Will Egypt rise from the ashes of revolution?

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Another violent clash, another news headlines, the Middle-East is bursting with angry demonstrations, some people may think it’s a mob. They’re not. The military rule is getting  wee bit too fond of power, causing anger among Egyptians. If you missed the news, see it here.

The interim rulers of Egypt, namely chief of Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Field Marshall Muhammed Hussein Tanawi declared that power will be handed over to Egyptians no later than July 2012. But the actions of the Egyptian army don’t match this promise. There have been wide concerns over the toxicity of tear gas being used by SCAF and the overall treatment of the citizens.

People around world are wondering if these angry protestors are bunch of mobs, who are not able to comprehend the SCAF’s messages? Or genuinely expressing their anger? The Army intervened in January 2011 revolution, and earned accolades for its duty and responsibility, but what after?

The SCAF’s actions have earned interesting comparisons in the media. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria compares Egypt with a possible Turkey, which has embraced secularism (at least on its face) and a possible Pakistan, where the military rule took over, and resulted in the death of democracy.

Additionally, there are parallels being drawn by Amnesty International on the Human rights abuses under Egyptian army and Mubarak’s rule. The situation is tense, the army which upheld the people’s rights against a dictator is displaying greed and lust for power. Among  Tahrir square turning into a battle field, there are other pressing issues that Egypt must deal with maturity – women’s rights and secularism (read mass violence against Coptic Christians)

For now, we wait and watch if the elections in Egypt commence next week as announced. If there is a chance for the Arab Spring to prove its potential, it is now.

Film + Development – from ‘The First Grader’ to ‘Wasteland’

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After days of waiting for its Australian release, I finally saw ‘The First  Grader’ directed by Justin Chadwick (director of ‘The Other Boleyn girl’), if you’ve seen his previous films, you’d not expect ‘The First Grader’. The film is a biography of a Kenyan man named Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge, who suffered endlessly under the British colonial rule, and now wants to learn to read at the age of 84, following the Kenyan government’s announcement of free education for all.

The film has a few profound messages – everybody has a right to learn and learning makes us better. Indeed, the film conveys them successfully, with remarkable performances by Oliver Lintondo and Naomi Harris. It touches on many issues faced by the dynamic African country. Some of the prominent ones being corruption, education, discrimination based on tribes and development. Good effort by Chadwick, however, it tends to be predictable owing to the biographical nature of the script. The characters of Jane and Maruge have been laid out at the beginning of the film, and follow the audience’s expectation. As a foreign viewer, I can only comment on cinematic quality of the film, but I am sure Kenyans might see it differently, would like to get some wider perspective.

Prior to the screening, the theatre ran a few trailers (which I thoroughly enjoy, honest). ‘Wasteland‘ was one of the trailers that caught my attention. It’s a story about Vik Muniz, a contemporary artist who decided to create garbage in to art, literally and attempts to help a group of scavengers living in Jardim Gramacho, the biggest landfill located in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. The film won awards at Seattle, Berlin and Sao Paulo Film Festivals. The film is made by directors Lucy Walker.

What never ceases to amaze me is the powerful stories film makers like Lucy Walker, Chadwick and many more choose to narrate through their scripts. Cinema and development have never shared a closer relationship. Ground breaking documentaries find their way into the commercial space, all thanks to affordable and efficient technology. Another masterpiece that I have been waiting for – An African Election. The film is an account of the 2008 Ghanian elections, something that I fortunately witnessed, and a cinematic experience would only help me relive it!

Syria and Saboodana Khichdi uploaded

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The week has been rather dull, except that Sydney proved it has a summer season, the mercury peaked at 37.5 C! Melted.

I have been reading a bit on situation in Syria, Mr. Assad is a tough one to crack. In spite of the pressure from the Arab League, Assad continues his regime. It’s high time Mr, if you don’t step down, you’ll be thrown away. Jordan and Turkey are the latest states to condemn Syria’s rule. Of course, it not as simple as that, the revolt in Middle East comes at a high price. The transition from a dictatorship regime to democracy is desired by everybody, but hardest to achieve. My post on Tunisia election alluded to the importance of free and fair elections in order to establish the foundations of a democracy. Libya and Egypt face similar problems. Women in Egypt are hoping to advocate for voting and human rights in the build up to the elections. Such reforms are necessary, and only if they are made the spirit of the revolution will be upheld in every possible form.

My political side of the brain caused some stir in my professional life, and this is how Saboodana comes into the picture:

The title of the post may sound unfamiliar or familiar depending on if you have ever eaten ‘Saboodana Khichdi’ in your life. Let me introduce the Indian snack to you. It’s  eaten for breakfast and since I cannot find any way to describe it, I’ll just add a photo:

Yah, that’s how it usually looks, hard to describe eh? Anyway, the reason I talk about this snack is something I may have done while sending out CVs to recruitment firms.

My hunt for work is on for a few months, and initially I was given rejections online, now it’s nice to be rejected in person after an interview, really. I mean it.

I was applying to multiple openings using a popular job portal, and accidentally sent the doc file with Saboodana Khichdi recipe instead of erm –  my CV. Now the question is what was the SK recipe doing in the same folder as my CV? Ah well, I save the updated versions of my CV and the recipe on the desktop. And since S follows R in the English language, the recruitment firm got the better of me with Saboodana Khichdi in their database!

Are you ‘HOME’ yet? Documentary review

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Last night a bunch of couchsurfers (if you don’t know what that is, check it out here, coolest network I say!) The event was movie night, where we all watch a film unanimously decided by the members. This time we watched ‘Home‘, a documentary with an environmental commentary.

Home poses some of basic questions pertaining to climate change. It showcases spectacular visuals from our home – planet Earth. The film very clearly lays out its tone and structure from the beginning, highlighting the link between human beings and elements of the planet. The narration compliments the visuals extraordinarily. Film maker Yann Arthus-Bertrand has cleverly used aerial images of diverse landscapes and interlinked them through a brilliant narration.

Images that are etched in my head after the first viewing – massive flock of migratory flamingos gathered on a small island, aerial shots of rainforest in Borneo, elephant running through the forest in Botswana and many more. A symbolic one was – Reindeers in the Arctic scrambling and running on the ice sheets, desperately looking for stable land. The animals are running on ice sheets as they melt, leaving them to drown in the frozen water. It reminds me constantly of situation humans have put themselves into. Soon, if environmental damage is not controlled, the reindeers will be replaced by us, and the consequences are unimaginable.

The film successfully captures the essence of human greed. It uses a singular object shot, followed by widening the camera’s view, and multiplying the number of objects to reinforce the message. For example, a shot of single shipping container – followed by a zoomed out view of hundreds of shipping containers. Using such plural image dimensions, the film amplifies the visual impact of its subjects. The process is repeated with sky scrapers, factories, machines etc.

The film conveyed the message it was suppose to, although having a constant narration in the background keeps the viewer too busy with the information, and hence a second viewing may be recommended to enjoy the visuals. I couldn’t help but be reminded of Baraka. The big difference is that Baraka  has no narration, and is purely based on the screenplay of visuals. The interesting thing about Baraka is that it leaves the viewer to ponder, the message is open to interpretation. Baraka narrates a story on human culture, religion, technology, environment purely based on visuals and spell binding background score.

Environmental documentaries traditionally take on the moral side, and propagate it in the rest of the film. However, there is a film which I watched at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) that took me by surprise through its style. Into Eternity by Michael Madson is an insight into the fate of nuclear waste storage. ‘Onkalo’ is an undergound facility in Finland designed to store nuclear waste generated from nuclear power plants in Finland. The film through its Q & A style of narration asks some of the philosophical questions associated with a facility like ‘Onkalo’. Once the facility is completed, it will be shut down, never to be opened again. The fundamental question is that Onkalo is found by future generations, a few thousand years later (assuming humans are still around) how will they perceive Onkalo? Will they want to open up a radioactive mine, will they know what’s stored there? And if signs prohibiting entry are put up, will they stop curious humans from exploring it? Highly recommended if you are even a teeny-weeny bit into environmental sustainability.

Home. Baraka. Into Eternity – fresh perspectives on stagnant issues.

Noam Chomsky meets Bill O’Reilly in Sydney

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Kim Kardashian and Noam Chomsky were in town the same day. Guess where I went.

Manufacturing Consent was my ever first media theory. Yes, there it was, explaining the agenda of the corporate media power to journalism students. How the masses are exploited, and kicked like a football among the elites. Impressive, I thought. Finally a man who has the courage to speak up, stand up and fight for it.

Ah, at that time, I was an undergraduate student, getting influenced was a piece of cake. We were bombarded with many other theories, principles and fundamentals. But in retrospect, Chomsky did have a profound effect on me. His filters on advertising explained the tactics used by media conglomerates to influence the masses. It was radical, but true. Everyone uses them, whether you are in corporate communications, project management, advertising, marketing, PR and of course in politics!

Moving on –  I saw the man live few days ago! It was a full house at the Opera Theatre in Sydney. The opening act was simply fabulous. A spoof of the famous  journalist and presenter – Bill O’Reilly. Mr.Bill rapped  brimming with disappointment about Chomsky winning the Sydney Peace Prize, and numerous mocks towards Murdoch and Fox news! Hillarious start to an insightful talk. Chomsky articulated in simple and understandable language, I was concerned if he was going to be too academic for my taste, but those doubts were soon put to rest.

What followed intense Q & A with Mary Kostakidis. Prof. Noam Chomsky spoke on the Occupy movements, Wikileaks, Israel-Palestine, agenda setting of news, Guantanamo Bay, resource exploitation of developing countries…phew!

He was asked his views on Julia Gilard’s use of the term  ’anarchic’ for Julian Assange. Mr.Chomsky boldly said that if anarchic implies to question authority and demanding the truth then everyone should be anarchic. Well, that set the mood for the rest of the talk, the Opera Theatre burst into loud applause for a few seconds!

Occupy movements are gaining momentum around the world. He stresses on the emergence of a parallel public opinion which did not occupy space in the mainstream media before. Chomsky put forward the discrimination practiced by the elites in nations like USA. The rich have abundance of surplus money which they can use to create jobs in struggling economies, but its instead used for personal benefits, or degrading work standards leading to exploitation.

He went on to address the main concerns on the miserable failure of Obama’s Middle East peace solution and expressed support for the Palestinian statehood bid at the UN among other things.

He also spoke about the problems existing with contemporary language in context to his theories in linguistics.

Oh well, very Chomsky stuff. He’s considered a left wing political thinker. Left or Right, Chomsky has produced few of the most influential theories of this century, and hoping he will continue his great work in media theory. His theories can be too conspiracy centric, unreal and make you feel uneasy, but it makes you think.

The talk was brilliant, although was a bit disappointed the host took a vote of the audience and decided not to proceed with a Q & A round.

It was an honour to see the 2011 Sydney Peace Prize Winner in person.

Wiki-leaked

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Mr.Assange just lost his appeal in UK against the extradition to Sweden. What now? The last hope is the Britain’s supreme court. Assange’s hope appears bleak, the world (read governments) is literally against him.

So what’s great? The fact that he did something different? Or because he cracked some of the most secure layers of communication and made confidential  information public?

Some say is he all talk no shock (you get the drift). Maybe he is only talk, maybe he likes to create a hype about himself, how brilliant he is in getting these whistleblowers/ sources, how he is the single most courageous man to reveal all in public through the world wide web.

I wonder if it will create the same buzz and express outrage if Assange is apprehended just as when Steve Jobs passed away? Both represent technology associated milestones. While one created the technology worthy of sharing information, the other sourced information worth sharing through technology. If it hadn’t been for the iPads, iPhones, Macs, people around the world wouldn’t share the way they do now, and if it hadn’t been for Wikileaks, the technology wouldn’t be used to its full potential in spreading Assange’s message. It’s a comparison based on philosophy not on methodology or personality.

Some feel Assange risked the security of nations through his cable leak. Governments will try and do everything to maintain confidentiality, it’s basic risk management, but does Assange have the right to take charge of what information should be made public, or he wants it all public regardless? Seldom do governments react the way they did when the cables were made public.

All I can say is the most important lesson taught in media theory-

Medium is the message. 

Some people invent it, others deliver it.

If you don’t breed, you concede!

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The average person in the world is a 28 year old man, Han Chinese, right handed.

The second most average person is a 26 year old man, Indian subcontinent origin. Hand not specified.

Pardon? Come again? Hmmm, so it seems like the world has no choice but to accept that China and India are not just going to rule the world in terms of economies but also populations, and defining the most average individual in the world. This is not news, most of us are aware how the populations of China and India are ‘taking over the world’. Of course, we are. Seriously, give it up. The idea is simple, if you don’t breed, you have to concede (idea derived from Russell Peters)

There is enough buzz about hitting 7 billion population mark in the digital world. Let’s try to break down this phenomenon. Every country has seen an exponential rise in their population growth. But does it really bother the world that the average person is Chinese or Indian?

It may bother the west, or if not bother, create this teeny weeny feeling of discomfort, no? The truth is races and cultures are getting attracted to each other, falling in love, or not, but still reproducing and that’s what is going to happen. If people are thinking more Chinese and Indian people are going to be created, well they could be wrong. In this day and age of digital world, people are discovering and rediscovering cultures and new ways of living.

An Indian may settle in Iceland, and think that access to hot springs all year round is an advantage. Or an Australian may travel to China, loving the chaos and buzz in Shanghai or other big metropolis. Migration has etched its route in places like Fiji – one of the largest Indian minorities outside India. I am told in Singapore, it’s not too tough to find Chindians. Also, closer home, American – Australians, Canadian Australians, Chinese Australians and the list goes on. We are beyond the point, where people can be contained, and live in a nutshell. The only people who should worry are the Parisis, (they should have breeded more or out of their community) but honestly, purity of race and all that nonsense is going to fade away sooner or later, so no ones need to worry. What we should worry is how the hell the planet is going to support these 7 billion people? More questions.

Obviously, there are some people who do not appreciate change and experiment, probably live in the same suburb their entire lives. Of course, that’s choice. People have the right what they want to do. But in my opinion, inter racial/ cross continental/ multi cultural families are going to become common. It’s not just backpacker love, or mills & boons love stories, but people no longer having qualms about being attracted to a different race or culture. Why not? Heck it’s interesting. This reminds me of the Russel Peters reference to inter national offsprings – a Greek and French – Freak! Here’s to the next billion, which may have more such freaks! You might consider watching this Russell Peters video, it’s ROFL material: