Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
U.N. Urges France To Address Racism In Police Force; Putin Launches Charm Offensive After Prigozhin's Mutiny; Brazil's Bolsonaro Barred From Office For 8 Years; Apple Becomes First Company Worth $3 Trillion; African Voices Changemakers. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired July 01, 2023 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:29]
ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to all of our viewers watching from around the world. I'm Anna Coren, live in Hong Kong. Ahead on CNN Newsroom, in France, hundreds have been arrested after another night of chaotic protests. This ahead of the funeral, the teenager whose death at the hands of police sparked this public outbreak.
Plus, Ukraine's intelligence chief claims that Russia intends to assassinate exiled mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. A live report ahead.
And Apple is now worth a record breaking $3 trillion. What's behind the tech company's massive market cap?
France has gone through a fourth night of chaotic protests that were sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old boy. Authorities say they detained more than 400 people who showed up to rally Friday night, despite a ban on large gatherings. More than 4,500 officers were mobilized to try to contain the unrest.
In several cities, police pushed back protesters who threw fireworks and burned property in the middle of the street. Officials are condemning the chaos, saying it will not bring justice to the dead boy. In the day ahead, the teenager named Nahel, will be honored at a funeral in Paris.
Well, the shooting has revived a heated debate in France about discrimination in policing. And now the U.N. is urging the country to address the issue. CNN's Paris correspondent Melissa Bell has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another night of anger on the streets of France. The name of 17-year-old, Nahel, killed by a policeman on Tuesday now a rallying cry. The debate around race in France is a difficult one to have. DANIELE OBONO, FRENCH MP: The problem is on the political side. There's still reluctance to acknowledge this reality, its systemic impact.
BELL (voice-over): Within the protests, the names of other people whose deaths many linked to police violence over the years. Names like Adama, Bouna and Zyed. The French Foreign ministry denying allegations of systemic police racism or discrimination from the U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights.
By Thursday night, some 40,000 police, including elite SWAT teams, tried and largely failed to bring order to the streets.
MAME-FATOU NIANG, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY: These are the populations that are overwhelmingly black, brown, and the result of this colonization that are still being policed the same way colonial arrears were policed from Algeria to Senegal to Indochina, Vietnam, et cetera.
BELL (voice-over): As the eyes of France follow the fight for justice for Nahel, there is little sense so far that this is the country's George Floyd moment of reckoning.
OBONO: The government is still very unwilling to address it, so they will say it's one bad apple and one accident, but they don't want to see the biggest problem.
BELL (voice-over): France's leaders quick to call for calm and offer their sympathies to Nahel's family, but no mention of racism. Yet in the protests, the question has also become about what it means to be French and equal before the law.
NIANG: In America, once you're born in America of immigrant parents, you are first gen American. In France, you are born the fourth or fifth generation of your parents of immigrant origin. You are fifth generation immigrant, 6th generation immigrant.
BELL (voice-over): Frustrations and anger that for now show no signs of dying down.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: "The Washington Post" says Ukraine spelled out its timeline for winning the war to CIA Director William Burns. According to the paper, Ukrainian officials told Burns their country plans to retake Russian occupied territory and start ceasefire talks with Moscow by the end of the year. A U.S. official says Burns went to Ukraine recently. However, President Zelenskyy said Ukraine's counter offensive is off to a slower start than expected. Multiple Western military officials echoed that sentiment. The top U.S. General said on Friday, he doesn't expect an easy fight for Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[02:05:14]
GEN. MIKE MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: It's going slower than people had predicted, doesn't surprise me at all. I had said that this offensive, which is going by the way, it is advancing steadily. It's going to be very difficult. It's going to be very long. And it's going to be very, very bloody. And no one should have any illusions about any of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: General Mike Milley speaking there. Well, Vladimir Putin appears to be on a charm offensive following the mutiny by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. The Russian president is suddenly appearing in public, making sure to stay on his military's good side and seemingly trying to assert his authority. Matthew Chance explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Near the front lines, a tattered looking Russian army unit is grilled on camera about their treatment. Are you offended or used as cannon fodder? The commander asks. No, is the response. We are well trained and well fed, the commander insists. All this talk of mistreatment is nonsense.
A week after an aborted uprising in Russia, amid complaints the Ukraine war is being mishandled, keeping the military happy is suddenly a priority. Already, President Putin has thanked Russian troops for not taking the rebel Wagner side. You prevented a civil war, he told them. Now he's giving them a 10.5 percent pay rise. Little thank you, perhaps, for keeping him in power.
There are new uniforms, too. A summer outfit, says a soldier on the Defense Ministry video. Even new summer boots for the front line. We all like it, the soldier says. It's very comfortable.
But Putin's own comfort levels are in question. With the Russian leader cheek by jowl with a jubilant crowd in Dagestan in southern Russia this week, perhaps an attempt to reconnect amid concerns he's grown too distant, shaking off memories of his strangely elongated table.
The serious challenge to his authority this week appears to have drawn out a new side of Russia's leader. And his loyal deputies insist the country's stability is not in question.
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Russia has always overcome its problems and come out stronger and stronger. It will be the same this time, too. Moreover, we feel that this process has already begun.
CHANCE (voice-over): Problems like Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner leader last seen leaving the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don after aborting his rebellion. He's meant to be exiled in Belarus, but so far there's been no verification he or his fighters are actually there, although recent satellite images show a disused military base in Belarus where rows of tents have suddenly appeared, preparation, perhaps, for a new mercenary base.
Back in Russia, though, the head of Prigozhin's nationalist media group, Patriot, has announced the propaganda outlet and troll factory is shutting down, effective immediately. As the Kremlin rapidly withdraws its support from Prigozhin, his vast Russian business empire is no longer in fashion.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, Ukraine's intelligence chief claims Prigozhin is a marked man with an order given to assassinate him. For more, Clare Sebastian joins us from London. Clare, good to see you. Tell us, what proof does he have?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He doesn't provide any information, Anna, to back up this intelligence assessment that he shared in an online interview. He simply says that an order has been given to the FSB to assassinate Prigozhin. He doesn't know if they'll be successful and he doesn't think it'll be fast.
Look, the facts, as Matthew pointed out, are that we have not seen any evidence that Prigozhin is in fact in Belarus, as the Belarusian President Lukashenka claimed on Tuesday. The second thing is that we know there is a very strong signal that the anger of President Putin towards Prigozhin has been mounting. He doesn't speak his name. That is a sure sign in sort of Kremlinology that he is, as you said, potentially marked man.
[02:10:00]
He did hint, Putin, did earlier this week about potential investigations into the financial dealings of the Concord Group Yevgeny Prigozhin's company. We know that he's now essentially been separated from his two trump cards, his mercenary and his media empire, the Kremlin having closed down the Patriot Media Group, which we believe was sort of the parent company of Prigozhin's troll factory that disinformation machine.
So all of this sort of adds up. I think the question is that if the Kremlin and the FSB have the knowledge and the means to assassinate Prigozhin, which they probably do, will they actually do it? Will they do it fast, as Budanov of the Ukrainian military intelligence chief suggest they maybe won't.
And I think, given the sort of strange way that the rebellion went down, how the Russian authorities reacted slowly. There is a question around whether they see it as in their interest of doing it, whether it could potentially backfire for them. Anna?
COREN: And Clare as we just reported CIA Director William Burns has been in Ukraine where he met with officials to explain their plans to end this war. What are you learning?
SEBASTIAN: Yes, so we're now learning from U.S. officials to CNN's Jim Sciutto that William Burns was in Ukraine recently they didn't specify when and met with President Zelenskyy, among other officials. "The Washington Post" had previously reported that this meeting took place earlier in June. So before the Prigozhin rebellion and that Zelenskyy shared and other officials shared that their plan was essentially to take enough territory in their counteroffensive operations to force Russia to the table by the end of the year to negotiate.
Now, we knew that this was a crucial year Zelenskyy has already sort of painted it as the, you know, that he doesn't really want the war to go on beyond 2023. So we knew that. I think we also know that in terms of the counter offensive, the U.S. has admitted that they see it as not having met expectations so far, but will continue to support Ukraine.
I think the success of Ukraine being able to do this obviously rests on that counter offensive. It rests on that continued supply of Western weapons. And we are now some ten days out from a crucial NATO summit as well, where we'll get a sense of the kind of security guarantees that the West is willing to provide Ukraine and if they're willing to advance that timeline towards NATO membership, all of that will play into whether Ukraine can in fact realize this plan.
COREN: Zelenskyy may not want it to go on beyond 2023, but as we heard from General Mark Milley, this is going to be a long, bloody war. Clare Sebastian, good to see you. Thank you for your reporting.
The U.S. Supreme Court ended its term on Friday with two highly controversial rulings that will have an immediate and far reaching impact on millions of Americans. By a six to three vote, President Biden's ambitious plan to wipe out hundreds of billions in student loan debt was struck down as unconstitutional.
The court's conservative supermajority decided that the Secretary of Education did not have the power to forgive those debts. Only Congress does. Well, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, the question here is not whether something should be done, it is who has the authority to do it.
Well, President Biden lashed out after the ruling came down, saying the justices misread the Constitution. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe the Court's decision to strike down my student debt relief program as a mistake, was wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you overstep your authority?
BIDEN: I think the court misinterpreted the Constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The court's other big ruling on Friday is widely seen as a major setback for gay and minority rights. The six-three majority ruled a Christian website designer in Colorado could legally deny her services to same sex couples because of her religious beliefs.
In the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, the First Amendment envisions the United States a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands. But gay rights activists have been extremely critical of Friday's ruling and warn it will only lead to greater discrimination on a much larger scale.
Well, now to a damning report on the chaotic end to America's longest war. The U.S. State Department's review of the pullout from Afghanistan says key shortcomings contributed to the swift Taliban takeover and frenzied evacuation scenes. It found fault with decisions made under President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump writing, during both administrations, there was insufficient senior level consideration of worst case scenarios and how quickly those might follow.
The report says the frantic evacuation effort was hindered by the lack of a clear person in charge and that clear decisions were not made ahead of time as to which Afghan allies would be airlifted out of the country.
[02:14:59]
Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro might have lost the last election by a razor thin margin, but he's going to have to wait quite a while to try to take back the the presidency. Why Brazil's highest court is barring him from running for office, next.
Plus, recent crackdowns on political opposition in India, raising questions about Prime Minister Modi's commitment to democracy. Those details when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will have to abandon any plans he may have had for a 2026 electoral comeback. The country's highest electoral court has barred him from running for political office for the next eight years. Julia Vargas Jones has the details.
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN JOURNALIST: Abuse of power and misuse of public media. Those are the two charges that got former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro an eight year ban in running for office. Five out of seven judges from Brazil's highest electoral court voted in favor of the ban, and the charges stemmed from a 2022 meeting with ambassadors.
Bolsonaro summoned over 40 ambassadors to meet with him back in 2022, just months before the presidential elections, when he himself was a candidate, and spread fake news misinformation about Brazil's voting systems. What he said in that meeting, the results of the 2022 elections might be compromised due to fraud. He said that voting machines changed voter's actual choices to his opponent in 2018, an election which he actually won.
He also said that Brazilian voting machines were not auditable. He said insinuated that electoral judicial authorities, the very same people that were now deciding over his own fate, were protecting terrorists. In this case, a hint at his then opponent, now president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Now, of course, the electoral courts have denied all of these claims, and in that meeting it was broadcast on Brazilian television. It was also broadcast on YouTube.
YouTube had to remove that stream, the live stream of the event, because it did not comply with its fake news policy. Today, as the judges were casting their votes, the presiding judge, Alexandre de Moraes, said that this would reaffirm our faith in democracy and the rule of law. He also said that Brazilian authorities are showing that they do not tolerate criminal extremism attacking the powers of the state and this information aimed to deceive voters.
They also said Bolsonaro's rhetoric was anti-democratic. But Bolsonaro himself, who was not present in court today, by the way, he actually said that he is going to appeal the decision of the court, saying that he did not attack Brazil's electoral system, he only showed its possible flaws. He will be appealing, and now the case might go to the Supreme Court.
[02:20:09]
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Sao Paulo.
COREN: Ethnic unrest in northeastern India is exposing a rift in the country's democratic ideals. The unrest is showing a rare image of instability in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. CNN's Vedika Sud reports from New Delhi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): A crowd gathered to welcome India's best known opposition leader met with tear gas in the country's northeast. Police on Thursday blocked Rahul Gandhi from visiting relief camps in Manipur, where fighting between ethnic groups has killed scores since May.
Security forces said it was too dangerous to allow the Congress party leader any further along the road. He later visited by helicopter. But Gandhi and his supporters say the Indian government halted his progress in the latest attempt to stifle the opposition. People in Manipur and across India will vote next year in the country's general election. Two-term Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his rule in BJP appear in an unassailable political position. And Gandhi, the would be challenger, is unlikely to be able to run.
In March, the Congress party leader was handed a two-year jail sentence for mocking Modi. A day later, under Indian laws, he was disqualified as member of parliament.
SHASHI THAROOR, CONGRESS PARTY MP: This was part of a very deliberate decision to silence the voice of a prominent opposition leader. That can't be good for democracy.
SUD (voice-over): The BJP enjoys a massive majority in Indian parliament, where Modi now has no formidable challenger. Despite that, his government has been widely criticized for its increasingly strident brand of Hindu nationalist politics and crackdown on dissent.
ARATHI JERATH, VETERAN JOURNALIST: Today, I think the acceleration that we're seeing in the erosion of democracy, that scale, that sweep is unprecedented. We have not seen it before.
SUD (voice-over): The BJP insists democracy prevails India, and Modi's political rivals are just nervous ahead of next year's vote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're trying to create this narrative that democracy is dead and everything is wrong in this country.
SUD (voice-over): Modi's political dominance at home is matched only by his popularity with world leaders. But a lavish trip to the United States this month turned the spotlight on the state of democracy in the world's most populous nation. Narendra Modi rarely takes questions from journalists. Opposite Biden in Washington, he didn't get a soft one.
SABRINA SIDDIQUI, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: What steps are you and your government willing to take to improve the rights of Muslims and other minorities in your country and to uphold free speech?
SUD (voice-over): Modi answered the question. But later, Wall Street journal reporter Sabrina Siddiqui was hit with online abuse. Abuse so ugly it had to be condemned by the White House.
JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESMAN: That's completely unacceptable. It's antithetical to the very principles of democracy.
SUD (voice-over): Globally, Modi has taken every opportunity to project India as a beacon of democracy. But these very claims are coming under increasing scrutiny at home and abroad.
Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Apple soars past its tech rivals to reach a market value milestone. We'll tell you the staggering amount the company is now worth after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:25:26]
COREN: Welcome back. Well, Apple is the world's first company worth $3 trillion. It soared past its tech rivals to close at that historic level on Friday. Rahel Solomon has more from New York.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Apple is in a league of its own, at least according to investors. The company's worth in Friday's session opening at $3 trillion. Yes, trillion. It's the only company to reach that milestone. The tech company has 15.7 billion shares outstanding, and when its shares cross 190.73, its total value amounts to $3 trillion.
Now, Apple has been here before it first hit, but failed to close at the milestone in January of 2022. But then the company ran into issues like China supply chain challenges and also a softer macro environment. But if 2022 is remembered by the tech wreck, when tech shares tumbled and the NASDAQ was lower by more than 30 percent, well, 2023 has ushered in a very different picture for tech. The NASDAQ is up 31 percent this year.
U.S. based chipmaker Nvidia is up 181 percent. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is up 137 percent. And Apple stock is up almost 46 percent this year. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives writing in a note Friday that Apple breaking the $3 trillion market cap level was a, quote, historic moment for tech.
So, what's behind the rally in tech? Well, part of it is the artificial intelligence frenzy that's largely been driving the performance of critical chip makers like Nvidia. But another part of this is growing confidence in the U.S. economy. And that's despite more than a year of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve and inflation that at one point was at 40 year highs.
Friday marks the last trading day of the first half of 2023. And according to Bespoke Investment Group, it also marks the third best first half to a year in the NASDAQ's history.
Rahel Solomon, CNN, New York.
COREN: Well, thanks so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren from Hong Kong. African Voices Change Makers is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:30:34]
LARRY MADOWO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to African Voices. I'm Larry Madowo. Because everyone is a smartphone these days, we all feel like we're photographers, right? You take a snap, filter, social media. But I'm going to introduce you to some real photo experts who are doing change making work.
Paul Nypson is preserving African culture by opening what's been called the largest photo library in the continent. But first, I'll introduce you to wildlife photographer Antony Ochieng. He shows us how he's using his camera to train the next generation of conservation warriors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTONY OCHIENG ONYANGO, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION PHOTOGRAPHER: Reflection of the water on the birds is so beautiful. There we go. There we go. Nice. Nice. Just freezing the moment where the birds are actually flying off the wetland and you can see the water droplets on their feet. Tony Wild is not only about creating awareness, but it goes ahead and uses visuals to push for individual conservation action and philanthropy among not only scientists, but also people who are not necessarily part and possible of conservation space. I create images to inspire conservation actions. I am Antony Ochieng. And I am a change maker.
MADOWO (voice-over): Wildlife ecologist, conservation photographer and filmmaker Antony Ochieng funded the media platform Tony Wild in 2016. Since then, his work has received global recognition from organizations including the World Wildlife Fund and the International League of Conservation Photographers.
ONYANGO: Tony Wild is a foundation that mainly focuses on using visuals to share stories about conservation. And the profits we receive when we work with the different conservation organizations goes back to two amazing projects the Visual Ecological Literacy Program and the Mitigation Project, which are mainly focused on inspiring young people into conservation.
MADOWO (voice-over): Today, the Tony Wild team is traveling from Nairobi, Kenya, to Rusinga Island on the shores of Lake Victoria.
ONYANGO: We are in Rusinga Island, where I call home that we are one of the my favorite spots where I used to come as a young person. My work allows me to travel in various places and just coming back to Rusinga allows me to reconnect with my own people and also just appreciate the beautiful sunsets and sunrise that are so epic. I admire every single day that I am in Rusinga.
When I used to grow up, there's a book that was about birds of Rusinga. So I had a pocket book that I used to come with and will actually try identify the birds I've seen here at the lake. Rusinga combined with the bit of the mainland, has a total of 119 bird species and I'm pretty sure I've actually seen all of them.
I found peace in birds because they enable me to understand nature more with the way they move around. Birds don't have any boundaries, and when you talk about birds, trees come into play. When you talk about trees, water comes into play. When you talk about water, livelihoods come into play. That connection builds that whole ecosystem.
Think about it deeper.
MADOWO (voice-over): The photographer and filmmaker is also a committed environmental educator.
ONYANGO: Welcome to Kamasengre Secondary School. This is a place where I actually taught a while back. And I'm really excited today to come back to teach about ecology, but then using visuals and pictures and still motions to talk about environmental stuff.
I'm so passionate about working with young people, especially environmental conservation space, because I believe they have a role to play and they can be the best people to actually change whatever is happening right now to the planet. And I'm going to teach you something different about how you and the tree related with each other.
We need to share with them more information and we need to use different avenues to be able to just get their attention that this particular ecosystems or habitat or species belongs to you to protect, act not only for yourself but also for the future generations.
[02:35:04]
Every morning they try to come this way.
MADOWO (voice-over): Today's curriculum includes screening an original Tony Wild film production, planting trees and receiving hands on photography training.
ONYANGO: It's not just about me sharing what I know, but allowing them to be able to express themselves in their own way using photography. And that is my favorite part of working with kids. We need to speak their language. We can able to get into their hearts to take action in conservation.
See, the frame is just here and even if you look through the viewfinder, like right now, I can see the same concept of the frame. What I love being a photographer the most is just seeing people just getting back to me and saying, the image you took made me realize that I need to do something.
MADOWO (voice-over): Anthony says he discovered his passion for nature conservation on an early childhood trip to one of Kenya's national parks.
ONYANGO: One of the things that I had a privilege to do was being taken to Nairobi National Park with the school I was in. It took me into a journey of just realizing how beautiful nature is. And this made me more involved in environmental activities in primary school where I led students in planting trees. And this is way back in the 90s.
And then when I went to high school, we did a lot like restoring the landscape, planting trees. But then lucky enough, I was selected to do a Divine Wildlife Management. And straight on it was like, that is the best thing I've ever done to my life today. That journey just grew from one assignment to the other, where I got to work with different conservation organizations. And I was so happy to just be able to pursue that dream.
MADOWO (voice-over): Through the Tony Wild Visual Ecological Literacy program, Anthony and his team are helping a new generation of young people to learn about the environment and engage in conservation efforts as they pursue their dreams.
ONYANGO: Now, please take a picture. Let's see you taking a picture of that bird. So we are currently in Ruma National Park, which is in the western part of Kenya, and we are here to share with the students the beauty of the park and teach them about giraffes, rhinos, roan, antelopes, which are actually remaining in this particular park alone in the whole country. My hope is for the students to just be able to appreciate what they currently have within the ecosystem.
MADOWO (voice-over): Next, Anthony makes a professional leap from wildlife ecologist to conservation photographer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ONYANGO: It takes time to create a powerful image.
MADOWO (voice-over): Anthony Ochieng loves working in nature conservation and says he wants to share his work with the broader public through photography.
[02:40:09]
ONYANGO: I realized that were not really telling our stories. We were doing a lot of work with communities, amazing work with different habitats and species, but then we're not telling these stories to the people who need to listen to them, telling these stories to amongst ourselves as peers, but you're not removing that science and putting it in a multimedia perspective that any other person can understand it communicating to another group of people who not necessarily do not have a science background in conservation, but have a role to play in protecting conservation and protecting environment as a whole.
MADOWO (voice-over): Anthony says he used his savings to invest in a photography course before he could afford to buy a professional camera.
ONYANGO: I can remember I went to like four classes without a camera. Like, I literally went to the class without a camera. I just sat to just listen to what exactly am I getting myself into. I took my savings, put them together and then went, bought my first camera. Trust me, that is the best day I can recall of my life in this particular career. I was like, yes, now I can shoot my birds with peace and just bring them closer to me. I can remember that night actually slept next to my camera because it was so valuable. I was like, this is all my savings in just this small little leakless equipment.
MADOWO (voice-over): As Anthony immersed himself in conservation photography in Kenya, he was surprised to find the industries dominated by photographers from the west.
ONYANGO: I'm pretty sure there's somebody from our end who can actually do it. We as Africans have the role to play in supporting conservation. So my images allowed me to really break those barriers. And once people knew it was actually somebody from their own space, it inspired other people to actually start appreciating the value of believing in themselves. That is something I'm happy about because it allowed me to just show people that it's possible. Regardless of whatever background you come from, you have a chance to pursue any particular passion you want.
MADOWO (voice-over): After a day with students, Antony is heading out to the ranger in hope of photographing the elusive roan antelope.
ONYANGO: So roan antelopes are actually only found in Ruma National Park in Kenya. At the moment, there are only 15 Kenyan roan antelopes that are remaining. I've been coming to this park like almost several times in the year, but I've never had a chance to just be closer enough to get a nice image of roan antelope. And today was that just day, thanks to Chris, who just made me get one awesome image of roan antelope.
So roan antelopes are very, very shy animals and they tend to be far away from people. They can see from farther distance that you're coming, and they can just hide away and that's why it's really difficult to photograph them. So getting a chance to just have an image of roan antelope for me is amazing because I can now use it to share more about the roan antelope's story. I'm so happy. Like, I'm so excited that I finally got an image of the roan antelope that I've been really craving to just get that particular image. So I'm really happy about it.
I'm going to sleep as a happy man, it was roan antelope. And not just do a series of, oh, nice. This is my favorite. The legwork is -- it made my day.
What I love most about my work is just holding that camera and just getting out there and shooting. So the camera allows me to express myself through my images.
MADOWO (voice-over): Through his photography, Anthony hopes to help protect Africa's wildlife and inspire others to do the same.
ONYANGO: Conservation is for all of us. It doesn't have to be in a park to protect it. No. The wildlife next to you, the trees, the birds, the insects have that environment around you and just protect it. And that for me is so amazing. And so I'm looking at Tony Wild growing into be an institution that does not only provide conservation visuals to retelling services to conservation organizations, but also supporting environmental education with visuals and philosophy across every habitat and ecosystem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:45:52]
MADOWO: Ghanaian photographer Paul Ninson's passion for his arts took him to the other side of the world, where he developed his mission to support fellow African storytellers. We'll hear about his journey to create a space for innovation and exploration in visual art.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL NINSON, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DIKAN CENTER: I'm building an ecosystem. I'm not just building a library or a facility, you know. There's no difference between building the facility and then building people. I've created a space for visual education to inspire and to impact. I'm Paul Ninson, a photographer and a curator in Ghana. And I'm a changemaker.
MADOWO (voice-over): Photographer Paul Ninson is a founder and executive director of what he says is Africa's biggest photo library, Dikan center in Accra, Ghana.
NINSON: Dikan Center, by name, means take the lead in our local dollar tree as an organization. Dikan Center is a visual education institution with the aim to advance visual culture and solve problems in Africa through visuals. I didn't want to remain just a photographer or a filmmaker, I wanted to be more. You have to be an artist. You have to be a problem solver.
MADOWO (voice-over): Paul says listening to stories from his grandparents sparked his creativity when he was growing up in Kumasi in Southern Ghana.
NINSON: I did visual art in senior high school, and I studied textiles, actually in university. That's when I found photography. We're going to go to Blackstar Square Park to get shot.
Ready? OK. I'm going around photographing people, random people, getting to know their story, would you be interested in? OK. OK.
MADOWO (voice-over): A self-taught photographer, Paul says the journey got off to a rocky start.
NINSON: A few people, you know, here and there, encouraged, but they didn't see a vision, a future in photography. I was always watching YouTube tutorials. It was like a Ph.D. course for me. So when I had the chance to buy a camera, sold my iPhone, bought the camera, it was all in. Wherever I was trying to get to, there was always these gatekeepers were preventing. It was 100 percent out of frustration. Then I decided to go to school, apply for schools in U.S.
My going to school in New York was just 100 percent grace. I gained partial scholarship to majority of the schools. But then if you ask me for $30,000, right? But then I met a wonderful brother, friend now who helped me, who was Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York.
MADOWO (voice-over): Stanton, the founder of the popular Humans of New York platform, met Paul in Ghana in 2018 and sponsored his application to attend the International Center of Photography in New York in 2019.
NINSON: Working with Brandon was one of the best experience of my life and it will always be assisting such a person is such a privilege and it was such a learning curve. He made me realize that at the end of the day, it's a human being who is important.
MADOWO (voice-over): While in New York, Paul had an idea.
NINSON: Whilst I was in school, I saw so much resources about Africa, which was never available in Ghana, that sparked the need to start something like Dikan. So my simple goal was buy photo books and ship them to Ghana. The idea and the vision grew stage by stage. And now we are actually a visual education institution. It's not just a photo library, but we have the Gallery, which is the first photo gallery in Ghana.
MADOWO (voice-over): Stanton and Humans of New York raised more than million dollars to help Paul see his dream come true.
[02:50:03]
NINSON: It was a struggle for me because it was a struggle between my personal preference versus the greater of good of Dikan. Brandon never tells stories with the intent of raising money, right. He tells the story itself, and I'm grateful he did.
MADOWO (voice-over): Next, opening night of a special exhibition at Dikan.
(MUSIC)
NINSON: Welcome to Dikan Gallery. Let me show you around.
MADOWO (voice-over): Photographer Paul Ninson is putting the finishing touches on some images at the Dikan Gallery for a special evening.
NINSON: As the curator for the gallery, I'm always looking for ways and means to educate the public to bring the interest of visual culture, right? So the exhibition which is currently showing is about the independence of Ghana. So the title of this vision is 1957 Freedom and Justice.
MADOWO (voice-over): The center opened in December 2022, and Paul says it's been a steep learning curve.
NINSON: I was at that point just a photographer. And as a photographer, how do you lead the culture institution? To be a curator, to be the executive director, managing team, hiring, recruiting, and now these are challenges which I have to deal with.
Welcome to the story lab. Actually, this one of my favorite place.
MADOWO (voice-over): Paul says the possibilities excite him.
NINSON: I had a clear vision. When I got this property, I wanted Dikan to be a home of starting talent, a home to everybody. So that library, as is designed in a way of a home library. I have here the book. I had the privilege of working this book, and it's been one of my favorites. I knew that if I set up something like this, it will serve the community, it will build the ecosystem.
The reason why I named it Dikan was the fact that it wasn't about me, but creating a conscious effort that let's take the lead in solving problems in Africa, the creative industry. This is something we can all collectively do. And this is my portion. I'm taking the lead in solving a small portion of it and encourage others. Kids come here, you know, for our visual literacy program, and I think that in one day, they will say, I grew up close to Dikan and Dikan influenced my life, and that's what keep me going.
When I walk around, people approach me, and the joy and the comment, the encouragement, people asking questions, you know, using the resources, the sacrifice and all that hasn't really paid off. And I think that I'm always focused on those joy.
MADOWO (voice-over): The exhibition finally opens to a waiting crowd and their happy host.
NINSON: Hello. Can you lend your ears a little bit? Majority of us here today never experienced what it was to be under the British rule, right?
The day of the opening of Dikan was one of the best days of my life because I had everybody I cared about with me. Brandon, my friend Rosam (ph), my family, my parents were all here. It was fulfilling, but I was tired. I've been on the road for eight months, 10 months of renovating these two big buildings, building structures, building systems. And that day was the day was like, it worth it.
I created this as vision to showcase, right, what freedom meant and to bring people's consciousness to what it tastes like today to be free.
MADOWO (voice-over): Running Dikan is demanding that Paul still makes time for his own creative pursuits.
[02:55:00]
NINSON: Being the executive director here, I don't give up my photography practice, so my practice of going out is to know people, you know, photograph them for who they are and their story. For me, photography saved me right, from a lot of things, and it became my heaven. So him, the connection is like the heart also is this life and it saved him so.
We met Stephen (ph) by the beach. Stephen (ph) and I are not different people, and to have that connection through my camera and through interacting with him was something beautiful.
MADOWO (voice-over): He has some big goals for himself and Dikan.
NINSON: Personal projects is key to being successful creative. I want to do projects which I truly believe in. When I'm doing these personal projects, it's also looking at how do I solve problems? If I say problems, right, we have narrative problems, how we've been depicted over and over again, how do I use my personal project to even educate people?
The cannon is constantly evolving. The vision is big. You know, currently, we are looking to raise about $6 million for the building itself, for capacity building, and also for programming internally. We're going to have workshops, purposely for women only, you know. And at the end of the day, they can produce a body of work which can be screened. I want to be remembered as somebody who created the path for many other things to follow through. And Dikan will be a living example of what it is to think about Africa, to think about how we can take care of each other on this continent. And I want more Dikans across Africa. I really truly support other institutions with books and other things. And I truly want Dikan not the decant itself, but the idea of having such a space, of being a home of storyteller.
So this is the beginning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MADOWO: These photographers really know how to bring a picture to life. They have inspired me to step up my picture game. Be sure to keep up with our exclusive content on our website. I'm Larry Madowo, and I'll see you next time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
