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How Funders Can Support Technology for Human Rights and the Activists Using It
Sameer Padania, the lead author/researcher of our "Cameras Everywhere" report spoke recently at "The Power of Information" conference in London, organized by the Indigo Trust, the Institute for Philanthropy and the Omidyar Network.
September 27, 2011
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Video Advocacy Example: In Syria, Exposing Official Lies Through YouTube
Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that over 2600 people have died as a consequence of repression of protests in Syria. The Syrian government claims that far fewer have died, and that the balance is split between government forces and armed protestors.
September 20, 2011
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New Report Makes Recommendations for How to Enhance Potential of Human Rights Video
I'm pleased to announce the launch of our new report: "Cameras Everywhere: Current Challenges and Opportunities at the Intersection of Human Rights, Video and Technology." You can read and download it on our website.
September 6, 2011
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Video Advocacy Example: ‘Yo Me Declaro’ Campaign for Human Rights Defenders
In the human rights world we often talk about HRDs or 'human rights defenders' - but this is more than just an an acronym or a piece of jargon. Human rights defenders of every type play a key role in protecting, promoting and upholding the human rights of all of us. And they're not just the people who work in NGOs like WITNESS or our partners.
July 28, 2011
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Take Action For Internet Access and Digital Rights at the e-G8!
Tomorrow, the French Presidency will host a meeting - the e-G8 Forum - focusing exclusively on shaping the agenda of the forthcoming G8 Summit around key global Internet policy issues. This will be the first time that the Internet's role in society and the economy is explicitly on the G8 agenda.
May 23, 2011
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Watch: Cameras Everywhere – Presentation at Re:Publica 2011
A couple of weeks ago I presented at Re:Publica, the largest social media conference in Germany. Since the conference gives a generous 50 minutes to its speakers I had the opportunity not only to talk about WITNESS and our work in general (first 10 minutes or so), but also to explain in some depth the video advocacy challenges and opportunities surfaced by events in the Middle East and North Africa as well as some of the emerging questions in our Cameras Everywhere initiative. Namely, how do human rights values and practicalities intersect in the new ubiquitous video moment?
May 12, 2011
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Human Rights Video, Privacy and Visual Anonymity in the Facebook Age
The successful nationwide organizing and subsequent protests in Egypt to oust the 30-year regime of President Hosni Mubarak have in part been facilitated by Facebook. But as media and technology commentators and human rights activists alike are noting, using Facebook for activism is fraught with risks.
February 16, 2011
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Our Responsibility To ‘Bear Witness’
Today is justifiably a day of euphoria for many Egyptians following the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, and for many people around the world (myself included) who have been following events in Cairo, Alexandria and across Egypt on Twitter, via the continuous coverage of Al-Jazeera English, via the nightly news in many countries (with some conspicious exceptions) and through videos on YouTube.
February 11, 2011
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Mexico Training on Forced Evictions
A quick update from the WITNESS training in Mexico City in association with the Habitat International Coalition (HIC)- Latin America. We've been holed-up for nine days solid in a convent (cheap, good food, peaceful atmosphere, nightly curfew) training a range of human rights defenders either from or working with communities whose rights are being compromised or violated by dam mega-projects.
January 31, 2011
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Reflecting in the moment on Egypt and ‘video for change’
From the moment WITNESS was founded our vision has been to tap into the power of the video camera in the hands of everyone who wants to expose injustice and create positive change, from human rights defenders to committed citizens.
January 30, 2011
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Cameras Everywhere: Our New Leadership Initiative
Here at WITNESS we're in the midst of exciting development on all our new programmatic initiatives. One of these is our 'Cameras Everywhere' Leadership initiative, which we'd like to introduce in this blog.
January 19, 2011
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The Ethical Engagements of Human Rights Social Media
The explosion of digital media on human rights pushes us all to rethink how documentary film ethics apply in a more networked, social media-driven era.
November 22, 2010
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Karaoke Human Rights Videos from Cambodia Face Censorship
As you belt out 'Living on a Prayer' on a Saturday night have you ever thought how karaoke could be used for human rights?
November 12, 2010
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It Gets Better: Collective and Individual Voice in Video Advocacy
Recently a number of public figures in the USA have added their voices to the "It Gets Better" campaign, which aims to share hopeful messages with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth who may be wondering if life will always be bad.
November 8, 2010
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Must Watch: Activist Video Showcase at DIY Video 24/7, 2010
Two years ago I had the pleasure of participating in 24/7: a DIY Video Summit, a jamboree of DIY and DIWO (doing-it-with-others) video creators and thinkers at the University of Southern California, where I shared some ideas from WITNESS about human rights video in this environment.
November 2, 2010