Exploring how rights advocates use information and digital technology to create positive change
Tactic 2 - Witness and record
This tactic is good for ensuring that people have the power to capture rights abuses as they happen. This tactics card includes:
- video stories
- a case study
- suggestions for the different ways you could use this tactic
- a featured tool
- tips
To download this card click here.
Tactic 2 - Witness and record from Tactical Technology Collective on Vimeo.
Examples from this video:
- The Targuist Sniper YouTube video- by an anonymous advocate in Morocco
- The Saffron Revolution - by bloggers and advocates in Burma
Two short videos showing the death of Neda Agha-Soltan during Iran's post-election protests attained worldwide attention in June 2009.One video was shot by an anonymous man, and was then emailed to supporters and spread quickly to Facebook, where a doctor who appeared in the video trying to save Neda's life left a comment describing the scene and his role. The decision to email the video, rather than directly upload it, was done to protect the man who shot it, and also to circumvent the Iranian government's censorship of the internet after the election. Journalists became aware of the video through email contacts and social network sites. In addition, a second eyewitness video of Neda's death appeared on CNN within hours of being uploaded, and it was copied on YouTube.The video gained many more viewers through links posted on Twitter, along with numerous updates on the situation in Iran. Because the video was posted and spread so quickly, there was little time to consider the implications of such a rapid spread of unedited, firsthand footage. Writing at WITNESS, Priscila Néri says “As concerned citizens, activists, and fellow human beings, how do we balance the need to 'spread the word' of what's unfolding in Iran with the need to respect Neda's dignity as she dies, as well as the grief of her family faced with such tragedy? What is our responsibility when receiving and watching a video like this? Do we repost it? Forward it to everyone we know and encourage them to watch as well?” As the ability for more and more people to capture eyewitness reports and live events with mobile phones and digital cameras increases, the video footage of Neda challenges us to decide how to sensitively and strategically publicise these accounts, especially in volatile and high-pressure moments. It also illustrates the danger people can be put in when they post and re-post footage online: advocates and protesters have since been detained by the government in Iran, and Twitter and Facebook were named in trials against them.
Tools used: Mobile phone cameras, email, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, blogs
Reach: Hundreds of thousands to millions of people worldwide. Cost: N/A
Resources: Access to data network on mobile phones and internet. Supporters outside of Iran to publish and republish the video. Support of news media to report on the video. Bloggers and advocates to give context to the video in written accounts on blogs and social network sites.
Time: A few hours, from the footage being shot to when it was uploaded. A few more hours before it reached international broadcast media.
Level of Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Links to learn more:
- New York Times blog
- Article and follow-up by Hamid Tehrani at Global Voices
- Priscilla Neri's article at The Hub, WITNESS
DIFFERENT WAYS YOU CAN DO THIS
1 You don’t need to use video. Ask people to use their mobile phones to send photos by email or if possible by multimedia message (MMS), which can later be made into a slideshow or published on their own.
2 If it’s not possible to conceal people’s identities visually, you can use animation, puppetry, or photo montage as a way of digital storytelling.
3 Being able to witness events first-hand is rarely possible. You can reconstruct some events later through interviews, and by being introduced to people involved through trusted allies and contacts.
4 Rather than recording the faces of people at live events, consider alternative, safer ways to get footage that will tell the story of an action or protest.
5 For video intended to bring corruption to light, think about how you can explain clearly the roles of the people in it and their relationships to each other. By visually mapping these relationships you can highlight links between people, organisations, and corruption.
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A trusted video sharing community for human rights advocates WITNESS, an NGO for video advocacy, hosts its own video sharing website, The Hub, where anyone can upload videos related to human rights. On The Hub, a community of advocates receptive to rights issues are already gathered, and WITNESS has a history of protecting advocates’ right to free expression. One drawback is that The Hub does not have the massive, diverse audience that other very popular video sites have; so you may want to use it as well as popular sites like YouTube if your aim is to get as big an audience as possible.
VIOLETA KRASNIC, FROM WITNESS, ON CONCEALING IDENTITY:
“Filming concealed identity interviews is a matter of trust, in people and in technology. Our consent process conveys the purpose of the video and its intended use in the video advocacy campaign and is built on an understanding of the security implications of the interview.”
AUNG, BURMESE RIGHTS ADVOCATE, ON GETTING INFORMATION OUT:
“The Saffron Revolution clearly indicated how citizen journalists are powerful for our country. Sometimes we bring information across the border using recording devices, and sometimes we use email or FTP – these are the sorts of methods we are using so far. Even though the regime has tried to shut down everything, bloggers and citizen journalists have been able to bring information to the outside media.”
PRISCILLA NERI, FROM WITNESS, ON ETHICS AND PUBLICATION:
“With so many questions unanswered in the video of Neda, I find myself without a good solution [for] what to do with it. What I know for sure is that it must be seen, and the young woman’s dignity must be respected. Perhaps this delicate balance can be achieved by blurring her identity in the video, or by thinking twice before selecting the image of her bloodied face as your new Facebook status.”
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