PASSPORT WITHOUT BORDERS: Origins of yasiin bey’s World Passport Revealed in Forthcoming Documentary

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yasiin bey
IN NEW FILM
THAT REVEALS THE ORIGINS OF THE WORLD PASSPORT

(Los Angeles, February 2 , 2016) yasiin bey, better known by his former stage name Mos Def is an American hip hop recording artist, actor, comedian, and activist from Brooklyn, New York [has declared, in headlines heard round the world that he is a citizen of no nation, only the world.

His bold actions have sparked such strong reactions over his World Passport that Film Director Arthur Kanegis released today an 11 minute excerpt from his forthcoming film “The World Is My Country.”
“My country is called Earth.” bey says in the documentary. “This whole thing belongs to everybody that’s on it.”
The actor/hip hop artist was improperly detained in South Africa after he presented his World Passport to travel to a gig in Ethiopia.
A 9 minute excerpt from the “The World is My Country” is being released today on www.acountrycalledEarth.com, simultaneously with release on the filmmaker’s site www.futurewave.org.
“We’re rushing to release this excerpt from our forthcoming documentary to set the record straight,” said Director Arthur Kanegis, “this excerpt shows that the World Passport is a fundamental human rights document that has been issued by the World Service Authority (WSA) in Washington DC for more than 60 years. Visas have been stamped on it by 90% of the World’s nations.”
In the film attorney David Gallup, President of WSA, talks about the bey case: “We immediately sent a legal statement to the government through his attorney explaining the legal validity and recognition by the government of South Africa,” Gallup says in the excerpt, “including copies of stamps from the government, the most recent one as you can see on our website here in the last few months.” The film shows that South Africa has visited the World Passport at least eleven times just in the past few years as displayed at www.worldservice.org/visas.html. The site shows copies of visas from 183 countries. “People can apply for World Documents using the forms on www.worldservice.org” Gallup said, “or contact us at 202-638-2662 or info@worldservice.org”
“We hope that once South African officials see this film they will not only honor yasiin bey’s World Passport, but also move to the forefront of recognizing this important human rights document,” said Arthur Kanegis, after all “Nelson Mandela himself said “we are citizens of the world,” and South Africa’s constitution says that ‘everyone has the right to freedom of movement’ and ‘everyone has the right to leave the Republic.’
The film tells the story of “World Citizen #1” Garry Davis, the founder of the World Service Authority which issues the passport. “He was an actor – a song and dance man, who leapt off the Broadway stage onto the world stage in 1948,” says Martin Sheen in the excerpt, “showing us that … We don’t have to accept a world ravaged by war and plunging toward environmental disaster…. We can build a world that is constructive for all and destructive to none.”
“The full film reveals the very interesting story of the role Garry Davis played in helping to precipitate the UN’s unanimous passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948,” said director Arthur Kanegis. “People can go to www.futurewave.org to watch the excerpt now and to sign up to be informed when they can see the whole documentary.”
Since 1954, the World Service Authority has been issuing World Passports, Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, IDs and other World Documents all based upon provisions in the UDHR. The film clip shows the important role these documents have played in helping to secure observance of basic human rights for thousands of refugees and stateless people.
A work-in-progress preview of the documentary will be shown at the Manchester film festival Friday March 4th at 8PM at the Odeon theater in Manchester England. The date and place of the Grand Premiere has not yet been revealed.
Arthur Kanegis and David Gallup are available for interviews.

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