October 31, 2007
Shockingly, seven months have gone by since I last wrote - but now I feel able to start feeding the beast again…
More soon. Promise.
March 27, 2007
The London launch of Paul’s book, is at Bookmarks bookshop on 19 April.
March 12, 2007
“Live Working Or Die Fighting” - Paul Mason’s new book on the global labour movement
Posted by PTV under Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Journalism, Law, Politics, Protest, REGION, Technology, Unions, Violence, Women1 Comment
BBC Newsnight’s indefatigable Paul Mason has a book out soon.
I’m waiting for an advance copy of this (hint, hint), but in the meantime, read more here, listen to an extract here, and order it here.
March 11, 2007
Patrick Keiller’s wonderful (if a little downbeat) film London is now available online at FourDocs. Frieze interview here.
February 14, 2007
Caught On Camera: Human Rights Video on GV [via GV/WITNESS]
Posted by PTV under Cellphone, Citizen Journalism, GV, Human Rights, Internet, Journalism, Law, Online Video, Protest, Technology, Unions, Violence, WITNESS, War & Conflict, WomenNo Comments
[Originally published here as part of WITNESS’s collaboration with Global Voices Online]
It has been a bumper few weeks on GV for human rights video, so let’s get straight into it…
Bandh of brothers… [via Neha]
This footage, filmed by Dinesh Wagle, of United We Blog!, shows motorcycle riders being turned backed by members of the National Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs in Kathmandu. The NFNTE had called a bandh (strike) prohibiting vehicles from running on the streets, after public buses were torched in an earlier protest during the instability in Terai.
I’d love to know what’s actually said in the exchange between the two sides - any offers to post a transcript or to subtitle via dotsub or elsewhere?
Wagle offers a worrying perspective on the unpredictability of life in Nepal at the moment:
“[...] it’s indeed hard to predict the political and other developments in today’s Nepal. The trend of creating anarchy and take advantage of such situation has increased over the past several months. There is a kind of planned competition to exploit the situation. You never know what’s going to happen when. Anyone can call a Nepal banda any time. General public has to face the difficulties caused by such prompt and unnecessary decisions. Public have always become the victim of such bandas in the past. What can they do other than quietly suffer?”
FarsiTube, Alexander Litvinenko, strikes in Lebanon, maids protesting at the beach in Peru, vlogging from UAE, and clashes in Bolivia after the jump…
January 16, 2007
Caught On Camera: Human Rights Videos on GV [via GV/WITNESS]
Posted by PTV under Cellphone, Dalits, Elections, Governance, Human Rights, Internet, Law, Military, Online Video, South Asia, Technology, Trafficking, Violence, WITNESS, WomenNo Comments
[Originally published here as part of WITNESS’s collaboration with Global Voices Online]
You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s been Saddam, Saddam, Saddam, in recent weeks, but GV has covered other human rights videos that deserve a bit of limelight - so, in this regular new feature, I’m going to round up the best of those recent stories.
Something for WITNESS’s Amazon Wishlist [via Veronica]
First to Pawlina, host of a Ukrainian radio show in Vancouver, Canada, who blogs about human trafficking at The Natashas. After her post in late December commending Ukrainian pop star Ruslana for releasing a video condemning human trafficking, Pawlina praises another musician, Peter Gabriel, for founding WITNESS, but, under the title “Some human rights abuses harder to expose than others”, offers some advice:
It’s very commendable of rock stars to help expose human rights abuses around the world.
British rock legend Peter Gabriel has formd an organization called Witness that provides video equipment to human rights activists to record such abuses.
I suspect he may not be aware of the horrific abuses suffered by hundreds of thousands of young women and even children, at the hands of human traffickers pandering to men seeking instant, no-strings-attached sexual gratification.
In which case, someone should send him a copy of The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade.
Then again, no doubt it would be extremely difficult to film what goes on behind the closed doors and barred windows of brothels and “breaking grounds”, much less expose it to public view.
In fact WITNESS did produce a documentary about trafficking in 1997, Bought And Sold, but Pawlina’s right - it’s proving quite difficult to find footage from behind those “closed doors and barred windows” - so if you have seen, or even filmed footage of that kind, please email me (email address at the end of the article) to let me know.
January 16, 2007
The tireless George Lessard (themediamentor) points up a few links to documentaries uploaded to Information Clearing House:
