Media Mail – Volume 3 Issue 10
June 1999
Symbols then and now: Globalization of capital and the ghettoisation of mankind
After the French Revolution the people of France presented the people of America with a huge metal statue as a mark of respect and faith for their victory in the war of Independence. The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of the love and faith of the struggling people of one country for the struggling people of another. For many years the French Revolution and the American War of Independence have inspired the struggling people the world over. Both of them gave a new dimension to the struggle against colonialism as well as created new concepts of equality, justice and independence. Still, the concept of freedom of that time was limited to the white, European males and did not include the freedom of women or blacks. The emerging national consciousness and anti-colonial struggles in Asia and Africa extended the concept of freedom, independence and equality. This concept gave birth to the philosophy of Internationalism which helped to establish a strong bond of brotherhood and friendship amongst the freedom loving people of this world. The underlying philosophy of internationalism stresses that an egalitarian society can be created only by waging a struggle against discrimination of race, gender, class and caste. It is not necessary to be limited to one’s country or nation to fight against injustice and oppression. And in this manner the emergence of the international human being became a reality.
The 19th and 20th century abounds with examples of the new human being and their international concern. Gandhi began his campaign against racial discrimination in South Africa. Dr. Norman Bethune, a Canadian national, went to treat and provide medical relief to the Chinese revolutionaries. In 1937-38 while the people of China were fighting against Japanese imperialism, the Indian National Congress leadership sent a team of doctors to China headed by Dr. Kotnis. Many western intellectuals joined the civil war in Spain against the oppressive dictator. Satre was among them. Che, an Argentinean doctor fought in Cuba to overthrow the dictatorship of Batista and died while fighting against dictatorship in Bolivia. These are only a few examples.
In the Seventies, Satyajit Ray made ‘Pratidwandi’. In this film the middle class, unemployed protagonist, whose social concerns are quite limited, is asked in a job interview:
- What is the greatest wonder of this decade?
- The victory of the Vietnamese people over America.
– You don’t consider mankind’s journey to the moon as the greatest wonder?
- The way science was developing this was an obvious outcome. But a tiny country, with only its will power, defeated a powerful nation like US. This is a unique historical event.
The liberation movements were able to weave a dream which shows that our present and future is an unified entity and we can collectively change our future.
In the decade of the Eighties through a series of complicated political, economic and social upheavals, national governments surrendered to global capital. Today, the global capital has controlling interest on almost the entire world. Not only do they decide the priorities of national governments but they also interfere in their internal administration. The fall of the Soviet Union has disbalanced the global power equations. In the name of the New World Order the United States, with the help of western pawers,
has established controls on the global market. Simultaneously, they have carried out direct military attacks on governments that did not tow their line. The bombing of lraq and Yugoslavia (Kosovo) are the most recent examples.
During the recently concluded Cricket World Cup a banner proclaiming ”Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our God” was seen in the crowd of Indian supporters watching the match in England. This god is not created by the crowd of supporters. It is a creation of the cold drink manufacturers, Pepsi and Coke. Now the transnational companies are so powerful that they can create our religion and gods. What is the philosophy of these new religions and gods? No dreams, no concerned no goals, no objectives – human beings must live only for themselves. They will not be social animals but live only as consuming animals. Their consumption will have a fervour, a momentary mania. And they can do anything to achieve this momentary fervour. When India lost the first two matches in the World Cup, the fans tried to attack the cricketers. Scared by this phenomenon, Azharuddin, the captain of the team, asked for more security. This is not the behavior of normal viewers. This is the behavior of that consumerism viewer who wants the ultimate pleasure from consumption, otherwise it is useless.
The transnational companies have unlimited power to manufacture the understanding, the perspective and the consent, as well as create the symbols of a consumerism society. Today they define patriotism. They also define relationships. They have entered into our bedrooms via the television. And today, we are seeing the world through their eyes.
So is the future of mankind in the new millennium in complete darkness and is there no hope for light? In this context one can only quote Lu Sun, the great Chinese writer: It is responsible to say whether hope exists or not. It is like the paths on this earth. The world was not created by paths. But when many people start to walk on the same course, then paths are created.
Cricketers Role models for today’s youth
There was a time when the youth of this country looked up to Vivekananda and Gandhi as role models. Today they have been replaced by Sachin Tendulkar and Ajay Jadeja. The question that comes to the mind is why in this country with a population of nearly 1000 millions do the youth turn to an alien sport being played thousands of mites away to look for role models?
Experts say that, in the present consumerism times, the lack of role models and the lack of opportunities to develop turn people towards cricket. Psychiatrist Achal Bhagat says that because players like Sachin Tendulkar and Ajay Jadeja have achieved name, fame and lots of money in a comparatively short span of time they have become heroes.
S. Vishwanathan of the Studies on Developing Society says that all that is left in the country is politics and cricket. And as people are not happy with the political scenario they naturally turn to cricket. He feels that the recently held World Cup did not generate as much interest in England as it did in South Asia.
Narottam Puri, a well known sports expert, claims that the cricket euphoria is a creation of corporate sector who do not have any concerns for the game but use it only to sell their products. According to him the euphoria has meant that the present Indian viewer is not very interested in the techniques or skills of the game. They are only concerned with winning or losing.
Rajdeep Sardesai, son of the cricketer Dilip Sardesai and a TV journalist feels that cricket has become an indispensable part of the entertainment industry and the cricketers are its stars. The growing number of television channels, satellite television and corporate sponsorships have impacted a great deal on the popularity of cricket. Its popularity can be gauged from a poster seen at one of the matches which saids ”Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our god.”
When a play became a threat
On May 7, cultural activists and progressive groups organised a protest meeting in Delhi condemning the attack by local BJP goons on members of Samudaya, a cultural movement, and CITU activists in Anekal town, 30 km from Bangalore.
Samudaya led a five day theatre jatha on communal harmony on April 19 before the commencement of the Tipu Sultan bicentennial celebrations. On May 1 they were supposed to stage a play, ‘Kesari, Bili, Hasiru’ (Saffron, White, Green), among textile workers in Anekal. Written by Bolwar Mohammed Kunzhi, a former president of Samudaya, the play depicted how the tricolors had become an instrument of war and hatred. On that day there was tension when the workers hoisted the red flag as part of the May Day celebrations. The flag was pulled down by the management of the textile unit, leading to a clash. In view of the tension, the venue for staging the play had to be shifted.
C. K. Gundanna, state president of Samudaya, and Meenakshi Sunderam, a CITU activist were returning from the police station after informing the police about the change of venue when they were attacked and severely beaten up by supporters of a local BJP councillor.
According to M. G. Venkatesh, General secretary of Samudaym, “Communal and hastiest groups have from time to time expressed open hostility to outplays and performances, but this was the first time an attack of such magnitude had taken place.”
Samudaya originated in 1975 in Bangalore as a theatre movement with the perspective that theatre was not for entertainment alone but a vehicle for building a better society. The first street play it performed was ‘Belchi’, that was based on the burning alive of Dalit agricultural workers by upper caste landlords in Belchi, Bear, in May 1977. There have been over 2500 performances of the play till date.
This, however, was not the first time that Samudaya members were attacked. During the performance of Mahachaitra’ at a National School of Drama workshop in Bangalore in August 1995, a section of the audience disrupted the play. The play was based on the life of Basavanna, the 12th Century social reformer. Ironically i t was a prescribed textbook in the Mysore and Gulbarga universities till it was dropped due to protests from casteist groups. The play was also selected for the National Theatre Festival in 1993.
“Ever since the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, communal forces have got emboldened in the state. In fact many representations of our composite culture are coming under attack,” said Venkatesh. More recently, on April 24, a jatha in Dharwad district was attacked by VHP fanatics who manhandled C. R. Bhat, vice president of Samudaya and destroyed books that were on display as part of the jatha.
CITU, Janwadi Lekhak Sangh and Jan Natya Manch in a resolution condemned the attack “by a violent mob of BJP goons.” The resolution noted that “Hindu fascist forces have incessantly attacked minorities and those fighting for the emancipation of women and Dalits. These barbaric communal and fascist forces are bent upon destroying the plurality of our secular cultural fabric. They are bent upon suppressing the voice of artists. They plan to kill the very notion of freedom and art. The BJP led government at the Centre is protecting these fascist forces with whose help they wish to enforce a dictatorial regime.”
Dear Editors…
This is in response to ”From an Angry Reader” (Media Mail, March 1999). Your irate reader’s fulmination notwithstanding, IFA stands by its claim to be an independent grant-making foundation. A nationally constituted Board of Trustees determines our grant programmes, and proposals are evaluated by eminent Indian scholars and artists from different parts of the country.
Your reader does not find it necessary to defend his assumption that donors control the work of their grantees. Presumably, therefore, since IFA has received more funding from the Sir Ratan Tata Trust than the Rockefeller Foundation, the former exercises greater influence on our activities than the latter! Or is it his argument that only foreign foundations conspire to control the unsuspecting institutions that they fund? In which case, all Indian NGOS of any significance – who obviously cannot be trusted to safeguard their autonomy – stand accused of being manipulated by alien forces.
His fury is misdirected. Indians do not need help from abroad to distort, misrepresent or, in his own words, ‘to shape our expression in a forced way.’ The cultural policies of successive central and state government, with their respective nationalistic and parochial agendas, and the religious revivalism of our recently departed dispensation (for whom bashing non-Hindu Indians apparently represents the best expression of our culture) have done enough damage to suggest that the enemy is within.
There is nothing in what your ‘angry reader’ has said about IFA that is self – evident. In case he is interested in supporting his allegations with hard evidence, I invite him, or his representatives to spend as much time at IFA as is necessary to find out whether we operate and take decisions independently or not. I suspect, however, that discovering the truth would be rather inconvenient for someone who derives such obvious pleasure from the sound of his xenophobic rhetoric.
Anmol Vellani, Executive Director
IFA, Tharangini, 12th Cross, Raj Mahal Vilas Extension,
Bangalore 560080, E-mail: ifabang @blr.vsnl.net.in
Journalists protest against ban
On the wake of Kargil and the Indian government’s decision to ban broadcast of Pakistan TV in India, the
Committee to Protect Journalists has sent the following fax to the Prime Minister of India, with copies circulated to the President of India, Home Minister, Minister for Information and Broadcasting and a number of broadcast and journalist associations all over the world. Following is the text of the letter:
June 4, 1999
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned over your administration’s recent decision to ban the transmission of Pakistan Television (PTV) within India’s borders.
On June 2, after the launch of India’s air campaign in Kashmir’s Kargil region, Information Minister Pramod Mahajan announced that cable operators across the country are prohibited from broadcasting PTV, “which has launched a vilification campaign against India, especially in connection with the Kargil situation.” The minister added that the ban would remain in effect pending further instructions from the central government.
As an organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom around the world, CPJ urges your administration to rescind the ban on PTV. Such action is in direct contravention of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “Everyone has the right to . . . seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
CPJ is particularly troubled by Mahajan’s instructions to the state governments that they must order police to take action against those cable operators who violate the ban. We also note that in many parts of Jammu and Kashmir, citizens receive PTV without cable access, and hope authorities will not punish those who exercise their right to choose their source of news. We thank you for your attention to this matter, and await your response.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Committee to Protect Journalists
330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY
10001 USA
Phone: (21 2) 465-1004
Fax: (21 2) 465-9568
Web: www.cpj.org
e-mail: info@cpj.org
Campaign to free the Narmada
The ‘Campaign to free the Narmada’ is planning a series of actions to protest and resist the imminent submersion of the medieval town of Maheshwar by the waters released from the Sardar Sarovar Dam. The Campaign activists appeal to all to join them, though the journey to the valley may not be an easy one, warn the activists.
The Plan
Arrive in Indore on the 30th of July. That evening there will be a Narmada film and music festival and a meeting with local people.
On the morning of the 31st July a convoy of buses will leave for the town of Maheshwar. The convoy will be joined by local people in tractors, bullock-carts and trucks.
31st night in Maheshwar, a medieval town, (where there is a beautiful old fort on the riverbank). Maheshwar will be submerged by the waters of the Sardar Sarovar, but only if the fight against the dam is lost.
On the morning of the 1st of August, leave for village Bhavaria, the first step into the tribal area, and spend the night with the local people. 2nd August morning the buses will go upto Kakrana, from where boats will leave for Jalsindhi. Jalsindhi is a tribal hamlet, which has become a nerve-centre of the resistance movement. It is here that the Satyagrahis – who have sworn that they will drown rather than move from their homes, have set up their base.
Spend the night of the 2nd and 3rd August at Jalsindhi with the Satyagrahis.
For more information, contact:
Campaign to Free The Narmada,
Jharana Jhaver/ Archis Mohan,
MD4 Sah Vikas Society, 68 IP. Extension, Delhi 110 092
Ph/Fax: 91-11-221-7084
e-mail: janmadhyam@vsni.com, jharana @del2.vsnl.net.in
Parveen Jehangir
261, JupiterApts., 41, New Cuffee Parade, Mumbai
Ph: 022-218 4779/218 5831
e-mail: jehangir@giasbmc.vsnl.net.in
NBA
Sripad Dharmadhikari/ Nandini Oza
B 13 Shivam Flats, Ellora Park, Vadodara 390 007, Gujarat
Ph & Fax : 0265-38223.
e-mail: nba@Iwbdq.lwbbs.net
Narmada Bachao Andolan
Medha Patkar, Alok Agarwal, 62 M.G. Road, Badwani, M.P
Ph: 07290-22464
e-mail: medhapQbom5.vsnl .net.in
NFI announces 1999-2000 fellowships
The National Foundation of India (NFI) is a non-profit organization to mobilise public opinion and resources for supporting development action. The NFI offers fellowships to young journalists to encourage them to toke time off from their routine occupation in order to research and work on issues of importance to ordinary Indians, covering diverse aspects of development related issues. These include the working condition of people, issues related to the environment and social problems. NFI encourages proposals that focus on gender equity and justice.
The foundation offers five fellowships of Rs. 1,00,000/-each. Of these, one fellowship will the awarded to a photo journalist.
The last date for the receipt of the application is 20 August 1999. Results will be declared in November 1999.
For further details contact:
National Foundation of India
Zone IV A, UPPER GROUND FLOOR,India Habitat Centre,Lodhi road,New Delhi 110003
Ph: (011) 4641864/5,4648490/91/92,
Fax:(011) 4641867,e-mail: sunita@nfi.ren.nic.in
‘Voices’ looking for people
Voices, a Bangalore based communication organization involved with publications, workshops, advocacy on media and communication issues and a field demonstration project involving FM radio and information technology is looking for people to work with them. Voices invites applicants for the posts of:
Deputy Director-Overall supervision of voices’ activities
Programme Executive-Community Radio
Publications Coordinator
Programme Executive-Media Research
for more information contact
Voices,Post bag 4610,59 Miller Road, Benson Town, Bangalore 560046,
Ph:o80 5564564/ 5363017, e-mail:voices@vsnl.com
The dissappearance of Najam Sethi
The Pakistan government’s – perhaps more rightly the Sharif family’s – wrath against the Pakistan Press continues unabated. Close to the heeds of tile much talked about Jang affair, and the arrests of prominent journalists Hussain Haqqani and M. A. K. Lodhi – not to forget the innumerable incidents of violence, arrest and harassment of journalists in the country – it was the turn of the editor of The Friday Times, Najam Sethi.
On May 8, 1999 at around midnight, a group of armed plain-clothes men stormed Sethi’s residence, dragged him out and whisked him away. They had no identification or warrant. When Jugnu Mohsin, Najam’s wife and publisher of The Friday Times demanded one, they threatened to shoot.
”I asked him for the warrant for his arrest and the policeman told me instead of a warrant they would give me his dead body” said Jugnu Mohsin. Since that day nobody knew where Najam was or which authority took him under custody. Although the government claimed that Sethi was arrested by the ISI, both lSI as well as FIA denied any knowledge about Sethl’s arrest or his whereabouts. So did the police. The question was who took him away and why? After all Sethi is a senior journalist and editor of a respected paper. He is a well known publisher and has been part of the Leghari caretaker administration. He has actively campaigned for the removal of the PPP government and had been indirectly responsible for sbringing in the Sharif government.
The government said that Sethi had delivered a lecture at the India International Centre in Delhi – an enemy territory – that was critical of the developments and political scenario in Pakistan. In a confidential report to his government the Pakistan High Commissioner in Delhi termed Sethi’s speech as ”an act of contempt against Pakistan amounting to treachery” The Pakistan government conveniently concluded that Sethi must be having something to do with the RAW and hence action against him was imminent. But those who attended his lecture in Delhi had a different story to tell. Our former Prime Minister, I. K. Gujral was one of them and he wrote in the Outlooks ”Najam Sethi was not saying anything that we in India had not heard before. Nor are our own shortfalls hidden from the gaze of the neighbouring countries…..Sethi was not revealing a state secret when he said the US sanctions were imposing a heavy burden on Pakistan’s economy. Nor did he tell us for the first time the agonizing details of terrorist activities in Karachi anti elsewhere.” In any case Sethi’s complete speech was reproduced in the May 7 edition of The Friday Times. Besides, Sethi has been consistently airing critical views in his paper and there is an internet version of the same paper which is accessible to anyone in the world who is concerned about Pakistan. One fails to understand the treason and treachery in all this.
But there are definitely other matters that must have irked the government which is synonymous with the Sharif family. Sethi, along with other prominent journalists, has taken up cudgels against the booming corruption in the government, particularly the involvement of the Sharif family in various scams. And the government has not spared anyone who has dared to point a finger at them. In this figure prominently the war against the Jang group, arrests of Hussain Haqqani and editor/owner of Frontier Post Rehmat Shah Afridi and burning down of Imtiaz Alam’s car.
But there is another incident that is a more logical reason for Sethi’s virtual kidnapping. Some time back the BBC was in Pakistan making a programme on the current situation in Pakistan. Najam Sethi had not only helped the production but has also been featured extensively- though the programme is still in the making. The government (or the Sharif family) suspects that Sethi in his intention to malign Sharif must have opened the pandora’s box. A Lahore based journalist, M. A. K. Lodhi, who had also taken part in the production, was picked up and illegally held for two days for interrogation. The suspicion was that this programme will expose the Sharifs as an earlier programme ”The Princess and the Playboy” had done to Benazir’s family.
After several weeks of uncertainty – with speculations that Sethi could have even been eliminated – and widespread protests and criticism of the government’s terror tactics from all over the world, Najam Sethi was finally released towards the end of May as no charges could be levelled against him. Many speculate that the timing of his release uncannily synchronized with the build up in Kargil when the government needed major support from the media. But this act of terrorism must have adequately exposed the government and the imperial family’s insecurities to the people. It also showed the immaturity of the system to tackle issues of this nature because any attack on the fourth estate, especially prominent journalists, invariably provokes a wider publicity.
The journalist fraternity in India has been fairly active in writing and protesting about the consistent attacks on the Pak Press, particularly Sethi’s disappearance, which no doubt is laudable. However, while it is easy to react on the situation in another country and make news out of it – especially when relations are so strained – perhaps it is also necessary to take a look at the gross violations that take place everyday in our own country, whether it is to do with Press freedom, freedom of expression or basic human rights -whether in covering such violations or protesting against them.
The Fight for Radio Rights in Argentina
Radio in Argentina exists in an increasingly fragile legal environment. Since the democratic government was elected in 1983, following a series of brutal military dictatorships, no official process for radio stations to obtain a broadcasting licence has been introduced.
Now the government is threatening to apply a law in relation to radio broadcasting that dates back to the days of the dictatorships. The Comite Federal de Radiofusiön (COMFER), radio’s governing body in Argentina, plans to enforce a law intended to create competition amongst broadcasters and stations by selling frequencies to the highest bidders. According to Nestor Busso, the president of the Argentinean Federation of Community Italics (FARCO), these actions are, ”discriminatory and, moreover, unconstitutional. They seriously threaten the existence of community and popular radio in Argentina.”
The law in question allows only commercial stations to buy the frequencies, thereby excluding stations run by public sector or popular groups and organizations. ”We believe that it is of fundamental importance to guarantee that these groups, which are not financially well off, are allowed to own and manage radio station,” explains Busso. ”Radio frequencies and services must be made accessible to everyone, without discrimination or restrictions based on the wealth of a station or its number of listeners.”
WACC-Latin America, UNDA (the International Catholic Association for Radio and Television), and AMARC (World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters) have all joined FARCO to lobby the Argentinean authorities for some frequencies to be set side for the democratic inclusion of community radio. They are proposing that a different set of conditions of practice be applied to community stations, and commercial stations.
The danger is, only large commercial groups will have the resources to enter the bidding battle for the radio frequencies, thereby eliminating all local and community radio stations.
FARCO fears that ownership of the media will become more concentrated, increasing the power of the commercial sector, while reducing public access to, and the use of, communications. It is calling for legislation which guarantees the right to communicate, and which does not authorize frequencies solely on the basis of economic criteria. ”For democracy to work, the right to communicate must be respected” says Busso.
”We agree that the radio spectrum must be regulated, but not by using laws left over from the dictatorship. We must make sure everyone has full access to all forms of medial not just the rich, so that the diversity of our society be truly represented, and, democracy is consolidated through justice and equality”
The bidding for radio licenses started on April 5, 1999, leaving FARCO, and Argentina’s estimated 70 community radio stations, little time to turn the law around. They face an up- hill struggle but, as Washington Uranga, UNDA World’s vice president says, it is a worthy cause: ”Community radio is all about participative communication; getting the people involved. This is the principle that we have to highlight , and the right which we must defend.”
For further information contact
Nestor Busso, FARCO
E-mail: encuentro@impsatl.com.al
- Courtesy WACC-Action
Murder By Television
In March 1995 Jonathan Schmitz, a 26 year old heterosexual ex-waiter, killed a gay bartender, Scott Amedure. The murder took place three days after they met on The Jenny Jones Show, a popular talk show on national television in which invited guests were confronted with embarrassing situations before a live studio audience.
Schmitz, who had a history of mental instability, was excited when he was invited by the talk show to meet his secret admirer. Schmitz must have thought himself to be lucky to be invited. He might have fantasized about some mystery woman as his admirer. But when he reached the stage, he learned that the show’s topic was ”Secret Crushes on People of the Same Sex.” And waiting for him on the stage was Scott Amedure, his gay admirer who hugged him and regaled the audience with his fantasies of whipped cream and champagne. Schmitz played along but asserted that he was definitely a heterosexual.
The show was never aired. Three days after the recording, Schmitz, bursting with pent up rage at having been embarrassed on national television, went up to Amdure’s trailer park home and shot him dead. Then he called a 911 operator and confessed about what he had done.
Warner Brothers, owners of The Jenny Jones Show, deposed that Schmitz was responsible for his own action and the show had nothing to do with the murder. However, the Jury, considering the nexus between media violence and gun violence, could not absolve Warner Brothers of its responsibility in the death of an innocent man and issued a $25 million verdict against the media company. But the question that the trial interestingly throws up is why should media companies manufacturing cultural products for mass consumption be not subjected to the same product liability laws as manufacturers of baby foods, automobiles, cigarettes, silicon breast implants and guns, especially when media today has turned more into a business from its traditional role of being a society’s watchdog.
Based on a column on the Statesman by N. D. Batra, Professor of Communication, Norwich University Vermont
Nuke anniversary in Pakistan
Justifying its nuclear tests in retaliation to the Indian tests at Pokhran, Nawaz Sharif had declared to the world that it did so ”reluctantly” and ‘ because of ‘national security considerations’. Yet a year later, his government planned to mark the anniversary of its nuclear tests on May 28 with all the pomp, ceremony and media support it could muster. And in the process, it managed to block out the voices of peaceniks and anti-nuclear activists of the region from the media.
For some time, Dawn was the only national English language newspaper carrying letters from readers denouncing the celebrations. But as the hype escalated in official quarters, such protests have disappeared altogether in its letters column, while other papers have simply not carried any at all.
Letters sent from Pakistani activists as well as those from England, Argentina and the USA to another news paper have been simply ignored, an editorial assistant told IPS. ”We’ve been given a written directive by the Chief Editor to be very careful in what we print regarding the nuclear celebrations,” she said, ”And if we print anything, it should be slanted more in favour of the celebrations than against.”
Although a few cautious comments have appeared in op-ed pages of a couple of English language papers, the general policy from the beleagured press appears to be extreme caution, given the government’s zeal in marking what its official announcements on the state-controlled television term as the ”most historic day since Pakistan was born.”
The event was to be marked with ten days of national celebrations, culminating in a national holiday on May 28, a 21-gun salute and special prayers of thanks at mosques all over the country.
Public participation was invited through an official competition to ‘name the day’, announced daily on national television, with a prize of PKR. 100,000 for the winner, The state controlled Pakistan Television regularly ran nationalistic songs with clips showing the new missiles’ Ghauri and Shagreen, being paraded and launched.
Apart from official celebrations, public rallies addressed by the prime minister and awards to Pakistan’s nuclear scientists on May 28, various branches of the government were also involved in special events. The Ministry of Sports and Culture arranged sports and cultural events across the country while the Pakistan National Council of the Arts organised a national art competition to commemorate the tests, and the Pakistan Tourism Envelopment Corporation announced special holiday packages for that weekend. ”The reasons for this nuclear circus are obvious” says Pakistani physicist and activist Dr Zia Mian, currently teaching at Princeton University. ”It is meant to both broaden and deepen support within Pakistan for nuclear weapons. It is this support that the government will subsequently point to in international discussions and say it cannot agree to arms control, never mind disarmament.”
While the official media was fully supporting these activities, there was a virtual blackout of the voices of dissent. Most belonged to various non-government organizations working in the field of human rights and development, and are facing a new crisis brought on by the government’s onslaught on their work. The government banned almost two thousand NGOs in Punjab and over two hundred in Sindh. A new law is now on the anvil to regulate NGOs and their sources of funding. The Punjab Minister for Social Welfare Pir Binyamin Rizvi has publicly accused several NGOs for ”misusing funds” and ”misleading the people, especially women” according to a ”western agenda.”
Although not yet banned, these organizations, including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Shirkat Gah, Aurat Foundation and Applied Socio-lkonomic Research (ASRI’ are the real target, believe activists. Ominously, their names have been cropping up at a television talk show during morning transmission as ‘enemies of the nation’ – the same talk show that vilified Friday Times Editor Najam Sethi prior to his detention.
The de-registration of the 1947 NGOs is a ”mere camouflage” says Aziz Siddiqui, a prominent journalist and joint director of tile HRCP. The problem, he says, ”have been the few genuine organizations that raise hurdles in the way of the government’s designs or cause it frequent embarrassment.”
One of the biggest thorns in the government’s side is the HRCP: set up by the outspoken lawyer Asma Jahangir. ”Pakistan tested not because of its own initiative but under duress, according to the government’s own admission. So what are we celebrating?” she asks.
“The fledging peace movement in Pakistan is working in an extraordinarily difficult and hostile atmosphere’’ observes Dr Zia Mian who has called for tide international peace movement to join with activists in Pakistan in publicly demonstrating ”complete and utter revulsion at the government of Pakistan’s plans to celebrate nuclear weapons and its cynical attempt to manufacture public support for its nuclear ambitions.”
- Based on article by Beena Sarwar IPS-Lahore.
Sourced from South Asians Against Nuke
We’re all Lab Rats”
- A letter from a Serbian mother
BELGRADE, Apr. 23 – Dear colleagues, I thought that you might be interested how is it being a woman in Belgrade these days. I am a ‘Yugoslav pure breed of mixed cultures (one grand-father a Bosnian Serb, another a Slovene; one grandmother a Bosnian Croat, another a Serb from Hungary…).
I did my MA in Paris, 15 years ago, my Ph.D. in Stockholm. 10 years ago. I used to live in Sydney in my maiden days, and I wrote a novel about it l5 years ago. I am a professor of Belgrade university, author of seven books. writer, poet, and what is most important, mother of three little children, ages 9, 8 and 3.
Time has stopped here. Our normal lives stopped to function four weeks ago. No schools, no kindergartens, no universities, no future plans, no nothing. My latest book about mothers and daughters within the complicated macho mentality of the Balkans, was supposed to be printed 4 weeks ago. It was, of course, halted. The film, 1 was on for working four years, was just about to begin shooting in Montenegro’ and of course, there will be no film (it was supposed to be a film about our most successful woman ever, the last queen of Italy, who was a Montenegrin princess, the queen Helen of Savoy).
Those are the banal trifle in comparison -with the whole situation, but then, it is just an example how every one is affected with what is going on. We watch our collapse like a TV nightmare, a video game, and I still cannot believe my own eyes.
I moved from my home in the first week of bombing, after the NATO struck on to healing plant opposite the building I was living in. Needless to say there is no heating in Belgrade, and it is still quite cold outside. The detonations made me deaf for couple of hours, and I was playing a “La Vitae Bella” routine with my scared children, telling them ”it was just an earthquake.”
So I am a refugee in my own town, living in my parents tiny flat in the center of the town, with my three kids, my mother-in-law and my husband, At least, we crossed the bridge.
There is no cooking oil in town, and for milk one should get up very early and queue… but then, we have been queuing for years new, since those sanctions… (at that time I had babies and we had to go to the village once a week and fill up the coca cold bottles with milk, then freeze them and pray to God, there will be electricity..), and the queues for cigarettes are miles long.
But we still sing and dance every day at noon in the center, on our bridges at night, defending them with our bodies.
I do realize that the next step is to proclaim all of us as military targets because we might hide soldiers at our) homes.
Two days ago, NATO struck a TV station, which was owned by the President’s daughter. But ironically, that station had no news, just the trashy American films and south American soap operas. So we were devastated because the transmission of Cassandra and Essmeralda was delayed for one day. Is that a military target?
Parts of the cluster bombs went straight through the windows of the people living opposite that skyscraper. A three-year old kid died in her own bathroom, killed through the window with the parts of the cluster bomb. This is not propaganda, this is merely a mother’s voice from the real world.
No, we do not go all to the shelters… I cannot imagine myself with three kids in a damp cellar, setting there all night. And beside, we believed that the civilians will not be targeted.
I do not know what to do anymore. But one thing is certain. This is not a peaceful mission. Three million children go to bed with the sounds of the sirens. This morning the ‘I’V Belgrade was hit, and in its basement was the only children’s cinema in town, and a youth center.
A friend of mine was devastated when the hospitals released all patients home, because they cannot guarantee their safety. So she is stuck with her mother who cannot move, nor talk, nor live without constant assistance. And she has no money to hire a nurse. She is a film critic of that same blown-up television. Her office was in flames this morning, along with her salary check.
Another friend of mine went two days ago to a funeral of her cousin, a Bosnian refugee who was an engineer at a Pancevo chemical factory. When the poor man saw his work go up in flames, he simply had a heart attack and died.
My neighbor is a chemist, working in a laboratory for the police. She is mother of three asthmatic children and she cannot go to the shelter, either, because the kids might have an attack. She turned pale when she saw from her balcony that two kilometers wide black cloud from the Pancevo chemical plant.
But God is with us. The wind blew it away from Belgrade, and the clouds are over my city every night for these four weeks, since the bombing begun. This is not the typical weather here at this time of the year, believe me…
You might and should ask me about the poor refugees running away from Kosovo. You don’t know what Kosovo looks like even in normal times… scattered villages, isolated houses, a civil war going on since the Toyish times.
I saw a documentary last year about this teacher, who walks 20 miles every day, from her home in Djakovica to this remote village, just to teach four children in the last Serbian school there. Their parents say, “we would have sold our hour to the Albanians long time ago, if it weren’t for her.” She is 30 now and is still walking.
Albanians are good people, with lots of children, their natality rate is the highest in Europe, in average, they have six children. And now they’re under the bombs, with no electricity, no water, nor food; caught in a crossfire, with the KLA behind them, and the Yugoslav army in front of them. What would you do in their shoes?
But that is another story-, the story of mentalities, drug and weapons chain, the Balks route of heroine, and so on.
But I won’t talk about the things I do notion. Nor do I wish to even think about the radiation after thousands of bombs already thrown on my land, and how my grandchildren will look like if they are ever born.
My brother is in Novi Sad. Do I presume I should swim upstream Danube to see him again? ( because all bridges across the Danube have been knocked down by NATO).
There are foreigners in my sky every day and night. They are blowing apart my country, (while) telling me about peace and democracy.
I know this: if the money spent so far on the bombs and humanitarian aid was just invested in our country, it would have been a paradise for everyone. But the money keeps rolling on the old weapons must be tested, and the new ones improved. The macho male pride must be satisfied on both sides.
We are the lab rats, and we are still alive… No one expected that.
Thank you for reading this.
Yours Truly,
Maja Volk, PhD., Prof. etc…
a mother, daughter, sister, wife and daughter-in-law- from Belgrade
A Tale of Four Cities
An exhibition of photographs in the prestigious Photographersi Gallery in London, opened on the 16th April. The exhibition features work by children from four parts of the globe, London, Nairobi, Cape Town and Mirpur, in Dhaka.
Between November 1997 and February 1999, over 200 children living in London, Nairobi, Dhaka and Cape Town have taken part in an extensive e-mail project – A Tale of Four Cities. Working with artists, photographers and youth leaders, the children in each location have used photography and creative writing to explore and document their lives and experiences of growing up in these four very different world cities – sharing their stories and exchanging photographic images and drawings via the Internet. The Bangladeshi children are trainee photographers at Drik Picture Library.
The exchange took place across significant social and economic divides, and between wide cultural and language differencing and against considerable technological challenges. Nevertheless, relationships evolved over time into lively dialogues, each partnership developing its own individual character – sometimes poignant, sometimes profound, often humorous.
Through their e-mails the children discuss and illustrate everything from pollution and poverty to Hip-Hop and hairstyles. They exchange jokes, tell stoniest and relate current affairs. Dramatic events of international significance such as the bombing of the United States Embassy in Nairobi and the floods in Bangladesh unfold in relation to their everyday lives.
A Tale of Four Cities brings together a unique body of creative work which raises a range of very serious issues which directly effect the lives of many of the children, illustrates the significant differences in the children’s lives and experiences, at the same time as highlighting the many concerns and interests they have in common.
Significantly, the forebears witness to the sheer pleasure and enjoyment experienced by the children through their ability to communicate with each other across these considerable geographical and cultural distances.
A call for action on sanctions and the US war against the people of lraq
Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman, Edward Said and Howard Zinn
At the end of 1998, the United States once again rained bombs on the people of Iraq. But even when the bombs stop falling, the US war against the people of Iraq continues through the harsh economic sanctions. This is a call to action to end all the war.
This month US policy will kill 4,500 children under the age of 5 in Iraq, according to UN studies, just as it did last month and the month before that, all the way back to 1991. Since the end of the Gulf War, at least hundreds of thousands – maybe more than 1 million – Iraqis have died as a direct result of the UN sanctions on Iraq, which are a direct result of US policy.
This is not foreign policy – it is sanctioned mass-murder that is nearing holocaust proportions. If we remain silent, we are condoning a genocide that is being perpetrated in the name of peace in the Middle East, a mass slaughter that is being perpetrated in our name.
The time has come for a call to action to people of conscience. We are past the point where silence is passive content – when a crime reaches these proportions, silence is complicity. There are several tasks ahead of us.
First we must organize and make this issue a priority, just as Americans organized to stop the war in Vietnam, and to protest US policies in Central America and South Africa. We need a national campaign to lift the sanctions.
This kind of work has already begun, and those efforts need our help. For the past several years, individuals and groups have been delivering medicine and other supplies to Iraq in defiance of the US blockade. Now, members of one of those groups, Voices in the Wilderness in Chicago, have been threatened with massive fines by the federal government for ”exportation of donated goods, including medical supplies and toys, to Iraq absent specific prior authorization.” Our government is harassing a peace group that takes medicine and toys to dying children; we owe these courageous activists our support.
Such a campaign is not equivalent to support for the regime of Saddam Hussein. To oppose the sanctions is to support the Iraqi People. The people are suffering because of the actions of both the Iraqi and US governments, but our moral responsibility ties here in the United Sites, to counter the hypocrisy and inhumanity of our leaders.
Also, there has been a virtual embargo on news of the effects of the sanctions in the mainstream media. For the most part, the American people do not know what evil is being carried out in our name. We must continue to apply pressure on journalists at all levels – from our local papers to the network-news – to cover this tragedy. We should overwhelm the major press with letters to the editor and put pressure on journalists to cover the story.
And we must realize this could be a long struggle. Preparations should begin for all the possible strategies, including civil disobedience once a student number of people are committed. Direct action that forces a moral accounting likely is going to be necessary.
Whatever else we are doing, we should treat this as an emergency and put it at the top of our agenda. Existing groups can work on the issue, new groups may need to be formed, and national networks need to be built. A good central source of information exists on the web at http://leb.net/IAC/.
Without action by us, the horrors will go on, the children will continue to die. We must appeal to the natural sympathies of the American people, who will respond if they know what i s happening. We must therefore bring this issue, in every way we can, to national attention. The only way to avoid complicity in this crime is to do everything we can, and much more than we have been doing, to end the sanctions on Iraq. This issue must be discussed in every household and every public forum across the country.
- This is the final draft of an appeal for a call with action with Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman, Edward Said, and Howard Zinn, which all four of them have signed on and given permission to distribute. Please publish, broadcast, post or forward as widely as possible.
A – Infos News Serve (http://www.ainfos.ca)
Millions hooked on Internet gambling
Cyberspace gambling is one of the hottest growth areas of the internet. Every day, millions of people from around the world log on to internet based casinos that offer games such as poker, roulette, baccarat and blackjack. For gambling addicts, the attraction is deadly. But even for average fans of chance, the stakes are high and the rewards few.
Cyberspace gambling brought almost $2 billion to the coffers of internet casinos in 1998, according to one US based market research firm. The online gambling business is expected to grow quickly to $10 billion, annually.
Because the Internet is global in its reach, it allows gambling fans to partake in the pastime even when it is illegal in their home countries. The result, say some, has been a growing epidemic of gambling addiction.
Psychologist Gerhard Meyer, advisor with the Central Agency for the Dangers of Addiction based in Bremen, Germany, complains about the ease of gambling over the Internet. While entering a real casino requires a deliberate action, “home gamblers” sit alone at their screens. Loneliness, however, is pure poison for those prone to addiction.
”The Internet gambler can ruin himself in the living room, without anybody noticing,” says Mr Meyer.
Bets of almost any amount are instantly billed to Internet gamblers credit cards. Some services even accept wire transfer of money, with which an individual player account is created.
Arjan Van’t Veer, legal expert with Erasmus University of Rotterdam and author of a 1998 study about gambling on the Internet, counted ”at least” 150 virtual casinos, lotteries and book makers online.
While some countries have outlawed Cyberspace gambling, others are embracing it. The Dominican Republic is the first country to consider an online casino as a state enterprise – expecting significant revenue.
The fact that so many people are excited about on-line gambling is probable also due to the success of some cyberspace casinos advertising campaigns. The Caribbean caber casino promises ”happy hours with the chance to win real money.” The Casino Royal based in the Caribbean island Curacao claims gambling online is ”definitely better than a flight to Las Vegas or Monte Carlo – you can be comfortable at home and play any time, day or night.”
- Deusche Presse Agentur/ The Statesman
Web award for Drik
Partha Pratim Sarker, the web designer of Drik, is one of the finalists of the Global Bangemann Challenge held in Stockholm. Selected from 700 projects, Sarker’s project ”Drik: Presenting an Alternative Image of the Third World” (http:/ /www.drik.net) won the prize in ”Culture and Media” category. The jury chose Drik as the only project to represent Asia among the 92 finalists.
Drik was pointed out to be an excellent, bold and pioneering practice of information technology in its part of the world. The winners in each category will receive a trophy from the hands of the King of Sweden, in the presence of Dr. Martin Bangemann, the Mayor of Stockholm and a number of international guests on June the 9th.
After two years of gathering information and sifting through nearly 700 projects, the judges have selected the finalists. The best projects cover an enormous range, from the cutting edge of high technology to the simplest application of computer access to information, from technologically advanced regions like USA and Scandianvia to communities with relatively limited resources such as Colombia and the Australian Outback.
For more information, contact.
Mona Eriksson, Project co-ordinator,
mona.eriksson @challenge.stockholm.se
Hate growing on the Internet
The Simon Wiesennthal Centre (www.wiesenthal.com) has published a new report listing 1426 Internet sites promoting racism, anti-semitism, hate music, nee-Nazis and bomb making.
Also listed are anti-gay, anti-Catholic, anti-Muslim, pro-violence and anti-abortion web addresses. ”This doesn’t necessarily mean that we have more members in these different groups,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Los Angeles- based human rights centre.
“But the Internet does two things. It gives them a sense of empowerment and an unparalleled, unprecedented opportunity for marketing themselves, unencumbered, 24 hours a day” explained Cooper.
Cooper said that in 1995, ”there was exactly one ‘hate’ site on the world-wide web.” By the end of 1997, there were 600 and now this report lists almost 1500.
- WACC/Action
Rights on Reel
Toronto Human Rights Cinema Festival
(December 9 – 12, 1999)
Rights on Reel is Toronto’s annual Festival exploring the dignity and resiliency of the human spirit through celluloid and videotape. The festival presents contemporary Canadian and international shorts, documentaries and features along with keynote speakers, directors, talks and panels.
For submission forms and more information, contact:
Rights on Reel
Toronto Human Rights Cinema Festival
55 John Street, 6th Floor Metro Hall
Toronto, ON M5V 3C6 Canada
Telephone:(416)397-9915,
Fax: (4 1 6) 397-0888
e-mail:rightsonreel@hotmail.com
Deadline for entries: JULY 31, 1999
The Kargil Cup
Ram Pyare
Rohit was in a bad mood this morning. At school he barked at everybody including his best friend Salim. At lunch time he ate alone, and sulked throughout the day. Salim wondered what had made him so upset.
What he didn’t know was that Rohit was upset because his mother was upset. And his mother was upset because her husband was upset. And the husband was upset because the boss was upset. And the boss was upset because India had been eliminated from the World Cup at England. All in all it was a complete globalisation of bad mood that had tickling down effect on little Salim. And he had no clue why he was being subjected to somebody’s bad mood. In the evening, when he went home and complained to his mother about Rohit’s bad mood, she shook her head solemnly and said, “these things happen my child. Things which affect us, but without any reason. Remember the price of onions last year? It’s all bad taqdeer. ”
In the meanwhile at the Rohit household things were equally confusing. Rohit’s mom was at her wit’s end trying to keep her cool. She had no clue why Pawan was in such a foul mood for the last two days. She was wondering whether to call upon the astrologer when the phone rang. It was Pawan himself on the line. “I will be late tonight,” he barked at her and before she could ask how late he had already slammed the phone down. She paused in shock for a while and then with a firm resolve started to dial for the astrologer.
Things, meanwhile, were far worse at Pawan’s end. His boss Mr.Gupta had been screaming at him for the last two days, ever since India lost the battle of New Zealand. Cricket had never seemed so critical for existence to him; till that moment – when India slided down the super-six table to the last place, and glided out of the world cup. They shouldn’t have done it, Pawan had been telling himself. It was such a national loss. Not so much the trophy of course, but the revenue it was bringing in.
All six pages of their newspaper were being sponsored by big, small and medium clients starting with Pepsi, MRF, Hero and so on. He had hoped to rake in at least a few crores as ad revenue during the world cup. And things were going so smoothly. Every column in those pages had been sponsored. He had even managed to get the photographs and the scorecard sponsored. Everything was on target and things seemed to be running so smoothly for his next promotion, when India had to do this. Now with the team’s exit from the World Cup, more than half his clients had also dropped out of the sports pages. Now how the hell was he supposed to fill up those vacuums? And most importantly, how could he bargain for his promotion now! Mr. Gupta was, angry as hell. “I don’t care how you do it. But you have to make for the lost revenue somehow,” he barked at Pawan every time he mentioned how difficult he was finding to get the clients back. The World Cup, as far as the people of India were concerned, was now a spent force. World cup news was now a product they were no longer interested in. They need another product, a new and a different one. And just any event won’t do. It would have to be hyped up, just as they had hyped up the world cup for all those weeks. But what could that product be? Not anything would catch the people’s attention, thought Pawan, sitting at his desk that hot summer afternoon. It had to be something sensational. And it had to be viable as a product. Something hat would sell and bring in enough revenue to make up for the lost part and ensure smooth passage for his next promotion.
As Pawan looked through the paper, his eyes were almost moist with agony. As he looked through the blank columns with only news in them he remembered the long sessions he had over beer with the brand manager and the Sports Editor for weeks before the world cup. They would discuss how to hype it up and which column to sell to which client. They created columns that were easy to sell and would do away with columns that were not so easily saleable. The Sports Editor too was such a good sport. He was an understanding man, and a great relief from the usual arrogant journalist who rarely co-operated with the marketing department. They sat for days and weeks together and planned out this great heist by which the newspaper would be richer by a few crores by the time the Cup-fever got over. More than the Cup, it was the revenue that mattered.
As he glanced at the first page, he realized that now sports will no longer be page one news. The first page had all sorts of political news. And that wretched war was on at Kargil. Why couldn’t the Indians have continued the fight in England itself? – Pawan was wondering, sitting at his desk, hoping desperately for a breakthrough. He needed an idea to rake in more revenue. And he needed it fast. And then it hit him like a ten ton brick.
Mr. Gupta was in foul mood, sitting at his desk and shouting instructions at somebody over the phone, when Pawan walked in. And before he could scream at Pawan again, Pawan broke into a beam and said, “I have found it sir! I know what we can hype up this time. And we may rake in quite a bit of the revenue that we lost out in the World Cup!” Mr. Gupta looked at him quizzically and waited for Pawan to come up with the winning product. “Yes?,” he asked Pawan. “Kargil sir,” Pawan said with a wide grin. Mr.Gupta paused again. “How can you sell a war?” “Why not sir?” Pawan countered him, this time with more confidence. After all, it was his original idea. And he could and certainly would take all the credit for it. “We could run supplements every day, sir. The photographs would, like in the world cup, be sponsored by Kodak. And the scores column will be replaced by the “died in action” column. And instead of MRF we could ask Dettol to sponsor it. We could also run a injured column and this could be sponsored by Bandaid. And Sir….” Pawan continued with his string of ideas.
For Guptaji it was a moment of relief. Finally they could make hay out of the situation. This boy had brains, one would have to admit. But this would need careful planning. As he picked up the phone and asked the editor to come in for an important meeting, he asked Pawan to take his seat, and rang the bell to ask Etowari to organize some beer for the evening. After all planning a strategy was no mean business.
Media of our times
Anuradha Dutt
The liberalization of the economy was the Indian middle and upper classes’ freeway to Shangri-La. A consumer’s market, containing hitherto unimagined delights from a present flay Sindbad’s cave and almost endless possibilities for self indulgence, was thrown open. At the same time a djinn in the form of the foreign media was released. The term ‘foreign’, in the Indian context, more of ten than not, means western. The frame of reference, in terms of the lifestyle and collective aspirations, of the ruling class, still lies westwards. This seems to be one enduring legacy of British colonialism.
The continuing dominance of the English media in a nation where the vast majority suffer a secondary state because they cannot afford to learn English’ is the most visible symptom of the malaise. With the incursion of American, British and Australian television giants via satellite transmission and some quasi- pornographic women’s magazine, the complacently middle class Indian newspapers and State-run television networks suddenly had to go in for drastic face lift, to grab their share of advertisement revenue. Their present avatar merely underlines the traditional hiatus between the urban and rural India.
In their race to dish out the strange brew of high-pitched sensation-mongering that is the staple of western news coverage, the mainstream media now gives us a glut of crime and glamour, scandal, ignoring the predominant concerns of survival of a developing nation. If the rank absurdity of, say, giving precedence of the narcissistic obsessions of the elite over the growing incidence of suicides by impoverished farmers is obvious to media pundits, it is rarely reflected in their editorial policies. For, their concerns are of the developed world.
Thus, reams of newsprint and much of telecast time are wasted on colonial accolades for frighteningly ambitious third world aspirants for fame. American beatnik guru Allen Ginsberg’s prophecy of fame is coming true in an extremely enervating fashion as the Indian high society and equally rapid intelligentsia play out their burlesque of western life modes based on technological dominance. The Indian identity usually assessed either as a political play, or for perpetuating the evils of caste and traditions such as dowry-related marriages.
The supposed leaders in the print media, the self-proclaimed instruments of awakening prefer to hide heads ostrich-like in the sand. The language papers are largely a weak replica of the English one. Television leads the race for advertisement sponsorship, to be doled out by huge transnational corporations that rule in terms of financial clout.
The leader sets the line, says the ad copy for a premier English daily. And, indeed, it is the global industrial giants that define the world view, as they pour billions of dollar into indoctrination campaigns that hinge on icons of success create overnight to sell their products. The media, hungry for such largesse, are the willing collaborators in this exedra in duplicity.
Meanwhile migration of millions of unemployed from the urban backwaters and impoverished rural areas to the big cities continues increasingly. It is a movement that speaks of decades of neglect of their needs. Of the callous self-seeking of the more privileged. Of their inertia and capitulation to the compulsions of global economics. And the dubious distinction of being the harbinger of this phenomenon can be claimed by the media.
”We are not a marginalised group wanting to put up a channnel” – Sharief Cullis
While the concept of Public Broadcast is familiar in India, we do not have any semblance of community broadcasting. In the following interview with Gargi Sen, Sharief Cullis, one of the principal architects of the Community Broadcasts in South Africa expands on his experience with community broadcasting and looks at relations between community, public and commercial broadcasting.
The biennial General Body meeting of Videazimut, an international coalition of video practitioners, was held at Cape Town, SouthAfrica. Sharief and his team took this opportunity to go on air with a test transmission. Through the week Community TV had 3 hours of air – time every day. Sharief and his team worked round the clock.
Recalls Gargi about the meeting, “1 met Sharief after nearly 4 years. He looked, older, heavier and tired. But through this interview – the only time I managed to talk to him during the entire week – I found the old enthusiasm, optimism and fire.”
Gargi: We were very enthused about the South African broadcast policy process, if I remember correctly, that started in 1994, that looked at this relation between community channel…
Sharief: They call it smart partnerships.
G: OK. Smart partnerships. To what extent has that policy helped you to with Community TV? Incidentally were you involved in that process?
S: I was a part of the stakeholder’s committee that wrote the green paper, for the white paper. The best way to have broad consultation in the legislative process is to involve organizations. And the best way you involve organizations is by what you call the stake holder’s committee. And those are organizations that have an interest in defending certain interests through the legislation.
And the green papers make the white paper. there is a green paper for broadcasting, for environment, for the different ministries. That then goes to form the white paper for each ministry. Each ministry has its own line of papers that it has to present to the parliament in order to legislate.
And the stake holder’s committee is the forum where a lot of the debate is cleared and fought over and so on. Where you can see whose interest represents what. So on the stake holder’s committee you would have people who represent the commercial interests, community and public broadcasting interests. So for us it was a process of having people from the regulators, the independent broadcasting authorities, the South African technical regulatory authority, then there was the community radio stations, community television groups, media companies, people who own commercial radio and public broadcasting. So we were all on the stake holder’s committee. And we would be fighting our way through legislative processes there. And it was quite interesting. And that was written up into a white paper. The white paper was circulated further for consultation.
Soon that process would be finished and we will have the legislative process in place. A document that will be approved by the parliament in the near future. So then we will have a law that will stipulate, and we will be able to apply for a license, there will be a community TV license category that we will be able to apply for. There will be a provision to work with the public broadcaster to create the ‘window’ opportunity. And there will be legislation for regional commercial TV. But that will only happen in two years time.
G: So this period is very critical, because you are actually doing test transmission to present some case studies, isn ‘t it?
S: Yes. I think every body is wondering ”will community TV work? How will it work? What should we do? What kind of programme should we show? Of what interest will it to be to people?” Because people have not really understood what community TV is all about. So we said ”Let’s do it and show them. Let’s make it happen.” So we can go to the independent broadcasting authority with a tape and say ”this is what we have done”. Not what we intend to do. ”This is what we have done. ??’ So there is no way they can bullshit us about track. Because we have our statistics at hand. We have our costing in hand. We have our mo- tivation in hand. And the fact that it has happened has transformed consciousness to such an extent that there is a different attitude towards us than there were in the beginning. So that is the incredible thing about this. Suddenly you can prove that it can exist.
G: So how did this come about ?
S: What has been happening in South Africa and what we call the major social experiment that we had undertaken – which is kind of magical in one sense or the other – the question was how do we do things differently? And through the process of the experiment you create opportunities. And in order to relate that to television, the idea is what kind of opportunities do community media groups utilise to make our dream become a reality. to see community television coming to provision? We have consistently for the last three years argued for a natural partnership, which we feel exists between the community and the public broadcaster, and we have fought very hard for an independent broadcaster. And for that reason we found that there was a need for us to ensure that our public broadcaster is a very strong institution that will be fair to everyone nationally.
About a year and a half ago we entered into negotiations with the pub1ic broadcaster – the SABC (South African Broadcast Corporation). Finally they came in to say ”let’s explore this idea of regional TV” A task team was appointed from the SABC side.
What we then argued for the Western Cape was to come up with a new model and the model 1 was talking about was ‘social contract in broadcasting’. How do you involve commercial and community interests into a broadcaster? Now that was common to all of us to eliminate the element of competition. We pool al1 our resources to create a better channel for everyone. We try and unify the region around content and streamlining the content for the region, but without having to compromise the values and ideas. Because it was an experiment, it would have been very interesting to see whether the social contract can actually be applied to broadcasting. And whether those varying and different interests can actually be merged. And how you would maintain a semblance of separation. But the question would ‘be where that separation be? So these were the challenges.
I have always argued for a closer working relationship between the public broadcaster and the community because my argument with them was that, that is the basis on which we should forge an alliance with the commercial broadcaster. We should first between ourselves develop a relationship, and then forge a relationship with a commercial broadcaster and make that a reality.
That happened and we were in a very tough negotiations with them. We met the minister and said, ”we are going to go on air with Videazimut.” The SABC came to us and said why don’t you do it with us? And lo and behold! We eventually found ourselves going on air with the Public Broadcaster.
We are still in culture shock as well as they are, because they can’t believe it. We are producing 3 hours a day. The regional Broadcaster puts up half an hour a day. We have stretched their resources in this town to such an extent that they find it unbelievable.
But what has it done for us as a community broadcasting channel? It has allowed for a whole layer of platform makers that have always existed to come into the front. Many people are working on the detailing. The quality of programming that has emerged out of this is just shinning. That even the public broadcaster s ready to get these people, and we said ”these always existed. These are our people, in our communities. They’ve always existed. And we know that a1l these people can make it. Because people want to hear what they have to say. They want to see can show them. That has always existed. There is nothing magical about it.” So now suddenly everybody is saying ”Wow!”
And so what we have been able to do through this is to show the public broadcaster that community Television can exist, and it can even be better than them. Because they looked at us in the beginning with an element of disgust. ”Who are you people? You are Community Media people?” Suddenly they are like ”Who are these people?” We can ask anything. They cannot argue with us, on quality or content. Because we know that we are better than them and we have always known that. We just never had the opportunity to prove it.
Because the challenge for us was also about getting people to watch the channel. And not switch it off and say that ”this is shit” But to use the value system of the public and commercial broadcaster use of judging things, but to use that to get people to watch and get used to the content. And then to slowly to strip this veneer of deception, of quality and all that, and introducing subjects and people, slowly so that, BOOM, the wails opens up to them. And without realising it, without having a very radical attitude to it: ”this is Community Television. And this is what it is going to look like, and damn a1l of you who don’t believe in it.” We took another approach.
But more than that we show culturally in this city that it is possible. Because part of the process here is that black people are still oppressed. Because this is a region that is still politically controlled by the o1d nationalists. People behave like slaves here. Our own people. I don’t know if you heard the first days broadcast. I said on TV that ”Black people behave like slaves in this county. That we have to break out of that.” And the community channel is a catalyst to break out of that. It becomes the chain saw to remove our chains.
How do we change people’s consciousness? How do we give people a sense of pride – of who they are and what they are? And that was a very, very important process for us. To be able to get people to think that. And slowly we begin to see people coming out. Slowly we begin to see transformation. For instance, on the 24th September, on the heritage day, they are renaming what was called the old’ Cultural History Museum’, they are renaming it ‘The Slave Lodge’. If this wasn’t going to happen on Television, very few people would know about it.
It’ll be in the newspaper like a little column. People would read it. There would be a picture and then it would be gone. So on the 24th of September we will have heritage day. And for two hours, from various angles, look at our slave history in the Western Cape. So, then we’ll be able to inform people about our history our heritage. It’s a public holiday. So our audience will certainly be bigger than what we normally get. We are gonna go back at our slave history.
So we begin to throw our history and see where it falls. Throw it up in the air and see what happens and where it falls. And that is just like, for us a very important process. Its a part of a discovery process. Discovering your history, discovering your heritage, yourself.
So I think for us the relationship with the public broadcaster has been a very, very interesting one. And they have indicated that this certainly is not the end of the relationship. Because we showed that it is possible. But you know what’s incredible about it? You know they’ve always looked for black people. And suddenly we’re giving them all these black people. They are there. And if they are not going to take these black people, ETV the commercial channel) will take them.
G: Let me ask you something that you referred to earlier. You said that you are coming in with issues in a quieter manner. Not in a confrontist manner but slowly bringing in issues. One of the issues you will be dealing with very soon are class issues, even within the black communities. Then how would you define community, community broadcast as different in terms of its content, from say a commercial broadcaster or public broadcaster?
S: The challenge is in producing content that are relevant to people locally. But the challenge is in scheduling. Commercial broadcasters are going to introduce a value system. They are going to put in money and create more production value. They are going to have the new commercial channel that will open with Bay Watch. Now there is certainly no reason why I would want to show Bay Watch. And I would never be able to compete with BayWatch. And I have no desire to compete with Bay Watch because Bay Watch will always be there.
So what is that we focus on? Even for community broadcasters, the fundamental issue we have to address is -’what programming goes where at what time’ . Every producer, whether you are a commercial, public or community producer, there is a challenge upon you. And that challenge is of the aesthetic, of telling a story, how you tell the story, on tile look and the feel of the story. There’s a challenge for all of us in that. Whether you are a documentary or a drama film maker, you sit with the same challenges. About telling a story and how you tell the story.
G: But there is another challenge also Sharief The challenge of- how do you bring in issues, priorities, concerns of a larger number of people? How do you bring in issues that are important to the black people of the Cape Town, say issues like water and water rights, into the public domain of informatien exchange and debate?
S: Let’s say, for instance one of the biggest concerns in our communities is about gangsterism. Communities feel totally disemboweled through the controls the gangs have but also of the inability of the police and the state to deal with gangsterism. But even more so to deal with poverty. And the causes of gangsterism. What does a channel do in that regard? You don’t flog people continuously with stories of gangsterism. It provides a live open channel for debate. Within the community broadcasting channel you can have an anti-gangsterism campaign, where television becomes a tool to mobilize and organist people on a consistent basis. And equally so makes ministries, and councillors and governments accountable: what are we doing about gangsterism.
So you create a dialogue with television. Where people can say “in our community this is what we do with gangsterism.” The question is about saving our youth and saving our children. How do we do that? If you talk about development in our communities, how do we do that? So all producers are encouraged and told basically that they must work with organizations. They work with organizations. Because organizations know nothing about making films. But then producers know very little about running and working in organizations, and about issues. So you match that up and transform the producer, transform the ideas of those people into a film, into a story, into a series. That’s what happens. I think that is where the synergy lies about bringing out those concerns and issues… What’s the time like?
G: 10.30
S: I have to go.
G: Is there time for 1 last question? Yes? OK, how are you going to fund this?
S: The Independent Broadcasting Authority (Regulations) argues for self-sustainability of community TV and radio groups. I have said ”If you are asking us to be self sustainable, then you cannot tie our hands behind our backs and say we cannot advertise. Then we should be allowed to advertise.” Because then there should be no limitation on trade for community TV groups. We are being asked to run Television, and we need money for that. And they are not giving us the money. So in the stake holder’s committee 1 argued for two things. 1 said to the commercial broadcasters and the public broadcasters ”either you pay for community television, or you allow us to advertise.” They didn’t want to do either of that. I said ”Look, we don’t even want your money. The principle of it is – we don’t want your money.
We can find our own money. But where do we find the money from? Donors? Funders? Advertisers? Sponsorships? You have to understand that you are talking of a region that generates over a 1O0 million Rands a year through advertising, that is 40 million Dollars a year. In order to run a successful community TV station, you need 15 million Rands from that. Now, we can certainly, by getting a 10-15% market share of that, we can make a significant difference. So we don’t even need to have a large chunk of the market. But equally so, we have enormous number of businesses that are totally excluded from television, and, national television at that. Like a community super market.
G: So that’s the distinction. You are not looking for Coca-Cola funds.
S: No, no, no! Certainly there will be times when Coca Cola will sponsor a programme. But we have to strategically use them. Certainly the issue of consumerism is such a dominant feature of our society that there is no way we can run away from it. The question is how do we address it? How do we address an anti-consumerist that drives television and all of that? And we are not going to change that by sitting on the side lines.
Part of the overriding process is also to contest the political and cultural terrains. That’s where some of the struggles are. But it is also economic terrains we are contesting. We are not a marginalised group. We don’t function from the principle that we are marginalized and we will continue to be marginalised. The struggle we fought for is to claim centre stage. To claim the dominant areas of cultural, political and economic life of this region. That is what our communities want. They want to be at the centre of their existence. They don’t want somebody else to be at the centre of their existence. So why should we, as community broadcast channel, be at the margins of our existence? There’s reason to play small. 1 have said this to other people, if you want to be small, to then that’s your right to be that. But that’s not our right. We don’t want that. We are not fighting to be small, and be marginalised and to be shouting in the darkness.
There’s a movement that is behind this. There’s labour movement, there’s a NGO movement, there’s a CBO movement, there are religious groups, sports groups – all kinds of groups go behind an initiative like this. This is not just a few individuals. We drive it. But there’s a whole movement, a social movement behind this – how to make this thing a reality? So we have an objective, of what we want to achieve here, and we have to continue that.
The revolution hasn’t ended for us, it has only begun. It’s a question of how do we bring this world to a reality for our people, so we don’t live the kind of existence that we had been living. How do we change that? And how do we change it radically for us? In a way that it makes it viable for people to make a living. So it is not like a marginalised little grouping wanting to put up a channel.
There are many ways to survive and we’ll find them all.
WTO and the key issues in global communication
Trade between peoples and nations has existed from time immemorial. Today however, every aspect of trade, including trade in culture, knowledge and communications has become part of the mandate of the World Trade Organization. Decisions taken at the WTO can for instances affect the livelihood of a small farmer in Bolivia, Benin or Burma. He or she can be prevented from 1) sowing seeds belonging to any plant variety for which a patent has been taken, 2) keeping such seeds from one harvest to another or from 3) exchanging it. The law on international copyrights can be applied to recorded music played on community radio stations, and the threat posed by trade barriers can be used as an excuse to swamp any country with imported content, restrict public broadcasting services, dilute anti-monopoly media provisions and curb the right to communications for minority interest groups. Central to the WTO mandate are trade negotiations on issues related to ‘services’ inclusive of intellectual property.
Services refers to infrastructures, social, financial, technological, marketing, commercial, professional, governmental and personal transactions leading to economic flow of data, labour, resources and investments both in-country and between countries and regions. It also covers trade in knowledge, commonly known as intellectual property. The comprehensive nature of these trade talks is illustrated by the fact that the WTO negotiations on the liberalization of Basic Telecommunications services which concluded on February 15, 1997, dealt with a number of services inclusive of ‘voice telephony, data transmission, telex, telegraph, facsimile, private leased circuit services, fixed and mobile satellite systems and services, cellular telephony, mobile data services, paging, and personal communications systems.
Intellectual Property (IP) refers to every type of knowledge that has been invested with economic value and that can be bought and sold like any other commodity. Copyright is one such intellectual property. Copyright has traditionally been linked to the notion of ‘originality’ and to the individual ‘author’. It originated from the need to create abeyance between those who create a ‘work’ and those who use it. Patents on the other hand, are given to recognised inventions in industry, manufacturing, agriculture, etc. Both are Western concepts because the idea that individuals could own knowledge is alien to the self-understanding of people living in many parts of the world. However, indigenous societies continue to practice the collective stewardship, not ownership, of resources.
Unfortunately indigenous people are not going to get any benefit from IP. The owners of new products and processes are among the only beneficiaries. The many advances in the information, pharmaceutical and agro -chemical industries has resulted in the development of a diverse range of products including digital products such as Windows 98 and genetically engineered food crops. This has led to the WTO, under its Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement, to expand the definition of IP to include patents, copyrights, trademarks, geographical indication, industrial designs, layout designs of integrated circuits and trade secrets. Every form of knowledge that we encounter today comes with price tag. As a result, the social benefits of knowledge have been displaced by privatized versions of knowledge that are available for a price. Today, it is multinational corporations – Microsoft, Monsanto, Zeneca and Hoechst among other, who the owners of knowledge, even knowledge of individual genes in our bodies. The individual ‘author’ has, as a result, become a mere historical footnote.
The liberalization of trade in audiovisual products has allowed the world’s media multinationals to extend and consolidate their interests worldwide. For instance, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation owns some 200 newspapers in the Australia Pacific region alone, 22 television station in the USA, substantial satellite television interests in Latin America and Asia’s publishing houses film companies and other media, and as if this not enough , has plans to take over a big slice of broadcasting in Russia and China. The growth of cross media monopolies, meaning companies that have monopoly interest in different sector of the media markets inevitably leads to the shrinking of space for a1ternative opinions, to the commercialization of news and to the marginalisation of public service broadcasting. The liberalization of trade in the computers and telecommunication industries has led to the virtual capture of markers by firms such Microsoft and Cable & Wireless. Domestic media policy in many countries has now become a carbon copy of international media policy. And restrictive copyright laws have affected local creativity, and curbed both the transfer of technology and the social uses of communication.
- WACC/Action
Alternative resources on the WTO
The WTO Website, although not an ‘alternative’ source of information, is pretty informative at http://www.wto.org/wto/services/2-obdis.htm
For alternative information, check out Third World Network’s excellent monthly journal-Third World Resurgence which devotes much of its space to a discussion of the many arms of the WTO octopus from perspective of people’s rights.
Other sources include two books by Bhagirath Lal Das.” An Introduction to the WTO Agreement”(1998) and “The WTO Agreement : Deficiencies, Imbalances and Required Changes”(1998),available at Third world Network,228 Macalister Road,10400 Penang, Malaysia.
New Films
Ragi Kana Ko Bonga Buru
(Buddha weeps in Jadugoda)
76 mins. English/Hindi. 1999
For the people of Jadugoda in the Jharkhand area of Bihar, living in close proximity to uranium mines has created a life of unprecedented misery. Prolonged exposure lo radiation has led lo abnormal rates of miscarriages, crippled children, cancer amongst unmarried women and TB.
While JHOR (Jharkandi Organisalion against Radiation, Jadugoda) has worked amongst the Adivasis of the area to raid consciousness against the applying state of affairs, they are pitted against the callousness of the district adminstration and officials of the Uranium Corporation of India. Shot over a period of 3 years in these areas,the film is produced by Kritika, a media group that has produced films for over 10 years in this area, as well as Birsa (Bindrai Institute for Research Study and Action) from Chaibasa.
Film by: Sriprakash
Source: Krithika 39 Randhir Prasad St.,
Upper Bazar, Ranchi 834001,
Ph: (0651) 317461
In the Forest Hangs a Bridge
16mm/39 mins; English (with subtitles), 1999
For one week in the year, the people of Damro village, in the kiang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, gather to build a suspension bridge. A 1000 foot long construction of cane and bamboo, this is the stunning signature of the Adi tribe who inhabit these forested hills. The film is an account of the construction of the bridge, an evocation of the tribal community that makes it possible, and a reflection on the strength -and fragility- of the idea of community.
Film by: Sanjay Kak
Source: Octave Communications
C4/4048 Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070,
Fax: (011) 6123828, Ph: (011) 6893893
e-mail: octave@vsnl.com
Bundelkhand Express
72 mins. English, 1999
Bundelkhand is a labour train which winds through the rocky, acrid plains of southern Uttar Pradesh. From districts like Shahuji Maharaj Nagar, it picks up hundreds of children and adults deserting a neglected and impoverished land in search of work. Some of these people are heading towards Mirzapur – the capital of carpet production in india. Liluah, a little tribal girl from a village in Shahuli Maharaj Nagaq has not yet taken the train… Ram Sajivan and Bachcha, two young boys in the district town make a living ferrying the passengers of Bundelkhand Express on rickshaws… a dream of the day they too will board the train…
Bundelkhand Express connects the stories of these children and their parents with the carpet economy. Traditional craft and global capital, meticulous craftsmen and non artisan exposers tied together by a thin and fine thread, woven into a nightmare.
Film by: Saba Diwan
Source: A 39 Gulmohar Park, New Delhi 110049,
Ph: (011) 6515161
Aids, Lies & Documentaries
34 min, English, 1998
The film deals with the issue of empowering of sex workers in Calcutta through a STD- HIV intervention programme. But while doing the story, the film-maker stumbles across another story, that of a complex power struggle that is taking place within tile project, and how it is affecting the empowerment process of the sex workers. The 34 minute film, made in tile form of a diary, reveals the manifold exploitation that the sex workers are subjected to, from the pimps, the NGOs and the film-maker herself.
Film by: Ananya Chatterjee
Source/info: Magic Lantern Foundation, J 1881, Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi 19