Ifiwatch.tv/Public Relations/Publicity Materials
About page for ifiwatch.tv
Contents |
Catchphrase
If I Watch. TV... whose Stories do I See?
Promo Video
short internet broadcast about ifiwatch.tv in prep to feature always at the top of main page index.
Viral Animated Game
Ideas include:
'Follow the Money' Game.
User starts in Washington DC with $100 million. They have a choice to 'invest' it in an energy, farming or water 'development project' in one of the world's poor regions.. Energy options: a megadam, an oil pipeline or international energy efficiency regulations. Dam and pipeline create user 'points' for peasants moved, ecological devastation and big company profits created. points worth $50 million for each of these. nul points for energy efficiency. Farming options: soya plantations, shrimp farming or farmer-led permaculture trainings. soya and shrimp farming create user points for peasants moved, eco devastation and corporate profit. nul points for permaculture trainings. Water options: privatisation, megadam or rainwater harvesting systems... you get the picture... once user has set up one project, and made back $150 million for donor treasuries, they can invest again with $100 million, keep $50 million. if they make the 'right' choices again, gain net $200 million, this sum gets them to 'level two', allows them to go to another IFI (perhaps make user have to click to find an appropriate RDB - EBRD London, ADB Manila, EIB Luxembourg etc? losing points for every wrong click) for another loan.... could also have an option to randomly set 'resistance' onto the mega projects... user gets points for sending in army and managing media, none for cancelling project and restarting with community needs and ecological imperatives as point of departure. once sum accumulated reaches (say?) $500 million, 'resistance' pops up back in Washington and game over....
Publicity Text
What
IfIwatch.TV, Whose Stories do I See?
Grassroots and independent video shines a light on International Financial Institutions (IFIs) that claim to invest in just and sustainable 'development' worldwide.
IfIwatch.TV presents critical documentaries, meeting and protest reports, animations, feature films, music videos, expert interviews and more about what these massive and opaque public bodies really do with our money, our neighbours and our planet.
Each video features links to online video producer/distributor contact details (where available) plus related news, reports, blogs and (soon) events as well. Where possible, the videos are available for free to watch online or download.
This is media that governments and corporations would often rather was not shared; and here it is networked online for you, for free, for the future..
Why
International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank invest billions of tax payers' dollars each year to 'end poverty', 'protect environment' and 'share knowledge'.
How do they do this? Extending the reach of big oil, forestry, pharmaceutical and agribusiness corporations, also mines, ports and dam-builders, military dictators etc etc etc. and redirecting poor country governments' health and education budgets to pay international debts.
What kind of impact have they had?
Even air-conditioned economists struggle with these contradictions, so they develop expensive and often arms' length strategies to keep the public gaze from IFI decision making processes.
One strategy is to provide baffling amounts of data and reports that work towards 'paradigm maintenance' throughout.
World Bank Group Publications are distributed worldwide, often for free in the South. Which would be gerat, except they are based on research found by experts to be ‘not remotely reliable’ and biassed to fit neo-liberal policy prescriptions. In this context, a motivating factor for IFIWatchnet (of which ifiwatch.tv is the video arm) was the World Bank's initiation of a Development Gateway "for development information and knowledge sharing worldwide."
Another strategy is to reach out to environmental and social activists, offering the chance to attend meetings, discuss policy, channel some funds, even enter a Climate Change Film Contest.
Meanwhile the best informed voices - people devastated by IFI-backed investments, campaigners for justice, transparency and accountability, experienced, critical scientists and analysts - struggle to reach even their most interested audience: each other.
New technologies and networks of internet video sharing are helping shift this information impbalance.
Films listed here explore hidden realities behind projects and policies promoted by IFIs.
Watch them. Screen them. Use the information. And most importantly of all,
Don't Believe the Hype.
Who
This database is currently co-ordinated from London by Zoe Young, (researcher, writer and film-maker). It was first created in 2004 as a pilot for multimedia in IFIWatchnet, with the support of Bretton Woods Project, Friends of the Earth International and others. Many wonderful people, networks and organisations have supported this project; warm thanks are due. The following list provides links to some of them:
plus add link to contents of 'contacts' database: http://www.ifiwatch.tv/en/admin/content/node
How
Our database is built by people adding information about new videos that are published or newly come to our notice, and also automatically, 'sucking media feeds' from other video publishing sites which occasionally feature independent media on the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Regional Development Banks such as the Asian Development Bank.
To save you searching each site such as YouTube, EngageMedia, Blip TV and [ the rest] for any critical video on IFIs, we are aggregating all the independent video on IFIs that we can find, here in one place for this specific audience.
To save you returning here regularly to find new interesting movies, you can subscribe to your own Media RSS and Atom feeds from searches for material that interests you. Your [ media RSS reader], Content Management System will then receive automatic updates when new media is listed in your area. Explanations of these services are here: Using Media RSS and Drupal Aggregation of Media Feeds.
We very much welcome help with networking, publicity, development, new services etc. Contact us with any practical questions and suggestions etc. E-mail "eyes - at - ifiwatchnet.org"
Click here to apply for an account. You will receive an email from us with login details within few minutes.
Where
London, Montevideo, Amsterdam, Prague, Warsaw ... international, and online!
Postcard
- Create clearly branded, brightly coloured postcard
- Use IFIWatchnet logo and striking images from films listed.
- suggestion: ro rai be invited to work on this - he designed original leaflet
- get quotes for 5,000 copies, full and two colour. eco printing.
2 days, graphic designer
suggestion: ifiwatch.tv branded usb drive
text of 2004 publicity leaflet
How much do you know about international agencies investing taxpayers’ billions to pursue their dream of ‘a world free of poverty’?
Have you heard how rich nations’ governments actually use the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and regional development banks to profit their own banks and companies?
Have you seen these international financial institutions (IFIs) enforce unjust debts and fund a model of ‘development’ that makes millions homeless, exploits nature, undermines economies and fuels conflict?
Would you know where to find these incredible tales, let alone the stories of ordinary people all over the world trying to cope, driven to respond, faced with official silence, co-option and repression, yet sometimes still winning through?
If a picture says a thousand words, how much more should a film be saying?
Anything from a big budget documentary to a raw campaign short can channel vital information and unheard perspectives on IFIs to a mass audience. There is growing international demand for documentaries that explain how the world is now and why, and many excellent films explore the history, organisation and impacts of IFIs.
But while the World Bank in particular has massive budgets for promotional media work, few critical films reach the mass audiences they deserve.
A group of activists, web designers and filmmakers are therefore working to enable broader access to critical films about the IFIs.
A selection are listed (below, on the other side of this page??), more can be sought and found online via the portal site (Eyes on IFIs) www.ifiwatch.tv.
Films are listed by date of completion and searchable by location, institution, issue, etc. Each listing features a contact to obtain copies; some films are also available online for streaming or download under creative commons license.
Through this online portal, broadcasters can find that elusive ‘other side of the story’. Cinema screenings of these films, especially followed by speakers and discussion, can really bring IFI issues home. Video segments can also liven up a conference, lecture or seminar, raising questions, illustrating the implications of policy and exposing the reality of the IFIs.
This initiative is very much a work in progress, focused on the needs of independent film makers, users and viewers. Please do not hesitate to be in touch with feedback, suggestions of films to list, information to add or link, and features to extend the utility of this web portal.
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