They think you’re stupid and they don’t care
Written by duckrabbitThe last time the UN held a special session on drugs they did so under the banner
‘A drug free world, we can do it.’
It was in 1998.
I can’t help asking myself.¬† Are they idiots or are we idiots for letting them get away with it?
The real problem is that there is no such thing as failure.  Ten years on and the problems with drugs are getting worse not better but no-one is accountable, in the same way that after every genocide we say never again  but when it does happen again the only people who pay are the ones who are slaughtered.
In the world of international development promises can be more than meaningless, they can be harmful. Its a kind of cruelty that drives people in need to despair, because slowly you are killing their hope, whilst at the same time claiming to speak for them.
Why am I thinking about this tonight?¬† I came across a film about a refugee camp in Kenya on the Toronto Star.¬† You probably haven’t heard of it.
Its to the developed world’s shame that arguably the oldest refugee camp on this planet turns out to be the largest. Babies born in this camp are now seventeen years old, its all they’ve known, maybe all they will ever know.
But don’t worry we’ve stopped killing these people with promises. They’re stuck in a desert in the middle of nowhere so we don’t even have to hope that they go away.
Regular duckrabbit readers will know what I feel about black and white photography in Africa (some great, most of it manipulative), you’ll also know how I feel about journalists who go half way round the world only to collect their own voice … but still … this is a place that should at least be as famous as Guantanamo Bay, but would take more then a shift in president to shut down. It would take a miracle; the kind that gets promised and then buried with the dead.
Tonight I’m adding a new tag … angry.
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (5 Comments)
Strong story…I think the stills are much stronger than the video, and I would like to know more about the why, but I feel bad critiquing at all on such a story.. thanks for the link.
d
well its worth having the deabte I supposed if you think the story is important and you want to make it as strongly as possible … and I agree I dunno what it is but stills live with you for longer … I think we immerse ourselves more in moving images and stills we contemplate more, we explore more, brain has to work with and around them, brain has to be thinking. I guess the danger is that like films stills acan become overly stylized … but then I’m preaching to the converted cause I’ve never looked at one of your pictures and thought about anything but the story
Hey, here in the US we no longer go through the futile pretense of asking what to do about “the gun problem” whenever there’s a major, shooting by some whacked out adult or teenager. Hell, we don’t even break stride when its a preteen!
scary hey Stan … or at least it SHOULD BE!
don’t worry- be happy…