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Peter Gabriel Shares Essay About Video Justice

BERLIN, GERMANY – NOVEMBER 09: Peter Gabriel performs in front of the Brandenburg Gate during celebrations on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. The city of Berlin is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with an installation of 6,800 lamps coupled with illuminated balloons along a 15km route where the Wall once ran and divided the city into capitalist West and communist East. The fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989, was among the most powerful symbols of the revolutions that swept through the communist countries of Eastern Europe and heralded the end of the Cold War. Built by the communist authorities of East Germany in 1961, the Wall prevented East Germans from fleeing west and was equipped with guard towers and deadly traps. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

|Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Twenty-five years ago, Peter Gabriel helped found the WITNESS organization after seeing the effect that the videotape of the Los Angeles Police Department's beating of Rodney King had on the country. In a new essay for Time magazine, the musician and activist reflects on the implications of video justice today and emphasizes how important it is to document human rights violations.

"The value of video footage lies not just in its existence, but in the inability to deny what is captured for posterity," he writes. "Timely, accurate and impartial information is the most powerful force we have to protect the fundamental rights of all people. Now more than ever, there are more bystanders willing to step forward and speak truth to power. And, as ever, they need your help to do it."

Read the full essay here.

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