International video contest on drugs and human rights

The “War on Drugs” has failed and we all know it, but the stories of why and how it will end are just beginning to be told. That is why Global Exchange is hosting an international video contest, as part of our Peace, Life and Justice Caravan project We want to hear your story, and those of your community!

We invite you to create a 1-3 minute original video on the drug war’s impact in your community and what people are (or aren’t) doing about it. Convey to an international audience the urgency for action to end the drug war tragedy.

The creators of the top 3 videos will win great prizes:

• First prize: A chance to join the Caravan as part of the audiovisual team in charge of the documentation of the Caravan for Peace, Life, and Justice, March 28th until April 19th, 2016, from Honduras to New York, with all expenses paid, including airfare, accommodations, transportation, and food!
• Second Prize: $1,500 grant.
• Third Prize: Nikon D7100 Digital Camera

To Participate: Upload your video to YouTube and send us the link at caravana2016@gmail.com by March 8, 2016 and generate “votes” in the form of social media shares and likes through March 13, 2016. Winners will be announced March 16, 2016. Details below Your story will be part of the growing movement to end the war on drugs!!

General context of the contest:

The objective of the Caravan is to open a necessary debate about the war on drugs, promoting a paradigm shift in which governments’ actions cannot be limited to the use of violence while leaving behind fundamental aspects such as education, prevention, public health programs, and real measures against money laundering and the corrupting power of the mafias that control the high-level drug trade.

Each country holds histories of people that reflect concretely the challenges that we face as societies with respect to our drug policies, such as: the stigmatization and persecution of peasant farmers; the drastic penalties against people who sell small amounts of drugs while the large cartels remain intact; the incarceration, murder, and attacks against migrants, young people and people living in poverty who appear as “perfect culprits”; the moral double standard of societies which tolerate the disproportionate use of alcohol but impede information and education about other substances, while recriminating and persecuting the people who use those substances; and the stigmatization of ancestral cultures that use substances and plants that could be alternative treatments for different ailments.

Because it is of great importance to know these stories in order to amplify the perspectives around such a complex issue, which needs to be analyzed from all possible angles, the Caravan for Peace, Life, and Justice is launching an international video contest about drugs and human rights.

The videos will be shared on the Caravan website, on the Strutta website, and through the social networks Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, in order to receive the impressions of the general public (which will be part of the selection criteria); the author is free to share far and wide on their social media platforms.

Deadlines:

• Videos can be sent from January 28th until (11:59pm) on March 8th, 2016. (The time of submission will be determined by the local time of the sent email.)
• Videos can be voted on until (11:59pm) of March 13th, 2016.
• The winners will be announced on March 16th, 2016.
• Winners will be contacted in order to validate prizes.

Click here to find further information about the selection criterias and the participation form.

Click here to read the full article.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.