“Me, I’m a Camera”: Video and New Posts from Ann Jones

Video: Tomsdispatch.com

Tomsdispatch.com is featuring a video and two new blogs from Ann Jones, who has been working with the International Rescue Committee to help women in war zones — survivors of conflict, displacement and sexual and domestic violence — use photography to make their voices heard. You can learn more about the project and read Ann’s earlier posts on the IRC blog here. “The War Against Women Never Ends” “I’m checking in from West Africa, where I’ve been working with women in three neighboring countries, all recently torn apart by civil wars: Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Côte d’Ivoire. The Iraq debacle has monopolized attention and obscured these “lesser” wars — now officially “over” — but millions of West African women are struggling to recover. For them, the war isn’t really over at all, not by a long shot. This is the war story that’s never truly told.” “Me, I’m a Camera” “Digital cameras are the tool. I arrive with them and lend them to women, most of whom have never seen a camera before. I teach them to point and shoot — only that — and then I turn them loose to snap what they will. I ask them to bring me some photos of their problems and their blessings. They work in teams, two or three women sharing a camera and very nervous at first. (Some women actually shake.) It takes the whole team to snap the first photos: one holds the camera, another points, another shoots.”

HBO Premiere: The Greatest Silence [How to Help]

Video: The Greatest Silence

Please join viewers and activists across the country to watch the HBO premiere of The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo on Tuesday, April 8th at 10:00 pm EST. This documentary film is a shocking exposé of the kidnapping, rape and torture of women and girls in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.

ENOUGH, STAND, and Campus Progress have teamed up to organize screenings across the U.S. to view and discuss The Greatest Silence. Hosting a screening of The Greatest Silence can be a great, informal way for you to gather friends and community members to foster discussion around an important issue.

Four Steps to Host a Screening of The Greatest Silence:

1. Find a Location. You can host a screening in your classroom, living room, dorm lounge, church or anywhere else that you can comfortably see a screen and invite some viewers. It’s as simple as inviting some friends, getting some food, and watching HBO at 10:00 pm EST on Tuesday, April 8th. If you don’t have access to HBO, you can borrow a copy of the film to watch free of charge.

2. Register Your Party. E-mail your name and address to events@enoughproject.org. You can get materials, discussion questions, and tips on how to throw a screening – all you need to do is find the space and the people. Please email ASAP. To borrow the DVD by mail, please register by Monday, March 31st.

3. Host the Screening. Watch HBO at 10:00 pm EST on April 8th (or play the DVD). You can download these discussion questions to lead a conversation.

4. Join a Call the Next Day. The next day you have an opportunity to hear from the filmmaker and discover practical ways to help. Sign up here to join the call on April 9th.

Thanks for helping us to spread the word about this important film. Please tell your friends to watch the HBO premiere of The Greatest Silence with you on Tuesday, April 8th at 10:00 pm EST!

Video: George Clooney on Darfur [This Week’s Voices]

Video: Al Jazeera English via YouTube

This week’s round-up of notable quotes from the news and the Web: “He [George Clooney] presented himself and his father as journalists. He explained to the people who he met that he was there to hear their story, that he was concerned about their plight and that he wanted to retell their story back in the United States and around the world.” – Melissa Winkler, IRC emergency communications director, on The Fabulous Picture Show on Al Jazeera, referring to actor and director George Clooney’s IRC-sponsored trip to Sudan and Chad with father, Nick, in 2006. “I’m here to see my children happy and laughing, I want them to drink orange juice in the morning. In Baghdad they smelled and drank smoke and rockets.” – Nazar Joodi, an Iraqi refugee resettled by the IRC with his family in the Washington D.C. area, speaking with The Washington Examiner. “No post-conflict country can truly ‘recover’ or ‘develop’ while its women and children still suffer. After all, if women and children really counted, they’d have to count as the overwhelming majority of human beings on the planet. Most of the world’s children are in the care of women. As women fare, so fare children. As children fare, so fares the country in the future. That’s why GBV is so important. It’s not a ‘women’s issue’—not some incidental add-on to the ‘real’ business of relief and recovery. It’s the best possible investment in a better world.” – Ann Jones blogging from Sierra Leone on an IRC gender-based violence (GBV) program that puts cameras in the hands of women in conflict zones and helps them make their voices heard. “If we don’t make our best-faith efforts, with the best methods available, we’ll get back to the bad old days when someone makes up a number … and [the number] is going to get perpetuated.” – Richard Brennan, IRC senior health director, speaking with The National Journal for an article about accurately counting refugee flows or deaths caused by war and famine. A new IRC survey has found that 5,400,000 people have died from war-related causes in Congo since 1998 – the world’s deadliest documented conflict since WW II. “I don’t think I have ever worked so closely with the private sector.” –Pam Flowers, IRC country director in Azerbaijan, interviewed by The Christian Science Monitor for an article about community projects in Azerbaijan created by the oil company, BP.

Video: Colin Powell Welcomes Refugees to Phoenix

Former Secretary of State and International Rescue Committee Board of Overseers member Colin Powell recently visited the IRC’s resettlement program in Phoenix, AZ. There, Powell met with a small group of refugees resettled to the Phoenix area. Among them were families from Burma, Burundi and Iraq. “I want to personally welcome these families,” Powell told the group. “I know that they will become great Americans.”

Rape in Congo on TODAY [Voices in the News]

NBC

In her report from Goma, Congo, on the TODAY Show this morning, NBC News anchor Ann Curry asked IRC’s Sarah Mosely about the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war. “It’s assault with bottles and sticks—you name it,” Sarah told her. “It’s brutal. It’s absolutely horrifying.”  Video Learn more about how the IRC is helping women in Congo heal here.   Take part in IRC’s campaign to end violence against women and girls here.