Santa Cruz Art & Revolution Does Street Theatre Against "Black Hawk Down"

http://santacruz.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=238&group=webcast

Guerrilla theater troop Santa Cruz Art & Revolution performed 3 runs of a 10 minute skit on US involvement in Somalia and Afghanistan tonight across from the Cinema 9 theater on Pacific Ave, around 6p. Free popcorn was made available to the audience.

Visiting Aussie street performer and uranium mining activist Diva Dingo also warmed the crowd up with her flamboyant costume and attitude while giving an expert bullwhip demonstration, before introducing each run of the skit.

Meanwhile, informational flyers were passed out to the crowd across the street in front of the Cinema 9, presenting an alternate perspective on the story behind the movie "Black Hawk Down".

Three Santa Cruz police strolled through the area at one point, but there were no reports of interference or harrassment by them. At no time did activists block either foot or road traffic.

An excerpt from their flyer:

Black Hawk Downer
fact, fiction, or propaganda?

President Clinton called the disastrous US intervention in Somalia one of the darkest hours of his administration. But Joe Roth, CEO of Revolution Studios, producer of Black Hawk Down, said that his team would assure the audience that it was "America's brightest hour".

Black Hawk Down turns the decable in Somalia into a false version of a glorified war, just as the US government announces that Somalia may be the next target in the War On Terrorism. The Pentagon is using Black Hawk Down to gain support for unlimited and unending war!

Black Hawk Down's Links With the Military

Black Hawk Down was produced with the help of the Pentagon. Some forty of its actors were trained for battle scenes at US military bases. Negotiations between the Dept. of Defense, State Dept., and the Moroccan government resulted in Black Hawks and other service aircraft and their crews being allowed into Morocco for filming.

While the movie was still being edited, senior White House advisors attended a screening and were allowed to make changes. The Pentagon has pushed for the movie's early release, and the movie was released months ahead of schedule.

What Really Happened in Somalia

In late 1992, the US sent 28,000 soldiers into Somalia under auspices of UN operations there, portraying it as a humanitarian mission designed to feed starving people and save them from a brutal clan leader. By then, the seven-year drought that had caused massive starvation was abating.

US troops engaged in gun battles and bombing raids in heavily populated neighborhoods. The deaths of civilians united rival clans against the Americans. The population resisted what they perceived to be an occupation. In October, 1993, when US forces were surrounded in Mogadishu, they took hostages by locking women and children into the compound that was being beseiged. In the rescue operation, two Black Hawk helicopters were downed and 18 US soldiers were killed, together with many Somalis. DUring the ten months of US engagement, between six and ten thousand civilians, two-thirds women and children, were killed.

Four US oil companies (Conoco, Amoco, Chevron, and Philips Petroleum) had agreements with Somalia before its civil war began. Similarly, the Bush administration negotiated with the Taliban about an oil pipeline before September 11. How much is access to oil motivating the current war?

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For More Information
"Black Hawk Down" Exposed
http://exposebhd.freehomepage.com

What "Black Hawk Down" Doesnt Tell You
http://www.netnomad.com

HOLLYWOOD JOINS FORCES WITH THE PENTAGON TO TRANSFORM THE 1993 INVASION TO AMERICA'S BRIGHTEST HOUR
http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/exile/dn20011220.html

"Black Hawk Down" Creates a New and Dangerous Myth of American Nationhood
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0129-07.htm