-
YouTube and WITNESS Honor International Women’s Day
Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day- the centenary celebration in fact. In honor of this day WITNESS joined YouTube to curate four videos to spotlight on their homepage until noon ET.
Matisse Bustos Hawkes
March 8, 2011
-
The Rodney King Video: 20 Years Later
Exactly 20 years have passed since the beating of Rodney King by the LAPD was captured by George Holliday, a bystander, on a hand-held video camera. Millions around the world saw the footage. This incident was the impetus for the creation of WITNESS.
WITNESS
March 3, 2011
-
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.
Sam Gregory
February 16, 2011
-
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.
Sam Gregory
February 11, 2011
-
Calling Volunteers to Translate How-To Videos for Activists
We have been watching events unfold in Egypt through hundreds of videos and photos of people standing-up for freedom and caring for the injured to violent battles and a police van rushing through crowds of citizens, hitting and sending some of them feet in the air. If there ever was a doubt about the power of video to document and shine a spotlight on abuses, I think we can agree that doubt has been shattered.
WITNESS
February 3, 2011
-
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.
Sam Gregory
January 30, 2011
-
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.
Sam Gregory
January 19, 2011
-
Video Dispatch from All Out, a New Global LGBT Campaign
At no other time have global LGBT issues been making headline news so frequently—from the continuing controversy over the proposed “Anti-Gay” bill in Uganda, to the marriage equality law recently passed in Argentina, to the historic repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the United States. The struggle for LGBT equality is the civil rights movement of our time—a movement that is increasingly global.
WITNESS
January 6, 2011
-
Breakthrough’s Video Contest About Diversity in the U.S.
To kick off 2011, I thought it would be useful to highlight a video for change project in process and to hear from its producers about the planning for, organization, and outreach of the project, in this case a contest, and what they hope to accomplish with it.
Matisse Bustos Hawkes
January 5, 2011
-
A Look Back at a (half) Year in Video For Change
You may recall that in mid-May we launched this blog. It's been just over six months now and I thought it would be useful to take stock of what we've accomplished since May and, of course, to look forward to what we hope to do in 2011 - with you.
Matisse Bustos Hawkes
December 28, 2010
-
New Information on Khaled El-Masri
A recently discussed cable released by WikiLeaks shows that American officials exerted pressure on Germany not to enforce arrest warrants against C.I.A. officers involved in the 2003 kidnapping of Khaled El-Masri.
WITNESS
December 10, 2010
-
What do we wish each other on Human Rights Day 2010?
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is profiling over a dozen human rights defenders, including the Venerable Luon Sovath, on Human Rights Day, 10 December, this year.
WITNESS
December 9, 2010
-
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.
Sam Gregory
November 22, 2010
-
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?
Sam Gregory
November 12, 2010
-
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.
Sam Gregory
November 8, 2010