As the Summer of 2023 closes out, we bring you to some of our arts and culture coverage. From Minneapolis to Palestine and a spotlight on our newest series of contributed stories on underground music and resistance history, catch up on the happenings below.
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For the last two-plus years, Confluence: An East lake Studio for Community Design, has run the Autonomous Mobile Media Unit (AMMU) in South Minneapolis out of a donated shipping container in the lot next to Moon Palace Books near the ruins of the Third Precinct. We toured the print shop and heard from the co-founders Duaba and Sam about their attempts to be “the neighborhood’s communication department.” [Stay tuned for more coverage on Confluence Studio’s monthly assemblies and Confluence’s autonomous RFP, ‘The Future in Ruins: Overwriting the Third Precinct’.]
After three years on hiatus, the MayDay parade and ceremony returned to South Minneapolis. On Sunday, May 7, 2023, thousands of people filled Bloomington Avenue to watch the Southside Battletrain lead the parade into Powderhorn Park where a ceremony occurred. Unicorn Riot was on scene to live stream and document the event. See our edited video below.
‘Makeba’ – A Viral TikTok Trend Pays Homage to Mama Africa ‘Makeba,’ the viral TikTok trend pays homage to Miriam Makeba, a South African musician who was lovingly known as Mama Africa across her home continent. Contributor Brittany Gaston digs into the illustrious history of a figurehead in the pan-African diaspora.
Dancing Revolution: How ’90s Protests Used Rave Culture to Reclaim the Streets Read how anti-road blockades and recently outlawed rave culture combined in the UK in the 1990s to form Reclaim The Streets - a joyful urban crowd tactic that quickly became a staple of the 'counter-globalization' movement protesting outside free trade summits.
Palestinian calligraphy artist, Ayman Al-Husari, transforms Gaza’s war-damaged buildings into magical artistic creations in a move aimed at boosting people’s morale and overcoming the remnants of Israeli bombing raids on the Gaza Strip. “We love life,” Al-Husari said, “we have destruction, but this is not because of us, this is a reality we live in. But we, as Palestinians, love life, love colors and art, and we want to live.” Unicorn Riot interviewed the 35-year-old artist as he painted murals of Arabic calligraphy inside two houses destroyed by the recent war on Gaza.
Palestinians celebrating the holy month of Ramadan 2023 are greeted by colorful art-filled walls lining the streets and corridors down some of the oldest lanes of the ‘old city’ in the Gaza Strip. Walls bear a bright, artistic, colorful painting on their façade drawing the attention of the passer by and spreading joy and vitality to the arrival of all people. In Gaza’s al-Zaytun neighborhood in the ‘old city,’ Mohamed Ahmed Al-Saedy started transforming the walls of his house and spread to the neighbors into what is now known in Gaza as the ‘colorful neighborhood.’
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