Poet from Palestine and journalism students from Guyana

"Dem is a whole set of terrorist, she might not be one, I do my research" one man said.  Two students clapped at the end. Other students who nodded approval.

A journalist sent a video of Palestinian poet Rafeef Ziadah performing 'We teach life, sir'.  I had told the journalist that I am not too big on poems, and she sent this to convince me otherwise.



The poem is a response to a question from a journalist. I had a brainwave to use the video to in the Online Journalism class . I lecture the practical components, another lecturer deals with the theory.  I mark the assignment which requires understanding some journalism concepts.



I was nervous about the poem thing , it is Friday afternoon and the students could be like.. yes sir, the poem nice bad.


I asked the students - What does this say to you as journalists? What is the poet asking? How would you respond?

The responses came in . I felt a bit lightheaded. We talked about  the need to change the perception of violent place ('just like how Africa is portrayed'). They disagreed with the comment from the first student about 'dem is terrorist'
One student talked about the danger of a single story.
Another said if she was there, she would be interviewing individuals rather than talk about numbers. Another said that it was a plea, nothing is being done.. all talk and no action, people are still dying.

One student said she would interview the terrorists. We started talking about the word terrorist and who is and who isn't . One said .. 'Benschop used to be considered a terrorist'..
This opened up some thoughts on bias.

I think the point was made that journalism was telling stories of people, and getting multiple perspectives. The students have to do assignments on themes of their own choosing.

The man was still skeptical though, his ideas were formed though he accepted that the sources of knowledge about 'dem is terrorist' could be explored further' "They don't come to the table " he said.

I did not know enough about Palestine to argue. Guyana is mad enough.


I am not too big on either poetry or journalism. I felt good today though, that I managed to find a way to connect the two.