Posted in: Kadam Newsletter on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at at 2:49 PM 1 comments  

What does our world wake up to??
To the news of children being killed in Iraq, of the homeless in Sudan, rising inflation, new consumer products, cinema, scientific discoveries and what not.
But of late, we are waking up to another unfortunate reality. That of climate change.

Climate change is a global problem that is going to affect us all negatively. And I realise that government leadership might seem as the most important factor. But given the fact that governmental goals are short term, only a proactive civil society can help spread awareness and mobilize people for public opinion, political participation and exerting pressure on representatives.

We need to realise that a civil society includes not just non-governmental organisations and groups, but individuals as well, you and me, people from various sectors - business, media, finance, academics, the young and the old. In fact, anyone who believes in creating a society that can sustain itself and move towards a better future. Climate change is predominantly an urban phenomenon and challenge. Though people living in rural areas bear the brunt of it, the challenge against it has to emanate from us. In response to this, cities are also making strides in mitigating Greenhouse Gas emissions from sectors they have direct control or influence over and that is why, some of the most influential sections amidst us can help build this proactive civil society, namely: the media, the business sector, NGOs and the youth.

The media is undoubtedly an element that can single-handedly create a global platform to tackle climate change and related issues. Both the print media and electronic media and the Internet have had a significant impact on the way we think and act.

So imagine what change can be brought about if the media was to provide information to the people; if TV channels and newspapers begin to tell us of the ups and downs of the products we consume. We all know that global mass media lives off certain buzz words and they will be only glad to create an atmosphere of fear, with an issue as dangerous as this. But let us not deny the power possessed by the media. What we need is a responsible mass media that will handle the truth in an efficient manner. The media can help in educating people across regions, as media consumers can demand the truth in a way only a proactive civil society can.

We are also witnessing a trend wherein the business sector is taking up this responsibility of addressing climate change. They are doing it, both in the face of risk and increased opportunities. The business sector is facing challenges to make greater advances in energy efficiency and introduction of cleaner technologies. Recently introduced examples of cleaner products and services (e.g’ Ecoimagination’ by General Motors, ‘Ecovison’ by Philips and eco products by Sony) are proving that responsible business can pay and this sector forms an important component of a proactive civil society. Their strategies can immensely affect our consumption patterns and cut down on non-renewable energy, provided it comes at a low cost and reaches more people. In this regard, over the few years, many corporate citizenship initiatives have taken birth.

Voluntary action can never be a substitute for government action. However, they can accelerate the process of solution finding and inspire consumers, peers and policymakers to have the courage to face the climate challenge as early as possible. Local politicians and citizens acknowledge that supplementary polices from the State is necessary to substantially expand the policy momentum.

This is where civil society alliances can fill the smaller gaps. International organisations such as Oxfam, Greenpeace, Christian Aid and others across the world are sensitising the public and providing alternative perspectives. NGOs are also playing an important part in forming public opinion and using techniques to reach out to more people.

The benefits in public-private partnerships are many. It combines a huge resource pool of financial capital, political influence, knowledge and expertise. It has been a relatively recent phenomenon, but it has been applied to fight climate change and promote environmental sustainability. In India itself from May 2005 onwards, the ‘Renewable Energy’ and Energy Efficiency partnership joined efforts with Econoler International of Canada (Econoler) to provide energy efficient street lighting systems to many cities. Similarly, free city bike programme in Copenhagen is encouraging more and more civilians to use bicycles for daily use.

Last but not the least; the youth is a power in itself. They help in transforming public attitudes. The youth led coalitions in Britain and elsewhere, such as the ‘Stop Climate Chaos’ and ‘I Count’ are mobilising young people in large numbers, spreading awareness and using innovative ideas to take the message further. Efforts such as launching the ‘Live Earth Concert’, public rallies and demonstrations are a step forward in this direction. Schools, colleges and universities are also coming together to do their bit. But most importantly, young people are educating themselves to come forward and fight for this particular cause.

This will definitely go a long way and gain strength with people from developing and developed countries realising the importance of acting globally. The youth of today are aware of the need for sustainable development and we need to encourage them. Young people are also exerting considerable pressure on local governments and calling for a dialogue with members from other related fields.

The fight against climate change is not just a concern for the developing world, but for the developed as well. We all know that major portion of the carbon emissions are caused by the industries from all over the world. This challenge is certainly global and unless we act together, we are going to face dire consequences. This is not a blame game and nature spares no one. Be it Indian or American, nature makes no distinctions. Every country and its people need to be responsible and actively do their bit to tackle the problem. Perhaps we can start by critically re-looking at our own urban lifestyles.

P.S. - Divya Kannan is a 3rd year History student of Lady Shriram College, Delhi University. She has been associated with the SMILE programme since last three years, first as a SMILEr and now as a Youth Facilitator. This article is in fact her edited speech that she presented at the elocution competition organised by TERI and the Canada High Commission titled the 'Youth Dialogue on Climate Change'. It was a special event held as part of the- the 'Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS). Her theme was Proactive Civil Society. She won the first prize in the competition.

Posted in: on Monday, February 18, 2008 at at 1:19 PM 0 comments  

The month of November was really action packed for SMILE. The month saw a plethora of activities ranging from theatre workshops, to camps exploring various issues, workshops on conflict resolution, film screenings and discussions and lot more. Since we don’t have the space to take you through the details of everything, here’s a small glimpse…

Theatre
Have you ever thought that an issue can be explored by using a performing art, even if you had no prior experience of the form? Well this is precisely what we did in our theatre workshop that was organized at the beginning of this month. We all know that we have three clubs, Theatre club, Media club and the Film club.The workshop was the launch of theatre club for this SMILE year. It is known to all that any part or any kind of theatre cannot be learnt in a few days. But this workshop was our first step to explore the medium as a means of expression and communication both technically as well as aesthetically and also in special context to impact social issues.

During the workshop we came up with our own play. The play explored the issue of communalism that plagues the country in its every nook and corner. It was a reiteration of the fact that violence and injustice in any form is not what we want. There were various scenes in the play that referred to specific incidents in different states of our country, ranging from the Northeast to Gujarat.

Coming up with our own play gave us a whole lot of confidence and faith in ourselves. There were many SMILErs at the workshop, many of them who had never done theatre before. It was such a fun experience. Over a period of three-days, we learnt a bit about theatre and its history. One of the biggest learnings was how with some effort on our part we can break our own inhibitions and come out of our own comfort zones.

The workshop allowed us to give form to our voices so that it reaches the masses and does not just remain inside us. And what a voice it was…it took a lot of discussion, deliberation and disagreement followed by overwhelming consensus for the group to give itself a name…Ektara.

Our first public performance was at Central Park CP. We were overwhelmed after the great response, feedback and encouragement we received from the public. It showed that our efforts had not gone in vain…even if the play affects one person positively we have been successful in bringing about some change.

Film
The first official film club meeting was held on 26th October and we have been meeting on almost a weekly basis since then. We have been playing games, interacting with diverse group of people, watching films on various issues and having interesting discussions on them afterwards. We mainly tried to explore the issues under the umbrella of 'social exclusion' in the first few meetings through documentaries like 'A second hand life' by Nutan Manmohan, 'Vande Mataram' by Amudhan R.P., 'Turf Wars - Revisited' by Sanjay Barnela etc.

Besides, we have also been looking at enhancing our understanding of films as a medium, which has been the focus of the past few meetings. Here, through film appreciation sessions we saw how films could communicate a lot to us and the way different genres of films like documentary, animation, feature etc. do so.

The film club is currently being led by a group of SMILE Youth Facilitators who wished to take their learnings from last year forward. We have got a very enthusiastic response from the group of new SMILER's, keen not only to learn but eager also to put their learning to use by organizing a film festival or even making a short film of our own.

Window To SMILE
We all know what a window does, don’t we? It gives us a glimpse of the outside world, and the breeze that it lets in is refreshing and energizing. The Window to SMILE Camp does just that. It gives us an insight into how SMILE works, and Pravah’s way of doing things. It is about learning through first hand experience, as well as charcha. It is about working in a group, and so of course, about masti and mazaa !

Not many of us know about the Tibetan struggle for independence and the lakhs of refugees affected by it. In our attempt to explore the issue of social exclusion, we visited Tibetan refugees staying in Majnu ka Tila and interacted with them. We did a small community study, where we got an opportunity to find out about this issue directly from people affected by it. The chat with some members of the Tibetan Youth Congress, who are fighting for a free Tibet, was truly enriching. They patiently answered all our questions clearing many cobwebs in our minds about the community. Continuing with the theme of social exclusion, we also went on a walk through Sanjay Van near Qutub Institutional Area. The whole walk (facilitated by a group called KLODB – Knowing and Loving Delhi Better) on one hand brought us so close to Mother Nature and on the other made us realise that how by our activities we are excluding some sections of people from a more wholesome life, along with natural environment.

The process made us realise that exclusion is not about just a community or specific people, but about how we unconsciously exclude people through our actions, behaviour and even the way we communicate. Everyone's desire was to try and become more inclusive in our ways.

This whole concept was carried forward in the next WTS camp where we explored issue of homelessness and ‘Right to Shelter’. The workshop made us stop and think about how privileged we are to have a roof over our heads, have food to eat and families to care for us and how safe we are with all these things.

During the workshop we visited a night shelter and were overwhelmed by the interaction we had with children who stay there. It was an opportunity to know more about kids who had stayed on the streets and faced hardships that we can’t even imagine in our wildest of dreams at a very tender age. Some of them were as young as 3-years-old, but had seen the world inside out. Their very existence showed the stark reality of today’s world where over a lac children in Delhi itself are devoid of even their basic rights. By the end of the camp, the participants decided that they were not just going to sit back and watch. While some said that they would like to volunteer their time at the shelters, others decided that they would fundraise and collect warm clothes for the children.

Walking the Talk…

Mostly life goes on. We get so busy moving ahead, or getting ahead of the next guy or gal, that we don’t think beyond the present. We ignore history and thus are condemned to repeat it – with every painful, nauseating detail intact. Our spines are so bent with the burden of conforming, of saving ourselves - that we find it hard to break the habit and stand up for others, against injustice, for peace, for humanity.

Fifteen years ago, one chilly morning in the last month of the year, something happened. December 6th, 1992 - a day that has gone down in history as a day when the world witnessed a frenzied mob demolish a monument of faith to the almighty.

But how many of us remember that fateful day? How many of us have voiced our protest against a few people dictating terms and playing with our lives? Do we remember how the country and its people changed that day, the day the Babri Masjid was demolished? In 1993, a few young people quit the safety of their jobs and set out to talk to and bring together other young people like themselves, who wanted to be that voice of protest, to remember, to change the country again and set it on the path of peace and humanity again, a path, long forgotten. Pravah was born.
…6th December 2007
In December 2007, we at Pravah decided to delay no further. We set out to take a public stance against that and other injustices. We decided to use the powerful medium of theatre to reach out to people. With three days of intense soul-searching and passionate debates, we came up with a short street play that said that we, the people, have a right and a duty to speak out against all injustices – our silence makes us complicit in that very injustice.
We took the play to our young change makers, and where better than at DU North Campus! Our first performance was at Hindu College followed by one in Delhi School of Economics. Our banners and slogans got some amazing young people to join us and share with us their concerns and their plans and dreams to change the world!
Our next stop was at Central Park in Connaught Place, where the SAARC Folk Music Festival was being held. There too, an amazing crowd of around 500 people, supported and appreciated our efforts, boosting our confidence and motivation to keep trying to do our best to make the world a better place.

Music for Harmony

The month of December saw yet another effort to engage the public through our annual event ‘Encore – Music for Harmony’. The event is a celebration of peace and it brings together various genres of music- and performing arts, which reflect the diversity of cultures. Like every year since 2002, the event was held at Dilli Haat and saw a number of performers who brought their music to a common stage to spread the message of peace. The performers included – Hameedji, Sur Pass (Sanskriti School), Brazen, Goonj, Chhonnochhara-The footloose, Bhawaia music etc. It was a mixed bag of songs with some theatrical and dance performances.

In order to bring together people from varied age groups and give everyone a chance to express their creativity we had a number of parallel interactive events taking place, such as – face painting, nail painting, clay modelling and an exhibition of various presentations prepared by the SMILErs. We also had peace packets that were distributed among people who had come to see the celebration. The packets contained numerous things including a peace ribbon, peace songs, peace quotes and names of some organizations that work directly to bring about peace.

“Encore Music for Harmony” concluded with everyone lighting a candle as a symbol of hope for a peaceful world and then to the melodious singing of “We shall overcome” everyone moved in to create an illuminating and fiery universal symbol of peace.

The event itself was a day to celebrate diversity, to celebrate music, to have fun, rejoice and spread the message of peace around. It was a day planned and organized by the efforts of many; especially SMILE volunteers, who took on the execution of the event with the hope to reach out to many. The planning and execution of the event also gave SMILErs the opportunity to work together as a team. It was great to see the energy, the madness, mayhem and the masti that led up to the event. Volunteers did everything from painting the banners, to creating the displays. Several evenings were spent over tikkis, chai and lots of charcha as the event drew closer.

Build Up to the Event

The build up of the event began right at the December monthly meeting in Balsahyog. It was a day long meeting of SMILErs, wherein we tried to understand the meaning of peace better. The meeting as usual began with some fun filled activities to warm up our lazy bones on a chilly morning. We had Madhuresh and Nidhi with us, to give us first hand information of the situation in Nandigram, for they had just returned from the place. The morning was utilized to interact with them and broaden our horizon on the issue of SEZs, especially Singur and Nandigram. Then we moved on to a session wherein we came up with our definition of peace and again with a help of some interesting activities. And how can we forget the amazing movie put together in one night to give an essence of what ‘Music for Harmony’ is. The movie motivated the SMILErs to come forward to spread the message of peace. We also formed our core group of volunteers who anchored the whole event and also what we wanted to do that day. It was a long fun filled interesting day and we closed by having some nice blank noise

coffee and pastries.

To find out more contact the SMILE team at Pravah
(Kanika, Manmeet, Namrata)
@ 26440619 or 26213918 or 26291354
email us @ smile@younginfluencers.com
OR
Suchismita (LSR College) – 9810835082
Surabhi (Hans Raj College) – 9810431568
Prachi (Miranda House) – 9891963336
Fahad (Deshbandhu College) - 9873188872

Posted in: SMILE Newsletter November-December - 07 on Thursday, February 14, 2008 at at 12:00 PM 0 comments