- Use Video and Technology for the Defense of Earth and Indigenous Peoples Indigenous communities and broader climate justice movements have long been confronting capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, and related forces of exploitation and destruction. Indigenous-led resistance to these threats has woven ancestral wisdom with emerging tools and tactics– including audiovisual technology. Visuals evincing the deterioration of the planet have strengthened demands for urgent, globally coordinated responses to […]
- No Means No: the Yaquis Uphold the Right to Their Lands Despite the unequivocal rejection by Loma de Bácum authorities of Sempra Energy’s proposed pipeline project, as well as a federal judicial decision barring pipeline construction on Yaqui territory in Bácum, Sempra Energy continued to build its pipeline through 9 miles of their farmland.
- Mexico: Indigenous Community in Júba Wajiín Use Video to Help Stop Mining on Their Land In Mexico, a community triumphs against mining companies seeking to exploit its territory through organizing and a video advocacy strategy.
- Community Reporters Document Deadly Raid on Indigenous Villages in Guatemala Reports by imperiled community journalists in Guatemala paint a picture of horror when police forces descend upon communities battling a hydroelectric dam.
- This Week in Human Rights Video: Honduras, Pakistan, Cambodia Indigenous rights activists in Honduras describe the fear of living among known killers of human rights defenders. Cambodian villagers who brought their protest to the capital make a step forward in a long running land dispute.
- Virtual Dinner Guest Project Connects Gaza and Native American Communities Using Video Technology Lindsie Bear sheds light on her experience connecting a group of Native American participants with a group from Gaza to discuss daily life and the issues faced in each community as part of The Virtual Dinner Guest Project.
- Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Early Days of Music Video Activism This video of ‘My Country Tis of Thee You’re Dying’ is from an episode of Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest, is demonstrates an early blending of video, song, and human rights advocacy.
- The Belo Monte Dam in Brazil: “Development” vs. Indigenous Communities In every corner of the world, we see unfathomably huge hydroelectric dams that destroy entire ecosystems and indigenous livelihoods. The notorious Three Gorges Dam in China has its rivals on all other continents, from the proposed Grand Inga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the James Bay Project in Canada.
- 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.
- The TESTIFY! Project: U.S. Voices at the Universal Periodic Review Yesterday we brought you a video report from Eric Tars highlighting the work being done around the UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the U.S. human rights record in Geneva, Switzerland. Today, we will highlight how video was incorporated, for the first time, as part of the Universal Periodic Review process. The U.S. Human Rights […]
- Indigenous Rights Protected After Indian Mine Stopped Following years of controversy and activism, the Government of India on Tuesday rejected the proposed bauxite mining project in the eastern state of Orissa determining that the mine violates environmental and forestry laws and would lead to further abuses against the indigenous communities in the area.
- Video Advocacy’s Role in the Unprecedented Success of an Indigenous Group at the African Union in Feb 2010 In this brief video (produced by Ellie Magnuson), my colleague Bukeni Waruzi, Program Manager for Africa and the Middle East, gives a spirited overview of the background, timeline, and strategy of our partnership with CEMIRIDE, a Kenyan organization representing the Endorois community in their long legal struggle to return to their indigenous lands around Lake Bogoria.
- Groundbreaking Use of Video Helps Win Case for Indigenous Endorois People in Kenya In 1973 the Kenyan Endorois community was evicted from their land. In 2009 their case was taken to court, and with the help of WITNESS, they produced a film about their story which ultimately helped lead to a decision requiring the government to restitute their lands with compensation.
