Media Strategies for Social Change

Media, as universally is accepted, has potential to transform society.

Having known about a program that would address this issue, I applied and competed to participate in an international workshop on Media Strategies for Social Change. Finally I got selected among 26 participants from around the world: thanks to the Embassy of Israel, especially the Cultural and Information officer Ms. Bandita Parajuli and Mr. Sushil Dhungana, and of course to Kathmandu University.

A portion of the official information from Haifa reads:

A International Workshop on Media for Social change is been held in Haifa, Israel in Cooperation with The National Commission for UNESCO, 19 - 30 October, 2009 During this workshop the participants will analyze the impact of the media on public opinion, politics and setting the political agenda. They will have the opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas on the concepts, programs and methodologies applied in their countries and in Israel.

OBJECTIVES
On completion of the workshop, the participants will have:
-analyzed the role of media as a tool for social change
-examined communication theory and advocacy journalism as tools for changing public opinion
-made an analysis of relevant case studies
-use of media in the participants' countries, using print and video material
-become familiar with the various uses of media in different organizations in Israel

I shall update my experience.

Before the Conference (Just a diary)

One major phenomenon I experienced during the course was Hamlet complexion (to be or not to be), the complexion which had hardly cropped up in my mind in initial phase. It started with my mom's advise to cancel the flight, if possible: I could easily understand her mind that is shaped through the international media - the image of blood, bomb and of course blast but not of beauty both brain and body. (To speak truly, Israeli people are really beautiful, not literally anyway).

Delhi, the first transit turned out to be really awesome not because of airport mismanagement but because of the suffering that another human being was undergoing. To be specific, I met a man from Bangladesh who was in his dream to Iran via Turkey. As my memory reminds, he had paid 200000 Taka to fly to Iran just to meet his brother (really love is painful). His love for brother deserves salute!!!

Poor man!!! no other language than Bangla, and me with very poor Bangla. Just imagine- no man came, nobody showed any concern and he had nothing to do but ask for help with NO MAN. Flight time, my attempt with one request or the other but of no avail (sometime I become a bit philosophical, you know what I mean). And the consequence - hunted mind almost for 7 hrs in the sky and 5 hours during Istanbul transit. What happened to the man? Did he make his visit back to Bangladesh? Very terrible!!! And again confusion - am I acting human?

Turkey to Tel Aviv (very alliterative it sounds thus making it easy) but the problem- the plane had to make two attempts to land (sometime I think attempts are the parts of life to give you going). Finally to Haifa with a lot of expectation from the workshop and of course hunting desire to sleep as it had already been 8 pm!!!

Rest? please wait.



First Day of the Conference

Expectation!!! You have it for either/or- fulfilled or get dumped in the pipeline!!! Imagine, it is fulfilled. What do you do? Expect more?? And then!!! Better if expectations remain in the pipeline, "Heard melodies are sweet and those unheard are sweeter".

A lot of expectations awakened the day: expectation from the course outline, from the friends ...(you understand what I mean). Then the reality: oscillation between the extremes; I mean again Hamlet complexion. You think you should speak and again think you should think more to speak. So, a big chain of thinking just to speak: I bet speaking is not so easy. If you are speaking nonsense, there is no problem - everyone is one way or the other nonsense to speak. But when you have to speak sensible? So, don't you think you are again back to Hamlet?

Damn the Hamlet, Shakespeare's product. But what then? No way out; one would just think one way, work one way and ... collapse.

Am I being abstract? I think not. If so I will try to be concrete.

You know, conference brings a lot - minds/ mis-minds, thinking/nonsense; reason is simple- international workshop is a meeting from different cultures and directions. And you have a few options and consequences- assimilate, you will enjoy; avoid, you will be unsocial; discard, you will be nonsense. It is up to you- finally man is what he does.

What I did is very easy and equally difficult. All the three words, I am sorry it should be two, need to be used for description- enjoyed, became unsocial . I assimilated Prof. Sandra's lecture and of a few more, avoided some just to be unsociably sociable but not the third, at least in case of lecture.

Now comes very pertinent issue i.e. the achievement in terms of knowledge and friendship. Regarding it, I think I am more successful in the second one as knowledge cannot be measured in quantity. I remained in the class with the friends from 21 (Israel included) countries, always amiable. I think the world would be a very nice place if such people gather in every place.

Loveliest of all was Andrew, my roommate from Malawi- really a nice man. His sense of humour, of friendship and what not, they always made me happy. We shared our countries, our feelings and brotherhood. Sometime of course nonsense- we just tried to summarize what happened during the day. You know, one night our nonsense guff awakened some friends untimely. Having no option, we apologized, tried to taste the loudness of our voice outside and finally decided not to talk loud. Sometime, I feel I should write his narration, but again I think it would be very persponal. Anyway, I am leaving this issue to him to write over.

During the Conference
Friday, October 30, 2009

If I get permission from him, I shall write more about Andrew. Now to go to another friend- he is Charles from Cameroon (I do not think you are thinking nonsense as I am writing only about male friends) I shall write about female friends too and I bet it would be more interesting.

In case of Charles too, I should say he is really amicable man; otherwise you cannot imagine me giving invitation to people to visit me. His voice is so melodious that it compelled me to think that he can entice a lot of birds with his voice: I remember Orpheus and Lyre. Having such a melodious voice conjoined with other qualities is really a matter of pride. (you might be feeling that I am being a bit jealous, and of course I am). His story is really enticing, and I bet you expect me to write about it. But as I am his friend par excellence, I cannot betray. Just to mention an interesting event that happened in the pub.

It happened after our visit to McDonald on Saturday (you all remember the service and the food). I still remember the unhappy faces of friends after the bad service in the restaurant. The most unforgettable of all is the escape of some friends to nearby restaurant to avoid McDonald: though I felt unhappy initially, I realized that their avoidance was natural.

Post to McDonald? Again ethical issue disturbs me. Should I write? The answer is both yes and no; but which one should I chose? I am really in dilemma. I expect my friends' response.

Demand for New Language (Dedicated to Luis)

Luis, a very friendly man despite his disgust for another man, did not appear friendly to me initially. Truly speaking, I nearly labelled him phony, but finally discovered him very amicable and equally funny (It made me rethink my first-hand judgmental nature). Finding me in difficulty while talking to Spaniol speaking people, he taught me buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas noches, Mañana, usted es hermoso and some more. At the level of word, it was fine but sentence learning proved to be nearly disastrous. The apocalyptic of all was estas rica mamita (he mentioned that it is very common and explained it as a general complement to a beautiful lady). Finding the sentence not unsound, I uttered it to a friend. You can easily guess the response (I am speaking to people who understand spaniol); but luckily I was not the prey as she understood instantly that it was Luis's job. It took me hardly any time from the response to comprehend that it was near to nonsense. Finding that the best response would be withholding the sentence, I went for that.

Interestingly, Luis is still teaching me Spanish though he is in El Salvador now.

More Later.