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| This is the End... |
| 06.27.04 (1:00 pm) [edit] |
Well, our exclusive 512 Collective Africa expedition has come to an end. For those of you who are new to this page, click here for an overview of what it's all about. You can also read a chronological version that details all of our adventures from start to finish.
The focus of our work during the trip was the two documentary films that we are producing. While the full- length projects will not be fully edited until December, you can check out 7- minute 'conceptual previews' at the following links:
My film Feast or Famine is an exploration of capitalism and how it relates to our planet's hunger crisis; it can be found here.
Justice's piece, which looks at the relationship between religion and revolutionary movements, is called Song of Savior and is featured here.
Comments are appreciated.
Highlights of our trip:
During our 6 months of traveling through Southern Africa, we had more amazing experiences than you could fit in a dozen blogs of this size. However, I'll just go over a few of the highlights (click the links to go to that post).
We started off the trip with a little African safari in one of SA's national parks, managing to see elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, and plenty more. The fancy resorts would contrast sharply with the, say, the 1960s- era bus that we would find ourselves sleeping in later on down the road...
Then was a short trip to Lesotho, where we were able to grab some amazing footage for my project. We also managed to post what appears to be the first blog update to ever come out of the tiny country. When we got back to Joburg, things really started heating up: we were on TV, on the radio, and we started working with a prominent local actor to create a short film on South Africa's AIDS crisis.
In April we got a little break for our work in Joburg, and we wasted no time in hitting the road. First it was off to Mozambique, a beautiful coastal country but also one of the three poorest in the world.
As we moved up the coast of the Indian Ocean, we broke inland to cross into Zimbabwe. In case you aren't very aware of the situation in Zimbabwe, it is in the midst of a political and economic disaster: the tyrannical dictatorship is accused of rigging elections and enforcing their rule through torture and killing, and inflation of the Zim dollar is the highest in the world. Foreign journalists are banned, but the World Food Programme (who I collaborated with to make my project) was willing to 'pretend' that we worked for them - so long as we smuggled our own camera across the border. This allowed us to film at one of their distribution centers, which ultimately became the last footage of any of Zimbabwe's emergency food distributions - the Zim government expelled the WFP just days after we left, leaving the lives of 5 million people in jeopardy. The 512 Collective Hip- Hop division also became the first American crew to perform in the country in quite some time.
South Africa's third elections since the overthrow of the racist Apartheid regime took place a week later. As these figured prominently into Justice's film, he traveled to Cape Town to document them while I took our backup camera out into Soweto (South Africa's most famous ghetto). These elections also marked 10 years of democracy in the country, which resulted in massive celebrations across the nation.
The following weeks saw riots on campus, South Africa's successful bid to host the 2010 World Cup, and a quick trip out to to the coastal city of Durban. Next on our increasingly- crowded list was a recording session in Cape Town, where we laid down a handful of tracks for the upcoming 512 musical release The Josi Tapes, a project that Justice has spearheaded. You can check out a few of the mastered tracks that we have posted online. And amidst all that excitement, I managed to squeeze a little political commentary onto the site as well.
Our last expedition out of South Africa began in early June, taking us first through the tiny monarchy of Swaziland, then into Mozambique, and finally back to Zimbabwe. It was an amazing journey, and I won't even try to get into the details here.
That trip really concluded our work, and we flew out of the country a few days later. As this blog is therefore 'finished', updates will be far and in between. I would recommend hitting the 'bot this bot' link to your left, however, as what I do post at this point will primarily consist of completed versions of our work and screening dates for the full- length documentaries, and you will not want to miss any of it ('bot this blog' means you will be e-mailed when the page is updated).
Well, what can I say... It's been great, and I want to thank everyone for joining us. The experiences we've had these past months were incredible, and it has been my great pleasure to share them with you. Until we meet again...
peace.out
D. Luke Fitch
512 Collective Executive Ambassador
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| And the 512 Collective Has Left South Africa |
| 06.24.04 (11:52 pm) [edit] |
I'm posting this from the London Heatrow Airport - I'm halfway along in my trip back to New York, and Justice should be at a similar point in his journey to LA.
There's really not that much news to report; I'm mostly posting this to add one more entry to the list of countries from which this page has been updated. We can now mark off South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, and the UK. We'll add the US once I get into NY and post a finale that will wrap up all of our adventures. Until then...
DL Fitch is signing off.
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| 'Song of Savior' Conceptual Preview |
| 06.22.04 (2:26 pm) [edit] |
Note: The High Quality video file has been corrupted by our server. The problem should be corrected soon.
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| The 512 Collective Gone CrazE (Pronounced 'Crazy') |
| 06.21.04 (1:30 pm) [edit] |
 A few of you old- timers will remember me mentioning Justice's appearance on a local South African Hip- Hop TV show called CrazE a while back. Well, I finally got around to digitizing a recording of it for you all to take a look at. It's a pretty silly show, but I would recommend checking it out to everyone who hasn't either seen Justice rocking the mic or watched an African TV broadcast before (that should be all of you...).
Hit the image to launch it in your movie player. If you would rather download the file, right- click here.
Enjoy.
DL Fitch
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| And Our Wild Adventures Come to an End... |
| 06.20.04 (6:50 am) [edit] |
Well, Justice and I have returned from a brutal, eight- day tour of Southern Africa, spanning four countries and over a thousand miles (traversed mostly in run- down busses).
 After you last heard from us, we hitch- hiked across Swaziland and up the coast of Mozambique. After a few days lounging on the beach and eating lobster meals for less than you all pay for a Big Mac, we broke West towards the Zimbabwe border. I managed to squeeze in one solid day of shooting along the way, grabbing some great footage in the rural areas of a country that is as depressing as it is beautiful.
We arrived at el frontier with only enough money for a single entry visa - my bank card doesn't work in Mozambique, so Justice's account had been extinguished during the previous few days. The plan was for me to go into the nearby city after crossing the border and withdraw enough for Justice's visa, but we discovered Zimbabwe Immigration won't accept their own money - one more sign of the Government's inflation- driven desperation for foreign currency.
Banks are not allowed exchange money, so I ended up having to spend five or six hours searching out black- market currency dealers in hopes of buying South African rand (the illegal market is so strong because of the profit made from selling Zimbabwe Dollars, but it makes buying other currencies extremely difficult). I was successful in the end, but it is not an endeavor that I would like to repeat. Luckily Zimbabwe customs checked the one bag of ours that didn't have any camera equipment in it, which avoided one potential hassle and a possible arrest...
We made our way down to the country's second- largest city, Bulawayo, the following day. That was when the trip really started to get interesting... A friend of ours from New York was visiting family and our plan was to meet up with her at some point. More monetary issues (the city's ATMs were all out of order) forced us to scrounge together our last few thousand Zim dollars in order to call her, in hopes she could help us work things out.
In a stroke of luck, she was just across the street with her aunt. They were on their way to see an Inyanga, a traditional shaman, and they invited us to come along. Now, I am your run- of- the mill agnostic/atheist who is pretty opposed to most organized forms of modern religion. Nevertheless, this was the most intensely spiritual experience of my entire life.
The ritual involved traditional music and the consumption of a brownish- black powder (by the Inyaga). She would then place a gourd- rattle to hear ear and 'speak' with each of our ancestors in a language which is not practiced under any other circumstances.
I'm not sure of exactly what took place, but I know that the things this woman told me came from someone or something with a very deep understanding of my life - it was literally as if I was watching her communicate with a higher power over a cell phone. Between the three of us, every word she said hit right on the head- of- the- nail. Fortunately, we were able to film the entire experience, and I will hold onto that footage for my entire life.
We were later invited to stay with the family that had brought us to the Inyaga. They had a long history in the Zimbabwe government, with our host having once been invited to be Zimbabwe's ambassador to the UN. The late grandfather Joshua Nkomo, or 'Father Zimbabwe', was former Vice- President of the country, and together they have led the minority ethnic group (which has been violently oppressed by the ruling government) for many years. The family holds great respect among the country's people - just last week, Nkomo was honored by an event they hosted that was attended by the infamous President Mugabe himself.
After a day trip out to one of the national parks yesterday, we caught a bus for the overnight trip back to Jo'burg. Justice and I are now settling down for four days of insanity before Thursday, when we catch our respective flights back to the USofA...
DL Fitch
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| 512 Reports in From Swaziland |
| 06.13.04 (2:32 am) [edit] |
He we are in the World's last true Monarchy, ruled by a 20- something- year-old King who likes women and palaces (he accumulates another of each every year). The country has the world's highest HIV prevalence rates, currently around 35%. It's also the smallest country south of the equator, and should only take us a few hours to get across so we can move into Mozambique this afternoon.
We're stationed in the capital of Swaziland right now, Mbabane, although it looks nothing like a nation's capital. Maybe 50,000 people tops - the Swazi bank is the only building with more than four stories. We got a pretty good look at the city on our morning climb up one of the nearby mountains.
Anyway, once we've crossed into Mozambique, we're gonna spend the night in Maputo. We'll then move up the coast and return to the serene beach town Tofu that we hit up on our last trip through. After that, we're gonna cut into the mainland - through some of the rural areas of the world's poorest country (or third- poorest, depending on your source). We'll take a backwater- border crossing into Zimbabwe, and finish off the trip in Bulawayo. You probably won't hear from us until that point, as Internet access is pretty limited in Mozambique...
DL Fitch & Justice
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| 'Feast or Famine' Conceptual Preview |
| 06.09.04 (1:55 pm) [edit] |
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| The Josi Tapes: Tracks 1 and 2 |
| 06.05.04 (9:07 pm) [edit] |
As promised, the first (semi-) mastered tracks from the recent 512 Collective recording session in Cape Town are now online. Keep in mind that these are just rough mixes, but they still sound pretty tight. For your convenience, I've provided two file types: Mp3 for those of you old- skool enough to still use it, and AAC for everyone who has iTunes and likes CD- quality sound. Click the icon to stream the track.
DL Fitch
| | | Track 1: Etiopian Gurl | | Track 2: Freakwency | | | |  | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | To download the AAC or MP3 files, right click on the text link. | | |
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More to come...
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| The Cape Town Sessions |
| 06.03.04 (4:11 am) [edit] |
A rare treat to our avid readers: Justice reports in for the Collective, while currently stationed at our temporary outpost on the Cape Peninsula.
This week marks the beginning of the full scale production for the Josi Tapes, 'the dirtiest south'. This trip out of Jo'burg will kick off the album, featuring recordings with some of the dopest MC's in SA. Luke and I have rented a flat in Cape Town, set up our studio in the bathroom, and already laid down a track and- a- half with a crew from one of the nearby townships... It's going to be a milestone. In the past few years I have gathered a number of recordings with MC's from around the world, but the complete production of an international album with multiple crews and artists, including poets, R&B artists, producers, and DJ's? A milestone.
The studio is set up real nice. As I admire it, I'm reminded of an anecdote I heard while suffering through a HOT 97 broadcast in NY - one of the DJ's was explaining that many of Jay-Z's tracks for the Blueprint album were recorded in hotel rooms converted into studios. The line between high quality mobile equipment and studio time had merged, to the point where he could produce music in the same format that the Collective is (why that fool gotta be jockin my style?).
Really I hope that we're on to something, because someone has to take the torch that Sean Carter [Jay-Z] left as a burning ember. In order to lead black people to liberation, we must study who they have adopted as their leaders today. Unfortunately the values that Carter pushed with his work perpetuated the decay of Black people. But there are millions that are willing to rally behind the movements of one star - one leader. Someone must fill those shoes.
In Carter's lyrics on featured tracks with Dead Prez, and even on his much matured final album, The Black Album, we do hear that he is aware of his place in society. He says he would like to rap like Common Sense and Talib Kweli, but he couldn't have made the money selling that image. I believe his idea of rockin' bIing and popstarrin' with a sprinkle of reality can be reversed, to reveal a movement of revolutionary artists that remember people like to dance, and even look nice sometimes. And to reach a place where all the lil' Jay-Z's in Brooklyn can have those goals will come from them following a leader that will bring them down a different path - one of mobilization directly towards freedom, not just the riches it promises.
Thats what we're reppin on the Josi Tapes: the underground artists of South Africa, and the ghetto youth from the townships that are ready to show that their art is here to move the people in both the physical and the mental. They are the children of the revolution that America never had.
Look for online clips from the Josi Tapes in the next few days.
justice aka p[h]aze 3 aka the phoenix
512 International/Exec. Ambassador
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| 'Death Phase' |
| 05.30.04 (5:39 pm) [edit] |
 I haven't really devoted much of this blog to the African AIDS crisis, as neither 512 documentary really focuses on the issue, but I want to give you an idea of the subtle impression that it has on everyday life here.
South Africa, along with a few other countries in this region, has infection rates that exceed 30% of the total population - the highest in the world. Without an extremely rapid response to this crisis, one third of the 135 million people that currently live in Southern Africa will die. Of course, with US pharmaceutical companies jerking around and refusing to discount the prices of their drugs in poor countries, it is unlikely that response will take place. Because corporations are worried about their profit margins, the population of Southern Africa will decrease by nearly a quarter in the next 50 years. We're talking holocausts stacked on top of each other.
South Africa is currently entering what is called a 'Death Phase', a period when AIDS- related deaths exceed new infections. While it's true that this means the infection rate will be significantly decreased over time, that's one bright point of light among millions of dead bodies...
I've found the country to be very different from how you would expect a place in which a third of the population carries a death sentence. When I think of Europe during the plague, I imagine guys in the street with carts calling, "Bring out yer dead!". None of that here - individual cases are generally kept covered up, and the only things to openly remind you of the situation are the advocacy campaigns. Nevertheless, the epidemic casts its shadow across the entire continent, and it definitely has a significant effect on the atmosphere. When people talk about AIDS, it is almost casually referred to as something that is there - as if it always will be. When they speak of sick or dying relatives, it is simply implied that they have the disease. Although it seems as if there has been a lot of effort to do so, no one can ignore the fact that 12 million South Africans will be dead in ten years time.
Wow, this post is even more depressing than my 'How to Fix the World' one...
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| We're Back |
| 05.29.04 (8:06 am) [edit] |
Sorry guys, I've really been slacking here. Justice and I are both stacked with endless stuff to do these days, and it's been difficult to make time for blogging.
After we got back from Durban a week ago, we've both been hitting the editing stations pretty hard. Rough cuts from the 7- minute versions of our documentaries should be finished next Tuesday or so, and we'll try and post them online then. We've also got a few clips from the longer version of each project that I'll put up as well.
In the mean time, you can check out a time- lapse sequence I shot of the WFP ship unloading at the port last week. It's not much, but worth checking out - I wanna make sure that my QuickTime scripts are working right before we start uploading more video, so let me know if there's any problems...
Justice has been pushing the music side of the 512 Collective pretty hard these days, both in the recording studio and on the stage. He's still got a number of shows lined up across Southern Africa before we cut back to the US (at that point the North American tour will begin - but that's a whole other story).
 Meanwhile, I've still been laying down footage for my project; most recently I was shooting in Pretoria (the South African capital, just north of Johannesburg). There was a large protest against genetically modified food outside of the Supreme Court, where the American company Monsanto is being sued.
Anyway, as soon as these rough cuts are done with, we're gonna be heading out to Cape Town with our ProTools studio to do some recording for the Josie Tapes (the album Justice is collaborating to make with local artists). We'll have a few days in the Cape, and then we gotta jet back to Jo'burg to screen the 7- minute documentary cuts here at Wits University.
At that point we'll have two weeks left in Africa, and that time will be divided between four countries. I really don't even want to think about such insanity right now, so I'm gonna leave it at that for now. Peace out homies.
DL Fitch
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| Durban |
| 05.17.04 (5:39 am) [edit] |
I�m posting this blog from the WFP offices in the industrial sector of Durban. We flew out here yesterday morning, crossing paths with Nelson Mandella and his massive motorcade at the Johannesburg airport (he was returning from the World Cup conference in Switzerland).
Anyway, we made it to the Durban port about an hour after our plane landed, just as they were starting to unload the ship that I had come to film. We got a full tour of the vessel, including an introduction to the captain. The ship had come in from New York, so he had a huge stock of American soda that Justice and I descended upon - Sunkist, A&W Root Beer, Coca-Cola without all the added sugar that it has here...� they even had Frappachinos. Yeah, don�'t let me get carried away�...
After we had finished watching them unload, we cut out to our hostel (where I slept through the remainder of the day). Today I returned to film the WFP warehouse space, which I finished doing a few minutes ago. Now all that�s left to do is hit up the beaches, try some of Durban�s famous Indian food, and explore the city�s nightlife. I should be able to do all that by Wednesday, at which point we return to Jo�burg.
DL Fitch
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| World Cup |
| 05.15.04 (12:32 pm) [edit] |
A crowd of screaming people in the TV room down the hall woke me up at 9 am this morning when it was announced that South Africa would host the 2010 World Cup. The entire country is ecstatic now, with crowds of drunk happy people filling the streets singing. One kid in Soweto even told the BBC that it was the happiest day of his life...
This is the first time that the World Cup will take place in  Africa, and the deal is supposedly worth billions. It was so important to South Africa that Nelson Mandella, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and current President Thabo Mbeki were all members of the delegation sent to Zurich to represent the country.
Unfortunately, I was too busy to celebrate today - despite the fact that there was an all- day party called 'Beerfest' just down the street from where I live. Tomorrow we fly out to Durban, and I have a ton of stuff to do before departure. Yeah, my documentary takes priority to 10- rand pints of beer...
Anyway, this is probably the last you'll hear from us until I can find an internet cafe during the trip.
DL Fitch
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| Zimbabwe Kicks Out WFP |
| 05.12.04 (7:23 pm) [edit] |
 Yesterday the government of Zimbabwe told the World Food Programme that they no longer require emergency food aid, despite the fact that WFP is currently feeding over 5 million people in the country. This happens to be good for my documentary, as the footage I shot in the country a few weeks ago is now the last documentation of any food distributions within Zimbabwe, but it's very bad news for the countless people that are likely starve as a result.
The government's move is obviously an election ploy, hoping to maintain their place in the coming parliamentary elections by proving that President Mugabe's controversial land distribution program was successful. There are reports that neighboring countries will secretly donate food to prevent widespread starvation, but Mugabe has always used food as a weapon against the ethnic areas that do not support them. It was only the WFP's work that was keeping many of those people alive, and it is very unlikely that they will receive anything near a sufficient quantity of food through the government's program.
I spoke about the possibility of this happening a few months ago with one of the WFP officials here in Jo'burg. He told me that if requested to do so, the WFP would have no choice other than to pull out of Zimbabwe - and that thousands of people would undoubtedly die as a result. Despite the added significance that this lends to my documentary, it is certainly a very bad development.
Any mention of it in American news outlets, by the way?
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| Day 99 - 512 Dispatch |
| 05.11.04 (1:50 pm) [edit] |
 Our activities have seen a brief lull as Justice and I settle down here in Jo'burg for some editing work on our films, but everything is about to boil over again in the coming weeks. Here's a tentative look at what we've got planned:
This friday, there will be another 512 live performance in an area of the city called Randburg. Justice is rocking the mic at what would appear to be a pretty chill venue (based on the flyer I saw...). We'll really try to get you guys some Mp3 recordings of this one, but I can't promise you anything...
On Monday, we'll head to the city Durban, assuming that the WFP ship that's set to arrive the next day is still on schedule. The ship will be carrying enough food to feed a small country for a week or more, and I want to film it coming into port and being unloaded. The World Food Programme also has some massive warehouse spaces there than I want to get a few shots of.
From Durban, we will go straight up the coast to Swaziland. It's a pretty interesting country - the smallest in the world that's south of the equator, and also the last African nation to still be ruled under a Monarchy. Unfortunately, we will have only a few days there, but I will shoot as much footage as I can for my project.
Late May will see another short breather for us as we settle down to assemble 7- minute 'preview' versions of our documentaries. These will turned in to the professors here in Jo'burg that have been overseeing the projects, and will also be posted online in their entirety. However, these demo cuts will only represent around 20% of the completed films.
Towards the end of the month, there is a court case in Pretoria in which Monsanto (the US giant in genetical engineering and pesticides) is being sued by a coalition of South African organizations for their business practices in this country and throughout the continent. I want to document the hearings and address some of the detrimental effects of GMOs in my film.
Within a few days of that, we hit the road again - this time we're heading back to Mozambique, and then into Zimbabwe one last time. We'll be cutting away at our last month in Africa, so the pace will really pick up at that point, but I think it'll be a very productive trip. More on those plans later.
We hope to get back into Jo'burg from Zimbabwe in time to take a final exam here at the university, and then it's off once more - this time to Cape Town. Justice has another show lined up, and we've both got an interview or two still to shoot there as well. After that...
Well, I guess that's about it actually. We'll get back here and have two weeks or so before we fly back to the Westernized hemisphere, most of which will be spent partying and getting ready to go. It seems like no time at all before we're gonna be standing on US soil again.
Damn...
�DL Fitch signing off.�
-[terminate dispatch]
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| How to Fix the World |
| 05.09.04 (1:19 pm) [edit] |
If you aren't of the opinion that the world today is seriously fucked up (and please excuse the language, but I have to be frank), just look at the Abu Ghraib ordeal and other recent news coming out of Iraq... And while the Middle East is the center of attention these days, if you spent a few months in the 'third world' you would realize these problems are much more ingrained in the social fabric of our planet than the news would suggest. Torture, killing, and starvation - it seems as if nothing on this planet has changed in a hundred years or more.
The Iraq War has left many people questioning what we can do with leaders such as Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, and Robert Mugabe when they come into power. However, by looking into the history of these political regimes, you will see that they are simply the product of enforced divisions within our world, divisions which are the direct result of modern capitalist policies. Eliminate the economic barriers to a stable planet, and the need to deal with rouge leaders will be eliminated.
Saddam grew up in a country torn by conflict and instability, and when he became 'President' he implemented a medieval- style government that was brutal enough to maintain order. In Zimbabwe, Mugabe saw years of oppression and civil war instigated by the white ruling class, and his violent administration reflects the impact that the years of turmoil had upon him. Today, these problems are addressed on an individual level (if at all), focusing on single characters within a much larger game. And ultimately, this approach will only make things worse, because the conditions that produced these dictators in the first place will go on unchanged and are even encouraged.
Instead, we must strive to create a planet in which democracy will be nurtured and grow on its own, not violently forced down a nation's throat. Countries in a position of power must identify which of their actions are harming the five billion people that aren't lucky enough to live in the developed world, and they must be willing to change certain policies even if it means giving something up in the process. Unfortunately, this is not a transformation that will occur within a four- year term, so we can't count on any US President's help. However, there are plenty of progressive organizations out there that are working to encourage the transition towards a less divided planet. The 512 Collective is one of them, albeit one in its early stages.
Earth sits at a crucial turning point today. Natural resources (namely oil) will begin to run out within the next half- century, and the global population rapidly approaches a point of climax. Meanwhile, technology is reaching an evolutionary threshold that will literally reshape daily life in developed countries. And unfortunately, the time- frame for us to enact proactive countermeasures to any of these developments is extremely limited...
This brings us to my current project. The planet's lopsided distribution of food is the single most visible symptom of this enforced global division that I speak of, which is why I've singled it out as the subject of my documentary. Western policies such as the push for the acceptance of genetically modified organisms are simply ways to further control the world's food supply, placing profit well above the 842 million people that go hungry every day. A technologically- advanced agriculture will be rooted in American corporations, benefitting a tiny handful of people while eliminating the sole source of income for billions of others.
As long as the bare- minimum needed to sustain a population is donated to these people through the World Food Program, the general consensus is that there is no problem with this massive division in agricultural production. The reality, however, is that when you force people to live on the bare minimum, you're just gonna end up with more Saddam Husseins and Robert Mugabes. Which means in a hundred years, everything will be every bit as bad as it is today. Depressing...
DL Fitch
Official Supporter of The World Revolution
www.worldrevolution.org
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| Riots on Campus! |
| 04.29.04 (3:29 pm) [edit] |
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Wits University (pronounced 'Vits'), the school in Johannesburg that we're studying at this semester, has been experiencing some of your old- school South African protests these last few days. There hasn't been much violence, but a lot of window- smashing and vandalism. One kid even said that if the police were to try to interfere with their demonstration, many in the group were willing to die for their cause (I'm not sure about that...).
The whole thing started last week when the school gave out letters informing people that their financial aid would be cut by up to 50%. Everything really blew up on Monday when about 3,000 students boycotted classes to express their outrage on the main campus square. The protesters started running into classrooms to knock over desks and tear up exams, hoping to provoke more students into ditching. There were riot police on scene the whole time, and at least a dozen people were arrested when things started to get out of hand.
The scene has calmed down a little by now, but supposedly no agreement has been reached and the class boycott is set to continue. The Student Representative Council president told the crowd that had gathered around the center of campus: "We told them we want a full package of financial support. We will stay here until the walls of this building collapse."
This issue, like every issue in South Africa, has inevitably become one of race. Whites are still granted more aid because of Dutch church organizations and crap like that, so you can't really blame the the black students for being pissed in the end. Anyway, as with every significant issue of race or otherwise in this country, an unrestrained public demonstration has come about to address it.
Ultimately, the finance issue is being blamed on the University's Vice Chancellor by the students, while the school is saying the it's the Government's fault for reducing their funding. Overall, the situation very much resembles what has been going down with college tuition Stateside - now if we could only get those worthless American students to stand up and revolt...
¡Viva la Revolution!
Commandante Fitch
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| Week Summary |
| 04.25.04 (7:41 am) [edit] |
Sorry for the extended downtime; things have been kinda hectic around El Ranchero de 5-1-2 lately.
Our loosely- planned and under- funded adventures through Africa have been put on a temporary hold, as Justice and I have been forced to settle down to begin post- production on our documentaries. Our second G5 has arrived, giving us a top- of- the- line machine for each project, and our collective hard drive space has nearly reached a terabyte (940 gigs). I think our raw computing power now rivals any other outfit on this whole continent...
My room has been converted into a time- lapse photography studio, and I am shooting week- long sequences of growing plants as an added visual element for my film. The consequence is that the whole apartment now reeks of fertilizer, but I'm getting used to it...
Justice, meanwhile, has finished up with election coverage and is also starting to hack away at his raw footage in Final Cut Pro (President Mbeki, by the way, was re-elected with a 70% majority). Anyway, he should be posting a full project update will still frames and all in the near future.
In other news, Justice's father has dropped into Johannesburg for a little visit. He's just settling in now, but is probably going to accompany us on a few of our excursions within the next few weeks. It looks like Swaziland will be one destination, both for vacation and to get a little footage for my film. Assuming we can find an internet cafe, this blog will then have seen action in five countries.
As a final item on our list, I celebrated my 20th birthday yesterday. First time I've ever represented April 24th outside of the States, which was nice. Had some seafood, a few drinks... Definitely high up there in the D. Luke Fitch Birthday Hall of Fame. Well, I think that's a sufficient entry to top of this list of excuses for our week- long absence from tBlog, which means my work here is done. Peace out, until next time.
DL Fitch
Sovereign Grand Inspector General
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| Day 76 - Project Status Check |
| 04.17.04 (5:58 pm) [edit] |
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It's been over a month since I posted any detailed info on my (still untitled) documentary, and the film has seen quite a metamorphosis since then. Although the underlying themes of the project remain the same, just getting out and shooting footage has resulted in much of the film clarifying itself to me. It's reached the point where I think I can post a breakdown of the basic objectives for this production:
(If for some reason you would rather read the full 10- page version of my project proposal, click here.)
For years, the problem of world hunger has been associated with a simple solution: increasing the world's food production. This way of thinking has resulted in a relentless capitilization and expansion of America's agriculture, and the trend continues today. But the reality is that people are not hungry in Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, or Guatemala because the world suffers from any form of a shortage.
In fact, the problem very much the opposite - people are starving because there is too much food in the world today. The massive industrialized farms of America and Europe have driven the cost of food so low that developing countries - including all but four on the African continent - can no longer profit from their agricultural production. There is enough food on the planet to provide every person with 4.3 pounds per day - including a pound each of vegetables and meat - but millions of people living on less than a dollar a day can afford none of it.
 
The reality is that 24,000 people die every day from hunger- related causes - not because there is no food for them to have, but because that food is being controlled by the wrong people and they are not given access to it. I personally feel that there are solutions out there that can address this problem, but no one has supported them with an argument that is convincing enough to inspire any sort of change. This is the largest goal of my film.
Obviously the WFP is not the party that is responsible for the situation, but using them as the central subject in the film gives me access to a broad range of people who are affected by this man- made crisis. The method is proving very effective, and I am confident that the film will create a very compelling portrait of the world's food markets. Now if I only I could think of a good title for it....
DL Fitch
512 Blogmaster
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| Elections 2004!!! |
| 04.14.04 (2:07 am) [edit] |
My movements in Cape Town have been as swift and stealth as a Ninja. As usual, contacts for the music production side of the Collective have been falling into my lap: everyone from the staff at this lil' net cafe to homies hangin on the corner want to get down on the [i]"Josie Tapes."[/i] I'm planning to move this way with the Laptop and the mobile studio sometime in May to complete the Cape Town recording sessions; I am also having great success in organizing a venue and local artists for the Cape Town booking in what is shaping up to be the Southern Africa Tour. More details to come....
All of this is really dull in comparison to the big moves that I am making in the production of my doc [i]"Song of Savior."[/i] Today is the third democratic election in the History of South Africa, and the people are hyped. The polling stations have lines out the door, and I am anticipating an overwhelming response to the camera. Part of this response most likely will be a number of police and IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) officials telling me I can't shoot anything on the premises. There is a lot of energy being put out in effort to keep everything peaceful and democratic, and IEC officials told me on Wednesday that "people just aren't themselves in front of a camera, we have to take extreme precautions as to make sure that things do not become hostile..." Although a lil' hostility would add a little excitement to my film, I am down to preserve the concepts of democracy and free safe elections for everyone. In an effort to gain a lil more insight into the perspective of the oppressed, I am headed out to one of the largest townships in the Western Cape, Langa, to document the elections from that angle. Meanwhile, Luke is on the other side of the country in Soweto doing the same.
Tomorrow I have interviews with prominent theologians in the Liberation Theology movement, and will be grilling them on their role in the modern democracy, and what they think South Africa needs to see before the people are truly free.
Maestro Just.Ice.3
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| Back in Jo'burg |
| 04.12.04 (4:33 pm) [edit] |
Well, we made it out of Zimbabwe alive... Something people had said would be a lot harder to do than it actually was. Our two- week trip came out to be a huge success, even if I only got an hours' worth of footage. I suppose for a 40-min project, an hour's not bad... and at least another five hours are still on the way, which will be pooled with the five that I've already shot in Lesotho. Anything more than that would start to become too much to handle while editing, so I think things are working out real good.
Anyway, I'm gonna work out a more complete update on my documentary and post it with some stills from the rough footage in a day or two. For now, I want to recap the rest of our Zimbabwe trip, particularly the 512 Collective's first live appearance in the country.
 
The audio turned out pretty bad so I'm not gonna bother posting any of it; even turning down the levels in the camera couldn't compensate for me being so close to the speakers. However, these stills should be able to convey at least a little of the crowd's energy. It was probably the most receptive audience I've seen at a 512 show since rocking at the Lion's Den in Manhattan more than a year ago.
The club in downtown Harare was packed by the time Justice hit the stage, in the midst of an MC battle between representatives of each of the city's major ghettos (an MC battle in Zimbabwe terms consisting of someone yelling into a mic to hype the crowd while his DJ changes records). The set was short but the crowd loved it, even lifting Justice into the air after he was done.
 
During the course of the night, I had people coming up to me saying, "Man, I've been going to shows at this club for years now, and I've NEVER seen a white person - you gotta give me your number!" It was pretty funny, but also suggestive of how fucked up Zimbabwe actually is. The people are all great, but the Government is a disaster - people won't even say 'His' name (Mugabe, the President). It's like a third- world 1984 or something. Everyone is effectively controlled, and Mugabe and his party keep winning because people are too scared to vote against him.
We stayed in the richer part of town, which is where pretty much all the remaining whites in the country have congregated to. You will also see plenty of black people driving the BMWs, however, and that's been the triumph of Mugabe - for the most part everyone is just as poor, but at least some blacks can be rich now too. It's a sorry situation that has come about in numerous countries throughout this continent, including South Africa, but is particularly pronounced in Zimbabwe.
Economically, the country these days is a disaster - we would buy taxi rides and food with thick wads of ten or twenty bills. The only money with any real value is being printed with an EXPIRATION DATE. Who the hell makes cash that will expire? It's crazy. I don't even know how it would work, but I guess whoever gets stuck holding that bill in December is just shit out of luck. I found a Zim penny on the street at one point, and did a little math - if you had a stack of them a kilometer high, the value wouldn't even equal $1 US. That should give you an idea of how bad their inflation is...
Anyway, I'm showing a few symptoms of malaria, so I think I'll go to sleep now... (I was taking Quinine all through the trip, but supposedly the bacteria is becoming pretty resistant to anti- malarials). We'll see what happens, but hopefully you'll hear from me again soon.
DL Fitch
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| Update From Zimbabwe |
| 04.08.04 (4:06 am) [edit] |
Yesterday the World Food Program took Justice and I about 250 kilometers out of Harare to within a few miles of the Mozambique border. When we finally arrived at a tiny village down miles of dirt roads, we came across a massive temporary food distribution center. A bunch of huts constructed from sticks and old food bags had been set up in an open field, and they were giving out food to more than 2500 people. The drive took four hours each way, so we had a limited amount of time to film the distribution, but what we did shoot definitely made the whole trip worth it.
In other news, Justice is lined up to perform at a Reggae and Hip-Hop concert in downtown Harare - probably the first American to rock a Zimbabwe show in quite some time. It should be quite interesting to see how the crowd will react, but I think it's looking to be a pretty live event. We'll post some audio and pictures from the show when we get back into Johannesburg on Saturday.
DL Fitch
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| In Zimbabwe |
| 04.06.04 (6:46 am) [edit] |
The 512 Collective has secured touchdown in Zimbabwe, and we are now posted in the capital Harare. Everything here is going much better than the US State Travel Warnings would suggest - but before we really get into the details, here's a breakdown of what it took just to get this far:
Saturday, April 3rd: Leaving Maputo at (almost) the crack of dawn, we jumped on an 'express' bus for the 9-hour ride up the Mozambique coast to the small town of Inhabane. We then hitched a ride from one of the Irish Embassy's Land Rovers for the last leg of the journey, which took us into the small village of Tofu on the beaches of the Indian Ocean. A dinner of crab meat and curry was promptly devoured, and we hit the sack soon after that.
Sunday, April 4th: Another morning departure found us driving out of Tofu in a minibus - really just your average Toyota van, and the staple transport of Africa - packed way over capacity with 25 people (imagine opening three cans of sardines, then dumping the contents of two of them into the third and resealing the lid). We then had to charter a rickety old wooden sailboat to cross the Inhabane harbor into Maxixe, where we were deposited at our bus to the coastal town of Vilanculo just minutes before it hit the road. A severe tire blowout delayed our arrival until late afternoon, but the bus didn't flip so I can't complain...
Monday, April 5th: With a full 38 hours on the road ahead of us, we set out at 4am for the Vilanculo bus station. We were told walking was a bad idea and "Only the thieves are out at four in the morning," but we didn't have much of a choice and set out in a pack with two other Americans that had joined us for the day's journey. The walk was tense but uneventful, and we arrived at a small, 1970s- era rust- bucket of a bus, our home for the next 10 hours.
Although our route followed the main highway through Mozambique, it was a narrow and poorly- maintained strip of gravel and asphalt that didn't even compare to the backroads of my homeland in New Mexico. The bus moved slow, and would frequently stop so passengers could talk and conduct business with other people along the road. At one point, we came across a boy standing on the roadside with a goat, and the bus pulled to a stop. After a brief conversation with him, our driver handed over 200,000 meticash ($8 US) and the goat was hoisted up onto the roof to join us for the rest of the voyage into the junction town of Chimoio. When we finally arrived, we transfered to one minibus and then another, and promptly found ourselves standing on the Zimbabwe border. Customs and Immigration were remarkably easy, and within an hour we had arrived at the Mutare train station and were waiting for our overnight ride into Harare.
Tuesday, April 6th: The 10-hour train ride ended a few hours ago in downtown Harare, and we've now settled in at a nice backpackers hostel in the city. I visited the World Food Program offices this morning, and they're taking me out in the field to start shooting tomorrow. That gives me some time to hit the pool this afternoon...
I could go on and on about our adventures of the past week if I had the time, but I really don't so I'll have to leave it at that for now. This is DL Fitch in the political and economic disaster that is the nation of Zimbabwe, signing off... stay tuned for our next episode.
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| Bloggin' in Mozambique |
| 04.01.04 (12:13 am) [edit] |
Well, we made it into Maputo without incident, although the train ride took about three times as long as driving would have... But that's all in the past, and we got two weeks of solid adventure ahead of us now. Aside from our severely depleted bank accounts, everything is set for the most intense spring break you guys could possibly imagine. Mozambique has been called the Rio de Janeiro of Southern Africa, with some quality nightlife and great beaches. It's first thing in the morning of our first day here, but we should be able to confirm those reports in about 24 hours time... We'll have consistent Internet access as long as we stay in the city, so I'm gonna go eat and hit the beaches now, and I'll fill you in on the rest of our plans within the next day or so.
DL Fitch
512 Executive Ambassador
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| 'Vacation' Plans |
| 03.29.04 (12:13 pm) [edit] |
Well. we've officially started Easter Break (3 whole weeks), and it's already booked solid. Here's a rough breakdown of what we currently have planned:
Tomorrow we leave by train for Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. We'll lay around on the beach for four or five days, then head up to the city of Beria. The port there is one of the major logistical hubs of the World Food Program, so I'm going to try and shoot some footage for my doc while were there.
The next day (big breath)... we head to Harare, capital of Zimbabwe. Challenge One is crossing the border: foreign journalists are banned, and we'll have a pretty nice video camera with us. We're going to try and pass off as tourists, and if that fails we'll pull out the phone numbers for the WFP offices in Harare and hope they can talk us out of it.
Assuming we make it into the city, we'll stay the night at a fairly nice backpackers lodge - swimming pool, food, even internet for tblogging. All the luxuries come at a price, unfortunately - we'll be paying a whopping $6 US per night (or 4,800 Zimbabwe dollars, if you happen to like big numbers).
The next day is when the fun part of the trip begins. We will rendezvous with the WFP and they're gonna help me start shooting. With the Zimbabwe government prohibiting journalism, we'll only really be able to film anything when the WFP is actively distributing food - and even then it will be a little shady since we're not actually WFP personnel. A few people (none from Africa) are worried I'll be arrested and tortured by the 'Green Bombers' (the Government's paramilitary army) but that's pretty unrealistic. According to the WFP press officers here in Jo'burg, the worst that ever happens to journalists that travel with them in Zimbabwe is a few hours of police detainment. We'll see how it goes...
Anyway, the rest of the trip will be spent operating out of Harare, and we'll return to Jo'burg on Saturday, April 10th. We'll try and post as many blogs as possible during the trip - I can't seem to find anyone that's ever posted something from Zim, so maybe we'll be the first to ever do so... 512 Operations in Africa are about to get hectic, and you don't want to miss the live coverage!
DL Fitch
512 Blogmaster
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| Last Stop - Massive Success |
| 03.29.04 (11:54 am) [edit] |
 
Our shoot yesterday went excellent - both of our lead actors came through with top- notch performances, and everything we laid to tape looks beautiful. I've got hours of editing and visual effects work ahead of me before the film is anywhere near finished, but everything we've got so far looks great.
 
Our location was an abandoned train station right in the center of Johannesburg. It made for a beautiful set, and we made full use of it during our 7 hours of shooting. I was sent scrambling up a ladder and was able to squeeze my self through a window onto the roof at one point, so we got some great shots from above. Despite the constant generator failures killing our lights, we tore through the script and got down everything we set out to shoot.
 
The script was co- written by myself, Justice, and our actor Sami, and Justice and I co- directed it. It was really the first implementation of the 512's collective method of narrative film production, and it worked perfectly. The point where we had a version of the script that the three of us could agree upon was a milestone, and when we started shooting the collaboration was even stronger. The individual creative forces on the set never clashed, and everyone was quite satisfied at the end of the day. As our next few weeks are booked solid the film is on hold for the moment, but you guys will see a finished product within a month or two. Standby...
DL Fitch
 
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| All- Out Media Assault |
| 03.26.04 (5:41 am) [edit] |
This week will long be remembered as the day 512 operations in Africa reached the flash-point, exploding into a relentless barrage of media output.
All morning today was spent at a local TV studio, where the Collective represented on a Hip- Hop show called CrazE (with a viewership of around 2.5 million). Justice squared off in a freestyle competition between a South African MC and an artist who came down from the UK, and we were also able to educate the audience a little on the goals of the 512.
However, today we were just getting our feet wet as far as South African TV is concerned. We finalized the deal to appear on another local show that focuses on movies in a couple of weeks, and I'll be able to represent with the trailer for my nearly- completed Sci-Fi movie The Overmind of Sahar IV. By that point, we should also have a good chunk of our two documentary projects finished, so we can give the local SA audience a taste of what we're doing in their territory. We've also made the connections for a 512 appearance on a show called 20 Something, which focuses on South Africans in their 20s and the issues that relate to them. They interviewed the two of us a little when we were over at the studio today, but soon we'll have the chance to appear on the show as guests and describe the mission of the 512 Collective in detail.
On top of that, we spent some of the day assembling equipment for this short film we're shooting this weekend. As Justice mentioned earlier, the project focuses on the AIDS crisis that is exploding here, and we will adapt the remarkable reconciliation strategies that South Africa developed after the fall of Apartheid to address this pressing issue that faces the region today. We're collaborating with a local actor named Sami Sabiti, who happens to be the original host of American Idol (it was a South African show called just Idols before Fox came through and brought the whole shindig stateside). He's given us his full support in getting the shoot together, and has endless connections to people involved in the film and TV industry here. Definitely a valuable 512 affiliate while we're in SA, and he'll be regrouping with us in NY after doing a show for the Discovery channel this Summer.
But that's not all. We've got radio interviews with the two largest Johannesburg radio stations lined up as well, and they're both gonna happen on Saturday. Yes, 512 tracks will soon proliferate the SA airwaves, and the shows we rock will just get bigger and bigger. According to Sami, The 512 Collective will be a household name when we leave South Africa in June. We'll see about that one, though I'm not gonna rule it out...
Well, I've got lots more news to report, but I think I hit on all the big topics. We're about to depart for this vacation in Mozambique and a shooting expedition in Zimbabwe, and I'll sling you some details on that in a day or two. Until next time,
This is DL Fitch signing out.
[terminate transmission]
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| Day 51... and it's starting to get a lil hectic. |
| 03.24.04 (12:30 pm) [edit] |
Just arrived back from Cape Town myself, and I've come home with much better perceptions than Fitch. The extra 3 days that I spent provided a million valuable connections, but unfortunately it wasn't the most beneficial shoot for my film. I had a long list of people to catch up with, and managed to speak with every one of them which was the larger success of the trip. I would have liked to have locked down their interviews this weekend, but as things unfold, it looks like my next two trips to the Cape will be jam packed with the interviews of most of the key players in my movie. I was pleased and honored to observe the celebrations for Human Rights Day, one of SA's biggest holidays. In addition to keynote speakers, the crowds packed the stadium with their singing voices and joyous smiles. It was quite the welcoming to Cape Town.
All the business aside, the 512 Collective Africa team is up to our necks in dope ass projects. The rest of our week looks something like this: I will be once again dominating the stage at a local club in Jo'burg. "Tonight," the first single off the forthcoming 512 Album "Jozi Tapes" will be the featured track at the show, but I will also entertain with the regular hits. On friday we have our first SA Television appearance, on a youth oriented program that hosts local artists. It should be some great exposure, and I am looking forward to showing my face in front of the camera, after all the work these past two weeks... We are also gonna start shooting our first short film since we have arrived in Jo'burg. It's an experimental piece that walks between the real world and a mystical train station to create a metaphor that explores the AIDS crisis. It is a collaboration with 13th Floor productions, a local production company, and is bound to be a success.
...and then we breathe; as we count our funds for the upcoming intense weekend, we realize our combined wallet is about R60 (damn, just short of ten dollars)... then we gasp.
Friday signals the last day of school before a 3 week break. When we finally catch our breath we will be on the train early next week to Mozambique. We will relax on the beach for a few days, rock a show, then move on to Zimbabwe and attend to some business we have there... but all that is a glimpse from the future, and I'm sure you'll get a beautiful view as we see it. Keep up at the site:
[www.512collective.org]
Until then,
Reverend Ambassador: Just.ice.3
[DL Fitch is standing by...]
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| In Cape Town |
| 03.18.04 (8:27 am) [edit] |
So we flew into Cape Town from Jo'burg this morning, and have been exploring the city for the last few hours. It's not that exciting - definitely no Lesotho... We haven't gotten that deep into all, however, so I'm in no place to judge.
Eh, there's a few nice aspects of white tourist centers. Namely the food. Beaches are good. Quite a few blondes... Justice is working a few connections for his project here, so hopefully we'll have something more substantial than tourist attractions to report about in the next few days. Anyway, I just wanted to touch base with y'all, here from the southernmost point of the African continent...
DL Fitch
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| Big Weekend |
| 03.16.04 (2:51 pm) [edit] |
Wow. Our Lesotho expedition went so well I could probably cut my whole documentary with the 5 hours of footage we shot in just four days - I would say around 250% of my objectives for the trip were accomplished. I am going to be throwing away so much good stuff when I have to edit this all down to a 45- minute film...
Where to start... Just after posting our previous blog, Justice and I swung by the cafeteria at the UN House for lunch. On our way out, we decided to drop in to the World Food Program offices, even though they hadn't responded to any of my e-mail queries and we didn't have an appointment. Turns out, they were extremely helpful and the lack of communication did not at all represent a deficiency in their support of the production. Unfortunately, it was late in the day and there weren't any food distributions scheduled for the weekend, but said they would do everything they could if we dropped by Monday morning before returning to Joburg.
We then went to catch a taxi into a fairly remote town called Malealea, which cost almost a whole $2... The road turned to dirt as we got higher and higher into the mountains (it was breathtaking), and we started passing donkeys loaded up with big 'USAid' bags of food as we neared our destination. We realized that the WFP was still finishing up their distributions in the area, and jumped out of the taxi when we saw a crowd of people at two big freight trucks. I was able to film some great footage of the food being distributed, and we conducted a few really good interviews with some of the villagers as well.
It was getting late as the trucks finished up and departed, but we lucked out when a man named Thabo invited us into his home for the night. The next morning we were showed around town, and even ate a meal cooked from some of the donated corn meal. Two kids that were around 10 escorted us a few miles down into one of the canyons (one of them barefoot the whole way), and then took us upriver to a waterfall. It was beautiful, a lot like my home in New Mexico only everything was green...
We spent Saturday night in the rustic Malealea lodge, and cruised back to Maseru the next day. I called up the sister of my 6th grade teacher, who happened to live in the city, and she took us into her home for the night. We spent the evening with her friends and neighbors talking and drinking Black Label, 'America's Lusty, Lively Beer'. (Anyone ever heard of it? People here don't believe me when I tell them we actually have never even seen the stuff stateside...). Good times.
First thing the next morning, I hit up the WFP offices just as they were opening. It was great, they fired up one of their spiffy Toyotas and chauffeured me all around the area. First we visited the main food warehouse, where a substantial percent of the country's vittles are stored. After that, they took me to an elementary school where food was being distributed to orphan children (a pretty large chunk of the student body, and a powerful reminder of the country's AIDS crisis). It was unreal - I was the only white person for miles around, and I was surrounded by hundreds of kids that didn't speak English and had never seen a video camera in their lives. Standing in that schoolyard was one of the strangest experiences of my life, but the WFP was totally supportive of me documenting the whole event so I just turned on the camera and focused on shooting. It got difficult when 400 kids were competing for my attention, but the school master kept them in check with his leather whip. Of course, I felt guilty whenever that happened, so in the end I just stood casually next to the tripod and pretended like the camera was off whenever I could.
After my batteries started running low and I had almost filled up the last of our video tapes, I was taken back to the offices where I quickly interviewed the WFP Deputy Country Director with the last few minutes we had left in the city. As soon as I finished the interview and switched off the camera, Justice and I headed over to the border and caught one of the last taxis back to Johannesburg just in time.
Mission accomplished!
DL Fitch,
Over and out.
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