Filed under: News about the Group
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Group #73, ITHACA. April 2006 NEWSLETTER.
MEETING: Tuesday, Apr. 18, 2006, 7:30 pm, Kahin Center, 640 Stewart Ave., Cornell West Campus. (Take driveway downhill to building with covered entranceway, in front door. Parking allowed evenings.) Info: 273-3009.
>>>> Can’t be at the whole meeting? Come early or late, sign even a single card!
AGENDA: ? Write letters on Urgent Action cases, cards, petitions: signatures are powerful!
• The group’s new updated website http://www.ithacaamnesty.org/.
• Amnesty USA’s Annual General Meeting Apr. 28-30, Portland, OR: how should our delegate vote on resolutions?
• Report on Area Meeting. We hope to get a new Action File (prisoner case); who can be coordinator?
• Reports and updates on campaigns.
NEXT MONTH’S MEETING: Tues. May 16, 2006, 7:30, same place. Always the 3rd Tuesday. (Bring a member-in-the-making!)
Amnesty bases its work on the UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights: 30 articles listing rights all people should have everywhere. An article for April: Art. 12. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour or reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the laws against such interference or attacks.
SAMPLE LETTER: Nepal. The country has been plagued by violence for a decade: Maoist guerrillas struggle against the King’s government. Last year the King took all power into his hands, repressing the civil population. In recent demonstrations calling for a return to democracy, numerous human-rights workers were arbitrarily arrested, including Krishna Pahadi, the former director of Amnesty Nepal. Please send this letter or write your own to the King at the address given (84¢ airmail). Extra effect: send a copy to Ambassador Kedar B. Shrestha, Nepalese Embassy, 2131 Leroy Pl. NW, Washington DC 20008, Fax: 1 202 667 5534, Email: info@nepalembassyusa.org. Source: Urgent Action 42/06, update 20 March 2006.
SPECIAL APPEAL: Please write to Governor Michael F. Easley, Office of the Governor, 20301 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-0301 or Fax 1 919 715 3175/ 1 919 733 2120 and ask him to halt the execution (scheduled for Apr. 21) of Willie Brown. Brown was convicted of murder after his attorneys didn’t tell the court he was severely mentally ill.
STAMPS now cost: cards 24¢, letters 39¢. Canada, Mexico cards 55¢, letters 63¢. Other countries: 75¢ – 84¢.
TV Show: Cable Channel 13. Weekly 30-minute program (premiere and 2 repeats). Tues. 9 PM, Wed. 11 PM, and Fri. 9 PM. http://www.pegasysaccess.org/; find “Amnesty International” on Channel 13 grid, or http://www.ithacaamnesty.org/.
*594 Colombia, the hidden tragedy 4/18,19, 21
Current human rights violations in Colombia. A video made by AI Netherlands.
*595 For my grandchildren’s children 4/25,26,28
Actions to stop violence against women in Namibia. A video made by AI Netherlands.
*596 (R #309) Chrisje de Boer’s story 5/2,3,5
On May 5, 1945 the director of a nursing home in The Netherlands told his staff that now that the war was over, he could reveal the true identities of four of their colleagues. This is where Kitty Zilversmit begins her story.
*597 (R #577) Defending Women, Defending Human Rights 5/9,10,12
This video from Amnesty International explores the lives of 5 Women Human Rights Defenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Spain, Nepal and the Occupied Territories.
IN THE AREA: Cornell Amnesty meets Mon. afternoons; tables in Willard Straight Tues. lunchtime; writes letters Thu. 6:30-8:30 at Collegetown Bagels. Info kpm27@cornell.edu/ fml23@cornell.edu. Two members debated on the death penalty on Right Angle on cable channel 13 (taking the anti- side, naturally). Several plan to go to New York Apr. 21 for “Get On The Bus” (human rights action–including protests at consulates–and education). Apr. 18 they have a film and panel on Nepal, McGraw 165, 7pm. Bake sale Apr. 25. Day of Silence Apr. 26 (nation-wide, against bullying of gay and lesbian students http://www.dayofsilence.org/). Fundraiser May 10 at Willard Straight.
Ithaca College Amnesty group meetings: contact Evan Engel, president, 375-2759 eengel1@ithaca.edu. Kamala Kempadoo (York Univ., Canada) speaks on sex trafficking and modern-day slavery Thursday, Apr. 20, at 7 pm in Williams 225. • Film Invisible Children (movement to help child victims of the 20-year war in north Uganda, see www.invisiblechildren.com) will be screened Apr. 25 in Textor 101 at 8pm. • Apr. 29, a related event Global Night Commute; contact Evan.
At Cornell: Friday, April 22 – Latin Night at the Barn: A benefit for Ithaca’s Sister Community of Cajibio, Colombia.
 9:00pm-1:00am, Big Red Barn. Sponsors: CUSLAR and others. Free dance lessons starting at 9pm! Then dancing and fun until 1am! Donations warmly accepted to support the community of Cajibio.
OUT IN THE WORLD: Gurbandurdy Durdykuliev, prisoner of conscience in Turkmenistan, was freed Apr. 11. He’d spent two years confined in a mental hospital for criticizing the government. Amnesty has been working for his release, and helped to get 54 U.S. members of Congress and Senators to write to Turkmen president Niyazov on his behalf. • The Hague: the International Criminal Court has its first indictment for crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the defendant is under arrest. Details: Human Rights Watch http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/03/17/congo13026.htm • See http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ for actions to: Demand the Immediate Release of Eight Women and Children Detained in Iran; Ensure the Safety of Guatemalan Human Rights Defender Claudia Rivas and her Children: Shield the Women of Darfur (ask senators to strengthen support for the African Union mission); “Extraordinary Renditions” — U.S. Outsourcing Torture? (ask senators and representatives to oppose U.S. “renditions” of detainees to other countries): Stop Executions of the Mentally Ill in the U.S.; End Police Abuse and Misconduct Against LGBT People (also refers specifically to the U.S.).
Recently on http://news.amnesty.org/: child soldiers again being recruited by local militias to fight in North Kivu (eastern Democratic Republic of Congo). • The CIA uses private ‘front’ companies to fly detainees from country to country so as to torture them in secret. Amnesty has tracked many hundreds of flights and spoken to some prisoners who have been released. • Burundi: AI is glad to see plans for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a special tribunal, but wants to be sure they can both function effectively and not be limited. • Beyond Abu Ghraib: Thousands of detainees denied their basic rights. Both the US-led forces and Iraqi authorities arbitrarily hold people and there is risk of torture.
Our group’s new updated Web site (kindness of Govind Acharaya as well as Jesse Ernst): http://www.ithacaamnesty.org/. Keep the Newsletter coming: renew subscriptions! $5/year to “AI Group #73, Ithaca,” c/o W. Browne, 206 Eddy St., Ithaca NY 14850, 273-3009. Rather get it by e-mail? Ask ewb2@cornell.edu. Info: co-coordinators Charlotte Acharya 227-3471 cba9@cornell.edu; Jackie Swift, swiftlyme@yahoo.com