*IV International Patria Colloquium continues on its 2nd day
*Nearly 400 guests from 48 countries take part in the IV Patria Colloquium
*IV Patria Colloquium dedicated to the 20th anniversary of multiplataform teleSUR
*Nearly 400 guests from 48 countries take part in the IV Patria Colloquium
*IV Patria Colloquium dedicated to the 20th anniversary of multiplataform teleSUR
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NewsTranscript
00:00So as you were saying we're here for the second day of the Patriarch Colloquium. We're still at the University of Havana and
00:07Very pleased to be here actually yesterday. We were talking a little bit about what is going on here
00:13We have over 400 representatives from close to 50 countries that have come here to discuss some main issues
00:22regarding digital communication the use of technologies and really thinking about a widespread
00:28Strategic plan to think about communication from a leftist perspective from a global south perspective and that
00:35Started yesterday
00:37Continues today with conferences with workshops that are actually underway
00:41Right now as we speak and will continue also through tomorrow and we were talking about the importance of
00:49networking actually the weaving networks is one of the slogans of this colloquium and
00:56The idea that keeps on bringing partners back together to Havana
01:02Every edition of the Patriarch Colloquium is the possibility of sharing experiences and not only sharing them
01:08but also building those connections that allow us to really focus on digital communication as a
01:15Worldwide perspective a perspective that is bringing together
01:19Media outlets from Latin America from Asia from the African continent
01:25with all those exchanges of information of ways of tackling and
01:32approaching digital communication
01:33So precisely in that context we are joined today by one of our guests
01:39We have been holding this interviews throughout the Patriarch Colloquium and he is dr. Kwesi Pratt from Ghana
01:46He is the director of the pan-african television and also the secretary-general of the socialist movement of Ghana
01:53So thank you so much. Mr. Pratt for joining us in tell us your English
01:57I would like to besides welcoming you, of course ask you why come all the way from Ghana here to Havana
02:06Once again for this colloquium
02:08Why is it important to be here to hear this conferences to share your experiences in this goal of?
02:15Really doing a world perspective as strategic plan of digital communication
02:22Well as a matter of fact, we've been under attack for hundreds of years
02:26The attack has taken different forms
02:29slavery
02:30colonialism now new colonialism and so
02:33Our resources are being exploited
02:36Not for the benefit of our people
02:39But to fatten the purse of the multinational corporations in the colonial metropolis
02:44We are being told how to govern ourselves
02:47Our history is being changed and so on and to be able to combat this we need to work together
02:54We need to network. We need to have a common understanding of the common enemy
02:59Who's responsible for under development of poverty and our general misery and that is why this colloquium is?
03:07So so very important
03:10Another aspect why this colloquium is so so very important is simply the fact that there's a focus on television and
03:18I see tell us who are something which comes out of the Alba project
03:24Something which emphasizes the need for cooperation the need to network
03:29The need to strengthen ourselves, you know against the huge giant corporations media corporations in the West
03:37Which are presenting a narrative that is very
03:40Derogatory to our people to our systems to our history and so on. So this colloquium is an extremely
03:48important colloquium
03:50so you were just talking of course about besides our differences the
03:55commonalities of the struggles and the problems the
03:59Different parts of our world share for example Latin American and the African continent
04:05What do you think are those common aspects you were just talking about colonialism you were just talking about the issue of the
04:13Exploitation of our natural resources. What do you think are the key aspects in which a shared?
04:20communication between the peoples of Africa and Latin America could benefit from
04:25those exchanges and also the change of those
04:29Experiences how to tackle those issues and how to communicate to our peoples about those issues
04:34Well, all of us are victims of false narratives
04:38For example, we are told that if we have to develop we have to copy the Western countries and so
04:44But nobody tells us when the Western countries developed through our exploitation
04:50The capital which is accumulated which is responsible for the apparent prosperity in the West today
04:56Came out of the transatlantic slavery
04:59It came out of classical colonialism and it continues today
05:04from from from the
05:07neoliberal
05:08Neocolonialist approach, but there's a complete false narrative
05:13Because the options that they had are not available to us in the third world doesn't matter whether we are in Latin America
05:19Doesn't matter whether we are in Africa or we are in Asia
05:23Today, there's no possibility for our countries to colonize other people
05:28Today there's no possibility for
05:31People, you know to enslave others
05:34There's no possibility for us, you know, like brigands to jump into other countries and overthrow governments and so
05:42So the only possibility available to us
05:46Is the possibility of self-reliant development in cooperation with other countries like us?
05:53So this false narrative needs to be debunked completely if you are to break out of the chains of enslavement the chains of
06:02Exploitation and so on, you know, so we need to come back the false narratives
06:07So we have a lot of work to do
06:11To cooperate because we don't have the resources that they have so we share our resources
06:16We have a lot of work to do to understand a different, you know
06:21Background and so on and build a synthesis which enables us to grow out of this of this of this
06:27very
06:28domineering system
06:30I'm sure that you are well aware of the patriotic revolutions which are broken out in West Africa. It makes a lot of sense
06:38If you take the french-speaking West African countries
06:42All of them without exception have to keep their foreign reserves in the central bank of France
06:49The effect of that is that they borrowed their own money and pay interest on their own money, this is untenable
06:57We cannot survive this way. We need to break these chains
07:01You understand I come from West Africa. West Africa is dotted with foreign military bases Western military bases
07:09Western intelligence presence and so on and yet
07:13The Islamic insurgency is growing in West Africa. Many people are being killed on a daily basis and so on
07:20We need to find out why we cannot establish military bases in the West
07:24But they can establish military bases in our country and why the more they establish military bases in our countries
07:31The more insecure we become and there's a challenge you understand
07:36One of the things that I found most
07:39impressive and
07:41Beautiful
07:43About this colloquium is that I arrived here on a Saturday
07:47When the whole of Cuba was in blackout, there was no electricity supply anywhere in Cuba
07:53In spite of that this colloquium has proceeded without a hitch
07:58That's a statement about the resilience of the Cuban people
08:03What has happened here in this colloquium could not have happened in any Western capital
08:08You cannot imagine that in the US had a total blackout for 48 hours it could hold a colloquium such as this
08:16This is the resilience of the Cuban people
08:19Resilience of the Cuban people should encourage all of us
08:23To rise up and become ourselves
08:25You understand and then of course there is the history
08:30Which is also extremely important
08:33I mean the history of Jose Mati, the history of Bolivar, the history of Nkrumah and so on
08:41This is an important history
08:44of a people of
08:46leaders who saw the possibility of breaking the chains of enslavement and exploitation and
08:53Those traditions are to be pursued
08:56To be able to pursue these traditions
08:59We need to understand the traditions where they came from the ideological underpinnings and so on
09:04It is engagement
09:05Constant engagement of all of us whether we are from Asia, whether we are from Africa or Latin America or the Americas, South America
09:13whatever
09:14That would enable us to understand
09:17The underpinnings of these traditions of resistance and make it possible for us to work together
09:23So you were just saying Mr. Pratt, we need to debunk those false narratives
09:29What is the role of this media outlets that Latin America is building, that Africa is building
09:36that are being built also in Asia, for example
09:40How can those media outlets, communal efforts also connecting with for example
09:46Community media outlets from different corners of our countries
09:50What is their role in this debunking of the false narratives that are obviously imposed through
09:58broad network, for example the
10:01main media agencies are dominated by both US or Europe powers and that is a very
10:10Hard network to counter or to fight off. So how can our efforts, what is their role in that fight?
10:18First of all, the media is a source of information and information is absolutely important in shaping people's
10:24perspectives and attitudes and so on
10:27So we have to provide the counter information
10:31A media is also a source of analysis of the information and we have to provide a counter analysis
10:37of the general information which is out there and so on
10:41Now this is a very difficult task
10:44I mean if you take the British Broadcasting Corporation
10:47The British Broadcasting Corporation spends billions of dollars every year
10:53There's no way that we can find that billions of money
10:58You understand? It has a huge coverage all over the world
11:02So the only way to do that is to cooperate
11:05I cover West Africa, we cover, Pan-African Television covers West Africa
11:09I cover West Africa, we cover, Pan-African Television covers West Africa
11:14We exchange with Telesu which is covering South America and so on
11:18So we don't have to be in South America
11:20We depend on the resources of Telesu to be able to cover South America
11:25And that happens with other media organizations and so on
11:29Again, sometimes we are frightened by their apparent sophistication
11:34They use very expensive equipment and so on
11:37We don't have to use that expensive equipment
11:40We can do it using mobile phones
11:44Against their very sophisticated cameras and so on
11:48So we need to find ways of overcoming the threats that they pose
11:56With their sophisticated systems and cameras and so on
12:01Which really mean nothing, it's the message which is important
12:04It is not the tools which are used which are important
12:07And how to get this message across
12:10And it is within this context also
12:13That social media has become very very important
12:16The dissemination of information
12:18What do you need to be on TikTok
12:21What do you need to be on the other social media and so on
12:24And perhaps the time has come
12:26For our leaders to also begin thinking about developing alternative social media platforms
12:35For too long we have depended on a Western-propelled, Western-developed social media platform
12:42Which is not in our interest
12:44So we need to be thinking
12:46We need to bring our engineers together
12:48We need to bring our information technologists together and so on
12:50To begin to think about developing these alternatives
12:54To enable us to push our message
12:57To enable us to intensify our resistance
12:59Against exploitation
13:02Against domination
13:05And against the attempt to replace our culture with decadent culture
13:10And definitely that is one of the main points in debate in this colloquium
13:15That is also and maybe specifically targeting
13:19How we can make the most of these new possibilities
13:23That the digital platforms
13:25And the need to build our own digital platforms
13:27How could that open those possibilities that you were just mentioning
13:32We definitely hope that this colloquium here
13:35Is paving the way for that to happen in the years to come
13:39I thank you so much Mr. Pratt
13:41For joining us in Telstra English
13:43So Luis, that was Mr. Pratt from Pan-African TV from Ghana
13:49And as we were saying
13:51Those are the key topics that are being discussed here
13:54In the Colloquium Patria
13:55In the Colloquium Patria
13:57In the University of Havana
13:59Bringing together experiences from all over the world
14:02To really think about the challenges of digital communication nowadays
14:06But also the possibilities of weaving those networks
14:10Making those connections
14:12And thinking about in the years to come
14:15What it takes for us to build these new digital platforms
14:19And think about the new possibilities
14:22In terms of this digital struggle
14:23That is being done all over the world
14:26So I go back to you
14:28And we will continue to bring you all the information around the world