Friday, November 16, 2007
Humpback Whale Hunting to Resume in Japan
For the first time since a 1963 moratorium on hunting the animals, the Japanese whaling fleet is soon to launch a large-scale whale-hunt. Although it is ostensibly for scientific purposes, environmental activists plan to track and impair the hunt.
Chris Marker and Mario Ruspoli's THREE CHEERS FOR THE WHALE chronicled the history of mankind's relationship with the largest and most majestic of marine mammals, and graphically exposed their slaughter by the fishing industry in 1973, shortly after the moratorium was effected. Labels: activism, articles, Asia, Chris Marker, international relations, Japan
Reverend Billy Arrested
Profiled in
CULTUREJAM, Reverend Billy is a long-time performance activist as the head of The Church of Stop Shopping. Taking his unique blend of evangelist preacher and anti-consumer culture message to a recent Critical Mass gathering of bicycle enthusiasts in New York City's Union Square, the Reverend was arrested reading the First Amendment into a bullhorn. The police site harassment as the charge. Tom Hayes reports on the story for the Associated Press,
NYC Man held for reciting 1st Amendment.
Labels: activism, independent media, reverend billy, street art
Friday, November 17, 2006
Amateur Videos and Human Rights
As reported in the Washington Post, the digital revolution is helping to throw light into some of the world's darkest corners. Ordinary people going about their daily lives are now the first to document historic events. The photos at Abu Ghraib prison taken on soldiers' personal digital cameras, vacationers recorded the first images of the 2004 tsunami, London commuters provided cellphone photos used to investigate the July 2005 bombings on the transit system, and cellphone images were among the first glimpses of the recent coup in Thailand.
This development was first documented in our acclaimed release
SEEING IS BELIEVING: Handicams, Human Rights and the News. Available on DVD with many bonus features including a Study Guide, this film crosses the world tracking media activists to look at what happens when regular people use camcorders to document what they see. What are the risks and responsibilities? What are the wider impacts on television, audiences, and society?
Labels: activism, human rights, media
Russian Journalist Anna Politkovskaya Slain
DEMOCRACY ON DEADLINE is a documentary about the danger and other challenges faced by journalists across the world, and journalists' essential role in democracy, features a 20 minute segment on Politkovskaya. It is now being released in honor of Politkovskaya's courageous work.
Labels: activism, Anna Politkovskaya, Chechnya, media, Russia
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Peru Gold Mine Shut by Farmer Protests
As reported on Yahoo News and elsewhere, production at Latin America's largest gold mine was at a standstill Tuesday amid mounting criticism from Peru's business sector over the government's refusal to remove farmers blockading the facility's access road. The farmers, meanwhile, insisted that their protest is over alleged depletion and pollution of water supplies and not because they want Yanacocha to provide them jobs, as the company maintains. Officials with the Yanacocha gold mine, majority owned by Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp., announced the shutdown late Monday, saying operations were impossible.
Our critically-acclaimed, award-winning film
CHOROPAMPA: THE PRICE OF GOLD portrays the aftermath of a devastating mercury spill at Yanacocha that contaminated the village of Choropampa. The environmental catastrophe turned this quiet village into a hotbed of civil resistance.
Labels: activism, articles, human rights, Latin America, mining, Peru
Chicago's Burge Report To Go Public
The Chicago Tribune reports that the Cook County Judge Paul Biebel Jr., who launched a probe into allegations of torture by former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge and officers under him, ruled Friday that a report prepared by special prosecutors should be made public. In the mid-'70s through early '80s the Chicago police used electroshock, oxygen deprivation, hanging on hooks, the bastinado and beatings of the testicles. The torturers were white, and their victims black or brown.
Our long-popular film
THE END OF THE NIGHTSTICK investigates the torture, institutional racism, violence and cover-up. It also tells the story of a Chicago grassroots movement that refused to let testimonies of police violence remain buried.
Labels: activism, criminal justice, human rights, police brutality, prisons
Cart
