If you want to find out more about our organization, please view this video (You can activiate English subtitles from the settings in YouTube)
Zain Raza introduces on social media the idea of an independent media outlet based on the principles of citizen journalism and activism. The idea spreads quickly throughout social media. The platform’s founding principles were discussed and agreed upon in a first unofficial members meeting.
Roundtable discussions took place and acTVism’s first interviews were published with the likes of Pulitzer Prize winning journalists Glenn Greenwald and Chris Hedges through social media. Our first video reports on political events and demonstrations were produced as well. acTVism Munich e.V. (non-profit) was founded with 17 members at the first official meeting in the fall of that year. The organization also opened its first non-commercial bank account at GLS Bank.
acTVism’s official website was launched at www.acTVism.org. Our first major event was held at Muffatwerk in Munich with linguist Noam Chomsky, former MI5 agent Annie Machon and Paul Jay, founder of The Real News Network. We co-organized the Sam Adams Award with Edward Snowden in Berlin. Further videos and interviews from that year included Jürgen Todenhöfer, Abby Martin, Vijay Prashad, William Binney as well as James Gailbraith. Our second event was about Germany’s international role, again at Muffatwerk, with Heiner Flassbeck and Noam Chomsky.
acTVism held exclusive interviews with former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and Wikileaks investigative editor Sarah Harrison as well as reporting the launch of the Democracy in Europe 2025 (DiEM25) movement in Berlin. More video reports included the STOP-TTIP Demonstrations in Berlin and Hannover as well as interviews with Hans-Christian Ströbele, Katja Kipping, Gesine Schwan, Ernst Wolff and other renowned experts.
To start the year, acTVism hosted its largest event to date under the title “Freedom & Democracy: Global Issues in Context” to a full house that included 650 guests at the Muffatwerk in Munich. The panel included Edward Snowden, Jürgen Todenhöfer, Jeremy Scahill, Richard D. Wolff, Paul Jay and Srećko Horvat. Circa 53,000 people streamed the event and 2 million viewed the publications thereafter in German & English on YouTube. In order to foster understanding of elementary definitions, concepts and historical events an educational video series known as “Know Your Stuff” was launched. Richard D. Wolff, Dr. Daniele Ganser, Medea Benjamin, Dr. Peter Seyferth, Ernst Wolff and other experts participated in this series.In order to foster democratic understanding and participation for the German election season, acTVism Munich collaborated with Mehr Demokratie e.V. to produce a video series known as “Perspectives of Democracy” that hosted, amongst other experts, Gerald Hüther und Yanis Varoufakis. Additionally, a new video format was introduced called “The Spark” that introduces and promotes local non-profit and grassroots organization that are focused on improving the state of our society and environment. Organizations that have participated in this format include Fossil Free Munich, One World Art Connection, the Munich Peace Movement and Mehr Demokratie.
acTVism undertook many exclusive interviews with international guests such as Yanis Varoufakis, Aaron Mate, Paul Jay, Dr. Michael Shermer, Medea Benjamin, Prof. Léonce Ndikumana, Prof. Richard D. Wolff, Prof. Stephanie Kelton, Prof. Lawrence Wilkerson , etc. Local experts included Prof. Dr. Gerald Hüther, Dr. phil. Peter Seyferth and Kerem Schamberger. Furthermore acTVism hosted the second part of its event series called “Freedom & Democracy: Global Issues in Context” with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and publisher of the Snowden NSA-leaks, Glenn Greenwald, independent journalist, artist and activist, Abby Martin, and the Presidential candidate of the Green Party (2016), Jill Stein. The event reached circa 150.000 people on YouTube and hundreds of guests were live in attendance. Exclusive translations of external international content into the German language included Prof. Noam Chomsky, Pentagon Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, former CIA-Analyst John Nixon, US-Senator Bernie Sanders and the best selling author, Max Blumenthal. Reports were produced on the annual demonstration against the so called “Security Conference” in Munich and the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 in Berlin. A diverse range of non-profit, grassroots and local organizations and initiatives were given a voice and they included Human Connection, Fakeodernews, Shifthappens, Abgeordnetenwatch.de, Spreadwords.org, Kontext TV, Sanktionsfrei e.V., Green City e.V., Institut für sozial-ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung e.V., Netzwerk Klimaherbst e.V., Oxfam Deutschland and Gemeinsam für Menschenrechte und Demokratie.
acTVism undertook many exclusive interviews for the program “Know Your Stuff” or “The Source” with international experts such as Bill McKibben, Frans De Waal, Daniel Ellsberg, Yanis Varoufakis, Abby Martin, Jill Stein, Anya Parampil, Glenn Greenwald, Léonce Ndikumana, Lawrence Wilkerson, Peter Kuznick, Gregory Wilpert, William Bill Black, Richard D. Wolff, Max Blumenthal, Michael Shermer, etc. Local experts included Rainer Mausfeld, Reiner Braun, Gerald Hüther, Ernst Wolff und Kerem Schamberger. Exclusive translations into the German language for the program “Import” that picks specific external international content included Noam Chomsky, Theodore Postol and content from the investigative journalistic outlet “The Grayzone Project” as well as from the independent & non-profit media network “The Real News Network”. Reports for the program “Hotspot “were produced on the annual demonstration against the “Security Conference” in Munich and on the demonstration for press freedoms and the case of Julian Assange in Berlin. A diverse range of non-profit, grassroots and local organizations and initiatives were given a voice on the program “The Spark” and they included Initiative for Yemen, Human Connection (alternative to Facebook), Extinction Rebellion, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Bund für Geistesfreiheit, Stop Air Base Ramstein, DMB Mieterverein e.V., Mehr Demokratie e.V., Foodsharing, Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom and Kartoffelkombinat.
acTVism undertook many exclusive interviews for the program “Know Your Stuff” or “The Source” with international experts, activists, journalists or academics such as Nils Melzer, Tariq Ali, Chris Hedges, Ramani Durvasula, Aaron Mate, David McBride, Jennifer Robinson, Matthew Hoh, Peter Kuznick, Kristinn Hrafnsson, Chuck Collins, Omar Ocampo, Michael Hudson, Yves Engler, Yanis Varoufakis, Abby Martin, Bret Gustafson, Jill Stein, Glenn Greenwald, Dimitri Lascaris, Pavlina Tcherneva, Lawrence Wilkerson, Linsey McGoey, Shir Hever, David Adler, Miguel Salas, Nicholas Shaxson, Srecko Horvat, Lauri Love, Max Blumenthal, Gregory Wilpert, William Bill Black, Richard D. Wolff, Ben Norton, Anya Parampil, Ollie Vargas, etc. Majority of these interviews were translated into the German language. Local interviews with experts, activists, journalists or academics included Mathias Gast, Reiner Braun, Ernst Wolff, Kerem Schamberger, Hendrik Theine, Patrick Knodel, Lino Zeddies, Ariane Dettloff and Peter Seyferth.
Exclusive translations into the German language for the program “Import” that picks specific external international content included Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Daniel Ellsberg and content from investigative journalistic outlets such as “WikiLeaks”, “The Grayzone Project” as well as from independent & non-profit media networks such as “theAnalysis.News” or “The Empire Files”.
Reports for the program “Hotspot “ included the case of WikiLeaks & Julian Assange which was covered throughout 2020 from London and included coverage of demonstrations, events and judicial developments. Other Hotspot reports included the protest against the “Security Conference” in Munich in February, demonstration against the U.S blockade in Cuba (US-Blockade gegen Kuba: 60 Texte gegen 60 Jahre) in June and the demonstration against police brutality (Black Lives Matter) also in June.
A diverse range of non-profit, grassroots and local organizations and initiatives were given a voice on the program “The Spark” and they included The Stop Ecocide Campaign, Don’t Extradite Assange Campaign, EcoLeaks, Initiative for Yemen, Whistleblower Netzwerk e.V., Sea Shepherd e.V., Sanktionsfrei e.V., Reporter ohne Grenzen e.V., Mehr Demokratie e.V. and Bündnis für Gerechtigkeit zwischen Israelis und Palästinensern e.V.
