Last week we did an informal poll of Nation writers and editors asking them to pick one YouTube video which they thought deserved a wider viewing. The survey produced some interesting results and we opened it up to our readers. Suggestions poured in from coast to coast — and beyond. We’ll be posting the videos in installments all this week and next. The first edition is below.

Ronnie Rocket, from Copenhagen, Denmark, turned us on to a stirring video produced by UNICEF, UK, to inspire action in defense of the rights of children around the world.

Susan Welch, from Des Moines, Iowa, called attention to a new video from the grassroots environmental group 350.org, which movingly highlights the power that just person can possess and urges participation in the upcoming day of action on 10/10/10.

 

Pauline Brock, from Montreal, Canada, suggested a strong excerpt from George Carlin’s 2005 video "Life Is Worth Losing," in which he decries the elites who have destroyed any semblance of the American Dream.

 

 

Barbara Rick, from New York City, lauded a short film on the importance of girls’ education in East Africa, which celebrates the unique and powerful Daraja Academy in Kenya: the first free all-girls secondary school in all of East Africa.

 

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3. The Week That Student Journalists Put the Mainstream Media to Shame The Week That Student Journalists Put the Mainstream Media to Shame

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4. Arresting Students for Opposing American Militarism Is a Moral Travesty Arresting Students for Opposing American Militarism Is a Moral Travesty

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Elizabeth Plowman, from Little Rock, Arkansas, tipped us off to a respectful local TV newscast covering an antiwar demo in Arkansas, which shows real grassroots opposition to war in an unlikely setting.

 

 

Denise Painter, from Easley, South Carolina, says this politically-charged 1998 song by Everlast’s album "Whitey Ford Sings The Blues," is even more relevant now than it was then.

 

 

Ruth Anne Baumgartner, from Fairfield, CT, urged us to highlight an excerpt from a one-man show using the "Mr. Dooley" writings of Finley Peter Dunne. This excerpt, she explained, "is particularly relevant because it addresses the xenophobia and ignorance that are still infecting the question of immigration."

 

 

Margaret A. Gray, from Dresher, PA, highlighted an amateur music video by Paul Hipp ironically and amusingly celebrating America’s position at #37 in the world in terms of citizen’s access to healthcare.

 

 

Charles Mauch, from Houston, TX, made a six-minute video titled "You May be a Right-Wing Nut Case if You Believe…" which he says that he did not have the ability to circulate widely but which he thinks readers of The Nation would find interesting and entertaining.

 

 

Paul von Hartmann, from Sebastopol, California, suggested a succinct video primer replete with hard facts and colorful quotes making the case for cannabis legalization, in part for the herb’s value in combating climate change.