All posts filed under: Videos

Atlantic Council: 360/StratCom 2020

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Atlantic Council DFRLab “360/StratCom is DFRLab’s annual, premier government-to-government forum focused on working with allies and partners to align free and open societies in an era of contested information.” “As democracies counter and build resilience against disinformation, malign state and non-state actors continue to develop new tools to spread false narratives and manipulate civil discourse. Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming elections in the United States – among other global events – have increased public awareness to the threat of mis- and disinformation. The DFRLab has been at the forefront of raising critical social debates about the role of government, the private sector, and civilians in monitoring and securing the information environment both on and offline.   “360/StratCom is the premier government-to-government forum focused on working with allies and partners to align free and open societies in an era of contested information. We find ourselves in a global competition for information and influence, and we face a rapidly evolving threat landscape, from war zones to our living rooms. Democracies must build resilience and work together …

TED x Mid Atlantic: Active Resistance

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We are just beginning to understand the massive efforts by foreign governments to influence our elections and plant the seeds of chaos into the United States. Our reliance on digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and the speed at which misinformation can spread has left us vulnerable. So what can we do? Amanda Rivkin says we must be proactive and form an active resistance against these attacks. Amanda Rivkin is a photographer and writer focused on gender, security, political and military issues in Eastern Europe and the United States.   Currently she is at work on a long-term project documenting in portraits and oral histories the victims of Chicago municipal police torture under former Commander Jon Burge. For this work, she has received a grant from the International Women’s Media Foundation Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists and support from The Invisible Institute, a non- profit journalism outfit focusing on issues of policing in Chicago.   In February 2017, she founded Trumpistan Watch, a free weekday e-mail subscription and blog media monitoring Western and …

The New Inquiry: European Pie

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European Pie The New Inquiry by Amanda Rivkin May 26, 2012 Eurovision began in Switzerland in 1956. The European Broadcasting Union hoped that bringing the countries of the continent together for a night in song might pave the way for a more harmonious future, free of the wars and genocide that comprised Europe’s darker past. At the time, “Europe” meant a handful of West European countries. Today, the contest has turned into a bright, shiny, sequined alternative to the present afflictions of a Europe adrift, one that helps Europeans imagine a new and different continent. Much of Eastern Europe participates and Eurovision has proved itself to be more than a flamboyant bonanza of continental gay tourism, but a sort of imaginary revolution. The spirit of Eurovision is exemplified by past winner Dana International, a beautiful Israeli transvestite, who won in 1998 with her pop anthem, “Diva,” earning her, among other high level honors, a place on the shortlist of global millennium icons. Viva la vida! Viva victoria! Dana International belts out before her finale pose, …

Now on Emphas.Is: BTC Pipeline by Amanda Rivkin (A Crowdfunding Campaign)

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Watch this video and consider making a contribution to my ongoing, long-term project, please. There are rewards at every step of the way: For the full project information and pitch on Emphas.Is: BTC oil pipeline I first became interested in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline in the mid-1990s, when the Clinton White House Special Envoy Bill Richardson and Azerbaijani government were pushing oil companies to build the massive multinational infrastructure project. In the tumultuous post-Cold War period and with the demise of the Soviet Union, major oil companies preferred a more direct and less expensive route through Iran, but American interests prevailed. Oil from the BTC pipeline first reached the port of Ceyhan in southeast Turkey in May of 2006, an event hailed as the greatest geopolitical victory for the West in the aftermath of the Cold War. Since 9/11, however, the same interests that enthusiastically backed the project initially have now shifted their attention elsewhere — towards the Middle East and South Asia. In the summer of 2010, with the assistance of a Young …