It took me some time to appreciate this video from the UNHCR. Because of the use of miniature figures it looks childish at first sight but the last 20 seconds pulled me over. It is that last part which perfectly visualize the hidden truth of rape as a war crime.
“Sexual violence is the war crime that generate more refugee women in Colombia. The big problem is that it’s been unnoticed.
Help stop this. http://saynotoviolence.org/”
This is a nice Christmas wish for a country that is constantly in a state of war.
The Colombian Ministry of National Defense ask relatives and friends of people from the FARC to collect messages and gifts for Christmas. The army packed these messages in a ball and spread those on several rivers in the country, just miles away from the guerrillas camps.
All the balls were accompanied by a message: Do not miss this Christmas. Colombia and his family is waiting for you. Demobilize. Christmas makes everything possible.
They called it: Operación Ríos de Luz / Operation Rivers of Light.
“No deje pasar esta Navidad, Colombia Y su familia lo están esperando. Desmovilícese. En Navidad todo es posible.”
The FARC, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. It is a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia. [Wikipedia]
When talking about Hate or Unhate I prefer relations between real people. Those on the front line.
Unhate isn’t about stunning Photoshop work or a green logo from Italy.
The Ottawa Citizen has taken an interesting approach to memorializing Canada’s war dead. Perhaps taking a cue from Israel’s tradition of annually naming all the people killed by Palestinian terror attacks, The Citizen has created a Twitter feed called ”We Are The Dead”
The Citizen’s Glen McGregor set up a bot that accesses the Canadian Government’s Virtual War Memorial, which houses 119,531 records of Canadians killed at war (mostly in the 20th century). Once an hour, it randomly accesses a name, rank, posting and date of death and uploads it to Twitter.
“A quick calculation showed us that it will take more than 13 years for the bot to work through the list of war dead. We decided it was worth doing anyway,” says McGregor in his blog.
“We are the dead” is a line from the WWI poem ”In Flanders Fields” by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae”
Here is the stanza:
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Nice animation from Vidar Bakkeli made for ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
Banning Nuclear Weapons isn’t the most salient activist movement these days. Remember the 90s.
That is what ICAN tries to change:
“Our aim is to inspire young people to take action and raise awareness on the fact that nuclear weapons do not make us safer because they cannot address the threats that young people and our societies have to face today.”
These are the arguments from ICAN:
- because there are 20.000 nuclear weapons in the world today, and represent a constant threat to humanity;
- because in case of a nuclear attack, borders would not protect us from radiations and climate change;
- because the resources that we invest in nuclear weapons could be reinvested, helping the economy to get back on track;
- because we believe that change does not just happen we, collectively, make it happen!
Inspired by ancient solar temples like the Newgrange Tomb (which catches winter solstice sun), the Canadian War Museum included an interesting architectural feature in its 21st century rebuild. Each November 11, Remembrance Day in Canada, a carefully-placed window allows a column of morning sun to frame the headstone of Canada’s Unknown Soldier at 11 am Eastern Standard Time (DST -5:00). This coincides with two minutes of silence observed at Canada’s War Memorial in downtown Ottawa.
The phenomenon is being webcast live from the museum today, so if you care to see it you can tune in here.
I’m not sure I love the art direction in this ad by DDB for a Canadian heritage NGO, but I do support the sentiment. The anniversary of the armistice that ended World War One is observed in Canada by the wearing of red plastic poppies and ceremonies at war memorials across the country. The poppy symbol was adopted after Canadian soldier-physician Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote the poem ”In Flanders Fields” , which used the numerous poppies growing on the disturbed soil of battlefields and graves and a key image. McCrae did not survive the war.
My complaint is simply one of balance. The tiny soldiers marking tomorrow’s date are overshadowed by the poppy. I find this unfortunate, because the emphasis should be the other way around. The poppy is supposed to symbolize the very real sacrifice people like them have been willing to make. But it is only a symbol. Tomorrow’s memorial is about mourning the loss of human lives to war, and hoping for a more peaceful future.
I wrote about the Impossible Brief before, very briefly in 2010. I forgot about it until a few weeks ago when I saw the result: Blood Relations. To be enthusiastic is an understatement. For me this is one of the highlights from 2011. It is how hate and revenge can change in love and understanding.
It isn’t the ultimate solution, but it is powerful. It is about blood, a symbol for war and for life. A vehicle what can only be conceived by a creative.
The Impossible Brief was launched in June 2010 by Saatchi & Saatchi Israel at the Cannes Advertising Festival. Creative minds from all over the world were invited to present ideas that would bring Israelis and Palestinians closer together.
Saatchi & Saatchi Israel launched the ‘Impossible Brief’ which led to ‘Blood Relations’ - a joint Israeli-Palestinian blood donation last week of September in Tel Aviv. Israeli and Palestinian members of the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF), an organisation for parents from both sides of the conflict who have lost family members, came together to give blood as a symbolic act of healing. The blood donations will be shared by Israeli hospitals through the Israeli Blood Bank, Magen David Adom and the Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Society Hospital for Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
Ali Abu Awwad, Spokesperson and Project Manager said on behalf of the Parents Circle Families Forum: “Blood Relations’ seeks to provide a catalyst for dialog by demonstrating two peoples’ shared humanity through the common bond of blood. It is incumbent upon us to stress the need for an ongoing dialog towards peace, whatever the result of the Palestinian quest for an independent viable state.”
Outrageous to say probably but what a beautiful video from ActionAid UK. I was hoping this video wouldn’t be necessary.
It’s latest campaign from ActionAid to highlight the 10th anniversary of US and British forces’ intervention in Afghanistan.
The presence of the troops is questionable but without it would a devastating situation for women.
Running literacy workshops for women or teaching 5-year-old girls the alphabet may not sound like much. But in a country where 84% of women never learn to read, they are the most important steps towards stopping the violence. For good.
ActionAid recently carried out an extraordinary survey where 1,000 women from Afghanistan were polled to gain a rare insight into their opinions about living through the last ten years of war and the current reconciliation process with the Taliban.
Read it after the break.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC, sexual violence is a community-wide problem. Rape, in the DRC has been used as a weapon of war and sadly continues to increase even after. According to the peacebuilding NGO Search for Common Ground or SFCG, it is estimated that there…
In the movie Hot Tub Time Machine, John Cusack goes “back to the future” and discovers that his friend Lou has become incredibly wealthy due to a little search-engine-that-could that he aptly named “Lougle.” It’s a fun example of how an individual’s name can become a familiar household term…
Search through Osocio selected websites about social advertising, marketing, fundraising, ngo's and other on topic resources.
News aggregated from our favourite blogs
About Osocio
Osocio is dedicated to social advertising and non-profit campaigns. It’s the place where marketing and activism collide. Formerly known as the Houtlust Blog, Osocio is the central online hub for advertisers, ad agencies, grassroots, activists, social entrepreneurs, and good Samaritans from around the globe.
Osocio e-mail newsletter: highlighting the best social campaigns at Osocio, social advertising related news and field news from around the world.
You can now subscribe by entering your e-mail address here.
Read more |
Post comment (2)
