The March 18 Video
June 25th, 2009Last month, Mideast Youth, in collaboration with the Committee to Protect Bloggers, launched OR318, otherwise known as the “March 18 Movement.” The idea was founded by Iranian blogger and journalist, Hamid Tehrani, whose name you might recognize from his posts on Global Voices Online. The vision of the movement is best summarized on the site itself.
The March 18 Movement was born out of a tragedy. On this day in 2009, Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian blogger and journalist, died in Evin Prison in Tehran. The December before his death, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious leaders, and engaging in “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Omid Reza was the first blogger to die in prison and his death reveals that getting censored is far from the worst thing that can happen to a blogger.
This day, in memorial to Omid Reza, is dedicated to all bloggers around the world who run real risks simply to tell the truth as they see it. The March 18 Movement seeks to actively expand our sense of self to encompass those of us who are in danger and to extend the protections normally accorded to journalists to all those who spend their time and intellectual capital in sharing information about our world.
At Mideast Youth we thought that the best way to promote the movement was through a video, and therefore:
We worked really hard on this video and really believe strongly in its message, especially as many of us are bloggers ourselves in risky countries where the threat of being imprisoned never escapes us.
Please help us spread the word.
We rely on your support to get the message across. Don’t forget to join us.
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