Towards Social Change: Democracy + Freedom = Civic Responsibility

Democracy + Freedom = Civic Responsibility

"We must instill a sense of duty in our children; every right implies a responsibility, every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty."

John D. Rockefeller jr.

Introduction:

In the past year the society has been struggling and protesting for democracy and freedom forgetting that both cannot be exercised without holding ourselves civically responsible. In order to practice democracy and freedom one must claim civic responsibility.

In this regard we are launching the Campaign "Democracy + Freedom = Civic Responsibility". The campaign includes a number of activities:

-        Seminars & discussions (with experts in the field – youth court judges)

-        Creation of Animation Movies with Children

-        Creation of Caricature stories for youth and children

-        Production of songs promoting the campaign

-        Production of short films promoting the campaign

Time Frame:

December 2011 to July 2012.

How to participate:

Instructions on how you can be effective and participate with us even if you are not an artist will be posted soon on our group.

الديمقراطية  + الحرية  = المسؤولية المدنية

"يجب علينا غرس الشعور بالواجب في أطفالنا؛ كل حق ينطوي على المسؤولية، كل فرصة تعني التزاما؛ وكل حيازة تعني واجب"

جون روكفلر

مقدمة :
في السنة الماضية كان المجتمع يناضل ويحتج من أجل الديمقراطية والحرية، ناسيًا أن الحرية والديمقراطية لا يمكن أن يتحقق بدون تفعيل المسئولية المدنية. من أجل ممارسة الديمقراطية والحرية يجب على المرء أن يدعم المسؤولية المدنية.

في هذا الصدد، فإننا نطلق حملة "الديمقراطية + الحرية = المسؤولية المدنية". وتشمل الحملة عددًا من الأنشطة :
 - ندوات ومناقشات مع الخبراء في هذا المجال) قضاة شباب).
 - عمل أفلام الرسوم المتحركة مع الأطفال
 - عمل قصص مصورة (كاريكاتير) للشباب والأطفال
 - إنتاج أغنيات لتعزيز الحملة
 - إنتاج أفلام قصيرة لتعزيز الحملة

الإطار الزمني:
ديسمبر 2011 إلى يوليو 2012

كيفية المشاركة:
وسيتم نشر تعليمات حول كيف يمكنك ان تكون فعالا وتشارك معنا حتى لو لم تكن فنانًا.

AGORA's response to the Current Situation

Democracy + Freedom = Civic Responsibility

Dear Friends of AGORA,

Egypt is passing through its hardest times and we are all in a state of questioning and uncertainty, maybe also hesitation and unwillingness to do anything. Most of us, if not all, do not understand the truth behind all the happenings. We are afraid to react, and feel guilty not to respond.

That is why we have chosen to respond in a way that doesn’t violate our mission and confirms our civic responsibility. Thus, we are pleased to announce the inception of AGORA’s campaign “Democracy + Freedom = Civic Responsibility” in the context of our 2020 program “Arts for social change”. Through this campaign we are going to use arts to spread awareness and highlight the significant link between the three principles; democracy, freedom and civic responsibility. We will also engage the audience in activities that endorses their civic participation, thus guarantees their civic responsibility.

You know all that AGORA’s field of work is Arts & Culture. And since culture is the outline of any human activity and the symbolic structure that give such activities significance and magnitude, we grant ourselves the permission to drag those three words “Democracy, Freedom, Civic Responsibility” under the title “Culture”. Now we are in the process of redrafting our future and revisiting our culture; to our children in some years this will be called “History”.

We kindly ask you to join hands with us in accelerating Egypt’s postponed recovery.

Yours Sincerely,

AGORA Arts & Culture

الديمقراطية + الحرية = المسؤولية المدنية

أصدقاء أجورا الأعزاء،

مصر تمر بأصعب الأوقات ونحن جميعًا في حالة من التساؤل والشك، وربما أيضا التردد وعدم الرغبة في القيام بأي شيء. معظمنا إن لم يكن كلنا، لا يفهمون الحقيقة وراء الأحداث كلها. نحن خائفون أن يكون لنا رد فعل معين، وفي نفس الوقت نشعر بالذنب لعدم للرد.

لذا، فلقد اخترنا أن نرد بطريقة لا تنتهك مُهمتنا وتؤكد مسؤوليتنا المدنية. وبالتالي، يسرنا أن نعلن عن بدء حملة أجورا "الديمقراطية + الحرية = المسؤولية المدنية" في سياق برنامج 2020 "الفنون من أجل التغيير الاجتماعي". من خلال هذه الحملة سوف نقوم باستخدام الفنون لنشر الوعي وتسليط الضوء على الارتباط الكبير بين المبادئ الثلاثة، والديموقراطية والحرية والمسؤولية المدنية. وسوف نشارك أيضا الجمهور في الأنشطة التي تؤيد مشاركتهم المدنية ، وبالتالي يضمن مسؤوليتهم المدنية.

تعلمون جميعًا أن مجال أجورا هو الفن والثقافة. وحيث أن الثقافة هي إطار أي نشاط بشري وبنيته الرمزية التي تعطيه أهمية وضخامة، لذا، فنحن نعطي أنفسنا الإذن لإدراج تلك الكلمات الثلاثة "الديمقراطية والحرية، والمسؤولية المدنية" تحت عنوان "الثقافة". نحن الآن في عملية إعادة صياغة مستقبلنا وإعادة النظر في ثقافتنا. بعد بضعة سنوات سوف يشير أطفالنا إلى هذه المرحلة على أنها "التاريخ".

نطلب منكم جميعًا أن نتكاتف معنًا لتسريع انتعاش مصر المؤجل.

وتفضلوا بقبول فائق التقدير ،

أجورا للفنون والثقافة

Start With Yourself Vol II - Guidelines

Start With Yourself Vol II

7 October, Stanley Beach, 1-10 pm

Guidelines

How to Get to the Beach:

There are two entrance gates to the Beach. The First one is located in the parking of 007 Café. The second one is located at the end of the tunnel which you use to pass the street. At the end of the tunnel you will find two exits one takes you directly to the beach and the other takes you up to the Street.

If you are going to come by taxi, we recommend using the Tunnel Entrance. Please refrain from crossing the street without Tunnel.

Entrance and Registration:

There will be a registration for all the attendees where they will fill in a small form with their names and contact information. This is for our statistics and for future use in other similar activities. Please make sure to fill in this form on the entrance door with our representative.

Crowd and Discipline:

If the number of attendees will be enormous that will result in a crown on the entrance doors. We will coordinate the order of the entrance by organizing lines. We are sure that you will help us and respect the lines in order to have a quick entrance and registration for the festival.

Whether and Precautions:  

In the morning the weather will be sunny (you can swim if you want). At night it will be slightly windy; thus a jacket is a must. Please make sure to wear something in your foot that you can walk with on sand. The stage will be on the Sand. The children activities and the Market will be on the Asphalt.

Cleanness and Values:

There will be a sufficient number of Rubbish Bins, we urge you to refrain from throwing the waste on the sand. Please find the nearest Rubbish Bin and throw the waste in it. We hope to leave the Place as clean as it was.

Food & Beverage:  

There will be some snacks, drinks and water sold in the Beach, however if you plan to spend with us the whole day, you can bring your lunch from outside.

Our Support Staff:

If you need anything you can go to one of our Registration Tables and our Staff will help you. You can also look for people wearing "Start with Yourself" T-shirts and Tags.

Your contribution and little gift:

We were not successful in convincing large organizations, Sponsors and decision makers with the importance of what we do, and that art can change the behavior of the individuals. So we were in front of two choices; both are difficult to implement. We had to either abandon our mission and cancel the festival only because we did not succeed in influencing the decision makers in large companies, or take responsibility and accept the challenge and make a decision of doing the festival with the support of the audience.

For this reason, we decided that there should be an optional contribution to cover the costs of the festival. After you make the registration you are free to contribute and take your little gift.

We Hope that you will spend with us a great day,

AGORA Family