Bilingual hip hop artist / producer Olmeca has released a powerful new music video, “Make it Right,” ahead of the upcoming U.S. / Mexico Encuentro, a resistance-focused gathering of activists and immigrant communities on both sides border, November 10 - 12 in Tucson AZ, Eloy AZ, Nogales AZ and Nogales MX, which is expected to bring together more than 2,000 people from across the continent.
Olmeca explains the new video as taking place in “a would-be post apocalyptic world that seems eerily close in our future (note the writing on the wall that read "Cleanse America; Deport them All' and the sign that reads "The New South" as if US invaded Mexico and made everyone subjects of an empire). White nationalist, xenophobic murals line a US where migrants and people or color are pushed underground.” But the underground brews a rebellion, led by a 9 year old girl. The video’s intro and outro are voiced by well known author Michelle Alexander.
The video echoes the goals of the U.S. Mexico Encuentro, a cross-boarder event that Olmeca is helping organize, led by SOA Watch. The Encuentro will feature performances from Lenguaralerta, Rebel Diaz, Cihuatl-Ce, and others, along with speakers from a wide range of grassroots organizations.
While the event, and the video, obviously take on a new level of urgency given the Trump administration’s open attacks on immigrant communities, Olmeca notes that their organizing is forward looking, not reactionary: “Trump will come and go. We will be here. Taking lessons from the past, it's important that we resolve the question, "what does our future look like, if we have to option to define it?" That is what art does, it helps us imagine that future.”
The Encuentro has some clear demands:
- An end to US economic, military and political intervention in Latin America
- Demilitarization and divestment of the borders
- An end to the racist systems of oppression that criminalize and kill migrants, refugees and communities of color
- Respect, dignity, justice and the right to self-determination of communities
- An end to Plan Mérida and the Alliance for Prosperity
Check out this video from last year, spread the word, and attend if you can.