The human rights community is outraged, but perhaps not shocked by Monday's (January 19,2009) point blank assasination of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, and journalist, Anastasiya Baburova in Moscow.
Thanks to everyone who is participating in the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by contributing to our online conversation about the important of images to the human rights movement.
Here are a few websites and blogs talking about and participating in the project:
Today is the 20th World AIDS Day- a day to commemorate those who have died from the disease, but also a day to advocate for better preventative care and education, access to treatment, cheaper drugs to treat the disease, rights of those living with the disease, and much much more.
Last week amidst the excitement of the presidential election, it was easy to miss a bit of interesting and potentially exciting news about a very small, portable and much more affordable projector available.
David Pogue, the technology guru of the New York Times featured this new Optoma Pico Projector which retails for just $430 and is about the size of a cell phone - and runs on batteries doing away with the need for a noisy generator or electrical outlet!
This weekend marks the opening of "Trouble the Water" the award-winning film by longtime WITNESS supporters Tia Lessin and Carl Deal. The film opens with raw footage shot by two Hurricane Katrina survivors and follows them in the aftermath of the storm as they try to piece together their lives and their hometown of New Orleans. If you're in New York or Los Angeles - see the film this weekend (details below). Its coming to more cities early this fall.
We're very pleased to be a part of 3 events at this year's PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, held annually in New York City. I'll be moderating the first event on Apr 30 and is for high school students (details here) and includes authors Uzodinma Iweala, Amanda Michalopoulou, Patricia McCormick, Kashmira Sheth, and Jutta Richter.
Two of my fine colleagues have been interviewed on other blogs recently about WITNESS' model of video advocacy.
A quick note here on some online tools I've recently come across:
I'm in unnaturally chilly Miami (its projected to get down to the 40s tonight) at the WeMedia Conference and am currently sitting in an afternoon session about "advocacy groups who once relied on journalists are now making the news themselves".
A few weeks ago I attended the Making Your Media Matter conference put on by the stupendous folks at the Center for Social Media at American University. A report is now available produced by the conference rapporteur here which is a useful round up of major themes and ideas discussed, broken down into the various panel sessions and key notes given during those busy 2 days in Washington D.C.
