YouTube: SF Gays v. Russians, Stoli Dump & Solidarity Video
A video of the San Francisco protest at the Russian consulate, featuring a discussion between activists and a consular official and a dumping of Stoli into the gutter, is posted on YouTube.
There's a big debt of gratitude owed Ken Hodnett and Paul Barwick, two activists with video cameras who participated in the action this week, who've now collaborated to produce this video. Give the video a look and listen to Mihail from the consulate, while San Francisco activists stage an act of full public solidarity with LGBT Russians.
Thanks Ken, Paul and everyone who made the protests happen in Manhattan and here.
4 comments:
Again, this is a wasted effort! Why, oh why, Michael, would you waste space on this issue when HIV funding is being cut in the City (and Newsom's budget won't cover the shortfall), people are getting evicted for condo conversions, and access to healthcare is still an obstacle for many people?
The Russian issue is a Red Herring. focus your efforts on what needs to get fixed at home. Then, when we have our own house in order (i.e., equal rights, singe-payer healthcare, and affordable housing), we will be in a stonger position to help others around the world.
Use your voice for something useful. Demonstrate at City Hall, not some consulate where we aren't even citizens. Post videos of people trying to talk to Mitch Katz at the Department of Public Health, not Mikhail at the consulate.
Let Russians and other Europeans take care of themselves until we in the US are taken care of.
Your voice still matters here in the US because you ask the good questions no one else asks about domestic policy. Focus on our issues that make a difference in day-to-day living here.
Where is a posting about Chris Daly's re-organized budget? Where is the criticism about our mayor's effort to derail public housing? THESE issues need your voice added - not something that happenned overseas.
Oh, yeah, and if the knee-jerk liberal LGBTQI (and whatever other identifying letter I happened to leave off) community doesn't wake up to take care of itself here, one day it WILL find itself on the reciving end of the kind of people who beat up the demonstrators in Moscow (who, again, were mostly NOT Russian - mostly from Australia, Germany, and the UK).
Thanks gay San Francisco people for caring about international issues and looking out for gays in Moscow. The photos of gay protestors getting punched and made bloody in Moscow disgust me. Your YouTube vid shows how a few activists can pressure a government.
Thinking globally is extremely important in this day. What is happening in Russia is directly influencing the extremely vocal and homophobic Russian and Slavic community living here in California. The Slavic community has turned out hundreds of protesters at events in Sacramento. What preachers and legislators are saying in Russia, DOES directly impact us here.
To the first anonymous comment and community at large:
Micheal is a wonderful and refreshing voice in our community, and I love him for that. We all must realize that we each have our own just as powerful voice in this community and the world. I have learned we can not criticize and put down one another--we must EMPOWER one another! Yes, do start locally--start from within yourself.
Be what happens!
gwduv@hotmail.com
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