Demystifying Diasporic Vietnamese Politics

On our 9 June 2008 edition, Subversity, a KUCI public affairs program, features a conversation with an editor and journalist who was fired from the country's top Vietnamese-language newspaper in a failed attempt to appease anti-communist protesters, and who has now resurrected himself as a blogger writing about Vietnamese diasporic politics in and beyond Little Saigon. We talk with the writer who goes by the moniker "Bolsavik".

The Bolsavik's meek alter ego is Hao-Nhien Vu, a mathematician with a knack for telling the truth, he says. He was previously employed at Nguoi Viet Daily News, the largest Vietnamese-language newspaper in California and probably in the country. For four years he was the Managing Editor, until anti-communist protests over an artwork involving a pedicure spa caused the paper to fire him. Since then, he has been writing and editing the blog Bolsavik.com, which is playing a major role demystifying all that's happening within the Vietnamese American community here in Orange County and elsewhere.

Our interview with The Bolsavik (coined from Bolsa, the main drag in Little Saigon, and Bolshevik) is set against continuing demonstrations against his former newspaper, Nguoi Viet, as well as against Viet Weekly, another publication in the region. Our earlier interview with Publisher Le Vu of the Viet Weekly appears here: mp3 audio.

To listen to the show with the Bosavik, click here: .

A new profile of Subversity's show host appears on the KUCI web site: "Spotlight on Dan Tsang.".

An earlier Subversity interview with outgoing UCI History Prof. Mike Davis is extracted in AMASS, issue 29 (2008), pp. 32-35: "The War at Home: Interview with Mike Davis" by Dan Tsang. (The issue is available from Atomic Books, or directly from the publisher, Society for Popular Democracy, see: Subscriptions).

Filming Up the Yangtze; APIAVote Town Hall Highlights

Up the Yangtze: Tourists on boats in the Lesser Three Gorges; photo credit: Jonathan Chang; Copyright © EyeSteel Film, 2007

Irvine -- On the 19 May edition of KUCI's Subversity program, we talked with independent film director Yung Chang, whose exquisite documentary, "Up the Yangtze," has opened nationally. In the second part of the program, we bring you highlights from the APIAVote Town Hall at UC Irvine, which heard from Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama, as they reached out to the API community. John McCain did not appear but sent a surrogate, Assemblyman Van Tran. Third party candidates were not included.

Just days after a devastating earthquake hit southwestern China, the opening of "Up the Yangtze" gives audiences a cinematic look at more of the travails faced by ordinary Chinese as their county embraces modernization. Yung Chang, a Canadian Chinese filmmaker, talks about why he made his film, an "Upstairs. Downstairs" take on the crew and tourists on a luxury cruise ship that traverses the Yangtze as the Three Gorges dam project moves inexorably to its completion. His film focuses on two workers on the ship: a cocky and handsome young man who explains how he charms tourists to part with their tips, and a more quiet young girl who toils to clean dishes, a job she needs to help bring income to her family whose home is destroyed and flooded by the Three Gorges project. Chang talks about how progress in China is very complicated. He also explains how his film led to brighter futures for both workers; the film's web site indicates how one can help.

In OC, the film is showing at Regency South Coast Village in Santa Ana; it is also in Los Angeles etc. A Sundance documentary film award winner, it screened earlier at the Newport Beach Film Festival last month and won a special grand jury award at the Asian Pacific American Film Festival in Los Angeles.

We also bring you highlights from the historic first town hall organized by Asian/Pacific Islander Americans, that took place this past Saturday at UC Irvine. Hilary Clinton appeared on a live video screen, answering questions submitted earlier, while Barrack Obama, on a live telephone feed, took questions from a panel of API activists; Obama, born in Hawaii, also identified himself as a Pacific Islander and a "Native Hawaiian". The event was ignored by the mainstream media.

News Update: Show host Dan Tsang was quoted in Sing Tao (Chinese) after the California Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage:

LA edition: www.singtaousa.com/051608/la080516c1.php

HK edition: singtao.com/oversea/0517ao27.html

Other Resources:

Up the Yangtze: http://www.uptheyangtze.com/

LA Times review: www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/reviews/la-et-yangtze16-2008may16,0,1167214.story

Variety coverage: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117984283.html?categoryid=2520&cs=1

NY Times review: http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/movies/25yang.html?ref=movies

APIAVote: http://www.apiavote.org/

Early town hall news and blog coverage:

Nikkei View: www.nikkeiview.com/blog/2008/05/17/twittering-the-apia-vote-town-hall/

Vien Dong (Vietnamese): www.viendongdaily.com/Contents.aspx?contentid=3888&item=Tin%20Hoa%20K%E1%BB%B3

Sing Tao (Chinese): www.singtaousa.com/051808/la080518a1.php

To listen to this show, click here: .

The Man of Two Havanas Director Speaks Out vs. U.S. Embargo of Cuba

Irvine -- In our next edition, airing Monday May 5 2008 at 9 a.m. on KUCI, 88.9 fm in Orange County, and on the web simultaneously via kuci.org, we talk with the director of "The Man of Two Havanas".


Max Lesnik, the director's father, with Fidel Castro

Vivien Lesnik Weisman, in her documentary, takes a look back at her father and her life with him as he survived numerous bombing attempts by Cuban exiles in Little Havana, not unlike the situation of intimidation and domestic terrorism faced by some outspoken Vietnamese exiles in Little Saigon. We talk about her film and why she wanted to make it, as well as what it was like to live in Miami as a small girl. The film argues that the U.S. embargo against Cuba hurts the people in Cuba as well as Cuban exiles abroad.

Biographical info: Vivien Lesnik Weisman was born in Havana, Cuba. After graduating from Barnard College and New York Law School, she received an M.F.A. in directing from the UCLA School of Film and Television.

Her numerous awards include the presti- gious UCLA Spotlight Award for Best Dramatic Short, the Houston Film Festival Best Short Award and a Golden Eagle for Excellence in Latino Filmmaking.

A student of acclaimed documentarian Marina Goldovskaya, Weisman recently won IFP New York's Fledging Fund Award for a Work-in-Progress for The Man of Two Havanas, her first documentary. She resides in Santa Monica with her son, Richard Jr.

Her father, Max Lesnik, director of Radio Miami, has been the number one target of anti-Castro terrorists and considered the most controversial figure in the Cuban exile community. He was a prominent revolutionary when he left Cuba due to ideological differences with his then-friend, Fidel Castro. In Miami, he took a position that was both against the Cuban government as well as against the U.S. policy toward Cuba. Mr. Lesnik became the publisher of Replica. The magazine was a forum for debate, as well as for Mr. Lesnik's incendiary point of view. Mr. Lesnik's position soon evolved to include dialogue with the Cuban government and recently he revived his friendship with Castro. Mr. Lesnik has been the target of anti-Castro terrorists. They have tried unsuccessfully to murder him; nine bombs have gone off at his office in Little Havana.

The film recently aired in Orange County at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

Film web site: manoftwohavanas.com/About.html

The show airs during KUCI's pledge drive. Please support the only public-radio station from OC and to support shows like Subversity. To pledge, go to www.kuci.org/funddrive.html.

Meanwhile, the Asian Pacific Film Festival continues in Los Angeles: http://www.vconline.org/.

To listen to this show, click here: .

Films on Boys in Jordan; Women in Indonesia

Irvine -- For the April 28, 2008 edition of Subversity on KUCI, we talk with the directors of two new films from Jordan and Indonesia showing at the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival respectively.

In part 1 of the show, we talk with Director/Writer/Producer Amin Matalqa about his new film, "Captain Abu Raed" which screened at Sundance (where it won the World Cinema Audience award this year) and is the first feature film from Jordan in decades. Set in contemporary Jordan, the title character is a lonely janitor at Amman's international airport who befriends a group of neighborhood boys. Matalqa immigrated to the U.S. from Jordan at age 13, who decided to move from the telecommunications industry in Ohio to become a filmmaker in Los Angeles. Among the cast members is established Jordanian actor Nadim Sawalha, in the title role. Sawalha has been featured in British televsion as well as in two James Bond films, "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "The Living Daylights." He also appeared in "Syriana" opposite George Clooney. Sawalha won the 2007 best actor award at the Dubai International Film Festival.

Captain Abu Raed is the closing night film of the Newport Beach Film Festival, on Thursday, 1 May, at the Regency Lido Theatre in Newport Beach.

Film festival site: http://www.newportbeachfilmfest.com/

Film showing info: newportbeach.bside.com/2008/films/captainaburaed_newportbeach2008

Trailer: " blog.spout.com/2008/01/23/sundance-trailer-captain-abu-raed/

In part 2, we talk with Co-director Fatimah Tobing Rony, a UCI film and media studies professor. "Chants of Lotus" (Perempuan Punya Cerita) is a four-part film dissecting the social situation of women in frenetic, modern-day Indonesia. The film stars some of the major Indonesian actresses and the premiere showing in Indonesia was heavily censored. This Los Angeles showing is of the 35 mm original print, and uncensored. The film has its U.S. premiere Sunday, May 4, at 5 p.m. at the Directors Guild of America, Theater 2 as part of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

Film festival site: http://www.vconline.org/

Film showing info: www.vconline.org/festival/program.cfm?program_id=38

Trailer: www.kalyanashira.com/perempuanpunyacerita/trailer_tinggi.php

To listen to the entire Subversity show, click here:

Actor, Director, Model Edward Gunawan

Irvine -- On the next edition of Subversity, broadcasting Monday, 31 March, 2008, we talk with actor, director and model Edward Gunawan about his career in film and modeling. Gunawan, who was born in Indonesia and grew up in Singapore, lives in southern California. He's graced the cover of Frontiers, a local gay magazine and appeared in print ads for Honda and Nokia as well as TV ads. As a filmmaker, Gunawan is making his directorial debut with Laundromat, a short film he also wrote and produced. His short film Just (as writer, actor & producer) recently won the Top 5 Films Award at the 9th PlanetOut Short Movie Competition. He recently earned an MBA from Loyola Marymount University and completed a filmmaking fellowship at the Film Independent' (formerly IFP West) Project:Involve in 2007, with Academy Award� winner Chris Tashima as his mentor.

His website: www.edwardgunawan.com
Interview on Fridae: www.fridae.com/newsfeatures/article.php?articleid=2174$
Frontiers interview: www.frontierspublishing.com/2621/agenda/agenda_fd.html

To listen to the entire Subversity show, click here: . Apologies for the background audio for the first part of the interview.

Behind America's Obsession with Sex Scandals

Why the national obsession with sex scandals, most recently in the governor's office, before and after (New York and New Jersey)? And is the stoic wife all that unknowing? Is monogamy doomed for straight couples?

On our next show, 24 March 2008, Subversity talks with activist writer and former sex worker Tony Valenzuela. He worked in the commercial sex industry for about 5 years, including being an escort during that time (1997 to around 2002). A leader of the national Sex Panic activism of the late 1990's, he continues today to be a critic of how mainstream culture, including the gay community, handles matters of sexuality, especially publicly.

A long-time activist based in Southern California, he works on sexual politics, HIV and gay men's health. He writes for LA Weekly, Frontiers, Zyzzyva and is working on a book on gay men and risk.

He last appeared on Subversity in November 1997.

To listen to the entire Subversity show, click here:

Winter Soldier 2008: Anti-war Veterans Speak Out

As anti-war activists observe the 5th anniversary of the Iraq Invasion by the U.S., more and more veterans are themselves speaking out against the war; this past weekend as many anti-war activists took to the streets, veterans of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and other countries testified at Winter Solder: Iraq and Afghanistan 2008, about what they experienced while supposedly spreading "democracy" abroad.

We listen to the travails of a U.S. permanent resident, who signed up for the Marines, was among the first Marine units to be deployed to Iraq, but when he returned from Iraq, was taken from Camp Pendleton and incarcerated in San Diego, on deportation charges.

Courtesy of Pacific radio KPFA's War Comes Home project, archived testimony is available online and portions will be aired on Subversity this Monday 17 March 2008.

The audio is made available through a creative commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Resources:

War Comes Home site: http://www.warcomesehome.org/

Iraq Veterans Against the War: http://www.ivaw.org/

To listen to the entire Subversity show, click here: