Each of the following questions and activities are designed to stimulate discussion and action in classrooms at both high school and university levels, and in your community.

Two important features of the Benin National Conference were that the delegates voted to make the conference sovereign, and that President Kerekou agreed to accept the decisions of the Assembly.

• What is the meaning of sovereignty in this context? Discuss the significance of the
  National Conference and its role in bringing about change in Benin’s government.
• Under what circumstances could members of the audience imagine such a scenario
  being carried out in another part of the world?
• What might be the results?

The national conference had a profound effect on people throughout Benin. One witness noted, “Everyone would buy himself a little transistor radio and you would see them on their motor scooters in the street holding the handlebar with one hand and the radio with the other.” Based on the events in Benin, discuss the key relationships between media, technology, and democracy.

• One could claim that you can have technology without democracy but you cannot
  have democracy without technology. How accurate is this statement?
• Explore the issue of news coverage in a variety of media formats. Have the group
  identify a current news topic and compare coverage of the topic on radio, in print, on
  television, and on the Internet.
• Discuss which media reach which people in the US and what bearing this has on
  differing national opinions.