The Gravitas of Independent Media

'We will not be silent' is a slogan that dates back to the 'White Rose Collective,' a nonviolent group of intellectuals who spoke out against the Nazi Regime. Their movement became characterized by leaflets which rendered the voice of the people, rather than of power. This mantra has been necessitated again and again, in every language, as people vie for their right to know in the face of dominant State propaganda and corporate media.

Last night I had the opportunity to see Amy Goodman, journalist extraordinaire and famed host of the Independent News program, Democracy Now!. She spoke at Calhoun, a progressive, Independent School on the Upper West Side. Goodman doesn't use detailed notes when she speaks, she is a vivid storyteller - linking true accounts from history with what's happening on the ground today. Her recent New York Times Best Seller, 'Breaking the Sound Barrier' is a collection of columns and stories that elucidate our deep-rooted need to hear the truth on the ground. Democracy Now! is one of these silence breakers, giving what they call the 'war and peace report.' Their aim is not to stand on the sidelines of news, but to really catch the voices and experiences of those in question.

"Where are the experts in their own communities?" she asked.

Let them be heard, she reiterated. In her talk Goodman gave voice to several different youth in brief anecdotes and quotations. These stories of inspired young people give us hope.

"Dissent must be encouraged."

Youth need to know that it's ok to speak out, and to question the status quo. We have essentially been fighting a war since the September 11th attacks in 2001. Yet, Goodman asked the audience quite seriously;

"Do kids get to talk about War?"

The answer is clear. Even some seniors, who are old enough to fight wars for their country, are forbidden to discuss war in their classrooms. Here in the United States we are carefully fed highly controlled information. Goodman knows this directly from experiences like the time when her and several colleagues were arrested during the Republican convention, despite their press credentials or another instance, being stopped and exhaustively interrogated at the Canadian border. Surveillance and patriotism in this country are more prevailing then ever. But these actions are a violation of 'Freedom of Press' as well as the 'Right to Know,' Goodman declared. The image at the top, 'We will not be silent' in English and Arabic was written on a T-shirt worn by an Raed Jamal, an Iraqi blogger and activist when he passed security at JFK. They forced him to turn the T-shirt inside out, saying that it was like going to a bank with a T-shirt that reads, 'I am a robber.'

'Independent media is dangerous because it challenges stereotypes,' Goodman said. Rather than depicting a recurrent, well-crafted image of the 'other' you are given the opportunity to find common ground.

"It is not about one person, it is about movements." Each person just becomes part of the momentum that is the wave, the change or awakening. You can become part of it by becoming involved, by supporting Independent Media and grassroots organizations. Amy Goodman conjured Woody Allen's famous remark that, " 90% of life is just showing up." It's true. That is what independent reporters are aiming to do; to show up at the front lines and offer a genuine account of the story unfolding there. Youth, with all their potential to bring about change and their need to be informed need to be given opportunities to see what's happening in the world firsthand. Goodman told a story of a high school girl who skipped school in order to attend Rosa Parks' funeral, despite the fact that she probably wouldn't be able to get in - 'the good stuff usually happens on the outside anyway,' Goodman winked. The girl called her school that day and left a message saying,

"I won't be in class today, I'm going to get an education."

We will not be silent. Thank you to Calhoun and to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!

*You can access news and interesting programs from the field at democracynow.org

Or, if you are in NY you can listen to the radio at 8am, M-F on WBAI 99.5 FM

Roots and Shoots on the Ground

-The Jane Goodall institute in Kigoma also has a division that promotes HIV education and family planning. UKIMWI is the Swahili word for HIV/AIDS.

The Jane Goodall Institute has also founded numerous education and conservation initiatives that have greatly evolved in the last twenty years. Roots and Shoots clubs were launched in Dar Es Salaam and Kigoma as educational motivation that advanced care and concern for animals, the environment and the human community. Now roots and shoots is active in over 100 countries.

It mostly works with school children, who are facilitated by a peer or teacher volunteer to root-out a club vision that is relevant to their community. They select their own leadership amongst themselves, including the role of an investigative journalist who will track their work and the state of affairs in their community. Then the children become advocates for their vision, for educating others and for building a sense of responsibility for their environment and its people.

I have already written of this initiative a few times now, but will continue to emphasize my support. When people, especially children are called forth to participate in decision making it is much more likely that the initiative will be effective. I will later expound upon this notion of participatory assessment and its particular importance for disadvantaged communities. Refugees, for example, must be allowed to participate in the decisions, findings and protection of their unique communities. Especially women, otherwise they will likely be exploited.
Roots and Shoots were previously working with children in one of the camps that was recently closed. And although the refugees who were consolidated into new camps are no longer in contact with an official structured club, because the program was 'student run' some students continue to share their knowledge. He showed me drawings from students who once learned about health and the environment through the roots and shoots program, and who still promote the information they were entrusted.



Here are a few examples of their work/social messages from letters they sent to the Program manager, their friend:

- Don't just cut trees, plant them.


- Hunting/poaching is not sustainable. Raising your own animals is.


- Don't go to the bathroom outside where your waste will contaminate the environment you live from. Build a proper long-drop instead.

Kasulu

People prepared me for my journey to Kasulu. ‘Oooh, it is very dusty there!’ they warned, as though I was mad for making the journey. But this particular destination has been calling me since I first met Burundian families at the IRC (International Rescue Committee) who described the settlements where Grandmothers raised two generations before leaving. Those camps are closed now, the 1972 Burundians have repatriated, resettled or been integrated as citizens throughout Tanzania. Only two camps remain in the region that once hosted ten. Slowly slowly the government is closing asylum space, ceasing almost all services in one of the camps and urging for voluntary repatriation. Yet, between the two camps there are almost 100,000 Congolese and Burundians that linger still amidst two worlds.

I get on the dala dala after an hour of waiting while young hustlers fill the small van to its utmost. Once we finally set off I realize that there are at least (that I can see from my spot in the back) 25 people in the van; 5 infants, 6 school children, 4 young women (including myself) 4 mothers, 3 grandmothers, one boy, one man and one driver. We speed along a dirt road with dust as fine as flour and red as blood, it enters the windows like smoke. Luckily, the women have warned me and I have covered my face and hair in a wrap, only my sunglasses exposed. I can hardly see the landscape through the dust, but every so often we stop to let someone out – they are returning home to a place that seems like nowhere.

Three hours later we are in Kasulu and I get a motorcycle lift to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) where my host greets me. Susan is an Iranian/Dutch lawyer who loves her job. I only met her last weekend and already she has taught me a great deal about Refugee Rights and the politics, joys and trials of working in the field. That night we have a late dinner with a woman from the IRC and I am all ears, and questions.

I am awestruck by the ubiquitous nature of the IRC woman’s beauty. She was raised in India, by her English mother and Japanese-American father – I begin to notice a theme concerning place, or placelessness amidst people here. When she finds out that I am interested in education at the camps she exclaims with passion,
– Well have you Heard the situation? !
I have heard so many different things in the past week that I am not sure what situation she is referring to.
– There haven’t been any education programs in Mtabila camp for over a year!
I have heard this and I’m very glad she is bringing it up. Mtabila is the Burundian camp. In hope to accelerate ‘voluntary’ repatriation, the government of Tanzania has been nonchalantly bringing services to a close. Approximately 35,000 people live in the Mtabila camp and it is probable that nearly half of them are children. First they closed the Secondary schools, not long after they closed all primary schools. What happens when children have nowhere to be? Let your imagination go wild.

The NGOs that work in Kasulu cannot dissent the government, but can only deliberate until some resolution is made. Only now, a year later have the education responsibilities been handed over to the IRC – who is permitted to facilitate informal education – that is, games. Yes, organized play will at least gather the children together, accounting for them, providing a basic need, their right to protection. The hope is to integrate informal education and empowerment through the games, and soon injecting numeracy and basic literacy.

This is all happening now. As well as a hand over from one NGO to another of the responsibilities related to education. Unfortunately the politics and pedantic bureaucracy in place will prevent me from visiting the camps themselves. I do not feel downcast, as there are some local volunteers and UNHCR family members who have been here for months without ever entering. Instead I meet with and talk to people who have committed their lives to the situation, people who have found their place amidst the placeless. Instead I walk around and talk to children in the area, their faces and hair reddened with the dust of Kasulu.