{"id":220,"date":"2008-08-06T08:53:18","date_gmt":"2008-08-06T12:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/idblog\/2008\/08\/06\/shooting-back-project-empowers-palestinian-citizen-journalism\/"},"modified":"2008-08-25T15:51:04","modified_gmt":"2008-08-25T19:51:04","slug":"shooting-back-project-empowers-palestinian-citizen-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/idblog\/2008\/08\/06\/shooting-back-project-empowers-palestinian-citizen-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"“Shooting Back” Project Empowers Palestinian Citizen Journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israeli Human Rights Organization, B\u2019Tselem<\/a>, has generated a pervasive discussion on human rights violations in Israel through its compelling video advocacy project, \u201cShooting Back<\/a>.\u201d Launched in January 2007, the project provided Palestinians living in high-conflict areas with video cameras in order to capture, expose, and \u201cseek redress for\u201d human rights violations in the Occupied Territories. Since then, Shooting Back<\/em> has empowered Palestinians through citizen journalism, combining the forces of two powerful digital technologies, the video camera and the Internet. The project demonstrates how the video camera is not only a useful tool for documentation and advocacy, but has also become an invaluable source of protection for Palestinians. <\/p>\n

The Hub detailed<\/a> that the project\u2019s videos, which include images of Israeli settlers attacking shepherds<\/a> with baseball bats, a Palestinian detainee being blindfolded and shot at close range<\/a> by an Israeli soldier, and Jewish-Israeli settlers harassing<\/a> their Palestinian neighbors, have \u201csparked public debate and promoted accountability in Israel.\u201d B\u2019Tselem\u2019s Director of Video, Oren Yakobovich, told <\/a>Democracy Now, \u201cIt\u2019s giving power\u2026 And what I hope to achieve, (is) a feeling that everything is being filmed, nothing is being done in the dark.\u201d As a result, the Israeli Defense Force decided to increase their presence along settlements to deter attacks on Palestinians, Haaretz reported<\/a>. Diala Shamas of B\u2019Tselem told<\/a> the Guardian, \u201cThe footage not only has evidential value. It also has had a remarkable value in terms of advocacy and campaigning.\u201d <\/p>\n

By filming human rights violations which the mainstream media often fails to expose, Shooting Back<\/em> has triggered a critical discourse surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, serving as a successful example of how grassroots groups are effectively monitoring authority figures using technology, what Steve Mann defined as \u201csousveillance<\/a>.\u201d Just as camera phones have become a valuable device <\/a> worldwide, especially in exposing and preventing potential police abuse of protestors<\/a>, video cameras have become a vital defense for Palestinians with no other means of protection against Israeli settler and military attacks. As Yakobovich explained<\/a>, \u201cThe cameras have above all a deterrent effect; they protect Palestinians. They also enable the public to see incidents which otherwise are invisible and whose veracity can always be challenged.\u201d <\/p>\n

Due to its effectiveness, this form of citizen journalism has become a pivotal tool for individuals and NGOs seeking to document and broadcast human rights violations. Open Source Media outlets such as The Hub<\/a><\/em> and YouTube\u2019s Citizen News<\/a><\/em> channel, have empowered citizens by not only giving them the media tools to engage in sousveillance, but more importantly, an online platform from which to share their concerns with the global community. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israeli Human Rights Organization, B\u2019Tselem, has generated a pervasive discussion on human rights violations in Israel through its compelling video advocacy project, \u201cShooting Back.\u201d Launched in January 2007, the project provided Palestinians living in high-conflict areas with video cameras in order to capture, expose, and \u201cseek redress for\u201d human rights violations in the Occupied Territories. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1847,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[702,1365],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-citizen-journalism","category-middle-east"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/idblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/idblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/idblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/idblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1847"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/idblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/idblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/idblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/idblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/idblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}