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The 512 Collective, unless otherwise stated.
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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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