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Asia’s Distorted Image (9/00)

JOHN SAMUEL June 3, 2005 JOHN SAMUEL

In Indonesia, devout Muslim women named Gayatri or Laxmi read the Bhagavad Gita. Meanwhile, in India, Muslims and Hindus share a culture of co-existence and assimilation. Yet, such realities are largely concealed by a cultural mafia that legitimizes and markets stereotypes. They would have people believe instead that all Muslims are fundamentalists, all Christians are out to convert the world, and all Hindus are fanatics.

What is Ganesha doing in the Indonesian drawing room of a devout Muslim? How come women who pray to Allah five times a day are named Parvati, Laxmi, Gayatri, or Devi? Are these social aberrations? No, they’re the norm in thousands of Muslim households in Indonesia. In one of several visited during a recent trip, I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. The book wasn’t just sitting on a shelf, it was being assiduously studied, with paragraphs underlined and notes in the margins. read more

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Toward Freedom: Where We’re Headed (1/01)

GREG GUMA June 3, 2005 GREG GUMA

 

At its birth in Chicago almost 50 years ago, Toward Freedom was a modest three-page mimeographed newsletter. Yet, it took on a daunting task: to correct the distorted coverage of world affairs that focused virtually all discussion on Superpower rivalry and the East-West struggle for world rule. Clearly, it wasn’t the best of times. The first hydrogen bomb had just been detonated on a tiny Pacific atoll, and McCarthy hysteria was taking hold in the US. Yet founder/editor William B. Lloyd and others could see past crisis and colonialism. Inevitably, they believed, the world was moving “toward freedom.” read more

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Indy Media Rising

Super User June 3, 2005 Super User

The October 2000 Vermont Independent Media Conference

The Independent Media Convergence Project (IMCP) was launched last summer not only to stage the October 2000 media conference but also to promote alternatives, create a network and/or coalition, and possibly launch a sustainable, new enterprise in New England. In the coming months, steps will be taken to create a more formal organization, with the support of Toward Freedom, and input from conference sponsors and others. We don’t know yet whether a follow up conference will be held. But obviously, other groups will be organizing. Plans are underway for a national gathering in San Francisco in April 2000, as well as a continental IMC meeting. read more

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Independent Media Conference (8/00)

Super User June 3, 2005 Super User

A Call to Converge
Vermont, October 14, 2000 (date subject to change)

At the dawn of a new century, nine multi-media giants own most of the global broadcast stations, major newspapers, magazines, and recording, film, and publishing companies. Media merger madness is clearly upon us. At the same time, computers, the Internet, video, community radio, independent newspapers, and related new technologies offer opportunities for democratization and empowerment.

Plans are currently being made for a regional Independent Media Conference. The idea is that, on October 14 – just as the national elections are moving into overdrive — progressive media workers in northern New England gather to share experiences and attempt to develop a common agenda. We would look at the current environment, discuss the alternatives, and take new steps to build a movement for media democracy. Potential outcomes include the launching of a new publication or station, creation of a regional news network, and development of a set of principles and proposals to promote change and improve access to all media. read more

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Living with Big Brother (8/00)

Greg Guma June 3, 2005 Greg Guma

In June, a blue-ribbon US congressional commission on terrorism released some recommendations that made civil libertarians cringe. To prevent possible terrorist attacks, the panel, including a former CIA director and the Army general who investigated a 1996 attack on US troops in Saudi Arabia, suggested the loosening of restrictions on FBI wiretapping and increased surveillance of foreign students. Even the conservative Lincoln Legal Foundation feels that this cure "is worse than the disease," arguing that the current threat doesn’t warrant the suspension of constitutional rights. read more

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Democracy and the Media (5/00)

GREG GUMA June 3, 2005 GREG GUMA

Introduction:  Watchdogs and Lapdogs

In the late 1960s, shortly after I started work as a reporter for a Vermont daily newspaper, an angry reader complained about my bias in a letter to the editor. "I strongly doubt that he could cover the proceedings of a dog show without incorporating a message," wrote the critic.

I took it as a compliment at the time. And I still do.

Perhaps that’s why I was so pleased to join about 1000 other progressive media-makers in New York City for a Media and Democracy Congress in October 1998. For three days, journalists and activists from across the country gathered to examine the problems — concentration of ownership, the relentless slide into info-tainment, an avalanche of gossip and "news" people really can’t use — and also debate some potential solutions. It was certainly inspiring to be among colleagues and friends who aren’t afraid of the A-word — advocacy. read more