If you haven’t given to APEX and KPFA yet – this is the weeks to do it!  We are in our 2nd of 3 weeks of Winter Fund Drive at KPFA.  Call in during the APEX hour for some awesome premiums:

Our feature premium is a recorded talk with scientist, author, and activist David Suzuki!  He was interviewed by indigenous organizer Clayton Thomas Muller in 2012 about the environment, Canada’s social movements, and the fight against the massive tar sands development on indigenous lands.  Listen in tonight for clips from that talk. And call in to pledge to get either a CD or DVD copy of it as a gift for your donation!

We’ll also be offering the KPFA Winter Speech Pack – a package of 10 amazing talks on CD – for a donation of $200.

With Hosts Karl Jagbandhansingh and Ellen Choy.

Tune in. And SUPPORT APEX.

Call in number: 1-800-HEY-KPFA

The post APEX Express – February 13, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

Tonight we’ll be looking at Islamophobia in America — from vandalism of a Sacramento mosque to a recent federal court decision that finds “no-fly lists” are creating second class citizens. We’ll also speak with an editor and contributor of Salaam Love, a new anthology of Muslim American Men on love, sex and intimacy. And it’s winter fund drive! So we’ll be asking for your support by calling in during the APEX hour to donate to KPFA. As an all listener-sponsored radio station, we count on you to help us keep our community voices on air!

Call in number is 1-800-HEY-KPFA

With Host Tara Dorabji.

The post APEX Express – February 6, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

Here are links to more information:

With Hosts Roseli Ilano and Ellen Choy.

The post APEX Express – January 30, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

This week, APEX Contributors Karl Jagbandhansingh and Marie Choi bring us APEX’s final segments recorded at the Moana Nui 2013 Teach In. Speaker Bios below (generated from Moana Nui conference):

Kyle Kajihiro (Hawai’i) See Video
American Friends Service Committee; DMZ Hawai’i/Aloha Aina
Kyle Kajihiro is a board member of Hawai’i Peace and Justice, the successor organization to the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Hawai’i Area Program. From 1996 to 2011, Kajihiro served as a program coordinator, and later program director, for the American Friends Service Committee Hawai’i. Born and raised in Hawai’i, Kajihiro was involved in human rights activism, Central America solidarity, and immigrant worker organizing while living in Oregon in the 1980s and 1990s. His current work focuses on research, education, and action to counter U.S. militarization in Hawai’i.  He has published numerous articles about militarization and resistance in Hawai’i and has participated in solidarity delegations and international conferences to speak about resistance to the U.S. military occupation of the Hawaiian Islands.

Dante C. Simbulan (Philippines)
Professor, Author
Dante C. Simbulan earned his doctorate in Political Science from the Australian National University, received his master’s degree from the University of the Philippines and his Bachelor of Science from the Philippine Military Academy. He taught politics, government and sociology at the Philippine Military Academy, University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and Maryknoll College. His book, The Modern Principalia: The Historical Evolution of the Philippine Ruling Oligarchy (University of the Philippines Press, 2007, 2nd ed.) based on his doctoral dissertation written in 1965, was a pioneering study of the socio-economic elite in Philippine politics and government—the ruling family political dynasties of today. Dr. Simbulan was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines when Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. A former political prisoner, he was arrested and detained for more than three years, without charges, when he actively and openly opposed the dictatorship; he was adopted as a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International. While in exile in the United States, he served as the first Executive Director of the Church Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (based in Washington, D.C.), which worked for the termination of U.S. support to the Marcos dictatorship. He has since been a leader of the Philippines’ protest movement opposed to U.S. military presence and intervention in the Philippines. He taught at Montgomery College in Maryland and lectured in several universities in the United States and Canada.

Christine Ahn (United States)
Co-founder, Korea Policy Institute
Christine Ahn is a policy analyst with expertise in Korea, globalization, militarism, women’s rights, and philanthropy. She is the editor of Shafted: Free Trade and America’s Working Poor (2003) and contributor to The Revolution Will Not be Funded (2009). She has addressed Congress, the United Nations and the National Human Rights Commission in South Korea. Ahn has been interviewed on Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Democracy Now!, NPR, NBC, and Voice of America. She is a columnist with Institute for Policy Studies’ Foreign Policy In Focus, and her op-eds have appeared in The International Herald Tribune/The New York Times, Asia Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. She is co-founder of the National Campaign to End the Korean War and Korean Americans for Fair Trade. Ahn is currently the Senior Research and Policy Analyst at the Global Fund for Women and Senior Fellow with the Oakland Institute. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University and a certificate in ecological horticulture from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has been inducted into the OMB Watch Public Interest Hall of Fame and recognized as a Rising Peacemaker by the Agape Foundation.

Hosted by Karl Jagbandhansingh.

The post APEX Express – January 23, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

The existence of community-based, community-run institutions are critical now more than ever, as gentrification and displacement plague cities across the country. Tonight we celebrate two institutions who have decades of serving Bay Area communities – City College of San Francisco and Suigetsukan Dojo in Oakland:

The struggle to save CCSF has been ongoing over the past couple of years. Currently, CCSF is gaining traction in its struggle to maintain accreditation and promote high quality, low cost, accessible education.  Salima Hamirani speaks with students Matthew Martinez and Kerri Ann Navarro-Borja, and professor Vike Palaita of the Save City College of San Francisco Coalition to get the latest updates on the campaign, and to hear why they’re encouraging as many as people as possible to enroll in City College classes this semester.

Suigetsukan is a non-profit collective martial arts dojo in Oakland that teaches and trains in the traditional Japanese martial arts of Jujutsu, Aikido, and Japanese Sword.  With so many martial arts training halls and dojos in the Bay Area – what makes Suigetsukan such a special place?  Ellen Choy hears from Mike Esmailzadeh, Rebecca Wong, and Aiko Yoshitani about why this 23-year-old community institution has created a place many of their students call home.

Girl Army. Photo credit: Suigetsukan.

Youth/kids training. Photo credit: Suigetsukan.

Hosted by Salima Hamirani.

The post APEX Express – January 16, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

What are the linkages between violence, class, poverty, labor and globalization?

What is the media’s responsibility in covering and challenging violence that seems to be an everyday reality in India and in other South Asian countries?

What is the role of the South Asian diaspora in engaging with these issues and challenging patriarchy and sexism within their own communities in the US and not disregard it as violence that happens “elsewhere”?

Hear excerpts from a talk by noted feminist activist Kavita Krishnan  when she visited the Center for South Asia Studies at UC Berkeley recently, and a live interview with feminist journalist Kalpana Sharma who is here at UC Berkeley’s journalism school this semester. Plus Poetry, community calendar and more.

With Hosts Preeti Magala Shekar and Rajiv Khanna.

The post APEX Express – January 9, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the striking Korail labor union members stage a demonstration march in central Seoul (photo credit: Korea Joongang Daily)

We start with an update from the Korean Railway Workers strike in Korea.  On Monday, the Korean Railway Workers Union ended the longest strike in the history of Korea Railroad, or KORAIL.  The 22-day strike is just the latest chapter in a decade-long fight between the South Korean government, which has been looking for ways to privatize the rail system, and the workers who keep the railway running. APEX Contributor Marie Choi brings us an interview with Wol-San Liem, Director of International Affairs for the Korean Federation of Public Services and Transportation Workers Union to hear what’s happening on the ground.

And for the second half of our show, we want to bring you the APEX Best of 2013!  Since it’s the beginning of the new year, we chose a few of our most exciting pieces from the past year to re-play tonight:  (1) Robynn Takayama’s conversation with Amita Swadhin and Preeti Mangala Shekar in response to the gang rape in Delhi and violence against women in India,(2) RJ Lozada’s interviews with API community members struggling with mental health issues, and (3) Robynn Takayama aka Nonogirl’s interview with members of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee about the dehumanizing conditions in California state prisons including the inhumane solitary confinement units.

With Host Ellen Choy. Don’t miss it!

The post APEX Express – January 2, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

This week, it’s all about music. For our last show of 2013, we’re bringing you musical treats to warm your souls this winter. We’re honoring our musical brothers and sisters, past and present, from Oakland to New York to our homelands in Asia and the Pacific Islands.

We’ll start with a full feature interview with the lead producer and composer of Ensemble Mik Nawooj.  Classically trained composer Joowan Kim tells us what inspires him to boldly blend classical music with bay area hiphop.

And we follow our feature with a full end-of-the-year musical playlist. From rapper Bambu to the Hawaiian classic Kalapana.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from the APEX Express Collective.

With Host Karl Jagbandhansingh.

The post APEX Express – December 26, 2013 appeared first on KPFA.

Those of you on the Twitterverse may have seen a surge of tweets labeled#NotYourAsianSidekick. What is it? What does it mean? In the studio to talk about the twitter movement and it’s translations to on the ground organizing is Cayden Mak, New Media Director of 18 Million Rising.

Protestors gather in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood to protest the India Supreme Court decision.  Photo by Urvi Nagrani

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code dates back to 1861, introduced during British rule of India, criminalizing sexual activities “against the order of nature.”

In 2009, Section 377 was struck down by the High Court of Delhi. It was declared unconstitutional with respect to sex between consenting adults.

However, the judgment was overturned last week, by the Supreme Court of India, which found that Section 377 is a Parliamentary matter, not a judicial one.

To help us understand the history, the context, and the work that begins again to repeal 377, R.J. Lozada brings in Mohammed Shaik Hussain Ali, Secretary, Trikone and Editor of Trikone Magazine. Trikone is one of the oldest South Asian LGBTQ organizations in the world, based in San Francisco, CA.

NEFFCON Nor-Cal gathers to urge the Philippine government to engage in the peace process. Photo by Megumi Yoshida.

The National Ecumenical Forum for Filipino Concerns – North California Chapter, or NEFFCON Nor-Cal, is composed of several churches in the Northern California region.

NEFFCON-NorCal Chapter is a Forum for continuing dialogue of life leading to a shared theological perspective, common decision and coordinated courses of action on issues and concerns affecting the Filipino people in the Philippines and the Filipinos and Fil-Americans in the US. It is Ecumenical in the pristine sense of the word: “to take care of the inhabited earth” together.

Kathryn Poethig, member of NEFFCON’s organizing  committee, and longtime peace-worker in Southeast Asia, will be joining host, R.J. Lozada to talk about NEFFCON’s work, the church in the Philippines, and the long history towards peace in the Philippines.

Hosted by R.J. Lozada.

The post APEX Express – December 19, 2013 appeared first on KPFA.

The post APEX Express – December 12, 2013 at 7:00pm appeared first on KPFA.