third rate in the tropics

Drones for Human Rights?

2012-02-03T01:50:00.006Z

Human rights activists, environmental groups and enterprising journalists increasingly are looking at drones to uncover abuses.

A recent YouTube video shows a miniature helicopter called a RoboKopter equipped with a video camera, overlooking protesters and Polish police in riot gear in Warsaw.

An Internet website called the Future Journalism Project highlighted this recent endeavor.

The website also mentions an experimental laboratory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study the possibilities of so-called "drone journalism" -- sending flying cameras with global positioning devices over newsworthy events to capture video that viewers want to see.

On its website, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society details some of its strategies to confront illegal whaling. These apparently include using drones, which the activist group says it used in December to monitor oceans in the Southern Hemisphere.

Andrew Stobo Sniderman, a co-founder of the Genocide Intervention Network, recently wrote an article published in The New York Times newspaper called "Drones for Human Rights."

The human rights activist says a lot could be gained from drone-obtained information about conflict zones such as Syria or the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"There are circumstances we can think of where this would be a helpful tool to just get more detailed information about exactly what is happening, where governments are killing large numbers of their own citizens."

Sniderman says simpler drones cost tens of thousands of dollars, while more advanced commercial ones cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, which he says major human rights organizations can afford.

But when drones violate a country's airspace, this type of information gathering is illegal. It also leads to fears by many of a world where no one knows when they are being watched or by whom.

But Sniderman says a good cause justifies the use of human rights monitoring drones.

"Technology can be used for good and for ill, and all we are suggesting is that human rights groups should give very serious thought about how to use this new technology to help document abuses. Human rights groups have always done this. The question is can we use drones to do this even better than what we already do."

Sniderman says aerial video footage of human rights abuses taken by drones and not available through other means could lead to a more effective response to what is happening.

Obama Africa

2012-01-30T22:14:00.005Z

President Obama has disappointed some who thought the son of a Kenyan, who made a landmark speech in Ghana as well in his only African presidential visit in 2009, would change business as usual of U.S. policies on the continent focused on military firepower and resources, sprinkled with drought and health aid.

Getting to Work in DC in the Morning

2012-01-23T20:56:00.002Z

South Sudan Struggles

2012-01-21T20:03:00.001Z

After the exuberance of independence, the honeymoon of freedom now comes a huge uphill for the world's newest country, South Sudan, with a big headache called Sudan to its north.

Remembering Patrice Lumumba in Washington

2012-01-18T02:59:00.001Z

A Lone White House Occupier

2012-01-18T02:33:00.005Z

This protester, who was a runaway from #occupycongress, said she had to keep her feet moving every few seconds or else police who stop her protest.

Riot Art

2011-12-31T22:38:00.001Z

Zimbabwe graphic designer extraordinaire South Africa based, Zimbabwe Bulawayo native Sindiso Nyoni aka R!OT.

Occupy 2012?

2011-12-31T21:36:00.001Z

Will there be an American Spring?

Singer David Rovics inspired D.C. occupiers to "stay right here" in this recent performance.

West Africa's Growing Piracy

2011-12-31T17:03:00.004Z

One issue I didnt mention in the television report below is the fact fishermen are becoming more and more empty handed as waters are pilfered by bigger and bigger boats coming from further and further away ... is there a link there with the piracy?

A Song for Bradley Manning

2011-12-24T20:01:00.003Z

...an impromptu moment at a recent Bradley Manning protest in Fort Meade, Maryland, when David Rovics who has been called the peace poet and troubadour of our time sang a song in tribute of the young private accused of being a Wikileaks source...

The Battle over Illegal Immigration

2011-12-24T00:19:00.003Z

The U.S. government is currently reviewing orders to deport thousands of illegal immigrants in two cities, at a time of great division on the issue at federal and local levels. In the past fiscal year, a record 396-thousand undocumented immigrants were deported from the United States, with more than 300-thousand cases still pending.

The port city of Baltimore, Maryland, also known by its nickname “Charm City”, is one of the cities where U.S. federal immigration authorities are trying out new ways in dealing with a large caseload of deportation orders.

The other city is high-altitude Denver, Colorado.

In both places, illegal immigrants without violent criminal records may be allowed to stay, while cases against illegal immigrants deemed to have serious criminal records may be expedited.

One politician not happy at all with the experiment, which runs until the middle of January, is Maryland House of Delegates Republican Pat McDonough.

He recently wrote a newspaper opinion piece saying Baltimore was being turned into what he calls an “amnesty city”.

“What this does is it creates a magnet and incentive for people who are in this country without lawful presence to flock to Baltimore. And there are consequences to that,” he said.

McDonough also explained consequences include added costs to provide bilingual services, added pressures on emergency rooms to deal with uninsured illegal immigrants, higher unemployment among legal residents, and threats to public safety.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said it was not conducting interviews on the immigration case review.

In an email statement, it said the U.S. government is trying to focus immigration enforcement resources on those convicted of crimes, recent border crossers and what it called egregious immigration law violators.

Pro-immigrant activists have complained too many non-violent illegal immigrants are being deported, in a rush by the agency to boost statistics and receive more funding.

Mary Giovagnoli, the Washington-based Immigration Policy Center director, calls the current two city review a small step in the right direction.

“Truly moving on is really messy and like any major social issue you do not resolve it right away. In that sense, it is not unlike the civil rights movement or the voting rights movement or any other number of issues that took years and years to really resolve and get right because you are both changing the laws, and you are changing hearts and minds,” she said.

The review comes at a time when lawmakers in more and more U.S. states are passing tough anti-immigration laws.

But the federal government is pushing back on that front as well, using challenges in the court system and saying it has exclusive authority to regulate immigration.

There have also been protests by those favoring fewer deportations. In some states like Alabama, civil rights leaders recently marched for families to be kept together, as in recent months, detained or deported illegal immigrant parents were separated from their U.S.-born citizen children.

Activists in other cities, like Iowa City, are going even further, seeking to make the college town Iowa’s first so-called sanctuary city to protect illegal immigrants from federal immigration law.

More than 30 cities in the United States have gone this route, with some even banning officials from asking people about their immigration status. Activists say it saves the city money while also creating a stronger sense of community -- claims staunch opponents to illegal immigration find outrageous.

DRC on the Precipice?

2011-12-23T00:35:00.002Z

A possible political showdown is inching closer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the second place candidate in the fraud-marred November presidential election says he is the rightful president.

There is a heavy security deployment across Congo’s capital Kinshasa, as Etienne Tshisekedi says he will swear himself in as president on Friday.

Mr. Tshisekedi has even called on his supporters to capture the controversially re-elected President Joseph Kabila.

“Concerning people who have created all these problems, starting with Mr. Kabila, I call on all of you to look for this man wherever he is in the country and bring him to me, here, alive,” the opposition leader said.

Mr. Kabila was sworn in earlier this week at the presidential compound in Kinshasa. During his speech, he did not have kind words for his political adversary.

“On November 28, you were asked to choose between illusion based on inflammatory language and on the other hand, a perspective for consolidating peace and security, and reconstructing the country,” the president said.

Human rights groups fear there could be violence and a harsh military crackdown if opposition supporters bring more protests into the streets. U.S-based Human Rights Watch says Congolese security forces have already killed 24 people this month in post-election violence.

Parliamentary elections were also held in November, but this week, vote counting was suspended, until, officials say, foreign election experts arrive to help.

U.S. observers described vote counting in the presidential election as chaotic, and said the vote was so full of flaws, from instances of ballot stuffing to rampant voter intimidation, it could not be considered credible.

Analysts say parties supporting Mr. Tshisekedi could still gain control of parliament and make him prime minister in a tension appeasing power-sharing arrangement.

In the meantime, sometimes violent protests have erupted outside the DRC, including Brussels.

In Washington, there have also been protests and more are being planned. Outside the White House, Congolese immigrant Blaise Kazadi demanded credible election results.

“(Mr.) Kabila, he cheated in the election so he should not be president. We have one elected president. That is Etienne Tshisekedi. We are here to support the Congolese people who elected Etienne Tshisekedi and who did not elect Joseph Kabila.”

When Congo’s top court rejected an opposition bid to annul the presidential vote, the opposition reacted by saying it was totally rejecting that ruling, setting up what many Congolese fear could turn into an increasingly violent showdown.

Speeches for Bradley Manning

2011-12-21T21:24:00.000Z

While the pre-trial hearing took place for Private Bradley Manning inside a base in Fort Meade, MD, outside, activists spoke out for the accused Wikileaks informant, calling him a hero denouncing abuses.

Bradley Manning Movement

2011-12-18T01:28:00.004Z

While the case against Bradley Manning blamed for leaking thousands of classified and sensitive documents resumed in a military court Saturday, supporters gathered outside in Fort Meade, Maryland, to hail him as a hero.

Occupy Iowa Caucuses

2011-12-16T23:29:00.002Z

While Republican wannabee presidents prepare to descend on Iowa for the start of their party's candidate selection process, Occupy activist Jessica Mazour is welcoming them with messages of her own.

Out for Good Showing

2011-12-14T19:25:00.005Z

My documentary Out for Good, trailer below, website here about an ex-con's quest to do good, will be showing at MLK Library Thursday, December 15 followed by a discussion. Event is 10:30 - 1:00 pm.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2011
Contact: Eddie Ellis, (202) 425-0776, oneby1inc@yahoo.com

YOUTH AND EX OFFENDERS PARTNER TO SAVE THE DISTRICT MONEY
In times of financial crisis DC organizations promote money saving programs for youth

[Washington, DC, December 15]- Working to channel the anger and resentment of DC youth, One by 1 is partnering with the Center for Peace Studies and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library to screen “Out for Good”, a film on the life of ex-offender turned Executive Director Eddie Ellis, on December 15, 2011 from 10:30am-1:00pm at 901 G Street, NW Washington, DC. The screening will be followed by a youth forum, and is free to the public.

The community based partnership seeks to ensure that youth have access to community organizations and mentors, resources that are more cost effective than incarceration. According to the DC Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, on any given day there are more than 90,000 youth in juvenile justice facilities across the nation, needlessly costing states $ 5.7 billion a year on average.

Ellis wants to send a message that, “Young people can and will change when given access, opportunity, and support. We can work with young people to create safe communities in DC.”

Three out of every four young Black men in the District are expected to serve some time in prison, many in centers run by other jurisdictions, costing the district roughly $ 20 million annually. Ellis knows this all too well, having served 15 years in various super-max, federal, and for profit penitentiary facilities across the nation, beginning at the age of 14. Without vital youth programs more will find themselves in his situation, which means more crimes and more needless money spent.

Such partnerships have drawn the attention of many such as Colman McCarthy, an Award winning journalist, Georgetown Law professor and District teacher, who is bringing more than 100 of his high school students to attend the event. In previous years, his students have participated in mentoring sessions with One by 1. In response to the work of the organization, one student from Wilson High School commented, “You are an inspiration to all of us in Wilson and hearing you [Ellis] speak about your experience was eye opening. You’ll probably never realize how many people you touch.”

The hope is that the partnership is eye opening for youth and District officials alike.

Founded in 2008, One by 1 works to keep communities safe by partnering with community and youth based programs, service providing agencies and national advocacy groups to provide resources and expert trainings on equitable criminal justice reform. One by 1 improves the lives of young people by providing mentoring services and skill based projects designed to build self-esteem, confidence, and leadership skills. For more information please visit www.oneby1inc.org.

###

Human RIghts Day and the Arab Spring

2011-12-10T17:35:00.002Z

The Arab Spring has inspired movements across the world and vice versa making 2011 a protest year where the concept of human rights is being redefined and the ballot box is disappointing, from Russia to Occupy to Congo to the indignants.

Below a tv piece I did illustrating these themes ...

A Confused Eagle

2011-12-02T00:42:00.010Z

Tried to go a la Errol Morris first person series to portray US Africa policy blogger Scott Morgan. There is a lot of truth in what he says about the continent and its recent history. I find his persistent ways to stay in contact with opposition activists throughout Africa, and to find documents on the web also well worth the detour ...

Africa's Stock Exchanges

2011-11-26T02:08:00.007Z

Here's a tv piece I worked on during my recent time in South Africa ...

Scratches at the surface in image and parts of an interesting interview some of the challenges of dual speed in Africa's economic growth (stock market gains vs. jobs) but was still considerably trimmed for issue at Voice of America.

My longer original script ...

A recent youth-led protest in South Africa targeted the continent’s oldest and largest stock exchange, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, founded in 1887.

At this protest, as at many others he has led, youth leader Julius Malema, who is currently facing expulsion from the ruling African National Congress, denounced the country’s economic system. He called for more nationalizations in key industries for a better redistribution of wealth.

Several times, when he has made such pronouncements, stocks on the JSE, as it is known, have dropped precipitously.

Noah Greenhill, the stock exchange’s head of marketing and business development, sees such patterns more as a strength than a weakness.

“I do not understand why we get upset when somebody says something. He is allowed to say it. It might not be policy, I agree. It might be that he represents a constituency. But we do not look in the mirror. The United States have people saying stuff that is vehemently against what the president of the party of the day says and nobody goes, well, we cannot invest in America because so and so is vehemently opposed to what is being said by the ruling party and our president.”

Besides the threat of political instability, African stock exchanges have also recently suffered losses due to weakening currencies and difficulties in sustaining outside investment in a tough world economic climate.

More and more African companies are turning to western stock markets to be listed there, especially in London, rather than on a stock exchange in Africa.

Economists say there also may be too many national stock exchanges on the continent, with about two dozen currently operating in sub-Saharan Africa. Some of these exchanges have been hampered in attracting investors due to insufficient hours of trading and slow service.

A pan-Africa integration of stock markets has been talked about for years, with little progress. Regional models of integration are seen as more appealing, such as the West African regional stock exchange which already operates out of Ivory Coast.

Despite some of these shortcomings, with so many natural resources coming out of Africa, as well as booming infrastructure projects and a growing consumer markets, Greenhill says it would be a mistake for investors to ignore Africa.

“It is the land of opportunity. Look at the telecommunication companies. Look at the banking services, retail, those kinds of businesses have huge opportunities here. Make no mistake, there are risks, but there are risks in doing business in Greece, in Portugal, in Italy, in Ireland, in Spain. The reality is there are risks doing business in China.”

The fastest growing economy in the world this year has been Africa’s latest oil producer, Ghana, with year-end growth rates expected to top at least 13 percent.

At stock exchanges across Africa, investors are hoping this type of economic success will also mean higher and higher stock returns.

The Brilliance of Maurizio Cattelan

2011-11-21T19:48:00.004Z

Every once in a while I am really stunned by artists I come across such as Maurizio Cattelan.

I know very little about art, and the art world, but sometimes there is work that filters through mass media and just hits you square in the eyes.

There is something about his controlled, aesthetic rage, his calling out with horrific beauty, his masquerade and reinterpretation of pageantry and how so many of us blindly follow, his ability to use the materials he worked with during an eclectic career to smash them back into our faces, his sarcastic bows, etc... I could go on ...

A Church for Zimbabwe's Destitute

2011-11-19T20:38:00.001Z

In this piece, I tried to go documentary style in four minutes, trying to give a sense of space, atmosphere, heroes and challenges ...

Mr. Mom Morning Art

2011-11-16T19:15:00.000Z

The Hunt for the LRA

2011-11-02T18:07:00.006Z

Anti-LRA activists in the United States are looking closely at new US action to help wipe out the LRA. U.S. military advisers will go up from 17 in a failed mission in 2008, which resulted in an upsurge of LRA activity, to about 100. Will this be enough? Will they be on the ground? U.S. officials have said they would have the right to self-defense.

Not everyone is happy with the mission, with some saying it will pour more support for Museveni, and some conspiracy theorists making the argument the United Statess is trying to get cozy again with his government as oil should soon start coming from Lake Albert.

The activists for now are staying optimistic it seems, even if the goal to dismantle the LRA seems as challenging as ever, whatever the reason for the timing of the current effort.

U.S. Aid and Somalia's Famine and al-Shabab

2011-10-29T18:12:00.003Z

Here's a short tv piece based on a very interesting conference this past week, in which USAID official Nancy Lindborg was put to the test, and more than once reacted to criticism by talking about "rumors and misperceptions."

Out swinging was Bronwyn Bruton from the Atlantic Council who accused the U.S. government of politicizing aid to the victims of the famine, and not doing enough to really help, constrained by anti al-Sbabab priorities. She suggested using some Africom muscle to actually go into al-Shabab areas and try to help feed people.

John Norris from the Center for American Progress repeatedly made the point that the U.S. has failed in its Somalia policy for years, because despite lots of attention, Somalia remains a basket case of instability and violence. He also made the interesting point that unlike other Africa issues, ie Congo Rape, Darfur, anti-L.R.A, there hasn't really been a groundswell for Somalia outside of the Somali diaspora.

D.C. Occupiers Go to Class

2011-10-24T22:05:00.002Z

This weekend got to finally spend time with the Occupiers in DC. I was in Florida for most of the Occupy Movement until now, where the Occupiers have not migrated to yet, although with the cold weather, they might be thinking of doing a mass migration walk.

Celebrating Tunisia's Democracy

2011-10-23T06:45:00.001Z

A Tunisian taxi driver from Chicago rejoices for his country's post-Arab Spring elections.

Occupiers and Obama in DC Over US Wars

2011-10-22T01:45:00.004Z

Did a tv piece mixing in the archive footage with some I got with a camera with overblown colors, and without a tripod. Still got the job done, I guess. Lots of good insights from surviving Vietnam Vets who have lived recent US history from a very intensive perspective.

Libya's Uprising - Graffiti Style

2011-09-23T20:46:00.002Z

Two Voice of America journalists, Elizabeth Arrott and James Brooke, documented some of the graffiti marking the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.

There's nothing quite like free street expression.

Their original pictures here and with audio, and my video production here and below.

This is the Land of the Living

2011-09-10T19:21:00.003Z

This song always gives me the chills, and the accompanying slideshow is well done. The humanity, poetry, resilience and soul of wonderful singer, songwriter Lucy Kaplansky shine through.

Here are the lyrics.

Late afternoon back in New York town
Waking up as the wheels touch down
Pick up my guitar and walk away
Wish I was going home to stay

Line of taxis, I wait my turn
Tar and asphalt, exhaust and fumes
Beside the road on a patch of ground
Taxi drivers are kneeling down

Beneath the concrete sky I watch them pray
While the people of the world hurry on their way
I think they're praying for us all today
And the stories that fell from the sky that day

CHORUS:
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life

Back home fire's still burning, I can see it in the air
Pictures of faces posted everywhere
They say "hazel eyes, chestnut hair
Mother of two missing down there"

I pass the firemen on duty tonight
Carpets of flowers in candlelight
And thank you in a child's scrawl
Taped to the Third Street firehouse wall

There's shadows of the lost on the faces I see
Brothers and strangers on this island of grief
There's death in the air but there's life on this street
There's life on this street

CHORUS
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life

Then I got in a taxi, said "Hudson Street please"
He started the meter and he looked at me
I glanced at his name on the back of his seat
And I looked out the window at the ghost filled streets

I noticed cuts on his hand and his face
And I said "You're bleeding, are you okay?"
He said "I'm not so good, got beat up today
And I'm not one of them no matter what they say

I'm just worried about my family
My wife's in the house and she's scared to leave"
And I didn't know what to say
I didn't know what to say
But I said a prayer for him anyway

CHORUS
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life

Hurricane Irene in my hood on the b'berry

2011-08-29T21:41:00.001Z

Diaspora Authors Shed Light on Africa

2011-08-25T20:24:00.008Z

Usually, my Voice of America reports make it on the news agency's website, but this one hasn't, maybe because of the news in Libya. So I wanted to make sure I posted it here. The report which was aired earlier this week highlights two up and coming diaspora authors, Kwei Quartey from Ghana and Oumou Traore from Ivory Coast.

Detective story novelist Kwei Quartey is part of a new generation of African diaspora authors. credit Steve Monez

Climactic music accompanies a montage of photos of street children in Accra, Ghana, on the website of California-based writer, Ghanaian native Kwei Quartey. The author calls himself "the dark prince of West African mystery." His star fictional detective is Darko Dawson.

Much of the attention in Quartey's second book, Children of the Street, is on the tens of thousands of homeless kids trying to survive in the hardest neighborhoods of Ghana's capital.

"Some of them are coming from rural areas to try and make their living. They range from the very young, 5,6 years old up to their teens, late teens. Some of them have come from Accra, the city itself, because they have been kicked out of their homes by a step parent or even their own parents and then the last category are the little kids who are actually born to teenagers and are born in the streets," Quartey said in a recent interview.

As part of his research, Quartey recently went around some of these difficult to navigate streets, and says he developed a method of what he calls ninja photography.

In terms of writing, Quartey says he tries to create a style inspired both by one of America's greatest detective novelists and one of Africa's literary giants.

"I have taken from some of the writing styles that I know about from the (United) States, some of the people that I read. I love the way Raymond Chandler does his stuff. I am not saying that I have his voice but it is a way of keeping me in check to write with a crisp kind of crispness and I think I am getting better. And then of course you sort of keep in the back of your mind other writing styles like Chinua Achebe, the great Nigerian writer, who wrote Things Fall Apart. That something that you want to aspire to as well, his style of dialogue is something to be emulated," Quartey said.

In her new book, Oumou Traore liberates herself from her selfish mother. credit Oumou Traore.

Another African diaspora author who released a book this year is Ivory Coast-born Oumou Traore. Her book is called Bully Mother.

"My writing, I just wrote from my heart. Right now, I am not thinking about any type of writing style. I just wrote my story not thinking of the style," Traore said.

The book was written as a liberation from her money-obsessed mother, who forced the author to marry a man in the United States when she was still a teenager.

"I tried to please her up until I got to the conclusion that there is no need for that. I am going to make my own decisions and my own path because when I was growing up I was told whatever your mom tells you to do is what you do because if you want to be blessed in your life you need to listen to your mom," she explained in a recent interview.

Both authors say their being in the United States allows them to present the continent to the rest of the world in an relatable way, while also bringing a fresh perspective to African readers.

Both say they plan to write many more books. Quartey has cut back on his medical practice, while writing his third book, Men of the Rig, which will focus on crime amid Ghana's current oil boom.

Traore is busy updating a blog focused on gender issues, while also pursuing a doctorate degree in education, which she says she hopes to use to improve the education of girls, especially in Africa.

FestAfrica 2011 Pictures

2011-08-16T00:24:00.000Z

FestAfrica 2011 Remix Video

2011-08-16T00:16:00.004Z

The US, Al-Shabab and Famine

2011-08-02T20:13:00.004Z

The US administration is starting to talk, meet about and reconsider its ban on any aid in al-Shabab areas ... this tv story linked here or below I did a few days ago looks at some of what is at stake, and when politics get in the way of aid ...

A Diaspora's Time - South Sudanese

2011-07-30T19:15:00.001Z

I didn't have time to post this on the day it happened, July 9th of this month.

But I felt it was important to do so, even with a lag. A birth of a new nation is not just some fly by night event.

Also it doesn't happen every day that a corner of Africa can really come alive on an American sidewalk as this video illustrates.

Ordeals of West African Democracy

2011-07-29T21:33:00.005Z

As I spent lots of years witnessing the struggles for democracy in West Africa, it was interesting to see four West African leaders, three of them marginalized for many years, speak in suits in Washington about their assessments so far. Full radio/tv story here and video below ....

Here is President Obama's transcript after meeting the four leaders Friday.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I just wanted to publicly welcome four very distinguished leaders to the White House: President Yayi of Benin; President Conde of Guinea; President Issoufou of Niger; and President Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire.

Although, obviously, we’ve got a lot of things going here in Washington today, it was important for us I think to maintain this scheduled appointment with four leaders of nations that represent Africa’s democratic progress, which is vital to a stable and prosperous and just Africa, but is also critical to the stability and prosperity of the world.

All these leaders were elected through free and fair elections. They’ve shown extraordinary persistence in wanting to promote democracy in their countries despite significant risks to their own personal safety and despite enormous challenges, in some cases -- most recently in Côte d’Ivoire -- in actually implementing the results of these elections.

But because of their fortitude and because of the determination of their people to live in democratic, free societies, they have been able to arrive at a position of power that is supported by the legitimate will of their peoples. And as such, they can serve as effective models for the continent.

These countries all underscore what I emphasized when I visited Ghana and gave a speech about Africa as a whole -- this is a moment of great opportunity and significant progress in Africa. Politically, the majority of Sub-Saharan African countries are now embracing democracy. Economically, Africa is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world.

And we just had a very productive discussion where we discussed how we can build on both the political progress, the economic progress, and address the security challenges that can continue to confront Africa. And I emphasized that the United States has been and will continue to be a stalwart partner with them in this process of democratization and development.

Despite the impressive work of all these gentlemen, I’ve said before and I think they all agree, Africa does not need strong men; Africa needs strong institutions. So we are working with them as partners to build effective judiciaries, strong civil societies, legislatures that are effective and inclusive, making sure that human rights are protected.

With respect to economic development, all of us agree that we can’t keep on duplicating a approach that breeds dependence, but rather we need to embrace an approach that creates sustainability and capacity within each of these countries, through trade and investment and the development of human capital and the education of young people throughout these countries.

We discussed as well that not only do we want to encourage trade between the United States and each of these respective countries but we want to encourage inter-African and regional trade, and that requires investments in infrastructure in those areas.

We are partners in resolving conflicts peacefully and have worked effectively with ECOWAS and the African Union to resolve crises in the region. And we appreciate very much the assistance that we’ve received on battling terrorism that currently is trying to gain a foothold inside of Africa.

And, finally, we discussed how we can partner together to avert the looming humanitarian crisis in eastern Africa. I think it hasn’t gotten as much attention here in the United States as it deserves. But we’re starting to see famine developing along the Horn of Africa, in areas like Somalia in particular. And that’s going to require an international response, and Africa will have to be a partner in making sure that tens of thousands of people do not starve to death.

So let me just close by saying that many of the countries here are -- either have celebrated or are in the process of celebrating their 50th year of independence. As President Issoufou pointed out, I’m also celebrating my 50th of at least existence. (Laughter.)

And when we think about the extraordinary progress that’s been made, I think there’s much we can be proud of. But of course, when we think about the last 50 years, we also have to recognize there have been a lot of opportunities missed. And so, these leaders I think are absolutely committed to making sure that 50 years from now they can say that they helped to turn the tide in their countries, to establish strong, democratic practices, to help establish economic prosperity and security.

And we just want you to know the United States will stand with you every step of the way.

Thank you very much, everyone. (Applause.)

Angst of Zimbabwe's Exiles

2011-07-23T20:17:00.003Z

While this work ended up in a 3 minute tv report, the way I filmed it and the places I went to could have easily produced a 10 minute look into Zimbabwe's struggling exiled community. I am still finding my way in terms of workflow for television as opposed to documentary or mini-documentary style.

Some of the scenes at the end of the piece touched me very much, and I don't think I would have filmed them the same way if I was not a father.

The Beautiful Game

2011-07-09T01:40:00.003Z

A behind the scenes look at a practice and the motivations of players from the women's Tuks soccer team from South Africa's Pretoria University.

Art Attacks Israel's Wall

2011-07-08T01:05:00.001Z

Artists in the United States depict their vision of the wall separating Israel from Palestinian territories.

Can politics and art mix?

Malabo's Ali G. vs. Obianganator

2011-07-04T23:32:00.002Z

Equatorial Guinea's Obiang Nguema has been trying to refurbish his international image, with a summit, and other endeavors, but Malabo's very own Ali-G will set you straight on what he represents. Link here or if it works below.

China's Commodities Craving

2011-06-27T19:40:00.003Z

A hodge podge type piece looking into some of the effects of China's commodities appetite on the rest of the world, in particular Africa. Is it China colonialism or win win or a bit of both? Link here or watch below if it works.

Michelle Obama's Time to Shine in Soweto

2011-06-22T12:34:00.011Z

Here is a link to my radio/tv piece for Voice of America, and below some pics and full transcript of Michelle Obama's very emotional and history filled speech from the still bullet-marked Regina Mundi church in Soweto, South Africa, where black youth used to hide from protest-breaking police during the apartheid era of white minority rule.

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you so much. It is such a pleasure and an honor to be here with all of you today.

I want to start by thanking Graca Machel for that just gracious, kind introduction. It is overwhelming. And I want to thank her for her lifetime of service as a champion for women and children. And from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for all of the kindness and generosity that you have shown my family for our visit here. Thank you so much. (Applause.)

I am also honored to share the stage with another remarkable leader, Baleka Mbete. (Applause.) She has played a vital role in advancing equality and promoting development here in South Africa. Thank you to the both of you for joining us here for sharing this moment with all of us.

I also want to thank the Archbishop of Johannesburg for honoring us today with his presence.

And of course, I want to recognize our guests of honor –- these 76 extraordinary young women leaders from here in South Africa and across the continent. (Applause.)

These are young women transforming their communities and their countries, and let me tell you I am so impressed by all of them. I am so proud of everything they have achieved.

And finally, I want to thank the leaders and the congregation of Regina Mundi for hosting us in this sacred space today. It has been more than three decades, but those bullet holes in the ceiling, this broken altar still stand as vivid reminders of the history that unfolded here.

And you all know the story –- how 35 years ago this month, a group of students planned a peaceful protest to express their outrage over a new law requiring them to take courses in Afrikaans. Thousands of them took to the streets, intending to march to Orlando Stadium.

But when security forces opened fire, some fled here to this church. The police followed, first with tear gas, and then with bullets.

And while no one was killed within this sanctuary, hundreds lost their lives that day, including a boy named Hector Pieterson, who was just 12 years old, and Hastings Ndlovu, who was just 15.

Many of the students hadn’t even known about the protest when they arrived at school that morning. But they agreed to take part, knowing full well the dangers involved, because they were determined to get an education worthy of their potential.

And as the Archbishop noted, that June day wasn’t the first, or the last, time that this church stood in the crosscurrents of history. It was referred to as “the parliament of Soweto.” When the congregation sang their hymns, activists would make plans, singing the locations and times of secret meetings. Church services, and even funerals, often became anti-Apartheid rallies. And as President Mandela once put it, “Regina Mundi became a world-wide symbol of the determination of our people to free themselves.”

It is a story that has unfolded across this country and across this continent, and also in my country -- the story of young people 20 years ago, 50 years ago, who marched until their feet were raw, who endured beatings and bullets and decades behind bars, who risked, and sacrificed, everything they had for the freedom they deserved.

And it is because of them that we are able to gather here today. It is because of them that so many of these young women leaders can now pursue their dreams. It is because of them that I stand before you as First Lady of the United States of America. (Applause.) That is the legacy of the independence generation, the freedom generation. And all of you -– the young people of this continent -– you are the heirs of that blood, sweat, sacrifice, and love.

So the question today is, what will you make of that inheritance? What legacy will you leave for your children and your grandchildren? What generation will you be?

Now, I could ask these questions of young people in any country, on any continent. But there is a reason why I wanted to come here to South Africa to speak with all of you.

As my husband has said, Africa is a fundamental part of our interconnected world. And when it comes to the defining challenges of our times –- creating jobs in our global economy, promoting democracy and development, confronting climate change, extremism, poverty and disease -- for all this, the world is looking to Africa as a vital partner.

That is why my husband’s administration is not simply focused on extending a helping hand to Africa, but focusing on partnering with Africans who will shape their future by combating corruption, and building strong democratic institutions, by growing new crops, caring for the sick. And more than ever before, we will be looking to all of you, our young people, to lead the way.

And I’m not just saying that to make you all feel good. (Laughter.) The fact is that in Africa, people under 25 make up 60 percent of the population. And here in South Africa, nearly two-thirds of citizens are under the age of 30. So over the next 20 years, the next 50 years, our future will be shaped by your leadership.

And I want to pause for a moment on that word -– leadership -- because I know that so often, when we think about what that word means, what it means to be a leader, we think of presidents and prime ministers. We think of people who pass laws or command armies, run big businesses, people with fancy titles, big salaries.

And most young people don’t fit that image. And I know that often when you try to make your voices heard, sometimes people don’t always listen. I know there are those who discount your opinions, who tell you you’re not ready, who say that you should sit back and wait your turn.

But I am here today because when it comes to the challenges we face, we simply don’t have time to sit back and wait.

I’m here because I believe that each of you is ready, right here and right now, to start meeting these challenges.

And I am here because I know that true leadership -– leadership that lifts families, leadership that sustains communities and transforms nations –- that kind of leadership rarely starts in palaces or parliaments.

That kind of leadership is not limited only to those of a certain age or status. And that kind of leadership is not just about dramatic events that change the course of history in an instant.

Instead, true leadership often happens with the smallest acts, in the most unexpected places, by the most unlikely individuals.

I mean, think about what happened here in Soweto 35 years ago. Many of the students who led the uprising were younger than all of you. They carried signs made of cardboard boxes and canvass sacks. Yet together, they propelled this cause into the consciousness of the world. And we now celebrate National Youth Day and National Youth Month every year in their honor.

I mean, think about the giants of the struggle –- people like Albertina Sisulu, whose recent passing we all mourn. Orphaned as a teenager, she worked as a nurse to support her siblings. And when her husband, Walter Sisulu, became Secretary-General of the ANC, it was up to her to provide for their family. When he was imprisoned for 26 years, it was up to her to continue his work. And that she did. With a mother’s fierce love for this country, she threw herself into the struggle.

She led boycotts and sit-ins and marches, including the 1956 Women’s March, when thousands of women from across this country, converged on Pretoria to protest the pass laws. They were women of every color, many of them not much older than all of you. Some of them carried their babies on their backs. And for 30 minutes, they stood in complete silence, raising their voices only to sing freedom songs like Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica. Their motto was simple, but clear: “If you strike a woman, you strike a rock.” (Applause.)

Ma Sisulu, the students of Soweto, those women in Pretoria, they had little money, even less status, no fancy titles to speak of. But what they had was their vision for a free South Africa. What they had was an unshakeable belief that they were worthy of that freedom –- and they had the courage to act on that belief. Each of them chose to be a rock for justice. And with countless acts of daring and defiance, together, they transformed this nation.

Together they paved the way for free and fair elections, for a process of healing and reconciliation, and for the rise of South Africa as a political and economic leader on the world stage.

Now, I know that as your generation looks back on that struggle, and on the many liberation movements of the past century, you may think that all of the great moral struggles have already been won.

As you hear the stories of lions like Madiba and Sisulu and Luthuli, you may think that you can never measure up to such greatness.

But while today’s challenges might not always inspire the lofty rhetoric or the high drama of struggles past, the injustices at hand are no less glaring, the human suffering no less acute.

So make no mistake about it: There are still so many causes worth sacrificing for. There is still so much history yet to be made. You can be the generation that makes the discoveries and builds the industries that will transform our economies. You can be the generation that brings opportunity and prosperity to forgotten corners of the world and banishes hunger from this continent forever. You can be the generation that ends HIV/AIDS in our time -- (applause) -- the generation that fights not just the disease, but the stigma of the disease, the generation that teaches the world that HIV is fully preventable, and treatable, and should never be a source of shame. (Applause.)

You can be the generation that holds your leaders accountable for open, honest government at every level, government that stamps out corruption and protects the rights of every citizen to speak freely, to worship openly, to love whomever they choose.

You can be the generation to ensure that women are no longer second-class citizens, that girls take their rightful places in our schools. (Applause.)

You can be the generation that stands up and says that violence against women in any form, in any place -- (applause) -- including the home –- especially the home –- that isn’t just a women’s rights violation. It’s a human rights violation. And it has no place in any society.

You see, that is the history that your generation can make.

Now, I have to be honest. Your efforts might not always draw the world’s attention, except for today. (Laughter.) You may not find yourself leading passionate protests that fill stadiums and shut down city streets. And the change you seek may come slowly, little by little, measured not by sweeping changes in the law, but by daily improvements in people’s lives.

But I can tell you from my own experience –- and from my husband’s experience -– that this work is no less meaningful, no less inspiring, and no less urgent than what you read about in the history books.

You see, it wasn’t that long ago that my husband and I were young, believe it or not -- (laugher) -- just starting out our careers. After he graduated from university, Barack got a job as a community organizer in the struggling neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago. A lot of people there were out of work and barely getting by. Children had few opportunities and little hope for their future. And trust me, no one thought that this skinny kid with the funny name -- (laughter) -- could make much of a difference.

But Barack started talking to people. He urged them to start working on the change they wanted to see. Soon, slowly, folks started coming together to fight for job training programs and better schools and safer housing for their families.

Slowly, the neighborhoods started to turn around. Little by little, people started feeling hopeful again. And that made Barack feel hopeful.

And I had a similar experience in my own career. Like my husband, I came from a modest background. My parents saved and sacrificed everything they had so that I could get an education. And when I graduated, got a job at a big, fancy law firm -- nice salary, big office. My friends were impressed. My family was proud. By all accounts, I was living the dream.

But I knew something was missing. I knew I didn’t want to be way up in some tall building all alone in an office writing memos. I wanted to be down on the ground working with kids, helping families put food on the table and a roof over their heads.

So I left that job for a new job training young people like yourselves for careers in public service. I was making a lot less money. My office wasn’t so nice. (Laughter.) But every day, I got to watch those young people gain skills and build confidence. And then I saw them go on to mentor and inspire other young people. And that made me feel inspired. It still does.

See, my husband and I, we didn’t change any laws, we didn’t win any awards, get our pictures in the paper. But we were making a difference in people’s lives. We were part of something greater than ourselves. And we knew that in our own small way, we were helping to build a better world. And that is precisely what so many young people are doing every day across this continent.

These 76 young women are outstanding examples. Take Gqibelo Dandala from here in South Africa. She left a lucrative career in investment banking to found the Future of the African Daughter Project, an organization that lifts up young women in rural and township areas. Of her work, she says: “…we are building a legacy which will outlive and outgrow us…”

And then there’s Robyn Kriel. She’s a young reporter from Zimbabwe who has written about corruption and human rights abuses in her country. She was beaten by police; her home raided, her mother imprisoned. But she still hasn’t lost her passion for reporting, because, as she put it, the people of Zimbabwe “want their stories to be told.”

And then there’s Grace Nanyonga, who joins us today from Uganda. Hey, Grace! (Applause.) You go, girl. (Laughter.) Orphaned at the age of 13, she started cooking and selling fish during her school vacations to support her six siblings. Determined to get an education, she founded her own company, and she made enough money to put herself through university. And she’s now started an organization that trains local women to work at her company so that they can support their own families. (Applause.) Of her achievements, she says, simply -- these are her words -- “I made it against all odds” and “I want to be an example for girls in my country and beyond.”

Now, Grace could have been content to make lots of money, and just provide for her own family. Gqibelo could have climbed the corporate ladder, and never looked back. Where is she? Please stand. Grace got to stand. (Laughter.) Come on, where is she? Is she out there? (Applause.) And no one would’ve blamed Robyn -- where’s Robyn? (Applause.) No one would have blamed Robyn if after all she’d been through she decided to quit reporting and pursue an easier career. But these young women -- and these are just examples of stories that go on and on -- these young women could not be content with their own comfort and success when they knew that other people were struggling.

You see, that’s how people of conscience view the world. It’s the belief, as my husband often says, that if any child goes hungry, that matters to me, even if she’s not my child. (Applause.) If any family is devastated by disease, then I cannot be content with my own good health. If anyone is persecuted because of how they look, or what they believe, then that diminishes my freedom and threatens my rights as well.

And in the end, that sense of interconnectedness, that depth of compassion, that determination to act in the face of impossible odds, those are the qualities of mind and heart that I hope will define your generation.

I hope that all of you will reject the false comfort that others’ suffering is not your concern, or if you can’t solve all the world’s problems, then you shouldn’t even try.

Instead, as one of our great American presidents, Teddy Roosevelt, liked to say, I hope that you will commit yourselves to doing “what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are,” because in the end, that is what makes you a lion. Not fortune, not fame, not your pictures in history books, but the refusal to remain a bystander when others are suffering, and that commitment to serve however you can, where you are.

Now it will not be easy. You women know that already. You will have failures and setbacks and critics and plenty of moments of frustration and doubt. But if you ever start to lose heart, I brought you all here today because I want you to think of each other.

Think about Grace, supporting her family all by herself. And think about Robyn, who endured that beating so she could tell other people’s stories. Think about Ma Sisulu, raising her kids alone, surviving banishment, exile, and prison. When reflecting on her journey, Ma Sisulu once said, with her signature humility, she said, “All these years, I never had a comfortable life.”

So you may not always have a comfortable life. And you will not always be able to solve all the world’s problems all at once. But don’t ever underestimate the impact you can have, because history has shown us that courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own.

It’s what happens when folks start asking questions -- a father asks, “Why should my son go to school, but not my daughter?” Or a mother asks, “Why should I pay a bribe to start a business to support my family?” Or a student stands up and declares, “Yes, I have HIV, and here’s how I’m treating it, and here’s how we can stop it from spreading.”

See, and then soon, they inspire others to start asking questions. They inspire others to start stepping forward.

And those are the “ripples of hope” that a young U.S. senator named Robert Kennedy spoke of when he came here to South Africa 45 years ago this month. In his words, he said, the “numberless diverse acts of courage and belief which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

And that is how a church can become a parliament. That is how a hymn can be a call to action.

That is how a group of young people with nothing more than some handmade signs and a belief in their own God-given potential can galvanize a nation.

And that’s how young people around the world can inspire each other, and draw strength from each other.

I’m thinking today of the young activists who gathered at the American Library here in Soweto to read the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King for their inspiration.

And I’m thinking of how Dr. King drew inspiration from Chief Luthuli and the young people here in South Africa.

And I’m thinking about how young South Africans singing the American civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” in the streets of Cape Town and Durban.

And I’m thinking of how Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica echoed through university campuses in the U.S., as students -– including my husband –- planned boycotts to support students here in South Africa.

And I’m thinking of this church and how those stained windows depicting the struggle were donated by the people of Poland, and how the peace pole in the park outside was donated by people from Japan, and how every week, visitors from every corner of the globe come here to bear witness and draw inspiration from your history.

And finally, I’m thinking of the history of my own country. I mean, America won its independence more than two centuries ago. It has been nearly 50 years since the victories of our own civil rights movement. Yet we still struggle every day to perfect our union and live up to our ideals. And every day, it is our young people who are leading the way. They are the ones enlisting in our military. They’re the ones teaching in struggling schools, volunteering countless hours in countless ways in communities.

And in this past presidential election, they were engaged in our democracy like never before. They studied the issues, followed the campaign, knocked on doors in the freezing snow and the blazing sun, urging people to vote. They waited in line for hours to cast their ballots.

And I have seen that same passion, that same determination to serve in young people I have met all across the world, from India to El Salvador, from Mexico to the United Kingdom to here in South Africa.

So today, I want you to know that as you work to lift up your families, your communities, your countries and your world, know that you are never alone. You are never alone.

As Bobby Kennedy said here in South Africa all those years ago: “…you are joined with fellow young people in every land, they struggling with their problems and you with yours, but all joined in a common purpose…determined to build a better future.”

And if anyone of you ever doubts that you can build that future, if anyone ever tells you that you shouldn’t or you can’t, then I want you to say with one voice –- the voice of a generation –- you tell them, “Yes, we can.” (Applause.) What do you say? Yes, we can. (Applause.) What do you say? Yes, we can!

AUDIENCE: Yes, we can!

MRS. OBAMA: What do you say?

AUDIENCE: Yes, we can!

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you all so much. God bless you. (Applause.)

my silly mug from South Africa

2011-06-21T19:35:00.003Z

discussing the Michelle Obama visit and surprise visit with Nelson Mandela ...

First Visit to Soweto

2011-06-20T18:45:00.007Z

In South Africa for Michelle Obama coverage so got to go to Soweto and see the memorial derived from one of the most sadly iconic pictures in the history of the struggle for human rights.

My own reporting also drew me into thoughts and views of what a youth-led movement should now look like. Does it mean taking over white owned land or getting more women into schools and higher positions in politics and the economy? It's probably not that simple.

A Steady State Student

2011-06-04T22:58:00.004Z

Ive always been intrigued by the anti economic growth movement. They actually have a more positive vocabulary, such as sustainable development theory, or steady state economics. But nonetheless, they seem against monetary growth as the end all be all or even as a main pursuit. John David Evans profiled in my latest mini documentary experimentation here or below has lots of insight and many talents to share.

A Band Leader

2011-05-15T02:21:00.003Z

Many times as a journalist, I have the privilege to showcase some truly amazing individuals. Walter Harley, director of bands, and star of the third part of a mini documentary web video series I did about high school marching bands is one of them.

Battle of the Bands

2011-04-23T01:24:00.005Z

This is one of my mini documentaries where I tried to match some good audio, namely the bands playing at the Oxon Hill invitational, with some spirit, quirky insight and stunning visuals of vibrant life. My favorite part is the lightning quick dancing at the 39 second mark, don't blink because you could miss it ...

Tax Day Angst

2011-04-18T23:53:00.007Z

one man banded this tv story below with DC slice of tax day protests to go along with tea partiers in rest of deficit-addled nation .... Also did a VOA radio story here ...

thinking of a mashup next. It's a crucial issue which is at the basis of the post New Deal society we still live in. Who should get taxed? how much? and for what purpose? Are we a community or is it a Hobbesian environment?

The Ivory Coast "Abu Ghraib" photo

2011-04-12T01:22:00.005Z

People are outraged by this photo (which I touched up for commentary) saying it is degrading Simone Gbagbo, the wife of now finally fallen former President Laurent Gbagbo. I don't even know who took it. It tells many, many stories. You can see the original here.

The devout wife of Mr. Gbagbo had some of the harshest hate speeches during her husband's presidency. She was characterized as representing the warrior wing of his supporters. She also stands accused of leading death squads against Gbagbo opponents and of being behind the disappearance of French-Canadian journalist Guy-Andre Kieffer. She has a long political history in her own right.

What do you think of the photo? If you don't like it, should the photographer not have taken it? Should the news agency not have released it? Why has it gone viral?

A Nuclear Powered Africa? Full Interview included

2011-04-09T00:15:00.013Z

In the post-Japan nuclear emergency environment, I recently looked into prospects for nuclear energy in Africa for VOA here.

It's a crucial issue given Africa's energy needs and the quickly moving nuclear sector, with cheaper and smaller reactors coming on board, even if it has its strong-willed opponents, who wave meltdown flags at any sign of a radiation leak.

For this article I interviewed Dan Yurman, a widely read nuclear energy blogger.

I also had the privilege to interview nuclear scholar Igor Khripunov who wrote a very interesting article on this very topic for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists a few years ago. Listen in below compliments of Sound Cloud.
Igor Khripunov by usnico

Ivory Coast Wildcards and Propaganda

2011-04-03T18:07:00.013Z

Here's a response I wrote to G. Pascal Zachary for an excellent entry he wrote about Ivory Coast in the latest entry of his excellent blog Africa Works.

... I think there's a wildcard in Ivory Coast, Ibrahim Coulibaly,
known as IB, or Djibilan, head of the invisible commandos, and the main military
strategist among the northerners ...

He is much more popular than Ouattara and Soro in the north and was
already behind the 1999 coup (but he preferred to put a westerner Guei in power at the time) and 2002 uprising (but Soro ascended to assuming the rebel's de facto public political presidency).

Until he returned this time around as a commander, there was a total military stalemate which has now moved to key parts of Abidjan, reducing Gbagbo to playing the martyr / hyper southern Christian card.

At one point when there was inter northern rebel squabbling, Soro's
side battled IB's side and won, but after a while Soro and Ouattara called for his return.

I think both Gbagbo and Ouattara are in danger right now and are being
very careful about not appearing too much in public, and letting this
be a conflict between two competing armies, and not getting in the mix too much .... But a third faction could stage a successful coup within the IB ranks and derail both their ambitions.

A more immediate wildcard for Ouattara's sake is if the French rapid reaction forces start using their fighter jets, the Abidjan stalemate could be quickly broken. Otherwise it could take awhile, while massacres, revenge killings and lootings persist ...

In terms of propaganda, Gbagbo is a true master, having kept RTI going from a mobile location, but also appearing very shaken, while his wife Simone in the background of this video seemingly much more confident on the ground she stands ...

Curiously though, in a second video, allegedly filmed a few days later and broadcast by state television RTI, Gbagbo is still wearing the same shirt. Propoganda slip?

What I learned from living in Ivory Coast from 2003 to 2006 is that both sides are very good at trying to spin media, facts and recreating reality through videos and testimonies to their advantage and that everything, especially death tolls and reports of violence must be checked directly.

FULL INTERVIEWS: US Authors Delve Into Congo

2011-03-30T18:44:00.024Z

Jason Stearns - Interview with the author of Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
Instructions: Click link above and press play inside the yourlisten.com play box.

I recently completed a report for the Voice of America, looking at the new book by Jason Stearns, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, along with another book by Lisa Shannon, A Thousand Sisters, which recently came out in paperback. The full interviews offer insights on issues such as how the writers approached the complicated Hutu/Tutsi question, the perspective of perpetrators and victims, how the two writers engage in both traditional and new media, and how the history of U.S. authors looking at the Congo dates back to Mark Twain.

Lisa Shannon - Interview with author of A Thousand Sisters.
Instructions: Click link above and press play inside the yourlisten.com play box.

Interview: City Video Journalism

2011-03-30T18:26:00.006Z

I was very kindly interviewed by a student at City University in London, as part of a nice curation, discussion web site they have about web video journalism. Here's the posting which includes my interview.

It's always interesting to be on the other side of a camera and questioning, although I do think I need to up my seat a bit for the next Skype interview.

Blossoms for Japan's Victims

2011-03-27T14:55:00.004Z

I was working on a radio story about this event but also shot video so decided to go ahead and do a nat sound package. Usually my interests lie more along the lines of in their own words testimonies and not so much imagery-based reporting so it was a bit of a challenge, but still interesting to put together.

Keeping in the spirit of giving a raw, intimate sense of the event, I found the speech of Japan's ambassador to be extremely poignant so decided to use that as the main audio basis.

Making the Band

2011-03-17T22:24:00.004Z

I am working on a new web video series, this time about the Oxon Hill, Maryland, Clippers marching band, and their many challenges and accomplishments.

and here's an impromptu James Bond special

Les 9 fronts de la Cote d'Ivoire

2011-03-06T02:57:00.012Z

1) le front nord/sud -- a environ 40 kilometres au sud de la principale ligne de front rebelles Forces Nouvelles / groupes armes du president (pour certains sortant) Laurent Gbagbo, etablie depuis les evenements de coupure de 2002, se trouve Yamoussoukro. C'est la le front le plus strategique. Pour Alassane Ouattara, le vainqueur reconnu par l'Onu et les puissances occidentales, s'etablir comme le nouveau president a Yamoussokro serait un pas decisif, beaucoup plus judicieux que d'etre president de la "Republique du Golf" du nom de l'hotel abidjanais encercle par l'ONU et les Forces Nouvelles ou il se trouve actuellement. Il serait question de manoeuvres Forces Nouvelles pour encercler Yamoussoukro. Le nord, alimente en eau et electricite gratuites depuis 2002, en est maintenant periodiquement coupe, et devient de plus en plus en proie a une grave crise humanitaire.

2) le front a l'ouest -- le plus terrible de la guerre entamee en 2002 qui s etait terminee dans le Grand Ouest seulement en 2005, avec en opposition milices, mercenaires qui debordent des deux cotes de la frontiere avec le Liberia, et meme a un moment donne la Legion etrangere. C'est au sud de ce front que se trouve la route du cacoa. C'est dans cette region que les milices sont les plus tenaces, les tensions ethniques les plus vives, et les recrutements de combattants les plus faciles. L'attention des medias est plutot sur Abidjan mais les combats a l'ouest font rage et cette ligne de front evolue rapidement.

3) le front a Abidjan -- les quartiers pro-Ouattara investis par des soi-disant "commandos mystiques" ou certains voient les mains du General Ibrahim Coulibaly, de tous les coups en Cote d'Ivoire. C'est lui le putchiste qui en 1999 a permis de renverser l'ancien president Henri Konan Bedie (troisieme du premier tour de l'election 2010 et dont l'alliance avec Ouattara pese tres lourd). A l'epoque, plutot que de prendre le pouvoir, IB avait prefere y mettre le feu General Robert Guei, un natif de l'ouest. Soit dit en passant la mort de Guei a Abidjan en 2002 reste non elucidee et montre a quel point dans la capitale economique, la violence y est souvent inexpliquee ou mafieuse. Le front a Abidjan est le plus peuple, et grouille de jeunes patriotes avec leurs barrages patriotiques, et leur opposition a l'ONU qui est devenue organisation non grata dans le "gbagboland" de la rue.

4) le front mediatique -- La marche reprimee sur la RTI, television nationale, le 16 decembre a montre la limite d'un possible mouvement a la "people power". Ouattara a maintenant sa television, la TCI, mais son impact est limite. Les journalistes sont attaques de toutes parts. Les plumes de la haine se remettent en evidence dans la "titrologie" des quotidiens ivoiriens en vente et en ligne.

5) le front financier -- le cacao sous embargo fuit maintenant par le Ghana et le Burkina, alimentant les reseaux des deux rivaux. Avec les banques fermees et/ou nationalisees et sans signature a la Banque Centrale de la BCEAO combien de temps les salaires des forces armees et fonctionaires de Gbagbo pourront ils etre payes? Entre temps, les prix grimpent et les populations souffrent. Meme les Western Union et Moneygram sont fermes. Deja sujette a une penurie de monnaie, maintenant, la Cote d'Ivoire n a plus de billets.

6) le front ideologique -- Ouattara met en avant ses capacites dans le domaine de l'economie, son passe de banquier international et son serieux pour sortir la Cote d'Ivoire de son declin economique. Gbagbo lui fait valoir son heritage socialiste, il reste ami d ailleurs avec certains socialistes francais, les Henri Emmanuelli, Francois Loncle, Albert Bourgi, Guy Labertit, et les Roland Dumas, ceux qui disent non a la Francafrique coute que coute. Comme les Chavez et les Morales, il se positionne a l'anti-these des diktats des institutions et banque internationales, meme si des contrats passent avec des Bouygues et autres. Gbagbo, par son language, est tres apprecie par le mouvement de renaissance africaine dont un des chefs de file est l'ancien president Sud-Africain Thabo Mbeki, un mouvement qui prend de l ampleur parmi les etudiants et professeurs en Afrique, notamment au Cameroun, ou le pro-francais Paul Biya se veut president a vie. Gbagbo partage des arguments et methodes de Robert Mugabe, pour se battre pour une deuxieme independance. Celle-ci est-elle veritable ou instrumentalisee pour rester au pouvoir?

7)le front juridique-- le clan Ouattara voudrait envoyer Gbagbo jouer au ping pong avec les Charles Taylor et Jean Pierre Bemba enfermes a La Haye (ce qui poserait probleme car c'est Gbagbo lui meme qui a en partie aide a chasser Taylor avec les forces MODEL de l'ouest ivoirien). Le clan Gbagbo paye Jacques Verges et Roland Dumas pour montrer que la decision du conseil constitutionel et de son proche allie Paul Yao Ndre lui donnant la victoire tient la route juridiquement.

8) le front diplomatique -- en plus des nommes ci-dessus Gbagbo garde beaucoup d appuis, de par son passe d ancien militant pour la democratie et sa loyaute pour tous ceux qui croient en lui -- Angola, Cap-Vert, Ghana, Afrique du Sud, Mossad qui garde un oeil sur Hezbollah parmi les Libanais d Abidjan, et a une moindre echelle, la Chine, la Russie qui ont aussi des accords economiques avantageux avec le regime en place. Ouattara lui a ses appuis occidentaux et trois ambassades notables sous sa coupe, France, Etats-Unis, ONU, d autres passations d'un camp a l'autre sont en cours comme a Ottawa ou a Londres. L'appui principal du camp Ouattara est le Nigeria, qui preside actuellement la CEDEAO, le groupe regional ouest-africain, et qui a fait savoir a plusieurs reprises qu'avec un mandat de l'ONU il devrait etre envisageable d'autoriser une force externe pour deloger Laurent Gbagbo ... mais le Nigeria a sa propre election prevue en avril et le Nigeria non plus n'a jamais eu d'elections qui n'ont pas ete chaotiques. Au finish sont censes trancher un panel de chef d'etats de l'Union Africaine, mene par un putchiste le Mauritanien Ould Abdel Aziz, avec deux autres putchistes Deby et Compaore, le Sud-Africain Zuma proche de Gbagbo, il reste le Tanzanien Kikwete.

9)finalement le front generationnel, existe t-il?-- a quand le ras-le-bol de la violence, de l'ancienne generation accrochee au pouvoir, du refus des accolytes Soro et Ble Goude instruits au militantisme acharne, et de l'arrivee de la nouvelle generation, instruite a l'informatique et les nouvelles technologies, portee vers le progres et pour une Cote d'Ivoire qui depasse toutes les histoires d'ivoirite, de rebellion, de commandos mystiques, d'anciennes rivalites ethniques basees sur des royaumes d'antan, de Francafrique ou de renaissance africaine pour finalement respirer, unie et apaisee dans un pays moderne, ouvert et serein avec son identite.

MASHUP: America's Budget Wars

2011-03-01T01:45:00.005Z

Tried a little mashup style to illustrate the current budget wars in America, where rhetoric is sharp and union-busting proposals are decried or applauded. The debate comes amid fears and indifference over growing gaps between rich and poor.

US Union Push Back

2011-02-27T01:41:00.002Z

It's not just the Tea Partiers taking to the streets, even if mainstream media has been a bit obsessed by their every movement.

Today, Saturday, the pro-union crowd in Washington, D.C., joined nationwide protests in the spirit of the Wisconsin push back against anti-union proposals. I caught up with them and compiled this tv report.

Why ADO needs Yamoussoukro

2011-02-25T23:23:00.013Z

If the pro-Ouattara Forces Nouvelles rebels gain Yamoussoukro, which is technically the capital, Ouattara could base himself there giving him much more legitimacy within Ivory Coast, and in front of other African leaders, who are now post-election panelists in the face of Gbagbo's denial he lost elections last year.

His "we or we win" quote is now approaching Charles Taylor's "I killed your ma, I killed your pa, now vote for me," campaign slogan. Will Gbagbo one day join Taylor he helped push out with MODEL in the international dock? That's a fate he wants to avoid, and a bargaining chip the panelists don't have since as everyone knows those promises of amnesty were broken precisely with Taylor.

So far there has been sporadic shooting in Yamoussoukro, a symbol if there is one of Ivorian history gone awry. Some of the already emptied out population could easily be swayed to live under FN-rule for a while, especially if Ouattara also installed himself there. As analysts have pointed out, he has done little to reach out to Gbagbo's side and that could begin to change. Looking presidential from Yamoussoukro would be easier than from the Golf Hotel. It's also a swing political area, which voted for Ouattara in the second round.

So far, the main front of the renewed civil war is in the west, which saw fighting until 2005, and saw back and forth gains and losses, and fighting by pro-Gbagbo militias, Liberian mercenaries and the French foreign legion.

In the lastest fighting, Gbagbo's side said they retreated strategically in the west after losing Zouan-Hounien and Bin-Houye. Will the FN take over Toulepleu next? Gains in the west lead to more cocoa rich areas, re-involvement of Liberian mercenaries and roads to San Pedro, but anyway most cocoa is now being smuggled out.

There's also Guiglo in the way, which has some of the fiercest pro-Gbagbo militias.

Where are the UN and French rapid reaction forces? The Gbagbo side is accusing them and will accuse them more and more of colluding with Ouattara's side.

The most important front though is the north/south one. If the rebels can move into the south that would be very significant, but if war was to be avoided, all the protagonists are to blame including the United Nations.

The scariest front is the one in pro-Ouattara neighborhoods of Abidjan.

I think Ouattara's side is very disappointed in the African panel of leaders, especially Zuma who seems to be siding with Gbagbo in the footsteps of behind the scenes African heavyweight Angola ... In Abidjan there is also the issue of the South African navy boat close by.

The Ouattara side may be forcing the issue with violence and trying to see if they can rival Gbagbo's army, and/or force an outside intervention which would help them topple Gbagbo ...

Not that I'm keeping a scorecard, but the "international community" created an unhealthy tie peace for nine years in Ivory Coast, now it's more or less FN, international banks, ADO, UN, election commission, western powers, Nigeria vs. Mangou's army, Gbagbo, militias, Gbagbo's hardliners including Ble Goude, Gbagbo's wife, constitutional council, Angola, South Africa, tacit support from Russia, Israel, China, usual suspects of conspiracy theorists, African renaissance movers and shakers, pan-Africanists.

A Homecomer's Confession

2011-02-18T22:42:00.001Z

The final part of a web video series I have been working on about ex-con Eddie B. Ellis Jr. who is now out for good, helping himself and others affected by the U.S. incarceration system change for the better.

Inspiration: another fauxcumentary CATFISH

2011-02-16T19:29:00.005Z

However minute the morsels of thruth and annoying the central character as well as the consistent bad/good camera and plugs for google maps and searches, catching up with CATFISH was worthwhile in discovering a brilliant piece of scriptwriting and editing execution, as well as an interesting foray into a weird virtual story gone weirder when confronted to an equally imagined reality.

It's also in some parts a good parody of the documentary genre. This review does a good job in out catfishing CATFISH, a title which comes from the quote of the movie, which makes almost the entire movie worth watching.

And that's what surprised me, despite all the annoyance, and the self-evidence of the sleuths and voyeurs we all can now become, transfiguring even our own cores, this fauxcumentary is immensely watchable and an effective exercise in making a thought-provoking movie on the cheap.

Inspiration: Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop

2011-02-10T15:04:00.010Z

This is a movie rat, much like Banksy's trademark mural one, and a brilliant one.

A faux-documentary, an autobiographical mockumentary, a comedy with an incredible actor Mister Brainwash "MBW" (who deserves a Best Actor nod), it is also an inside look at street graffiti turned high art, and all the trappings and potential and techniques that entails. Would it still work if you knew it was a montage from start to finish? Isnt everything in a way?

So Mr. Brainwash who continues his "career" is Banksy's fake Saddam basically, who allows the elusive Banksy to parody himself, even in art. When you are buying a "MBW" piece, you are buying a fake Banksy done by Banksy himself, or rather a Bansky acolyte working for him, as Banksy has become an art industry. This is sheer brilliance. Next up, an "MBW" impersonator?

My only disappointment is that when Mr. Brainwash explains his film editing technique, basically ... you just take a tape, take a moment there, zap it in, take another moment from another tape, zap it in ... that that isn't true either, since that's my own style of film editing. Also Banksy's painted elephant in the room at his art premiere should have been left in terms of movie lore for The Party by Peter Sellers and in actual reality in peace wherever the poor mammal came from.

I never understood why Sacha Baron Cohen who got a Golden Globe for Best Actor in "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan", also didn't get a Best Documentary nomination for an Oscar, as is the case for Banksy's cinematic tour de street force. Perhaps there will be a Borat vs. MBW movie one day.

In that battle, I still take Borat and Cohen, because there is honesty there, and they take themselves even less seriously.

Musings on Technology and Africa

2011-02-05T22:21:00.008Z

This recent forum by the Boston Review in which One Laptop per Child's Nicholas Negroponte took a lot of heat for his near messianic beliefs in the promises of his own laptops in the hands of any child piqued my interest in trying a few analytical pieces about technology and Africa for my employer, the Voice of America.

video platform video management video solutions video player

Walking around my newsroom in Washington, I was surprised that most other journalists had very cozy feelings about the One Laptop Per Child initiative.

To get a more learned and realistic view, I called G. Pascal Zachary from Africa Works, who also happens to teach a class on the very topic of technology and Africa at Arizona State University.

One of his main points is that Africans don't need outside do-gooders to force upon them products that quickly become overrun but rather solutions to unreliable electricity supply.

Download this link if you want to listen to the full conversation, which also includes a good rebuttal to Negroponte's view and insight into Kenya's successful foray into mobile money.

Black Pilots of America

2011-02-04T22:49:00.002Z

In the spirit of Black History Month, looking into past and present discrimination against black pilots.

Inspiration: Okie Noodling

2011-01-28T14:47:00.012Z

I was thinking of going to the movies last night, but despite all the Oscar buzz didnt find anything Id want to spend money on, so instead I watched the latest Netflix arrival Okie Noodling, a 2001 one hour documentary about barehanded catfish grabbling in the murky waters of Oklahoma.

The film director, Oklahoman, Flaming Lips video sidekick genius Bradley Beesley, did a noodling trick himself, pulling out from near obscurity an extreme activity which had had 15 minutes of fame through school custodian Jerry "Catfish" Rider who had appeared on the David Letterman show in the late 1980s and even toured India, finding other bare handers, and creating for the sake of the movie, an Okie Noodling tournament, which continues to this day.

Since then, Beesley has also gone back out in the water to shoot much more noodling, including this underwater catch in HD video.

In the movie, I found especially poignant Rider's story. Unlike many of the other noodlers, who often go out with family and extended family, he is a solitary figure. When noodling time comes, he says he turns into an animal, although one who goes in the water with his jeans and sneakers. On the day of the tournament, he adds duct tape around his hand which had just been bitten the previous day by a copper snake. The high water conditions aren't right it seems for his kind of spots, so he apparently returns home empty handed, resigned to the reality that even though he may have been a media legend for a while, with heroic imagery of him Jesus like, wading out of the water, with catfish swinging on strings on his back, there are other noodlers out there even better than him.

The movie shows how women shy away from the practice, preferring to watch for danger from their speedboat, but in years since a "Girls Gone Grabblin" DVD series has also started.

The original Okie Noodling movie reminded me of the 1997 classic Hands on a Hard Body documentary about a sleep deprivation tournament to get a pickup truck or some early Errol Morris work on strange inhabitants of the swamplands of Vernon, Florida, but I find Beesley's work is more even handed about the characters he portrays, without any hint of condescension, perhaps because, as the final scene attests, he is one of the noodlers himself.

Inspiration: Photo Montage / Gigi Bio

2011-01-27T16:31:00.011Z

I was recently struck by some of the work by neoartist Gigi Bio who does colorful, breaking down barriers dreamy mashups, montages, collages of her own city photography and perceptions in what she has recently called THE_URBAN_RECONSTRUCTIONIST_SERIES.

Her website is here.

She has a show coming up in Maryland, Saturday, January 29th, from 7pm – 11pm with a "BIOMORPHIC" Mural Installation ...

Art Whino Gallery
122 Waterfront St.
National Harbor, MD 20745

(Bilingual) Cancer and Love in the African Diaspora

2011-01-26T23:25:00.003Z

Here is an inspirational mini doc video story I did about Ma Diakite, an Ivory Coast national, who helps other women from the African diaspora in the United States deal with breast cancer.

I did two versions one in English

and one in French

Sudan's new south?

2011-01-25T20:09:00.005Z

In all the reporting that's been done about Sudan's referendum, I've found very little has been done on what is happening in what will become Sudan's new south ...

This includes Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan where so-called public consultations are taking place. There are many opponents to Khartoum in these areas, both political and armed, while pro-Khartoum nomads pass through in large numbers.

Yesterday, I explored the topic in a radio report for Voice of America.

Here is a link to the full audio of the report, which include several quotes from the USIP's Jason Gluck who has worked very hard on this issue.

Inspiration: The Sartorialist on Vimeo

2011-01-24T17:22:00.003Z

This is a style Ive been trying with my own equipment, means, subject matters ...

the in their own words mini web documentary with slices of life and work style about a worthy person

Here it's been done very beautifully about fashion photographer/blogger Scott Schuman who snaps both on catwalks and on the streets for the benefit of his own old school The Sartorialist blog.

The Sartorialist from Amsterdam Worldwide on Vimeo.

Inspiration: The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears

2011-01-20T15:41:00.006Z

Just finished reading this wonderful, melancholic book by Dinaw Mengestu about an Ethiopian immigrant gliding through life running a decaying corner store in a gentrifying neighborhood of D.C., selling chips and gum to blacks and bottled water to whites, while entertaining his enchanted neighbor, a half African half American little girl.

The book is sprinkled with literary and historical references to show perhaps that even the little stories down our block have great meaning and also fit into the histories of what America and Africa have been and continue to be, marked by arrivals on one end and departures on the other.

It also explores the very interesting terrain of a love story that almost was between the narrator, the dreaming shopkeeper and the girl's American mother, a professor in the middle of yet another midlife crisis.

It is also a story about a perpetual reader and escapist who seemingly does not wish to disturb the many worlds he crosses, but finds himself near the center of conflict between developers working for the wealthy and repeatedly uprooted people getting severed once again due to economic inferiority, played out on a micro level.

Inspiration: The New World

2011-01-20T02:42:00.012Z

As part of developing my visual culture, I wanted to watch movies by Terrence Malick, of which I’d already seen Badlands, my own myth of American freedom.

The one that arrived in Netflix was “The New World”, which he’d been working on apparently at least in his head since the 1970s. It was an Avatar movie without the special effects before Avatar, which I havent seen. "The New World" is not a documentary per say, but it is a historical movie, and one that recreates with a perception of reality as a basis, which is as close a definition of a documentary that I would have.

This movie is about Jamestown, Virginia 1600s settler John Smith and the myth of his possibly pedophile attraction toward Pocahontas and her own possible infatuation with him, which may or may not have been, probably not, but is now part of American lore, for better or for worse. The new world's Adam and Eve story that could have been but wasn't.

Notwithstanding the artistic license and the treaded subject, the movie quickly and effectively recreates important American moments, with beautiful sweeping scenes of undulating nature and bodies, with an abundance of trees on both sides of the Atlantic, from which a purposely unsteady camera rushes in, around, from below and through, theater like caricatures of the desperate settlers and spiritual Native Americans, balletic fight scenes, rumblings and sighs from inside the gruff Smith and the sensuous Pocahontas, which together raise many questions about what was the land we now call America and what it has become.

There is little dialogue, it is almost a silent movie, but you can feel the change happening with a thud.

You can also feel the pain when Pocahontas who goes on to marry a tobacco pioneer first wears a tight corset and uncomfortable shoes on enclosed prison-like settled land that is quickly being transformed by the newcomers heavy hands.

But you can also see the possibilities of cinema as an art to reclaim and mythologize a past that perhaps never was, much like Badlands.

Credit goes to Malick for being a dreamer of better worlds, a poet with a camera, and warning us against where we are going, by showing us where we might have been.

Embattled Ouattara Speaks to US

2011-01-14T17:15:00.013Z

(a president who so far only controls the Golf Hotel in Abidjan)

Main Bullet Points from his pleas at CSIS today in Washington

Use of Force is Needed Six Weeks into Crisis
Gbagbo Only Has 2,000 Core Armed Backers, with Weapons Stashed at Presidency, Republican Guard, His Residency
Blocking West African Bank Has Not Worked Yet
Foreign Companies like Cargill, ADM should not pay taxes to Gbagbo's Government, and any taxes paid should be paid again at a later date ...

PART I

PART II

Here is my full VOA report which I dont think made it to the web

At a conference organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Mr. Ouattara accused Mr. Gbagbo of using his extra time in office to arm and finance his supporters, including alleged Liberian mercenaries, who have been carrying out raids in pro-Ouattara neighborhoods in the main Ivorian city Abidjan to suppress any people power movement.

Mr. Ouattara who spoke via web video link from the Golf Hotel in Abidjan where he is under U.N. peacekeeper protection called Mr. Gbagbo's government a fascist regime which uses terror. He also accused his political rival of using the state broadcaster RTI as what he called hate television, and said he was trying to set up his own television.

Mr. Ouattara said he was trying to use his experience in the United States, including a stint as the International Monetary Fund deputy managing director, to bring democracy to Ivory Coast.

"I really want Cote d'Ivoire to benefit from my experience and I will do everything for this country to get out of this crisis peacefully and to show that democracy can be implemented in Africa and that this will lead to economic growth, to social growth and that Africans will be proud to have a country, a continent, where it is important to count for the rest of the world."

International pressure, including removing Mr. Gbagbo's ambassadors and individual sanctions, have been piling on Mr. Gbagbo since the Ivorian constitutional council threw out votes from the Ivory Coast rebel-held north and overturned results which gave Mr. Ouattara victory in the November 28th presidential election.

Both men then held competing swearing-in ceremonies saying they were both the rightful president of cocoa-rich Ivory Coast.

Mr. Ouattara has tried to have the West African regional bank block Mr. Gbagbo's access to the Ivorian account but he says this has not been successful yet.

"The governor, as well as the national director, and the deputy national director of the Central Bank in Cote d'Ivoire do not give clear messages to the banks and to companies on how to deal with the Gbagbo regime."

He also called foreign cocoa, coffee and oil-producing companies to stop paying taxes to Mr. Gbagbo's government, which he called illegitimate.

"We are working on that. We have had several meetings with the major petroleum companies abroad and all these cocoa-business companies to tell them that if they pay export taxes to the Gbagbo government we will consider that these taxes are due when the situation gets normalized so they should not pay taxes to the Gbagbo government. Of course, they have problems because Mr. Gbagbo uses the military forces to go and intimidate them and this is a major problem of security for most of them."

Mr. Ouattara also said the international community should not shy away from the possible use of force to remove Mr. Gbagbo.

"I feel that extracting him should not be difficult. Mr. Gbabo's group of people protecting him are about 2,000 and they are the ones who have all the arms, the arms are with them at the presidential palace, his residence and at the Republican Guard."

Mr. Gbagbo has warned that if there is any move to remove him by force, this could lead to all-out civil war. Both Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. Ouattara have both said they are willing to have a government of national unity, as long as they are president.

Last year's election was supposed to end the division of Ivory Coast between the rebel-held north and government-run south but instead has exacerbated tensions and led to dozens of deaths.

A Homecomer's Family Ordeal

2011-01-11T00:13:00.003Z

Behind every convict in prison, there is a person's family and many trials and tribulations. As part of a web video series I am doing about ex-con Eddie Ellis, this traces some of the challenges Eddie's family faced as he went to and came out of 15 years of prison.

Sudan Warnings

2011-01-05T21:28:00.003Z

Most reporting has been extremely positive lately about Sudan's referendum, but while Omar al-Bashir plays nice, as I point out in this report I did for VOA, it seems to me Abyei and border demarcation will be problems, and the murky China versus U.S. possibilities in the new south Sudan also could lead to tensions ...

one web tag unfortunately identified the wrong person too early in the report ...

A Homecomer On the Rebound

2011-01-01T19:27:00.002Z

This is an inspirational mini documentary about ex-convict Eddie Ellis who once dreamed of becoming a pro athlete but instead spent 15 years in jail and now helps others avoid his fate.

Confrontation at Ivory Coast Embassy Washington

2010-12-31T02:36:00.004Z

As part of the slowly emerging battle of the embassies around the world between Laurent Gbagbo and Alasanne Ouattara, I was on hand with my video camera for this, the first confrontation of the sort in Washington.

Surprising how much truth was told so quickly and with humor by the protesters to the military guards behind the glass, a situation which removed from the dangers of Ivory Coast seems harmless but reflects a crazy reality of a country with rival presidencies, one backed by his army, the other by half the country and most of the rest of the world after another chaotic African election.

Ivory Coast Interview

2010-12-28T22:45:00.010Z

As part of analysis coverage on Ivory Coast this week for Voice of America, Ive been interviewing Africa experts, bloggers, sociologists, anthropologists here in the United States.

One of the experts Ive interviewed is G. Pascal Zachary who writes the very prescient Africa Works blog.

In a story today I titled Mediators Face Gbagbo Blockade but which editors changed to a more lukewarm Mediators Finding No Progress in Ivory Coast Dispute I explained how many close Ivory Coast watchers thought the whole election culmination which has led to a messy situation with rival presidents was a flawed process to begin with.

I used this quote by Zachary criticizing the U.N-led approach in divided Ivory Coast ...

"There is no real effort on the part of these outsiders to understand anything about Ivory Coast. It is all just, here is a technical process, just follow it but you see the shortcomings of that. It is both promising but also the difficulties that (Mr.) Ouattara will face if he does take full control of the government are not trivial, that the longer that this stalemate goes on the more that is a possible outcome, that people will just say, hey the world is a very messy place right now, let us just abandon Ivory Coast to this dysfunctional politics because one thing that a lot of African countries have shown and I think Ivory Coast has shown it as well is that commercial life can sometimes prove surprisingly resilient in the face of a political breakdown."

It's a long quote, longer than what most mainstream media would go for. But I thought it did an excellent job of conveying a lot of information which is often passed over by the so-called "international community." Does this "entity" really want to solve problems?

Since the interview, the Young Patriots (seen above) have decided to cancel their planned protest this week (it seems the Gbagbo camp has no interest in making the situation become more violent at this point) and Gbagbo counter-attacked by threatening to expel diplomats from countries that would recognize a Ouattara appointment in their own country.

Here is the full interview I conducted with G. Pascal Zachary with many more morsels of what I would call fine analysis (a little patience is required as it starts 10 seconds in ...)

Predicting Much More Ivorian Chaos

2010-12-19T02:36:00.008Z

Someone asked me to predict what would happen in Ivory Coast.

Sunday could be bad ... as Young Patriots plan to gather near the Abidjan airport close to where French rapid reaction troops are based.

Gbagbo seems to come up with a new strategy every other day.

In Abidjan, the pro-Gbagbo forces have the definite edge right now. Economic sanctions mean nothing for Gbagbo.

The French rapid reaction force is the only force which can defeat his forces and take control of the city, but will they want to do that and appear as colonialists, as well as risk a few of their own lives?

Maybe with help from Nigerian soldiers?

Gbagbo is trying to push them in that direction. I fear he will attack UN peacekeepers more and more, attack the north, attack the Golf Hotel, attack northerners in Abidjan, to either retake control through chaos or go down as a martyr of France and external forces.

There are problems with Liberian civilians and combatants in both the west and the south. Angola still fully supports Gbagbo, who is trying to deploy an attack helicopter soon, and could get some more tanks.

Ouattara is still working on the financial card, by having the BCEAO West African bank (which is headed by the brother of a main rebel backer) block the Ivorian account, but it doesnt seem that has happened yet.

Sadly, I think there will be more and more violence, foreigners will flee or be evacuated and the French and UN will act militarily. If it loses Abidjan, which has never happened in recent years despite a few attempts, the Gbagbo supporters, of which there are many, will be extremely pissed. The anger I see from their side is chilling.

Fears of a Rwanda repeat are not exaggerated.

Young Patriots Back in Action in Ivory Coast

2010-12-18T18:55:00.004Z

The Charles Ble Goude led Young Patriots are back in action in Abidjan ... tmrw Sunday in Port Bouet they will show their new mettle ... as they are now more than ever against the world. How will history judge them? Will they win again?

here's a report I did about them in a previous battle they fought and won. Ble Goude promised that if he smelled something wrong he would be back out. He's now minister in a government rejected by Ivorian voters (if you include the north) and more and more by the international community (whose UN troops and French rapid reaction force have been asked to leave)

Other worrisome topics currently, the Liberian/Ivorian movements on the western border. What is the West African regional bank now headed by an Ivorian, but not a Gbagbo ally as Gbagbo tried, up to?

The current head is actually the brother of Gbagbo's former financier who became a rebel financier.

Risky Chess Game in Divided Abidjan

2010-12-13T18:59:00.017Z

Over the weekend, there were reports Alassane Ouattara's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro (also the country's rebel leader) was planning a move to occupy the prime minister's offices in Abidjan with his bodyguards (i.e. rebels, or former rebels, however you want to call them, who are based in Abidjan), while his ministers would try to do the same at other buildings with other rebels. Real gets would be state television, the port, the airport, customs offices and foreign embassies.

Not only do the rebels now occupy the north, they now have a president they support recognized by the international community, who won an election of a united Ivory Coast. But with Gbagbo still in control in Abidjan and the south, Ivory Coast is anything but united, and now a turf war begins in Abidjan.

As ever the counter puncher, today Gbagbo established a cordon of his loyalists on the roads leading to Ouattara's Abidjan headquarters, the Golf Hotel, where his allies come and go, both old ones and potential new ones. The "blockade" was quickly lifted, but it showed what Gbagbo could do, and how he was probably testing a new strategy.

Now the game has changed and the stakes are raised for Ouattara who finds himself back on the defensive.

Ever since the first peace accords in late 2002 with the rebels (who have been seeking an end to northerners being treated as second class citizens), Gbagbo has repeatedly gone on the offense, using his military, militias, young Patriots, and the constitution to block a rebel and outside world offensive against his now 10-year rule, all based on implementation delays and flawed elections.

Gbagbo still holds state media, the port, the southern army, oil and most cocoa fields. Will he keep his grip on these, and will it be enough?

How long will he be able to play this game, as prices and nervousness rise in Abidjan?

US Toughens Stance on Ivory Coast

2010-12-11T02:31:00.020Z

the dividing line into rebel-held northern Ivory Coast

Words and suspensions, do they make a difference? Calls for unelected Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo to leave power, vague threats of travel sanctions and freezing bank accounts of members of his government... What about economic sanctions, including forcing foreign-owned companies to stop operating in Ivory Coast? What about not recognizing Ivorian diplomats at any diplomatic mission in the world? Invitations of the Ivorian protagonists to the White House? Threats of the International Criminal Court? Hectic negotiations? Seeking Nigeria's help? Sending Obasanjo in? What real levers do the United States have to make Laurent Gbagbo actually leave power?

French rapid reaction force in divided Ivory Coast

So far, the "international community" has helped create an awkward tie in Ivory Coast, helping freeze the conflict and leaving the country divided in two, first in late 2002, and then in 2004, both times with French intervention and US support of those actions. Compaore and Gaddafi have both played murky roles as usual. The only people power march attempt way back in 2003 was quickly squashed and turned into a massacre. Expensive voting produced Ouattara as the winner of an Ivory Coast if you include its north but so far president of just his Golf Hotel compound, and rebels still in control of the north as they have been since 2002, with a little coffee, cotton, gold, and embargoed diamonds, but not the pineapple, coconuts, cocoa, oil and direct port access. By the way, some of the fiercest battles in the Ivorian conflict were fought by Liberian rebels and the French foreign legion over the route to the San Pedro port in the side wild west conflict. This has often been ignored by many outside media, who always bring up the initial north/south war (was it a coup attempt or northern soldiers retreating? who killed former military ruler Robert Guei and did that killing precipitate events or follow them?), also forgetting the brief Ivory Coast/France war on Ivorian soil in 2004.

Western militia are ready for another fight

Without furter ado, now that I've had my say here is transcript from today's State Department briefing ...

*QUESTION:* I have a question on Ivory Coast. The Secretary yesterday talked about this letter from President Obama warning of consequences if he did not step down. What’s in it for him if he does?

*MR. CROWLEY:* Well, as you know, the hallmark of democratic and effective governance is the peaceful transfer of power. It is something that we take for granted here in the United States, but it is by no means a certainty in other parts of the world, including in the Ivory Coast, where President Gbagbo is already five years past his designated term in office.

President Gbagbo, like others in the neighborhood in the recent past, whether it’s Guinea-Conakry here recently and other countries over the past few years, he has the opportunity to be a statesman. He has the opportunity to make a significant mark in the future of the Ivory Coast, to demonstrate that -- to the region -- that there can be peaceful transfer of power, just as there has been in other countries, including Ghana.

You look at a country like Ghana. From a courageous decision several years ago, you now have an economy that is moving forward, economic growth in that kind of country, because with that kind of political stability, that’s the climate that brings significant government support and private sector investment. Cote d’Ivoire is a country with resources, but what is absent is commitment to democracy and to the kind of stability that can make a meaningful difference in the lives of its citizens.

So the President just charted out there are two paths for the Ivory Coast: One is greater integration in the region and around the world and international cooperation; and the other is increasing isolation.

*QUESTION:* And can you just confirm whether or not the President offered him a visit to the White House? And then also, what sort of contacts have you had with President Gbagbo?

*MR. CROWLEY:* The President has sent a letter to him. Beyond that, I know that, through our ambassador, Phillip Carter, and through our intrepid assistant secretary, Johnnie Carson, we are closely monitoring the situation. I can’t point to any particular dialogue that we have had with President Gbagbo this week, except for the President’s letter.

*QUESTION:* And the Defense Consultative Talks, who from State is participating in the DCT over at the Pentagon? The Pentagon said there were some State officials participating, Flournoy and others, in the Defense Consultative Talks.

*MR. CROWLEY:* Yes, I will be happy to check on that. I don’t know.

Inspiration and Review: Katanga Business

2010-12-08T15:33:00.012Z

Just watched Katanga Business by Thierry Michel a complex social, economic, political investigative documentary which weaves back in forth between main players in the mineral-rich Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including politicians, Chinese emissaries with their fat wallets and distinctively abrupt style of business, Belgian industrial holdovers from an era of colonial horse shows in the tropics, corrupt customs officials who work short hours, downtrodden artisanal diggers and union organizers who get dispersed by Samurai looking riot police, western "angel" investors and executives called in to revitalize an up and down industry.

Unlike his American contemporary, Michael Moore, who is also an effective witness of our time, Michel, a Belgian with a particular affection for the Congo, does not shove a premise or his own gloating down a viewer's throats, preferring long scenes with lots of natural sound to show a character's flaws and twitches especially in times of pomp, ceremony, negotiation or presentation, giving them the necessary time to bury themselves in their own humanity.

The viewer is left as a witness of mad globalization as it unravels starring a reverse Obama, half-Jewish Italian-Congolese businessman turned governator Moise Katumbi, Katanga's second big Moise, after the first (Moise Tsjombe) who declared Katanga's brief independence in 1960 before Congo's post-independence President Patrice Lumumba's tragic CIA-abetted assassination, and the Mobutu era that followed, where as the movie points out mineral riches were used to buy the Western-backed dictator's castles in France.

This new Moise though plays many cards, his previous company now "owned" by his wife may not undergo the same strenuous rules of fairness he imposes on all the other players, and he is also behind current President and "son" of a former rebel turned leader, Joseph Kabila, whose own strategies on a larger scale may leave much to be desired in terms of human rights. Like Silvio Berlusconi in Italy, Katumbi mixes populism with a hand in many activities, including helping to rebuild Congo's greatest soccer club, TP Mazembe, which this year won another African Champions League.

But in Katanga it seems as globalization hurtles along, that the situation is complex, and not as dismal as it used to be. That a movie can be so nuanced without much of a storyline beyond fits and starts of main actors while at the same time fascinating and full of intellectual and sensory delight is a tribute to the master Michel is.

The Probation Process

2010-12-07T00:44:00.005Z

In this latest installment of a web video series I am working on about a homecomer and re-entry in the U.S. judicial system, I go behind the scenes on probation, where some officers go the extra effort to care, and Eddie B. Ellis Jr. tries to make the whole system better.

Sunset Surf in Nicaragua

2010-12-01T14:41:00.002Z

this was vacation, but I just had to do a little video and add to my surf channel on youtube ...

WikiLeaks Secrets and Turkey's Take

2010-11-30T15:12:00.007Z

I went to a Brookings news conference last night and got a surprisingly fresh take on WikiLeaks from offialdom ... Bring it on is what essentially Turkey's foreign minister said ... My original photo was more tilted and less cropped

Here is part of my VOA report before edits...

Turkey's minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu said his country would have no problem if its own diplomatic documents were massively disclosed on the Internet as has just happened to the United States.

"If all the official cables and other documents are being disclosed we will be very happy. Really. Turkey will be very happy because we follow a foreign policy of principles. We do not use dual language. We do not say something in Tehran and something different in Washington and something different in New York or in another place."

In one recently leaked cable, the visiting Turkish official Davutoglu, himself, is portrayed as having little understanding of politics beyond Turkey. During his speech at the Brookings Institution Monday, the Turkish foreign minister said he would be ready if Turkey faced a similar challenge.

"Open all the archives. Our foreign policy is sincere, principle oriented, honest and candid."

Most of his speech focused on Turkey's efforts to reduce tensions with its many neighbors, but he made repeated references to WikiLeaks, and a new era of more open diplomacy.

When asked about his own country's falling ranking in lists by freedom of the press watchdogs, he said it was important to improve media ethics at the same time as widening freedom of speech.

Liberia Journalism Training Opportunity

2010-11-19T21:28:00.002Z

from my email inbox, looks full of promise ...

Media Trainer position/s Liberia

Hi all,
I have one, perhaps two, positions coming up with my project, New Narratives, in Liberia. I apologize I can't be more specific about start dates right now but I would love to know who might be available. The positions will be 6 month and 1 year spots as Trainer and Country Director/Trainer. New Narratives is an innovative new journalism training program that works one-on-one with the leading women journalists to produce long form reporting in radio and print on the most pressing issues in the country. The two-year pilot project, funded by Goldman Sachs Gives, launched in July this year. We've already had 8 front page news stories and feature radio pieces that have sparked serious debate within the country on issues such as child prostitution, high teen pregnancies and rape. Nicholas Kristof twittered one of our stories.

New Narratives avoids workshops and instead employs an apprenticeship model where journalists work closely with the trainer to do stories in-depth. Trainers will work with each "New Narratives Fellow" exclusively for 3 days a month. Fellows are provided with equipment and travel expenses for their reporting. Our trainer and Country Director will help lead the expansion of the program in Liberia and possibly to other Africa countries. New Narratives is a partnership of Women's Campaign International. We are based in WCI's office in Liberia.

Honestly, it's a great job with lots of opportunity to really have an impact.

The positions come with competitive compensation, a car, the flight to and from Liberia and emergency medical insurance.

Requirements:
*At least 7 years experience reporting radio news and news features
*Ideal candidate will also have experience in print
*Experience reporting/training in Africa, preferably Liberia
*On staff or freelanced for major international media, preferably in the US
*A drivers license
*Ability to work in tough and challenging settings

Desirable:
*Experience in a supervisory role, preferably with a non-profit
*Experience in non-profit fundraising

If you're interested and fit the requirements, please send me a CV and any questions you may have. Please pass this on to others who may be interested.
Best email for me is prueclarke@gmail.com
Thanks,
Prue.

Prue Clarke
Visiting Associate Professor
Graduate School of Journalism
City University of New York

Co-Founder and Executive Director
New Narratives - Women Reporting Africa
www.newnarratives.net

prueclarke@journalism.cuny.edu
www.prueclarke.com

Surviving SuperMax

2010-11-16T00:04:00.003Z

Second part of a webvideo series about Eddie Ellis, an ex-con, helping himself and others survive the ordeals of incarceration. First part about his journey through prison was here.

Inspiration: StayGoldStudios

2010-11-15T15:53:00.001Z

Excellent video, humor, concept, interaction of staging vs. unstaged, I love it!

Journey Through Prison

2010-11-09T22:20:00.004Z

This is the first part of a web video series I am working on about Eddie B. Ellis Jr. who after 15 years in prison is now trying to help others overcome incarceration.

Journalistic Inspiration: Ashley Gilbertson

2010-11-08T15:00:00.008Z

Just finished reading a very stark, dispiriting and honest portrayal of the gruesome war that was the Iraq war and the ingrate task of chronicling it by Ashley Gilbertson.

It is combination text/photography, rare in how each carries equal weight and depth.

Like his photographs, Gilbertson is extremely honest and logical in his writings. Like his photographs, he does not hide behind artifice. He goes from an idealist to an embedded photographer, who is given a squadron to protect him at one point to take a photograph the military wants him to get, a sniper from a minaret in Falluja, which ends up creating more conflict and getting a U.S. soldier killed.

It is amazing how much war photographers sacrifice, putting their lives at risk over and over, as well as their overall sanity. Is war really worth it? In a sense they remind us how horrible each war is in its own way. Do we need the reminder?

Here is an interview that my wife Kari Barber did with Gilbertson as one of her school assignments for American University.

1. Can you talk about what motivated you to go to Iraq and how you got there.

I went to Iraq in 2002 as part of a larger project I had been working on for about five years that concerned displaced peoples and refugees. The Kurds in the north of the country had almost all at some point been forced from their homelands and into neighboring countries during uprisings and wars. I fell in love with them while I was there, and was inspired by their drive to create their own homeland and their willingness to fight in the face of almost certain defeat.

In 2003 I returned to cover the invasion from the standpoint of the north, an Australian view on what happened to the Kurds. I planned to cover their plight in the case they were betrayed again by the invading US forces, but what actually happened was completely different. If the US enterprise in Iraq worked anywhere, it was in Kurdistan, and eventually I moved to Baghdad to work for the NY Times to cover the ongoing war and beginning of the insurgency. That kept me busy until 2008, after the end of the surge.

2. How did you become a photographer?

I started taking photographs because I wanted photos of myself skateboarding, when I was 13 years old. I realized in half a roll of film I could never do my tricks at the same time as the shutter went off on self timer, and started photographing my friends. I loved the results and it instantly became a passion.

3. Can you talk about one photograph of yours that you feel strongly about.

The image of the insurgent the marines captured in Falluja during the 2004 offensive with a gunshot wound in his side and his head covered with a jersey, and the marine guards' shadow towering over him captured the war as I understood it. The man's frame, meek almost, and just downtrodden, powerless, said so much to me about Iraq and the insurgency. They are less equipped, but still chose to fight. The image of the stronger force, the American's shadow, said much about how the US was then fighting the war. The faceless nature of the image is what spoke loudest to me though -- the Americans never got to see the faces of the insurgents, they were ghostlike in their tactics. On the flip side, the insurgents were not looking at the American's they fought as young men and women, people's sons and husbands, they simply saw them as an extension of this country's foreign policy, of Bush and Cheney. The war, like almost all wars, was being fought by groups that hated one another with no thought of the human costs or elements.

4. We hear a lot of negative news about the industry, what advice would you give college students who want to become photographers?

Photographers are born whiners. According to them, the industry has been dying since the beginning of photography. It's always been under appreciated, under funded etc etc etc. There is always a way to find a path in it. You need to be exceptionally passionate and dedicated to the craft, and be prepared to work second rate jobs for many many years before it starts paying off.

Documentary Inspiration: Genghis Blues and Roko Belic

2010-11-06T19:39:00.008Z

Just watched this 1999 movie by the idealistic and raw Belic brothers, starring the late genius musician Paul Pena who having hit hard times following his wife's death found some salvation and glory in learning throat singing which leads him to a competition in remote Tuva with an eclectic cast of supporters and film crew documenting a blind man's trip to one of the most beautiful, remote parts of the world.

Above is a promo video that was made before the movie's release, which went on to get an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary, losing out in 2000 to, One Day in September about the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, which also beat out, Buena Vista Social Club, another, if much more polished, but less personal, musical travelogue.

Roko Belic, one of the two brothers behind the Genghis Blues movie, who always wanted to make a movie about Tuva, and found out about Paul Pena's story while doing research on the place, is now working on an opus about happiness ...

He explains some of his thought, life, work process here, as he teams up with Creative Visions, an incubator for artists and big positive idea visionaries such as himself.

A Fall for Rallies

2010-10-31T19:47:00.007Z

So the sanity and or fear has been said and done, the Mall political businessmen will have to pack up and count their profits for the season, and now the November 2nd election is upon us.

It seems to me many Americans are eager to get past the election, and see where the chips may fall, and get on with the business of recovery.

Having one man banded a series of rallies, counter-rallies, reactive rallies, progressive rallies this past fall, I can say one side is more motivated, trampling along with crusader zeal, while the other is looking for sunlight and a breeze. Who goes to the polls is another matter, and I for one feel there could be surprises in the results.

Without further ado, here's my latest behind the scenes take ...

Ivory Coast Election Uncertainties

2010-10-24T00:05:00.005Z

All is going well in campaign mode in Ivory Coast for an election scheduled for October 31st ...

But how will this election turn out? I really have no idea. Rebel leader Guillaume Soro who is not running seems to have a lot of cards in hands as his forces effectively control more than half the country. Should polls which favor President Laurent Gbagbo be trusted more than the ethnic breakdown of Ivory Coast which seems largely in his disfavor? Is Ivory Coast really in a post-ethnic political phase?

Did the two main opposition candidates, the formerly coup deposed bumbling President Bedie and the technocratic, extremely popular in the north, former Prime Minister Ouattara, make a mistake in splitting up some of their votes in the first round?

Will this election mark a new era where nationality is redefined and enlarged in Ivory Coast in the interests of the descendants of migrant workers or will the xenophobic ivoirite started by Bedie and pursued by Gbagbo if not in exact terms but with added anti-French sentiment be pursued? What will the army, which is no longer representative of the population, do if results are contested? Is the election commission truly independent? If Gbagbo is chosen as the winner, how fast will he change the constitution to lift term limits and how long will the country remain divided? So many uncertainties ...

Here's a panoramic preview of the election with file footage I just finished up

The Controversy Surrounding Burma VJ

2010-10-17T16:08:00.011Z

Just watched Burma VJ, an interesting through the camera look at the relationship between videographers from the Democratic Voice of Burma and the Burma protests of 2007, which may have sown the seeds somewhat for Burma's upcoming election, an election which will be far from perfect, but an election nonetheless which may start creating more accountability for the powers that be in the slowly moving southeast Asian nation.

I wondered if the staged scenes with "Joshua", the self-exiled coordinator of the videographers, felt too staged and out of place by how perfectly filmed these were as opposed to the raw protest footage, which was maybe the point though, for effect and visual breathing. It also gave the movie its narrative structure with Joshua "calling" the videographers as they were filming the action.

Quick research led me to a Time article, Burma VJ:Truth as Casualty, which points out that even some of the protest scenes were staged in Thailand. Director Anders Østergaard is said to often use these techniques in his "documentary" movies.

There is one scene which I did find to be too good for one of the videographers to pull off, when the junta has barred more than five people from assembling, and hiding behind a pole, he counts, one...two...three... etc... hundreds, as people start assembling again before his very camera.

In this case, those scenes were filmed in identical style as the original protest footage. Does this go too far? Michael Moore also does this a lot, and says his movies are based on a premise, and that he remains a storyteller who uses video, true or not, to make a point. Is this applicable in the case of Burma VJ?

Watch the excellent movie and judge for yourself. I think it's ok, but the Time journalist, Andrew Marshall, seems to disagree.

Amazing Newspaper Photo

2010-10-09T03:16:00.003Z

Of course art can be easier to photograph since it is already a well defined spectacle but still framing a particular artistic moment takes a good eye.

Concern over Sudan Referenda

2010-10-08T00:20:00.004Z

A very interesting quote in this tv piece is by former Sudan peace mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo about how the breakup of Sudan could lead to the breakup of other African countries with post-colonial borders. He mentions Kenya, Tanzania, Congo.

He said sometimes bad marriages should be ended, and people shouldn't be forced to have to live in the same country. He went on to say, but it was cut out by the editor, maybe because it was too colorful, that sometimes you can't turn water and oil into the same liquid.

For an excellent on the ground view of what's happening in south Sudan I suggest Pete Muller's blog. I profiled Pete in a video before he left on his new journalistic adventure.

Progressives Unite At One Nation Rally

2010-10-05T22:09:00.004Z

Here is my mini documentary version of the left leaning protesters at the One Nation Rally, on October 2, 2010.

Shout out to musician Gio Andollo, who sang under a tree, but said he was more psyched about Restoring Sanity rally on October 30th. As recent articles indicate, organizers want to make sure unlike One Nation, and some Tea Party activists judiciously filmed, not too much of a mess is left behind.

One Nation Rally 1002-2010

2010-10-03T01:37:00.004Z

Ive been specializing lately in Saturday DC demos, one man banding them from start to finish with a few pics, a radio spot, and a tv story for Voice of America, work but I always like a good protest.

They were much nicer to me at this rally than at the recent Tea Party Restoring Honor rally, I wonder why. Although people are generally very confused when I tell them I work for Voice of America. What is that? The name does sound strange when I say it in an American context. Next rally is October 30th, Restoring Sanity, Im hoping for some good Halloween costumes then and a bit more attempts at humor.

Here is youtube version of my tv report about today's rally ...

Shout Out to Citizen Media

2010-09-30T23:47:00.006Z

I did a VOA report today about citizen media projects involving Liberians ...

Interestingly, it has been much easier to get Liberians in Liberia taking part, than Liberians in the United States ... A new inter-neighborhood blog project to address tensions in a diverse New York neighborhood is not getting many volunteers.

Ruthie Ackerman, a citizen media activist, did come up with a very interesting video of stateside struggles.

Only The Walls Were Left Standing from Ruthie Ackerman on Vimeo.

Inspiration: When Mountains Tremble

2010-09-29T15:20:00.008Z

Just watched the amazing movie with the above title about Guatemala's indigenous social revolution as it unfolded in early 1980s, clearly pitting security, profit making and land grabbing US backed corporations, against land sharing indigenous ways ...

Here is an excerpt showing US military involvement, and how local peasants were restricted in their movements as the war escalated ....

It was presented as a freedom vs. communism dichotomy in both media and obviously mainstream politics.

Makes me think today's brave documentary filmmaker should go to Somalia and Taliban heartlands to see what is happening there, and to show the nuances, and the sad reality of spiraling violence, and what people stand for and what way of life they are fighting for, or what they are fighting for. Their treatment of women seems to be horrible. But I have heard too many false speeches and seen too much slanted reporting, that I only can judge when I see for myself.

There's also always a tricky moment when righteous social claims are instrumentalized by political or rebel types and the movement descends into unfortunate violence and heavy handed doctrination.

The Guatemala movie has Rigoberta Menchu as the placid, behind the scenes, powerful narrator. Sadly and obviously, the violence escalated in Guatemala, and indigenous lost the most, despite their initial efforts to resist. After a book was written about her, I, Rigoberta Menchu, she was a surprise Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1992, the first indigenous and youngest winner, and probably one of the most eloquent ones as this movie testifies.

It also all reminds me of great lyrics by the closest of my modern day prophets, Ivorian reggae star Alpha Blondy .... "la democratie bananiere finira par la guerre civile ..." banana plantation democracy will result in civil war" ... (think Liberia's rubber and Cote d'Ivoire's cocoa for example ...)