---------- Forwarded message ---------- 
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 11:33:10 -0800 
From: Sid Shniad 
To: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy (LABOR-L@YORKU.CA) 
Subject: Video cameras for Human Rights work 

Global Exchange supports this call from the CHIAPAS MEDIA PROJECT for 
donations of VHS camcorders to support human rights work in indigenous 
communities. 
The presence of cameras with trained users is a proven deterrent to 
human rights abuses. 
------------------ 
***CHIAPAS MEDIA PROJECT*** 
In February, the CHIAPAS MEDIA PROJECT will deliver up to 40 used VHS 
camcorders to indigenous villages throughout Chiapas. In March, a 
delegation of Chicago-based youth trained in video skills will  join 
youth in Mexico City and Oaxaca to give a 10-day training in video 
editing in the community of Morelia. Tom Hansen will lead the delegation 
to donate the video cameras and teach villagers to use them. 

To donate your used VHS camcorder: include working batteries, battery 
charger and, if possible, a camera case. Please send your camcorder to 
Tom Hansen, 4834 N. Springfield, Chicago, IL, 60625. 

For more information about the youth delegation, please contact Tom 
Hansen at 773-583-7728; e-mail alex2051@xsite.net 

------------------------------------- 
Global Exchange 2017 Mission St., Rm. 303 San Francisco, CA 94110 Phone: 
415.255.7296 Fax: 415.255.7498 
http://www.globalexchange.org 
 
  

----- reply sent to above ---- 

Date sent:        Mon, 26 Jan 1998 00:54:28 +0530 

Tom Hansen 

Have you contact the Lawyers Committe for Human Rights in NY? 
They have been doing this for some time (so they say... I have high 
hopes but have offered myself as a volunteer teacher / trainer many times and have heard nothing back from them)... but the singer Peter Gabrial is supporting them and they seem to have some U$ 
  

Their URL is 
http://www.witness.org/ 
or 
http://www.witness.org/textonly/index.htm 

and email address for them is 
witbin@lchr.com 

( lchr =Lawyers Committee for Human Rights ) 

Snail mail: 

Witness 
330 Seventh Avenue 
 New York, NY 10001 

I include this and other information below from their site incase you do 
not have web access. 
  
"One of the key goals of the Witness program is to empower human rights 
activists working locally within their own communities. Witness gives the tools of technology directly to nongovernmental organizations to document human 
rights abuses as they occur in cities, towns and villages worldwide. " from 
their web site.. 

Please let me know if anything happens with them... 

I do not speak Spanish (but my knowledge of French lets me understand 
much) If I can help with the training, let me know... 
I'll post copies of your request where I can 
Good luck 
George 

P.S.  I've just set up my Homepages .... see below in my .sig file 

About Witness 
 
  

     "Truth knows 
     no borders. 
     Information 
     wants to 
     be free. 
     Technology is 
     the key." 

     --Peter Gabriel 

     The Witness program, conceived in 1992 in partnership with the 
Lawyers      Committee for Human Rights, Peter Gabriel and the Reebok 
Foundation, gives     human rights advocates the tools to document human rights abuses. 
Witness provides video cameras and training to human rights groups around the world. Through Witness, many groups are discovering an important new     dimension to their human rights advocacy. For example, Witness videos  document police brutality in Nigeria; exhumations of mass graves in Bosnia, Guatemala and Haiti; graphic evidence of "ethnic cleansing" of Rwandese      refugees by Hutu militants; and the abuse of street children in Honduras      and Guatemala. Dozens of new videotapes reach the Witness office each     month. With these tapes, Witness opens the world's eyes to human rights     violations and helps bring justice.  
 
  

"Armed with cameras, 
front-line activists 
are letting the truth 
do the talking." 

-- Peter Gabriel 
 
  

Witness honored by VH1. Click here for Event Highlights. 
 
  

Click on any of the following questions for more information: 

     What have people said about Witness?  
     What do local human rights groups do?  
     Why do they need equipment?  
     What do activists do with their cameras?  
     How is Witness footage being used?  
     What is the Witness Archive?  
     What can you do to support Witness?  
     Who created the Witness Website?  
 
  

What have people said about Witness? 

Peter Gabriel 

     "Witness works. A camera in the rights hands at the right time at 
the right      place can be more powerful than tanks and guns. Let truth do the 
fighting.  

     Information is power and with the right technology, truth can 
travel across     any border. By capturing the human rights stories of today, the Witness     program challenges governments and can help prevent future abuses from     occurring. " 

Sigourney Weaver 

     "One of the things that has always struck me about working with the 
Lawyers     Committee is the terrible isolation of these brave men and women 
activists. 
     With Witness, communication between us will not be stopped. Our 
connection     to each other will be even stronger."  

Michael Stipe 

     " Witness can link one village to another and villages to 
international forums. Witness will help pressure governments to right wrongs and honor their promise that every human being is free and equal in dignity and rights. " 

The Boston Globe 

     "It is a wise project that deserves universal support."  

Paul Fireman 
Chairman and CEO of Reebok International Ltd  

     "In the world of business, we're about competition. In the world of 
human rights, we need to be about cooperation. In that world, while few 
of us are guilty, all of us are responsible. We at Reebok have donated our 
marketing and business skills, from the Reebok Foundation, the start-up 
dollars for Witness."  

Michael Posner 
Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee  

     "The worst cases of political torture occur within the first 48 
hours of an arrest. We have already seen instances where sending out faxes has generated a prompt international response that helped stop abuse in 
the critical first hours."  

     They monitor and expose government abuses.  
     They teach fellow citizens about their basic rights.  
     They defend victims of human rights abuse.  
     They fight for rights in every possible venue, in the courts, the 
media and 
     in the international arena. 

Every day, people the world over suffer grave abuses of their human 
rights.Governments engage in torture, political killings, arbitrary detentions 
and deny other basic freedoms. Yet these basic rights are guaranteed by the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations in 1948. 

Human rights activists are on the front-lines of the fight to protect 
these rights. But they often fight alone, isolated and under constant threat. 
With Witness equipment, these groups can record the facts, expose the truth 
and get their message out to the international community. 

   1.Document human rights violations as they occur.  

          In Nigeria, the Civil Liberties Organization taped a peaceful 
protest against military rule that turned violent when state security 
forces attacked unarmed demonstrators. 

   2.Submit evidence to courts of law.  

          In Honduras, Casa Alianza taped children behind bars in a 
cramped jail  for adults. When a young boy was murdered in that jail, the 
group spearheaded the investigation using video tape as evidence. 

   3.Disseminate information.  

          Physicians for Human Rights filmed the exhumations of mass 
graves  throughout the former Yugoslavia. This footage was broadcast 
on international news programs to expose the atrocities committed 
in the war.  

   4.Tape eyewitness testimony.  

          The Egytpian Organization for Human Rights captured the 
physical and psychic wounds of torture victims receiving treatment at a 
hospital.  

     In the U.S. and international media:  

          Witness footage has appeared on major national and 
international networks.  

     By international tribunals:  

          A Witness camera recorded the exhumation of genocide victims 
in Rwanda. These tapes were then submitted to the International 
War Crimes Tribunal. 

     In the courtroom:  

          Taped evidence of police brutality in Egypt was submitted to 
the Chief  Prosecutor in cases involving violence against voters. 

Witness is building a multi-media archive that uses advanced technology 
to gather and catalog human rights footage. The archive is a unique 
resource - a repository of crucial video evidence. Public awareness of human rights violations is the first step in building a broad constituency to 
challenge these abuses.  

The Witness website aims to bring together a virtual community of people 
concerned about Human Rights. The site will keep the community 
up-to-date on Human Rights issues, what they can do to assist, and the impact Witness itself is having world-wide. 

Thanks go out to: 

     The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in partnership with Peter 
Gabriel     and the Reebok Foundation  
     Michael Stipe  
     Cybershop, Original site host  
     VH1  
     GroundZero, original graphics design 
 
 
  

------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- 
Date:          Sun, 25 Jan 1998 11:30:54 -0500 
Reply-to:      unreform@ccen.uccb.ns.ca 
From:          Martin Sieg <siegm@GUSUN.GEORGETOWN.EDU> 
Organization:  CCT @ Georgetown University 
Subject:       Video cameras for Human Rights work (fwd) 
To:            WUSCNET@post.queensu.ca 

I am forwarding this not only because I think it is a good cause, with 
good reasoning, but also because it is an interesting illustration of 
the perceived power of the media. People naturally behave differently 
when they know they are being watched. But Orwell's prophecies of (to 
him) future society being constantly under the eyes of 'Big Brother' are 
being contradicted by this more democratic movement of everyone having 
the ability to watch each other and show the world what they see. 

Martin 

This site has my Bio 
http://www.cban.com/resume/base/media+ietc-ca.html 

Not a pretty website, but it has my Bio, Resume, Credits, Exhibitions & 
Residencies. 
http://www.web.net/~media 

---> 7305 Ch du Huard, Lac Pilon, Mont Rolland, Quebec, Canada, J0R 1G0 
----> Voice / Fax (514) 229-3666 

E-mail when at home: 
<media@ietc.ca>  
or  
<media@web.apc.org> 
or when on the road, 
<media002@hotmail.com> 

CAUTION: Contents may not have been spellchecked, copyedited or proofed. 

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." (Gandhi) 
"The fool wonders, the wise man asks."  (Benjamin Disraeli) 

Original material (c) copyright 1998 G.A.Lessard & may be quoted,  
resent, reproduced, stored or forwarded provided this copyright notice  
is attached.  Forwarded or mined material is property original copyright 
owners. 
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