A few weeks back I was emailed the following video. The lines are especially true because of the darkened financial crisis that many are in.  Interestingly, back on Feb 14th I attended a comedy gig with 40,000 fans all paying an average of £40 per ticket. Let us also not forget that my car parking bill for 2 hours parking on the night was £22.

I believe because the media does not discuss or present it, doesn’t mean its not there.

Often we are quick to spend money on personal pleasures but think 100 times before contributing towards a worthy cause. The concept of the following video  focusing on how collaboration could be adapted for showing a world-view on reality. For example, half of the screen could show one city’s extravagant night life with the other showing a city in the same country as deserted. Another example could show the different living conditions from one hemisphere to another.

The message in the music should motivate us to do more than just hum along to it!

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you took part last year, you will remember, the friends, fellowship and fun that we all had raising money for Children with Leukemia (CWL). Together we successfully raised £25,000.

This year we have chosen the same charity again. This year the ride takes place from 19th-20th July 2008. As a reminder, the ride is organised by SACA (Sikh Arts and Culture Association).

This is a community ride that also shows that collectively we can perform good in society and be humble about it too! The other good thing about this ride is that is demonstrates what I tend to hark on about – People from different backgrounds coming together for a common cause – focusing on self-less service – together with an opportunity to train and  test their stamina (NB Health disclaimers are given).

This year we managed to configure the site with a link to www.justgiving.com – (NB My sponsorship page is at: http://www.justgiving.com/saviarora – your kind donations/sponsorship would be greatly appreciated). This is a brilliant way to collect online sponsorship for any charity. Once the charity is registered it takes just a few moments for individuals to create their own pages, set targets and gain encouragement / momentum!

Moving away from I to We.

It is also interesting that National Rail is using the following marketing strap line: ‘you take the journey with you’. Orange has just unveiled ‘I am’ as their new strap line which will replace ‘the future is bright, the future is orange’. The latter line was introduced by ad agency WCRS for Orange in 1994 to launch the mobile phone brand into the UK market. The ’I Am Everyman’ television commercial suggests a number of messages. Some online marketing publications have suggested that this brand change has cost Orange a few million to complete. Someone suggested £10M?

I wonder if the 21st century has increasingly become – A world for the ‘I’ generation, for example: I pod and MySpace. Yet, the irony is, that for each of these components to operate one has to interact with others?

Mohammad Ali, the famous boxer once gave one of the most powerful and shortest lectures in Oxford. He simply announced, ‘Me, We’.

When I looked through some of the other events featured on Justgiving it gave me a reassurance that there are so many good causes and people prepared to help.

In a world where the word ‘I’ is increasingly becoming prevalent it is good to know that there are people who want to share and harmonise. I only wish that some commercial /giant multi-nationals companies and governments could do more.

However, oddly with pop stars the fact of drug taking or a stint in rehab is communicated by the press differently. The images of over partying, brawls and drunkenness (the latter three adjectives are not mutually exclusive!) are sensationalised. It almost seems that there is nothing else for the public to read about. No awards are taken back.

In addition, no public penalties apart from embarrassment are present? Could it be that these stories and the perpetrators feed each other? Could it be that bad news about people and their habits encourages the shallowness of the commentators and the readers?
Is it a question of jealously – a suggested comeback on, ‘you cannot have your cake and eat it too?’

Ironically, the press are also quick to state that racist behaviour such as that revealed in Celebrity Big Brother is wrong. So they can be driven public opinion? Or is it a case that the press have certain barriers of acceptability they will not cross. Or is it the face or denial of obvious public activity. This stance is neither consistent or honourable.

In London over the last year, 11 teenagers have been attacked and killed. Where is this apparent pessimistic attitude coming from? Much depends on a communities living conditions and investment by councils. Maybe we need to look at some solutions:

• Reverse the reduction of youth clubs/associations – there needs to be a reminder that are lots of groups that need help, e.g: charities
• Limited good news on the achievement of youth in the press – lets communicate some good news!
• Discussing more in school critical world issues raised for example by Amnesty international – We need to communicate the ‘bigger picture’
• Write to the editors to change their stance on features – Public opinion is better than no reaction from the readers
• Use the Internet to create a world youth connection network – twinning schools et al.
• Encourage the company you work for to develop a corporate scheme for youth -This could be an extension of the work-experience that many 15 year old children are encouraged to complete with their schools.

These are just suggested solutions. What we need now is the imagination and motivation of both the press and government
In addition, we need to establish a list of keynote speakers for schools and colleges, who are not celebs. For example, true role models:

• Self made business persons
• Representatives of volunteer committees
• Those that talk about the non-glossy side of life, i.e: death and taxes!

For youth we need to bring home a sense of reality that we are on this Earth for a short period of time – let us all collectively make it a better place rather than shoot or stab each other. I really liked the slogan : ‘Lets make poverty history’. We can make this a reality if we all believe in a common cause of good. Celebrities and their collective merchandise contribute to the materialism that we all leave behind. What we really need to do is enrich our souls through self-less service.

Unfortunately, the powers that drive the press are driven by the very cash that can also be used for good.

The whole arena of reporting got me thinking about the role of Press Relations and its role on influencing editorial chief’s, especially in leading periodicals and commentators sound bytes.

Wikipedia suggests that modern PR can be defined as the ability to  evaluates a product or individual’s public perception through market research. Once data is collected and challenges are identified, solutions are presented in a campaign strategy to meet goals. Techniques may vary from campaign to campaign but some standard tools used are; press releases, press kits, satellite feeds, pod casts, web casts, wire service distribution of information and Internet placement. Others include entertainment product placement (television, events, celebrity), product launches, press conferences, media seminars, producing events, speechwriting, establishing partnerships and more is often required.

Last week I met a specialist in PR and he suggested that the media simply wants to ‘talk’ about stuff! In other words sometimes by being more creative or creating a ‘buzz’ around the things that we do can create an interest and therefore coverage. I then considered his point in the context that maybe we will not totally overcome the obessession of some media outlets to feature celebrity lifestyle or even scandals but we may be able to generate positive stories.

Interestingly, he also suggested that generally there was a negative tone to reporting news and views. When you think about it he s quite right. In the UK we may get a 30 seconds of a good news story at the end of News at 10 but it is often positioned as a quirk or even a funny item to lighten the mood. However, lightening the mood should not be at the cost of respectability or victimisation.

Take Bollywood’s relentless negative portrayal of some religions. The humour element is not global and on so many levels and occasions blasphemous. Yet, we appear to not be able to stop them. One suggestion could be to ‘push’ positive stories about people. Those individuals from different backgrounds that are helping communities. The theory being that negative images could be potentially knocked out by positive ones, i.e.: With enough good news in the air that celebrates life, maybe we can change the behaviour of editorial staff and ultimately the way that we should respect each other.

Mono:

Stereo:

He was passing through London and I had a chance to meet and interview him for a friend in an organisation.

It had some amazing points to make about the importance of justice and equality, through his work with
The Rainbow Push Coalition – The Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a progressive organization fighting for social change.
As a mighty coalition of conscience; workers, women and people of color have the power to make the
American Dream a Reality!

They believe that the issues consist of:

The Issues
RPC is dedicated to improving the lives of all people by focusing on cures for social, economic and political ills.
Our issues include but are not limited to:

• Jobs and Economic Empowerment
• Employee Rights and Livable Wages
• Educational Access
• Fair and Decent Housing
• Voter Registration and Civic Education
• Election Law Reform
• Fairness in the Media, Sports, and Criminal
• Justice System
• Political Empowerment
• Trade and Foreign Policy
• Affirmative Action and Equal Rights
• Gender Equality
• Environmental justice

and in terms of the UK http://www.equanomics.org.uk/
Equanomics UK is a growing coalition of organisations across the UK who want to develop more economic
analyses and approaches to equality in the UK. It is a project incubated at the 1990 Trust.

It was fascinating to hear him talk about the need for greater equality and ways that it could materialise, for example:

* Investing in firms, through stock purchasing
* Making people aware that the recent sub-prime mortgage problems may impact selective communities.

With regard to the latter, there will be marches held in December 2007, in both Wall Street and London’s stock
exchange area to highlight the need for a rescue package. The Rainbow Push Coalition on their site suggests…

It is time to act. Join us on December 10 on Wall Street and in cities across the country.
Stand up to stop the wave of home loan defaults that threatens to foreclose not just on their homes but on our hopes.
The problem keeps getting worse. Two million homeowners face foreclosure over the next year. Their neighbors will
lose billions in the equity they have in their homes. Millions will find themselves stuck, unable to get a decent price
for their homes in a flooded market. Tens of millions more will tighten their belts. Communities will struggle with budget crises….

It is interesting some banks were quick to lend. However, now that there is an issue, they need to show both
Corporate Responsibility and justice. Now is the time for creative solutions to ensure that people, all who are hardworking
can manage their existence and dreams.

 

During the period of slavery traders became rich. In parallel many slaves were raped and abused. Imagine living on a farm but before you are put to a lifetime of work you are branded on the chest. How could a man not see the other as equal? The slave owners had no respect or love in their hearts for their fellow humans.

I wonder how an attitude of abuse could prevail throughout society at the time.
Is it a case that there was no compassion, respect or understanding?

The same question has to be put when someone commits an act of communal violence, ethnic cleansing and racial abuse.
All of the latter are a matter of scale but are based on the same premise – surpression based on power and the morals of the day.

When the Nazis killed / exterminated of 6,000,000 Jews their hearts and minds were not filled with remorse as they had been brainwashed.
The question to ask is: Could this attitude of abuse, torture and hate raise its ugly head again?
Unfortunately, the risk is yes, as humans can be manipulated. History shows us this but why do we do not learn?!

When 1,000,000 people marched through London approx 4 years ago to take a stand against invading Iraq, what difference did it make?
I’m certainly not implying that we should give-up the need to strive for peace and respect.

A sad fact is that over the last 200 years slavery has survived. In addition, Human rights abuse continue.
Take a stroll over to: http://www.amnesty.org/ and see the proof for yourself – We need to remember that the world is still in turmoil.

Visit also: http://www.antislavery.org

One of their campaigns includes the situation in Sudan, i.e: During the 20 years of the Sudanese civil war between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/ Army, which ended in January 2005, conflict, raids and abductions in the Southern part of the country were carried out by various militia groups, leading to the enslavement of approximately 14,000 men, women and children. Despite some efforts by government and civil society, the majority of those abducted remain in slavery today, along with thousands more children born to them while in captivity.

This siite also outlines today’s environment of slavery to the ‘things we buy’: Please see: http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/campaign/whatwebuy.htm

We need to work together to ensure freedom for all. It is up to us to support those that want the right morals for the world, else we will regret the power we all have to help others. After all why are we here in the world, if not to ensure that we all are free.

Last week I attended a funeral of a really dear uncle / close family friend. I will always remember that whenever he greeted you he would smile and have a genuine warmness about him. He had a joy that excelled from his soul. He helped others through voluntary work and we will all have great memories of his pleasant, thoughtful and kind nature. He will be sadly missed.

Robert G Allen, business, finance and motivational author (famous for co-authoring, with Mark Victor the best sellers, ‘The one minute millionaire’ and ‘Cracking the millionaire code’ suggests,’ The future you see is the future you get’. However, when we think about the future do we base it on how rich we will be or do we look at the non-monetary value of helping others?

Stephen R Covey, famous for the classic, ‘Seven habits for highly effected managers’ suggests, ‘I’m convinced that we can write and live our own scripts more than most people will acknowledge. I also know the price that must be paid. It’s a real struggle to do it. It requires visualization and affirmation. It involves living a life of integrity, starting with making and keeping promises, until the whole human personality the senses, the thinking, the feeling, and the intuition are ultimately integrated and harmonized.’

Service is about commitment, both to yourself and to humanity. It is difficult to profess this attitude when a national Sunday newspaper outlines stories of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have yachts’. Articles appear about materialism to fuel the competitiveness of humankind. Sure, a lot of the motivation for earning a living is associated with the simple rules of trying to survive but should it be at the expense of crushing others?

In the world today we still have child labour, inner city decline, people living on the streets and violence is now being cited concerning kids as young as 12 – maybe this is through mis-channeled energy. I recently heard about youths that are terrorizing their housing estates. Any attempt of reasoning with them is returned with a bout of targeting, abuse and attacks. There must be a way of establishing a world where harmonization of living standards can be achieved and where reasoning can prevail.

One approach maybe to instill as part of our education system a new subject called : ‘One world’. This topic could develop links to volunteer organizations. Students could partake in local and national initiatives to help others, learning essential skills such as empathy and good will. Once they have completed managed assignments these life skills could make them a better and more rounded people / individuals.

Potentially an attitude of service could develop from within and people will remember each other not for how big a castle they have built but for the joy of giving they maintained throughout their life.

Unfortunately, the food manufacturers probably had not. To them it was simply a solid piece of well designed, colourful and structured card. The containers role in life was limited. Consider the container to similar to the famous futuristic drama – Logan (from Logan’s run). In that storyline once you reach a certain age you were assumed to be terminated. In the case of the box, once the cereal/ muesli had finished, its shell was assumed to be discarded.

Interestingly, it is claimed by environmentalists and researchers that, big name grocers last year produced over 88,000 tonnes of weekly household waste – 4.6m tonnes per year – is generated from groceries and their packaging.

Clearly a government directive is required to use only compostable and recyclable materials. In addition, it has been suggested that consumers should be charged for plastic bags and policies should be implemented for donating waste to food charities or composting sites. I do not think we should have yet another tax. Instead we need transparency in the system, urging supermarkets to publish packaging and food waste strategies.

In summary, three clear areas of abusers materialise: 1. The food manufacturers 2. The outlets for living with / puttng up with manufacturers that use wasteful shipping packaging and 3. Us, the consumer. With regard to the latter, why is it that we are not demanding enough for the reduction of waste and more consistent policies. Take for example, where one council collects and processes plastic materials (bottles) and a neighbouring one will not. If it is a question of investment in the right tools, maybe some subsidies for buying such equipment or centralisation of process plants can occur.

Maybe part of the problem is that many refuse and recollection service organisations are outsourced facilities management organisations?

The Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a not-for-profit organisation funded by the British government, has been working with retailers on the issue of packaging reduction. It encourages companies to tap into its £8million (€11.8m) innovation fund to reduce packaging, production and transport costs and encourage corporate social responsibility gains. So far thirteen retailers have pledged interest in the scheme, including Asda, Sainsburys, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose, and global manufacturers such as Heinz are also benefiting from the ‘green grants’.

Is it not amazing and sad to see how money motivates rather than humankind considering that ‘waste not want not’ is a better approach. If we start to consider the environmental impact hopefully we can be more respectful about the wasted efforts of the marketers. Just as important is to respect the Earth now rather than be blind about the future. Today the Earth simply drops in our eyes as a contribution to sustaining life.