Dead Prez, Chuck D, KRS-One and South African Hip-Hop Artists Come Together
to Motivate South African Youth:
The inaugural Baobab Urban Youth Conference (BUCs) will take place on
December 9, 2005 in Cape Town, South Africa at Cape Town University of
Technology, District Six.
Project director, Shamiel Adams describes the conference as an ambitious
attempt to communicate and celebrate young people¹s roles in development
work and to involve them in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). ³Our aim is to mobilize youth, to tackle head-on the lack of
development info amongst young people." Dead Prez will be providing the
keynote address and Chuck D and KRS-One have both recorded video messages
specifically for the event to be aired during the event. South African
Hip-Hop artists Emile Jansen of the group Black Noise, DJ Ready D, the
BeatBanagaz, Embawula (Fire in the Mountain), and Nabunya (YFM DJ and poet)
are also amongst the speakers for the event. The event will mix youth
culture elements into a conference setting, to make the conference more
accessible to young participants. The conference will consist of speakers,
workshops, concrete action programs, film screenings, an awards ceremony for
youth involved in community development, and a closing party.
The main organizer for the event, Baobabconnections, brings young people
together to share information on corporate globalization and sustainable
development, so as to inspire, support and implement collaborative youth
action towards promoting and creating a sustainable, humane world. It
offers a much needed alternative platform for youth in a time when many
young people build their life-dreams on materialism, western pop music
culture, commercial mass-media and brand consumption. Managed in Cape Town
and Amsterdam, Baobabconnections sets out to broaden the perspective of
youth and encourage a culture of critical awareness, informed decision
making and life long learning. Their core activities are the publishing of
four online magazines and two competitions annually, and the Baobab Urban
Youth Conference every two years.
Shamiel Adams explains the importance of the conference, ³Combined with
certain aspects of globalization, the explosion of mass media and
information technology, have made it increasingly complex to reach young
people with alternate information. In urban cities, poor communities have
been frustrated, even driven toward crime by the growing access to product
advertising and the resultant demand. Ask any youngster about Apartheid,
global warming, gender issues or the Millennium development goals, and then
ask what cell-phone she/he wants. The disproportionate balance between
commercial and development info is worrying, and this goes across the
economic divide. The need to reach young people is urgent.²
A similar conference will be held in Amsterdam on December 17 with speakers
and performers who are based in Amsterdam. Both conferences (the one in
Cape Town and in Amsterdam) will host up to 1000 participating youth in each
city, as well as up to 100 presenters, facilitators and VIPs from various
sectors, including government, the development field, education and the
media. Adams explains that an important part of the initiative is to link
youth in the North and the South and to make a dynamic relationship between
youth in Africa and Holland, who can then work together towards meeting the
UN Millennium Development Goals. The conference will follow the same format
in both cities, although the themes dealt with will be region specific.
For more information, please visit www.baobabconnections.org
The BUCs approach to conferencing is innovative!
³We understand and respect the standard conference formula but we don¹t
believe it works optimally for young people. For this reason, we have
designed a program that we expect to revolutionize young people¹s
experiences of conferences,² says Shamiel Adams. "For Baobab balancing TALK
and ACTION is vital; youth often demand almost immediate returns. And, to
complete this innovative model we will interlock key youth-attractions in
media, music, and technology. In our experience this mix is a proven
formidable youth friendly package that is not just exciting and attractive
but also informative and educational (without being boring)²
to Motivate South African Youth:
The inaugural Baobab Urban Youth Conference (BUCs) will take place on
December 9, 2005 in Cape Town, South Africa at Cape Town University of
Technology, District Six.
Project director, Shamiel Adams describes the conference as an ambitious
attempt to communicate and celebrate young people¹s roles in development
work and to involve them in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). ³Our aim is to mobilize youth, to tackle head-on the lack of
development info amongst young people." Dead Prez will be providing the
keynote address and Chuck D and KRS-One have both recorded video messages
specifically for the event to be aired during the event. South African
Hip-Hop artists Emile Jansen of the group Black Noise, DJ Ready D, the
BeatBanagaz, Embawula (Fire in the Mountain), and Nabunya (YFM DJ and poet)
are also amongst the speakers for the event. The event will mix youth
culture elements into a conference setting, to make the conference more
accessible to young participants. The conference will consist of speakers,
workshops, concrete action programs, film screenings, an awards ceremony for
youth involved in community development, and a closing party.
The main organizer for the event, Baobabconnections, brings young people
together to share information on corporate globalization and sustainable
development, so as to inspire, support and implement collaborative youth
action towards promoting and creating a sustainable, humane world. It
offers a much needed alternative platform for youth in a time when many
young people build their life-dreams on materialism, western pop music
culture, commercial mass-media and brand consumption. Managed in Cape Town
and Amsterdam, Baobabconnections sets out to broaden the perspective of
youth and encourage a culture of critical awareness, informed decision
making and life long learning. Their core activities are the publishing of
four online magazines and two competitions annually, and the Baobab Urban
Youth Conference every two years.
Shamiel Adams explains the importance of the conference, ³Combined with
certain aspects of globalization, the explosion of mass media and
information technology, have made it increasingly complex to reach young
people with alternate information. In urban cities, poor communities have
been frustrated, even driven toward crime by the growing access to product
advertising and the resultant demand. Ask any youngster about Apartheid,
global warming, gender issues or the Millennium development goals, and then
ask what cell-phone she/he wants. The disproportionate balance between
commercial and development info is worrying, and this goes across the
economic divide. The need to reach young people is urgent.²
A similar conference will be held in Amsterdam on December 17 with speakers
and performers who are based in Amsterdam. Both conferences (the one in
Cape Town and in Amsterdam) will host up to 1000 participating youth in each
city, as well as up to 100 presenters, facilitators and VIPs from various
sectors, including government, the development field, education and the
media. Adams explains that an important part of the initiative is to link
youth in the North and the South and to make a dynamic relationship between
youth in Africa and Holland, who can then work together towards meeting the
UN Millennium Development Goals. The conference will follow the same format
in both cities, although the themes dealt with will be region specific.
For more information, please visit www.baobabconnections.org
The BUCs approach to conferencing is innovative!
³We understand and respect the standard conference formula but we don¹t
believe it works optimally for young people. For this reason, we have
designed a program that we expect to revolutionize young people¹s
experiences of conferences,² says Shamiel Adams. "For Baobab balancing TALK
and ACTION is vital; youth often demand almost immediate returns. And, to
complete this innovative model we will interlock key youth-attractions in
media, music, and technology. In our experience this mix is a proven
formidable youth friendly package that is not just exciting and attractive
but also informative and educational (without being boring)²
