Go backBack to selection

WITNESSING HISTORY

by
in Filmmaking
on Dec 10, 2007

As today is Human Rights Day, the 49th anniversary of the U.N.’s adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it’s a good time to link to Witness.org, the organization founded by musician Peter Gabriel that, as it explains on its home page, “uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. We empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change.”

Witness recently launched The Hub, which it calls “the first global platform dedicated to human rights media and action.” This section of the Witness sites allows uploading and sharing of videos that document human rights abuses around the world. The current “editor’s pick” are three videos about which The Hub writes:

Wael Abbas and other bloggers have been campaigning for an end to police brutality in Egypt by releasing a disturbing series of videos online. Egyptian police officers filmed these three videos on their cellphones. They’re so graphic that YouTube temporarily shut down Abbas’ channel. It’s now back up – but shows the importance of a place like the Hub to house this material in context.

Visit the site to see these videos and learn more about Witness. And, I’m embedding the organization’s 60-second informational trailer below. (Hat tip: Ted Hope.)

© 2024 Filmmaker Magazine. All Rights Reserved. A Publication of The Gotham