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Though I’m a big supporter of Amnesty International, I find something a little troubling about this ad. Part of it is based on some resent criticism I’ve been reading about how NGOs tend to work outside the context of the societies they are functioning in, and can inevitably buttress the control mechanisms of empire by advocating for universal rights and interventionism. Hence Bush can take the rhetoric of the NGO as justification for invading Iraq or Afghanistan. Yet, human rights are so intrinsic for international norms that provide a space for justice.
Strangely, though, the creates an odd vicariousness for ones actions in which a fantasy for justice is fulfilled in simplistic terms without allowing for the complexity of a situation. It’s like playing a video game that insulates us from the difficulty of real struggle. There’s certainly more blood, sweat and tears than this push-button kind of justice. Nonetheless, I remain a committed supporter of AI. I just don’t like this unsettled sense of ambivalence abetted by marketing and technology.
10
Sep 07
Indigenous skateboard media
Indigenous Action Media, a Native American video production collective in the southwestern United States, believes the punk ethic of do-it-yourself (DIY) is more than rhetoric. Instigated by the sibling trio that forms the Diné rock band, Blackfire, Indigenous Action Media are designing and running their own video production workshops that are producing homegrown views on education, environment and social justice. Consequently, when school starts this Fall, these intrepid Indigenous youth will be taking their curriculum into their own hands.
By mixing DIY and skate culture, their set piece project, The Outta Your Backpack Media Collective, combines free workshops with a portable digital video editing system that compactly fits into a pack kids typically use for schoolbooks. Their project is meant “to create community ownership of media, recognizing the inherent creative energy of youth, and challenges corporate dominated media. We create fully equipped decentralized media centers in each backpack.” By utilizing cheap digital media tool, the program enables Native youth to explore difficult and forbidden issues ignored by mainstream media and the education system:
As one of over a half a dozen clips featured on their Website, the above video, “Knowledge is Dangerous,” poignantly expresses the need to take local control of education. “Knowledge is Dangerous” envisions a dystopic future where children are forced to read certain books (hmm, sounds a bit like the present), i.e. the sanctioned knowledge of the dominant culture. But an underground of book lovers with their own rewritten curriculum of texts featuring the likes of Malcolm X and Dr. Seuss (!), uses a car trunk for its forbidden library. You’ll have to watch the video to see how the knowledge bandits prevail, but suffice to say, in the case of this particular group of young Native American mediamakers, their storytelling agenda bypasses stereotypes of how indigenous youth are engaging their education.
Also featured on Indigenous Action Media’s Website is this documentary, “Making a Stand at Desert Rock.” In their words:
If you click on the video’s YouTube logo, it will send you to the YouTube site where several other citizen produced videos about the conflict will appear in the “related” sidebar section. With an on-going struggle over the land between the local indigenous population and energy companies in the four-corners region of the US Southwest, it appears that new user-generated media on the subject are being uploaded on a consistent basis.
If you are a young indigenous filmmaker and feel like jumping into the mix, Indigenous Action Media’s latest project is the sponsorship of The 4th Annual Southwest Native American Film Festival Fall Showcase & Workshops to be held on their home turf in Flagstaff, Arizona (USA) in April ’08. On October 5-6, 2007 there will be a preview Fall showcase, so though the Website states the festival is in October, it appears they are still accepting submissions for the April event.