Thru Novel Lenses! New Vision New Perspectives New Ideas New Directions For the New World! Futuring Sustainable Development in the Post Pandemic Planet From Pre School to Policy Making
Missed me since the Data Crash? Like any under-resourced curious creative scientist, I self-experimented.To see how they meshed with experiences across the SDG spectrum I injected myself with hundreds of courses and learnings across the soft and hard skills in fields of Data Science - AI, Big Data, Cloud Computing, CyberSecurity, Internet of Things, Digital Sustainability, UX Design, Project Management, Interpersonal and Leadership, etc etc and this happened:
Introducing AuthenThink AI AnalyEthics Leadership Retooling AcademySee Post Future AI Sci Tech Learnings Passport to a Brave New Planet How To Morph Into A CEIBA CYBORG! Make contact to discuss customised retooling!
The evolving character of global democracy from bipolar to multi-polar appreciation for diversity will impact the USA's future role in changing global dynamics towards a new world order. There have been impassioned pleas by regional leaders for upgrade to the international agenda. What does this mean for the US Elections?
So how does this translate future forward for this US elections in relation to economic, gender, ICT and emerging challenges
Without a clear research and education agenda the Challenge of Digital Age for cultures that are not represented in data expressions online threatens to further endanger indigeneous and new world cultures find out more atwww.krisrampersad.com
What will the New Year Bring? Twelve New Chapters 365 New Chances! After a year in which we reached into almost every nook and cranny of the world we are poised to consolidate a world for peace, prosperity and progress. Thank you for your support and Happy NewYear! More details and stats and how you can get involved in this link
The Border Dispute between Guyana and Venezuela heats up as
the date for a Venezuelan Referendum approaches while Guyana has taken the
issue of Venezuela's threat to occupy some two thirds of its territory to the International Court of Justice. What are the implications of this
for the Region and why we should be glued?
Demokrissy takes a close look to the socio-cultural, historical and geopolitical factors in this dispute. Go to the link below for details.
Happy International Girls in ICT Day What a turbulent journey it has been trying to straddle the spheres of media, culture and education for a gender sensitive world.
The journey took me through the benchmark World Summits on Women and Development, Environment and Development and Infomation Society that shaped directions for the synergies needed for recovery and resuscitation into the Post Pandemic Planet
National Award Winner Oliver Chapman provided the sound track for my biopic, One Night To Bloom in the innovative new creative genre the MultiMedia MicroEpic.
As the themesong of the first television series I wrote, the award winning original Cross Country series. It was the first local programme to occupy top spot on prime time TV produced by Dale Kolasingh of AVM Television. Here's how the Cross Country themesong became the sound track of my life... read more Sound Track of My Life
The Nightingale, Lata Mangeshwar, flies off, released into new life at 92.
As I write, homes a cross the diaspora, not the least in the Caribbean too, are belting out the immortal voice of this iconic singer. Can we assess her reach into the multicultural diaspora systems, iIndipop, Chutney Music, Indian music.
The Nightingale took our breaths away now Covid takes hers diaspora tribute to the evergreen Lata Mangeshwar and connections to Indipop and other revolutionary cross and cultural cultural currents
The colour question surfaces as one of the most pernicious issues in the 2020 US Elections.
What novelties emerge from the changing of the guards in the US Elections?
Demokrissy begins introspection and projections on the challenges ahead and implications for multiculturalism gender under President and Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, respectively implications of diasporic reach India, Africa, Americas, Caribbean, Europe ... insights from LiTTributes to the Americas and beyond.
outh Elderly Post Pandemic Planet Resistance Project: With COVID-19 social distancing, gaps between generations expands as elders become high risk group. GloCal redress actions bridging intergenerational divide.
The new COVID-19 threat is not just a health pandemic but a socio-cultural, economic and political one as well. It is upturning the way of life of the world, leaving many sectors grasping for foundation.
Futuring it may mean that many communities may have to turn inwards towards their own knowledge, skills, experiences, tools and resources to meet their needs. Join the Global Local Caribbean GloCal COVID Post Pandemic Planet Challenge, FEDs Any Age, Any Interest, Any Community. Stimulating actions and education in preparation for the Post Pandemic Planet. Tips, Tools, Tests, Templates. Sign on at www.krisrampersad.com and stay tuned for more #GloCalFEDsCOVIDChallenge#GloCalFEDs#GloCalPostPandemicPlanetChallenge#GloCalPostPandemicPlanet#KrisRampersad Sign up here
UNESCO Culture Consultant Kris Rampersad conducted a two day workshop for UNESCO, cultural policy-makers, and related interest groups from the Caribbean on the UNESCO Cultural Diversity Programming Lens (CDPL) in Grenada. She explained that the Caribbean is not making adequate use of international spaces where it can lobby for more significant representation of the region’s assets, such as its culture. Rampersad also warned against formulating cultural policies that may not be relevant to national and regional realities, saying that there is a delicate balance that must be maintained between the intrinsic value of culture and the economic potential of cultural products.
Rampersad stated that “The Caribbean has much to offer the international community when it com
es to our experiences of migration, adaptation, globalization, multiculturalism, cultural identities and evolution of old and the creation of new cultures.” She noted that the Caribbean has “a record of achievement of social cohesion from its cultural diversity.” However, she said, much of these Caribbean achievements and advances have not factored into the drafting of international instruments as the UNESCO Culture Conventions, and the discourse that has since arisen surrounding diversity, and protection and conservation of cultural heritage and assets.
Rampersad said the CPDL can help the region assess the value of these contributions. She pointed out that only six Caribbean countries to date have ratified the UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity, but there is now a “mad scramble” to do because of the launch of the Fund for Cultural Diversity which is only accessible by countries that have ratified the Convention. She stressed that Caribbean countries should ratify the Cultural Diversity and other conventions, but must do so with a clear purpose and an awareness of how cultural policies can “adequately reflect Caribbean experiences and are more relevant to Caribbean realities.”
See video this page on new release: Festival Fables I the Sky & Me the Sea by Kris Rampersad. LiTTscapes - Landscapes of Fiction: Available on Amazon.
Kris Rampersad is an independent media, cultural and literary consultant l She holds a PhD in Global Literatures in English from the University of the West Indies.. She was founder and coordinator of the Trinidad Theatre Workshop Fund for Literature, Drama and Film and a founding member of the Friends of Mr. Biswas (Literary Restoration) Committee and the Commonwealth Film Fund.
For more, to connect and to explore new resources and directions go to the GLoCal Knowledge Pot Website www.krisrampersad.com
In celebration of Independence, Demokrissy is migrating!
Loyal followers of Demokrissy have been enquiring about the State of the State at Independence.
While the State itself might be slow to evolve, we are continue our revolution, smashing walls and barriers (read more and Subscribe https://krisrampersad.com/)
..Dr Rampersad calls on PM, Pres in her mission to protect T&T’s national heritage
Published:
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Dr Kris Rampersad
An online petition has been started by heritage educator, author and researcher Dr Kris Rampersad as well as open letters to President Anthony Carmona and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar calling for the safeguarding of T&T’s natural heritage, the “other Magnificent Seven of the South.”
“It is something of a suicide pact if a state opens the doorway for destruction of its natural heritage without proper safeguarding as it is for an activist to embark on a fast to the death,” said the outspoken Rampersad, who refused at this time to specifically name the other Magnificent Seven given the sensitive and exclusive nature of her research.
Evidence of what may be clues to the ‘missing links’ in the story of human history and evolution may lie in south Trinidad are in danger of disappearing by negative development actions, she said. Rampersad has been piecing together the comparative pre-and post-colonial heritage of T&T in the context of the Caribbean, South America and its global connections.
She is also the T&T representative on the Unesco Executive Board in Paris and chair of the National Commission for Unesco. An independent multimedia journalist, Rampersad is also a Unesco/Commonwealth/Caribbean trained heritage educator, and member of the scientific committee of the International Culture University and the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism.
Rampersad has written an impassioned letter in her blog Demokrissy (www.kris-rampersad.blogspot.com) to Carmona and Persad-Bissessar to safeguard these valuable heritage elements in their home districts of south Trinidad, which she calls “The Other Magnificent Seven”—of south Trinidad/South America/Global South and the globe.
She said these efforts must be part of and contribute to a holistic approach to reviewing and revising misrepresentations of the islands in national symbols as the Coat of Arms and the National Anthem. The open letter calls on the President and Prime Minister ‘to lead’ in safeguarding the endangered and neglected heritage including these valuable assets which she claims have outstanding universal value.
The blog which is receiving the thumbs up across her extensive social media network, has inspired a Change.org petition to Carmona and Persad-Bissessar (http://goo.gl/EEzSc6) calling on them to act now, before all is lost.
Banwari site and other Magnificent Seven of the South Rampersad, who is the author of the first book on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Through the Political Glass Ceiling, that maps the PM’s journey from rural Trinidad to Prime Ministership from speeches, said the letter was inspired by her own impulse to act because it was the responsibility of citizens to motivate and encourage public officials to act in the best interests of the country.
She said, “While a responsible citizenry has a duty to hold officials to account, we also must take responsibility for our actions that impact how authorities may react or act.
“There has been an increasingly hyped national environment that makes it almost impossible to recognise what is empty noise and what may be constructive criticism. “It is on us to find the tone to make the authorities listen. I hope my blog achieved that.”
Speaking to the Sunday Guardian on her way to the biannual Unesco Board meeting in Paris, Rampersad said unplanned and unchecked development actions can cost us valuable evidence contained not just around the Banwari site—the 7,000-year-old humanoid skeleton discovered in 1968—but of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ elements that span across the entire peninsula for southeast to southwest Trinidad.
Much focus on PoS and city heritage She said there had been much focus on Port-of-Spain and the city heritage that included the seven European-styled buildings in disrepair, but the fundamental and valuable heritage of global scale importance have been overlooked as part of general neglect in development planning for the South.
“Maybe that has been a good thing and it has allowed these assets to remain undisturbed, but development focus in this district now means we have awakened a sleeping giant, and we must pause, take actions to secure and safeguard, document and explore what really we are sitting on before we allow what may be another course of development.”
She said focus on heritage had contributed to enhancing national revenue, employment and substantially diversifying economies of many countries which is why so many hanker after being admitted to the Unesco World Heritage lists or any of the recognition Unesco offers on the global value of tangible and intangible heritage.
“But there are steps to be taken which we have not been entertaining,” she said, claiming her research included interviews and examination of oral and literary culture, maps, comparative charts and other evidence from across more than 50 countries. Rampersad said, “The traditional confrontational stance between development and conservation has resulted in a kind of public fear and deafness.
“One such I have encountered, apart from a general apathy and indifference to act, is the erroneous belief that the operations of the oil sector or Lake Asphalt may be negatively affected. “This is very far from the truth as the model I am developing has a central place for the oil sector and other industrial heritage.”
Win-win model
She said that there was an absolute win-win model that had been workshopped at various regional Unesco and other forums and to senior officials of the World Heritage Centre, all of whom had urged and were eager to see us step forward. Rampersad said that will be quite a breakthrough for many other societies also trying to strike the balance between meeting the needs of growing populations while conserving for the future.
“I have many examples of our working successfully with governments, industry and communities to find the perfect fit between what has traditionally been seen as competing actions. “As a small island, T&T with its wealth of human, natural and industrial financial, intellectual and other resources is ideally positioned to impact on and make a difference on the world’s drive for sustainable development.”
Rampersad said that she feared that “the trigger effect of one kind of development to others can now destroy valuable evidence that has not been thoroughly investigated and so unless we move to safeguard them and establish parameters where this can co-exist with development, we stand to lose a legacy that is of value to not just us in the islands, in the region, but also in defining and establishing our pre-and post-colonial connections to the world.
“We have the resources, financial and human and intellectual to position T&T as a model small island nation that effectively strikes the balance between development and conservation—that was the goal of the recently held United Nations Summit which Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar attended. “So I am asking the President and the Prime Minister to lead us and take the necessary steps to do this.”
It evokes cartoonistic images of an alliance of two powerful global forces for good - the media, and civil society - coming together, to defeat the evil of governments across the universe.
The concept of a growing mass global movement of an entity called civil society, facilitated by new media, functioning as a virtual big brother watchdog over the misdemeanours of governments, businesses and others (who are these others?) is a notion I find to be increasingly problematic.
Those who have watched the concept of civil society develop breath and flesh, and now even have offices, staff and equipment, constitutions and statutes, and defined roles and responsibilities and networks, may recall the period of civil society adolescence when there was resistance by some groups, particularly those defined as academia and the media, of being labeled as civil society in the loose definition that civil society comprised all those who were not government.
I understand, in some academic programmes for journalists, one of the persistent examination brain teasers was whether it was possible to be a journalist and an advocate at the same time. Academia and media joined forces against this perceived new threat to their supremacy embodied in civil society. For media, or academia, to consider self-absorption into a mammoth plebiscite agency that labeled itself civil society, often positioned at the bottom of the social hierarchy, may have seemed an affront to its independence, identity and to the status quo.
That was, of course, before the funding agencies got involved and pressured governments and academia and media to incorporate ‘civil society’, or they would be denied access to the wallets. They attempted to give the chaotic mass conceived of civil society, the garb of governance - form, structure, functions, department offices and nameplates, and offered to help it build networks. Civil society has therefore gained currency and, as such, credence as an all-embracing term, and a now not offensive one, too, so entities such as media and academia may now easily consider themselves its ally.
Loosely, civil society is now understood as those who are not the government. During a discussion about civil society in the context of the Summit of the Americas and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting both held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009, I was required to rethink that concept, when an interviewer on a local television talk show flippantly rebutted my citing that definition, remarking he thought that we were all the government.
In the classical concept of politics, governments are those chosen from among civil society to represent them. In effect, governments then, are the arms and legs and voices of the people - that is, civil society -and then rightly so, as civil society, we, are all the government.
Indeed, and by the same token, we are all civil society.
I have often proposed that civil society, which in a previous reincarnation was called non-governmental organisations, would not exist, and there would be no need for their existence, if governments did what they were meant to do - that is to fulfill the mandate given by the people they serve to make decisions in the collective interest.
The media, in my early textbook understanding of journalism, was the voice of the people – a conduit of messages from those who are to be served, town criers of the modern era. Have those basic principles changed with new media in an era of greater global connectivity?
It is something we may wish to keep in mind in discussions about the impact of new media and civil society on global governance, and especially when we try to clad civil society in the garb of officialdom, and contain their multifarious voices within networks and like structures.
Formulation and perpetuation of notions and concepts and constructs, and development of theories and projections of visions of civil society, and of media, as entities outside of, or diametrically opposed to the construct, notions and functions of government, are indications of how far we have moved from the central focus of what governments are, and the notion of what governance ought to be.
Such an off centre focus strike at the heart of why development goals cannot be achieved – largely because the basic premises themselves on which actions and programmes are being built are skewed . In setting up and continuously reinforcing such dialectic roles, we are still failing to recognise and act on the fact that development and progress, as much as they are collective responsibilities, are also personal ones.
Certainly the discussions emerging around the possibilities and potentials of new media to mobilise civil society now give cause to pause and examine the assumptions that surround this, among them, that civil society is a homogeneous collective constituency waiting to be mobilised, and that media, matured and evolved into new media, is the conduit, tool and agency to effect this.
It requires us to reflect on some of the assumptions, presumptions and misconceptions we have unquestionably accepted, in buying into this idea, without consideration of how the directions being proposed may, perhaps, in fact be reducing and diminishing the potential value of the asset we have in new media: to represent and celebrate the individuality of the many voices, and not have them subsumed and contained within notions of networks and niches.
And this, to me, seems to be the challenge of the new era: How can new media, even as it networks and facilitate the creation of networks of like interests, not neutralise the representations of the multiplicity of people voices in the process, and in fact present them as parts of, not separate from, the collective conscience of governance.
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To support, sponsor, collaborate and partners with our digitisation efforts. Or to develop your own legacy initiatives, and safeguard, preserve, multimedia museum, galleries, archives, makecontact.
Media, cultural and literary consultant Dr Kris Rampersad believes this year's budget should contain the necessary provisions to push T&T's arts and cultural sector from one of dependency to self-sustainability. She said if that was not done T&T would be missing a crucial opportunity to diversify its economy. In a press statement yesterday, Rampersad pointed out that arts and culture were a billion-dollar industry in other countries.
She added: "It is the kind of returns from museums, from performances abroad, from sales and downloads of a range of cultural products in a world hungry for new entertainment on the one hand..."On the other (hand), from fulfilling the cravings from new reflections of self and identity that our multi-culturalism can provide." She added that arts and culture have the potential to help people and communities to have sustainable livelihoods. She noted, however, that the structures, systems and investments necessary which would help T&T to take advantage of that was "sorely lacking."
She said the potential of art and culture was not only found in T&T's music, song, dance, drama or literature but also in outside-the-box industries of fashion and cuisine. "We are sitting down on a multi-million dollar revenue earner in literary tourism, but there are as yet no real facilities by which we can capture this international interest," Dr Rampersad noted. She said it was Government's duty to create an environment that would enable and facilitate that.
She said it was also Government's duty to promote public and private sector partnerships within individuals and groups in the sector, as well as international agencies and to ensure that no one group or groups of organisations had the monopoly and access to these facilities. Dr Rampersad added: "The 2010-2011 budget should present clear measures to provide effective tax and other incentives to the creative sector for the development of talents, products and communities, along with a short, medium and long-term vision that gives culture its rightful place at the centre of national development, not just piecemeal and tokenism."
