From the Series
Activists in Angola, including multimedia performance artist Nástio Mosquito, have started a video campaign that demands the release of a group of human rights advocates who were arrested while holding a meeting in Luanda at the end of July 2015. The initial campaign video features a group of journalists, artists, musicians and activists all united with one voice reading one statement. They are calling out for members of the public around the world to add their own video message to the movement.
Amnesty International state the detained group were apparently meeting to discuss human rights abuses and concerns with the running of the country under the regime of José Eduardo Dos Santos, who has been in power for the last 36 years. The statement in the video (which the Liberdade aos Presos Políticos em Angola is circulating for people to read aloud in their own video contributions) states: “We, the independent citizens of Angola and the world, hereby appeal to the Angolan authorities to immediately release our young democrats arrested in Luanda on 20th June 2015 on charges of an attempted coup d'état.”
“Angola's greatest wealth is not its oil. It is not its diamonds. Angola’s greatest wealth are its people. People with different ideas and a common desire of liberty.”
See the full translated Freedom Now! text below:
We, the independent citizens of Angola and the world, hereby appeal to the Angolan authorities to immediately release our young democrats arrested in Luanda on 20th June 2015 on charges of an attempted coup d'état.
Since their detention more than one month ago, not a single piece of evidence has been presented.
We demand that the Angolan authorities respect the freedoms of speech and thought as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic.
The arrested youth are fighting for a democratic, peaceful and socially fair Angola. WE are too!
We advocate an Angola where thinking differently is not a crime, where instead, people are encouraged to think differently. Because it's our conviction that the confrontation of different ideas always yield better ideas.
Angola's greatest wealth is not its oil. It is not its diamonds. Angola’s greatest wealth are its people. People with different ideas and a common desire of liberty.
We need to create an Angolan way of thinking that's the creative and dynamic sum of all our thoughts as Angolans.
Freedom to political prisoners, NOW!
To submit a Freedom Now! video, the organisers ask that contributors record the entire statment and send their videos, with their name and occupation, to the Liberdade email address.
