People to people

I have heard the expression  “people to people” many times as the best way to charge communication. But people to people conversations are seldom contrived. They are spontaneous expressions of daily living. Whether it was in Beijing, Seoul or Manila the topic was how to reach more people to talk to each other.

I think it is the few officials in government with vested interests who block this spontaneous quality of conversations. For me it is more important to create ways and means so people talk to each other rather than read newspapers or watch television programs telling them what to think and feel about issues.

Although we were invited as members of Philippine media, I was more interested to hear from our hosts and colleagues on how to draw up ways and means to get people talking to each other outside media. In that environment their conversations will be original and contribute to new challenges and ideas to the bigger society.

If we can get the “crowd” talking and giving ideas to the political and cultural mainstream that would be more than just a few in media and government telling them how to think and speak. That was in my mind while visiting China and seeing the wonders of its civilization. So many have been left out of the conversation but they are clamoring now to have a say, to be able to speak and give ideas to those who manage their lives and countries. That is what to me is the biggest contribution of the social media to communication.

It has been said by pundits that social media is the new form of communication and it is set to overtake other media – even radio or television.

It was coincidence (that word again) that from China where we visited the Suchow Industrial Park, the embroidery town of and the burial place of the Sultan, I would now join ICAPP to form a media group so we could get to know and talk to each other. We would create a way which would make it possible by starting conversations.

As it was, it was difficult to get at the truth when conversations were limited to officials of government. It is happening worldwide that the people are getting restive. They want change, any kind of change, as long as it would energize society. We begin by talking to each other.

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But with whom and for whom should we communicate? I can understand Chinese impatience with negative and oftentimes misleading interpretation of the South China Sea conflict. I think they are too optimistic to think that a few journalists can change the tide of conflict and aggression. I would be more inclined towards activities other than shepherding media. Indeed, there are many examples of how this soft power can overcome false media reports.

It was China that made it possible for low income groups to have access to modern appliances. Name it and you will find that China has made a cheaper version of it, even fake luxury brand names, The rich may dislike having to share the brands with copies, but it has made a more equal and just world.

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Meanwhile I am off to South Korea for a meeting to organize a media forum for ICAPP (International Conference of Asian Political Parties). As former Speaker Jose de Venecia told me, he never thought this would finally be formed.

It was first discussed in a meeting in Nanning in 2011 and colleagues from several countries coaxed me to be the one to file an open resolution to the board to this end.

Imagine my surprise when de Venecia called me to say, well the resolution for the media forum was finally approved and that the first meeting would be held this week in Seoul.

This development is momentous because it comes at a time when there are surging movements for the inclusion of and how to include marginalized sectors in the political and cultural mainstream.

In Nanning it was hoped that a ICAPP Secretariat would be set up under the “ICAPP system” to attract more international media attention to ICAPP activities, and for the promotion of communication, interaction, and cooperation between international media, and also for the cooperation between the international media and the ICAPP.

Each member nominates one journalist from each country to form a working group to discuss how to set up the ICAPP Media Forum. The main purpose of the media forum will be to promote more interaction between ICAPP and peoples in the region through more diversified and wider media coverage of ICAPP activities.

ICAPP Media Forum will be composed of the following members: (1) Members of the ICAPP Standing Committee, and (2) One journalist from each country that is represented in the ICAPP Standing Committee

The main function of the ICAPP Media Forum will be to promote more interaction between ICAPP and peoples in the region through more diversified and wider media coverage of the ICAPP activities and to promote communication, interaction, and cooperation between international media and ICAPP to build an Asian community.

As I told my colleagues at the time when the media forum was suggested, it would not only depend on how much work is put into the project but that we would need inputs from the citizens and members of the countries in ICAP.

In Jose de Venecia’s speech on proposals for peace in the Asia Pacific region, he cited these objectives: the revival of institutionalizing the interfaith dialogue, the Sunni-Shiite dialogue, no to cold war in the Asia Pacific, practical solutions to resolve the South China standoff, and the revival of six-party talks on North Korea.

But what caught my attention was his emphasis that the political parties would form the nexus of the Middle Powers. He cited Brazil, Mexico and Argentina in South America, Iran, Turkey, Egypt , Saudi Arabia in West Asia, India and Pakistan in South Asia, Kazakhstan in Central Asia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia in Southeast Asia, and Canada, Australia and South Africa, That is practically the whole world without the superpowers.

He believes that strengthening the middle forces will help shape the structure of a new world order. That is a tall order but we have to start somewhere. As I said at the beginning of this essay, we can achieve this by creating the right environment for conversation.