By Guest Blogger | March 11th, 2012 By Kim Howell
You probably know a 26-year-old woman. Is she your sister? Friend, or daughter? Perhaps she’s fiery and stubborn. Perhaps she takes singing lessons. Perhaps she’s engaged to be married.
And perhaps she was shot dead on a street in Tehran at a protest over a rigged election.
Neda Agha-Soltan was all of these things.
Cell phone videos show the 26-year-old bleeding and dying after having been shot in the chest by government forces. The video raced to mobile phones in the Middle East, living rooms in the United States, and news studios everywhere. Hers became the most widely viewed death in history.
But what does her death mean for activists–for their privacy, their safety, and their ability to make their voices heard? Was it an illustration of the power of their message and the volume of their voices? Or was it an illustration of their vulnerability and [...]
Continue reading The Face of a Revolution: Debating Privacy in the Digital Age
By Guest Blogger | February 29th, 2012 By Christopher Rogy
Did you know the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is calling for video submissions? The aim is to explore stories from people who impact their communities through dreams, experiences and dedication. And did you know that under the Obama Administration, the number of deported people from the U.S. has increased by over 70 percent? What do these two factoids have in common, you ask? Well, one video finalist raises questions about Obama’s deportation policies affecting communities across the country. While the President has said in a speech that the policies are meant for the most violent offenders, not families or “folks who are looking to scrape together an income,” My Asian Americana highlights how the fathers, mothers, sons and daughters most affected by deportation are in every way average Americans.
I am originally from the Philadelphia area, where more than 20,000 Cambodian-Americans currently reside. In the past two years, I have split my time living in Cambodia and [...]
Continue reading Vote for “My Asian Americana” for White House Video Challenge
By Guest Blogger | February 23rd, 2012 By David Pred
Every year millions of people around the world are forcibly displaced from their lands, homes and livelihoods to make way for large-scale infrastructure projects. Most often those who are forced to sacrifice their place on earth for both public and private interests are amongst the poorest and most vulnerable people in society. They are thus the least equipped to cope with the challenges of physical, economic and social displacement and are thrust into even deeper poverty and social exclusion as a result. These development disasters are often justified in the name of poverty reduction, when they in fact create and exacerbate poverty.
This has been the case with the Rehabilitation of the Railways in Cambodia, a project to restore and privatize Cambodia’s 650 kilometers of railway infrastructure, financed mainly by loans and grants from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and [...]
Continue reading Derailed: Cambodia’s Poor Paying the Price for Railway Development
By Guest Blogger | February 21st, 2012 By Larry Siems
Last week, director Doug Liman—whose blockbuster features include The Bourne Identity, Fair Game, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and Swingers—sent out this call for citizen-shot footage for his next movie, Reckoning With Torture:
Ten years after the first prisoners arrived at Guantánamo, not one senior official has been called to account for the torture and abuse of detainees there, in secret CIA prisons, or in Iraq or Afghanistan. Not one of those who was abused has received an apology or restitution for his treatment. And none of the courageous servicemen and women who stood up to stop the abuse have received the public recognition they deserve. The United States, a leading proponent of accountability for human rights abuses internationally, now offers its own model of how not to confront and reckon with torture.
Liman’s film project aims to change that. A collaboration with the ACLU and PEN [...]
Continue reading Reckoning With Torture: A Call for Citizen Video Participation
By Guest Blogger | January 31st, 2012 Amy Robbins
By Amy Robbins Amy Robbins is a member of the WITNESS Board of Directors and was the 2011 Focus for Change Benefit Dinner and Concert Co-Chair.
As WITNESS celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, I wanted to write a brief note to describe why I support this outstanding, and vital organization. I know many of you reading this share my view because you, too, strongly support WITNESS’s efforts.
WITNESS has always been known as an organization that promotes the use of video to support human rights campaigns. But with the Cameras Everywhere initiative, WITNESS is moving in a very new, very bold direction – reaching beyond basic activism to partner with allies in business, technology and media to foster a more conducive environment for the safe and effective use of video.
WITNESS has learned that it is one thing to capture human rights abuse on video, and [...]
Continue reading Amy Robbins: Join Me In Supporting WITNESS For the Next 20 Years
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