Archive Page 2
TEDxColombo on Sri Lanka Today
YaTV’s Sri Lanka Today Program featured a segment on TEDx Colombo, now available on youtube:
Some YaTV content is now happily available on twitter and the Sri Lanka Today program seem to be runing their own blog.
Filed under: Media, Sri Lanka, Youth-Culture-Society | 2 Comments
Tags: Youth, Sri Lanka, Colombo, Media, Culture, TED, YATV, TEDx, TEDx Colombo, Governance, Tri-lingual, Government Services, Brands
TEDx-ed
TEDxColombo which we invited our readers for, went off quite well. The audience was good, and the speakers on board for the event did it justice and it sparked some controversy. All in a good day’s work.
While we’re awaiting approval from TED to put the videos up, we do have a few photos from the event up over at our flickr stream. If you’d like to get a glimpse of the ‘conversation’ after TEDx Colombo, see the dedicated twitter account.
Filed under: Events-Activities-Announcements, Media, Sri Lanka, Youth-Culture-Society | Leave a Comment
Tags: Colombo, Event, Sri Lanka, TEDx, TEDxColombo, Youth
As readers of this blog would know, we are hosting TEDxColombo, a spin off from the world renowned TED conference. Based on the theme of “Ideas for Sri Lanka’s Future” at this important juncture in our history, the event would feature 4 live speakers and 3 Ted talks and lots of space for discussion, debate and lots of good ideas.
Date : Sunday, 19th of July @ Punchi Theatre from 9.30 to 4.30 pm (registrations start at 9 am).
The speakers for the event are as follows,
- Rohan Samarajiva (Chair of Lirneasia) on the topic of implementing tri-lingual government services.
- Nushad Perera, CMO of Dialog Telekom on the topic of “Fixed vs. Mobile”.
- Asantha Sirimanne, Editor-in-chief of Lanka Business Online on Fiscal Responsibility.
- Lakshman Gunasekera, former Editor of Sunday Observer. on the Topic of Transforming Sri Lanka’s Media Culture
Watch the TEDxColombo twitter for updates and connect to us from Facebook. If you’d like to attend the event, register online. We are fast running out of places. If you need quick info feel free to give us a buzz on 0774186560
Thanks for all the bloggers and tweeps who are helping us spread the word (blogs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ) All of you deserve free tickets. email tedxcol[at]beyondborders.lk with the subject line “Blogger tickets” to get one.
We won’t be streaming the event, but we’ll be recoring it and sending it to TED, who might it put up on their site if they think it’s worth it.
Filed under: Events-Activities-Announcements, Sri Lanka, Youth-Culture-Society | 2 Comments
Tags: Beyond Borders, Conference, Sri Lanka, TED, TEDx, TEDx Colombo
We are TEDx-ing. Come.
TEDxColombo Poster
Beyond Borders is hosting a platform where ideas for the future will be unveiled and discussed by leading academics, activists and media persons of Sri Lanka, in the form of TEDxColombo.
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and the TED conferences started out as an event bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
Speakers at the Global TED event over the years include Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, credited with inventing the World Wide Web, Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States of America, and world renowned performance poet Rives. TEDx is based on the same model, and we would also air some of our favoirite TED Talks during the event.
The themes of the presentations range from addressing the issue of the language barrier, to revamping the Sri Lankan media culture. The event will be held on the 19th of July, at Punchi Theatre, Colombo 8 from 9:00 am onwards. Tickets will be priced at Rs. 150/=, and would grant access to all the sessions.
The event programme and registration details are available here. Bookings for tickets can be made either by calling 0774186560, or emailing tedxcol[at]beyondbordes.lk. Come. We’d love to have you there.
Filed under: Events-Activities-Announcements, Sri Lanka | 4 Comments
Tags: Change, Colombo, Conference, Ideas, Sri Lanka, TEDx, TEDxColombo, Video
Poetry with Teeth
Poetry has long been a form of activism. From the early Greek philosophers who wrote promoting their thoughts and ideas in the form of the acclaimed dialogue, contributing to the reshaping of their societies, to the greats of the Enlightenment that helped shape the Industrial Revolution to modern day activists and slam poetry, poems have always been used to play a role in identifying the connection between the material world around us and the relating emotions that run through our collective conscience.
Human beings are primarily creatures of emotion living in a society structured around the assumption that we are in fact, logical. Therefore we first and foremost examine our feelings with questions to make sense of the world around us. So all our standings in relation to external events are ultimately based on emotion and feeling, ‘rationality’ is simply what arises as the ultimate result of this examination, it’s roots are invariably plugged into some base ideology that is held as belief.
Poetry delineates emotions and can inspire raw feeling in people that can change their outlook. And, like any form of activism, poetic activism also changes and inspires society into taking new directions. It taps into people’s core feelings, identifies with them and exposes them. It inspires action sometimes, or sometimes just an understanding nod, but there is a message, and its usually enough if it is communicated.
Now we don’t need to get all hoity toity about it. You don’t have to be a Ph.D in philosophy or decked out with the finest wordplay of a slam poet’s arsenal to engage in activism. Poetic activism is everyday, its everywhere, its in blogposts, facebook notes, you tube. Anywhere there is creativity, emotion and an appeal to a change of norms, there is poetic activism.
If you haven’t already, check out Def Poetry Jam. If you haven’t already seen or heard of Def poetry then its time you did, they sound like rappers minus the bling bling and pro drug advocacy. Artistes like Steve Coleman, Lemon, Suheir Hammad, Rives etc. explore themes as diverse as racism, love, terrorism, nationalism and most other isms that you can think of, and then some.
Political tension and repressed emotions like fear and anger etc cause a lot of people to speak out. Sri Lanka has been a hotbed of fear, anger and suspicion especially over the past few months, when the war came finally crunching down to its bloody stop. From introspections of ‘water filter’ warriors fearing armed attacks on the way to work, to musings on the nature of the national flag, to the denouncing of barbaric practices, to patrotism and the spilling of blood, to my humble attempt at describing my feelings of dependence on independence day, to attempts at distilling freedom, individualism and control; poetic activism is all over the place. If you’re reading this, just click through some blogs and see what you can find. Or start writing yourselves.
There has been an increasing surge of poetry as a form of activisim throughout the last century, complicating W.H Auden’s claim that ‘poetry makes nothing happen’. Poetry, or poetic literature has influenced history throughout its existence. Or some like to think so. Significant events throughout history have always been accompanied by their own unique brand of literature and poetic activism, the most recent the African American uprising of the last century. But did these artists actually change societies with their craft? or were they simply a symptom of changing times? And are poets and poetic activists simply another brand of armchair/notebook/facebook warriors?
Halik Azeez
“poems are bullshit unless they have teeth” Amiri Baraka
Halik is a poet who blogs here, and occationaly graces Open Mic. He wrote a piece for the BB blog a while back here, and we’re still quite eagerly awaiting his abduction, so that we can blog about it. He is also in charge of the Communications section of BB, which would explain a lot about how talkative we are.
Filed under: Media, Opinions, Youth-Culture-Society | Leave a Comment
Tags: Activism, Media, Poetry
YaTV speaks to Mohomad Hisham, a national steering committee member of the Sri Lanka Youth Parliament and a good friend of Beyond Borders. The interview is below:
Filed under: Peace-Conflict-Governance, Sri Lanka, Youth-Culture-Society | Leave a Comment
Let alone Nestomalt, it was the best cup of anything I’ve ever drunk in my life. Honestly speaking, it was the first cup of Nestomalt I’ve ever drunk, cos’ I hate the stuff usually. Enough about me and Nestomalt, let me tell you why it was the best cup I’ve ever drunk!
I’m going to be starting with the end this time…it was approximately 7 pm and two of us were just finishing off our last distribution of some tea, sugar and “Nestomalt,” to the last ward. Once we were done, we decided to sit down and have a little chat with some of the patients and their families. We barely had any time to have a chat with anyone this time, because distribution was an absolute “logistical nightmare!” Anyway, as a direct result of a part Sinhala, part Tamil, part English and part sign language chat I had with one of the families, they discovered that we hadn’t had lunch as yet. And to make matters worse, I told them that I was “setthu poochi” (dead)! After having a good laugh possibly at my heavily accented Tamil, and also what I said, I guess, I moved to another group of patients, and as far as I was concerned, that was the end of that. That was of course until, around 10 minutes later, I get a little tap on my shoulder and a little girl hands me a little stainless steel tumbler full of piping hot Nestomalt!
Continue reading ‘“The Best cup of Nestomalt I’ve had in my life!!!”’
Filed under: Events-Activities-Announcements, Peace-Conflict-Governance, Sri Lanka | 1 Comment
Tags: AID, Colombo, Help, IDPs, Sri Lanka, Story
YATV takes to the air
Hilmy Ahamed, CEO of YATV speaks about the new venture at the event held to celebrate YATV hitting the airwaves, or rather, cabled and the internet.
Young Asia Television, or YATV launched it new venture YA Sri Lanka last week with a view to provide interactive programming on a wide range of programming from Entertainment to Education and Business.
YATV has been in the forefront of value-based programming in the Asian region and has been a pioneer in changing the look and feel of the television screen, the television experience, in Sri Lanka and many other countries in the region. YATV introduced younger programme producers, a wider range of perspectives, new programme formats and used innovative computer graphics and animation, adopting cost-effective production processes through affordable technology. YATV’s programming provided the space for a diverse group of people – and not just young people – to express their views.
YATV relies strongly on its youthful human resources who are equal to any in the global Television industry. Their out-put has been of superior technical and content quality.
With the launch of YA Sri Lanka, YATV takes another significant step in the progress of television in the Sri Lanka by partnering with SLT’s PEOTV to bring interactive television programming for education information and development.
In addition to catering to urban youth audiences, YA Sri Lanka is committed to reaching out to the audiences in rural areas.
YA Sri Lanka hopes to entertain, but more importantly, facilitate wide-ranging discourse among people -exchanging information, bringing awareness, enabling understanding.
The value of media, especially television, as a tool for learning has been proven time and again. Its capacity to inform, educate and encourage behavior change has made it an indispensable tool of most social campaigns. With respect to youth audiences, research has shown that TV has the ability to create powerful touchstones, enabling young people to share experiences with others. So it seems a logical step for YA SRI LANKA to harness the potential of this powerful and influential medium.
YA Sri Lanka’s partnership with PEOTV will be an opportunity to provide an alternative to the mainstream, An opportunity to reinvent the usefulness of the medium of television. An opportunity to share ideas and knowledge, gain skills and capacities, build communities and bridges.
Editor’s Note: YATV has been a one of the strong pillars that has helped Beyond Borders grow, and we pride ourselves in the long and warm relationship that we share, running beyond a mere a work relationship into sphere of friendships. Beyond Borders extends our hearfelt congratulations to YATV, and wishes them the best for the future. And we would obviously look forward to YATV, and now YA Sri Lanka helping us more.
To see a the instances in which Beyond Borders, or BBites were on YATV, click here. You can see the YATV YouTube channel here, and YATV can be found here on their official website.
Filed under: Media, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: Media, Sri Lanka, YATV, Youth Activism
Fixing educashun
I was not a student who academically excelled in School. Whilst scoring high in subject such as Maths and Science, I was horrible at the subjects that required one to “study” for them. And even though I find writing absolutely enjoyable now, it was not so when I was in school. My teachers made me hate the subject.
A lot of people have been arguing for comprehensive reforms in Sri Lanka’s education sector. This would have to come in the form of reforming the methodology of teaching, reforming the systems of learning, and a complete revamp of the curricula.
Looking at how state funded schools are being used, we have to realize that schools are useless things, most of the time. Let me explain.
Filed under: Kids, Opinions, Sri Lanka | Leave a Comment
Tags: Beyond Borders, Colombo, Education, Identity, Reform, Social Change, Sri Lanka
Is AIDS a poor people’s disease?
Hans Rosling takes a look. Rosling is Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institutet and Director of the Gapminder Foundation. Gapminder developed the Trendalyzer software that converts international statistics into moving, interactive and enjoyable graphics. The aim is to promote a fact based world view through increased use and understanding of freely accessible public statistics. His lectures using Gapminder graphics to visualise world development have won awards by being humorous yet deadly serious, like this one.
Filed under: Media | 1 Comment
Tags: Africa, HIV/AIDS, Poverty, TED
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