Nice little animation from Oxfam (US) introducing their campaign ‘Right to Know, Right to Decide‘ looking at the lack of transparency in extractive industries.
Follow the money – Oxfam animation on oil revenues
30/01/2010
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Campaigning | Tagged: animation, extractive industry, Oil | 
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Posted by buddhasbreakfast
What makes you happy? Flow Media asks young Rwandans
10/01/2010From much the same direction as Paul Close’s ‘Is there one thing that could make your life better?‘ comes ‘What makes you happy?‘ by Simon Sticker at Flow Media.
Based on the ‘50 People 1 Question‘ project ‘What makes you happy?’ consists of a series of short video clips asking the question to young adults from Rwanda. What I like about it is that it focusses on the universalities of human experience rather than the differences. It is anthropologically curious without looking for the exotic. It is touching without evoking pity or sadness.
This may seem a million miles away from the approach of social activism, that usually focusses on extremes of difference – the unimaginable. But how much closer do you feel to these people when you realise what you share, compared to being presented with the extremes of human cruelty and dispare without any humanising or common linkages? This is not to say we should be ignoring the bad things that go down in this world, we shouldn’t. But if you want me to really appreciate those bad things you need to bring me closer, and if I can feel the similarities in my life with those impacted then that is one step closer to me doing something.
1 Comment | Video Top 5 | Tagged: Africa, Rwanda, video | Permalink
Posted by buddhasbreakfast
Where Three Dream Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan & Bangladesh
09/01/2010
Between 21 January and 11 April Whitechapel Gallery in London is hosting the photographic exhibition ‘Where Three Dreams Cross‘. The exhibition present photographs documenting the three countries from 1860 to the present day, with 300 works by 70 photographers and artists.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Bangladesh, exhibition, India, pakistan | Permalink
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Copenhagen – exposing the limits of advocacy, images and the internet?
07/01/2010I’ll start by saying I didn’t really engage very much with the climate change meeting in Copenhagen. As such I am not sure how much it can be labelled as a failure? However, it hasn’t got much applause from the media and NGOs so I am going to work on the assumption that most people were rather underwhelmed by the outcome.
What I did follow was the build-up to the event, and the audio-visual and web based materials many INGOs were producing. The video below, commissioned by Greenpeace and made by Roman Rutten is a good example. It is also icily appropriate if you are in the UK at the moment as we are locked down by snow!
Despite Copenhagen being an activist extravaganza of unprecidented proportions, with vast amounts of money pumped into slide shows, videos and snazzy websites, did we come out with anything better for it? Impossible to say. You can’t do controlled experiments on these things.
That isn’t to say campaigning is a waste of time. But there must be lessons to be learnt. One surely is that campaigns, including those using of images, video and the web, no matter how cool and compelling they are, just aren’t as powerful as we like to think they are. And that leads to the second lesson, that when you need majorities to move those in power you have to present your arguments to appeal to them. So much of the material I saw in the build-up to Copenhagen was aimed at capturing the involvement of what I would call the ‘converted’. Not a bad place to start, but I am not sure how relevant the melting glaciers of the Himalayas or flooding villages of Bangladesh are to people in suburban England? So, why did I see more on that than what was going to happen at home?
If you want to show people a global perspective then you need to link it to their world. In development this is done by empathy. In human rights by appealing to a sense of natural justice. And in regard to climate change to people’s wallets. Cynical maybe, but if you can show how a changing environment is going to make people worse off then they may be moved to act. And feel more solidarity to those worse off who are already feeling the bite of changing weather patterns. Just a thought.
Leave a Comment » | Campaigning | Tagged: Copenhagen, environment, greenpeace | Permalink
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WITNESS – Videos that opened their eyes in 2009
07/01/2010
WITNESS remains one of the stand out organisations working with and empowering people to use video for social activism. It seems only yesterday, but is apparently two years, since they launched their excellent Hub.
Here, WITNESS staff and interns nominate the videos from 2009 that made the most impact with them. Included are ‘Choose a Different Ending‘, an excellent interactive YouTube video on knife crime in the UK allowing you to make choices on how the story unfolds and ends. I thought this had been featured here but I can’t find it. May be I just dreamt it?
Also featured is the superb ‘Gabura‘ by Oxfam UK that looks at the impact of climate change on a community in Bangladesh.
Leave a Comment » | Video Top 5 | Tagged: Video Top 5, WITNESS | Permalink
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VIVIDH – Community journalist initiative by Video Volunteers
21/12/2009
The excellent Video Volunteers is launching a new initiative called VIVIDH which aims to create a network of community journalists in India – ‘a Reuters from the slums and rural areas‘ if you like. The programme will give a one year, full time fellowship to 60 local activists across the country and train them in video journalism. The end goal is to create a news agency that provides stories on social and rights issues to the main stream media.
Video Volunteers is asking for help in identifying individuals for the programme, who must fulfill the following criteria;
- Associated with social movements, human rights campaigns and/or NGO’s
- Belong to a disadvantaged background
- Strong interest in communicating local stories to the world
- Basic knowledge of computers desirable
- Willingness to work full-time on this project for at least one year
- Can communicate in Hindi or English
The deadline for applications is 7 January 2010. For more information go here.
Leave a Comment » | Training, Video Top 5 | Tagged: India, journalism, Training, Video Top 5 | Permalink
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A Developing Story – will you help?
05/12/2009Below I am re-posting in full an article from a new website called ‘A Developing Story‘ Benjamin Chesterton (of duckrabbit fame) and John Bennett (master of all things Web). The article lays out the aims of the site and makes a call for contributions. On that note, I have agreed to be a contributing editor on human rights for the site, and look forward to meeting you there as well as here on The Rights Exposure Project in 2010.
***
A Developing Story, a new website, which duckrabbit has helped get up and running, has been born:
Hopefully the title reflects our desire to create an open space on the web in which stories and images that explore the richness and complexity of an unequal world can find a home.
We will also be campaigning for the unshackling of the intellectual copyright of ideas that can save lives (contrary to popular belief this does not mean pushing photographers to release their work under creative commons licenses, nor will the photographs published on A Developing Story be subject to creative commons unless the photographer makes this request)
duckrabbit will be showing A Developing Story off to 250 students next Friday at Amnesty International’s international student conference as part of a panel on journalism that we’re taking part in.
Some terrific writers have already agreed to sit on the editorial board, including David Campbell, whose writing on photography, representation and economics is increasingly influential and also Rob Godden who runs The Rights Exposure project.
A Developing Story is centred on the idea of bringing together a community, outside of purely academic circles, who want to have a strong voice on how stories about this unequal world are told. We want you to become a part of that.
If you have a blog and you like the site please consider adding a link to adevelopingstory.org . Even better, give us a nod as Matt from DVA photo has done here. Follow adevstory on twitter. Better still, some of you many want to contribute to the site.
Essentially we’re looking for:
1. people who can source materials for the front page.
2. writers for the blog (who have a specialism in the field of development).
3. a number of picture editors to run the big picture area of the site, where we will bring to the attention of NGO’s photographers from both sides of the unequal world.
4. professionals working in the field of development communications who can help us source and develop training materials.
Why adevelopingstory.org?
Recently duckrabbit ran a focus group with 12 students from Birmingham City University. They were asked to reflect on a video we have produced in collaboration with MSF. The video featured the voices and photographs of people from a hospital in the Congo. Afterwards one of the students, visibly moved commented:
I’ve never given to Oxfam because of the way they talk to me, but that’s different. It makes me want to do something, because you know it’s true, there’s no bullshit involved, it’s just the woman telling her story.
Oxfam does some really great communication work, but it does show how a simple story told well, in someone’s own words, straight from their own wounded heart, can have an impact. For duckrabbit it all comes back to telling it true, to putting the person’s story first, before any other consideration; giving them a platform to speak, not just to be spoken about. Then people will buy into what you do, because they will trust you.
That’s a first step, but we need to go much further.
Our human right is to have a voice which we can raise up to tell our own stories, not for others to come along and tell and sell our stories for their own profit. NGO’s communications and fund-raising departments should share the same values of empowering local communities through their work as the people working for these charities on the ground.
What might this shift in the way NGO’s work mean for photographers, particularly international ones? We believe more meaningful work, in which you don’t just take the pictures NGO’s want, but also work collaboratively with local photographers, over longer periods of time, building up work of greater depth. with lasting impact.
Isn’t that exactly what development should be about?
I saw this model working when I spent time with the acclaimed photojournalist Jack Piccone in Kenya last year. I don’t think Jack fired off a shot the whole time he was there, but the training that he provided has had a lasting impact with one of his students winning a POYi award and being nominated for an Amnesty International award. More importantly even though Jack and myself have long since moved on from Kenya, the work still endures. That’s a photographer (Jack) having a real impact, not just some egotistical bullshit about wanting to take photos to save the world!
THANKS
duckrabbit
Leave a Comment » | social activism | Tagged: A Developing Story, development, human rights | Permalink
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‘Real lives are like novels not legal documents’ – How NGOs should be using photos and video in social activism.
04/12/2009
Paul Close's photographic project 'The Snakebox Odyssey' asked a simple question, 'Is there one thing that could make your life better?' and in doing so was one of the most creative uses of photography I came across this year.
I know, I know, its a bit of a headline title but as this article rounds of one year dedicated to looking at the use of photography, video and all that other visual stuff used in social activism I thought it appropriate to end with a grand claim. But to be honest with you I can’t answer the question of ‘How NGOs should be using photos and video in social activism‘. Not that you needed telling that because, as regular readers will know this just takes us back to all that ‘does dieting work‘ absurdity. The other reason is, despite having looked at hundreds of examples of visuals put into the service of social activism, I feel that the answer will always be evolving. This is particularly the case at present with the explosion of possibilities offered by the digital revolution and Web 2.0. We are like frontiers men in new territory (minus the genocide of indigenous people that is, unless that is photographic film…hmmm probabaly wise to leave this metaphor alone).
Activists demonstrating in support of a photography exhibition "Into Exile: Tibet 1949 - 2009" at the Drik Gallery in Dhaka. Drik came under tremendous pressure to close down the photographic exhibition from both the Chinese Embassy and officers from the Bangladesh Police Special Branch. This was one of the most powerful reminders of both the power of images and governments desire to censor.
I started The Rights Exposure Project blog in February 2009 in an attempt to answer two questions. One of them is;
‘How can I use visual media better in my work as a human rights campaigner?’
Eight years working at Amnesty International in London is enough for me to say with some authority that both personally and as an organisation we are not using visual media as well as we could. I do not mean that we are not using enough photos and video (though sometimes we do not), or that they are not of an adequate quality (though sometimes they are not), but that we have failed to recognise the true power of these media as a tool to increase the impact of our work. We are effectively tying one arm behind our backs. Our one good arm (the most widely staffed and funded) remains the tried and tested research that Amnesty International is known for. Presented as written reports, the organisation must bang out around one hundred of these every year (a quick search on the Amnesty library turns up 119 written reports verses 13 audio-visual products in 2009), year after year, sending them off to governments, business leaders, academics, NGOs and the media. These are accompanied by numerous press releases and briefing papers. All good stuff, a veritable production line of evidence documenting human rights abuses across the globe delivered directly to those with the power to make the required changes, assuming there is the necessary political will.
Will we ever see Green Dam girl represent Amnesty International research?
6 Comments | Campaigning | Tagged: advocacy, Amnesty International, citizen media, famine, greenpeace, oxfam, participatory photography, Photography, Video Top 5 | Permalink
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People After War – third installment of Nepal conflict books
30/11/2009In 2008 Nepa Laya and Kunda Dixit (of Himal Media) published a photo book, ‘A People War‘, on the internal conflict in Nepal (1996-2006). The book took a people centric focus, rather than a military one, looking at how they were impacted by the ten year Maoist led ‘Peoples War’. I interviewed Kunda Dixit on the project earlier this year to learn how the project had come about.
The photos were taken on a successful national exhibition tour resulting in a second book, ‘Never Again‘, consisting of just some of the hundreds of messages left in the exhibiti0n visitor books. At the same time a documentary film was released called ‘Frames of War‘ by Prem BK and Kesand Tseten based on the ‘A People War’ book.
This week sees the publication of the third and final book in the series, ‘People After War‘. Through painstaking research and help from journalists and the public the publishers tracked down 50 of the individuals who featured in the original book to find out what had happened to them in the intervening years.
I managed to get hold of a copy of the book yesterday and can highly recommended it. The original photos are placed with new photos of the people they managed to find and are accompanied by an update on their lives. There are some fascinating stories, both inspiring and tragic.
The books and touring exhibitions have had a powerful resonance with those who have seen them. The projects evolving aim is one of promoting non-violence and historical documentation, and appears to have worked very well on the level of awareness raising and sharing of common experience. What the project could or should achieve beyond this poses an interesting question. The photos raise questions, emotions and awareness – there is cause for reflection on what happened on a national, local and individual level. But how this inputs into the current political impasse and continuing violence in the country is difficult to assess. ‘Never Again’ may be a cry reflected across communities nation wide but the political reality cannot be ignored – peace remains fragile, justice distant, and reconciliation difficult without both of these. Despite the mass public support for peace in 2006 the movement has failed to sustain itself as a unified presence, dividing along political lines. This comes as no surprise, after all when there is a common enemy we can easily forget our differences. But as King Gyanendra reliquished power those who found it convinient to join forces divided back into their various factions. So, there may be a common call for ‘Never Again’ but there is little unity on how to resolve why it happened in the first place.
We should not expect too much of photographs, though we often do. It would be nice to think that this project could do more to sustain peace if integrated into a national campaign to put pressure on politicians. But without such a campaign this remains a project appreciated by the people but ignored by those who can ensure a peaceful future for those in Nepal. If there is a criticism of the book it is not on the photographic level, but in regards to how it fails to address the difficult question about the legimate use of violence against the state, and that ‘getting on with development’ ignores the fundamental imbalance of power relations within the country.
The photos are currently on tour in Nepal and will be on permenant exhibition at Madan Puraskar’s library at Patan Dhoka, Kathmandu.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Asia, conflict, exhibitions, Nepal, Photography, South Asia | Permalink
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Changing Ideas – Working with NGOs and making a difference with Photography
30/11/2009
Changing Ideas will be running their 2nd workshop for photographers wanting to work with NGOs for social change between 10-17 March 2010.
Led by the award winning photographer Jonathan Torgovnik, the Changing Ideas workshop will provide participating photographers the opportunity to learn more about producing photographs for social change.
It will take place in Kolkata, India with participating photographers working with local NGO’s. The photographers will assess the NGO’s needs and produce appropriate photographs for them during the one week workshop.
I attended part of the 1st workshop and talked to participants earlier this year. Click here to find out more.
For further information on the workshop please contact:
CJ Clarke – cj@changingideas.org
David Graham – david@changingideas.org
Leave a Comment » | Training | Tagged: Changing Ideas, India, Kolkata, Photography, Training, workshop | Permalink
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