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women boxers in india
It was a reunion of sorts for the With This Ring crew as we all came together at the opening night of the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (the Montreal International Documentary Festival) on Nov. 9, 2011. Unfortunately, our own doc is not quite ready yet, but we’re working on it.
From left, co-director Ameesha Joshi, co-director and cinematographer Anna Sarkissian (moi) and sound recordist/still photographer Emily Gan.
Thanks to photographer Kerem Saltuk for the image.
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women boxers in india
Back in Nov. 2006, we flew to Delhi on a whim to document the 4th world women’s boxing championships. The Indian team surprised us (and the rest of the world) by winning medals in 8 out of 13 categories. Little did we know that our two-month shoot would shift and grow for several years, taking us to India, China, Barbados, and even through Ontario. To our families, friends, and supporters who have stuck by us – and especially the incredible boxers - we owe a debt of gratitude. Five years later and With This Ring is still going strong (but hoping we won’t make it to six). It’s me and you, baby!
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civicus
If you have a long journey back from meetings such as the CIVICUS General Assembly, there is really no need to play any movie on your small screen on the plane. Instead, you can enjoy the rewind of the event in your head. Hundreds of faces. Charming views of Old Montreal. Myriads of thoughts – yours and of those who inspired you there.
I admire activists. They inspire me. I like seeing how moved they are talking about their work. How seldom they complain about dire circumstances. Some of them deal with everyday crises, providing for those in need who are forgotten by everyone else. Others try for systemic change, so that the need for help decreases and the world gets a bit better. There are also those who measure, map, compare and analyze so that the rest can look into best practice, learn, and demonstrate impact whenever needed. All of those can be found at any CIVICUS GA.
I could go on about how important and valuable it is to participate in workshops and what a great opportunity it is to listen to the representatives of World Bank or Google Inc., but the CIVICUS bloggers (including me) have already given you a lot of insight into that. Instead, I want to make a point that the unique value lies in the fact that people who are involved in all those kinds of activism meet each other and talk about how their tasks are different and where synergies are. I believe you can only become a better activist if others help you look from the outside at what you do.
There is a great value in talking about opportunities and challenges. Shrinking democratic space, new ways of engagement, double edge of technology and all the faces of justice: from judiciary through economic to climate – require responses and strategies more coordinated than ever. If we can be divided, then we can be easily ruled. There is a great value in differences in opinions and we should never let go of this, but we need to be able to negotiate common ground based on shared principles. Chances are someone asks what the world ought to be like and we wouldn’t want to be caught guessing.
Because there are so many problems to deal with and so many things to do, we, activists do live in a jetlag. Some of us work ahead of our time zone, looking into the future, foreseeing impact of current events and designing strategies. Some of us work a couple of hours behind our time zone, dealing with results of human irresponsibility, greed and appetite for power, having always something to fix and to make better. We all need to find time and space to breathe, to catch a perspective and to use some peer support. There will be many occasions in the following twelve months. In September 2012 we all can hopefully meet for this in Montreal, -4 GMT.
See you all there.
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civicus
Claudia Kis Madrid es una participante y una voluntaria blogger en la Asemblea Mundial de CIVICUS.
En el taller titulado “Las muchas caras del movimiento climático” se habló entre otras cosas sobre las oportunidades que presentan las aplicaciones web para lograr una mayor participación y movilización ciudadana.
El mundo digital tiene grandes posibilidades para difundir información de manera muy rápida, vincular personas al otro lado del planeta e implicar a los jóvenes en el debate actual. Por esta razón CIVICUS también está explorando nuevos horizontes a partir de su nueva aplicación para iPhone.
Este tipo de aplicaciones web para teléfonos inteligentes sirven como plataformas permanentes de dialogo y expresión. Permiten a las organizaciones de la sociedad civil conjuntar esfuerzos y compartir información, y son a su vez, espacios donde los ciudadanos pueden proponer alternativas y coordinar iniciativas.
Sin embargo, no debemos olvidar que las aplicaciones web son únicamente uno de los múltiples instrumentos que deben usarse para debatir y coordinar acciones ya que aún muy poca gente en el planeta puede comunicarse a través de esta tecnología. Creo, en este sentido, que es necesario seguir considerando el recurso de la palabra y del contacto humano para lograr una mayor participación y movilización ciudadana. De no ser así, muchos quedarán excluidos del debate actual y de la acción.
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civicus
Dear Alexandre, Dear Sam,
I wish more than anything to make this world a better place for you. As you grow older, more of the world’s harshness unfolds before you and I feel both powerless and ashamed of what you discover. You know that millions of people are dying of hunger, yet we have all the food we need. You hear of unkind people willingly hurting and killing others in order to stay in power, yet you live in a safe and peaceful neighbourhood surrounded by friends. You know of thoughtless people ruining the planet by polluting the atmosphere, yet we’re no better with two cars in our driveway.
I don’t know if any of this leaves you conflicted like me. Maybe you have a better ability to forget about these things and focus on being kids. But I do know these things hurt you too. Neither of you wanted to finish your rice last night for different reasons. Alexandre, when you refused to finish what was on your plate, I pulled out the guilt-inducing excuse my mother gave me: “Finish your food, there are children dying in Africa!” Your sincere but anguished reply was unexpected: “But how can I get this to them? They’re too far away!”
They are too far away. And rather than save the few remaining bites, I told you each to throw away your own food. You took no pleasure in doing that Alexandre; as for you Sam, your somber face revealed your sadness. I made you do this in part for you to feel bad, but I also want you to realize you have privileges and choices many others don’t. The privileges you have and choices you make must be put to good use.
What I mean to say is that as you learn more about the world, you will discover the meanness and love that people have for each other, the violence we inflict and kindness we bestow on each other, our destruction and respect for the environment around us. As you learn more about the world, you’ll find you are in a position of privilege: you have your rights respected, you have an education, you are in good health, you have enough food and clean water to drink, and you have a home. Just with those things, you are better off than hundreds of millions of others around the world.
You also have choices: you can choose to live a life in which you care for yourself and your loved ones. You can also choose to help people you do not know. You help them because it’s simply the right thing to do. Despite how I’ve seen some people treat each other, I want to believe that there is more goodness than not in everybody’s hearts.
The people I met this past weekend are in positions of privilege and can make choices to create a better world. They are all part of a global alliance called CIVICUS – people from different organizations from around the world. They choose to make the world a better place, but they agreed that they don’t always do so in a united way. They said they speak for common people, but in many countries the common people have taken to the streets and said “Enough!” to their leaders without anyone’s help. But all those people need help now.
The people I met last weekend have ideas for making the environment better, but they don’t always agree on what to do, what to say, when to say it, and who to speak to. They want to make sure that everyone in power leads with accountability and transparency, which is another way of saying nobody cheats and everyone knows how decisions are made. They have ideas on bringing people out of poverty, helping women become equal with men, making sure everyone gets an education, helping everyone have access to food and shelter and good health. But not everyone who leads governments bothers to listen to them.
The people I met agreed that “new technologies” like Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and text messages (none of which were ever new to you) are important tools to connect us together and learn more about struggles happening half a world away. But communicating information, sharing ideas and talking about ways to make our collective lives better is not enough.
We need leaders. We need strong people who will reunite us and energize us and make us cry out against the injustices of the world and push us to rise up and say we have rights. We need to stand up for those suffering, we need to take action and help prevent our planet from turning into a wasteland. Many people say we can’t forget to listen to young people. The two of you need to learn about the world around you and how to make it better than what it is now. There is a lot of wrong being done in the world. There is no shortage of greediness, abuse of power, ignorance, violence, hatred, discrimination, and destruction of peoples’ lives and environments. But I am firm in my conviction that the voices of those aspiring for a better world for everyone are far louder than the voices of those whose intentions and actions hurt us all. Add your voices in solidarity to those who want change and who fight to live in a world that needs to be kinder and more caring than the one I have sheltered you from. You can make a difference.
Je t’aime Alexandre, je t’aime Sam. - Daddy
With inspiration from Jay Naidoo, Lessons from CIVICUS World Assembly in held in Montreal – Building a just world; Jessica Hume, A multitude of convergence; Patrick Johnston, Putting the ‘citizen’ back in civil society organizations; CIVICUS members who remarked that civil society’s language must be accessible; and the Letters to My Sons series of blogs.
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