Rampage
While in Baghdad, Gittoes, an Australian photographer and documentary film maker, hears Elliott Lovett, an American soldier, claim that the streets of his Miami neighbourhood are even more dangerous. Gittoes goes back with him, meets his family, sees the machine gun-strafed houses on his block, and is there when his 20 year-old brother Marcus is murdered.
It’s tragic to see how socially marginalized some African Americans are and the endemic idiotic violence between young men living in different housing projects. Are there ways out of the mess? The only alternative to prison or an early grave seems to be the army. Or, the great fantasy, making it as a rap musician.
Gittoes’ personal focus is limiting – are there no efforts to counter gang culture? What about education? Why doesn’t Denzell, the youngest brother, who’s clearly very intelligent, go to school? Gittoes seems content to present people as they want to be seen. He sets up auditions for Denzell but no producer sees much of a market for a 14-year-old who raps about AK-47s and drugs. The focus is inward, desperate, materialistic and hopeless. What happened to politics?
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- directed by George Gittoes
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
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- Vinayan from India on agriculture
