News
END:CIV director Franklin López to tour Australia.
END:CIV director Franklin López to tour Australia. END:CIV illustrates the brutality of a civilization addicted to systematic violence and environmental destruction, and the heroism of those who confront it head-on.
Featured Filmmaker: Anna Har, KOMAS
Pusat KOMAS is a human rights centre set up in August 1993 to empower indigenous people, the urban poor, workers and civil society organisations to advocate for human rights in Malaysia.
Political satirist takes government to court over "Cartoon-O-Phobia"
Celebrated Malaysian political cartoonist Zunar (née Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque) appeared at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today for the first hearing of a civil suit brought by himself against the government and the police, in which he challenges them for his wrongful arrest and detention in September 2010. The case looks set to revisit public discussion on sedition and free speech, and ARTICLE 19 welcomes this as a meaningful opportunity for the Malaysian government to review its controversial censorship laws.
Journalist may have been killed for exposing land disputes
A Thai journalist and political activist who often exposed land disputes was shot dead in Phuket, Thailand, report the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the International Press Institute (IPI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Help Videomakers for Change get to Camp Sambel
Next month, EngageMedia’s Camp Sambel will host more than 50 Southeast Asian video activists for five days of video training, screenings and discussion near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The response to this year’s event however has been overwhelming. We will have to turn away some fantastic people if we can’t raise at least $2500 (and hopefully more) for the Camp Sambel Travel Fund. We need your help!
We're Hiring - Migrant Worker/Dispatches Project Coordinator
EngageMedia is looking for a strong, dynamic and creative individual to lead 2 new projects; a Southeast Asia migrant worker video training, production and distribution initiative, and a series of video 'Dispatches', issue based online and DVD compilations.
2nd Uranium Film Festival selected first films
Until the end of 2011, the 2nd International Uranium Film Festival received more than 50 documentaries, shorts and features from all continents that content nuclear issues - from uranium mining to atomic bomb tests, from Chernobyl to Fukushima. We received films from famous and directors like Peter Greenaway as well as productions from newcomers like the Italian filmmaker Riccardo Migliore, who is living and filming in the Brazilian state Paraiba.
Australian government must investigate massacre in Indonesia
With three dead and nine critically injured, Friends of the Earth Australia questions the role of Australian owned company Arc Exploration after a community protest on the island of Sumbawa was attacked by Indonesian police.
World Chronicles
Act to Evolve. News and photos from around the world.
Human rights crisis in palm oil estates in Indonesia
A new report published in November 2011, exposes how local police in the Province of Jambi on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, working with oil palm plantation staff, systematically evicted people from three settlements, firing guns to scare them off and then using heavy machinery to destroy their dwellings and bulldoze concrete floors into the nearby creeks.
Call to Stop Land-Grabbing
Land grabbing is a global phenomenon that has grown even more widespread as a result of the food, climate and financial crises created by the capitalist elites through their own neoliberal policies. Now, those who are responsible for these crises have set their sights on the world's land and natural resources in a new phase of capitalist expansion aimed at total control of the planet's natural wealth.
Climate, Human Rights and Forests in Thailand
In Thailand, indigenous communities have been and continue to be threatened to be expelled from their traditional territories as a result of the implementation of the country´s REDD+ policy. This human rights violation is due to the fact that communities have been accused of contributing to the climate crisis because they would deforest, they would destroy natural resources and they would cause forest fires, all activities that result in carbon emissions. At the same time, they use not to be consulted when this type of analysis and, based on this, policies are being formulated.
Security a Concern as Freeport Miners Ready to Return to Jobs in Papua
Leaders of the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union (SP KEP SPSI) and managers of PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) will meet today in Timika, Papua province, in efforts to forge fine points and back-to-work terms after a historic three-month strike ended last week at the Grasberg mines, the world’s largest gold and copper deposits.
Indonesian Miners’ End Strike with Freeport-McMoRan
An agreement was signed in Jakarta on December 14, 2011 between PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union (SP KEP SPSI) and management of the world’s largest gold and second largest copper mining complex – Grasberg in Papua province – that will end a 94-day strike on Saturday, 17 December. The strike pitted a low-wage but determined and enlightened workforce against a global extractive resource company, US-based Freeport-McMoRan that has Grasberg at top of its massive revenue stream.
Activist demanding information shot dead as Indian government tries to ramp up cyber censorship
An activist with a long history of campaigning for transparency and accountability was shot dead by unknown gunmen at a time the government attempts to further clamp down on the free flow of information.
Plumi 4.3b2 Beta Released
A new beta version of Plumi, the free open source software which EngageMedia runs on (and develops) has been released including updating to the latest version of Plone, support for 16:9 video transcoding, webm transcoding, a new HTML5 video player, and support for the Universal Subtitles platform.
Making Palm Oil Accountable?
Globally oil palm plantations continue to expand at a rapid rate. World leader, Indonesia, has raced past Malaysia to become the number one producer. Latest data from the Indonesian watchdog NGO, SawitWatch, suggests that oil palm plantations in Indonesia now cover 11 million hectares, up from 6 million hectares only five years ago. New plantings are spreading to the smaller islands of the archipelago and to the less developed areas of eastern Indonesia.
Featured Filmmaker: FX Making
FX Making is part of the young group called Papuan Voices who tries to document the various people's stories in Papua through video camera lenses. He dedicates his life to fight social injustice using the medium that he loves, audio-visual.
United Nations declares Indonesia's detention of West Papuan Filep Karma a violation of international law
In response to a petition filed by Freedom Now and Hogan Lovells LLP, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued its opinion that the Government of Indonesia is in violation of international law by detaining Filep Karma. The Working Group calls on the Government of Indonesia to immediately release the human rights advocate.
Organisations call to donors to halt funding REDD+ projects
On last 21 September - the World Day against Monoculture Tree Plantations - the “No REDD Platform”, a coalition of environmental groups and Indigenous peoples organizations, launched a call to the international donor community to halt the diversion of forest conservation funding to REDD+-type projects and related activities, while also noting that the ´detection, documentation and rejection of the negative social and environmental impacts of REDD+ projects´ suffer from a lack of support. The letter aims to be a wakeup call to funders as well as an invitation to bridge this funding gap.







