I AM WITNESS Campaign Video
IDEA
‘I AM WITNESS’ is one of the campaigning operations of the ‘Stop the Maangamizi: We Charge Genocide/Ecocide!’ campaign initiated in association with filmmaker JOANJOAN.LONDON that encourages people of Afrikan descent to come forward and tell their story of Maangamizi resistance with integrity, dignity and courage.
The ‘I AM WITNESS’ project is being developed out of the All-Party Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Truth & Reparatory Justice & Ubuntukgotla People’s International Tribunal for Global Justice (U-PITGJ) Conscientization Programme of ISMAR-building which the Stop the Maangamizi Campaign has been promoting in partnership with the Maangamizi Educational Trust and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations Link (APPGARL).
This initiative is also supported by anchor organisations and campaigning formations such as the Pan-Afrikan Reparations Coalition in Europe (PARCOE), Afrikan Emancipation Day Reparations March Committee (AEDRMC), Global Afrikan Peoples Parliament (GAPP), Vazoba Afrika & Friends Networking Open Forum, MAATUBUNTUMITAWO Global Afrikan Family Reunion International Council (MAATUBUNTIMITAWO-GAFRIC), PRALER and the Afrikan Connexions Forum.
A special version of I AM WITNESS known as WE ARE WITNESS has also been championed by the Global Majority Vs Campaign, supported by the Stop the Maangamizi Campaign, see https://stopthemaangamizi.com/global-majority-vs/ for further info. This work is now being taken forward by the PRALER.
CAMPAIGN POSITIONING
‘I AM WITNESS’ is the umbrella campaign including a promo video and stills, which will promote the ‘Stop the Maangamizi!’ campaign’s use of testimony to further the reparatory justice process primarily.
WHY
These WITNESS STATEMENTS will allow community members to become the authors of the testimonies that are rarely written voice in the mainstream. It is also therapeutic to have the freedom and safe space to relay our personal experiences of surviving and resisting the Maangamizi. It is the very definition of self-reparation.
We often don’t give ourselves the honour of being us in our entirety. Telling our stories helps us to rewrite our history and redefine our futures. It is better to tell our own story than someone tell it for us. At least, truth prevails when we do it ourselves. Everyone has a story of genocide or ecocide, racism, dispossession, marginalisation, however small, it must be told.
EVIDENCE
It is important, essential and imperative that the ‘Stop the Maangamizi!’ campaign begins to gather real life evidence of the ongoing Maangamizi in preparation for the All-Party Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Truth & Reparatory Justice (APPCITARJ) and the Ubuntukgotla Peoples International Tribunal for Global Justice (U-PITGJ); providing a database of personal witness statements. This is a way of raising the campaign profile whilst proactively building our community self-defence.
COMMUNITY LISTENING SESSIONS & THE APPCITARJ/U-PITGJ)
As part of this effort, a series of Community Listening Sessions will be held to support the Maangamizi Educational Trust in association with the All-Party Parliamentary Group For Afrikan Reparations Link and other anchor organisations collecting information from Afrikan Heritage Communities within and beyond the UK, through personal stories and accounts, on how laws and policies have and continue to negatively affect people of Afrikan ancestry and heritage; thereby prolonging the intergenerational and enduring material and psychosocial effects of the Maangamizi. Furthermore, such communities and their members will also be asked how such effects can be eliminated and redressed.
TESTIMONY
In addition to participating in a community listening session, individuals are invited to give a personal testimony about their experiences of the Maangamizi via the Maangamizi Educational Trust in association with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations Link and/or various other supporting anchor organisations. Please record a short three to five-minute account and upload your stores to maangamizitrust@gmail.com.
To help guide you in this effort, in the audio or video you record, please:
- Provide your name and location, or you can remain anonymous.
- Provide testimony on issues on which the APPCITARJ will be focused. See here for further info about the purpose and remit of the APPCITARJ.
These include:
- The harm experienced
- What reparations policies, projects, programmes, services and initiatives you are working on which require support
- What other measures reparations should entail.
For further info, to express your willingness to participate contact us at stopthemaangamizi@gmail.com or call us on 07956431498.
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