Voice of Witness

Join Voice of Witness co-founder Lola Vollen at SFMOMA for “Exposed Roundtable: The Future of Investigative Reporting” on Friday, November 5th.

Roundtable participants include David Cohn of Spot.us, photographer Susan Meiselas, Robert Rosenthal of the Center for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson.

The event begins at 3:00pm and is free with admission to the museum. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, just click here.

Voice of Witness’ previous books Surviving Justice and Underground America explored human rights issues faced by America’s wrongfully convicted prisoners and undocumented immigrants. As more information becomes available about the passing of Arizona’s recent immigration laws, these two issues may become more linked than ever. Yesterday, in a story for NPR, journalist Laura Sullivan explored the connection between for-profit prisons and the momentum behind Arizona’s new immigration laws. She writes:

NPR spent the past several months analyzing hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports, lobbying documents and corporate records. What they show is a quiet, behind-the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry.

The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean …

This week, Voice of Witness editor Robin Levi, interviewer Claire Kiefer, and narrator Irma Rodriguez joined Kathy Zeitoun (c0-founder of the Zeitoun Foundation with Abdulrahman Zeitoun and Dave Eggers) for a panel discussion on human rights and incarceration. Tulane University’s Alicia Duplessis Jasmin was in attendance and wrote about the talk and Voice of Witness’ forthcoming book telling the stories of incarcerated women. For her article, click here.

There are only five days left in our fundraising drive, and with only $2,6345 at our last count we’re getting close, but we need your help to reach our goal. As a supporter of Voice of Witness, we know you understand how powerful sharing the stories survivors of human rights crisis can be. Help us bring these incredible stories to light by making a donation today. As our way of thanking you, we’ve added three great thank you gifts until our fundraising ends!

DONATE $100

To thank you for your gift of $100 or more, we’ll send you any book from the Voice of Witness series – your choice! Keep it for yourself or make a gift to a friend …

Voice of Witness still needs your help to raise $7,000 to support our next book documenting hate crimes and profiling after 9/11. This month, you can help us meet our goal and receive a free gift! The first ten people to  become a Voice of Witness Sustainer at the $25 a month level will receive a copy of our newest book Hope Deferred: Narratives of Zimbabwean Lives signed by editor Peter Orner and series founder Dave Eggers! Click here to learn more.

If can’t become a sustainer right now, consider making a one time donation to support this important project. To learn more about how you can help, click here.

Thank you!

To make a one time donation to Voice of Witness, just

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Join Kathy Zeitoun (co-founder, along with her husband Abdulrahman and author Dave Eggers, of the Zeitoun Foundation) for a talk and panel discussion on human rights and incarceration. Also participating in the panel are:

Robin Levi, Human Rights Director at Justice Now, an organization that works to expose and remedy human rights violations against women prisoners, and co-editor of a forthcoming book from Voice of Witness that exposes social injustices against incarcerated women.

Irma Rodriguez, a narrator in the Voice of Witness project. For the forthcoming book, Irma recounts the addictions that repeatedly landed her in prison, where she witnessed and suffered violations of human rights, including a false HIV diagnosis which followed her for more than a decade.

Claire Kiefer, an interviewer for Voice of Witness. In addition to recording the life stories of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, Claire teaches children of incarcerated …