Sexto Sentido: Telenovela Nicaraguense

Guión: Germán Pomares Herrera
Decepcionado del alcoholismo de su padre, Eddy busca empleo en la capital sin resultados alentadores. Mientras tanto, Alejandra hace todos los procedimientos requeridos para regresar a la universidad después de un tiempo de ausencia, pero su mamá no se lo permite y eso la frustra mucho. Por otro lado Sofía logra conseguir un puesto de pasante en la Procuraduría de Derechos Humanos de la Niñez y la Adolescencia, para realizar sus prácticas profesionales en Derecho. Al mismo tiempo, recibe la visita inesperada de su novio quien la sorprende con una propuesta de matrimonio. Sofía todavía impresionada y sin dimensionar la propuesta, acepta. Ángel termina la relación con su novio Gonzalo. Él no es el único triste, Elena se encuentra igual pero por los pleitos que hay en su casa, provocados por la actitud violenta de su padre.
Self-dubbed a "social soap opera" by its makers, Sexto Sentido targets Nicaraguans ages 13-24 with a universal youth rallying cry: Take control of your life. This means breaking taboos, questioning stereotypes, communicating, seeking support networks and problem solving individually and collectively - all of which the show does and encourages its viewers to do by addressing such complex issues as sexual orientation, rape, abortion and domestic violence in the context of a predominantly Catholic country that is the second poorest in the hemisphere, according to Amy Bank, the show's co-creator and story and script editor.

One episode plus excerpts of several other episodes of Nicaragua's own local No. 1 hit dramatic TV series, are accompanied by Novela, Novela, a 30-minute documentary about the making of Sexto Sentido: and how such a groundbreaking series made it to the air in a country with an almost non-existent TV industry. The market in Nicaragua is so miniscule that no commercial producer would ever consider attempting a program like Sexto Sentido. The documentary also focuses how the program has evolved, and how Nicaraguan audiences have responded to its often controversial content.

"For most Nicaraguans, television is their main window to the world," Bank explained. "This is especially true for poor, young people with limited mobility and access to other types of information. Sexto Sentido is the only Nicaraguan-produced series of this type on the air, not only making it, for many adolescents, the sole source of information about these themes from a Nicaraguan point of view, but also promoting a sense of identification with the characters and their situations."

Bank joins Nicaraguan Virginia Lacayo, the show's 28-year-old co-executive producer, in creating a weekly, half-hour-long Latin soap that "follows the daily lives of a group of teens and young adults as they confront complex situations in a realistic, entertaining and touching manner." The two women are co-directors of Puntos de Encuentro, a feminist, non-profit organization based in Nicaragua that works for people-centered sustainable development based on the principles of diversity with equal rights and opportunities. They structured their series with, as Bank puts it, "long, narrative arcs to allow complex and multi-dimensional themes to be explored over time, without having to use up' any one theme in a single episode."

Sleepless in Gaza: 90 films in 90 days

"Sleepless in Gaza...and Jerusalem" is a video diary about young Palestinian women, Muslim and Christian, living in Gaza, Jerusalem and the rest of The West Bank. We will make 90 films in 90 days, non-stop, no scripts and no intervention! The idea here is to show you the real life of Palestinians through the daily activities of the Sleepless Girls! The First Thirty Films!PINA TV Production camera crews have been following Ashira Ramadan, a broadcast journalist and Ala' Khayo Makari the accountant of Caritas, a Catholic Charity in Jerusalem.

In Gaza, Nagham Mohanna is a print journalist and film maker who has been the main active personality since her work takes her all across the Gaza Strip for stories; Dona Maria Mattas, a 17 year-old student at the Holy Family School in Gaza who dreams of growing up to be a journalist has been less active because of High School exams and so was Berlanty Azam, a recent graduate of Business Administration. Gaza only has a bit more than 2000 Christians in a population of 1.7 million! We have found the Sleepless Christians in Gaza to be more at home than out and about.The Next Sixty Films!Be introduced to more Sleepless Girls! Yes, we will now follow other girls to ensure that all doors into the real life of Palestinians are open!

In the West Bank Diana Alzeer is the Media Officer of the Palestine Network, a network of thousands of people all over the world! She is the client of Ashira and has appeared in 3 films already. She used to be the weather girl at Falasteen Al Ghad TV which has been waiting for Israel to release their gear for 7 months and is still not on the air.

Yara Al Amleh, a radio reporter working at Ajyal Radio in Ramallah. She studied English Literature in Syria but chose to be a reporter. Yara is very active in covering the "inside stories" and we chose to follow her to uncover some of the facets of Palestinian life that Ashira and Ala' are not active in. We also expect that Diana will do the same.

From Gaza, we have Farah Abu Qasem, a student at the University of Palestine, and Eman AlBelbeisi; an English teacher at Al-Azhar University.

The intention of this series is neither rant nor rhetoric. It is rather an opportunity for those who do not live in Palestine to grasp how real people live out their daily lives, precisely because their lives are stories that journalists are too often told by their editors to think of almost dismissively as human interest and almost necessarily conflict driven.
"Sleepless is Gaza...and Jerusalem" documents how --as human beings -- Palestinians can also experience moments of personal and community achievement, and the warmth of friends and family that in real life is possible even in the most difficult circumstances of siege and occupation.

The series launched on Monday March 1st and will continue nonstop until we have made 90 films for you. This is not a scripted or storyboarded documentary. It's a video diary of what is goes on in the lives of the Sleepless Girls as it happens, when it happens. Along with potential restrictions of movement, the films are screened, edited to around 26 min, subtitled in English when it is necessary, and somewhat painfully, as in time consumed, uploaded to You Tube. So we cannot predict when the day's report will be on your screen. Just keep checking with us here at YouTube and at the Sleepless in Gaza Facebook group where we will hear you out, answer your questions and even give you a teaser on the film of the day before it is up.
We had planned to rest on Friday but it never happened and so far we have been taking out "Special Editions" out of the West Bank or Gaza and will continue to do so!
Please note that we, including the Sleepless Girls, read every comment you post here and on Facebook even if we don't reply. Thanks to all who have engaged with us, your comments keep us going!This not-for-profit series is produced by PINA TV Productions for Radiant Circle.
Director: Ramzi Khoury, Executive Producer: Abdallah Schleifer, Director of Photography: Walid Sababa, West Bank Producer: Samar Stephan, Gaza Producer: Jibril Abu Kmeal, Online Editor: Raed Jaser, Offline Editors: Raed Khoury & George Barham, Cameramen: Raed Khoury, Nibal Hijo, Nader Babers & Khalil Khader, Camera Assistant: Mansour Zogra, Soundman: Ahmad Abu Kmeal, Music Composer: Raed Hawileh, Graphic Designer: Jalal Najjar, Assistant Producers: Naser Najjar & Tagred Baleha.
We can be reached at: SleeplessinGaza@gmail.com

Community Media Trust: Deccan

More than 3,000 Canadians Endorse Community Ownership of Community TV

Campbell River Community TV, Vancouver Island

Ottawa (April 23/2010) New analysis done by the Community Media Education Society (CMES) of the thousands of submissions filed in the CRTC’s review of its community TV policy shows that more than three thousand Canadians support community ownership and control of community TV, said the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS). The submissions are a key part of the evidence before the CRTC as it assesses its policy in this area, along with the testimony at a hearing beginning Monday

“Canadians are passionate about their right to access their own broadcasting system,” said CACTUS spokesperson, Cathy Edwards, “Even letters that support the old status quo of cable company control strongly support the existence of a community channel and the importance of local content.”  The CMES analysis found that the majority of letters appearing to support continued cable authority over communities’ TV channels may not have understood that cable companies have virtually eliminated Canadians’ ability to create and produce their own programs on community channels.  “Cable companies have so thoroughly eroded the access concept by replacing community-produced programs with their own productions, that many of those who wrote the CRTC were  grateful simply to have been guests on programs made by cable companies.”

"Transferring control of the community TV channel to communities themselves means that access will no longer be a whimsy of a few large companies,” said Edwards. "At the CRTC’s first community TV hearing in 1971, intervenor after intervenor asked that community TV be run by communities themselves. We need to listen to Canadians.”  Community control is standard in Canada’s community radio sector, and in every other country with community TV. 

CACTUS will answer questions about the details of the Community Media Access Fund plan for community ownership and control of community TV on Day One of the CRTC hearing beginning April 26^th.  The CMES analysis of the submissions to the CRTC is available on the CACTUS website at cactus.independentmedia.ca.

CACTUS Contact: Catherine Edwards, (819) 772-2862
CMES Contact:  Richard Ward (403) 613-0869

Quebec National Assembly Unanimously Endorses Community TV

MOTION UNANIME ÇA Y EST, C'EST FAIT!

Ça y est, c'est fait! à 15 h 27 min., la motion sans préavis suivante a été adoptée à l'unanimité (avec consentement de tous les groupes parlementaires) :
« Que l'Assemblée nationale reconnaît le rôle fondamental que joue
les télévisions communautaires autonomes dans l'implication des
différentes collectivités au niveau de la programmation
télévisuelle. Elle invite le Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des
télécommunications canadiennes à trouver une solution qui
permettrait de rééquilibrer le financement de la programmation
d'accès communautaire afin de garantir l'expression citoyenne. »
Motion unanime adoptée le 20 avril 2010, par les représentants de tous les groupes parlementaires
Bonne fin de journée!
Gérald Francine Beaulieu, directrice
Fédération des TVC autonomes du Qc
Web: www.fedetvc.qc.ca

Translation:
"The Quebec National Assembly passed an all-party unanimous vote in support the "fundamental role that independent community television plays for communities and for television. The Assembly invites the CRTC to find a solution that would rebalance financing for community TV in favour of access by the community and citizen expression."

Unanimous vote of support for autonomous community television at the legislative assembly of Quebec.
ALL POLITICAL PARTYS IN FAVOR
*************************

CACTUS Releases Operating Plan for "Community Access Media Fund"

 

Details of the Community-Access Media Fund released today explains how approximately two hundred and fifty communities across Canada could establish community-run 21^st century multi-media training and production centres at no additional cost to Canadians.  Under the proposal made by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations to the CRTC for the review of its community TV policy hearing, these centres would take over and improve on the role now demanded of Canada’s cable operators, and free them to focus on their core communications businesses.

“Canada needs a digital strategy that encourages access to and the adoption of new technologies at the community level,” said CACTUS spokesperson Catherine Edwards.  Recently released CRTC audits and independent analyses have confirmed that Canada’s once prolific system of roughly 300 distinct community TV services has been cut by more than two-thirds, and that the vast majority of the remaining community TV production emanates from cable company staff instead of from communities themselves.

Many Canadians don’t realize that the cable industry collects over $100,000,000 per year from subscribers to provide "community expression". CACTUS is asking that that money be directed to the new fund, so that community-owned media centres can apply for licenses and re-establish local programming in communities that have lost a distinct service on cable.

"Times have changed. Only 60% of Canadians get cable now. We need a new digital townhall. CAMF will fund media centres that will hold over-the-air licenses, be carried on the basic cable tier, and distribute to new media devices, including streaming over the Internet. Everyone in a community will be able to participate, including individuals, non-profit and community-service organizations, local business, educational, and governmental institutions."

The CAMF document now posted to the CACTUS web site at cactus.independentmedia.ca sets out how the new fund will operate, including proposed board strutures for both the community-run media centres that could apply to CAMF, as well as CAMF itself.  "Canadians want transparency and accountability.  We've consulted for months with community, media, and cultural stakeholders to ensure that this structure will give Canadians the hyperlocal services, training and access they've been paying for."

CACTUS is scheduled to appear before the CRTC in Gatineau, Quebec, on Monday, April 26^th, and looks forward to the opportunity to discuss details of its no-new-costs plan for a 21^st century model for community media. 

What is Community Media?

Youth Radio in Albuquerque

This tape was made as part of the Prometheus Radio Making Waves tour.
Albuquerque, New Mexico is a hub of community media. In our time here we have got to meet with folks from QuoteUnquote, a community-run Public Access Television Station, youth radio- out of KUNM, and The Media Literacy Project and the Media Arts Collaborative Charter School. Youth from throughout Albuquerque are creating media, telling stories from their perspectives- and utilizing the media to discuss issues important to their communities.

In our workshops and presentations here we have focused on radio as tool for organizing and as a tool to solve problems. Participants brainstormed about using radio and community media to overcome discrimination towards Arab and Mexican people, combat drunk driving and pedestrian deaths, end dog fighting, preserve native languages and culture, stop police harassment, and more. Youth Radio in Albuquerque already focuses their radio program on social justice issues which they share through KUNM and also their blog. They are currently mobilizing and fundraising to send youth members to the Allied Media Conference.

Radio comunitaria en español demanda de la comunidad inmigrante en Denver, Colorado

http://makingwaves.prometheusradio.org/

Denver, Colorado

Ventajas de la radio: atraviesa murallas

Justo en las afuera de Denver, en Aurora, Colorado se encuentra uno de los Centros de Detención para Inmigrantes administrado por una empresa privada. Así como el programa de radio, 'Holla to the Hood', que se transmite en la radio WMMT en Kentucky cruza las paredes de la prisión, también la gente de Aurora tiene un programa que cruza las paredes de este centro de detención. Esta iniciativa nació después de que una mujer que está involucrada en la organización llamada Coloradenses por los Derechos de Inmigrantes, fue detenida allí y cuando salió, empezó un programa en el cual los detenidos pueden llamar y recibir apoyo emocional y apoyar a otras personas encarceladas. Ella alquila tiempo aire en una estación cristiana comercial ya que no hay estación para la comunidad en el área.

Walking the Word

From http://www.nasaacin.org
Tejiendo la palabra desde los pueblos para pueblos
[ 04/27/2010] [ ] [ Autor: Tejido de Comunicación - ACIN]

Desde el pasado viernes 23 de abril de 2010, arribaron a la sede del Tejido de Comunicación en Santander de Quilichao, representantes de diferentes regiones del país para participar del primer encuentro de la Escuela de Comunicación desde norte del Cauca. Espacio de formación y capacitación que se realiza en la vereda el Guavito, Resguardo de López Adentro Caloto.

Cabe resaltar la integralidad étnica representada en esta escuela, con amplia participación de afros, campesinos, mestizos, urbanos y diferentes pueblos indígenas provenientes de Casanare, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Nariño, Huila, Cundinamarca y Cauca.

Además participan medios de comunicación como: Red Juvenil y Colectivo de Investigadores Independientes Ayahuasca, de Medellín; Colectivo de Investigación Minga de Pensamiento y Colectivo de Comunicación Popular el Andarín, de Cali; Red de Comunicación Alternativa de Manizales: y Colectivo Contracultura Bella Ciao de Bogotá.

Bajo el slogan, “Escuela de Comunicación para la conciencia crítica y la defensa integral de la vida y del territorio”, empezó el trabajo colectivo desde la comunicación. Con la presentación de todos los participantes, el intercambio de la experiencia del Tejido de Comunicación y la conformación de grupos de trabajo, se entró en confianza la mañana del sábado. Usando escarapelas de diferentes colores, se organizaron los cerca de 150 participantes, en 10 grupos de trabajo. Esta fue una manera práctica de integrar todo el personal de manera fácil y participativa.

Estos grupos realizaron su primer trabajo con un ejercicio de análisis y de reflexión, con el propósito de discutir las diferentes problemáticas sociales que viven en cada territorio. Entre ellos se identificaron muchas falencias sociales que vienen desarraigando a los pueblos en Colombia. Pero también, problemáticas como la ley de aguas, la explotación petrolera, el desplazamiento forzado, el narcotráfico, las masacres, y las contradicciones internas y entre organizaciones. Además, una de las más graves, como es la contaminación del planeta por medio de los megaproyectos que vienen implementando las transnacionales y los gobiernos de las grandes potencias del mundo.

Al mismo tiempo, algunas autoridades indígenas del cabildo local, de Tacueyó y de la Consejería ACIN, se acercaron para dar el saludo de bienvenida a los visitantes y manifestaron su alegría por haber tomado la iniciativa de formarse para retomar las riendas de la comunicación alternativa de los pueblos, al mismo tiempo estas autoridades hicieron las recomendaciones pertinentes para que la escuela siga adelante.

“Es muy interesante que en un futuro muy cercano sean nuestros mismos jóvenes quienes lideren este proceso organizativo, que hoy por hoy, necesita de gente capacitada con claridades políticas. Es por eso que esta escuela no debe desfallecer, hay que trabajar con mucho ánimo para que al finalizar de esta capacitación terminen todos sin que nadie se quede en el camino. Es hora de demostrar que somos capaces de hacer comunicación desde el pueblo y para el pueblo”. Estas fueron las palabras enérgicas del consejero de comunicación de la ACIN, Freddy Guevara.

Las temáticas de esta escuela han tenido expositores muy importantes del movimiento indígena, de los afrocolombianos, de los campesinos y de los urbanos, quienes han hablado de la historia de sus procesos organizativos de Colombia. De igual forma, desde el inicio de este espacio de intercambio ha quedado claro que los medios de comunicación son instrumentos para apropiar y transformar según el contexto, las necesidades y las políticas de los pueblos.

Así se siguen desarrollando con mucho entusiasmo y expectativa las jornadas de trabajo, y se esperara continuar con el trabajo comunicativo desde el tejer de la palabra con otros pensamientos.

El Teatro Indigena de la Sierra Tarahumara

LA HISTORIA DEL SUNUCO
Chihuahua, Mexico

El Teatro Indigena de la Sierra Tarahumara is a small puppet theatre company located in the southernmost extension of the rocky mountains inhabited by the Raramuri Indians. The company is comprised of young indigenous men and women who did not finish school and are transitioning into adulthood. El Teatro travels from community to community, giving one week workshops in different regions of the mountains, providing an opportunity for young people from surrounding areas to gather and participate in the event.

El Teatro is organized by Teresa Camou Guerrero and core members of the current company; together they decide which local issues to address in their work, which often involves the incorporation of local legends and the creation of new songs written and performed by the company. The scripts are collectively written. El Teatro has utilized cantastoria in their performances since their founding. In 2003 the Center of Support for Indigenous Missions invited el Teatro to make a show during their national conference in Mexico City, on the theme of the importance of native corn in our communities. “La Historia Del Sunuco” deals with the contamination of native corn in the Northern indigenous regions of Mexico by the introduction of genetically modified seed. El Teatro Indígena de la Sierra Tarahumara, have performed this cantastoria in Mexico City, Chihuahua, Tijuana and all around the Sierra Tarahumara for many years. The word Sunuco comes from the Raramuri language that means native corn.

This group will be part of the exhibition at the Packer Gallery in Chicago of "Cranks and Banners". 
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cranks/banners-and-cranks-first-ever-festival-and-exhibit/posts

Canadian Community Television Policy Hearings Scheduled

CRTC to hear from 94 groups on community television policy framework

By The Wire Report

Created 04/07/2010 - 5:13pm

The CRTC’s upcoming hearings on the state of community television are attracting broad interest as the commission prepares to hear from 94 organizations this month, including cable providers, industry groups, unions, consumer rights groups, charities, community organizations and individual Canadians.
Over the course of seven days, the commission will hear from the groups on how to approach a community television policy framework that hasn’t been amended since 2002.
The hearings will begin April 26 with testimonials from the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) and Shaw Communications Inc., who have opposing views about how to approach community television policy.
Shaw, along with other cable providers like Rogers Communications Inc. and Cogeco Cable Inc., has recommended only minor changes to the current policy framework.
“The Commission should maintain a policy framework that provides broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) with increased funding and maximum regulatory flexibility,” say Shaw’s written comments to the CRTC, submitted Feb. 1, 2010.
CACTUS argues that the cable providers, who operate community television stations across the country, have professionalized the sector at the expense of community access.
The organization has proposed a plan to give communities control of the local airwaves through the creation of a new, over-the-air “community-access” licence and a Community Access Media Fund to support stations.
Most groups are expected to fall somewhere in between a potentially polarized debate.
The hearings will take place at the CRTC Monday April 26 to Tuesday May 4.
Copyright ©2010 Hill Times Publishing Inc.
Reproduction or retransmission of any kind without permission is prohibited.

It is an interesting time for Canadian telecom consumers.
From Canadian Broadcasting Magazine:
CRTC Audits Reveal Abuses of Community Channels -- CACTUS
CRTC audits of community channels operated by Canada' largest cable companies from 2002 through 2005 (the last year in which the CRTC monitored them) show numerous abuses, said the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations  today.

In 2002, the CRTC found that 11 of the 13 systems it audited, including Shaw, Cogeco, Access, Eastlink, and Rogers, could not be evaluated because of missing tapes, tape malfunctions, and inconsistencies between logs and tapes. 

Rogers routinely exceeded the maximum of two minutes per hour of promotional ads allowed (sometimes by as much as 7 minutes), and doubled the 15-second limit for sponsorship messages.  Its OHL hockey program contained 24 ads in one episode and another 41 two nights later-but none of the ads were indicated in the Rogers logs.  As for On Line with Rogers, aired in Guelph, the CRTC wrote the hour-long show was "similar to an hour long promo of their services."

Community channels were created in the 1970s to enable Canadians to actively participate in their own broadcasting system.  The CRTC's current policy requires cable companies to ensure that at least 30% of their community channels' schedules consist of "access program":  that is, produced by members of the community.  The companies have been having difficulty meeting this minimum (reporting only 27% access production last year).  The CRTC audits found that Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw, and Persona all classified staff-produced news and other programming-even MTV promos in one instance-as "access programming".  Some Eastlink systems reported no access programming at all.

"The CRTC's data show that Canada's 'community' channels have become promotional tools for cable companies," said Catherine Edwards, spokesperson for CACTUS.  "Canadians should know that cable companies collected more than $120 million from them last year so that they could have an entry point into their own broadcasting system, but very little of that money is being spent on training or access."  In 2004 the CRTC concluded there did not "appear to be any promotion of community access on any of the channels monitored." 

CACTUS has proposed that the millions collected by cable companies for community access be directed to a new fund that would enable more than two hundred Canadian communities to run 21^st century multimedia training and distribution centres.  CACTUS says they would bring back significant quantities of local programming to communities of every size.  "Apart from generating thousands of hours of new Canadian hyper-local content, the money earmarked for community expression would be administered by accountable local bodies," said Edwards.  "At no new cost to Canadians, they would receive training and access the newest digital tools and technologies."

CACTUS has posted a summary of the audits and the audits themselves on its web site at cactus.independentmedia.ca. Copies of the audits were obtained under an Access to Information request.

 "Given the widespread abuse of the community channel revealed in these audits, we were disappointed that the CRTC today denied our seventh request to release more recent information about the performance of cable community channels" said Edwards.  "The letter said 'Logistical challenges and third-party privacy issues do not make this feasible at this time.'  We wonder when would be a good time, if not now?".

FROM www.digitcom.ca :
The cable companies are seemingly always at war against the CRTC, for instance, and the phone companies are buying up new territory and trying to box out the ostensible competition.  As consumers, we're constantly being told that things are getting better on the Canadian telecommunications landscape and that we should be patient because, like a superhero flying over the Rocky Mountains with discounted services in his hands, competition is on the way.

One of the more compelling arenas in which all of this action is taking place is with the way Canada’s telecommunications giants are handling community television channels. According to audits conducted by the CRTC from 2002 to 2005, the last year that they performed such audits, various “abuses” were uncovered. Furthermore, out of the 13 systems audited, 11 of them could not be completely evaluated due to inconsistencies between logs and tapes, lost tapes, and malfunctions. The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) says that Canada’s community channels have become little more than promotional tools for thecable companies.

“Canadians should know that cable companies collected more than $120 million from them last year so that they could have an entry point into their own broadcasting system, but very little of that money is being spent on training or access,” says Catherine Edwards, spokesperson for CACTUS.

According to data from the audits, Rogers “routinely” exceeded the maximum of promo ads allowed, often by as much as seven minutes. Another example points to the program “On Line with Rogers,” which the CRTC described as “similar to an hour long promo of their services.”

CACTUS has posted complete summaries of the audits here. You can also obtain copies of the audits through an Access to Information request.

One of the more convincing proposals from CACTUS regarding this issue is that the money collected by cable companies intended for community access television be “redirected” to a new fund that would allow over 200 Canadian communities to run multimedia training and distribution centres of their own rather than relying on the futile experiments that are community television networks.

This round of information, coupled with CTVglobemedia VP of Corporate Affairs Paul Sparkes’ cutting critique of Rogers’ Phil Lind’s recent piece in the Toronto Sun, certainly doesn’t appear to win many public relations points for the cable companies or thetelecommunications giants.

Further to these points, the notion that the plunder from these and sundry issues must be somehow passed down to the consumers if the big giants aren’t saved the yoke of additional taxation is, as you might imagine, exceedingly odious.

Did you like this post ? TheTelecomBlog.com publishes daily news, editorial, thoughts, and controversial opinion – you can subscribe by: RSS (click here), or email (click here).

Written by: Jordan Richardson. www.digitcom.ca 

Allied Media Conference and US Social Forum

U.S. Social Forum to Be Held in Detroit Under Banner of "Another World is Possible, Another US is Necessary"

AMY GOODMAN:  Right now I’m joined by Adrienne Maree Brown. She is the executive director of the Raucus Society, National Coordinator of U.S. Social Forum and a board member of Allied Media. Welcome to “Democracy Now!” Explain why you all have chosen Detroit, Adrienne.

ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN: As you heard the poet say, it’s all about the grassroots globalization movement and one of the things that is in that theme is “another Detroit is happening.” It was very important for us coming out of Atlanta to actually identify a city where there was already models of alternative visions for how we can be in the U.S. and solution oriented, but uplifting people’s democratic processes. And Detroit has been divested from for about 30 years now and a long time ago I think they stopped relying on the government to come through with good solutions for the city. And as you heard from me and from Shea, you know, when the government is left in charge of anything the start making a huge mess of it. And yet there are all these communities, you know, Grace Lee Boggs has been here for years, Detroit Summer has been working for years, the Boggs Center, Michigan Welfare Rights. There is all these organizations who have been practicing new models. There is 800 community gardens growing up in Detroit in all these spaces that otherwise would be called abandoned lots. There are peace zones for life where people are saying we can’t count on the police to take care of this in a nonviolent way, we’re going to come up with a nonviolent way to do it. It’s a new model, I think, for what a city can look like and it’s a city in touch with the earth, that is in touch with its people and that is really led by community. I just moved to Detroit in September because I got so excited about what’s happening here and I wanted to be a part of it. When it looked like U.S. Social Forum was able to come here, we already had a model from the Allied Media Conference. We had a model of what a national conference could look like here that was both about folks coming together and learning from each other but also learning from the place that they’re in and the Allied Media Conference has done an amazing job of that for a couple of years.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain what the Allied Media Conference is.

ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN: The Allied Media Conference is a gathering, basically of the most cutting edge organizers in the country and communities in the country and it’s a very hands-on gathering so folks come to learn how to communicate with each other so what are the most cutting-edge ways of communicating with each other, but in a hands on way, so folks will walkout knowing how to build a radio broadcasting station. Folks will walk out knowing how to create a wireless network, a mesh network throughout the city. It is folks who otherwise do not have access to this stuff. The Allied Media Conference locally has started a project called the Digital Justice Coalition and it’s all about bringing communities into this century and beyond this century, but saying that these are open source tools and they belong to us. Communication is our fundamental birthright in terms of how we are going to be with each other as human beings. So, I’ve said for years, it is the best gathering that I’ve ever been too and I’m very very proud to be a part of it. And this year it’s happening right before the social forum and we are actually going to have several bridge projects with a move from the conference straight into the forum. So young people will come and learn how to create, for instance, open source wireless which will then be broadcast from Hush House and King Solomon Church during the social forum. They are going to do a huge “Another Detroit is Happening” mural that folks will be able to contribute to all throughout the AMC and through the forum. We understand a little bit about how do you come to a city and actually invest and build that city up while learning as much as you can about the successful models that are already happening there. And it’s a totally different way to approach conferences. A lot of times people come to a gathering and their feet never really touch the ground in the place that they’re in. In Detroit you’re going to have to get your hands all the way up the elbows in the dirt and garden and help retrofit some of the homes. It’s going to be really amazing.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about how the U.S. Social Forum began.

ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN: Alright. The World Social Forum was already happening as a response to the World Economic Forums where basically all of the big money folks would get together around the world and say this is what we think the solutions are.

AMY GOODMAN: And that was in Davos, Switzerland.

ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN: That was Davos, Switzerland, and the World Social Forum began sort of as a response to that to say there is a grassroots globalization movement happening, there are ways…

AMY GOODMAN: This was in Puerto Alegre, Brazil.

ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN: Yes, and out of that, it happened for about five or six years and they were like, you know, the U.S. is actually the source point of a lot of the issues that we’re talking about at these gatherings. Our revolution and our changes will not actually be made possible and won’t work unless the U.S. is involved in this process. There was a real invitation to the U.S. to join the rest of the world in a people centered democratic process. The openness of the forum is actually a challenge for us to try on in the U.S. There are people’s movement assemblies and there is this gathering where folks come and just about anything you can imagine is happening. There’s a film festival happening, there are performances happening and then there’s these assemblies where folks are coming together saying we care about climate justice, what do we need to do as a country all together to advance this? Copenhagen is clearly not making it happen. What are we going to do in order to lift this up from the U.S.? What do our policies need to look like? What do our actions need to look like and what do our communities needs to look like here? In Atlanta, you know, it was like we were totally on training wheels trying to figure out how to do this process and I think we did a really good job. But it gets people out of their comfort zone because you can’t just come to a social forum expecting that you are going to present your two hour workshop and then leave without having received anything or participated in the process. So, when the first social forum came around, we had about 10,000 people say that they were going to come, 12,000 people registered, and about 15,000 people actually showed up and a lot of those were from Atlanta. For this one now, we’re trying to bring, you know we keep saying 15,000 to keep it low, but, you know, I’m starting to hear 20,000, 30,000, and we want over half of those folks to be from Detroit because Detroit is the epicenter of so many of the problems and the solutions that are happening right now.

AMY GOODMAN: When I last spoke to you, we were talking about President Obama, about the potential of the Obama presidency. Now we are a year into it. What are your thoughts today?

ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN: I think President Obama desperately needs us to have the Allied Media Conference and the U.S. Social Forum because I think in order to deliver, you know, we talked about this back then, he ran on a message of hope and a lot of it was “What are the people going to do?” Right? “What are you going to do? If you want to see this stuff change, you are going to have to do it,” and I don’t think people actually believed that. You know, I think they thought, “Oh, he’s going to get into office and some miracle is going to happen.” Well, those miracles happen in the mundane, everyday work that communities do together. The Allied Media Conference and the Social Forum are places where folks can come together and say, “What is working?” Right? Not just lay out these are all the problems that we have. We know we have a milieu of problems and maybe they seem insurmountable if you are all by yourself isolated in a community, but when you come together with hundreds of thousands of other people all around the world who are actually trying to come up with these solutions, then I think you can make that hope become something that you can actually depend on. It can make it something real. I think President Obama should come through and check it out and see what communities in the country doing.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, you’re certainly operating in his tradition perhaps decades ago when it was a community organizer.

ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: Today is D-Day in Detroit. It’s demolition day. Do you see it as a day of destruction or a day of rebirth?

ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN: You know, I think that the demolition is a complicated matter because it’s not being led by and it is not being called for by communities. Right? There are actually ways that the city can be reconfigured and re-imagined and communities are doing that all the time. There are buildings that folks have been asking, “Can you take this building down so that we can turn it into a garden, so that we can create an urban farm here?” I think that the mayor and the city council are going about this in a way that doesn’t actually acknowledge Detroit and doesn’t show that they actually know the city that they’ve taken the reins of. And so really I’m hoping as much as anyone else in the country sees how remarkable Detroit is this summer, I’m really hoping that the mayor and the city council come out and actually meet the citizens of Detroit and see what is possible here, that you don’t have to go through and just demolish the city. You can actually love this city and invite the city to recreate itself.

AMY GOODMAN: Adrienne Maree Brown, thank you very much for being with us. National Coordinator of the U.S. Social Forum, Executive Director of the Ruckus Society and a board member of Allied Media.