[narconews] Belmont: We Work Without Handcuffs
David B. Briones
Dear Reader,
I didnt imagine in July of 2004 that my life would take a sudden
turn. In Mexico, I grabbed a backpack, packed essential clothes and
in a suitcase apart I carefully placed a video camera, still camera
and audio recorder.
My destination was Bolivia, where I didnt know anyone, but I arrived
at the home of now-Vice President Alvaro Garcma Linera, with whom
I had exchanged emails during a talk he had given in Mexico in which
he spoke about the gas wars in his country. It was that talk that
convinced me that I had to go to Bolivia, and so I went.
Alvaro put me in contact with journalists in La Paz. For the first
weeks I stayed in a cheap hotel at which every little while the
alarm rang to mark the entrance or exit of clients. Daily I went
to meetings to cover the national referendum on nationalization of
gas.
I wanted to report from Senkata, then a conflict zone in the city
of El Alto.
During each day I would file various radio reports amid indigenous
peoples, military soldiers, police, burning tires and dynamite
explosions (some of the inhabitants of the area are former miners).
All to the cry of:
Nacionalizacisn Carajo!!! At times I would cross paths there with
Brad Will (the independent video reporter assassinated in 2005 in
Oaxaca, Mexico, during the APPO uprising).
Upon leaving Senkata is when Al Giordano, Narco News and Authentic
Journalism appeared in my life, a trio that are really one and the
same. Some journalist colleagues suggested to Giordano that he bring
me as a student at his school and after various talks he accepted.
It was at that moment that I found another way to do journalism,
another way to tell about things, of people able to see a mirror
but also what is behind that mirror and not to be content only with
what is in front to me. A journalism for which the word authentic
is not an adjective but, rather, a way of doing things, a way of
life combined with honesty and commitment.
It is not just a personal commitment but also a social and human
one, a truth of our own, a truth that we try to demonstrate in the
most dignified way possible. It is complicated to speak of objectivity,
if, for example, when one looks at a painting from different points
of view ones vision of it changes. We want our vision to be
transparent, without manipulation, and from that surges the importance
of not being part of the big media monopolies that surely mutilates
or distorts reality in the news.
Being at the School of Authentic Journalism, one obtains the tools,
knowledge and contacts to then be able to develop one self on that
terrain, in action, to be able to construct and tell history, stories
that will echo in far corners of the world whether through radio,
video or written word.
Stories that can tell, denounce or demonstrate part of a reality.
Stories that we tell another way. Thats why I write to invite you
to financially support this grand nest that is the J-School, a nest
that is growing many birds and teaching them to fly. Birds of
distinct colors, forms and species that come from different regions
of the world.
I can tell that after living this experience, the lives of each who
attend will change. It is a part of personal and professional growth.
Owing to the space and support that I have had from Narco News,
after attending the 2004 School, I have collaborated in reporting
on the Zapatista Other Campaign and inform about what happened in
Atenco in May 2006 (when a federal police raid invated the town of
San Salvador Atenco, Mexico, where they violently beat and sexually
abused the people).
From the School there comes continuous work, heading out onto the
battlefield with a pen, a notebook, a camera or a recorder, ready
to shoot: to shoot words, images, letters, sounds, with one goal:
tell and portray our vision and share it.
Finally I can say that I see myself and my colleages as people who
have our hearts in our hands, politically and socially, we are
people that try not to lose ourselves in the demands of daily life,
in the standards of the big media businesses. We work without
handcuffs, but at times what ties us down is a lack of resources.
And yet not even that stops us. We continue, continue
Please donate today via this link:
http://www.authenticjournalism.org
Or you can send a check to:
The Fund for Authentic Journalism PO Box 241 Natick, MA 01760 USA
We would very much appreciate your support to make this School
happen again and to be able to continue broadcasting our work to
more people and corners of this earth.
A hug for all,
Quetzal Belmont School of Authentic Journalism, Graduate and Professor
Mexico City
__._,_.___ Reply to
sender<mailto:?subject=Belmont:%20We%20Work%20Without%20Handcuffs> |
Reply to
group<mailto:narc...@yahoogroups.com?subject=Belmont:%20We%20Work%20Without
%20Handcuffs> Messages in this
topic<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/narconews/message/1483;_ylc=X3oDMTM0bTYyY
mczBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIxMzg4NzIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDYwNjgyBG1zZ0lkAzE0OD
MEc2VjA2Z0cgRzbGsDdnRwYwRzdGltZQMxMjU4OTk0MTE3BHRwY0lkAzE0ODM-> (1)
Recent Activity:
* New
Members<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/narconews/members;_ylc=X3oDMTJmcWcyMmdj
BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIxMzg4NzIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDYwNjgyBHNlYwN2dGwEc2xrA
3ZtYnJzBHN0aW1lAzEyNTg5OTQxMTc-?o=6> 3
Visit Your
Group<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/narconews;_ylc=X3oDMTJlb3RtMmpoBF9TAzk3Mz
U5NzE0BGdycElkAzIxMzg4NzIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDYwNjgyBHNlYwN2dGwEc2xrA3ZnaHAEc3R
pbWUDMTI1ODk5NDExNw--> Start a New
Topic<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/narconews/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJlaGRlZG52BF9TA
zk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIxMzg4NzIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDYwNjgyBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA250cG
MEc3RpbWUDMTI1ODk5NDExNw--> MARKETPLACE
Going Green: Your Yahoo! Groups resource for green
living<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=14kue7036/M=493064.12016295.13793596.10835
568/D=groups/S=1705060682:MKP1/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1259001317/L=/B=GFTcDUPDhC0-/J=125
8994117534266/K=VjNZ_nEVQV5eIsSWAeY_Dg/A=5922843/R=0/SIG=11ckn2mo6/*http://ad
vision.webevents.yahoo.com/green/>
[http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/yg/logo/us.gif]<http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDM
TJkcmE5djB1BF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIxMzg4NzIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDYwNjgyBHNlYw
NmdHIEc2xrA2dmcARzdGltZQMxMjU4OTk0MTE3> Switch to:
Text-Only<mailto:narconews-...@yahoogroups.com?subject=Change%20Deliv
ery%20Format:%20Traditional>, Daily
Digest<mailto:narconew...@yahoogroups.com?subject=Email%20Delivery:%20Di
gest>
Unsubscribe<mailto:narconews-...@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>
Terms of Use<http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>
.
__,_._,___