Here’s the skinny:I am officially participating in Blog Action Day. Join with me! The aim of Blog Action Day is to get a global conversation going on via blogging. This conversation centers on poverty. I welcome any general thoughts for now, and I will post more specifically soon. In the meantime, visit www.blogactionday.org.
Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.
3 responses so far ↓
CharMar // October 8, 2008 at 5:03 pm |
Thanks, Set. Another cool video relating to ending global poverty is called the Girl Effect – produced by CARE. I’ve been learning a lot about them recently by volunteering in Atlanta for the “National Day of Action” on Oct. 17.
Check it out when you have 2 min. to spare:
http://www.care.org/getinvolved/girleffect/index.asp
Paul // October 8, 2008 at 10:17 pm |
Some text in the Girl Effect video reminded me of a song by The Swell Season, which Set and I got to see in Austin the other week. If you didn’t see the film Once last year, see it. And if you ever have the chance to see Glen and Mar live, you really should. I’ve never seen as much frustration and hope packed into 4-minute intervals.
mary flynn // October 17, 2008 at 5:59 am |
Have you guys heard of the film Call + Response? I just saw it tonight in SF, but I think it’s been playing all across the country. The film shows various forms of slavery/human trafficking in different parts of the world- labor slavery, sex slavery, child slavery and child soldiers. They interview Gary Haugen from IJM and a number of journalists, celebrities, and scholars on the subjects. It’s a pretty broad subject, but the thesis is music as a response to bondage and injustice throughout history, and how music presents a platform to address injustice today.
I think the relationship between injustice and art is a powerful relationship to consider. Slavery is driven by economics. One scholar points out that even though we may agree that the brothel owners are ‘bad people’ they are driven by finances rather than their sentiments. They may feel that women are worthless, but their bottom-line is not cruelty, it’s profit. In that light, I can see how music or more broadly art is counter to the underlying motivator of slavery, greed. As one of the musicians said, music is the one thing that can penetrate your soul and your mind without your permission. Not only does the creation of art allow for some sense of freedom for the artist, but it creates an opportunity for the viewer to receive or for a short time to be engaged in something larger than themselves. It makes sense then that artists would be at the forefront of any struggle for justice. In articulating a powerful message of injustice through their art, artists forge a connection between viewers and those who otherwise seem too distant or too objectified to relate to.
The Call + Response website is helpful to show some specific ways to address the issues. I also just heard about a group that’s having an art installation in SF to raise $ to benefit local and international liberation efforts: http://abolitionsf.reimagine.org/
Do other people have thoughts on how the issue could be broached in our daily lives? Or have you learned of ways that awareness is being brought through art or other creative exchanges in your cities?