Transterra march-14-2012

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”  -Martin Luther King, Jr

It has been more than a year since the mark of the Egyptian revolution and people are still energized taking to the streets to protest what they consider an injustice.  In this past month, you helped offer the world a front row seat to the anger felt after more than 70 soccer fans were killed in Port Said.  You were there to capture Samira Ibrahim's brave battle in taking the Virginity Test case to court after she and other Egyptian women were arrested following a demonstration in Tahrir Square and allegedly subjected to virginity tests by a military doctor.  And when Egyptians yelled outside the Syrian Embassy calling for an end to the violence in Syria, once again, you were there - we were there - to tell the story, to ensure that these important moments in history do not suffer from ‘appalling silence'.

Marching for the Port Said victims Protests at the Virginity Test hearing Salafists join in Anti Assad protests. While the enforced silence that characterizes the current strife in Syria took a horrific turn in the deaths of Syrians and brave journalists, more voices struggled to get the story out.  One of our own contributors near Damascus recently managed to capture the street level response to Russia’s position on Syria - this days before the Chinese and Russian veto of a UN resolution that was intended to end the bloodshed.  Amidst the horror, there are still brave contributors not willing to standby in silence.  Protests in Zabadani, Syria From grassroots demonstrations to unique interviews that challenge the main stream ‘frame’, we have been getting new material every day; and these stories are getting attention.  Just this past month contributors sold thousands of dollars worth of footage which will be part of a major documentary film on the Arab Spring; an article with TTM authored images is slated to run in Rolling Stone Magazine and several major news networks have expressed interest in partnering in our model of news gathering.    We’ve also activated our social media outreach in order to leverage the immense reach of platforms such as Twitter,  Facebook , and Youtube.  These are the engines of revolution and change, where it’s information, technology or political and social movements.  Make sure to find us, friend us, and follow us so we can share and participate together.  Lastly, we are pleased to announce that Transterra has begun a “ground-up” rebuild of our website.  In less than two months, we will offer a truly groundbreaking experience in media sharing, community support and collaborative story telling. Our goal is to help you as an independent tell important stories you are passionate about in a way that is sustainable.  Pitch your idea and post your work to our website and we’ll broker it to global news organizations and other media outlets that are increasingly relying on access to local contributors for content.  This enables you to return to the streets and continue producing media that brings attention to important stories and events in our world. Best regards, Seema Mathur Director of News Production.