Join New Tactics for a podcast conversation on the potential of podcasting in human rights activism and the power of narrative storytelling. Hosted by Gianna Brassil.

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Social networking tools have revolutionized the way that social movements and human rights advocates operate. In a world where the public creates the news in real time and information is readily available in a moment’s notice, the process of communication and dissemination has been largely democratized. Individuals can magnify their voice, not only through information consumption and generation, but through active engagement and organizing. For example, activists of the 2014 Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong used a mesh networking tool, traditionally used at music festivals, to communicate.

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Thank you for joining Kelly Matheson of WITNESS and the New Tactics online community for this discussion on Using Video for Documentation and Evidence that took place July 21 to 25, 2014.

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Thank you for joining the Center for Story-based Strategy (CSS) and the New Tactics community for an online conversation October 14 to 18.  

People and communities use stories to understand the world and our place in it. These stories are embedded with power - the power to explain and justify the status quo as well as the power to make change imaginable and urgent. A narrative analysis of power encourages us to ask: Which stories define cultural norms? Where did these stories come from? Whose stories were ignored or erased to create these norms? And, most urgently, what new stories can we tell to help create the world we desire?

This conversation helped human rights defenders to learn more about story-based strategy and how to integrate it into campaign planning. It was an opportunity for those practitioners using story-based strategy to share their experiences, questions, and ideas with each other.

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Thank you for joining Holly Hammond of Plan to Win and the New Tactics online community for a conversation on Media Tactics for Social Change from September 16 to 20.

Communicating with people is central to creating social change and defending human rights. The media can be a conduit for that communication - allowing us to reach broad stakeholders and communities. However the media also reflects power relationships in a society, with the most powerful getting to have the biggest say. Media bias and corporate and state control can be significant barriers to our communication efforts. In many societies media is actually one of the pillars of power. The media can bolster or undermine progress. It can make or break regimes. It can foster, or undo, a culture of respect for human rights.