Awareness Group Meeting, Nov 12, Union South, 11 am-Noon. Participants: Harit, Anita, Subbu, Sai, Param, Sanjay, Navin, Charu, Dinesh, Jagdish Topic d'jour - Movie series in spring semester Discussion ------------ The discussion revolved around several questions: 1) Format - movies, lectures, etc. 2) What theme do we want to have - should it be general or specific? 3) Who is the target audience? 4) What'll we do that's different from, say, Chingari's videofest 5) How do we get IGSA and other groups involved? 6) Title of the series 1) Format: Movies was the overwhelming choice. Movies attract a wider audience. Also, experience from the earlier "Eye of India" series showed that the same 50 people came to the discussions every time (these people are the already converted), and that sometimes the discussions went on a tangent and became long and boring. So, we'll start with a movie, and after the movie, we'll facilitate discussions. We might invite an "expert" to facilitate the discussion. 2) Theme: We thought that at the end of the movies, we shouldn't simply make people feel powerless, cynical, or depressed. We wanted the movies to make people feel optimistic, like they can actually do something about the problems. With this view in mind, we decided that the movies will show cases where people actually did something to change the situation, where they took their lives into their hands and got things done. Several examples were put forth: Women against arrack in Andhra, Periyar river issue, Access to water source in Andhra (from Chingari Video fest, acc. to Subbu), etc. We need to get a wide selection of these movies. We didn't decide how to go about doing this. I suppose we'll meet again soon, in about 2 weeks. 3) Target Audience: Not just ASHA volunteers and assorted hangers on, but a wider group of Indian students, professionals, families, and other India sympathetic people on campus. Basically, "everyone". 4) What's different about this: Chingari's videofest was an overload. It was all in a few days, during working hours, not well advertised. We'll spread our series over a 2-3 month period (6 shows, every fortnight was suggested at one point), and advertise it widely. 5) IGSA involvement: We decided that we should try to get IGSA's involvement in this event. This will help us reach across to a wider audience of Indian students. We'll propose to some of the active members of IGSA to attend our next significant meeting on this issue, and see if they want to participate. If they feel involved from the very beginning, and get interested, the collaboration will work out. We have to pitch this to them appropriately. IGSA and ASHA agendas currently do not intersect very much. But maybe we can convince IGSA that this event would be interesting to them as well. Jagdish will contact the people in IGSA. 6) Title: Here we were stuck!! Several ideas were thrown out, but they were not very catchy titles, but rather sounded more like journal article titles. Please suggest more. 1) Development for the people, by the people. 2) Empowerment of people My favorite!: 3) Power to the people (song by John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, 1971) Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people, right on Say you want a revolution We better get on right away Well you get on your feet And out on the street Singing power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people, right on A million workers working for nothing You better give 'em what they really own We got to put you down When we come into town Singing power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people, right on I gotta ask you comrades and brothers How do you treat you own woman back home She got to be herself So she can free herself Singing power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people, right on Now, now, now, now Oh well, power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people, right on Yeah, power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people, right on Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people Power to the people, right on