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CineSource Collective Narrative
Bay Area Emissaries in Korea and Iran Breaking News: Bill Clinton just secured the release of the Bay Area filmmakers, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, from North Korea where they supposedly crossed the border into that country. We are so thankful for the safety of the daring ladies and the political success of Bill. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, the actual Secretary of State, is saddled with appealing to an Iran -- that is blaming the West for meddling in its elections -- for the two East Bayers and one Oregonian apprehended two days ago on its border with Kurdistan.
People-to-people diplomacy is alive and well in the Bay Area. Another good example is Roberto Miguel, or “Miguel from Oakland,” a local musician who made a name for himself troubadoring around Mexico, where he caught the eye of Mexican doc maker Ricardo Silva. Miguel, whose last name is Reyes, came up with local musical activist Andres Soto studying jazz but soon busted out in the fertile Oakland scene, from hiphop to rock. See also the east Bay Express article: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/music/oakland_s_troubadour/Content?oid=1164080.
Hopefully to play the Oakland Film Festival, “Miguel from Oakland” is a Spanish language film, more at http://www.myspace.com/miguelfromoakland, and typifies what should be a booming business here. Instead of sending out the endless emissaries, for which we are so famous, we also need bring in crews from France, Holland and China, as well as Mexico, say, to document the cultural cauldron that is the Bay Area and especially the East Bay. While the Bay Area is well integrated with people from all over, it is only in the East Bay, notably Oakland, that communities are also class integrated.
Indeed, Oakland would be a perfect place for Cultural Connections Institute, a free-standing media community center and school that did three things: A) taught media, narrative and journalism skills, B) helped individuals of different communities connect with each other C) stimulated the construction of CCIs elsewhere around the world: Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Sudan, Baghdad, etc. As the most multicultural city in the United States, therefore the world, this is an essential asset that should not go untapped. How do we all love together – not only black and white but Arab and Jew, Indian and cowboy (Miguel from Oakland features music by Miguel of course but also Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson) and many others – is a secret we need to share, indeed market.
Meanwhile, the work is carried forth by individuals, like those recently arrested in Iraq. Sarah Shourd, of Oakland, is a teacher-activist-journalist who was studying Arabic in Damascus and writing about Iraqi refugees. Her boyfriend, Shane Bauer of Emeryville, is a peace and conflict resolution grad from Berkeley who wrote a recent article about US Special Ops for The Nation. Typical Cali-kids, they loved hiking and thought to avail themselves of the beautiful mountains of Kurdistan, despite the fuzzy borders and guerilla groups known to exist in the area. Enjoying themselves to the end, Kurdish authorities said their abandoned camp included notebooks and a bottle of Jack Daniels.
It is not known whether Shourd, Bauer and their friend, Josua Fattal of Oregon, actually were violating Iran’s sovereignty. As with the reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling, from Al Gore's Current TV, who were arrested along the Chinese-North Korean border in March and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor (although they were being housed in guest houses), they may have been grabbed from the safe side by aggressive border patrols. What is known is: we might be better served if they were back home teaching a CCI class on how to successfully research a foreign country without getting caught or by more artistic emissaries like Miguel of Oakland.