Creating and Sharing a Global Chorus of Voices Calling forAn End to Violence Against Women

The Pixel Project

8 March 2010: The Pixel Project, a global Web 2.0-driven awareness and fund raising organisation working to end Violence Against Women (VAW), will launch The Pixel Project Wall of Support on 8 March 2010 to coincide with International Women’s Day. The Wall of Support will be a thought-provoking gallery of YouTube video endorsements from people from all walks of life who support The Pixel Project and its mission to inspire men and women to work together to prevent, stop and end VAW.

The Wall of Support is the latest innovation from The Pixel Project in a series of interactive and interconnected social media-based community initiatives intended to unite people from all walks of life to speak up against VAW. The video endorsements are uploaded to YouTube and displayed on the Wall of Support page in the Community Buzz section of The Pixel Project’s website (https://www.thepixelproject.net). Guidelines for making and submitting a video can be found on the website as well.

These endorsements will complement the Celebrity Male Role Model Public Service Announcement videos – including one from a renowned Nobel Laureate – that will be launched later in 2010 to accompany the unveiling of the mystery million-pixel online portrait collage of the Male Role Models. This portrait collage will be collectively revealed by a global audience at US$1 per pixel to raise US$1 million to be shared between Malaysia’s Women’s Aid Organisation and the USA’s National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

In addition, each video endorsement will be automatically counted as an “action” towards helping UNIFEM’s “Say NO – UNiTE” campaign’s bid to raise 1 million grassroots actions against VAW by November 2010 (http://www.saynotoviolence.org).

Regina Yau, Founder and President of the Pixel Project, said: “The Pixel Project has taken the unusual step of requesting YouTube video endorsements because they are more personal and authentic than the standard written endorsements generally favoured by most campaigns. By putting a human face and voice to every endorsement, we hope that this growing global chorus of voices against VAW will ignite conversation and focus public attention on the urgency of ending gender-based violence afflicting one in three women around the world.”

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For further information, please contact the Bright One account team for The Pixel Project:

Laura Vergani (Strategic Consultant) – laura.vergani@brightone.org.uk / 07870 60 7521
Group Email – pixelproject@brightone.org.uk

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Quick Facts about International Women’s Day

  • 1909: The Socialist Party of America declared the first National Women’s Day in the United States, observed on February 28.
  • 1910: The idea of an international day for women was put forth in 1910 at an International Conference for Working Women by Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office of the Social Democratic Party in Germany.
  • 1911: The first IWD was held March 19. Women and men attended rallies to end discrimination against women and campaign for women’s right to work, vote, be trained and hold public office.
  • 1913: The date for IWD shifted to March 8 and has remained there ever since.
  • 1975: The UN declared this International Women’s Year and gave official recognition to IWD.
  • 2000 – present: IWD is an official holiday in several countries, including China, Russia, Ukraine, and Vietnam. Events are held around the world each year throughout the month of March to “inspire women and celebrate achievements”.
  • 2010: While there is no official global theme for IWD, the UN has declared “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All” as the theme for 2010.

(Facts courtesy of http://www.internationalwomensday.com/default.asp )