“So let’s make sure the world sees this so they don’t change the story and tell people that we killed ourselves… I didn’t want us to die in vain”
The preceding quote is by Catherine Obianuju (a.k.a DJ Switch) from an interview she granted to speak about her motivation for livestreaming the brutal attacks against unarmed #EndSARS protesters by Nigerian security forces on the night of October 20, 2020. Her statement is a reminder of the dangerous rewriting of history fueled by disinformation campaigns, a pattern that has become widespread across the globe. At the same time, Obianuju’s statement also underscores the power of video documentation in countering such disinformation campaigns and upholding the truth.
Misinformation and disinformation are having a negative impact on many communities. Disinformation campaigns are being deliberately used to target activists and social justice movements, aiming to undermine their legitimacy and distort public perception. These disinformation efforts are designed to justify state sanctioned violations, suppress dissent, and manipulate the truth. The manipulation goes as far as attempting to thwart the collective history and memory of tragic events in order to evade any form of accountability. We have seen this tactic used on communities like the Rohingya in Myanmar who are standing up against the erasure of their culture and identity; as well as members of the #EndSARS movement in Nigeria who have been resisting every attempt by the government to deny the killing of unarmed protesters by state agents on October 20, 2020; just to name a few.
With the rise of AI-enabled synthetic media, an additional burden is being placed on communities to ensure their media is verifiable and trustworthy. However, some of the skills and tools needed to effectively do this are predominantly domiciled in well-resourced global north institutions, who have priorities that are sometimes different from these communities that are encountering extreme human rights violations. It has therefore become imperative to foster collaboration that will build a more diverse community of practice and facilitate the exchange of knowledge so that communities can reclaim the narrative, fortify their truth and advance their own justice goals.
WITNESS launched the Video for Justice initiative in furtherance of these objectives. Our initiative is bolstering capabilities in three crucial areas to enable communities to move video evidence effectively through a “justice pipeline”. These three key areas of archiving, analysis/OSINT, and presentation, represent the stages within the pipeline of documentation to justice that require greater collaboration, democratized access to emerging tools and skills, and a transformation of the existing communities of practice.
A key step taken towards achieving these objectives was the Global Convening we held this year in Istanbul which brought together communities most impacted by human rights violations, as well as practitioners in the field of video and technology, so that they we can collectively proffer solutions to the challenges hindering the ability of communities to fortify their truth and pursue justice. Here are three topline findings from that convening:
Collaboration is how we win
When distant witnesses, investigators or media practitioners decide to participate in responding to a crisis or human rights violation, the dual role of community-based practitioners as both sources and active stakeholders must first be recognized. From there on, we must embrace a collaborative approach that involves frontline communities from the outset and ensures they are not treated as sources or people to be helped. Rather they are seen as critical partners who hold the deepest knowledge of their situation and an awareness of what is needed to achieve justice and accountability. Priority must be on building long-term relationships with communities and actively supporting their pursuit of justice. What this looks like in real life is that distant witnesses align themselves with ongoing advocacy efforts of these communities, rather than focusing on their agenda. Such collaboration should extend to the development of tech tools; a process which needs to be more inclusive. Tools being developed for communities should be co-created with the communities in order to ensure their relevance, adoption and ease of use.
To better serve the interests of the communities at the heart of a violation or crisis, organizations that are working in the same field must also strive to build bridges between themselves through the pooling of resources, expertise and information. This will help eliminate unnecessary duplication and avoid overburdening or re-traumatizing community partners. Moreover, coming together to collectively advocate alongside the victims will create a much more formidable force for change.
The need to foster collaboration between distant witnesses and community practitioners cannot be overemphasized. This is truly how we will win against increasing misinformation and disinformation because the sheer volume of work required necessitates this collaboration across all levels. As a participant at the convening perfectly put it: “the illusion of successful cooperation is as harmful as the lack of this cooperation.” Hence we must be committed to seeing it succeed.
On our part, WITNESS will continue to build bridges that connect distant witnesses with community practitioners in a way that facilitates the mutual exchange of knowledge and skills. One of the practical ways we have begun to do this is through our Fortifying Community Truth project, which is currently in its pilot phase and is focused on community based journalists in West and Central Africa.
The Pathways to Justice
Justice for some communities often extends beyond the traditional courtroom. This is because for some, the courts are compromised, while for others community-led initiatives such as narrative storytelling and memorialization are considered powerful ways of fortifying the truth.
For instance we have witnessed how informal settlements like Makoko in Nigeria have leveraged open source technology to map their community and present it as a vibrant part of the city full of hard working everyday people with a vast network of infrastructure ranging from schools to shops, hospitals and much more. This was done in order to counter the government’s frequent denials of their legitimacy to exist as an excuse to forcefully evict them and demolish their homes. For communities like Makoko, court injunctions have failed to prevent the government from carrying out demolitions. But reclaiming the narrative by mapping their community not only fortifies the truth of who they are, but also serves as a prevention against future demolitions.
In the case of the Rohingya, the government of Myanmar has been systematically erasing their identity and committing acts of genocide for decades. In order to preserve the Rohingya language, culture, and land, some advocates are working to use block chain technology for identity verification and decentralized archival systems for memorialization and reaffirmation of their identity. This for them is justice too.
Memorialization is also considered as playing a critical role in preserving the truth against propaganda and ensuring historical accuracy for future generations. Some communities who resort to memorialization as a pathway to justice favour this approach because it helps build their agency to control the narrative through documentation of oral histories. This is a tested and tried method of fortifying community truth which can be made complimentary to emerging techniques such as open source investigations (OSINT) to further strengthen the overall impact.
Transforming OSINT and Media practices
There was a strong sentiment about OSINT being the “language of the West”. A participant said she sees “a lot of open source investigations take a top-down approach and lack the community’s voice”. As a result, there is a pressing need to shift how OSINT is practiced by making sure it centers the community. OSINT practitioners and other distant witnesses should engage in practices that respect and integrate local perspectives. This not only helps in presenting a more balanced view but also addresses the concerns around OSINT practices being extractive, exploitative, and serving only the interest of the investigators.
In addition, we must resist the tendency of making open source investigations the gold standard for fortifying the truth. Not only does this set an unfair expectation for frontline defenders, it is also dismissive and harmful to other community-led initiatives which have been effective for confronting misinformation and disinformation. We should instead advocate for a blend of methodologies where one approach is not elevated to the detriment of another but rather they work side by side, fortifying the truth and advancing the justice goals of communities most impacted by human rights violations. This also means that there is equitable access to emerging skills and tools that communities can combine with existing methods to enhance the trustworthiness of their stories.
Conclusion
We must continue to be guided by the principle of “Do no harm” so that strategies aimed at fortifying the truth and countering disinformation actually minimize harm and not worsen the situation. To do this, we need to invest time in building trust and collaborating with communities and not become temporary allies who turn a tragic moment into a sensational news story.
Let’s not forget that we cannot fortify community truth without community voice.
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WITNESS is grateful to all those who participated in our Global Convening, sharing their experiences and proffering practical solutions. We appreciate the commitments already made by participants at the Convening towards democratizing access and fostering collaboration. We will continue to engage on this issue through our Video for Justice initiative and welcome others to join us.
To learn more about our Video for Justice initiative or to collaborate, please email: videoforjustice@witness.org or adebayo@witness.org
To watch a video recap of our Global Convening in Istanbul, please click here