- In China, Victims Protest Forced Evictions Through Suicide Urbanization and economic growth are rapidly increasing in China, but often at the cost of people’s right to land. Some citizens are taking the drastic step of attempting suicide.
- What We’re Reading: 25th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Crackdown June 4th marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most discussed events of recent Chinese history: the massacre at Tiananmen Square in Beijing of pro-democracy protesters.
- Human Rights Video Weekly: Vietnam, Syria, and Kenya This week we bring you videos documenting the forced evictions of farmers in Vietnam, an update on a barrel bomb attack in Syria, and documentation of the continued roundup of Somali and other immigrants in Kenya.
- The Human Rights Video Weekly: Reports from Sudan, Syria and China This week we highlight citizen video documenting bombings in civilian areas in Sudan, accounts of torture in Syria's prisons, and a deadly factory fire in China that killed 16 people.
- Human Rights Video Weekly: Police Officers on Trial in South Africa In South Africa citizen video may help bring about justice for one case in the country's alarming pattern of police brutality. Cuba lobbies for a seat at the Human Rights Council and Sri Lanka attempts to stave off controversy ahead of an international summit.
- This Week in Human Rights Video: Muslim Groups Targeted in Sri Lanka and Ethiopia Also, opposition to political amnesty in Thailand, activists in Taiwan protest a new proposed nuclear plant and a civil rights activist in China speaks out.
- Video Advocacy Example: Amnesty International’s Campaign for the Arms Trade Treaty More than 740,000 people die every year as a result of armed conflict. Who fuels these conflicts? Which nations provide the arms and munitions that enable dictators, gangs, and human rights abusers to kill, rape, torture, and forcefully evict innocent civilians?
- The Rise in Tibetan Video Activism By Dechen Pemba. Dechen, a UK born Tibetan, is spokesperson for Filming for Tibet, a non-profit organization supporting Tibetan filmmakers, and has been closely involved with “Leaving Fear Behind” since 2007. She is also is the editor of the website High Peaks Pure Earth that monitors the Tibetan blogosphere and translates Tibetan blogs into English. Leaving […]
- Dams and Human Rights: Using Video to Resist Evictions It's International Day of Action Against Dams and, as we kick off our global forced evictions campaign supporting dam-affected communities at risk of eviction in Mexico, this post looks at how video and visual imagery have helped propel campaigns to protect human rights in different dam-resistance struggles around the world.
- What We’re Reading+Watching, July 26-30, 2010 This week we’re sharing ‘tweeted’ bits of news discussing copyrights issues, video of residents in China protesting a land seizure, the death of Khale Said possibly being related to the uploading of a video, the ACLU letter to Lindsay Lohan and how video can be contextualized to fit a news networks' needs. The last item is from our Board of Directors, Mallika Dutt, who is the founder and executive director of Breakthrough.
- Three Must-See Documentaries Suggested by Landon van Soest This summer we are presenting a guest blog series in which past winners of the WITNESS Award (which we present at Silverdocs) discuss their top 3 picks from among social justice/human rights documentaries or films for the year. Landon van Soest is the director/producer of Good Fortune, the Award winner in 2009. Below he shares with us his picks.
- Google unmuzzles itself in China Google has received brickbats a-plenty for its stance in China, where, in order to be permitted to operate by the Chinese government, the search company agreed to censor particular "sensitive" search results - Tiananmen, Dalai Lama, democracy, human rights, and so on.
- Calling All Bloggers: Keep Tibet in the Spotlight Monks marching in the streets, students staging sit-in protests, midnight raids by the military, monasteries sealed off, towns and cities sealed off…this is Tibet. The most violent protests in nearly 20 years continue after last Monday’s pro-independence rallies commemorating the 49th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s escape from Tibet. The Chinese government reports 16 people […]
- China: Videos emerge of clashes between police and students in Jiangxi [via GV/WITNESS] [Originally published here as part of WITNESS‘s collaboration with Global Voices Online] Hot on the heels of the Chinese government’s claim of a 22.1% reduction in “mass incidents” (read “protests”), here’s some more video of “mass incidents” from China, in case you missed this portion of John Kennedy’s latest Beijing bulletin: Backing up to China […]
- China: Government's video-censorship foiled [via GV/WITNESS] [Originally published here as part of WITNESS‘s collaboration with Global Voices Online] When a young teacher is found dead outside her apartment building in Ruian, the police report concludes suicide, but her family and students suspect a cover-up. Over a thousand people take to the streets in protest, and are met with police violence. Protestors […]
