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	The Power of Human Rights Video by Sam Gregory WITNESS Rights Hub   June 2010   A year ago, Tehran erupted in protest at the disputed results of Iran’s tenth presidential election. In the severe government crackdown that followed, documented on cameras and uploaded by citizens to YouTube, no moment has been seen more than the death of Neda Agha Soltan, a young musician whose brutal killing by a sniper became the rallying cry for Iran’s opposition Green Movement. The anonymous videos of her death even won a prestigious George Polk award for journalism last year.   This week on the YouTube homepage, they’re featuring a documentary from director Antony Thomas and HBO, entitled “This is for Neda.” The film highlights how citizen reporting has become so important to human rights that even world leaders are paying attention to it. For example, as you’ll see in “This Is For Neda,” President Obama talks about watching the video of Neda’s death, calling it “heartbreaking” and “unjust.”   How has video become such an important part of human rights advocacy worldwide? At its heart, human rights video is about making something visible that was not visible before. Seeing human rights abuses with our own eyes is very different than reading about the same abuses in a story or a blog post or a Tweet. In the past, we mainly saw these kinds of images in the nightly news or in documentaries — and even then only occasionally.   But now that camera usage and access to the Internet is much more widespread (including in many developing countries), we encounter human rights images much more directly. For example, Burma, Tibet and Iran are places where it’s difficult for local or international media to report, so when mass protests were met with violent force, it fell on ordinary people to try to get images out.   Human rights video is about more than capturing images of abuse as they happen, however. Direct testimony from victims or local activists can provide powerful and compelling evidence of human rights violations. Testimonies like that of “Mary,” a Zimbabwean political activist who was abducted, raped and beaten in a secret torture center after the disputed 2008 presidential elections in Zimbabwe, have unique power to help us see what those who have suffered human rights abuses see, to feel what they feel, and to hear what they want to happen.   Videos alone aren’t usually enough; in order to make an impact, activists organize around the content. Sometimes organization is required simply to ensure the content finds an audience: in Iran, it was a networked web of activists who organized proxy servers and emailed footage to a diaspora outside of the country to ensure the videos got around the government’s block of YouTube. Other times, coordinated campaigns ensure that citizens are called to action in courts, public squares or parliaments, as has happened in Brazil, Kenya, India or in the International Criminal Court.   This isn’t a phenomenon confined to developing countries or repressive regimes; it’s also happening in the U.S. Testimony as part of a campaign against elder abuse across the U.S. has helped expose stories that would otherwise go untold, and to pass legislation that improves the lives of millions of citizens. In our next post, we’ll talk more specifically about what you can do to make sure videos you’ve uploaded or care about can have maximum impact for human rights.   As online spaces become more and more important for sharing and accessing information, especially video, we believe that access to the Internet itself is becoming a key factor in human rights in the 21st century. To make that a reality, governments, businesses, activists and citizens need to take a collective stand to ensure that video can shine a light into the darkest corners of human society, providing paths to justice to those who need it most.   Both at WITNESS and at YouTube we’re committed to helping build a global movement for human rights video that does just that. Visit the related web page
	We must let stereotypes go, end labels that do more to divide than define by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Alliance of Civilizations   Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the third Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, in Rio de Janeiro.   President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, my deepest thanks to you and the Brazilian people for your hospitality and warm welcome. Muito Obrigado.   To the original co-sponsors of the Alliance of Civilizations — Spain and Turkey — thank you for your consistent support. I thank High Representative [Jorge] Sampaio for his dedication.   I also commend the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, for his interfaith initiative, including his call to live an authentic faith that emphasizes dialogue and cooperation.   We meet at a unique moment. Times are changing. Power is shifting. Brazil is rising. I speak not just of the economy of Brazil, but the story of Brazil. This is a melting pot of cultures, peoples and traditions. All pulling as one, especially during World Cup season! There is no better place for the Alliance of Civilizations to meet and take its work forward. On the surface, it may appear that I come from a different world. Growing up, my homeland of Korea was one of the most homogenous places on earth. But I was raised in the wake of the Korean war. The international community rebuilt my country.   From an early age, I saw the power of cultures uniting in common cause. I saw solidarity in action. I am not merely a witness — I am a product of it. This is not just my history — it is an essential part of who I am. That is why this Forum means so much to me. And that is why I know the Alliance of Civilizations matters to the world.   From the beginning, we all knew the Alliance could not be business as usual. The work could not be left to beautifully written reports stuck in the United Nations library. We understood the Alliance must be action-oriented. It must reach far and wide. Since 2005, the Alliance of Civilizations has been doing just that.   With your support, the Alliance is bringing together journalists from around the globe to confront prejudice and misunderstanding — including the first-of-its-kind joint reporting from Israel and the Arab world.   You are expanding dialogue for young people of different ethnicities in Burundi, promoting mediation and conflict resolution in South Asia, mentoring in immigrant neighbourhoods in Europe, and providing jobs for young people throughout the Middle East and North Africa.   At the same time, the Alliance is widening its own network of partners and community of friends. We are pleased to welcome the 100th member, the United States of America.   All this is impressive. But it is only a start. The Alliance is a process — a work in progress. In communities where symbols of religious minorities are seen as something to oppose or fear, we need continued engagement. In places where people are screened out of opportunity because of race, faith or even their name, we have more work to do.   But the mission of the Alliance must go deeper still. I would like to briefly point to three reasons why.   First, and fundamentally, because your mission is among the most important of the twenty-first century. Three quarters of the major conflicts in the world today have a cultural dimension.   You are seeking to defuse those tensions by finding answers to some of the most urgent issues of our day: How do we build inclusive societies? How can we strengthen education and empower women? How do we drown out the siren songs that divert young people to extremism? In short, how do we build communities rooted in convivencia — living together in peace, based on trust and mutual respect?   That leads me to the second reason for deepening our work — because the process of building inclusive societies must itself be inclusive. It takes each and every one of us. After all, peace and reconciliation cannot be imposed. They are seeds, planted by people, nurtured by communities. Day, after day, after day.   The Alliance cultivates through outreach, through understanding, through education. And we know that education is more than learning. Sometimes it is also unlearning. We must let go of the stereotypes of the monolithic “other”. We must put an end to labels that do more to divide than define.   The third reason to deepen our work: globalization. Globalization can both connect and alienate. We have access to more information, ideas and technology. And yet, fears and hatred are just a mouse click away.   The gains of globalization are more visible — but so, too, is the feeling among many that those benefits are out of reach.   In many places around the world, such fears cause people to retreat — away from “globalization” into an extreme “localization”. One that sends the message: “Our way is best”. Or worse, “There is no other way but my way”.   This creates tension and instability. Tackling this, too, is the work of the Alliance. And as we expand all of our efforts, we must do even more to reach out, to listen and to learn from young people.   Tomorrow, I go to Africa. Seventy per cent of Africans are under the age of 30. Half the world’s population is under 25, the vast majority in the developing world. We need to tap this great potential. They need to see a world of hope and possibility, of quality education and decent work.   Yesterday I met with young people in the Babilonia favela here in Rio de Janeiro. One young woman said, “When I go to wealthy areas, they see what I am, not who I am.” But she showed all of us.   The young people I met had such passion and commitment to work against discrimination and for a better life. I learn from you. You learn from me. We grow together. That was their message. That is our message.   I am not naive about the challenge. There is unease in our world. Tensions, rooted in fear. Fear, driven by ignorance. We live in a world where, too often, division sells. It wins votes. It gets ratings. It is much easier to blame others than to think for oneself.   And yet wherever I go, I have found something else — a growing realization that we are in this together. A sharper awareness that my child"s future depends on your child"s future. A greater understanding that we are a single global family with many members and no monoliths.   We are not there yet. The journey is long. But I take strength from the Brazilian proverb: Goodwill makes the road shorter. Your goodwill and your good works are making all our roads shorter.   I can see on the horizon a world that understands that, together, we are better. I can hear shouting replaced with listening. I can feel a force committed to making it happen.   Governments, civil society, the private sector, the faith community, young people. You — and all this Alliance represents. A global social movement. An alliance of humanity.   Regardless of religious tradition, we have a common faith: a faith in our shared future. Let us harness our common humanity and make a better world.   President Jorge Sampaio, High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, has called for a great emphasis on "cultural diplomacy" in the efforts of the international community to settle conflicts around the world.   Speaking at the annual conference of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in Bern, President Sampaio pointed to the Balkans, East Timor, and South Africa, as examples of societies transformed by soft power tools of diplomacy that can be used to change the perceptions and worldviews of communities and individuals.   "Reconciliation as part of peacebuilding depends highly on cultural and identity issues, narratives and stories built and exchanged about conflicts" he said. "The Alliance of Civilizations makes sense in this framework as a new UN soft power tool."   The Alliance of Civilizations is a special project of the UN Secretary-General which was founded in 2005 as an initiative of the governments of Spain and Turkey. The project is designed to bridge cultural divides in communities around the world, paying particular attention to the so-called "Muslim-West divide", and helping to counter misconceptions, misperceptions and polarization which can contribute towards extremism. Visit the related web page
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