This week on the Human Rights Channel we bring you a YouTube reality show from the Gaza Strip, interviews with displaced campesinos in Honduras, and a march against sexual violence in Kenya.
Cuba
This week we took a look at the growing role that mobile video is playing in political activism in Cuba. We wrote about a video from a protest held in September on our blog yesterday. The video documents what activists describe as one of the largest opposition rallies held under the communist regime. While videos that come out of Cuba are of inconsistent quality and their access to technological resources are limited, cell phones and Internet connections are giving activists one way to offer a counter narrative to Cuba’s official media. Our post coincided with the call this week by Cuban citizens for the release of rapper and dissident Angél Yunier Remon Arzuaga, with the trending Hashtag #FreeElCritico.
Gaza
“My Own Private Gaza” is a YouTube series created by Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, in which a Palestinian man turns the camera on his family and community to show what life is like in the Gaza Strip. In the latest episode, “Bummer Generation,” the narrator points the lens at educated and unemployed young men, like his nephew, Muamen.
Kenya
Hundreds of women took to the streets of Nairobi last week to protest the lenient sentence given to the men found guilty of gang-raping a 16-year-old girl earlier this year. (For more information, see this AP story).
Honduras
Honduras is preparing for a presidential election later this month. Since the coup that overthrew president Jose Manuel Zelaya in 2009, human rights leaders throughout the country have reported escalated threats to themselves and their work. In the weeks leading up to the election, we’re curating videos that document allegations of human rights violations. Last week we took a look at targeted killings in the Bajo Aguán Valley, where close to 100 campesinos and community activists have been killed in the past three years.
The Central African Republic
Escalating religious violence has compelled the UN to warn of the risk of genocide in CAR. Aid groups like the International Rescue Committee are warning of the humanitarian crisis in the country that is becoming more dire with each day.
The most recent citizen videos of human rights issues can always be found on our Citizen Watch and Watching Syria video playlists. Both are updated daily. Catch the latest citizen videos by following the Human Rights Channel on Twitter (@ythumanrights).