The Drum Beat 84 - Review of Tempo, About Time, Base Line (from 2/1 - 3/5)

"Making Waves - Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change", by Alfonso Gumucio Dagron, has just been published by The Rockefeller Foundation. A study of the field of participatory communication for social change and how it is evolving. Reviews 50 illustrations of the power of community decision-making and action in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Highlights action that communicates the lives and circumstances of the poor and excluded in words and terms that they themselves use. "They are truly making waves by going against cultural norms, rebelling against forces that keep them down, broadcasting tales that were previously unheard by most" [from Foreword]. Available free of charge.

 

This Drum Beat pulls together compelling stories from The C. I. Home Page from 1 Feb 2001 - 5 Mar 2001.

The Home Page contains regularly updated briefing notes on important stories, trends, and events that effect the context in which we all work. We seek relevant information, usually from sources that you won't see in the mainstream media, and we provide links which you can use to follow-up in the areas that interest and effect you most. If you haven't done so please check it out and let us know what you think or send us stories and information from your own work and experience. Contact cmorry@comminit.com

 

TEMPO: communication trends & strategic opportunities

1. Chiapas Website Opens (02-15-01)
Indymedia Chiapas (IMC~C) has inaugurated a website dedicated to creating a tool for the dissemination of 'la palabra digna'. La palabra digna means literally "words of dignity" and is used in the sense of taking someone at their word, or being held accountable to their word. In Mexico where literacy rates are the low, people from rural communities place special emphasis on 'the word': a person's word and promise is seen as a final contract. The site will begin by covering the trip of the Zapatista general command to Mexico City and then the World Economic Forum in Cancun.

2. Voluntary Website for Rape Survivors (02-22-01)
C. Smith sent this into AF-AIDS. http://www.speakout.org.za is a voluntary website established by South African rape survivors and those with HIV/AIDS. It carries up to date information on treatment, living with AIDS, surviving sexual assault, sexuality, investigative techniques, survivors stories, post traumatic stress disorder, statistics and other information. It carries news and information originating from South Africa, the rest of Africa and the world.

3. 45 Countries Suppress Internet Access for Citizens (02-26-01)
M Macan-Markar of IPS reports that Reporters Sans Frontiers in a report called 'The Enemies of the Internet' available at http://www.rsf.fr/uk/home.html, charges governments in 45 countries across the developing world with placing restrictions on their citizens' ability to access information on the internet. Government control has been achieved by compelling citizens to subscribe to a state-run ISP, by installing filters that block access to web sites regarded as 'unsuitable', or by forcing internet users to register with state authorities. Governments identified as 'real enemies' include Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Vietnam.

4. Art vs. AIDS in Togo (03-01-01)
P Oosterhoff reports in Afronets on a public art campaign against HIV/AIDS in Togo. Many of the best artists from Togo's internationally acclaimed art scene have created billboards and murals to bring the public's attention to the AIDS epidemic and to promote safer sexual behavior. In an effort to raise public awareness of HIV/AIDS in Togo and on the Abidjan-Lagos axis the campaign has completed an Urban Mural project, a Coast-to-Coast billboard project covering the highway from Ghana to Benin, and the 'Wear to Care' project, in which school kids created anti-AIDS T-shirt designs. Contact P Oosterhoff pauline.oosterhoff@undp.org

 

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ABOUT TIME: voices & stories from the centre of the action

5. Dowry Deaths Increase in Bangladesh (02-01-01)
Propoor News reports in a story from The Independent Bangladesh how Khairun Shampa a well educated young woman tragically died because her widowed mother could not afford her dowry. The family demanded payment but when her mother could not pay Khairun was tortured. Her mother brought her home but she was taken away again and moved to different houses to avoid suspicious neighbours. When she was finally released it was too late and she died in hospital. Dowry is prohibited but according to the Bureau of Human Rights, 272 women faced similarly tragic deaths in 2000 an increase over the previous year.

6. Profits on Cosmetic Save a Cure for Sleeping Sickness (02-05-01)
D McNeil of the NYT reports in a story posted on AFRONETS that a cure for trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) may soon be available cheaply because it has a second, profitable use: it eliminates facial hair in women. It has been known since 1979 that the drug, eflornithine, is a virtual miracle cure for sleeping sickness but production was stopped until the profitable cosmetic use was found for the drug. Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gillette have introduced eflornithine in a facial cream and Bristol-Myers is negotiating with the WHO and Doctors Without Borders to make an injectable and affordable form to treat sleeping sickness.

7. UN Backs Use of Cheap Generic Anti-AIDS Drugs (02-22-01)
P Capella and J Meikle of The Guardian report in an article reproduced in Afro-nets that the UN, frustrated by slow progress in brokering discounts between pharmaceutical giants and countries threatened by social and economic chaos because of Aids, is ready to back states such as Brazil, Thailand and India where national laws allow them to override drug patents in cases of dire emergency. UNAids says it supports Oxfam and Medecins sans Frontieres, which have been highly critical of drug companies' pricing policies.

8. Guardians of Islam Overturn Law to Allow Women to Study Abroad (03-01-01)
A Silverstein of the Earth Times News Service reports that Iran's Guardian Council has objected to women receiving equal access to higher education abroad. Iran's parliament, the Majlis, voted by a 2 to 1 margin to amend a law that prohibits women from studying abroad without the permission of a male guardian. But the Guardian Council, a body constituted by religious scholars and lawyers that screens the nation's legislation for compliance with Islam, overturned this a few days later. University students and women have been among the most vocal groups supporting President Khatami's reformist agenda, which includes relaxing some of the more severe restrictions imposed on Iranian women.

BASE LINE: facts that tell a story

9. Women & Reproductive Health (02-26-01)
Source: Panos - Women & Health Link

 

• At least 1 in 3 women worldwide has been abused, beaten or sexually coerced within her lifetime.
• Each day throughout the last decade, 1,600 women have died and 30 times as many have developed infections or disability from complications of pregnancy or childbirth.
• For the first time, more women than men are infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa - 55% of infected adults are women.
• Girls in the countries worst-hit by HIV/AIDS are 5 to 6 times more likely to be HIV-positive than boys of the same age.

10. Sub-Saharan Africa: A Decade of Declining GDP & Aid (03-01-01)
Source: World Bank African Development Indicators 2001
 

• It is estimated that a minimum positive GDP growth rate of 5% is required to reduce the numbers of people living in poverty.
• Average per capita GDP fell by 1% in 98/99.
• Uganda and Mozambique grew by 7.1 and 7% respectively. 14 countries have grown by more than 4% per year during the 1990's and have shown annual income rises of 2 to 3%. 10 countries have had growth at about a 3% level.
• Countries with the worst growth performance were those in conflict situations: Angola -0.2%, Burundi -2.4%, DRC, -4.6%, Rwanda, -2.1%, Sierra Leone, -4.6%.
• Official aid fell from a per capita level of US$32 in 1990 to US$19 in 1998.
• Total official aid was down from US$17.9 billion in 1992 to US$10.8 billion in 1999.

This issue compiled by Chris Morry cmorry@comminit.com

The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners. 

Send items for The Drum Beat to the Editor, Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com