Filed under: News about the Group
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Group #73, ITHACA. March 2007 NEWSLETTER.
MEETING: Tuesday, Mar. 20, 2007, 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.
>>>> Â 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!
- AIUSA’s Annual General Meeting Mar. 23-25 in Milwaukee: how should our
delegate vote on resolutions?
- Get on the Bus: AI #133′s trip to New York City for activism and
education. See www.gotb.org. Fri. Apr. 20. Are we interested?
- Reports and updates on campaigns.
NEXT MONTH’S MEETING: Tues. Apr. 17, 2007, 7:30, same place. Always the
3rd Tues.
Amnesty bases its work on the 1948 UN Universal Declaration of Human
Rights: 30 articles with rights everyone should have everywhere. An
article for March: Art. 21. (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the
government of his country, directly or through freely chosen
representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public
service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of
the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and
genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall
be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
To see all the Articles, go to our web site
http://www.ithacaamnesty.org/ (thanks
Govind!).
SAMPLE LETTER: IRAQ. Four women are in Baghdad’s al-Kadhimiya Prison
sentenced to death: Samar Sa’ad ‘Abdullah, Wassan Talib, Zeynab Fadhil,
and Liqa’ Qamar. The president of Iraq has power to pardon them, or
commute the sentences. Samar Sa’ad ‘Abdullah is in imminent danger of
execution. She was sentenced in 2005 for the murder of several relatives,
though she blamed the killings on her fiance. – In a separate case, Wassan
Talib and Zeynab Fadhil were sentenced to death by the Central Criminal
Court of Iraq on 31 August 2006 for the 2005 murder of several Iraqi
security force members in the Baghdad district of Hay al-Furat. Both women
denied involvement. Zeynab Fadhil reportedly claimed that she was abroad
at the time of the killings. – Liqa’ Qamar was sentenced to death on 6
February 2006 by the CCCI, for an alleged kidnapping in 2005. Her husband
is said to have been detained for the same crime. Please send this letter
or write your own to the President of Iraq c/o the Iraqi Embassy in
Washington. Also try these e-mail addresses, asking them to pass your
request on to the President: Prime Minister Nuri Kamil al-Maliki
iraqigov@yahoo.com; Minister of Justice Hashim al-Shibli
minister@iraqi-justice.org or deputy@iraqi-justice.org; Minister of
Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari press@iraqmofa.net. Salutations for all of
these: Your Excellency. Source: AIUSA web
http://takeaction.amnestyusa
POSTAGE rates: U.S., cards 24c, letters 39c. Canada, Mexico cards 55c,
letters 63c. Elsewhere: 75c – 84c.
TV Show: Cable Channel 13. The series of Amnesty programs has come to an
end after 625 weekly shows; but producer Wies van Leuken’s new series
“Over the Shoulder” has many items of Amnesty interest. Weekly 1-hour
programs (1 premiere and 2 repeats) Tues. 9PM, Thur. 9AM, Sat. 11PM.
*22 * 3/13,15,17 *Beyond the Margins*
Presentation by Gyude Moore, Liberia, at 5th Annual Activist Symposium,
Wells College, Aurora, NY
Followed by: *Interview with an Executioner * Produced by Terry McCaffrey.
*23 * 3/20, 22, 24 *Women in East and Southern Africa: taking the fast
track to Parliament*
by Gretchen Bauer, Associate Professor, Political Science and
International Relations, University of Delaware. Presented at the
Institute for African Development’s 2006 Annual Symposium: Power, Gender
and Social Change in Africa and the Diaspora.
Followed by: **A Place We Called Our Own** In 1998, the Southwest Arkansas
Community Development Corporation produced a film that explains where and
how African Americans were educated in Columbia County before
desegregation. Narrated by an alumna of Columbia School and a VISTA
volunteer on staff with the CDC, the program visits several of the school
sites and makes use of oral interviews with former students and
personnel.*
*24 *3/27, 29, 31 *Women’s Rights Advocacy Versus Gender Mainstreaming* by
Marcia Greenberg, Adjunct Professor, CU Law School. From the IAD’s 2006
Symposium: Power, Gender and Social Change in Africa and the Diaspora.
Followed by: *The Fugitive Slave Law* Narrated by Jane Edwards, this video
tells how the Fugitive Slave Law affected us in Tompkins County.
*25 *4/3, 5, 7 *Radical Citizenship: Women’s Political Leadership and
Social Transformation. Lessons from Botswana * by Judith Van Allen,
Visiting Fellow, Institute for African Development, CU. Presented at the
IAD’s 2006 Annual Symposium: Power, Gender and Social Change in Africa and
the Diaspora. Followed by a panel discussion by Gretchen Bauer and Marcia
Greenberg.
EVENTS IN THE AREA: Cornell AI contacts Matt Krueger mek42@cornell.edu,
Katie Bowers khb4@cornell.edu. Meetings resume Mar. 26: Mondays 5:30-6:30
in B15 Rockefeller; petitions Wed. 11 to 1 in Willard Straight;
letter-writing Thu. 6:30 (RPU or Collegetown Bagels). They arranged a
speech Mar. 11 by John Washburn of the Coalition for the International
Criminal Court [thanks to the Unitarian Church for the venue!]; are going
to New York Apr. 20 for ‘Get On The Bus’; and are planning a benefit
‘Jamnesty’ with local bands April 13.
DARFUR WEEK AT CORNELL (3/26-3/30) for awareness of the ongoing genocide
in Darfur. MON. MAR. 26 – Candlelight vigil for Darfur (7:30 pm, Ho
Plaza).
TUES., MAR. 27 Interfaith prayer service (4:30 pm, Founder’s Room
Anabel Taylor Hall); Â - Screening of “Darfur Diaries”; Q&A with the film’s
director Aisha Bain about the Darfur refugee situation. Food provided! (6
pm, Goldwin Smith HEC Auditorium).
WED. MAR. 28 Lecture by John
Prendergast, former advisor to Bill Clinton. Food! (6 pm, Uris Aud.).
THU. MAR. 29 Darfur townhall meeting w/ guest speakers Prof. John Weiss and
Prof. Nina Tannenwald. Food! (6 pm, Goldwin Smith Kaufman Aud.).
FRI. MAR. 30 Benefit concert! All proceeds go to humanitarian relief
for Darfuris in
refugee camps. (7:30 pm, Robert Purcell Multipurpose Room). Sponsors STARS
(Students for Tolerance, Awareness, and Remembering Survivors), Cornell
Amnesty International, others. Info Ray Bai rb279@cornell.edu.
CUSLAR (Committee on US/Latin American Relations) presents: – SAT. MAR. 31
1:30 PM Memorial Room, Willard Straight Hall, Cornell. “La Cosecha/The
Harvest” Mask and Puppet Theater. This performance by Arm-of-the Sea
Theater presents the story of a migrant farmworker sold into debt peonage
in the U.S., and how he is able to re-assert his humanity. The drama,
presented in Spanish and English, features dozens of mask and puppet
characters along with live music. Learn about and join in efforts to
support farmworker rights after the show. Cosponsor: Cornell Students
Against Sweatshops. Info cuslar-mailbox@cornell.edu, 255-7293.
- MON. APR. 2, 7:00pm 165 McGraw Hall, Cornell. Fr. Roy Bourgeois, founder
of School of the Americas Watch, on “The Struggle for Hope in Latin
America”. The U.S. Army School of the Americas has trained Latin American
military officers for decades; many SOA graduates are linked to
assassinations, massacres, disappearances and other human rights
violations, including the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero and continued
oppression of labor and community organizers from Mexico to Colombia. Fr.
Bourgeois helped start the movement to demand that the SOA be closed down.
Cosponsor: COLA (Cornell Organization for Labor Action). Info
cuslar-mailbox@cornell.edu, 255-7293.
Trumansburg High School Amnesty International has sent petitions with over
100 signatures to our Representatives and Senators asking them to sponsor
and support bills to end “extraordinary rendition”.
- Mar. 22 7-9 pm filmnight: we show “Trading Women,” on sex trafficking
in Asia (specifically Burma). Tyrell Haberkorn, a grad student who is AI USA
Country Specialist for Thailand and has worked for sex workers’ rights, will
speak on these issues. We’d love Ithaca AI members to join us!
- Lastly, we will go on the Get On The Bus event in NYC Apr. 20. Contact:
KFrostClapp@tburg.k12.ny.us.
OUT IN THE WORLD: The America We Believe In Leads the World on Human
Rights (so don’t violate them in Guantanamo Bay)–AI USA’s new campaign
hopes to get 500,000 signatures on its pledge. See
http://believe.amnestyusa.org for info and pledges, or come to our
meeting.
AI on-line action on Close Guantanamo petition:
http://www.amnesty.org/guantan
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: coordinator Charlotte
Acharya 227-3471 cba9@cornell.edu.