Cuba, 2nd day continues with workshops and exchange of learned experiences

teleSUR English

*IV International Patria Colloquium continues on its 2nd day *Nearly 400 guests from 48 countries take part in the IV Patria Colloquium *IV Patria Colloquium dedicated to the 20th anniversary of multiplataform teleSUR

Transcript

00:00So as you were saying we're here for the second day of the Patriarch Colloquium. We're still at the University of Havana and

00:07Very pleased to be here actually yesterday. We were talking a little bit about what is going on here

00:13We have over 400 representatives from close to 50 countries that have come here to discuss some main issues

00:22regarding digital communication the use of technologies and really thinking about a widespread

00:28Strategic plan to think about communication from a leftist perspective from a global south perspective and that

00:35Started yesterday

00:37Continues today with conferences with workshops that are actually underway

00:41Right now as we speak and will continue also through tomorrow and we were talking about the importance of

00:49networking actually the weaving networks is one of the slogans of this colloquium and

00:56The idea that keeps on bringing partners back together to Havana

01:02Every edition of the Patriarch Colloquium is the possibility of sharing experiences and not only sharing them

01:08but also building those connections that allow us to really focus on digital communication as a

01:15Worldwide perspective a perspective that is bringing together

01:19Media outlets from Latin America from Asia from the African continent

01:25with all those exchanges of information of ways of tackling and

01:32approaching digital communication

01:33So precisely in that context we are joined today by one of our guests

01:39We have been holding this interviews throughout the Patriarch Colloquium and he is dr. Kwesi Pratt from Ghana

01:46He is the director of the pan-african television and also the secretary-general of the socialist movement of Ghana

01:53So thank you so much. Mr. Pratt for joining us in tell us your English

01:57I would like to besides welcoming you, of course ask you why come all the way from Ghana here to Havana

02:06Once again for this colloquium

02:08Why is it important to be here to hear this conferences to share your experiences in this goal of?

02:15Really doing a world perspective as strategic plan of digital communication

02:22Well as a matter of fact, we've been under attack for hundreds of years

02:26The attack has taken different forms

02:29slavery

02:30colonialism now new colonialism and so

02:33Our resources are being exploited

02:36Not for the benefit of our people

02:39But to fatten the purse of the multinational corporations in the colonial metropolis

02:44We are being told how to govern ourselves

02:47Our history is being changed and so on and to be able to combat this we need to work together

02:54We need to network. We need to have a common understanding of the common enemy

02:59Who's responsible for under development of poverty and our general misery and that is why this colloquium is?

03:07So so very important

03:10Another aspect why this colloquium is so so very important is simply the fact that there's a focus on television and

03:18I see tell us who are something which comes out of the Alba project

03:24Something which emphasizes the need for cooperation the need to network

03:29The need to strengthen ourselves, you know against the huge giant corporations media corporations in the West

03:37Which are presenting a narrative that is very

03:40Derogatory to our people to our systems to our history and so on. So this colloquium is an extremely

03:48important colloquium

03:50so you were just talking of course about besides our differences the

03:55commonalities of the struggles and the problems the

03:59Different parts of our world share for example Latin American and the African continent

04:05What do you think are those common aspects you were just talking about colonialism you were just talking about the issue of the

04:13Exploitation of our natural resources. What do you think are the key aspects in which a shared?

04:20communication between the peoples of Africa and Latin America could benefit from

04:25those exchanges and also the change of those

04:29Experiences how to tackle those issues and how to communicate to our peoples about those issues

04:34Well, all of us are victims of false narratives

04:38For example, we are told that if we have to develop we have to copy the Western countries and so

04:44But nobody tells us when the Western countries developed through our exploitation

04:50The capital which is accumulated which is responsible for the apparent prosperity in the West today

04:56Came out of the transatlantic slavery

04:59It came out of classical colonialism and it continues today

05:04from from from the

05:07neoliberal

05:08Neocolonialist approach, but there's a complete false narrative

05:13Because the options that they had are not available to us in the third world doesn't matter whether we are in Latin America

05:19Doesn't matter whether we are in Africa or we are in Asia

05:23Today, there's no possibility for our countries to colonize other people

05:28Today there's no possibility for

05:31People, you know to enslave others

05:34There's no possibility for us, you know, like brigands to jump into other countries and overthrow governments and so

05:42So the only possibility available to us

05:46Is the possibility of self-reliant development in cooperation with other countries like us?

05:53So this false narrative needs to be debunked completely if you are to break out of the chains of enslavement the chains of

06:02Exploitation and so on, you know, so we need to come back the false narratives

06:07So we have a lot of work to do

06:11To cooperate because we don't have the resources that they have so we share our resources

06:16We have a lot of work to do to understand a different, you know

06:21Background and so on and build a synthesis which enables us to grow out of this of this of this

06:27very

06:28domineering system

06:30I'm sure that you are well aware of the patriotic revolutions which are broken out in West Africa. It makes a lot of sense

06:38If you take the french-speaking West African countries

06:42All of them without exception have to keep their foreign reserves in the central bank of France

06:49The effect of that is that they borrowed their own money and pay interest on their own money, this is untenable

06:57We cannot survive this way. We need to break these chains

07:01You understand I come from West Africa. West Africa is dotted with foreign military bases Western military bases

07:09Western intelligence presence and so on and yet

07:13The Islamic insurgency is growing in West Africa. Many people are being killed on a daily basis and so on

07:20We need to find out why we cannot establish military bases in the West

07:24But they can establish military bases in our country and why the more they establish military bases in our countries

07:31The more insecure we become and there's a challenge you understand

07:36One of the things that I found most

07:39impressive and

07:41Beautiful

07:43About this colloquium is that I arrived here on a Saturday

07:47When the whole of Cuba was in blackout, there was no electricity supply anywhere in Cuba

07:53In spite of that this colloquium has proceeded without a hitch

07:58That's a statement about the resilience of the Cuban people

08:03What has happened here in this colloquium could not have happened in any Western capital

08:08You cannot imagine that in the US had a total blackout for 48 hours it could hold a colloquium such as this

08:16This is the resilience of the Cuban people

08:19Resilience of the Cuban people should encourage all of us

08:23To rise up and become ourselves

08:25You understand and then of course there is the history

08:30Which is also extremely important

08:33I mean the history of Jose Mati, the history of Bolivar, the history of Nkrumah and so on

08:41This is an important history

08:44of a people of

08:46leaders who saw the possibility of breaking the chains of enslavement and exploitation and

08:53Those traditions are to be pursued

08:56To be able to pursue these traditions

08:59We need to understand the traditions where they came from the ideological underpinnings and so on

09:04It is engagement

09:05Constant engagement of all of us whether we are from Asia, whether we are from Africa or Latin America or the Americas, South America

09:13whatever

09:14That would enable us to understand

09:17The underpinnings of these traditions of resistance and make it possible for us to work together

09:23So you were just saying Mr. Pratt, we need to debunk those false narratives

09:29What is the role of this media outlets that Latin America is building, that Africa is building

09:36that are being built also in Asia, for example

09:40How can those media outlets, communal efforts also connecting with for example

09:46Community media outlets from different corners of our countries

09:50What is their role in this debunking of the false narratives that are obviously imposed through

09:58broad network, for example the

10:01main media agencies are dominated by both US or Europe powers and that is a very

10:10Hard network to counter or to fight off. So how can our efforts, what is their role in that fight?

10:18First of all, the media is a source of information and information is absolutely important in shaping people's

10:24perspectives and attitudes and so on

10:27So we have to provide the counter information

10:31A media is also a source of analysis of the information and we have to provide a counter analysis

10:37of the general information which is out there and so on

10:41Now this is a very difficult task

10:44I mean if you take the British Broadcasting Corporation

10:47The British Broadcasting Corporation spends billions of dollars every year

10:53There's no way that we can find that billions of money

10:58You understand? It has a huge coverage all over the world

11:02So the only way to do that is to cooperate

11:05I cover West Africa, we cover, Pan-African Television covers West Africa

11:09I cover West Africa, we cover, Pan-African Television covers West Africa

11:14We exchange with Telesu which is covering South America and so on

11:18So we don't have to be in South America

11:20We depend on the resources of Telesu to be able to cover South America

11:25And that happens with other media organizations and so on

11:29Again, sometimes we are frightened by their apparent sophistication

11:34They use very expensive equipment and so on

11:37We don't have to use that expensive equipment

11:40We can do it using mobile phones

11:44Against their very sophisticated cameras and so on

11:48So we need to find ways of overcoming the threats that they pose

11:56With their sophisticated systems and cameras and so on

12:01Which really mean nothing, it's the message which is important

12:04It is not the tools which are used which are important

12:07And how to get this message across

12:10And it is within this context also

12:13That social media has become very very important

12:16The dissemination of information

12:18What do you need to be on TikTok

12:21What do you need to be on the other social media and so on

12:24And perhaps the time has come

12:26For our leaders to also begin thinking about developing alternative social media platforms

12:35For too long we have depended on a Western-propelled, Western-developed social media platform

12:42Which is not in our interest

12:44So we need to be thinking

12:46We need to bring our engineers together

12:48We need to bring our information technologists together and so on

12:50To begin to think about developing these alternatives

12:54To enable us to push our message

12:57To enable us to intensify our resistance

12:59Against exploitation

13:02Against domination

13:05And against the attempt to replace our culture with decadent culture

13:10And definitely that is one of the main points in debate in this colloquium

13:15That is also and maybe specifically targeting

13:19How we can make the most of these new possibilities

13:23That the digital platforms

13:25And the need to build our own digital platforms

13:27How could that open those possibilities that you were just mentioning

13:32We definitely hope that this colloquium here

13:35Is paving the way for that to happen in the years to come

13:39I thank you so much Mr. Pratt

13:41For joining us in Telstra English

13:43So Luis, that was Mr. Pratt from Pan-African TV from Ghana

13:49And as we were saying

13:51Those are the key topics that are being discussed here

13:54In the Colloquium Patria

13:55In the Colloquium Patria

13:57In the University of Havana

13:59Bringing together experiences from all over the world

14:02To really think about the challenges of digital communication nowadays

14:06But also the possibilities of weaving those networks

14:10Making those connections

14:12And thinking about in the years to come

14:15What it takes for us to build these new digital platforms

14:19And think about the new possibilities

14:22In terms of this digital struggle

14:23That is being done all over the world

14:26So I go back to you

14:28And we will continue to bring you all the information around the world

Category

Transcript

Recommended