Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Policewatch

Roll up, Roll up! Defend civil liberties and have a laugh at the same time, with Policewatch or Filming them Filming us Filming them etc It's yer once-in-a-lifetime chance to win War on Terror, the only game with suicide bombers, political kidnaps, intercontinental war, filthy propaganda, rampant paranoia and secret treaties....... All you have to do is send us your videos or photos of the British constabulary's finest moments. Why? On 16th February 2009 the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 comes into operation, which threatens to make it illegal to take a photo of a police officer, or to elicit information about them. So bang goes alerting people to cops spying on peaceful protestors, and bang, clunk go journalists investigating police corruption or malpractice. How? Fitwatch is launching a competition which will give a copy of the award-winning http://waronterrortheboardgame.com to the winner of each of three different categories: 1. Scary for the most shocking bit of police abuse recorded. Dixon of Dock Green it ain't! 2. Funny for the most piss-yourself classic copper moment. 3. Effective Did you make the police help you with your inquiries? - for the pictures which proved a case against the police or had most success in defending civil liberties (please tell us what it did). You can enter still images or video footage. Just post them on flickr (preferred for stills), blip.tv (preferred for video), youtube or anywhere else (please put the tags visionontv and fitwatch) then send us a link. We welcome images from anywhere in the world, but only the best of the British constabulary can win a prize. For more detailed stuff on how to make your images available, go to the bottom of this page. Where? On 16th February, the first day of the new legislation, http://visionon.tv Policewatch series commences. Films and photos submitted to the Fitwatch competition will feature in this series on visionOntv's grassroots channel. When? Closing date for entries: April 9th 2009 Winners declared: April 16th 2009 the two-month anniversary of the new legislation Who? http://www.fitwatch.blogspot.com is a group of people who have come together to resist and oppose the tactics of the Forward Intelligence Teams (cops who harass protesters). We aim to act in solidarity with each other, supporting campaigns by being at meetings and protests, making it harder for the police to film and gather intelligence. We get in the way of their cameras, taking photos and publishing as much information as we can about them on our blog. http://visionon.tv is a new online TV station from http://www.undercurrents.org It has all the ease-of-use of mainstream TV, but with content that is very very different. To watch the whole of the Policewatch series, plus the best of activist video from around the world and a whole lot more, go to http://visionon.tv On this link you can watch the streaming version, but to get the full TV experience download the player app and enjoy! Please email info@visionontv.net for further info on the Policewatch series. If any police officer would like more information on the Policewatch competition, please contact http://www.fitwatch.blogspot.com as it is not an organisation, and has no spokespeople. How? part 2 We strongly recommend giving your pictures a http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses so they can be distibuted as widely as possible. Please let us know which license you prefer. The creative commons license we advise choosing is Non-Commercial Share Alike which allows people to use your footage for anything non-commercial, and as long as they release it under the same license. That's what visionOntv puts its own films under. Come along now, you've had your fun!