voyeurism vs. "bearing witness"

I was so happy today to read Paul Farmer ("Pathologies of Power")picking up this topic as well. I should say, that he struggles with the notions of "bearing witness" and voyeurism and the relationship of "observation" to "silence" and oppression. How can you not struggle with it, really? I mean look at Amnesty International's fantastic magazine they put out. The images hit you (as they are intended to do) but how different are these images from those lovely late night commercial marathons about "starving children" in (take your pick) "third world" country? My point here is that anything taken in isolation out of its cultural context can be exploited/manipulated/capitalized upon and for what purpose? Perhaps to solicit a nation (and other nations)into war????

One of my favorite points Farmer makes so far is that those of us belonging to powerful nations (who call ourselves human rights activists) must be able to see our role in global inequality. That is, he does not blame those belonging to powerful nations, rather he explains "International human rights organizations...also need to turn their gaze back toward the great centers of world power in which they reside. Only through careful analysis of transnational inequalities will we understand the complex social processes that structure not only growing disparities or risk but also what stands between us and a future in which social and economic rights are guranteed by states or other polities" (18). I will post more on this topic later.
peace!