Archive | June, 2011

What You Do Matters

29 Jun

A Student Leadership Summit on Propaganda, Hate Speech and Civic Engagement, June 22 – 25, 2011

I was lucky to be able to participate in a fascinating event at the U.S. Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. More than 50 students from 40-plus states came together for a leadership summit. In three days of learning, students gained knowledge about the Holocaust and examined the role of Nazi propaganda in promoting political polarization and a spirit of indifference.

At the heart of the program was a visit to the special exhibit entitled, “State of Deception,” an examination of the Nazi’s use of print, film, broadcasting, and even toys, parades and other media to convey their messages, which sometimes seemed benign and even positive. Students learn that the loudspeaker was a new technology of the time, enabling Hitler to speak to more than 10 million people in over 200 large-scale rallies in a single year. During Hitler’s rise of power, propaganda enabled the Nazi party to gain visibility in a crowded political landscape. Then it was used to consolidate power and exclude Jews and others from the national community. By 1939, propaganda helped create a climate of indifference to the elimination of the Jews and others deemed “undesirable.”

Today, propaganda is a ubiquitous part of everyday life. Truths, half-truths and lies are part of daily discourse in news, advertising and online. Complex issues are simplified and activate our emotions, targeting audiences very precisely in order to influence public opinion. But despite the negative connotation of the term, propaganda has a key role in contemporary life. When it is not deceptive and when people can freely choose to accept or reject the message, propaganda is used for many worthy purposes. Bit since every message comes with a visible (or invisible) agenda, media literacy competencies are more important than ever before.

At the leadership summit, there were many opportunities for reflective discussions; probing questions encouraged students to make connections between the historical past and their own lived experience. Today’s college student leaders have grown up exposed to a wide range of 21st century propaganda in both the militaristic legacy of September 11th and the rise of social media.

“Even though we are surrounded by it in the world of politics, entertainment, news, in the workplace, and even among our family and friends, we are not immune to propaganda,” one student pointed out. “Propaganda has evolved, and it’s perhaps even more effective today.”

In discussing with students the promise and perils of social media, I examined how social media can be used as a means of propaganda and a tool for celebrating hate, as well as a powerful vehicle of civic engagement. Students recognized the power of connecting people through interest-group networks as well as the danger of Facebook “liking” becoming a substitute for genuine political action. They identified the importance of being self-aware and reflective about how their online actions line up with their ethical values.

Highlights of the program included a conversation with Bob Behr, a Holocaust survivor, who described the psychological pain of growing up and being increasingly alienated from his culture. Benches that said, “For Jews Only” and big signs at the ice cream shop and the municipal pool that read: “Jews not wanted here” created fear and promoted deep-seated feelings of inadequacy. Carl Wilkins, an American missionary who stayed in Rwanda throughout the genocide in order to support the needs of children in a Kigali orphanage, also inspired the hearts of all participants, helping us see both the resilient spirit of the Rwandan people and the flawed thinking at the heart of genocide: the belief that problems can be solved by excluding people. Charles Haynes, Director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum, explored the relationship between campus “speech codes” and the First Amendment. Martha Bixby shared her experiences as a leader in the Save Darfur Coalition. Amy Lazarus, Executive Director of the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, modeled practices that show how “everyday leaders” emerge when dialogue creates trust and respect that inspires new ideas and fresh ways of thinking. And Bill Adair, founder of Politifact, pulled back the curtain on the current spin-centered, media-hyped politics where a sensational soundbite often leaves truth in the dust. Throughout the program, Holocaust Museum Education Initiatives Manager JoAnna Wasserman, along with a team of student leaders, guided participants towards recognizing the heart of leadership: cultivating respect, love, and generosity as a means to create a culture where hate cannot flourish.

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Summer Film Jammin’ with the Big Picture Alliance

22 Jun


To us, this probably just looks like a rubber band. Or maybe, given the wielder’s hand placement, one of those Chinese jump rope loops we were obsessed with in the 90’s. But why the contemplative squint?

For this student and others at the Big Picture Alliance, a local nonprofit dedicated to educating underserved youth in the art and science of media-making, this simple stretchy rectangle transforms—voila!—into the purview of a camera lens. Try it yourself: look at the world through a makeshift frame, and you might start to think like a director, an actor, or an editor. If you’re as awesome as the kids at Big Picture, you might even make your own movie.

Sound cool? Tomorrow (June 23) you can join BPA for their first ever Summer Film Jam at the Asian Arts Initiative Gallery & Theater, 1219 Vine Street, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The screening will feature student-produced work from throughout the 2010-2011 school year, including documentaries, public service announcements, and narrative pieces. There’ll be 14 pieces altogether: three longer ones (12-20 minutes) and the rest ranging from 30 seconds to seven minutes. One of the films, “The Jerk,” was chosen as a winner by MiNDTV/Philadelphia Stories, Season 8.
There’ll also be refreshments and, of course, time to mill around, chat with participants and colleagues, and celebrate sweet summertime.

More details after the jump!

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Voices of Youth Address Violence in Philadelphia

8 Jun

After the screening of the great documentary by YES Philly students, Pushouts, which was featured on NBC 10 recently, it’s clear that the field of youth media in Philadelphia is (finally) rising in visibility and importance. More than 700 people packed the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church on Cheltenham Avenue on Tuesday evening, June 7, for the premiere of two videos produced by by Philadelphia teens participating in a program developed by the Village of Arts and Humanities and The Well Productions.

The Voices of Youth Anti-Violence Project was funded by Zane David Memeger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  He explains the project as helping to break the cycle of victimization through crime, and conveying a message about the impact that violence has had on the lives of young people, their families and their communities. In a very real sense, youth media programs provide opportunities that can, both literally and figuratively, save people’s lives.

“Know(the)Ledge,” a film produced by students under the supervision of The Village’s El Sawyer and Jonathan Kaufman, offers a postmodern narrative about the consequences of hanging with the wrong people. The film begins with a boy, face down on a police car, being handcuffed by an undercover cop. In the story, we meet this alienated young man, whose spirit awakens through participation an after-school poetry program. His desire to attend a poetry slam weekend leads him to join a gang of teens planning a robbery.

In this film, it’s clear that young people were smack dab at the center of the production: they developed the story, wrote the script, shot the footage, and edited the film. The film includes some unexpected moments as the girlfriend notifies the police about the impending crime (causing a mix of laughter and sneers from an audience inured to Philadelphia’s “no-snitching” code). There is a lovely scene where the boy’s profound anxiety and confusion about his participation in the crime is palpably depicted through a combination of acting, camera movement and editing. And there is the requisite police chase scene, where it looks like all the young actors are having a lot of fun running through hallways, lawns and down back alleys, playing cops and robbers.

“My Block is Crazy,” produced by Ozzie Jones and Will Brock, offers a pastiche of images of city life, including images of walking broken city sidewalks, taking the subway and driving down N. Broad Street late at night. These images are interspersed with interviews with teens themselves about their definition of violence, webcam footage of themselves talking about the challenges they face growing up and the impact of violence on members of their family.

In this film, we sense that teens who participated in the project were the subjects, not the authors, of the film. It’s unlikely that youth participants edited the film. However, it’s clear that students held the cameras, interviewing themselves and each other. One of the most poignant moments in the film depicts the story of a young boy who describes being bullied for identifying himself as gay.

Clips from local news about last summer’s flash mobs add color but don’t offer much in the way of critical analysis of news representations of violence in the city. In this film, we see elements of the program in action: students had opportunities to learn about violence in Philadelphia from leaders in juvenile probation by attending special seminars. Students also conducted an interview with Major Michael Nutter in a conference room setting but the sound quality limits its value – as is the challenge in several other interviews as well.

The most disturbing moment in this film included in the rambling montage depict what appears to be documentary footage of two girls fighting on a city street, with hair pulling, shoving, hitting and taunts, and the usual spectators hanging on, themselves also cheering, pushing and shoving. I found myself wishing that this footage had been treated with more care. Are these teens being re-victimized by the film footage itself, in an age where “happy slapping” YouTube videos makes real (and re-enacted) fights another form of entertainment? As it is, we viewers are positioned as helpless spectators as the film makes no effort to interrogate the responsibilities of either the participants or the spectators of violent acts.

For young people growing up in Philadelphia today, the topic of violence is probably the most relevant and important issue in their lives. Growing up in a media-saturated society, where movies and TV shows depict violence as an essential component of storytelling, these teens are attempting to unravel complex sociological phenomenon by means of personal storytelling. That’s not an easy business.

But students who participated in making these film got a real gift:  a chance to develop trusting relationships with peers and adults, learn the joys and challenges of collaboration, and see themselves as capable and competent communicators who can use language, image and sound to convey ideas.

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