Citizen Reporter

I arrived back in New Jersey, state of my birth, to find a state filled with money problems and political impasses. Budget cuts, layoffs, and closed down businesses is what I hear much about. Frustration and anger, with politics as well as the economy, are easy to spot if you can get anyone to talk about the state of the state.

Down in Washington DC, where I will soon be, they are preparing to hold a Rally to Restore Sanity hosted by the very funny and intelligent John Stewart. Apparently this rally is in response to one held by conservative fans of Glenn Beck, the popular Fox News tv personality.  Thousands upon thousands of people gathering on the national mall, as many have before, to express their opinions related to politics and the state of the nation.

Then I look over at France and the ongoing strikes against cuts and reforms of the pension system, as well as against the French President himself, who’s popularity has plummeted.

And so it goes in this era of western democracies. Politics and economics have failed the average citizen, so the average citizen does what he/she learned our ancestors did; protest, demonstrate, strike, rally. The goal is to get the results that many movements from the past managed to get – change.

Yet watching students walk out of classes in New Jersey. Hearing about rallies in the heart of the US capital. Reading about strike after strike after strike in Paris and throughout France. Listening to the sounds of Greek demonstrations on the radio. So much energy, so much anger, so much struggle… yet measuring the impact of these activities seems harder then it has ever been.

Governments set up a designated area for your protests. Leaders drive away from the area where there is a rally.  Commuters wait for transport strikes to end and get right back on the train with little regard for what the strike was about.

My question and my point with bringing all this up is not to say that strikes are wrong or futile. My question is are strikes enough in an era where they are as easily ignored as they are initiated.  Is there not some new twist or tactic that is missing from the traditional demonstration that indeed in the past has served as the best tool to make the demands of a social movement known. I look at the struggles and the victories of the past, I look at the frustration and demands of the present, and I wonder how (and if!) we can be more effective for the future.

I find myself spending 2 days in Brooklyn, New York, guest lecturing at Brooklyn college in the media department. I stand before rooms filled with students, as I have done so often over the past 6+ years, and I speak about being a citizen journalist and why I do what I do/how I do what I do. I spend lots of time telling recent stories from Afghanistan and Siberia, among other adventures. Thankfully I am met by interested, thoughtful, and open minded students, who not only allow me to tell stories and give my sometimes strange opinions, but who also share their own, in the process they unintentionally inspire me to do more of what I’ve been doing.

There is, of course, something wrong about me being a spokesperson for what is going on in Afghanistan. If there’s anything I’ve been very clear about since before my trip began, I am no expert on that country. Yes I am interested. Yes I had excellent friends and acquaintances there who took the time to teach about history, culture, in ways most of those outside the country don’t normally get to learn. Yes I can share my experience and tell a fairly entertaining story, but when I think about those who taught me so much in such a short time, they would be far better suited to do this thing I am doing. To speak about a place that deserves to be spoken about, regarding aspects that usually get cut out of the media reports.

I thought this tonight as I read the words of a good friend and an astute observer working near Kandahar at the moment. In his words I feel the excitement, the rush of adrenaline some reporters call it, as well as the despair for those that suffer and those who die. All of this wrapped up into another day at work story. Though as is so often the case in that part of the world, no day is JUST another day at work.