Amnesty International, Eastern PA

“Torturing Democracy”, a documentary on U.S. interrogations in the war on terror, will be shown at 7 p.m., September 30 at Central Moravian Church’s Christian Education Building in downtown Bethlehem. This evening of film and discussion is sponsored by Amnesty International Group 347 of Bethlehem.

Dr. Christian Rice, visiting assistant professor of Philosophy and Religion at Ursinus College, will moderate the discussion following the showing.

The 90-minute documentary examines how coercive interrogation methods were used by the CIA and then adopted for military interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq. Amnesty International USA is sponsoring showings of the film across the country as part of its “Counter Terror with Justice Campaign”, to help stop the use of torture in American’s fight against terrorism. Amnesty International is calling for an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the use of torture in America’s “war on terror” and for those responsible to be held accountable.

This documentary is particularly relevant since in late August US Attorney General Eric Holder opened a “preliminary review” of whether CIA operatives broke the law in their use of coercion when interrogating suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Bill Moyers of the Bill Moyers Journal says, “You’ll see and hear some things hard to bear but you’ll also meet some government insiders who refused to go along, who stood up and said, ‘This is wrong.’”

A discussion of the pros and cons of calling for an investigative commission will follow the film. “We are very pleased to share this film with the Moravian community and to have Dr. Rice guide the follow-up discussion,” says Karen Berry of the Amnesty group which has been meeting at Central Moravian since 1998.

Refreshments will be served. The Christian Education Building is on the Church campus between Church, Market and New streets. Access to the building is from New Street, a half block north of the Bethlehem Library, on the left. Call 610-866-2655 for more information. All are welcome.

MINUTES GROUP 112 MEETING AUGUST 27, 2009

Nine people attended this meeting. One person was a first time attender who requested being put on the ListServe.

Tina Jia and Jason Wang talked on religious persecution of members of Falun Gong in China. Jason told of being imprisoned and tortured after he refused to give up Falun Gong. Tina movingly talked about her mother who was sent to a labor camp for an eighteen month term because of her belief in Falun Gong. In addition, her aunt, cousin and brother-in-law are also in custody. Tina’s talk related to the organ harvesting issue in that she described how inmates had blood drawn and how some inmates just disappeared. Many thanks to Cindy Wang who served as moderator and translator.

Letters were sent: protesting detention of immigrants in the US; an Amnesty International URGENT ACTION letter protesting an arrest of a human rights worker in China; letters protesting religious persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China; letters protesting abuse of human rights in Mexico.

Because of lack of time the Coordinators report was not given. So I will outline the contents of this report.

1. At our retreat honoring Mark last summer, many suggestions were made about programs of Group 112. One was that we should present instruction on letter writing. I xeroxed such a document and will distribute it at the next meeting. It’s content will be discussed at that time.

2. The first Friday Noon Human Rights Discussion is organized for October 23 at the Ethical Society 12:00 noon to 2PM. The speaker is Gladys Monterroso from Guatemala. She is on a speaker tour organized by the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA. You can learn all about her at www.latinamericahaiti.com. This will be a light lunch (provided by us, but we will ask for donations) attended by about 15 invited people. Since this talk will stress human rights, Latin America and immigration we need a list of people to invite interested in these areas. So, I am requesting help in developing this list. E-mail me your suggestions, please. Or course all of our members will be invited. We write letters but rarely can see that there are real people out there suffering violations of their human rights. We hope that this event will be as good as our discussion with Tina and Jason where we could sense their desperation and how important our letter writing can be for individual people.

3. Construction of our web site is on hold.

4. Tabling? At our retreat it was emphasized that we must continue Tabling, as an educational and fund raising event. I am working on obtaining permission for us to have an AI table at some of the
Rittenhouse Square events, such as their market, art fair. Other suggestions for Tabling?

5. Our bank account. I suggest that we should require two signatures for each check. Is it OK to ask Dorothee and myself to be signees?

Next meeting: September 24.

Submitted by Ron Coburn

Group #531 (Allentown) met on Tuesday, Aug. 25, with five members attending. Those present reported sending more than 60 letters in the past two months, on behalf of human rights victims and in support of advancing AI’s human rights goals.

Group Coordinator Dan Laxar reported that the treasury is healthy, but we need to plan for funding for future expenses and to support AIUSA, particularly since our most lucrative fundraiser, the annual Dorney Park “Trick-or-Treat Trial” will not take place this year. In the near term, we agreed to make a big push, with Group #347 (Bethlehem, PA), on our annual holiday gift-wrapping at Barnes and Noble in December.

Dan shared AI successes since our June meeting. We agreed to send individual letters to the DRC and Colombia in support of human rights defenders who are endangered in those two countries. We will also be sending individual letters to Sri Lanka on behalf of five medical doctors who were detained as they left the “no fire zone” at the end of the hostilities there. The doctors had been providing the only medical care available there, and in view of their protracted detention, so far without charge, we will convey AI’s concern for their well-being.

Karen reminded the group of the upcoming screening of “Torturing Democracy,” to be followed by a discussion of the film and the pros and cons of an independant investigation of torture under the last U.S. administration. The discussion will be moderated by a Dr. Christian Rice, professor of Philosophy and Religion at Ursinus College. The event will take place on Sept. 30, at 7 PM, in the Christian Education Bldg. of Central Moravian Church, Bethlehem, PA.