Thoko,
I’m currently num from the sad news you just mentioned about your nephew. It feels like somehow I knew him as well, hence grief consumes me. We have to be strong through tough times such as these. Having recollected my thoughts I however feel less inclined to say much rather prefering the solitude of my heart through meditation. Vakuru vakataura wani - life and death are one.
I’ve decided that I will try to make a trip to hold hands in the not so distant future…. writing alone in times like this for me won’t do.
I’ll let you know how those plans go with time.
With regard to all else we have been discussing the best way forward it to organise…..as Marcus Garvey once said, ‘organise or perish’. Putting hands together. To organise ourselves into an entity worth investing effort in, that is the task….the idea of the organisation itself is the skeleton and the work and effort invested in making it reach its objectives creates the body. Much like this website is a skeleton of intellectual effort which needs the intellectual effort of the many artists participating in the dialogues for its substance/body. The constant effort/work is what creates the value. That effort/work is no doubt created by the will of people like you and me and many others through the deployment of our hearts minds hands legs etc. Behind Oprah is a massive organisation. Behind Tshaka was massive organisation… Great Zimbabwe is the product of great organisation. Organisation broadens the scale of participation in a single activity beyond the scope of the individual to reach a common goal(s) and no doubt broadens the skills base as well. All ‘power to the people’ philosophy stems from this……an empowered people is a free people…… and the first step towards empowerment is to organise individual effort into collective effort. Money is simply one by-product (of many) of such organisation, much like hitting the target with a bow and arrow is the product of the prior preparation involving steady and calm mental and physical effort. Obsession with hitting the target usually results in missing it because the nature of your effort is clouded from absolute concentration on the various stages of preparation and maintaining a steady mind and posture. Either way, the gold standard which used to give money it’s value no longer exists….in reality what gives money its value today is the labour behind it. The good thing about being organised is there is no room for differences, in fact they usually automatically seize to exist. Some organisations today maintain a hierarchical structure embedding differences and power struggles but you will know that many organisations have an equality clause which means each member only gets 1 vote in the decision making process. The job there is to do is putting together a constitution and setting out the objectives of the “Production Studio’ you mentioned with as many participants as possible, putting together a coherent business plan and strategic document, setting out the work we have to do, beliefs/ values, establishing partnerships with existing organisations and finding out exactly what resources are available to get the project up to a stage where it becomes self sufficient and empowers people. Think of the idea of the organisation as a way of legitimising future effort. The resources required to get it up and running will come from this kind of effort no doubt. I am currently studying a lot of literature on participatory video methodologies and I THINK I’m onto something special with regard to an idea that has been floating around in my head for a while. When we meet up we really need to put our hands together like you said and jointly work on something strong. For now I shall start working solidly on getting myself down there.
Nematambudziko
AK
