Changing the World, One Moving Image at A Time

12/22/2005: Press Release from Witness

Changing the World, One Moving Image at A Time

A New Book Shows how to Harness the Power of Video for Social Change Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism (CSRwire) (New York) Tiananmen Square. The Rodney King incident. Omarska Detention Camp. Abu Ghraib. Visual images of these events captured crucial moments in human rights history.

For well over a decade, WITNESS, the nonprofit organization founded by musician and activist Peter Gabriel has been supporting human rights defenders to harness the power of visual images like these and testimony about human rights to make meaningful and lasting change. Finally, a comprehensive guide to their tips and strategies is available publicly for the first time in the newly published book Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism (Pluto Press, UK/University of Michigan, USA). Written by leading video activists and WITNESS staff, this practical handbook will appeal to experienced, as well as aspiring video advocates.

Readers are shown how to plan, film, edit and distribute their video, as well as offered guidance on how to develop an effective strategy for using video as a catalyst for change. The book is unique in that it also covers the practical ethics and responsibilities of social justice video-work, as well as advice on using storytelling as a tactical tool in advocacy, and offers a global range of real-life stories to learn from.

"WITNESS has pioneered the use of video as an accessible and effective tool for human rights activists worldwide" said Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus. "This new book shares the stories of WITNESS' global partners and others who are using video to secure social justice. I hope it will inspire a new generation of activists to incorporate these powerful new tools into their work."

Editors and contributors include Peter Gabriel, (co-founder of WITNESS and celebrated musician and activist), Thomas Harding (author of The Video Activist Handbook, co-founder of Undercurrents), Gillian Caldwell (Executive Director of WITNESS), Katerina Cizek (co-director of Seeing is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights and the News), Sam Gregory (Program Manager of WITNESS) and Ronit Avni (founder and director of Just Vision). For more information and to purchase copies of the book go to www.witness.org.

WITNESS (http://www.witness.org/) uses the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. Over the past decade, WITNESS has partnered with groups in more than 60 countries, bringing unseen images, untold stories and seldom heard voices to public attention —catalyzing grassroots activism, political engagement and lasting change.