Holly Tree Services
Executive Producer: Alan Clammer
Producer: Anthony N. Johnson
Directed, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
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Highlights of Africa Rising
Produced, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
On Friday, September 21, 2012, on a beautiful, bright and sunny morning at the Washington Convention Center in the heart of Washington, DC, people gathered for Africa Rising, a daylong forum on African political, economic, security, health and development issues.
A highlight was the 90-minute first panel of the day, “Africa’s Growing Economies”, moderated by Rosa Whitaker, President and CEO of the Whitaker Group. Panelists were Tebelelo Seretse, Ambassador of Botswana to the U.S.; Jay Ireland, President and CEO of GE Africa; and Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice President for Africa. Ambassador Seretse raised one of the panel’s most important themes, stating: “I am shocked when Europe has mismanagement and corrupted the economy, it is called mismanagement. When it is Africa, it is called corruption.”
The event was co-hosted by Congresswoman Karen Bass, representing Los Angeles, California, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation for the Africa BrainTrust. Congresswoman Bass is the senior Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights.
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Baltimore Celebrates Hon Festival
Produced, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
For 19 years, Baltimore’s “Hon” Festival has attracted big crowds in recognition and celebration of the community’s working women. Created in 1994 by Denise Whiting, the festival has become an established tradition. According to the HonFest website, this “family-friendly” annual event “Since 1994, HonFest has grown from a tiny Baltimore’s Best Hon pageant behind Café Hon, to a nationally recognized festival that covers four city blocks on Hampden’s very own 36th Street. In recent years, the festival has been acknowledged by The New York Times, Rachel Ray’s Tasty Travels, Nightly News with Brian Williams, The New York Post, Southern Living, The LA Times, HGTV, CNN, and The New Yorker… Each year, revelers from every corner of our city, region, and nation—not to mention from overseas—have come to Hampden to celebrate Baltimore heritage and experience what makes the town like no other.”
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Anti-Drone Demonstration at White House
Produced, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
CodePINK, Women for Peace co-founder Medea Benjamin and other anti-war activists protested at the White House on June 1, 2012 against the use of drones for military assassinations. For one hour, the activists presented a theatrical display including a “Kill List” to show that drones kill innocent people, including women and children, as well as the intended target, an unacceptable outcome according to Ms. Benjamin. CodePINK grew from a grassroots women’s vigil in front of the White House from November 2002 to the start of the Iraq war in March 2003, to an ongoing peace and social justice movement known for creative protest and non-violent direct action. Ms. Benjamin wrote the book, “Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control” in 2011.
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A New Deal for Tanzania
Produced, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
For almost ten years, African countries have fought to improve on two fronts: anti-corruption and pro-development. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), “Tanzania represents a success story for developing and emerging-market countries in a time of evolving donor-recipient relations. Through a series of reforms to increase transparency, good governance, and country-led development, President Kikwete has helped Tanzania become a strong partner with the United States and the international business community.”
On May 3, 2012, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan foreign policy think tank, in Washington, DC.
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A Snapshot of Artomatic
Produced, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
One man’s idea.
Started in 1999 with 350 artists.
Today, more than 1,000 artists from many different disciplines participate every year.
At least 70,000 visitors enjoy this event.
Artomatic, the biggest creative art event in the world.
According to the website, artomatic.org/about, “Artomatic 2012 is a month-long art festival in the DC area that is “by artists, for everyone.” It is absolutely free to the public.”
“This year’s event is in a former office building that’s slated for demolition. It features 10 floors of art by more than 1,000 artists: visual art, music, performance, film, fashion, and more. Workshops, tours, seminars and other events are held all month long.”
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Seeking Justice for the World’s Poor
Produced, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
The “Occupy Movement”, which campaigns for economic fairness and justice for the working poor and middle class, took advantage of the meeting of world finance ministers in Washington, D.C. at the end of April 2012 to stage protests in the streets surrounding as well as outside the main entrances of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund head offices. While banners, billboards, chants and protest signs conveyed several messages, one man, Barry Knight, sounded like he could be the spokesperson for Occupy, asking international finance corporations to make economic development and trade more fair and more beneficial for the most vulnerable and poorest people in the developing world.
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Produced, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
By the year 2020, the people of New Carrolton and College Park in Prince George’s County, and the people of Silver Spring and Bethesda in Montgomery County, will be able to ride their first local light rail. The Metro Transportation Agency estimates that the total daily ridership will be about 60,000 people, and that 20,000 vehicles will be removed from the roads when the Purple Line is up and running. This project is a transformative opportunity for the surrounding community and the greater metropolitan area. The completed Purple Line will be a 16-mile light rail system connecting to four branches of the metro system as well as major rails lines.”
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Produced, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
Every year, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund host their annual meeting, a gathering of finance ministers, bankers, government officials, private sector representatives and journalists from around the world. The meeting, held in Washington D.C, is a forum for discussion of global economic issues and for identifying solutions to a variety of problems affecting the economy and the welfare of citizens.
This year, the meeting opened just days after President Barack Obama’s candidate for the post of World Bank president — Yong Kim — was elected, despite bold endorsements by newspapers such as the Financial Times and The Economist for Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Ikonjo Iweala. It is unclear what, if any effect, the election of yet another American — the fourteenth since the World Bank was founded in 1944- will have.
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Produced, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
The Occupy Movement has inspired and attracted the participation of many talented and smart people from all over the country. They have given up everything to participate full time, alongside others who have traveled the same long and often perilous journey. An epic quest, promoting all that is right in the human spirit.
Barry Knight, a 44-year-old, is one of them. He joined the Occupy Movement in October 2011, and has been actively participating, in part by creating signs to inform, drive and move the audience. In an article published on World Socialist Website, Knight says he returned to his original home of Boston from Tennessee and decided to stay on at Occupy Boston because he believed in the movement’s objectives.
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Produced, Filmed, and Edited by Jacob Foko
Blair Rush, a 42-year-old single mother from Montgomery County, Maryland joined the occupiers at Freedom Plaza and has been struggling since they were forced off the site. Rush was an assistant teacher at a day care center in Maryland who lived with her mother. After a bad car accident, she lost her job and her mother died. Rush says she is upset by the way people are treated; every time she thinks about this her eyes fill with tears. “I have been fighting Social Security since 2001 and they keep denying me. Every time they deny me I go through another process. And the process takes two years. They still don’t want to give me my benefits.” Rush hopes that one day she will receive her benefits and have a home of her own again. “My doctor gave me all the paper work and Social Security still doesn’t want to give me my benefits. I worked for my benefits. I don’t want a hand out, all I want is a hand up.”