Earlier today, I found this article, and was absolutely facinated by the reaction to the femicides in Latin America created by Swoon and Tennessee Jane Watson. I just found out about these femicides, and I'll try to do another blog post soon to explain more about what they are, and what you can do. For this post, I was really intrigued about the art that came out of Swoon's discovery of the femicides, and how she was moved to create the incredible instillation shown in the video below.
This video and the stunning images of the instillations really started getting me thinking, about how cool it would be to have more instillations that raise awareness for human rights issues. I started imagining what I would do if I was given a space to just CREATE something to help people understand the pain of refugees from Darfur, to help people feel what is going through their minds, and move them to take action.
I think that art is an incredibly effective way of reaching people, and forcing them to notice issues they may have ignored in the past. I love the absolute effectiveness of telling a story by creating a space, a story that can make people want to help, make people listen and want to speak out.
If you could create an instillation...
What issue would you want to feature?
Do you have any ideas for what you would want to put in your instillation? How you would shape the space?
How could you find a space to "create for a cause"?
Do you have friends who could help you with their different skills and talents?
*If anybody is interested in doing something like this, let me know! I'd love to help others create something like this!*
Shepard Fairey, the man who created the HOPE posters for Obama, has now created a new work of art, in support of Aung San Suu Kyi.
“This Human Rights cause is something I believe in strongly,” said Fairey. “I created this portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi to raise awareness of her on-going house arrest and the oppressive nature of the military regime ruling Burma.”
Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?
1) She is THE ONLY Nobel Peace Prize Recipient currently IMPRISONED, and has been under house arrest for 13 years
2) She is a leader for the rights of the people of Burma, a country with a regime that has destroyed over 3,300 ethnic minority villages, forced at least 1.5 million people to flee their homes, becoming refugees and internally displaced persons, recruited tens of thousands of child soldiers, and employ modern-day slave labor.
3) Her political party, the National League for Democracy, won 82% of the seats in parliament in Burma's last election, however, none of those people were allowed to take their seats. 2,100 political prisoners, including some of those members of parliament, still remain locked up today.
Please look at this new website has been created to heighten awareness of the cruel situation of Burma, and the role of Aung San Suu Kyi, found at http://freedomtolead.causecast.org/
Read, learn, and pass it on! Link the website as your status on facebook or myspace, send out an email, blog it! The more people who know about the situation, the more who can act!
Posted on: 06/14/09(1 ratings) Author: TaraLConley
This week brought lots of inspiring, infuriating, and downright interesting
stories in the sports/social justice/political world. I compiled a
list of a few stories that I thought ya'll would like. So, without
further adu, check the certified links.
No surprise here: Girls in cities like Los Angeles and New York "are the left-behinds of the youth sports movement"
especially since a large majority of these young inner city girl are
depended on by their families to "tend to their siblings or clean
house." And since there isn't enough money and resources to go around
for girls' sports programs, these young female athletes wind up getting
"very little" support. Thankfully, there are cool organizations like
Cooperative, Healthy, Active, Motivated, Postive Students (CHAMPS) that work to provide after school resources for aspiring athletes. (NY Times, CHAMPS).
Apparently, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thinks that those rioting and protesting against his Presidential "win" is like losing a "soccer match."
He says, "Some people are sentimental and become excited. As I said, I
compared it to a soccer match. Their team has not won in the match."
Eh, not really, Ahmadinejad. You ever think that these folks are angry
because they believe they're losing their freedoms? A classic example of
bad taste: using sports rhetoric to dismiss a country in, what appears
to be, utter turmoil. (CNN).
In
NBA news, excited crowds will gather outside of Amway Arena tonight for
Game 6 of the LA Lakers and Orlando Magic. Nope, these folks aren't
unlucky ticket holders, they're human rights activists.
Protesters plan to call out the multi-million dollar entity known as
the NBA (and its Commissioner David Stern) for its "links with a global
corporation that violates workers' rights and subjects them to
sweatshop conditions." Here's wondering what Sir Charles thinks. (Peter Dreier/Huffington Post).
On
a lighter note, and in tribute of this week's upcoming Skatepark
Dedication in Los Angeles, check out this awesome video entitled
"Motivational Longboarding."
And just because track and field is, like, the most awesomest sports ever, here's a cool pic for your viewing pleasure. Apparently, the sky is the limit. (Getty/Jezebel)
Awesome feature photo provided by Vramack's Flickr page.
I recently posted about the horrors and atrocities currently occuring in Burma. The militia have rectuited tens of thousands of child soldiers, destroyed over 3,300 villages, use rape as a weapon, and force hundreds of thousands of Burmese people into forced labor.
These refugees are fleeing Ler Per Her Camp.
This is a home that has been burned down by the army.
In the past, with situations such as Darfur, the former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda, the United Nations Security Council has voted to create a "Comission of Inquiry", to investigate such abuses. This Comission then makes reccomendations to the UN Security Council for actions.
While no such Comission has yet been created for Burma, two members of Congress are now trying to change this.
Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Don Manzullo (R-IL) have organized a letter to President Obama asking that he pressure the UN Security Council to create a Comission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes comitted by Burma's military regime.
They are circulating this letter in Congress and asking other members of Congress to sign on. The more people who sign this letter, the more of an impact it will have.
1) Check if your Congress member has signed the letter at the bottom of this list HERE
2) If not, then go to THIS LINK and find your state on the list
3) Follow the steps shown, starting with finding your representative
[To find your representative, go to house.gov and type your zip code in the box in the upper left corner]
While sometimes calling government leaders might seem scary, it's the best way to create change. Just remember, they are representing YOU. What you say does and will make a difference to them.
Summary execution, torture, rape, forced labor,
extortion, and displacement are among the daily realities for the people of
Burma. When they try to speak out, ethnic minority rebels are met by the
"four-cuts strategy" from the government.
Cutting off food.
Cutting off funds.
Cutting off intelligence.
Cutting off recruits.
In other instances, the military gains control of
an area and establishes a base, using forced labor. From that base, they attack
and burn other nearby villages. Areas outside this government control are
established "black zones", where soldiers can shoot anybody on sight. As if
that wasn't horrific enough, there is a new campaign of "Burmanization", where
government troops are using rape against ethnic minority women to force
pregnancy.
530,000 are internally displaced.
700,000 have been forced to seek refuge
abroad.
3,200 villages have been DESTROYED or abandoned since 1996
Why doesn't the world know?
We must spread the word about Burma, the stories of
what the people experience and suffer. Think about how you can take action and raise awareness
in your life. Some ideas...
Sign this petition to free Aung San Suu Kyi, a leader in action for Burma!
