AIUSA Weekly Update for Pennsylvania, July 9
Posted July 9th, 2008 by Jen | News & Notes
HIGHLIGHT
Police Accountability Forum: LGBT Issues Addressed in Chicago
On June 19th, AIUSA hosted a very successful community forum on police accountability, focusing on police abuse of LGBTs in Chicago. AIUSA teamed with 20 cosponsoring local organizations to address the issue and brainstorm next steps to ignite activism demanding accountability for police abuse. 100 Chicagoans attended and participated in the forum, almost all of whom signed postcard appeals to the Mayor of Chicago.
This forum was particularly timely following a recent incident of homophobic CPD abuse against a gay man. This instance fits into a larger pattern of CPD abuse. AI’s findings in its Stonewalled report in 2006 indicate that even in serious cases of police abuse, Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers are seldom held accountable. These abuses include the use by police officers of sexually explicit and abusive language, threats, and physical violence.
Learn more about our LGBT work
TAKE ACTION
Help Free Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage
Patrick Kennedy (D, RI), has written a Dear Colleague letter to members of Congress, calling on them to sign on to a letter written to the President of Indonesia regarding the case of Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage. The letter asks for Mr. Karma and Mr. Pakage to be immediately and unconditionally released from prison. They were jailed in May 2005 for raising a flag of independence.
Please call or write your representative, asking them to sign on to the letter to the President of Indonesia. Find your representative’s contact info
REMINDER: We’re nearing the end of our summer drive for petitions calling for the release of Filep and Yusak. Please return any remaining completed petitions to MARO by Friday, July 18th. We will be holding an action outside the Indonesian embassy at the end of July and will take the petitions with us. Please contact Jen Horwitz at 202.544.0200 x344 or jhorwitz@aiusa.org with any questions.
Expert Organizing Tip: Everyone loves food, so incorporate food in your next fundraiser. Have a chocolate or wine and cheese tasting. Host a dinner full of ethnic food, or just provide pizza and snacks at your event.
CAMPAIGN UPDATES
AIUSA Sues the CIA: CIA Fails to Release More Than 7000 Documents Relating to Secret Detention, Rendition, and Torture Program
On the evening of June 25th, 2008 Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and the International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law (NYU IHRC) filed a motion to require the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to make certain information public and to provide more details about all the documents withheld.
AIUSA and the partner groups are concerned about the CIA’s use of classification arguments in its attempts to prevent the disclosure of illegal or embarrassing conduct in its secret detention, torture, and rendition programs. The lawsuit was filed in June 2007 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), after repeated attempts to obtain information from the CIA had failed.
OPPORTUNITIES
Regional Planning Group: Give Your Input
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Group (RPG) is preparing for its July monthly meeting. In an effort to connect the RPG’s work with the work that you are doing in your groups, we’d like to invite you to take a look at the notes from last month’s meeting and send any comments or suggestions to RPG co-chair Jonathan Cohen or Regional Director Folabi Olagbaju.
See the notes from last month’s call
Apply for a position on the RPG [PDF]
Summer Postcard Action: Write Prisoners of Conscience Letters of Support
For many people, summer is a time for vacations, picnics and recreation. But for prisoners of conscience or those who defend human rights in many countries, summer brings no relief from the potential danger and sense of isolation they may face. By simply sending a postcard, however, you can help support these women and men. On Amnesty’s website, there is information about some of these prisoners.
REGIONAL & NATIONAL EVENTS
Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference: Register Online!
This year activists like you will be meeting up in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia to learn more about AIUSA, network with other activists, and engage around this year’s theme: “Educate to Activate: Building a Human Rights Movement for All”.
Learn more about the conference
Register at the reduced early bird rate
LOCAL EVENTS
Burmese Scholar in York, PA
The York PA chapter of Amnesty International will be hosting Dr. Tun Lin Moe, a Burmese scholar, who will speak about human rights in his native country. The event is free, but donations will be accepted.
Where: Cobblestones Restaurant and Sports Emporium in the Loft, 205 South George St., York, PA, 17403
When: Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 7 PM
For more info contact: Kathleen Lucas, Co-Coordinator York Amnesty International, 717-755-3031, AmnestyYorkPA@comcast.net
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Help Plan the AGM: Be Part of the Annual General Meeting Planning Committee (AGMPC)
The AGMPC serves as the advisory committee for AGM programming, including speakers, theme, and program sessions. The AGMPC consists of one committee member from each AIUSA region, a member of the National Resolutions Committee and the Chair of AIUSA’s Board of Directors. Each regional member serves a two year term. Committee members provide input and ideas, play an important role in regional promotion of the AGM, and provide logistical support onsite.
We are currently accepting applications for the Mid-Atlantic region. For more information and a copy of the application email: agm@aiusa.org. Please submit your application by Thursday, July 24, 2008.
Help Abolish the Death Penalty in PA: Apply to be the State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator
Become a volunteer leader in Pennsylvania’s campaign towards abolishing the death penalty. We are looking for a volunteer to work with Amnesty International USA’s Death Penalty Abolish Campaign team (DPAC) and the Regional Office to coordinate AIUSA’s work against the death penalty in Pennsylvania.
Responsibilities include:
- Communicate with, provide information to, and facilitate work of AIUSA local and student groups, and individual AIUSA members in Pennsylvania related to the death penalty.
- Communicate with, provide information to, and work collaboratively with PA’s AIUSA State Leadership Team which is comprised of Area Coordinators, Student Area Coordinators, Legislative Coordinators, and the SDPAC.
- Serve as a liaison to relevant state-based coalitions in coordination with the Field Organizer.
- Communication with the Regional Office and DPAC in a timely fashion about death penalty related legislation and activities in Pennsylvania.
- Monitor upcoming executions and other death penalty cases -particularly those involving such factors as possible innocence, mental retardation, mental illness, or such defendants as women, LGBT, or foreign nationals – and alert the Regional Office and DPAC.
For more information (including a complete role description and outline of responsibilities), or if you are interested in applying, please contact Jen Horwitz at 202-544-0200 ext. 344 or jhorwitz@aiusa.org. Applications are due by August 8th. The applicant chosen for the position will be asked to attend the annual national training for SDPACs to be held in the Washington, DC area August 22-24.
For more resources and information for the Mid-Atlantic Region visit: www.amnestyusa.org/MARO
For questions or comments please contact us at aiusama@aiusa.org
New location for Chester County group July meeting; speaker on China
Posted July 9th, 2008 by April | Chester County, News & Notes
The Chester County Amnesty International group continues its search for a summertime meeting place, during our sabbatical from Saxby’s. The July meeting will be held at the Magnolia Grill at the Chester County Books and Music Co., Route 202 and Paoli Pike, West Chester.
Also, the July meeting will feature a guest speaker. From coordinator Jeff Singleton:
“Continuing our summer emphasis on human rights and China/Olympics, we welcome special guest Cindy Wang to our July meeting. Cindy will speak to us about human rights issues in China, and particularly about the persecution of practitioners of Falun Gong. According to a US Department of State report, Falun Gong comprise 66% of all reported torture cases in China, and at least half of the labor camp population.
Cindy Wang is a member of Amnesty Group 112 in Philadelphia and a 10-year Falun Gong practitioner. Since the persecution of Falun Gong started in China in 1999, Cindy has worked to raise awareness of the persecution by organizing events, visiting congressional offices, and serving as media spokesperson in Philadelphia. Cindy is also the Pennsylvania & Delaware Coordinator for Human Rights Torch Relay, the global grassroots campaign to draw attention to human rights issues in China before the Olympics.”
Thursday, July 10, 2008
7:00 pm
Cobblestones Restaurant, 205 S. George St., York PA
From the York Daily Record/Sunday News
The York chapter of Amnesty International will host a Burmese scholar, who will talk Thursday about human rights in his native country of Burma, officially named the Union of Myanmar.
Tun Lin Moe, who specializes in disaster preparedness and development, will speak at the group’s 7 p.m. meeting at Cobblestone’s Restaurant and Sports Emporium, in the loft. The event is free.
The restaurant is at 205 S. George St. For information, e-mail AmnestyYorkPA@comcast.net or visit
www.hractivists.org
Friday, May 2, 2008 to Sunday, May 11, 2008
Sedgwick Gallery
7137 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19119
*This is not an Amnesty International event, but may be of interest to AI supporters.
Witness to Persecution - Falun Gong Practitioners in the US Speak Out
Photographs by Nathea Lee
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual cultivation practice that includes five sets of meditative exercises and teachings based on the universal principles of Zhen, Shan, Ren – Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance. In 1992, Mr. Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong in China. Seven years later – after a state survey revealed that up to 70 million people across the country had taken up the practice – China’s Communist government banned Falun Gong and began an inhumane campaign of persecution against its followers. Today, it is freely practiced by more than 100 million people in more than 80 countries. While the persecution continues inside China, practitioners in other countries bear witness and use various peaceful means to expose the truth. The images in this exhibition were taken at awareness activities in the U.S.
Exhibition Hours:
Opening Reception: May 2, 5:30PM
Mondays & Wednesdays: Noon – 8:00PM
Saturdays & Sundays: Noon – 6:00PM
Center City group 112 to hold table this Saturday at symbolic Torch Relay
Posted May 1st, 2008 by April | Philly Center City
Amnesty International Center City Philadelphia, Group 112, will be having a table at the symbolic Olympic Torch Relay from noon to 4pm at Independence Mall, near the Liberty Bell at 5th and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia. The group will sell candles and will have letters and petitions for people to sign, as well as information about Amnesty International and Group 112.
The Olympic Torch Relay event will include a free concert, rally, and the torch run, all as a means of spotlighting the human rights situation in China. For more information about the symbolic torch relay, see humanrightstorch.org or email HRTR@comcast.net.
Amnesty International is pressing for substantial reforms in the human rights situation in China in four key areas: the death penalty; punitive detention without trial; treatment of human rights defenders; and unwarranted censorship of the internet. To learn more about Amnesty’s campaign, “China: Olympic Legacy,” please visit www.amnestyusa.org/chinaolympics
Saturday, May 3, 2008
12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Independence Mall, near Liberty Bell (5th and Chestnut)
Philadelphia, PA
Amnesty International Center City Philadelphia, Group 112, will be having a table at the symbolic Olympic Torch Relay from noon to 4pm. The group will sell candles and will have letters and petitions for people to sign, as well as information about Amnesty International and Group 112.
The Olympic Torch Relay event will include a free concert, rally, and the torch run, all as a means of spotlighting the human rights situation in China. For more information about the event, email HRTR@comcast.net.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
7:00 pm
Great Room
Seegers Union
Muhlenberg College
Allentown, PA
*This is not an Amnesty International event, but may be of interest to AI supporters.
Professor Ingrid Mattson will present a lecture, “Framing Muslim Women: Islam, Gender and Human Rights in the Global Media” on Tuesday, April 22 at 7p.m. in the Great Room, Seegers Union. The event is free and open to the public.
In her talk, Dr. Mattson will address the case of Pakistani rape-survivor Mukhtar Mai and how her situation was helped or distorted and her story told and re-framed by various groups such as Pakistani and international women’s groups, international journalists and other media and politicians.
Ingrid Mattson, Director of Islamic Chaplaincy and Professor at the Macdonald Center for Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, CT, is the first convert to Islam and the first female to lead the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).
She earned her Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago in 1999. Her research focuses on Islamic law and society; among her articles are studies on slavery, poverty and Islamic legal theory. Dr. Mattson was born in Canada, where she studied Philosophy at the University of Waterloo, Ontario (B.A. ’87). From 1987-1988 she lived in Pakistan where she worked with Afghan refugee women. In 2001 she was elected Vice-President of ISNA and in 2006 she was elected President of the organization.
Aside from her many other accomplishments, you might have heard her as a guest on NPR’s Speaking of Faith just recently.
Muhlenberg College gratefully acknowledges the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation’s support of the Center for Ethics.
Let the monks of Tibet hear your voice
Posted April 2nd, 2008 by April | Take Action
A message from Larry Cox, Executive Director, AIUSA
You’ve seen the images on YouTube and in the newspapers…… Chinese security forces brutally attacking unarmed, non-violent protestors, including Buddhist monks, in Tibet.
But, you don’t have to sit idly by and just watch. You can take action right now to help secure the freedom of 15 Tibetan monks who were arrested on March 10 for staging a peaceful protest in Barkhor, Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
We have no information on the monks’ current whereabouts. We don’t know the nature of the charges brought against them. And, they’re at very high risk of torture or other ill treatment.
What we do know, is that by acting together we can place enormous pressure on the Chinese Government at a moment when they are trying to put their best face forward in the run up to the 2008 Olympic Games. By acting now, we can secure the immediate release of the 15 monks and the other peaceful protestors that were detained with them.
In recent days, Amnesty International has met with Congressional leaders, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and with senior White House officials. We are placing enormous pressure on the Chinese Government to stop the violence, open up the region to foreign reporters and to free peaceful protestors.
But, we need your immediate help to keep the pressure on.
Friday, April 11, 2008
For the 13th consecutive year, Amnesty International Local Group 133 in Somerville, MA is organizing Get on the Bus (GOTB), a trip to New York City for one full day of human rights action and education. GOTB will be held Friday, April 11 in NYC.
2008 Actions:
Darfur: Call for International Justice and Accountability (IJA) ~ GOTB activists will focus on the need to lobby the government of Sudan to bring individuals responsible for human rights violations in Darfur to justice.
Special Focus Case: Fathi el-Jahmi (Libya) ~ Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience, who has been detained solely for the peaceful expression of his political views. We will be calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Fathi el-Jahmi.
Side Action: Bhopal ~ To show our continued commitment to the survivors of the 1984 chemical disaster in Bhopal, a small group of GOTB activists will gather at the Indian Consulate to demand the Government of India compel Dow Chemicals to appear before the Indian courts.
More information forthcoming at the GOTB Website
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
7:00 pm
East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church
432 E. Chestnut St., Lancaster
This is not an Amnesty International event, but may be of interest to AI supporters. Sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee.
Speakers from Laos and Lebanon will talk about how cluster bombs have affected their lives, and provide information about the use of cluster bombs in their countries. The country of Laos represents one of the earliest uses of cluster bombs and Lebanon marks the most recent case of cluster bomb use. Traveling with the speaking tour will be a photo exhibit and resource materials about the impact of cluster bombs worldwide, as well as current international efforts to ban them.
Speakers include:
- Raed Mokaled, an optician from Nabatieh, Lebanon whose 5-year old son was killed by a cluster bomb in 1999.
- Bassam Chamoun, community development worker for Mennonite Central Committee in southern Lebanon.
- Phounsy Phasavaeng, community development worker for CARE in Sekong Province, Laos who lost her nephew in a cluster bomb accident.
- Lasee Phetsavong, an employee of World Education whose responsibility includes organizing immediate and long-term care for cluster bomb accident victims in Laos.
Contact:
Titus Peachey
tmp@mcc.org
Mennonite Central Committee
21 S. 12th St., Box 500
Akron, PA 17501
PH: (717) 859-1151
FAX: (717) 859-3875