Blog post today from our friends at The Resolve LRA Crisis Initiative addressing the significant danger that the Central African Republic could become a true safe haven for the LRA.

Traders demonstrate near the presidential palace in Bangui January 5, 2013. The U.N. Security Council voiced alarm on Friday at an advance by rebels in Central African Republic that has brought them within striking distance of the mineral-rich nation’s capital, and renewed its call for a negotiated solution to the crisis. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

The Voice Project recording musicians coming together from northern Uganda, Congo, CAR and SSudan for the first time to call soldiers and abductees of the LRA home on the FM airwaves.

“Where thought and creative discovery is forcefully marginalized, people are born they grow up, work and die without even starting to live.” -Nadya Tolokonnikova, Prison Camp No.14, Mordovia

Pyotr’s address to the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.

To donate or learn more about The Pussy Riot International Support Fund, go here.

Thank you for your support in 2012. We’re very proud of what we were able to accomplish this year with your help. Music is not just a means, but a catalyst for social change around the world, and The Voice Project played a key role in some of the most impactful examples and initiatives around the globe this year:

- The Voice Project established of the first ever centralized distribution hub for “Come Home” radio programing accessible by FM stations and broadcast partners in Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan.

- With a dramatic increase in LRA defections and 89% of those returning attributing their decision to come out to FM radio and “Come Home” programing, and data from the ground confirming that music including The Voice Project’s peace and “Come Home” songs were the most welcomed and popular form of FM message broadcasting, we have a remarkable and historic example of music quite literally and effectively working towards ending a war.

- The Voice Project was the NGO which coordinated and administered the international donation efforts to support Pussy Riot in their fight for human rights and freedom of expression in Russia.

- We sponsored our first Voice Project ambassador, Ariana Delawari in her award winning efforts using music and film to create positive social change in Afghanistan (and played the first ever all girls rock concert in Kabul!).

The world is reawakening to the power and possibilities of art, and music in particular as agents of social change, and with your help we’re going to help lead and amplify even more of these of efforts around globe in 2013.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to supporting Pussy Riot via The Voice Project. As of December 15 we have raised $35,536.32. We have been and continue to work with the women, their families and FreePussyRiot.org to insure that funds are used to best support the women and their families’ needs, reflected in the breakdown below for use of funds to date:

Voice Project Disbursements:
$18,427.62 to Direct Family Support
$9,573.36 to Support to Families via Legal Team
$6,087.23 to Pussy Riot Members for Support Efforts
$1,203.11 Not Yet Cleared in TVP Account
$245.00 in Wire Transfer Fees from Bank
__________
$35,536.32 Total

Again, we thank you all who have helped here, individuals, musicians and organizations throughout the international support community. Our focus will continue to be to support efforts to secure Nadia and Masha’s freedom, care for their children, and to insure their safety and well being while in the camps though representative visitation, clothing and necessary supplies. We feel lucky to be doing what we can to support these brave women and we thank you for your efforts to do so as well.

Jesca’s campaign at Pledge Music benefiting The Voice Project

via Pledge:
I’ve decided to release a full length version of my first album ‘Kismet‘ in acoustic form, expanding upon the ‘Kismet Acoustic EP’ from 2008. This album includes 6 new recordings of the remainder of ‘Kismet’ as well as 2 previously unheard bonus tracks!

Many thanks and best wishes
Jesca x

Many thank to Jesca and her fans! http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/jescahoop

Keith Negley

By ANGELIQUE KIDJO

source: The New York Times

IN 1974, I was a young girl watching the Nigerian newscast on our blinking TV set, sitting on the patio of the family house in Cotonou, Benin. Suddenly I saw Winnie Mandela in the middle of a crowd, talking about her husband in jail in South Africa. That was the first time I heard about apartheid.

My whole world collapsed.

I had been raised with nine brothers and sisters in a modest and loving family, protected from the harsh realities of my continent. My parents had told me that you don’t judge people by their color and that we’re all born equal. Every day, we welcomed expatriates from all corners of the world.

That day, on the TV screen, I could see the anger and the despair in the eyes of the South Africans. I was learning about the injustice of apartheid. I felt a sudden rage.

I had been singing on stage since I was six; music was the center of my life. My first reaction was to write a song: instead of screaming my rage I would sing it.

The song that came to me was a harsh and hateful song. When my father heard it, he told me: “ You can’t sing this, music is not there to preach hate and violence. I understand your frustration and your pain, but you can’t use your songs to add fuel to the fire. Music is supposed to bring people together and fight for peace, because it is art and beauty, not politics.”

Many years later, I truly believe that music helped free Mandela. Johnny Clegg’s“Asimbonanga” comes to mind, as does Peter Gabriel’s “Biko.” So many artists wrote songs for Mandela, putting much international pressure on South Africa.

The songs were stronger than speeches. Who will remember a politician’s speeches? But everyone can sing Bob Marley’s lines, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.” The few political speeches that have made a mark in history — from Haile Selassie, Martin Luther King or John F. Kennedy — sound like songs!

That is the power of music. The mix of melodies and words carries a message much more powerful than spoken ideas.

Why? Maybe because when someone sings, truth speak directly to your heart.

With the 1960’s emerged protest songs written to change the world. Two decades later, rap reported on social realities nobody wanted to hear about. In this digital age, the audience for songs of social commentary and protest has grown: if you want to express your views, you don’t need a big music company: just post your songs online.

In a way, the music industry no longer controls the political content of music. In 2003, I proudly joined other musicians to sign a full-page ad in The New York Times lambasting the prospect of a war in Iraq. The world was so polarized then that I wondered if the major music label that signed me would ever let me record again.

Today, the Russian group Pussy Riot doesn’t need a music company to carry its message to the world. That explains why the greatest challenge protest music faces today is censorship. We’ve seen the price three members of Pussy Riot paid: they were sentenced to two years in a prison colony, although one was later released.

An Islamist Web site issued a $100,000 bounty for the death of Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi because of his views on politics and religion.

Self-censorship is also part of the equation: you may think twice before singing for freedom in Tibet if you know you may be prevented from touring in China.

Because the content of songs is now uncontrollable, the potential of violence threatens the very existence of music. The Pakistani star Ghazala Javed, who married into a very conservative Muslim family, was killed this year likely because of what she was singing.

Music in itself is the expression of freedom, and in some parts of the world, the joy and liberty it invokes are unbearable. It is painful to think that in northern Mali, the land of Ali Farka Touré, and a region some believe is the birthplace of the blues, music is being completely silenced by militants who adhere to strict Islamic laws.

During my childhood in West Africa, music was part of daily life. Traditional musicians recounted our history and offered political and moral commentary. When they played, we would dance, sing, feeling the simple joy of being together.

This is the strongest message music can carry today: do not listen to people telling us our cultures are irreconcilable and we can’t live together.

Universal access to music must be cherished; we must continue to fight against censorship by supporting artists who are silenced and by speaking out against dictatorships that silence them.

When the Israeli singer Rita Jahanforuz sings the Iranian songs of her childhood, political and religious frontiers start to crumble. Her unlikely and moving success in both countries gives me so much hope.

Within that hope is the long-lasting message of my father: “Sing to unite, not to divide!”

Kidjo is a Grammy award-winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist. She is the first woman to be listed among “The 40 Most Powerful Celebrities In Africa” by Forbes Magazine.

Angelique’s Voice Project Episode:

You all might have seen the headlines about Masha being placed in solitary confinement. Initially some calls for massive humanitarian protest, then the later reports about how it was requested by her for safety reasons after choosing not to join in on a prisoner hunger strike. Anyway, Petya just had a “legally entitled” 15-minute video-chat with Masha, she’s ok and comfortable. There was extra concern before because there were 2 days there when her mom and support couldn’t access her/contact, and you may have noticed we didn’t publish anything here but that’s because the consensus on the ground was to hold off while more information was gathered, with Masha’s mom notifying Margolina Tatiana Ivanovna, Commissioner for Human Rights in the Perm region, and Sergei Isayev, local legal representative checking into the circumstances at the prison.  So anyway, that’s how that went down, there’s a crew of about 7 folks heading out to see her this weekend including Petya and her mom. We’ll pass on more information as the situation is assessed.

Your contributions to The Pussy Riot Support Fund will help continue efforts to keep both Masha and Nadia monitored, safe and as comfortable as possible, as well as help with advocacy, family expenses and child care, and we and the support community behind Masha and Nadia very much appreciate your help.