On the Road with WITNESS

Our Last Day at ‘Roo

Well, last night’s Kanye West performance turned into an early morning set. After a long delay, the sun started coming up and by the time we walked back to camp it was full daylight. Still it was worth it to have seen both a Tennessee sunrise and sunset.

The tent has been busy as festival goers try to get to all the activities they’ve missed in the last few days. Our box of signed postcards is almost full and we have lots of sheets full of names of people who want to be updated about WITNESS. Even the some of the Bonnaroo media staff was really into our mission and stopped by the tent.

3 hours left before we pack up and I’m exhausted but inspired and totally excited about the work we’ve done here at Bonnaroo and across the organization. I’m a bit sad that this is the end of the festival but so very excited to sleep in a bed and take a long shower!

- Christine

Sunshine!

Despite more rain this morning, lots of people have been coming by the WITNESS tent. The sun came out in time for a really fun set by Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings.

I've also had an awesome time sharing the experience with all the other non-profits at Planet Roo. Folks from Oxfam, Carbon Shredders, Oceana and a bunch of other organizations have come by the tent to get more involved with WITNESS. We've gotten about 900 postcard petitions signed! (And you too can sign here) I've met an aspiring human rights lawyer, a young women who's making a documentary in Ghana, a couple of activist musicians, and just lots of awesome people who care about social justice.

Tonight I'm looking forward to a late night performance by Kanye West, which ends a mere 6 hours before we open up the WITNESS tent for our last day of the festival.

- Christine

Day Two continued

This has been a great day. It's exciting for WITNESS staff to see first hand how people react to hearing about the work WITNESS and WITNESS partners are doing. There is a real sense of gratitude from the people passing by, and a real interest in getting involved.

I spoke on a panel about Arts and Activism yesterday with Marc Ross of Rock the Earth, Marc Brownstein of the band Disco Biscuits (and co-chair of Headcount), Tania Elizabeth of the Grammy nominated band The Duhks, Jennifer Fahy of Farm Aid and a few others. There were some interesting questions being raised, in particular -€“ do artists have an obligation to use their platform for change? I don't know about you, but I don'€™t think artists have more of an obligation then any one of us. We all live together on this planet, so it's up to each of us to do what we can, if we can, and if that is what we choose to do.  It's great to be in the company of folks who are spending their time that way, but we're each our own people.

There was also lots of great music to be heard. A highlight being Stephen Marley on the main stage, and his version of €œNo Woman, No Cry. Swell Season was an unexpected favorite. Glen Hansard and Marketa  (Swell Season) were the stars of the film, "œOnce"€ and won an Oscar for best song from a soundtrack earlier this year. Chatting with Glen briefly after the show, it'€™s clear that he'™s interested in human rights and hopefully will get involved with WITNESS in the future.

Rilo Kiley rocked the Roo. It was good to see them, as they are old friends from back when they would couch surf when they passed through NYC.

And then there was the great Willie Nelson! No words. And the day was topped off with M.I.A.

All in all, a jam packed day (no pun intended).

The rain started at about 9 PM and has yet to stop.

Cheers for now.

Becky and Team W

Bonnaroo Day Two

Things are off to a good start in the world of WITNESS. We were on the radio in Tuscon, Arizona. And in Bonnaroo land.  92.9 The Mountain’s morning talk show host invited us on this morning to talk about the work we’re doing around the world. Apart from thanking Bonnaroo for enabling WITNESS to have a presence in Planet Roo (the non-profit area) we talked about WITNESS’ mission – to use video to defend human rights.

We’ve also been meeting lots of interesting people. We spent some time speaking with an Iraq War veteran who just returned from his second and final tour of Iraq. It was interesting to hear his perspective on the war, now that he’s completed his duty. Things have got to change. That was his bottom line and the abridged blog version.

On a lighter note, one of the best things he learned in Iraq was how to take a 60 second shower. Too bad he was on the shower line behind us, not in front of us. And yes, we do have to wait in line to shower.

The beauty of Broo. So many people. So much music. So many perspectives. So many lines. So many lines. So many lines.

20 Minutes til Vampire Weekend

Hi Folks,

Thursday night. Hot. Bonnaroo. If you build it, they will come. We build the WITNESS tent. And concertgoers are visiting us in droves. YAY. We're projecting our short WITNESS promotional videos (which talk about the work we're doing) on the top of our tent. Many people have also been signing our postcard to President Calderon of Mexico. It's part of our Dual Injustice campaign to pressure the government of Mexico to do more to address the murders of young women in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua Mexico. You can sign the postcard too. Just click here.

In 15 minutes we're headed to see Vampire Weekend perform. They give a shout out to Peter Gabriel (WITNESS founder) in their song Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa. Apprently, they are fans of his. We're fans of theirs. How fitting.

We're gonna check them out and see if there are ways in which we can get them involved in some WITNESS campaigns.

G'night for now from Manchester, TN.

Team WITNESS

PS. Did I mention that Melinda Doolittle was on my plane today? A WITNESS pin goes to the first person who (without googling) can tell me who Melinda Doolitte is.

Bonnaroo 2008!!!

WITNESS On the Road is back this summer and we're kicking things off with Bonnaroo. The annual Bonnaroo Music Festival brings 90,000 people to the farmlands of Tennessee. WITNESS staff (that's Miyoko our Development Associate in the photo) and volunteers are set up at Planet Roo a special area of the music festival designated for non-profit and environmental organizations.

Our tent is ready and we have WITNESS videos playing and laptops to explore the Hub. Check back at this blog for updates on our outreach adventures.

If you're at Bonnaroo come visit us at Planet Roo and help us defend human rights!

- Christine, WITNESS Outreach