This anthem features some of the most oppressed children in the world - those often forced to serve as child soldiers, labourers, and brides - rising above these dire conditions and standing up to their oppression. As we see the young, defiant expressions of the child heroes, powerful slam poetry reinforces their defiance. Punctuated by hard-hitting prose like: “Our lives are worth more than the pennies we’re paid, our lives are worth more than the clothing we made, our lives are worth more than the guns and grenades, our lives are worth more than just dying from AIDS” and “we’re not your cheap labour, we’re not your child brides, we’re not just poor kids with some flies in our eyes”, we bring the first Child Uprising to life.

Children are the most vulnerable group of people in the world. For many, their futures are limited by violence, illiteracy, and inequality. While the stats may seem difficult to believe, the reality is that 150 million boys and girls are engaged in child labour worldwide, 37,000 girls become child brides every day, and there are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers across the globe. But Right To Play empowers millions of children to rise above this oppression and these dire statistics. To show the world how powerful their work is, we created an Uprising that had never been seen before: The Child Uprising.

ANTHEM: “We Rise”

0:90

We open on a small group of Thai children, aged 8-14 years old, who are lined up against a wall, crammed into a small holding room. The little girl in the forefront turns dramatically to camera as the voice-over of a young girl says.

VO: They think they can traffic us.

We cut to a group of young, African child soldiers. They look dramatically to camera, armed with guns and machetes, as the voiceover continues:

VO: Abuse us.

We cut to a Pakistani female child bride, aged 11, her face obstructed by a veil and her feet too short to touch the ground as she sits on an altar beside her future husband, a 35-45-year-old man. They are surrounded by family members and elders from the village as confetti flies in the air in slow-motion.

VO: Marry us.

We cut to a group of very young boys working in a brick factory, transporting bricks in slow motion as they hold them above their heads.

VO: And use us.

We cut to a Canadian Indigenous girl, aged 10, surrounded by a vast, Northern-Canadian- looking landscape with trees that have been completely clear-cut from the land.

VO: They think that our futures are their own to shape.

We cut to a 10-year-old girl in an African hospital. There are other sick children in beds around her, all aged 8-15. They all look purposefully at camera.

VO: That they can determine our God-given fate.

We cut to a 14-year-old girl from Pakistan. She is behind bars, looking at camera.

VO: They think they can send us to jail for being raped.

We cut to a close-up shot of another young boy as he lifts his head hopefully. In the background we see rain pouring around him.

VO: But we’ll rise above the fear and the hurt and the pain.

We cut back to the Pakistani girl in jail as she lifts her head with pride.

VO: We’ll rise above the rules and traditions they claim,

We cut to another 12-year-old girl in a remote African village.

VO: We’ll rise above the hypocrisy and the blame,

We cut back to a close-up shot of the child bride as she looks directly at camera through the sheer veil that covers her face.

VO: And the shame it might bring to our family name.

We cut back to the child brick-makers as they slowly lower their masks in slow motion, looking at camera defiantly.

VO: ‘Cause our lives are worth more than the pennies we’re paid.

We cut to a Thai girl standing defiantly in a clothing sweatshop. She is looking to camera with her mask on, as other children and adults sew quietly around her.

VO: Our lives are worth more than the clothing we made.

We cut back to a wide shot of the child soldiers from the beginning of the spot as they look defiantly at camera.

VO: Our lives are worth more than the guns and grenades,

We cut to back to the small girl in the hospital as she turns towards camera dramatically.

VO: Our lives are worth more than just dying from AIDs.

The scene cuts to black dramatically. We slowly fade into a shot of a small Syrian girl in a refugee camp. The wind is blowing as she stands there, looking to camera defiantly. We cut to the child from the brick factory as bricks fall dramatically beside him as if he has just dropped them.

VO: So don’t treat us like only a fraction of our worth.

We cut to three girls standing in a remote African village, holding books in their hands. For the first time we hear one of the girls speak on camera, saying the same line as the girl reading the voice-over.

VO: We should know how to read, not just how to give birth.

GIRL ON-CAMERA: …To give birth.

The pacing of the edit begins to pick up as we cut to the sweatshop labourers and brick labourers taking off their masks.

VO: We’re not just taking up space on someone else’s earth.

We cut back to a close-up of the girl from the clothing sweatshop as she looks to camera and speaks the same words as the voiceover.

VO: We’re not your cheap labour,

GIRL ON-CAMERA: We’re not your cheap labour.

We cut back to the child bride as her veil flies off dramatically, a defiant expression on her face.

VO: We’re not your child brides,

We cut to a wide shot of the hospital scene where the group of children stand facing camera defiantly. We punch in on the hero girl’s eyes as she stares down the camera.

VO: We’re not just poor kids with some flies in our eyes,

We cut to a close-up of the child soldier hero as he speaks the same words as the voiceover.

VO: And we won’t just stand by

BOY ON-CAMERA: And we won’t just stand by.

We cut to a wide shot of the child soldiers as the hero boy throws his gun to the ground.

VO: While the world lets us die.

We cut to close-up portraits of some of the children from earlier in the spot, looking empowered.

VO: No, we rise.

The pacing of the edit and music quicken as we cut to groups of children all looking defiantly at camera: the labourers, the refugees, the kids from the hospital, the soldiers…

Finally, we cut to the Indigenous girl standing stoically against the strong, northerly wind. We cut to a wide shot of her in the beautiful and remote landscape as the final super appears:

SUPER: Every child should have the right to rise.

LOGO: Right to Play. Protect. Educate. Empower.

CTA: Help them rise at RightToPlay.com