The Segregated Blogosphere in Colorlines will ring many bells for Africans. On access……
…… people of color face more barriers to accessing web-based technologies and are less likely to have the type of jobs with the flexibility and support to, for instance, blog as part of their work. As Rabb puts it, a bus driver is probably not going to blog as much as a professor.
and writing on racism, sexism and homophobia….
“I just think people really don’t want to hear the truth They instead attack you on your character, your writing style, and not your argument. They distract from what you just said by saying you can’t spell, or that you should have put a comma there,”
Refugee All Stars – Sierra Leone
I watched this film last Monday – though on the one hand it was uplifting watching the group of refugees create their own music and try to rebuild their lives and that of the many refugees spread across Guinea it was also one of the most emotionally and psychologically disturbing films I have ever watched.
Music is our weapon
Music for social change in Senegal – here rappers and reggae artists use their music to create political and social awareness amongst young people prior to the February elections. Incumbent Abdoulaye Wade tried to buy off the rappers and many have had to leave the country and go into exile for fear of being arrested by government forces. Wade won the elections despite appeals from the opposition to the Constitutional Council that rigging had taken place.
Music and Drama for Social Change
CMFD uses music and radio dramas working with communities in Mozambique, Lesotho, SA and Angola to raise awareness and understanding of issues such as trafficking, homelessness, street kids, LGBTI and violence against women. The dramas are distributed to community radio stations and listening groups whilst the music CDs created by the people themselves together with local musicians are played on community radio, distributed to taxi unions and listening groups in urban and rural areas.
UPDATE
Cyberbullying, sexism and misogyny
Is this what people are really like? Sexist and violent? Misogynist and racist? Alice Marwick, a postgraduate student in New York studying culture and communication, says: “There’s the disturbing possibility that people are creating online environments purely to express the type of racist, homophobic, or sexist speech that is no longer acceptable in public society, at work, or even at home.”
Tags: Cyberbullying;Racism; Blogs; Sierra Leone; Senegal; Hip Hop + Reggae;
