The Voice Of The Future

By Camilla Stabell

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A co-production between London Broadcasting Company and Goldsmiths' College, University of London.

Since 1991 a special relationship has developed between Goldsmiths' College and London's leading independent talk station LBC 1152am in the development, production and transmission of special documentary projects. Goldsmiths' College is the leading UK institution teaching radio production and the history and practice of the radio documentary. At various times LBC 1152am has provided funding for documentary projects undertaken by undergraduate or Master of Arts students specialising in radio. Throughout this period LBC 1152am has supported Goldsmiths' College by broadcasting productions to a popular and significant audience. This is the case with 'The Voice Of The Future' by Camilla Stabell who graduated in Communications, specialising in radio. She studied radio documentary with tutor and professional programme maker Tim Crook throughout her final year. Previously she was tutored for level one and level two course by Monsieur Damien Chalaud who later became a programme director with Radio France.

The special relationship between the College and LBC 1152am has the effect of keeping the art of documentary alive in independent radio and celebrating its potential and application to all types of programming.

Goldsmiths' College has an international reputation for providing undergraduate and Master of Arts courses in practice media and is proud of its multi-cultural community of students. The students often include mature entrants and overseas professionals seeking to expand their knowledge of the theory and practice of media subjects.

Explication and cultural references by the Programme maker: Camilla Stabell

Introduction:

The idea of 'The Voice of the Future' has developed partly from ideas presented in the theory part of the Communication degree at Goldsmiths' College and partly from my own experiences as a foreigner in London. Things that I before took for granted or never even thought of questioning have achieved another meaning through these experiences. Particularly interesting is the question of ethnicity and cultural identity. I, being a Norwegian living in, to a large extent, white Norway, never really had to explore my own cultural identity. Multi-racial and multi-cultural London combined with the critical theories introduced in lectures took away the ground I was standing on and I found myself in a position together with probably most people in our 'postmodern' society, where I was searching for a self or an identity where I belonged. Through a creative documentary I have explored these issues of ethnicity and cultural identity.

A weakness in the Communication degree has been that the practical part and the theory part have had little or no connection with each other, but I will argue that this programme to a certain extent fuses the practical and the theory part together and shows that academic ideas can be communicated through media in a non-academic way without losing the meaning or message.

The Theme.

Identity is a vast area. There exist identities that you freely attach yourself to. Many young people have found an identity in subcultures by attaching themselves to a certain style of clothes, ornaments, and lifestyles. Then there are more fixed identities of race, colour, gender and sexuality which are harder to escape and often involve other people's opinions and judgments more than your own. The identity also varies in how you emphasise it. A black homosexual woman could emphasise the importance of her blackness, sexuality and gender differently, either as a general basis for her identity or varying in different circumstances. Identity becomes important because humans, as members of society, seem to have a need for classification to be able to have control and feel secure.

This radio programme explores the identity of culture and ethnicity, which involve issues like race, colour, origin, language, and a sense of belonging. The programme is based on London, where the multi-cultural and multi-coloured society is at its most intense compared with the rest of England. There are several historical reasons why the concept of English identity has become very complex. When black immigrants started to settle in Britain in the post-war period, English people were unable to cope with the fact that 'out there' had become 'over here' (Laura Young, Fear of the Dark, Routledge 1996). Combined with the end of the English Empire and England being a member of the EC, these changes meant that the traditionally superior white English identity had to face a new society. The search for a self and the need for belonging in this confusing society increased the need for a defined identity. This identity creation differentiated specially between race and colour and developed, in many cases, into racism. (Ideas originally presented in my examined essay for MC 340) Laura Young argues that the reason racism occurs is because 'the illusory sense of a superior, coherent identity needs constant reassurance of its fantasied supremacy and centrality'. (Laura Young, ibid.) In order not to create stereotypes and give everybody equal opportunities we need to find another identity creation that does not find its strength by discriminating against others.

Critical psychology (Ideas presented in Doctor Lisa Blackman's lecture series Psychology of Communication MC 202/203) problematises the notion of human nature. These theories argue that there exists no pre-given separate domain, that who we are is a product of signification. Thinking in this way can set the human free from the desire to find the truth, or the origin of their identity. Critical psychology sees how mainstream psychology sets parameters from which we understand ourselves. By their focus on otherness they have created an account on normality. Normalisation becomes a controlled system which creates a norm that distributes individuals. (Rabinow, P. (ed) The Foucault Reader, Penguin Books 1984) If, in the future, a new way of thinking about identity, is that it is not fixed and systemised, but rather that it is constructed through signs, (Rose, N. Governing The Soul, Routledge 1991) then I think we are on the way to a more accepting and tolerant society with room for different kinds of identities.

Hanif Kureishi's theme in most of his writing is ethnicity and cultural identity. A much noticed comment from the film 'My Beautiful Launderette' (1985) illustrates the point I want to make in this radio programme: 'I'm a professional businessman, not a professional Pakistani, and there is no question of race in the new enterprise culture'. (My Beautiful Launderette, written by Hanif Kureishi, directed by Stephen Frears, Channel 4, 1985) I see identity as a floating signifier, something we need, but not as something fixed or constant. As one of the interviewees says: 'I have many identities, it depends on which mood I'm in, who I'm with and under which circumstances I'm in'. The programme does not give any clear answers for how we can find these new identities, but is open for interpretations. But it does suggest that the ideal society is not one where everybody is the same, but that our differences could live side by side if we really wanted to. The author James Baldwin puts words to my thoughts in an answer he gives to the question 'who are you?' (Baldwin is talking about America, but I still think it is relevant for England): "I'm part of a totally incoherent people at the moment...I'm part of a country which has yet to discover who and what it is". (BBC Encounter series: Race, Hate, Sex and Colour, A Conversation.)

The Aim and its Audience.

The aim of the programme is not to give clear answers on what to do with the problem of culture and ethnicity. It rather explores differences and is trying to make the listener think. The fragmented style of the programme forces the listener to be active and put the different parts of the programme together. The aim is basically to start a thinking process and make people make up their own mind.

The way the programme brings out its message is through postmodern ideas. There exists no truth beyond the social domain. Postmodern thinking goes beyond what we take for granted to discover the limits. What it argues is that there is no human nature to discover (Kvale, S (ed) Psychology and Postmodernisms, Sage Publications Ltd 1994), and there the search for a specific identity is meaningless. Following these ideas the radio programme cannot give answers because they do not exist, but merely suggests for the listener new lines of thought; a new 'voice' for the future.

The programme is aimed at people between approximately 20 and 40 years old. If the audience is too young they may not be able to pick up the thoughts in the right way. I think you normally reach an age where you can begin to question yourself about 'who you are?' An older audience might not be able to follow some aspects of the style of the programme but overall the programme should be able to reach a general audience of all ages and backgrounds. It is also intended to be a very futuristic programme and is more aimed at the generation who are about to enter leading roles in and shape society. More important than age is the fact that the programme is aimed at people who have had experiences of a multi-racial and multi-cultural society. It is also aimed at those people, regardless of origin, culture and race who are searching for an identity and at the same time are living in a cosmopolitan society.

The Process of the Production.

Writing the poem was the first thing I did. What was in my mind was: 'How can I express what I want to say?' I did not want the poem to give all the answers or present the theme of the programme alone, and while writing it I had to think of how and in what way I wanted to combine the poem with other things. Writing a poem for radio also gave me the opportunity to create effects and meaning through voice, level of voice, sound effects, music etc. In the end I decided to go for a 'traditionally' read poem. What I mean by that is just a poem read in a straightforward way, no strange voices or reading technics. The poem is read by Bill Schwarz. His voice is deep and quite authoritative, which I think gave the right effect when communicating the message of the poem: the critic of the human kind.

The idea for doing the interviews came from my tutor and executive producer Tim Crook at a moment when I was stuck. I did not want a documentary style where I had to go out and interview people involved in race and ethnicity in an official context. It would not have fitted with the style of the programme I had in mind. But my material was too short and I was struggling to find a way to continue my work. Tim suggested a more 'human' touch to the programme. And I realised that it could work very well. The people I have met in London, with their diverse backgrounds and cultural identity, have had a massive impact on the ideas developed for this programme. The interviews made the message more powerful. The programme achieved a voice and 'face' which served as a kind of evidence of how complex the issue of identity is. I interviewed five people with different backgrounds: an English West Indian, a mixed European woman brought up in Japan, but going to American school, a Norwegian, a white middle class Englishman and a mixed race (Indian/English) woman. All interviewees are now based in London and all represent a different relationship to an English identity.

When finished with the poem and the interviews, I wanted to bring something light and humoristic to the programme. I did not want the programme to be depressing or too serious, but instead an experiment with taking a serious message and presenting it in a light and optimistic way. The idea of the story just popped into my mind while walking home from the studio one day and it turned out to be a kind of kid's story for adults - something like Richard Bach's 'Jonathan the Seagull'. Its childish style became a contrast to the more serious and mature poem. I wanted to read the story myself. I very much see myself as the human that met the two ants and the story describes how I personally experienced London. And I thought I would be the best person to express my own thoughts. It was interesting to experiment with voices and I was happy with the result.

The experimental style of the programme, combined with the mixing of several different sequences and sounds, also meant that I did not know if my idea was going to work at the end of the production process when I put together the different parts. I was taking the risk that the meaning would not be conveyed, that the programme would not make sense, and that the listener would not be able to make the necessary connections. I was also afraid that it was going to be too complex and too messy. But in the end the combination seemed to work and I think the programme became clear and understandable.

Style, Effects and the Technical Side Of The Programme.

The programme is in a creative documentary style. I had decided the theme that my project would cover and I wanted to combine that with the experience of writing. I also wanted to experiment with a 'postmodern' style. In using the term 'postmodern', I simply mean a fragmented style without boundaries; breaking the conventions of traditional radio. With a poem, a short story, interviews and sound (in the form of voices), I have, in this project, fused them together in trying to communicate my message with several fragmented hints where the listeners themselves must put together the messages and form their own interpretation.

The mixing of the programme was quite complex and would have been impossible to do without a computer. This was a new experience for me and worked very well for the programme. I wanted everything to flow, cross fade and overlap. The programme is built up of five parts: the poem, the story, the interviews, the music and the sound effects. These parts are again broken up into smaller pieces. Because all the sequences are different in style and type of voices, the listener should still be able to follow the poem, the story etc, because it is easy to identify the connections. The understanding of the poem would in this way happen on two levels: each part individually (i.e the listener should be able to remember the story, how one part ended and easily pick up on the continuation when the next part came up) and the combination of everything together.

The sound effects were mainly voices and recorded comments, and were used to create irony, sarcasm and criticism. The ending of the programme, the mix of folk music and different languages, illustrates how differences can become a mess; a chaos where nothing or no-one cooperates or compromises. The new voice that comes up is the 'voice of the future'. The different voices show that it is still a matter of different people, but this time the voices are synchronised and working together.

The recording of the different sections of the programme went smoothly. Bill Schwarz was recorded in the studio without much difficulty. He had read the poem beforehand and he did not need to change his voice or do anything complicated since I had selected him because his natural voice and way of speaking suited the part. The interviews were mainly recorded at home, in my room on professional portable recording units where I could relax and establish the right levels and where the interviewees could relax and talk freely. The story was also recorded at home on portable equipment. The sound may have been better in the studio and with a director who could have provided feedback on my performance. However, I was shy and uncomfortable with this new experience of telling my own story for radio listeners and I found that I was less self-conscious and more intimate in my approach within my own home environment.

Alternative Ways of Making The Programme.

My original idea was to use a traditional piece of English literature and read it in different ways. By reading it in different ways with accents (i.e. Caribbean) other than British and using music and sound effects this could 'colour' this 'white' literature piece and contrast it with contradictory sound effects (i.e. one scene could be a ball in a castle, but the sound effects would be from a native African festival). With this piece of well known literature, I wanted to explore the same issue of ethnicity and cultural identity by reading it in a different way as a kind of criticism to white English identity. I put this idea to one side partly because I wanted to write something myself and partly because it would be incredibly difficult to find the right story and effectively communicate the message in this way.

The type and style of the programme makes it possible to replace, add, and take out different parts of the programme and construct different juxtapositions and combinations of sound. I wanted, instead of the story, to use small drama sequences in between the poem. I wanted to have two or three short dramas that would act out the message in different ways. I wrote one which was placed in a classroom where the teacher wanted to make a play using one episode from our history and relate it to the present time. The classroom discussion would illustrate the difficulty of defining what is our history in a multi-cultural society. I was afraid that these drama sequences would make the programme too complex. The drama would mean maybe five or six voices and the simple, flowing style of the programme would have lost its clarity. A combination of parts that only consisted of one voice would allow me to play around more in the process of mixing. Single voices can much more easily be cross-faded and put on top of each other.

I also wrote a 'letter' which was going to be my voice asking questions to a kind of imaginary oracle i.e. 'Who made the decisions for the words to use, for the colour of the face masks? Who set the borders? Who shall I turn to to get my membership to join this society?'

The idea here was that the letter would ask the questions, the poem would give the answers and the drama would act it out, draw a picture for the listener. The reason why I chose not to use the letter idea was that the style of writing would be too similar to the poem. It would be difficult for the listener to separate the meaning of the poem from the letter and would have made the programme too flat and boring.

Another possibility was to use interviews and more official people. I thought of Bill Schwarz because of his lecture series called 'Media, Ethnicity and the Nation', which helped me develop my ideas for the programme.

Tim Crook also provided a wide foundation on the theory and vocabulary of radio documentary communication and references for European, American, and British cultural sources. The award-winning radio documentary producer at the BBC, Piers Plowright, also provided a half day workshop.

I could also have interviewed someone working with racial issues, an MP or a council representative in a district representing many different cultures and ethnicities and explore how the council sought to solve problems that arose in this multi-racial melting pot of community. The problem here would have been the need to introduce or identify the participants by title. The interviewees I used did not need an introduction. What they said stood in a continuous stream of consciousness flow of communication. If there had been official representatives it would have been important to inform the listener who they were and their direct relationship to the issues discussed in the programme. They would not have fitted well with the flowing style of the programme and there would have been the introduction of 'facts' in a programme which was otherwise about feelings and personal thoughts.

Conclusion: What I have learned and What has it contributed to?

I learned from this programme that there is no need to be scared of experimenting. This was my last year at the College and I thought: 'I don't know what is going to happen in the future. Maybe I will end up not even working in radio, so I really want to try something different this time.' Listening to other programmes similar in style also gave me inspiration. Furthermore, I realised how important it can be to start working on an idea early. The idea of 'The Voice of the Future' has worked in my mind for seven months, where it has changed and developed a lot through further thinking and reflection.

I hope this programme has contributed to the discussion of ethnicity and cultural identity, that it has presented some new ideas, or at least put old thoughts in a new context and in this way has created a new message. I know that it has made me think and understand more about myself and from responses I have had so far, the programme seems to have made people think and prompted them to discuss the theme presented.

Apart from the context of the programme, I also think the 'postmodern' style has contributed to the range of styles in radio programme making. It has extended some limits and challenged some traditions and I hope it has also shown that 'breaking the rules' and mixing different styles can still create a flowing, clear and understandable programme.

Programme Script.

Bill Schwarz: Can you hear the bells?

F/X Bells toll

Bill Schwarz: The bells are ringing. Our time is up. We invented the past, and haven't had time to invent the future.

Interviewee: My cultural identity? Ummm?

Slight overlap. Cross-faded deliberately.

Camilla Stabell: It was a completely normal Sunday. I really like Sundays, because on Sundays I'm always with peace in mind. It actually feels like the Day of Rest. The world kind of stops. Well, I know it doesn't. But that's how it feels. Where I come from, which is a lot smaller city than London, it's not even in England, there the Sunday mornings are very quiet. I often went for walks in the city centre and looked in the windows of all the closed shops. No-one bothered me, because there was hardly anyone around. And if it was, they seemed to be in the same state of mind as myself.

Slight overlap Cross faded deliberately.

But in London the atmosphere isn't really like that. All the shops are open, the tourist flow never stops, and the traffic never stills. So sometimes I get this claustrophobic feeling and need to get away from it all. So I walk up the hill from where I live, up to a little park, and sit down on a bench and just look at the view.

Longer overlap. Cross faded deliberately.

Well, so it was this particular Sunday where I felt this need for silence. I walked up to the park. I sat down on the bench and enjoyed the view. The view isn't anything special really. I was fed up watching it after a while. So I started to look around.

Similar overlap. Cross faded deliberately.

I look down at my feet. And then I discovered something that would make this completely normal Sunday into something very special. But I didn't know that yet, of course.

Fade up music.

Establish then bed.

Interviewee: At the moment I feel lost. I feel like I have lost some sense of culture and identity and history in growing up here and trying to fit in with what was expected of me.

Interviewee: English people aren't open-minded.

Repeated: English people aren't open-minded.

Music faded.

Bill Schwarz: Weak-willed we sit and wait, staring, but still now seeing far, The search for a self, created in the darkness of the soul, Using that that was different to establish the norm.

Cross-faded: Interviewee: Hahaha. Typical Englishman!

Repeated: (More breath at the beginning) Hahaha. Typical Englishman!

Bill Schwarz: We have created the borders. The borders of colour, the borders of culture, That is something we cannot forget.

Interviewee: I think the question of identity is largely a constructed one. Particularly I have noticed the Caribbean sort of identity here is largely false. It is largely a lot of people being brought up in London and not liking it and so they assume a different identity. And I don't think that is a racist comment because I do as well. I do the same sort of thing. Living in London I assume a much more northern accent. You know. With much more glottal stops and flat vowels. You know sort of saying Baaath. Instead of Bahth.

Cross-faded with another interview.

Interviewee: You know Italians wear white socks. Well they don't really care about other coloured socks. They just wear socks. So you know you just buy like a dozen socks. Just a few you know and that's ok and all this cotton socks you got loads but over here you can't wear white. It's like gay. One of the important things you learn about England. Don't wear white socks. White socks are uncool. And you just wear socks and like who cares you know. You don't even think about it. You know. It's not an issue really. Socks ha! But here white socks? No way man!

Cross fade with music and fade up and establish after interview.

Then cross fade with continuing story

Camilla Stabell: Down by my feet, were these two ants. They were fighting. Have you ever had a close look at an ant? Have you seen how they actually look like monsters? I was horrified myself. The one on the right seemed to be the strongest of the two and I felt sorry for the one on the left, he really didn't have his day. I tried to stop them by pushing a little straw in between. I shouldn't have done that! They both stopped and looked at me. 'What's the matter with you!' said the strong one. I wasn't really sure what to say. All I wanted to do was to stop this violence, more than that I hadn't thought through my action. 'I, ehh, I just didn't like to see you two beat each other up. I mean you seemed to be the winning part. Isn't it enough now. You proved your strength, haven't you?' Both ants looked at each other, and to my surprise, they started to giggle. The weak one, which I later found out was called Humphrey, said to the other one: 'I think she has something to learn, shall we take her to the camp?' And the other replied: 'Yeah, why not?' 'Come on, follow us !' So follow I did.

Slight overlap. Deliberate cross fade.

We walked into a little oasis of trees and bushes. It had never occurred to me all the things that were going on under there. Mr Sinclair, which the strong ant called himself, was leading the way. Underneath one of the bushes was the ants' home. I've seen an anthill before, but I must admit I've never been inside one. So a little bit anxious I was, the moment I entered the world of these species I knew so little about.

Slight overlap. Deliberate cross fade.

Inside there were thousands of ants. I felt dizzy. There were so many movements, so many ants, so much activity. I didn't know where to look. I tried to keep close to Humphrey and Mr Sinclair and I almost panicked when I for a moment couldn't distinguish them from all the other ants. But then Humphrey called my name (or he actually just called me 'Human' but it wasn't difficult to understand that he meant me.) He pointed at a little gateway at the back of the room. We walked in that direction. 'We are hard working creatures, as you can see.' Humphrey said while we were walking. 'Everybody has a job to do, and everybody does their job properly. If someone dies, his position is replaced immediately by someone else.'

'But sometimes there must be some lazy bastards' I said. 'I mean there are so many of you here. You can't even tell them apart. I'm sure someone is sneaking out without anyone even noticing.' 'Absolutely not', said Humphrey angrily. 'The way ants function are so different from humans. You can't even imagine it. You corrupted human!'

'Oh do you mind? I didn't come here along with you so that you could offend me. I can't help it...'

'Ok, ok', Humphrey interrupted., 'I'm sorry. Let me take you to the Queen. You will like her'. So we walked down to the gateway. Two ants stood in the gate and opened it as we approached.

Mr Sinclair was already inside the gate waiting for us. 'I've talked to the Queen', he said, 'and she is all ready to meet our human'. 'Come along!'.

Bill Schwarz: Why don't we lift our glasses to the celebration of the humankind. Proud soldiers we've become, power being the weapon for the creation of a self. Soldiers we become, that would keep the whole apple after taking one bite.

Interviewee: Do I have an identity? Haha! My identity is the..I don't know. Haha! I change every second. Every five minutes I go in a phone box. Haha! And put something else on. Hahahaha. And then fly away in disguise.

Sharp deliberate cut edit.

Interviewee: Before I went to school I didn't realise there was anything different about me. From other children. I'm from a mixed race background. My dad's Indian and my mum's English. I didn't notice anything different between them. I thought they were normal people and there was nothing different between them. And when I was sent to school I realised there was because I was bullied because I was different from the other children.

Cross fade. Menacing, mocking laugh.

Establish

Interviewee: I always have a problem when people ask me about my identity because I really don't feel that I have one. Because I come from a multi-national background. I really feel I don't have an identity.

Cross-fade overlap.

Interviewee: Ah...I have many identities. It depends on what day it is and what mood I am in. And who I am with and in what circumstances. I guess we adopt different identities. But then again the identity changes constantly doesn't it.

Slight cross-fade overlap.

Bill Schwarz: We've made the darkness even darker. We've polluted our minds. The patterns are set with punctuations, where it should instead have been question marks. Silence...Silence... there is nothing we can say. Generations before us designed the pattern, now it's us that must choose the path on which we will enter the future.

Cross faded with teenagers singing: All we want is some peace man. A place to find the common ground. And all I really want...

Cross-faded and bedded under and then faded. Interviewee: Ah ha Typical Englishman!

Bill Schwarz: What are we waiting for? Isn't everyone just waiting for each other? The evolution of the human race continues. The new born children, born in innocence. Will they also learn to save ourselves and damn them all, the rest, the masses of Others.

Young aggressive voice: Hey man! Don't you know where you're coming from?

Bill Schwarz: Let's stop for a minute and allow ourselves to think ideally. The beauty of the nature where the sun and the moon, although so different, could not have done it without the other. Or think of the human body, blood, bone, heart, veins and pulse. Difference in togetherness.

Slight overlap and cross fade.

Interviewee: The saddest part is that I came here to England when I was seven, came to England when I was seven, and the saddest part of my life is that I don't really remember a lot. And I often wonder why I don't. When I came here I had a very strong accent and at times even my parents didn't quite understand what I was saying. What with my accent combined with my age. And a lot of teachers and other pupils didn't. So I think I found myself trying to fit in, trying to make myself understood, and trying to be like the people around me. I think I was probably very lonely or homesick or maybe when I came over so in order to make friends and be accepted I tried very hard to be like the people around me. And maybe in some ways shut out where I had been or who I had been and tried to make myself what people around me wanted.

Cross fade with music. Establish for a few seconds and then cross fade with continuation of the story:

Camilla Stabell: The Queen's palace was extraordinary. You all now imagine a Disney-like palace with towers and pillars. But it wasn't like that. It was extraordinary in the sense that it was so different. It was built up with wood and straws and grass, put on top of each other and shaped like a round house, like a little miniature anthill inside the big one.

Cross fade and deliberate overlap.

And there, there was the Queen. She looked strong and powerful. I suddenly felt very nervous. I'm not good at talking to strangers, specially not to celebrities. But the Queen looked friendly and relaxed, and that calmed me down a bit. She lifted one of her legs and signalled to me to come closer.

Cross fade and deliberate overlap.

'Come here, my child! And I will tell you the story of humans and the ants.

Very far from here, very many years ago, one of the thousands of eggs developed into an ant, but unfortunately for him - he was a little bit different: he was born completely white! How do you cope with being white among all the normal black ants? The very rough nature of animals and insects are not welcoming differences too much. It's not evil, it's just instincts, the survival of the fittest. A white ant must be put on trial. Can he prove his strength? If so he is alright. If not, I'm afraid he has to die. All the preparations for the trial started. First he had to prove his ability to fertilise the queen's eggs. Next up was the removal of eggs in danger, followed by the pulling of building materials, collection of food etc. After passing all the tests the white ant had to face the last and most dangerous and difficult test: The fight with the strongest ant in the colony where only one of them was to survive. Everybody wanted to see the fight, so they had to do it outside. The two ants that were about to die or survive looked concentrated and tense. The fight started and the white ant didn't do very well. He was much younger than his companion and was fighting his very first fight, while the other one had fought hundreds of fights - and won. But nature has no mercy. The white ant was about to give up. He was lying on the ground just waiting for his superior to finish him off. Then something strange happened. Something came down from Heaven and crushed the winning ant into a little black spot. He was stone dead. Some humans had seen the fight and interfered. They had never seen a white ant before and after killing the normal ant, they picked up our white ant. Much later he managed to escape and late at night, completely exhausted, he returned to the anthill. I am afraid this was the last moment of our friend's life. He was killed immediately after his return. Why? He was the loser. It was him that was supposed to die by the law of nature. Being saved by humans was seen as cheating and did not prove his right to live. The humans wanted to save an ant, and ended up killing two.

Cross fade with menacing, mocking laughter.

Interviewee: It makes me feel lonely to not have an identity but on the other hand I think if there were more people like me around maybe there would be less, in some idealistic sense maybe there would be less wars if, if, if people knew that people are basically people and they become nationalistic and have all these, these sentiments of, of race and hate because of the culture that they, that they come from which use other cultures with suspicion.

Cross fade and overlap.

Interviewee: You have to have a strong identity of yourself because in the world in general or in England in general you will always get an identity of you being black and other people being white and even if it is not said, it is obvious when you walk into places that there is something different about you. So to balance that out you need to see how normal it is to be black by being around black people. By growing up in a family unit that is black and understands black history and black culture and gives you a stronger identity of yourself in the early years so that whatever you do, however you change it in later years you have that security, you are not trying to either escape from your blackness or hold on too tight to it.

Interviewee: It's important to have a base. And some kind of secure...yeah secure base. It's important for me. But it doesn't have to be a country. Um. But of course I think we all need some kind of security. It can be anything from a hand to hold. Or, I don't know a city, or friends. Or your flat.

Cross faded and overlap.

Interviewee: I would like to give you a quote from Stuart Hall which really describes my feelings towards my own ethnicity. (Breath.) Ok. It goes: 'People who belong to more than one world speak more than one language, inhabit more than one identity, have more than one home. Who have learnt to negotiate and translate between cultures and who, because they are the product of several interlocking histories and cultures have learnt to live with and indeed to speak from difference. They speak from the...

Cross faded and bedded under next interviewee.

Interviewee: Even when I was put on the plane to come over, I didn't really understand where I was going. I just remember my aunt saying it was a really cold place. So I had to wear pyjamas underneath my suit when I came over. But really I had no idea and no concept of what it was like going there.

Previous interviewee faded up from bed: ...untouched by other influences or provide a source of fixed identities to which they could ever fully return. They represent new kinds of identities, new ways of being someone in the late modern world.

Cross fade and slight overlap.

Camilla Stabell: The Queen sighed and said she was tired. She waved us out. I can assure you. I've never been more confused in my whole life. I turned to Humphrey.

He had a little smile on his face. 'So what do you think? Did you get it?'

'Get what?' I was furious now. What did they want? Why confuse me in this way?'

'Do you know what distinguishes humans from animals?' Humphrey asked. 'Feelings, emotions. It was the humans' interference that killed the white ant. Emotions do not belong to us. You did exactly the same today in trying to stop me and Mr Sinclair. Don't do it again!'

'But I don't understand. Why do you think we humans are so bad then for having these feelings? I mean, we try to take care of each other. Give everybody a chance, not just the strong and what you would call the normal ones. Everybody has the right to live with equal opportunities and the same respect'.

'Hah!' said Humphrey laughing contemptuously, 'Humans make me laugh. Ok. That's the theory. That's the way you like to think of yourself, but is it what you actually do? Is it? Is it? Is it?'

Cross fade and overlap.

Slowly I woke up. I was lying on the grass in the park. 'Humphrey! Mr Sinclair! Where are you?'

I heard a voice behind me: 'Are you alright, my dear?' An old woman looked at me rather strangely. 'Have you taken drugs?'

'No, no. Ehh, sorry, I'm alright. I just..' I ran off. This was far too embarrassing. Had I taken any drugs? Was it a dream?

Crossfade with music. Establish.

Interviewee: I think you can probably best tell English people when they go abroad, when they go on holiday. You can spot an English person a mile off. You know I'm sitting there on beach in Saint Tropez and I had a hat on with a shirt on. Laughing. And sunglasses and was trying to cover myself up as much as possible because I was going to get burnt and I did get burnt, but I was trying desperately not to get burnt and looked so English it was embarrassing. Big laugh.

Cross fade.

Interviewee: I think we're uncomfortable with differences so we try and be the same too much of the time.

Bill Schwarz: Yourself. Who we are. What the others are. Let's break the chain. Not anymore the king is dead, long live the king, but the past is dead, long live the present and the future. Does it all sound like a soppy cliché? Would it be better to write about hate and revenge? No, I'm bloody sick of it all. Today is the day where brightness is welcomed. You might not think the same, and tomorrow I might be in a different mood. But that's the whole message: difference in togetherness.

Montage and mixture of voices in different languages. Popular tunes in different languages.

Bill Schwarz: Can you hear the voice?

Montage of different voices saying: 'Tell me the voice of the future.'

Bill Schwarz: Have you now understood? That is the voice of the future!

The end.

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