Six first-year U of T students will soon be featured in a reality TV series quite unlike The Lofters or Survivor. Called Activist TV, the six part series began airing on TVO in early October, and while the name may inspire images of street protests, much of the show is about students’ efforts to educate others about neglected diseases.
“A lot of television programming doesn’t capture this university age group and producing this was an intriguing level of idealism. This is not your ordinary mundane, superficial show. I feel that this series is high-minded and there’s a point to it,” said producer Michael Downie.
“This allowed [the students] to become acclimated with civil action without the protest element.”
Sarah Mohan, Chris Hendricks, Momo Nomura, Avi Denburg, Andrea Kosavic and Graeme Bunton were given a limited budget, office space and a time frame of three months to choose an issue/area of interest in global politics, spread the word to the masses and try and make it in the world of activism.
Their group, Focus on Neglected Diseases, aimed to lobby the Canadian government to bring the issue to the G8 superpowers, asking them to broaden their definition of priority diseases.
Diseases such as leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis, which are prevalent in developing countries and kill millions each year, are unknown in Canada and ignored by pharmaceutical companies.
“My main motive for this was to convert people from spectators to activists, to become more interested and informed, to have a say at a global level since this area is monopolized by the elites of society. I want citizens to be in on the game,” said U of T professor Ronald J. Deibert, who organized the program.
