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I’m a Security Risk

Phone The tall blonde blue-suited airport security worker keeps looking down at his screen and up at my face in suspicion, “So you work for who?” I try to explain my different jobs as a citizen journalist, but he only seems to listen to half of what I say. From the very first question he has shot me looks of disapproval, of my job, of my nationalities, of my travel habits… to him there is something wrong with me. He goes on to ask what I find to be excessively personal questions about who my friends are and who I live with, which I politely refuse to answer. He calls over another man who is near the gate, watching all the pre-boarding interviews for passengers on their way to the US. This man, obviously a supervisor, looks at me, looks at his paper, and starts writing me up for a “full” security check. As the two men start to take me away from the gate the supervisor says “Sir, you’ll have to go for further security checks, your life is just too complicated for us.”

His words, and their faces, as a large part of my life lay before them, reminded me of a simple truth: I walk a different path, A very different path. And that path doesn’t fit easily into the boxes on a form, as so much of our lives are supposed to. When you don’t walk the familiar line, give the typical answers, you’re more often condemned then welcomed.

That’s not to say my path is miserable burden. I didn’t mean to lead you in that direction. Indeed I what I do brings me a great deal of joy and wonder, and yes, I would even say more appreciation then rejection.

Still there I am, heading to the basement of Schiphol airport to have every inch of my body and belongings searched. What are these strangers who barely look me in the eye searching for? Any easy way to understand my life perhaps? Something that makes sense to them, perhaps? Whatever it is, I’m not sure they ever find it. Some may get it, some may learn, adapt, and recognize something they never understood before. A different way of doing things that has value, in some form of another. Then again, some people never learn anything. The world goes on repeating some mistakes over and over, and the innocent suffer.

As the great street philosopher and drug dealer Poot once explained, “World going one way, people another yo.”

Your 4th of July, Not Mine

It’s is the first time in many years that I am back in the US during the 4th of July celebrations. While I enjoy a BBQ with friends and family today, I’ll also not forget the powerful words of Frederick Douglass back in 1852. In this video entry I read an except from that speech.

Poverty Perceived

How do we explain poverty to ourselves or to others? When conversations in our communities start about those who live in poverty, how do those conversations sound? Perception of poverty is what it is known as in the academic world and there have been a few researchers looking into this issue in different parts of the world.

The classic characterization you can find in many parts of the world is the ol’ “They’re lazy, if they wanted to they could get out of it.” The other opinion on the matter takes it as more of a systemic thing, as in – those who are poor are poor because the system (economic perhaps) keeps them that way. From there you have variations on both themes, but no matter where you go on this earth, you’ll find opinions about poverty. Some based on first hand experience, some based on direct observation, some based on what they’ve heard or how they feel.

Why does it matter? First of all because if you look at data and history, it is possible to point out where perceptions of poverty can be quite far from reality. Even when they are inaccurate perceptions, they can still have tremendous impact, for example, at the ballot box as we vote for leaders who will represent our opinion on this or other issues at the government level. From there come policies that may address poverty to some degree… again.. influenced by the perception of those who voted.

What is interesting about the research available is the differences not only between nations but within nations and regions. How background, political ideology, religion, and beyond, play a role in how people think about poverty. Who are the groups? How do they differ in terms of perception of poverty? – Those details I will assemble in my next article.

Watch the Caucuses Triangle!

The much anticipated documentary “The Caucuses Triangle” is now out and up on the web for all to see. It is a story and a journey that takes us from Azerbaijan to Armenia to Georgia, looking at youth media and the current situation in this unique region. Director and friend of the podcast Letizia Gambini was on the podcast just a few months ago talking about the research and process of making the film. It is exciting and interesting to get to see the final product. By all means, watch, share, make use of this great film!

The Caucuses Triangle

The Battle of Athens

It is neither the first nor the last battle on the streets of Athens this year. But today is the day the public has surrounded parliament as the government tries to pass more measures to cut costs, jobs, services, etc, in order to address the mind-blowing debt the country has. Surely there are more details and larger discussions to have around these issues, but right now it all pales in comparison to what is happening on the streets.

To get updates from Syntagma Square, journalists and frequent guests on citizenreporter, Max and Stacy are on the scene. Of course Al Jazeera also has the streaming images and people in the crowds.

Fresh Wounds

“It is hard to speak without any emotion about a conflict when you live it,” a great new friend and journalist explains to me as we drive across busy Tbilisi on a Friday night. “I can talk about Kosovo, Iraq, without getting emotional, but this… its so complicated and has such an impact on my life,” he struggles to find the words to explain why the long standing conflict between Russia and Georgia, especially the 2008 war, is so hard to address and explain without getting angry or frustrated.

LAzy — Police in Tbilisi sitting around.

It is this complexity that I have brought up, or seems to come up, quite often in the comings and goings of a visiting foreign citizen journalist. I’ve gotten to hear about the experiences of people here, what they were doing to keep safe and protect their loved ones while their home city was being bombed from above. I listen to the stories and then I walk down to a local café with fancy named drinks and free wifi, I struggle to imagine bombs raining down anywhere near this place. Why would anyone agree to do that? Who pushes that button, and goes on with life?

2008. Not 1998. Not 1948. In 2008 the Russian army moved using their justification and the Georgian army responded using their justification. Even if I’ve got the sequence of events wrong, at the most basic level, two armies which are made of human beings, took aim at each other in an effort to damage or destroy the other.

I’m simplifying war, which my wise friend reminds me in words, is more possible when you haven’t lived that war. But I do it because I have studied and I continue to study the world. In my observations and studying I have witnessed that most irreconcilable differences are reconcilable. Most conflicts are created, orchestrated, and inflated by political and military leaders. And beyond who creates the conflict, it is we the citizens of the world who carry out the gruesome inhumane task of trying to destroy one another. Without our cooperation, our hands at the controls, our fingers on the triggers, most wars could not be fought. Even a drone has a pilot somewhere, who is consciously carrying out a task relating to war.

So now for the impossible. Where I lose you because what I invision is considered impossible… even though in terms of our abilities as humans and our collective power… it is physically and mentally possible to do. That is to refuse. Refuse to line up for war. Refuse to pull the trigger. And perhaps most importantly, refuse to believe what you’re told about the mission; that those people over that line deserve to die and that you’re right for carrying out orders to harm them. -OF course- this means both sides. This only works with a cross border, cross cultural, out pouring of some of the greatest bravery the world has ever seen. That two militaries would refuse to take aim at each other. What a beautifully boring war it would be.