Human Rights Watch released a video today alleging that children as young as 10 years old are working on tobacco farms for Philip Morris in Kazakhstan. A Philip Morris spokesman tells the New York Times the cigarette maker is opposed to child labor and would work to stop the practice. This video includes an interview with a child who claims (at 4:20) she misses school and sleeps only four hours a day when working the fields.
Citizentube is at the third annual Alliance of Youth Movements Summit, a convening of youth activists from all over the world who are using new media and technology to achieve advance social justice missions, in London this week.
Yesterday, I met Yoav Gross, the Israeli Video Director of B’Tselem, a human rights organization documenting the plight of Gaza/West Bank civilians through video. The organization has distributed 150 cameras to Palestinian civilians with the hope of seeing the conflict through their eyes. It’s a view, Gross says, many global citizens never see.
In this video, for example, a handcuffed Palestinian man is shot with a rubber-coated bullet by a soldier:
The video was shot by a Palestinian youth through the window of her home, and given to B’Tselem, who turned it over to the Military Police Investigation Unit. An investigation was opened into the matter. This is another goal of distributing cameras - so that they can provide proof to police about the incidents taking place in these areas.
In this video, one of the most-viewed on the B’Tselem YouTube channel, a settler from a Jewish settlement in Hebron is seen harassing women from neighboring home. In the video you can see the metal cage that the family built around their home to prevent attack:
Western mainstream media has picked up on some of B’Tselem’s footage (see this NBC Nightly News piece about the organization) but much of it - like this video uploaded in January, which documents teens working under poor conditions in the Rafah Tunnels, a main passageway for food, medicine and weapons into Gaza due to border restrictions - have received less widespread attention.
From the Iran protests to the uprising of monks in Burma, YouTube has become a place where citizens can expose human rights violations and promote free expression. This month, we were excited to see many of you help the organizations that regularly combat injustice and abuse around the world, by creating a video for one of them through Video Volunteers.
Spurred by Morgan Freeman's heartfelt call-out video and International Human Rights Day, which occurred earlier this month, you submitted videos on behalf of nonprofits working on issues like conflict minerals, the situation in Darfur and sex trafficking:
Today, the top three selections will appear on the YouTube homepage to raise awareness of several pressing human rights issues. We're also featuring Morgan Freeman's "volunteer" video for Amnesty International, which uses claymation to discuss the power of words in fighting injustice:
We'll be back with another round of Video Volunteers in January and our spotlight issue will be the arts, so if you're an arts organization who would like a volunteer to create a video for you, please fill out this form and your opportunity will be posted to the Video Volunteers channel.
YouTube can be a powerful tool championing the rights of individuals and promoting free expression. This month, during International Human Rights Day, we're partnering with Morgan Freeman and Amnesty International to encourage you to become advocates for equality and justice, through Video Volunteers.
Here's how you can help. Create a video about the nonprofit of your choice working on a human rights issue that you care about -- it could be genocide, human trafficking, refugee protection, gender equality or something else -- and submit it to the Video Volunteers channelby December 21. Amnesty International and Freeman, who plays legendary crusader Nelson Mandela in the upcoming movie Invictus, will select three videos to appear on the YouTube homepage at the end of the month. Hear more from Morgan about the importance of taking up this cause:
This is your chance to help citizens around the world who often can't help themselves and to bring the vital work of human rights organizations to light. Join Morgan Freeman to protect the rights of these individuals at www.youtube.com/videovolunteers.
With both Iowa and Vermont legalizing same-sex marriages this week, the topic is on the front page of the news right now. And the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for GLBT right, is taking an interesting approach to fighting its enemies in the battle over same-sex marriage. Yesterday, the HRC posted a television advertisement created by The National Organization for Marriage to its official YouTube channel. The video features a collection of straight Americans talking about how same-sex marriages affect and damage the quality of their lives and threaten America.
The HRC has strategically allowed two video responses to be associated with the anti-gay marriage commercial: two audition tapes that show a series of different actors in front of a green screen reciting the lines that are used in the commercial. Some actors stumble over their lines, while others smile awkwardly, and most are somewhat unconvincing. At times you can hear the directors giving notes to the actors who are auditioning.
Seeing the juxtaposition of the real ad and the audition tapes is interesting and very much changes the effect of the commercial.
As the world prepares for the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing, nonprofit organizations, elected officials, and Olympians are using YouTube to draw attention to some of China's most pressing social and political issues. UNICEF, for example, has posted a video that shines the light on Chinese children affected by AIDS, leveraging former Chinese Olympians like gold-medal gymnast Lou Yun in their attempts.
Other organizations and individuals, however, are casting a more critical eye on China's policies, especially those surrounding human rights. Amnesty International recently uploaded a fourteen-video series chronicling human rights issues in China, while U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf has urged political leaders to boycott this year's Olympics in light of Chinese violations against human rights and religious freedom:
And just a few days ago, Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek had his visa revoked by Chinese authorities just hours before he was scheduled to fly to Beijing. Cheek is one of the founders of "Team Darfur," an organization that aims to bring public awareness to the political situation in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The controversy around the Beijing Olympics is not a new phenomenon -- demonstrations for and against China's hosting of the Olympics have drawn much attention over the past year. But will they continue through the Games? Stay tuned to YouTube to find out.
CitizenTube is YouTube's News and Politics Blog. Here you'll find important breaking news videos from citizens; developing trends in the use of YouTube by news organizations, activists, politicians, and governments; and lots of other YouTube goodness. Hit us up on Twitter, @citizentube, if you see something worth posting here.
