*Nearly 400 guests from 48 countries are participating in the IV Patria Colloquium
*Patria Colloquium to deepen on how dynamics of power are transformed in an interconnected world
*Patria Colloquium to deepen on how dynamics of power are transformed in an interconnected world
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00:00And in this context, the context of the Patria Colloquium, we contact our correspondent in Havana, Belén de los Santos.
00:06Hi Bel, what can you share with us on these first hours of the event?
00:11Hello Alejandra, exactly. So as you were saying, an important day in Havana today,
00:16an important day for leftist communication worldwide because it's the fourth edition of the Patria Colloquium
00:23and this means that communicators, influencers, academics and really relevant figures from all over the world
00:31are coming together here in Cuba once again to have some very important discussions
00:37precisely on what are the challenges and what are the risks of communication right now
00:44and also how can digital platforms be used as a platform for community efforts
00:51and how to think about the global scene right now from that digital territory, from that digital perspective.
00:58So all of these things are being hosted and discussed today here in Havana.
01:04We are talking about 400 guests, international guests from about 47 countries that are coming together
01:14and they're holding workshops, they're holding different expositions also on the use, for example,
01:20of international and artificial intelligence on different topics.
01:25We'll be talking and bringing you a little bit of what is happening here in Havana throughout the day.
01:30Also very important to say, as you were mentioning before, that this special edition of the Patria Colloquium
01:37is also dedicated to the 20th anniversary of TELUSR.
01:41So we are hosting a little bit of a celebration here as well
01:45because it has to do with honoring all of these years of really focusing on the political coverage of our trajectories
01:55and what the Global South has to offer in terms of thinking about its own political path.
02:02So in this context, we are joined today by Tim Anderson.
02:07He comes from Australia, nonetheless, and he is Director of the Center of Counter-Harmonic Studies,
02:13also a former academic from the University of Sydney.
02:17So hello and welcome, Tim.
02:19Thank you so much for joining us here in TELUSR English.
02:22And I would like to start by asking you, why come all the way from across the world here to Havana to have these discussions?
02:31Why is it important for those academics, media outlets, communicators,
02:36to really think about what digital communication means and what are the challenges today?
02:42Thank you for inviting me, Belen.
02:44Yes, it is a long trip from Australia to Cuba, but it's such an important theme
02:49because the hegemonic propaganda in the world today is very powerful.
02:54Even though the imperial forces have lost their lead in technology production and commerce,
03:00but they really do dominate media and propaganda in the world.
03:03And they're very well organized.
03:05They have great depth. They have great coordination.
03:07They have reinforcement mechanisms that doesn't exist in the independent voices of the world, like TELUSR, for example.
03:13And it's true, TELUSR has been an incredible pioneer in crossing cultures, in crossing countries,
03:20in bringing together people, principally in Latin America to start with, of course.
03:25But we have some other pioneers like Al Mayadeen, Hispan TV, also represented here this week.
03:32So I think that those sort of collaborations across cultures, across continents,
03:36are very important to build up independent voices.
03:39Because as one of the foundations of TELUSR was,
03:42that really they want to present an authentic voice of the people of this region.
03:46And that's the same dilemma that's occurring across the world, really.
03:49And definitely that has always been a great challenge.
03:53And now the current situation with the social media platforms
03:58and how the digital world is transforming, also with artificial intelligence.
04:03Every day the digital territory is changing constantly.
04:07And that poses both a risk, for example, a lot of analysts are linking
04:12the rise of extreme right different movements across the world
04:17to the use of social platforms and the way they are coordinated.
04:21But also for other analysts, it has a great potential for collective efforts
04:27if thought in a sovereign way.
04:30So what is your opinion on what are the main challenges,
04:34but also the possibilities of this new digital era for communication?
04:40I think it does open up a lot of new possibilities of a greater democratic media,
04:45of a greater variety of voices.
04:49Of course, coordination is the problem because the hegemonic forces are very well organized,
04:53they're very well coordinated.
04:55They have the control of search engines and Wikipedia,
04:58all these sorts of reinforcement mechanisms that the independent voices don't have.
05:03So, of course, they've captured, at least the U.S. social media has captured a lot of that
05:09and embedded a lot of the censorship and control of discussions.
05:14That's a huge problem for us.
05:16Of course, people are being cancelled and censored and thrown off social media platforms.
05:23There are some exceptions, there are some spaces within the social media,
05:27the North American social media, but it is essentially dominated by U.S. culture,
05:31by U.S. law, and U.S. law is there to reinforce the ideological domination.
05:37So that's a big problem.
05:39How do we coordinate better, particularly across cultures, I think is a very important challenge.
05:44Definitely. And just before we end, you're talking about coordination.
05:48For example, this fourth edition of the Patriarch Colloquium,
05:51this initiative has to do with coordination,
05:54from bringing all these different experiences together
05:57and also thinking about common possibilities in a together way, right?
06:03So what can we expect coming out of this fourth edition?
06:07What can we expect in terms of the discussions
06:09and also projects that maybe relaunch or thought in this space?
06:13What do you think?
06:15I don't know exactly what we can expect,
06:17but I think it's very important to bring in some new partners who are facing similar problems.
06:23I've been speaking to Chinese friends and Russian friends.
06:26They have a lot of the same problems.
06:28Of course, they're concerned about the problems, the misinformation about their own cultures,
06:32but this is a great opportunity here to try and bring in some new partners
06:36and build some new real mixed enterprises, for example,
06:40to build the capacity of independent voices.
06:43Excellent. So thank you so much, Tim, for joining us here in Tell Us Your English.
06:47So, Alejandra, that was Tim Anderson from the Counter-Hegemonic Center in Australia.
06:53And as we were saying, this has to do with bringing these discussions together
06:58and really forging from the Global South perspective
07:03on how to think of a sovereign way to address these new territories,
07:09to think about the challenges of digital communication,
07:12but also to think of the possibilities, the potentiality that this opens up.
07:18And there's a lot of experiences here that are coming together
07:21and really sharing what all those challenges, but also wins have come here.
07:26And that is what we will continue reporting throughout the day.
07:29Just remember that the colloquium has just been inaugurated today
07:33and will continue through Wednesday.
07:35So stay tuned here because we will be bringing you all the updates.
07:42Thank you. Thank you, Belén. And thanks to Tim Anderson for all the information.
07:46We will keep in contact for sure throughout the day
07:49and also the upcoming days to know all the details of this event.