I saw in the Washington Post Express today that they’re playing at a local club on Thursday night.  “Who the heck are they???,” you’re probably asking.

They are a Czech punk rock band from the 60s and 70s – they were harassed and oppressed by the Communist government for playing their music, and in 1976 they were arrested and put on trial for “disturbing the peace.”

The trial inspired Vaclav Havel and other dissidents to draft and sign Charter 77, demanding basic human rights for the Czech people.  It also led him to write a famous and prescient essay called “The Power of the Powerless.”

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Samantha Power, award-winning journalist, anti-genocide advocate and Harvard University professor, recently participated in Esquire magazine’s “Portrait of the 21st Century.” The project, a creation of sculptor and new-media artist Lincoln Schatz is “an evolving video portrait of the most influential people of the coming decades.”

Below is Samantha Power’s video portrait

Here’s a new way for Darfur activists to get engaged online: Check out our new channel on friction.tv.

Friction.tv is kinda like YouTube for debates. Users can check out videos, comment on them, or respond to them with their own videos. You can also respond to others’ comments. If you disagree with someone, let them know!

The point is to get as many people as possible to talk about Darfur and to take action to help end the crisis there.

We’ll continue to add videos to the channel as we produce them. If you have any ideas about videos you think we should produce, please let us know by commenting on this blog or by posting a video on our friction.tv or YouTube channels