We defend human rights, peace and the freedom to speak, alongside the people who bear the consequences when these rights are denied.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is our reference. We pay particular attention to people who are silenced or censored for speaking out, and to places the news tends to forget: Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti and Tunisia.

We listen to people on the ground, read the work of researchers and organizations we trust, and share what we learn. Art and expression have been part of this work from the start: our founder is an artist.

We join our partners in calling on governments and international institutions to act.

We sign joint letters and support petitions and campaigns. In 2018, for instance, we joined the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies and 31 other organizations in a letter ahead of the 39th session of the UN Human Rights Council, on the human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan.

We also relay the reports of organizations whose work we follow closely, such as the Enough Project and The Sentry on conflict minerals in the Congo, so that their findings reach more readers.

We do not claim to change policy on our own. What we can do is add our voice to many others, so that those in power know people are paying attention, and keep paying attention after the headlines move on.

Creative activism is at the heart of the MagkaSama Project.

Art, stories and open discussion are our tools to defend the right to speak freely, including the right to disagree.

In 2008, our founder Max Dana created the artwork 60 Signers for the 60th Anniversary to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in support of the Every Human Has Rights campaign led by The Elders. Sixty organizations and personalities signed it, from Amnesty International to UNESCO. The work is now permanently held by CIVICUS in Johannesburg.

Since then, we mark Human Rights Week every December. We also organize documentary screenings followed by discussions, because a film can open a conversation that an article cannot.

Many people who defend human rights in difficult places are journalists, doctors, artists or teachers working with few resources.

We give their work more visibility through screenings, interviews and our website. In 2016, with Human Rights Watch and the Paris City Council, we held the first screening in France of The Heart of Nuba, about Dr. Tom Catena's hospital in Sudan's Nuba Mountains, in the presence of its director, Kenneth A. Carlson. We have also invited our members to screenings of The Good Lie and The Man Who Mends Women, each followed by a discussion.

We also publish interviews with people who work on the ground, such as our interview series on Sudan, so that they can explain the situation in their own words, without anyone speaking for them.

Reading about injustice is a start. Doing something about it is the next step.

Through the Sama For Human Rights campaign, we suggest simple things anyone can do: learn, share, sign a petition, write to an elected official, support an organization.

Throughout the year, we also mark a few “Sama Days”, such as Mandela Day in July, each with a simple action open to everyone.

Human Rights Week ends on December 10, Human Rights Day. As Max Dana likes to remind us, the rest of the year counts just as much.