Showing posts with label spotlight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spotlight. Show all posts
Monday, June 16, 2008

Article #5 from Volume 1, Issue 4: Your Media, Your Human Right


"Human Rights Starts at Home"
Nick Wong

Being in Guatemala for the past six weeks, it has become apparent to me that “Human Rights” and “Justice” are two phrases in desperate need of a common union. Clear effects of the 36-year war are prevalent as indigenous populations continue to fill the lower brackets of the social ladder. Big business and foreign investors feast off the lifeline of the country.

Former officers of the genocide still become elected into political positions. There are a plethora of causes to be fought for here - a myriad of problems needing resolution - but what often gets lost in these larger mind-boggling injustices are the smaller day-to-day struggles of life.

Every day the country breathes survival. Young children scramble at the sight of shoes needing to be shined or try to sell lottery tickets to people who are too smart to buy them. Others market souvenirs to travelers who hope a culture can be commodified into an item able to be packaged, shipped, and placed on their wall back at home.

And finally there are those who simply show bodily deformations in hopes that a passerby will maybe throw them a few cents to absolve the guilt of not looking into their eyes. This crippled third-world economy is not due to individual laziness or an act of spontaneity, but rather due to the steadily deteriorating social infrastructure caused by global networks that benefit places like the United States.

Trade agreements like CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) set up unbalanced stipulations that prevent development and exploit countries like Guatemala. International banking systems like the IMF (International Monetary Fund) offer short-term loans with hefty interest rates in exchange for rights to property and land, eliminating prospects of self-sustainability.

These large networks are a new form of colonialism, a subversive system of share-cropping, indebting countries to the whim of the powerful. And it isn’t as if all Guatemalans are living in poverty. In almost every capitalist society, the United States included, there is an ever present gap between the have and the have-nots. Those who allow these agreements or have already established wealth, benefit from these relationships just as those in the States do. It is just the proportion that differs.

The majority of people in the States can reap the benefits of these international economic relationships, at least more so than those in Guatemala. Here, kids sacrificing their childhood to help their family are a prevalent reality, rather than an overlooked occurrence like it is in the States.

These tragic scenes I witness everyday are the costs to supplement a US lifestyle that pacifies people with comforts and inconsequential gadgets that update themselves every three months. Hence we get distracted when hearing about the exploitation. This isn’t necessarily about Guatemala specifically or to say that their problems are more tragic than others.

It is instead to say that we are all implicated whether we acknowledge it or not. So if we want to start bringing together “Human Rights” and “Justice,” start by looking inside ourselves and how we live our lives.
Posted by UWJHR at 3:57 PM | 0 comments  
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Spotlight on...



Poet and Fort Lewis-stationed war veteran, Brian Turner spoke on KUOW Presents. Here is the transcript of the interview we had with him.


How do you define Justice?


I don’t think I can adequately answer this question. I would suggest that people look to Socrates and consider his method in defining the word justice.


How does your definition relate to your experience in the army?


BT: What is happening in Guantanamo diminishes the American judicial system. Extraordinary rendition diminishes the same system. Abu Ghraib has become a synonym for torture, rather than a symbol for justice a democracy might bring.


In your poem, “At Lowe’s Home Improvement Center”, you write about the war in Iraq and how, here in the US, it seems to exist in time, but not in space. What does this mean for your audience and its relationship to the war?


In At Lowe’s Home Improvement Center*, I’m trying to connect the war in Iraq with those of us living here in the States, to bridge these two spatial divides by melding them together. It’s an attempt at the surreal.


It’s also my way of saying--If we don’t feel the Iraqi and American dead among us, if we don’t experience some of the pain of a war we are participants in (as a nation of collective individuals), if we don’t have a sense of the suffering and struggle that is taking place, if we don’t sense even the foundation stones of war, what does that say about us as human beings? What does it say about us as a culture, and as a nation within a much larger community of nations?


In general, what can art do for a society like ours (in the U.S.)? What can it do now -- with both domestic and foreign human rights abuses (e.g. poverty, war) on the minds of its citizens? What can it do for policymakers and elected officials?


I’m hoping that art might not only entertain, but that it might, on a more fundamental level, work within the Socratic method, offering us questions which we must answer for ourselves, each in our own way.


* To listen to At Lowe’s Home Improvement Center, visit:
http://www.kuow.org/defaultProgram.asp?ID=14325

Posted by UWJHR at 2:30 PM | 0 comments  
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Friday, June 13, 2008

Spotlight on...


David Barsamian

Host of Alternative Radio, KUOW 94.9 FM


You’ve worked with the likes of Zinn, Chomsky, Ali, Roy, etc. -- what is your feeling about human rights as a collaborative movement? Are media justice and human rights movements connected?

Human rights should be front and center in any peace and justice movement. One has to be cautious about how it is manipulated by big powers. For example, in Darfur, Afghanistan, and the Balkans, so-called humanitarian interventions are covers for old-fashioned imperialistic aggression.


Progressives have to be consistent; they must always stand up for human rights and justice. Where there is no justice, there are no human rights. The struggle is for justice: political, gender, economic, and racial justice.

I would call it the media fairness movement but yes, they are connected. Without an allegiance to democratic media for the people, it is impossible to advance a human rights agenda.


What do you believe the American public feels regarding mainstream media and its accuracy in reporting on human rights atrocities?

It’s mixed. It is difficult to know at any one time what the American people are feeling. This is very much linked to level of attention that corporate media gives to particular issues. Since the overwhelming majority of Americans get news and information from corporate media – that dependency militates against citizens being informed. That’s why we need to develop and strengthen alternative, independent media. In general, when Washington is promoting certain human rights over others, citizens should be wary – not paranoid, but wary.

Why is Washington privileging human rights in Darfur and ignoring human rights in the Congo, or in Iraq itself? Iraq is the site of the greatest refugee crisis, as we speak. There is virtually no mention of this in mainstream media. The refugee crisis in Iraq dwarfs that of Darfur. Do you see full-page ads in the New York Times for Darfur?

Why not for Iraq?

As much as 200,000 people have died in Darfur. About 1,000,000 Iraqis have died, if not more – which is five times that number. But they get one/fiftieth of the coverage. They get no supplications for support.


As US foreign policy approaches another potential intervention (in Iran), what is the role of media in informing that policy?

The media are the enablers of Washington’s imperial war policy. For example in Detroit there was a headline that read Iran: Sanctions or War. Not peace, not negotiations, not discussion, not UN arbitration or mediation. Sanctions or war that is what we’re facing. Given the narrow range of choices, people are locked into a ‘pick your poison.’

Mainstream media has never been very good. It has always been mediocre, at best. However, we’ve always had people on the fringes… muckrakers that raise hope.

Mainstream media serves a purpose: elites don’t want the public to be too well informed about an issue. This has been a central focus of people in power. They manipulate the public mind and distract people’s attention to things that are insignificant and inconsequential.

Britney Spears – is her career over? Will the Seahawks make the playoff s? Did the Supersonics make a mistake when they let Ray Allen go? Media is a weapon of mass distraction. We ought to have UN inspectors viewing the media and there should be public health reports.

Like with cigarettes: ‘This is dangerous for your health. The UN inspectors have determined that if you watch this program for more than two minutes, you would be susceptible to migraine headaches.’ Something like that will get people to understand the toxicity of what they’re ingesting; it’s very hazardous to ones health.


How do you want your own audience to respond to your work?

I’m trying to be a catalyst for progressive change. When I visit Seattle or other communities, I try to inspire people – particularly young people – to become engaged, to be active in peace and social justice movements.

It reminds me of that famous quote by Margaret Mead: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. It happens one at a time; it happens when you join with others and find kindred spirits and work together in collective action. I want to leave people with the sense of ‘another world is possible,’ which is the theme of the World Social Forum.

Nothing is etched in stone.

Things can change, things can be different, but you have to imagine that difference. You cannot simply whine and complain. You need to come up with positive alternatives, and that gives people hope. That’s one reason I started Alternative Radio out of my house almost 30 years ago. I didn’t like the corporate media. I wanted to do something about it; this is what I’m doing. It’s always good to have a response; saying ‘Bush sucks’ is not a deep analysis. Or meat sucks. Or TV sucks.

Whatever.

What will you do about it?

http://www.reclaimthemedia.org/

David Barsamian is host of the award-winning, internationally syndicated Alternative Radio, which airs on KUOW (94.9 FM) on Wednesday at 8 PM. He recently returned from a three-week trip to the Middle East in June, and earlier in the year spent time in Iran.

In his new book Targeting Iran, he presents the perspectives of three experts on U.S. foreign policy and discusses the 1953 CIA coup and the rise of the Islamic regime, Iran’s internal dynamics and competing forces, and relations with Iraq and Afghanistan. Barsamian has written books with Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Arundhati Roy.
Posted by UWJHR at 9:10 AM | 0 comments  
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Spotlight on...


Sarah Kuck

Editorial Intern, YES! Magazine


As an intern at YES! Magazine, Sarah Kuck has heavily researched human rights for its recent issue (see: Resources & Action). The focus on human rights is just one of many thematic issues that YES! Magazine churns out, but all of them encourage readership contributions.


Stationed on Bainbridge Island, YES! relies on the local community to help shape stories, voice concerns, and engage the magazine as a primary source of media content.


In these ways, YES! Magazine is an alternative to mainstream news. In its latest edition, it does not shy away from human rights, but stares them down and embraces them. Sarah Kuck deserves our spotlight because she played a critical role: she learned as well as contributed.


A staunch supporter of environmental rights, Kuck felt that human rights were secondary. She believed environmental dangers to be inevitable and of crucial importance as they seriously endanger the lives of the people. But it was that connection that enabled her to realize that the two were not mutually exclusive.


Recognizing that human and environmental rights were “even more connected” made her realize that the general public needs to start “making better choices or we’ll all face serious consequences.”


“Change requires people knowing that power is a construct, and that they can change it. For that to happen, it will take a lot of unsatisfied youth.”


This was made manifest during one discussion, in which Kuck challenged her mother’s misinformed views of socialism. She later responded:


“We just wanted to really thank you [Sarah,] for opening up our eyes to that, and we just all sat around at lunch and talked about socialism and democracy... and we’re going to start exploring these new ideas.”


Sarah will help launch an online publication called Earth.


Posted by UWJHR at 5:06 AM | 0 comments  
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