June 24, 2008

Report on the NWMI Mumbai event

NWMI Mumbai co hosted the launching of the DDS book on Media and Biodiversity at the Mumbai Press Club on June 24. The event attracted a lot of interest from the non-journalist community, as was expected.

The highlight of the event was that farmers from Medak district, like Balamma, made some interesting points about the suicide-hit Vidarbha region. She focused on the huge cultivation costs and the growing of non-food crops like cotton which were unviable. Giving the example of her own situation, she said that today, when the world over there was a crisis of food and fertiliser, the women of Medak were self-sufficient in food. For farmers that was the most important thing. She said suicides can only come down if more food crops were grown in the region of Vidarbha, which is a traditional jowar growing area, and farmers become self-sufficient.

It was quite clear that women like Balamma and Laxmamma lead by example. For Laxmamma the camera was like a sickle, just another tool to be used to further their aim of promoting good field practices. The film clips that were shown demonstrated the film making prowess of the women who have travelled as far as South America, Africa and Europe. The fact that these were Dalit women also came up during the discussion and Balamma and the others spoke about how the upper caste landlords in their village often approached them for seeds. The camera was also a powerful weapon to break caste barriers. Once a landlord had to shut off the television in his drawing room so that the women could film an event in his house.

A panel discussion followed the presentation where Kalpana Sharma, former chief of bureau The Hindu, filmmakers Anjali Monteiro and K P Jayshanker, and Nandita Shah of Akshara spoke about the need for an independent media and the implications of the autonomy of a media which marginalised crucial issues.

Meena Menon
Mumbai

Indian Express story of the Mumbai event:

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/After-journey-from-sickle-to-camera-they-have-a-message-for-Vidarbhas-farmers/327139/

June 18, 2008

Report on the Bangalore event

NWM Bangalore hosted the launch of a multimedia publication – a collection of 12 video films made by peasant women filmmakers of the DDS Community Media Trust, which is based in Pastapur in Medak district, Andhra Pradesh. Co-hosts of the event included Centre for Media Advocacy and Research, Communication for Development and Learning, Openspace and Sarathi.

Titled "Affirming Life and Diversity: Rural Images and Voices on Food Sovereignty" , the collection of films talks about issues that are important in the lives of these women – food sovereignty, autonomous markets, Bt cotton cultivation, traditional seeds and methods of cultivation, natural resources and nutritious food. The films are remarkable for their insight into issues that are often ignored by mainstream media. Even more remarkable is the grit of these women, most of who are illiterate and belong to poor farming families. In their attempt to capture the views of diverse farming communities, the women have also travelled to other countries such as South Africa, Mali, Indonesia, Peru and Thailand.

The event well attended by a cross section of society, saw a brief presentation by the film makers, screening of selected clippings from the films, a panel discussion that involved media persons and social activists, and interaction between rural and urban women.

One of the media people present, G N Mohan, has sent us a collection of pictures he shot at the event. You can view them on http://picasaweb.google.com/gnmohann/WomenPower02. He asserts that there is no copyright on these pictures but if anybody is using them, he has requested a credit line.

--Theresa Varghese,
Coordinator, NWMB

Media Coverage of the launch of 'Affirming Life and Diversity' in other cities:

BANGALORE
The Hindu
The Hindu on net
WIMN
Deccan Herald
Citizen Matters
WEBINDIA123

DELHI
The Hindu
infochange women
expressindia
Indiantelevision

Also visit:
http://infochangeindia.org/200807147217/Livelihoods/Features/Small-diverse-and-beautiful.html

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