http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_feQFEDLIjs

Dave Sweeney works with a nuclear free campaign for the Australian Conservation Foundation. He gives a firsthand account on the tragic event, remembering the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown that devastated the north east coast of Japan. Sweeney acknowledges that the uranium used to create the Fukushima reactor was made in Australia and that it is time for a change.

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Change After Fukushima appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uugzfJCi9Mw

The El Mozote Massacre took place in El Mozote, El Salvador, on December 11, 1981. The Salvadorian Army killed more than 800 civilians. Only one person, Rufina Amaya, survived the massacre. In this video, she recalls the day the massacre took place, saying: “They took me at about five in the afternoon. Only a few women and kids remained by this point. They took my four children from my arms. It took two soldiers because obviously I didn’t want to let them go. When I reached the end of the line, the women in front of me screamed and cried and asked from the heart to be saved and to be taken to San Miguel or Goter. They asked to be saved, but the soldiers didn’t listen. So when I saw the women begging for their lives and still being killed, I got on my knees in the dirt almost at the feet of the soldiers. I asked G-d to forgive me or save me. During the prayer I found a hiding place. There was a mound of wire, some branches and a small apple tree. I crawled in between those things and I put the branches over my feet to not be seen. I succeeded in staying there.”

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Sole Survivor Recalls El Mozote Massacre appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA0G8VlJEtw

Adolf Eichmann was a lieutenant colonel in the Nazi Army and one of the lead organizers of the holocaust. Eichmann was responsible for coordinating the logistics of of sending Jews to ghettos and extermination camps across Easter Europe during World War II. After the war, Eichmann managed to escape to Austria and then to Argentina, where he began a new life under an assumed name. In 1960, Israeli intelligence tracked him down and captured him, bringing him to Israel to stand trial on charges including war crimes and crimes against the Jewish people. Eichmann’s trial was the first trial to be televised. He was found guilty and on December 15, 1961, was sentenced to die by hanging. His sentence was carried out on May 31, 1962. This video shows clips of Eichmann’s funeral.

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The Trial Of Adolf Eichmann appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zIuzktBctg

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then part of the USSR), experienced a catastrophic nuclear accident in which an explosion and fire released radioactive particles into the atmosphere. The Chernobyl disaster is the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, both in terms of cost and casualties. It was classified as a level 7 event, which is the highest level on the International Nuclear Event Scale. In this video, Alla Yaroshinskaya, a Ukrainian political and journalist, discusses new documents she had discovered about the tragedy. Of the first document, Yaroshinskaya says: “What I found in my archive in this document that 75 million people in the Soviet Union were covered by Chernobyl. So this figure, nobody knows about it. This is just a new figure.” Yaroshinskaya then goes on to talk about discovering a document that says that the children and pregnant women that were removed from the contaminated area around Chernobyl were sent back to the area after only three months.

The post Chernobyl Disaster
Alla Yaroshinskaya on Helping Victims of Chernobyl appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTy2ykKBxIY

On November 24, 2012, a fire engulfed a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. At least 120 people were killed when they were unable to escape the enflamed building. Scott Nova explains how working conditions in Bangladesh made this tragedy both predicable and hopefully preventable.

The post 2012 Dhaka fire
Dhaka Garment Factory Fire: Who is Responsible? appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ql3yrDs6Cc

Jonestown, the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, was the home of an American religious organization lead by Jim Jones. On November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement, at the nearby airstrip, and in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. Of the 909 who died in the settlement, all but two were killed by cyanide poisoning. An additional five were gunned down at the nearby airstrip, including United States Congressman Leo Ryan. In this video, Jonestown survivor Vernon Gosney speaks about surviving that day. Gosney claims to be the one responsible for trying to communicate to Congressman Ryan and his delegation that a number of Temple members were unhappy, however his letter instead ended up in Jones’s hands. Says Gosney: “There was great terror and fear. I never thought I was going to get out alive.”

The post Survivor Recalls Jonestown Massacre appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1WHB2P7-wM

On November 24, 2012 a fire erupted in the Tazreen Fashion factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. At least 120 people, mostly factory workers, lost their lives. Mukta Begum survived the blaze, though she was taken to the hospital with injuries.

The post 2012 Dhaka fire
Survivor of 2012 Dhaka Factory Fire Speaks Out appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkFa2lSNAGc

The My Lai Massacre took place on March 16, 1968, when members of the U.S. Army killed between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians in the South Vietnam hamlets of My Lai and My Khe. Hugh Thompson Jr. was a helicopter pilot for the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. On the day of the massacre, Thompson and his crew were flying over My Lai when they saw a U.S. soldier shoot a woman. Thompson landed his helicopter between villagers and soldiers, and he and his crew dismounted and threatened to shoot the U.S. soldiers if they did not stop. Thompson then went on to report the massacre to his superiors. In this video, Thompson Jr. recalls the day of the massacre. When asked how he can explain soldiers doing what they did in My Lai, he responds: “When the leadership that allows them to do it. Negative peer pressure. Prejudice. Fear. Not everybody on the ground that day took part in it. We put I think somewhere around 190 people on the ground. Only somewhere between thirteen and eighteen I’ve been told actually took part in what was going on. The others didn’t do anything to stop it, just kind of turned the other way. You know, they knew what was going on.”

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Hugh Thompson Jr. On Witnessing The My Lai Massacre appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnDgn2srSzs

Paul Hackett was a Storekeeper 2nd class on the USS Mindanao when the ammunition ship USS Mount Hood exploded on November 10, 1944. All crew members aboard the USS Mount Hood that day were killed in the explosion. The Mindanao was only 350 yards away from Mount Hood at the time of the blast. Recalls Hackett: “It was a beautiful day and we were getting ready for the weekly captain’s inspection of the ship. At approximately 8:50 there was a terrible explosion. I thought we’d been torpedoed.” Of seeing the damage, Hackett says: “The Mount Hood was a 14,000 ton cargo ship which was taken and assumed by the navy sometime around July 1st of ’44, and it was carrying somewhere in the neighborhood of four thousand tons of various explosives, ammunition. And when the dust covered the ship had just completely disintegrated and the pieces they found out of it, the largest was a 10′x16′ sheet of steel.”

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Soldier Remembers the USS Mount Hood Explosion appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9otQUZtd3Y

Paul Kagame was the leader of the rebel group that ended the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. He then served as both Vice President and Minister of Defense of Rwanda from 1994 to 2000. In 2000, Kagame became President of Rwanda, a position he still holds today. On April 14, 2014, Kagame commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, saying: “We have pursued justice and reconciliation as best we could, but it does not restore what we lost.” Speaking to the Rwandan people, he says: “You have stood before the community to bare witness and to listen to others do the same. You have taken responsibility and you have forgiven. Your sacrifices are a gift to the nation. They are the seed from which the new Rwanda grows. Thank you for allowing your humanity and patriotism to prevail over your grief and loss.”

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Paul Kagame Speaks On Anniversary of Rwandan Genocide appeared first on Witnify.