A Fingertip Away: A click Away: Refusing to be silenced
May 28, 2019
Story
I’ve often marvelled at the media. It has the power to build or destroy communities .It has the power to spur people to demand change and to raise the consciousness of the people about their situations. It has the power to mobilise support and ideas for transformation.
In my country Kenya, the media has transformed over the years and with the number of people utilising the media for various uses increasing by the day. Personally I have utilised the power of the media to share information and consciousness of communities, I have also used the media to mobilise for global solidarity.
The media is powerful evidenced by the Global March against Trump, solidarity with Filipinos against extra judicial killings on the” war on drugs”, mobilisation to demand justice for slain human rights lawyer in Kenya (I am Willie), to the Monsanto Tribunal. The media provides me with freedom to think and share out my thoughts .It provides space to influence the way people look at things and to seek alternative perspectives. I like to use twitter to alert people on what is happening, follow debates and get information. I post community conversations that I organise on Facebook to let people know what grassroots voices are saying.
The media has enabled my thoughts to appear on progressive platforms such as:
Pambazuka News (https://www.pambazuka.org/author/leonida-odongo
Black Agenda Report
Women and Climate Action International
http://wecaninternational.org/pages/actions2016/1559
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Yes we need not go to media school to learn how to write, we can all be writers in our own small ways.When we amplify what we do through the media , we not only change ourselves but the world around us.
