshops and conferences on the national, municipal, and local level are constantly taking place. One widely used and very valuable tool organizations have been launching in the past two decades, with a notable surge in stations since the coup, is community radio.

During this late summer tour Caitlin will share what she experienced with activists nationwide and discuss actions we can take, such as forming local anti-militarization campaigns, or starting our own community radio stations, to pressure the U.S. government to drain military funding to Honduras and end human rights abuses in Central America.

Caitlin will be promoting the audio documentary THIS WEAPON HAS HEART, which will be 1-2 hours in length, like a feature film, and will feature interviews and music from Honduran resistance groups. She’ll be making at least 3 versions, one in Spanish, one in English, and one crafted specifically for a Honduran audience, with potential eventual translations into French, Portuguese, and indigenous languages. The doc is set to broadcast on at least 20 radio stations internationally.

Reach out if you would like the September 2011 "This Weapon Has Heart" tour to come to your town!! The dates below are flexible. If you know about community radio stations that may be interested in syndicating “This Weapon Has Heart,” please email:
kiteswimming@riseup.net !

THIS WEAPON HAS HEART TOUR DATES

* Aug 29 Cincinnati, OH
* Aug 30 Asheville, NC
* Aug 31 Greensboro, NC
* Sep 1 Washington, DC
* Sep 2 Philadelphia, PA
* Sep 3 Brooklyn, NY
* Sep 4 Boston, NY
* Sep 5 Portland, ME
* Sep 6 Bangor, ME
* Sep 7 Burlington, VT
* Sep 8 Bennington, VT
* Sep 9 Buffalo, NY
* Sep 10 Ann Arbor, MI
* Sep 11 Bloomington or Urbana, IL
* Sep 12 Chicago, IL
* Sep 13 Madison or Milwaukee, WI
* Sep 14 Duluth, MN
* Sep 15 Twin Cities, MN
* Sep 16 Twin Cities, MN
* Sep 17 Kansas City, MO
* Sep 18 Albuquerque, NM or Socorro, NM
* Sep 19 Grand Canyon, AZ
* Sep 20 Flagstaff, AZ
* Sep 21 Tucson, AZ
* Sep 22 Phoenix, AZ
* Sep 23 Santa Barbara, CA
* Sep 24 Bay Area, CA
* Sep 25 Sacramento or Davis, CA
* Sep 26 Eugene, OR
* Sep 27 Olympia, WA

1985 and autococoon's music can be found at the following sites:
http://masarecords.bandcamp.com
http://autococoon.bandcamp.com