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Hip Hop artist, Omar Offendum is also "an MC/Architect hailing from the great nation-state-of-mind known as "SyrianamericanA' where everything is connected and everyone is welcome."
SyrianamericanA" is also the title of Omar's first solo CD.
From center stage that was adorned with an American flag draped on top and flanked below with flags from the United Arab Emeritus, Lebanon, Palestine, Libya, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Morocco, Tunisia, and other Arab states, Omar explained that hip hop is the modern incarnation of the blues, jazz, rock and roll, reggae and as over 60% of the population of the Middle East is under 30, Rap has become the music of The Revolution.
Inspired by the power of the people of Egypt that
recently rose up, several notable musicians from North America teamed up to
release a song of solidarity and empowerment, entitled "#Jan25"
which commemorates the date the Egyptian protests officially began in Egypt,
and its prominence as a trending topic on Twitter.
Omar Offendum, appeared on Al Jazeera to explains that this track is a testament to the revolution's effect on the hearts and minds of today's youth, as well as all who unite in the spirit of resistance in solidarity for justice for oppressed people:
Omar informed this reporter, "My family is Arab Syrian and I use Hip-Hop as a platform to express opinions of my community to make our struggle relate-able to the average American, as our struggle is the universal struggle for peace and justice."
Remi Kanazi, is a Palestinian-American poet whose kinetic energy and unabashed poetry of resistance and searing indictments of the military occupation and ethnic cleansing of his homeland awed me.
Remi's "POETIC INJUSTICE: WRITINGS ON RESISTANCE AND PALESTINE" is a collection of poems and includes a CD, highly praised by Pulitzer Prize winners, award winning journalists, drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Ronnie Kasrils, the former South African Government Minister and anti-apartheid activist.
Remi brought me to tears with "A POEM FOR GAZA" not because I am Palestinian or Arab, but because I grew up comfortable in Greenwich Village and on Long Island, but after my first of seven trips to Palestine beginning in 2005, I have not been able to look away because the injustice made me hot, loud, angry and political.
On September 29, 2009 the Goldstone Report was released and it accused both
Israel and Hamas of war crimes perpetuated during the 22 days of assault on
Gaza when the Israeli military
launched Operation Cast Lead; a full-scale attack on Gaza that killed 13
Israelis and 1,400 Palestinians.
Operation Cast Lead also injured over 5,000 Palestinians and 400,000 were left without running water.
Operation Cast Lead destroyed 4,000 homes and rendered tens of thousands homeless
because of Israel's targeted attacks upon them, their schools, hospitals,
streets, water wells, sewage system, farms, police stations and UN buildings.
Operation Cast Lead's, 22 days of attack on the people of Gaza was enabled by US-supplied
weapons and we the people of the US who pay taxes provide over $3 billion
annually to Israel although Israel has consistently misused U.S. weapons in
violation of America's Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts.
America is the worlds largest arms supplier to Israel and under a Bush
negotiated deal with Israel-which Obama signed onto during Christmas 2009, we the people who pay taxes in America will now also
provide another $30 billion in military aid to Israel over the next decade.
