Power of the People

There have been outbreaks of violence since Antigovernment protests arrived in the Libyan capital, Tripoli today.

In the first months of 2011 we have seen a familiar call for freedom. Spread from out of Northern Africa to the Middle East, calling out with force for liberation from the iron fist.
In the U.S. 170 million Americans are angered at the proposed elimination of federal funding for public broadcasting. Citizens are also speaking out against the amendment passed by Republican-led senate on Friday, which would stop all funding for Planned Parenthood. And on February 11th, the same day that Mubarak stepped down Republican Governor of Wisconsin quietly commenced an attack against public sector unions. All the protests that have ensued in recent days are asking Government officials to honor their right to civic participation.

This wave of radical political alteration reminds me of Amartya Sen's notion of 'Development As Freedom,' in this thesis Sen approaches freedom and the developmental process as intertwined dynamics. The more freedom people have, the more likely they are to partake wholly in their society with greater happiness and health - the more freedom people have the greater the productivity.

Freedoms are not only the primary ends of development,
they are also among its principle means.' – Amartya Sen

People must be granted the Right to speak out, share information and assemble peacefully. Public Broadcasting is on the line, and it is the people's source to reliable news and the capacity to . Do what you can for Public Broadcasting, call your elected official by going to this site. Public Broadcasting allows people to participate in the political process as informed citizens - And to have choices other than Fox News when seeking out unbiased coverage.

انا فخور لسكان البلاد Proud of the People of Egypt

It has been more than two weeks since the advent of the protests in Egypt, yet the gathering of people in Tahrir Square and the strength of their feelings are escalating. The Middle East is entering a New Wave, in which the Y generation is stirring the murky waters of antiquated power. Yet, it is not just the youth - it is everyone who desires to live in 2011, to keep up with the fast changing world, to be part of it. As we can see in Tahrir Square, the faces of the protesters range in age, class and creed - They are Egyptians, and they are demanding to be heard.

It is People's revolution; they are not calling out in the name of Allah or ideology, these people are calling out for their freedom in today's world. The following tweet was posted to the Lede blog in the New York Time's, which brings together a nice montage of reportage from blogs, cellphones images and people's accounts. It is amazing to see the spread of information and imagery via the web, and I feel fortunate that we have access to such a vast array of news sources, unlike the propaganda that is rife on television and news in Egypt.

I love Thomas Friedman's Op-Ed, 'Up With Egypt', here he gives the uprising a sense of hope and humanism.

The Tahrir Square uprising “has nothing to do with left or right,” said Dina Shehata, a researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “It is about young people rebelling against a regime that has stifled all channels for their upward mobility. They want to shape their own destiny, and they want social justice”

From the Lede NY Time's blog: Taken with a blackberry this sign, on the Parliament gate reads
'Closed Until Regime is Toppled.'

I am distinctly proud of the protesters of Egypt and feel grateful to bare witness to this important moment in history.

The issue of participation

A school teacher with hope, Arusha

An emerging young woman in Kigoma.

Dusty road of Kasulu.

Tanzania is a developing nation. Like many post-colonial nations, poverty is rife. Throughout the republic there is a complex web of Non-profits, religious and governmental development initiatives. There are as many organizations as ways of doing things and it has become important to look more closely at the work of others, and to learn from it. Not all development organizations lend force to the people and local culture, not all money filters to favorable cause, but, there are many who are doing noble work in all domains.

The Nobel prize winning economist, Amartya Sen explores development theory with a lens of freedom as development. This includes the central issue of participation. Are the people free to represent themselves? To Act? To Action. 'The people directly involved who must have the opportunity to participate in deciding what should be chosen,' Sen writes, thus development as we know it may be harmful for traditions and cultural heritage.

A quiet elder on the boat to Gombe, Lake Tanganika

So, let the people lead themselves. Some non-profits and initiatives are beginning to engage participation and partnerships with local volunteers. The UNHCR is making efforts to extend that right to displaced individuals. More and more, it seems NGOs in Tanzania are lessening their overseas volunteers in order to make efforts more sustainable.
Chellie Kew, a dear friend and the founder of The Q fund inspired me early on to be awake to the deep contrast that is alive in this era. She spoke of her time in South Africa with such gaping darkness and extreme luminosity, depicting the real chiaroscuro of progress and devolution. We must always look closely at both.

Furaha.

Everything changes

I had every intention of heading to Kigoma by today, which lies in the far far west of the country. Then I discovered that it is not advised, and quite nearly impossible to venture the thousand miles by road. And the train route is only for those 'who value not their comfort, nor their possessions.' So, I decided to fly. Air Tanzania is the only airlines who makes the flight to Kigoma and had not been operating for over a week because of heavy rains. I heard this through word of mouth, since the ticketing office number was out of service. So, I went there today and discovered that there are no flights until the end of the week.
Everything changes, and so must I.

Luckily I felt inspired by a beautiful interaction with some students today. It was the first school day I have had since my arrival! Finally all the beautiful kids out in their pressed uniforms, white shirts and pleated shorts/skirts. As I was taking the ferry into the city I met three girls who go to Kigamboni Secondari, they must have been about 14. At first they were shy with me, but slowly slowly we began talking opening in a mixture of Swahili and English. Soon, we were friends. The motto at their school is 'education is freedom,' as written on the pocket of their school shirts, beneath the emblem. One of the girls began excitedly telling me about her view on her country, the corrupt nature of the government, problems of poverty, the need for education. She tells me the definition of 'absolute poverty' in perfect rote recollection. She wants to be a lawyer and I am already convinced that she is able.

I don't know much about the current Tanzanian government, but I am beginning to hear things. I hear that it isn't very different from the last one. And from my brief time here thus far I can see that there haven't been great infrastructural changes. For example, as I am talking to these girls we are on a ferry. For more than 10 years there has been plans and funding available for a bridge to be built over the small waterway that separates this peninsula from Dar Es Salaam - however there has been no headway. So, these girls, like the thousands of other people that cross the water using the ferry - spend a great portion of their day lining up and waiting to cross for work or school. It is just one small example of unrealized government-backed development. But now, crossing the ferry in the sun, talking to the girls about their views on education I am also grateful that we have this time shared together to talk.

As I cannot go to Kigoma this week, I will go to Arusha tomorrow to see an old friend in the foothills of Mount Meru. I look forward to talking to more students there.

"The Rights of Others"

Click on image to discover a socially active artists' blog.

"The declaration of Human Rights (1948) recognizes the right to freedom of movement across boundaries: a right to emigrate - that is to leave a country - but not a right to immigrate - a right to enter a country (Art.13). (Benhabib, "The Rights of Others)"

"The Rights of Others" is an important book about global justice, notions of porous borders, and ideas of citizenship and freedom.

Freedom and Education

...Without freedom they (the oppressed and oppressor) cannot exist authentically...
Paolo Freire

"A person's freedom of learning is part of his freedom of though, even more basic than his freedom of speech."
John Holt

"Let childhood ripen in chidren...let the germ of his character reveal itself freely."

Man is Free but is everywhere in chains."
Rousseau

Freedom in Education is as urgent as the idea of 'development as freedom,' for without self liberation how can we reflect and then create transformation and action in the world? The above illustration is from the cover of a book about the educational models of Paolo Freire, who is famous for his 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed.' His main ideas are focused around the practice of:

conscientização: learning to perceive social, political, and economic contradictions and to take action agains the oppressive elements of reality...

reflection,
action,
transformation,

humanization

Freire seeks to awaken the people unto themselves, using dialogue and reflection about the state of society and injustice. Furthermore, working to self-liberate and transform dynamics of oppression.


"Those who authentically commit themselves to the people must re-examine themselves constantly." -Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed


Freire's liberation of learning is in dissent to the industrialization approach to education. During the era of industrialization schools began to emulate the supply and demand approach to labor. There was a need for factory workers and so children were trained to be disciplined, to repeat back, and to copy. Rote learning and the structure of standardized testing are indicators of this archaic dynamic in classrooms today. Freire spoke out against oppression, especially of rural, local populations in Brazil. The change which this pedagogue was conjuring was a dialectic that stems from the people themselves. Community circles of sharing were an important way to learn the needs and wants of the village through the use of embodied speech, rather than empty word.
This calls for leaders to step forth and become actors in intercommunication.

Therefore, no change is prescriptive. What works for one group of people in schools, or learning, may not work for another group of people at another time and place.


"The starting point for organizing the program content of political action must be a present, existential, concrete situation reflecting the aspirations of the people."


In terms of education and development this issue of place-based initiative is of paramount importance. All too often western ideals of education are applied haphazardly to other nations around the world, while they are often incongruous to the culture of the place and people. Freire's notion of pedagogy is still revolutionary and inspires many to become masters of their own thinking.

Development as Freedom

The remarkable economist Amartya Sen is known as the 'Mother Theresa of economics' for his innovative work in the field of development. His theories of social and economic welfare go well beyond the standard ideas of what it means to be 'developed.' Rather than seeing development as an end (i.e. GDP, industrialization), he sees it as a means to expand substantive freedoms. In his book, 'Development as Freedom' Sen describes development as the process of expanding the real human freedoms people can enjoy. I really like this approach.

What is individual freedom?
Sen sees freedom as achievement. What people can positively achieve is influenced by economic opportunities, political liberties, social powers, and the enabling conditions of good health, basic education and the encouragement and cultivation of initiatives.

What are some forms of unfreedom?
Famine, lack of water, healthcare, unnecessary morbidity, gender inequality...to name just a few.

The problem with the notion of development, and even the code of the 'Declaration on Human Rights' is that it often requires the adoption of western values.

"People need to be actively involved -
given the opportunity to shape their own destiny,
not just passive recipients of cunning development programs."
-Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom

It makes sense then that most people who are living in poverty often describe their situation or life as, 'without choice, without a voice, 'on the outside,' I use these words after having read the World Banks series of books called 'Voices of the Poor' which contain the stories and views of the people who are actually living in poverty.

Poverty is like living in jail, living under bondage, waiting to be free.
— a young woman in Jamaica

This is why grassroots and community initiatives are usually more effective than ones applied from the outside or from western models. Because the people who are living it know the needs and wants of the community. And perhaps one group of people places more importance on a community ritual or feast rather than on independent financial gain. This would make them happier, thus more able to make individual decisions, act upon those decisions and then thrive, perhaps even economically. It takes a re-imagining of our ideas of development. Let us even trace back to the Aristotelian notion of eudaimonia; εὐδαιμονία which means happiness, or flourishing. -Eu- means a general state of well being, and -daimon is the spirit that lives within or about you. Thus, eudiamonia means a deep connection to self within the world, or living in accordance with yourself in order to flourish. Therefore, development and human flourishing very much depends on the culture, needs and talents of the individual, and their participation in the world.

Happy young woman in the market, Kumasi, Ghana, 2009

The approach should vary case by case.

With all this in mind, I am more skeptical about development initiatives and even many volunteer programs today. I don't think that should stop us from engaging in development strategies, because many do benefit from these aims. However, I think we are still suffering from an ethno-centric development model - not one based on individual freedoms. In general I believe that the leaders and administrators of the world do too much talking and not enough listening.
On this return to Tanzania I want to close my mouth and use my eyes, and ears in order to better understand that which I will encounter. More importantly, I want to be given more opportunities to amplify the voices and stories of those who are not often heard.