You can’t imagine how thrilled I am to announce that, after 15 years, EarthRights International has a video that tells the story of our work — who we are, what we do, and why and how we do it — all in just over 4 minutes.
I could say more about our work, to set the stage, but I think the video stands on its own, so here it is:
That’s it! The whole point of this video was to SHOW what we do without having to describe it—and we hope that it does just that for you. But we also hope that it does more.
Last month, in Thailand, I held a prescreening of the video in front of a small group of young adults from Burma, hailing from various ethnic groups and regions, backgrounds and religions, but all committed to promoting human rights, protecting the environment, and ending suffering in their country. The audience of fourteen men and women was the EarthRights School Burma’s class of 2012, attending their first day of orientation to the EarthRights School.
At the end of the video, a young woman raised her hand, looked me in the eye and said: “Seeing this video, it makes our blood boil.” I was taken aback at first, interpreting her words to mean anger, but then she explained:
“When we live in Burma, we have no information, no way of knowing that there are groups like this outside, working in so many ways to help protect our people. So, when we see this kind of video, it gives us hope, and makes us excited to come to this place and learn how to do this work. When we see this, we have more energy to work for our people and our country.”
So check it out, let us know what you think, and please pass it on. After all, its all about connections: linking the protection of human rights to environmental sustainability, linking local harms and solutions to global laws and policies, linking grassroots activists to international lawyers and campaigners. We hope this video helps you both see and make these connections, and makes your blood boil, too.
All of us at ERI would like to thank Jennifer Beman White for her tireless work imagining, filming and directing this video, as well as Mat Taylor for his stunning work on the motion graphics.
