Light Millennium E-Magazine Convenes A Global Community
(From Queens Chronicle, Thursday, March 25, 2004, Spring Guide, Page:26)
by Keach HAGEY
Queens Chronicle Reporter
From her home office in Richmond Hill, Bircan Unver, founder and editor of the quarterly e-magazine Light Millennium, tackles the big questions: Why can’t we feed everyone when there is more than enough food to go around? Why has the world’s wealth been distributed so unevenly for so long? And if everyone knows about these problems and still can’t stop them, then why are we here?
Her curiosity draws sympathizers from around the globe, who contribute essays, interviews, poems and photographs to the Internet publication.
Founded in 1999 and incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2001, the entirely volunteer-run site receives an average of 15,000 hits a day. “The original idea was to give people a chance to express themselves, to make people write, to make people think, to make them connect with each other,” Unver said.
The Internet has proved an invaluable tool for creating this connection, linking a core audience of Turks and Turkish-Americans to a global community of thinkers interested in peace, dialogue and international cooperation. Her contributors include a book editor living in Australia, a Buddhist businessman living in England, a poetess living in Seattle, a New York photographer and Stephen Kinzer, the first Istanbul bureau chief of the New York Times, now living in Chicago.
“What is especially interesting is that she publishes articles by people with great experience and provocative points of view,” Kinzer said. “Many private Web sites and blogs are filled with one person’s ramblings. Light Millennium is the opposite of that. It’s an increasingly sophisticated online magazine that provides insights that people won’t find in many other places.”
But Unver did not originally set out to make the Web her medium. The Turkish native moved to New York in 1990 to pursue a career in television production, after working as a freelance art journalist in Turkey for many years.
She took training courses at Queens Public Television, assisted a Turkish television producer and eventually began producing her own programs on art, culture and politics.
“At the beginning, I really thought that, if I learn this, that’s going to help me get a job, either here or in Turkey,” she said.
But on her 40th birthday, just after completing a master’s degree in media studies at the New School in May of 1999, she got a spark of inspiration and wrote a manifesto.
“I cannot stand this century most of the time and find the solution of thinking that I belong to a further century,” she wrote, in a document that became the foundation of the Third Millennium project, later renamed Light Millennium. “So let’s ignore the natural lifespan and continue our projects like we could live a thousand years.”
She took some HTML classes that summer, sent out an open invitation for contributions and published the first issue in August, in both Turkish and English.
Subsequent issues have focused on topics ranging from global hunger and nuclear war to science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and Turkish-Greek relations.
This last topic is of particular interest to Unver, whose early memories of the media’s manipulation of the ancient rivalry between Turkey and Greece provided her first lessons in media studies.
“Since my childhood, whenever the government had a problem, it always came up with the danger that the Greeks will have war with us. This was the government’s agenda, but it has never really been the people’s. Over the years, politics and media shape people’s minds, and they shape people’s lives,” she said.
Light Millennium is her attempt to fight fire with fire. Her submission guidelines are wide open, with the exception of “materials that promote partisan politics, war, the production of nuclear weapons” or discriminatory statements. One aspect of the Web site, www.turkishgreeksynergy.net, provides a platform for thinkers to weigh in on ways to improve Greek-Turkish relations.
Beginning in 2000, such positive messages also began to be incorporated in official statements of the Turkish government which led by Former Foreign Minister Ismail Cem who received Statesmen Awards of the Year among Former Greek Foreign Minister, also current President of PASOK, George Papandreou which was given by the East & West Institute in New York City on May 2, 2000.
On January 26, 2004 of this year, accepting an honorary doctorate from St. John’s University, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan who also conveys this approach further, stated: “If we cannot get along with our neighbor, we cannot have peace in the world.”
But Unver knows that victory will not be won with good words alone. Like any good New School McLuhanite, she has made sure that her revolution is as much of the medium as the message.
She learned while writing for prominent Turkish newspapers and magazines -including Sanathaber, dPaper and Euroturks.com- that the mainstream media’s dependence on advertising can often seriously compromise its content. As a result, Light Millennium is commercial-free.
“Advertisement shouldn’t be allowed to remove any ideas. That’s why I founded it as a non-profit,” she said.
This stance means Unver has her work cut out for her. Budget limitations ended the publication’s ability to translate articles several years ago, and its inability to pay for a salaried grant writer has hindered fundraising efforts for the moment.
Still, the organization has a committed board of eight members and an ever-growing network of supporters.
Photographer Julie Mardin contributes articles, photographs, design and editing, and has been a board member for several years. “It’s about contributing toward a peaceful future, and helping people find their voice,” she said.
Figen Bingül, a Turkish translator from Hartsdale, found the Web site last year and has become the organization’s secretary. “I really like that people can express what they feel clearly there,” she said.
Their goal is to publish the e-magazine monthly in as many as five different languages, and to continue the Light Millennium TV series, workshops and events.
Bircan ÜNVER’s biography:
Independent Television & Web Producer, Freelance Journalist & Founder of the Light Millennium, A Public Benefit Organization, Queens, New York
Web site: www.lightmillennium.org
E-mail: bircanunver@lightmillennium.org or contact@lightmillennium.org
– Experience:
Web Producer
- Since August 1999, The Light Millennium and Isik Binyili on-line publications
- Turkish & Greek Synergy global e-platform
Independent Video Producer, Director and Editor
- Since 1992, Queens Public Television, NY
More than 45 original television programs both in English and Turkish.
For Videography:
Freelance Correspondent
- 1999- Present; Turkish Times, SanatHaber.Net, dPaper, Euroturks.com, Portreler, Light Millennium, Isik Binyili,
- 1990-1993; NY Hurriyet Newspaper and Hurriyet-Gosteri Art Magazine
Freelance Correspondent/Art Journalist
- 1984-1990, For various publications in Istanbul, Turkey. Including; Nokta, Sanat Olayi, Soz, Kadin, Sanat Cevresi, Hurriyet-Gosteri magazines and Cumhuriyet Newspaper.
Bureau Chief Assistant
- 1976-1983, Former Istanbul Bank, at the headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey
– Education:
MA in Media Studies,
- 1999, New School University.
- Thesis project: “All Ideas / Freedom of Expression in Turkey.”, a video documentary.
BA in Fine Arts,
- 1988, Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul, Turkey
– Publication:
“En Kutsali Yaratmak” (To create is most sacred),
By Bircan Unver, Say Publishing Company, Istanbul, Turkey. Interviews with artists, commentary on art exhibitions, and essays, in Turkish.
–Accomplishments:
The Light Millennium, Inc., A Charitable – Public Benefit Organization
Created, designed and introduced The Light Millennium e-magazine in August 1999, and incorporated under The Light Millennium, Inc.; as an “alternative multi-media global platform” and “public interest/charitable” organization with the status# 501 (c) (3), effective on July 17, 2001 based in New York. So far, e-published 15th issue in English with global participations as The Light Millennium global e-platform and organized several events since 2000.
Turkish & Greek Synergy (English & Turkish) As a contribution for the Global Peace Movement.
Launched since October 2000. Published 2 issue in English and Turkish.
Isik Binyili
Launched since August 1999 within the Light Millennium web site as its Introductory issue. The First issue was published in January 2000. So far, e-published 9 issue in Turkish within the Light MIllennium’s web site.
The Light Millennium TV Series
Launched since January 2000, monthly, in English. Each program highlights an independent issue such as art, artist profiles, culture, freedom of speech and peace.
– Awards
Distingueshed Woman Award in New York
November 10, 2004
Daughters of Atatürk Organization, CA
First Place in “Ethnic” Category
– CAPA Video Festival, November 2004, Flushing, New York
“Crescent & Star”
First Place in “Visual Arts”
– CAPA Video Festival,
November 2004, Flushing, New York
Matisse & Picasso at the MoMA
Golden Web Award, 2001-2002
- “Excellence achieved in Web Design, Content and Creativity.”
“The Light Millennium Internet Magazine”
First Place in “Arts”
- 1998 NorthEast Video Festival
Special Jury Award
- 1999 Hometown Video Festival
“The Walls of the World”
Produced, directed, written and edited.
Based on Turkish artist Burhan DOGANÇAY’s photographic archive from walls of the World, in English.
– Finalist
- 1997 Hometown Video Festival - Erol AKYAVAS: The Mark of the East
- 1994 Hometown Video Festival - 20th Century Latin American Arts, MoMA (Based on the exhibition)
“Erol AKYAVAS”
Produced, directed, written, and edited.
“Erol Akyavas”, a narrative documentary, which profiles Turkish artist Erol Akyavas’s arts and his Easthern philosophy, in Turkish.
– Organized, produced/co-produced lectures, conferences, events, exhibitions, poetry events, reading nights, special screening & campaigns since 2000:
* “Development in the Turkish Novel Between 1970-80”, 3 Lectures by Adalet AGAOGLU, co-organized; Stevens Institute of Technology , Hoboken; Columbia University, NYC., and Toronto University, Canada
(In collaboration with Toronto Library of Ankara, Inc.) On May 4, 5 & 7, 2005.
* “Cultural Diversity, Removing Prejudices & Fostering Global Connectiveness; panel; concept and co-produced, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, May 4, 2005.
* Reflections From Sri Lanka & Tsunami” produced and presented at the Turkish House, NYC on May 2, 2005.
* “Turkish Medieval Humanist Mystic: Yunus Emre” by Prof. Talat Halman & Defne HALMAN, Actress; organized, Stevens Institute of Techonlogy in Hoboken, February 23, 2005
* “Rumi: Soaring to Ecstasy” A Presentation by Prof. Talat HALMAN & Defne HALMAN, Actress; organized, Turkish House, NYC, November 18, 2004.
* “Sakir Eczacibasi: Radical Departures”, Photography Exhibition; co-produced, Turkish Center Gallery, NYC, November 3-17, 2004 & December 11, 2004 in D.C., in conjunction with ATAA’s 25th Convention.
* ACIK SINIF - Okuma Aksamlari: Ahmet H. TANPINAR’in BES SEHIR kitabi, Türkçe, proje sahibi, 18 Ekim - 13 Aralik 2004; 8 hafta, Türk Evi, NYC. (Open Class – Reading Evenings, ‘FIVE CITIES’ by A.H.TANPINAR)
* “Journey in the Music World”, A Presentation by Arif MARDIN, organized, The Marmara Manhattan, NY, October 6, 2004.
* “When Peace Comes” A poetry project in English and Turkish created and organized in partipations with Ataturk Elementary School, Amity School and Pioneer Acedemy of Science.
* “The Fourth Emerging Power in the Middle East: Redefining the Turkish Media”; A Conference & Power Point Presentation by Nuri M. ÇOLAKOGLU; organized, incorporation with the Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, April 2, 2004.
* “Camera or Gun: How to produce your own television programs?” with guest speaker Clifford JACOBS, organized, February 25, 2004, NYC.
* “Crescent & Star” & “On Peace & Woman”; a special video screening, organized, December 16, 2003, NYC.
* “Timeless City Istanbul”, a watercolor exhibition by Omer MUZ; curator, November 4014, 2003, NYC
* “On Peace & Woman”, poetry reading event; organized April 24, 2003, Turkish Center, NY.
* 3rd Anniversary of The Light Millennium; presented & organized, NYC, April 5, 2003
* “To Many More Millennia Dear Nazim”, poetry reading event; organized, May 2 2002, Turkish Center, NY.
* “A Poetry Breeze Shores of Turkey”, poetry reading event; organized, May 2, 2001, Turkish Center, NY.
* 2nd Anniversary of The Light Millennium; presented & organized, NYC, April 6, 2002
* A Presentation of the Light Millennium Global Platfrom; presented, organized by ITSS, NYU, March 8, 2002
* “Women Days”; panelist, presented theme, “Alternative Media & Light Millennium”, Turkish Center, March 7, 2004, NY
* “Women Days”; panelist, presented theme,”The Essence of Internet and Public TV”, Turkish Center, March 3, 2001, NY.
* A Support Campaign For Fugen GÜLERTEKIN; organized; panel discussion & signature campaing, Turkish Center, March 17, 2001
* A Support Campaign For Fugen GÜLERTEKIN, Committee President for Federation of Turkish American Associations; organized a video screening and panel discussion, May 18, 2000, NYC
* A Video Presentation; produced and organized, May 4, 2000, Turkish Center, NYC.
* “On The Twentieth Century”; video documentary special screening; produced & organized, Jan. 13, 2000, Queens Public Television, Flashing, Queens, New York.
TV appearances:
– Sounds of People, Queens Public TV, April 2003
– Beyond the Borders, Brazilian Globe TV, July 2004
–- CNN-Turk, January 2005.
– Turkuaz TV, Canada, May 2005
About:
Ünver’den Türk Kültür ve Sanat Vakfi Projesi
HurriyetUSA, 19 Haziran 2005
Light Millennium E-Magazine Convenes A Global Community
by Keach HAGEY - Queens Chronicle Reporter -
March 25, 2004
An interview on Light Millennium
by Turkuaz Magazine, USA – Spring 2004
Producer Profiler – Queens Public Television
“Light Millennium” (LM) Project Celebrates its 2nd Anniversary
Acar: “Bircan believes in you more than you believe yourself. That is the reason behind the success of this” – Turkish Times, April 15, 2002
Queens Profile: Bircan Unver, by Sheila McKane
News Days – October 17, 1998 (in print & online available fee based)
– Born on May 2, 1959, mother of two children and lives in Queens, New York .
