The Bloggers Unite campaign
http://unite.blogcatalog.com announced over the weekend aims to amass the largest collective of bloggers to write about human rights on Thursday 15 May 2008.
The campaign put together by members of BlogCatalog.com (Bloggers Unite For Human Rights is the fourth social awareness campaign launched by its members in the last year) is supported by Copywrite Ink and Amnesty International USA
http://ww.amnestyusa.org. The campaign is trying to build momentum leading up to Bloggers Unite day, to raise the issues on human rights in the digital space and doesn?t solely rely upon bloggers to spread the word.
Bloggers and media worldwide are being asked to help create interest in human rights on the Web, with non-bloggers being asked to leave supportive comments on participating blogs, take action by writing to their congressmen about various human rights issues and support the continuing efforts of Amnesty International.
To build interest leading up the 15th of May, Amnesty International USA has also set up a Facebook event
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=37370045252 which will steer interested parties to the Blogger Unite website. Amnesty International will also by providing source material for bloggers around three key human rights violation areas at the current time:
? the wrongful imprisonment of journalist Shi Tao in China
? the illegal detentions at Guantanamo Bay
? the continuing murder, rape, abduction and displacement of citizens in Darfur, Sudan
Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, comments, ?Amnesty International is thrilled to be a part of Bloggers Unite for Human Rights. Bloggers Unite for Human Rights is a great way to harness the power of the Internet to make the world a better place.?
BlogCatalog.com has evolved from a blog directory (since 2007) into a member-driven online community for bloggers. More than 100,000 approved bloggers interact on BlogCatalog every day and many more are expected to participate in the campaign.
Antony Berkman, president of BlogCatalog.com says, ?With so many members from all over the world, we anticipate many bloggers will cover these issues and may even bring to light human rights abuses that no one has ever considered before. In many cases, the first step to ensuring human rights is to help broaden everyone's understanding of why all people were born with inalienable human rights -- life, liberty, and justice -- and that neither governments nor corporations have the authority to supersede these rights."
To find out more, visit the
Bloggers Unite and
The Amnesty International USA Facebook group.