At its Feb. 16 meeting the group unanimously elected Ute Ritz-Deutch. Ute teaches history and human rights courses at SUNY Cortland, and is active in the Tompkins County Immigrant Rights Coalition. Welcome Ute. She can be contacted at uteritzdeutch@yahoo.com.
- Amnesty’s Annual General Meeting coming up (New Orleans April 9-11). How should our delegate vote? Who else would like to attend? Info http://www.amnestyusa.org/agm.
- Working with Tompkins Immigrant Rights Coalition: come to immigration reform rally March for America on Sunday March 21 in Washington, D.C. (http://tcirc.wordpress.com/).
- Reports and updates on campaigns; plans for the future.
NEXT MONTH’S MEETING: Tues. Apr. 20, 2010 at the Kahin Center. Always the third Tuesday at 7:30.
NEW COORDINATOR: at its Feb. 16 meeting the group unanimously elected Ute Ritz-Deutch. Ute teaches history and human rights courses at SUNY Cortland, and is active in the Tompkins County Immigrant Rights Coalition.
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. 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. – See all 30 at http://www.ithacaamnesty.org/?page_id=33.
SAMPLE LETTER: Iran. Azarbaijan (not only the name of a country) also refers to provinces in NW Iran where people speak the Azarbaijani Turkic language, not officially recognized. The Traktor Sazi soccer team in Tabriz is a favorite symbol for Azarbaijanis. Soccer journalist Abdollah Sadoughi, a team fan, printed posters for it in the local language and was then arrested Jan. 18. AI considers him a Prisoner of Conscience for his work on language rights. Please send this letter or write your own to the local judiciary head at the address given (98c Air Mail). Extra effect: send a copy to Iranian Interests Section, 2209 Wisconsin Av NW, Washington DC 20007 (Fax 202 965 1073, E-mail: requests@daftar.org). See: Urgent Action 51/10 Mar. 9. http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa05110.pdf.
POSTAGE rates: US cards 28c, letters 44c. Canada cards/letters 75c, Mexico 79c, other countries 98c.
TV Show: Cable Channel 13. Cameraman Jurden Alexander and producer Wies van Leuken’s series “Over the Shoulder” has many items of human-rights/Amnesty interest. Weekly 1-hour programs (premiere, 3 repeats) Tue. 9 PM; Wed. 1:30 PM; Thur. 11 AM; Sat. 11 PM.
#108 The Food and Financial Crises 3/9,10,11,13
…and their Impacts on the Achievement of Millennium Development Goals in Africa. Conference at CU’s Institute for African Development, May 1-2, 2009. Session 1 Causes and Consequences of the Food and Financial Crises. Moderator David Lee; Speaker Keith Wiebe.?Followed by Amnesty International’s “Stop Violence Against Women” campaign video.
#109 The Food and Financial Crises, continued 3/16,17,18,20
Session 2 Case Studies of the Impact of Food Prices on Poverty and Food Security. Mod. David Sahn; Speakers Nicolette Gibson, Ernest Aryeetey.
#110 The Food and Financial Crises, continued 3/23, 24,25,27
Session 2 Case Studies of the Impact of Food Prices on Poverty and Food Security. Speaker Kenneth Simler.?Followed by Amnesty International’s “Childsoldier.”
#111 A reading by poet Natasha Trethewey 3/30, 31, 4/1, 3
Ms. Trethewey is the Phillis Wheatley Distinguished Chair in Poetry at Emory University and the author of Native Guard, Bellocq’s Ophelia and Domestic Work. She read from her work at Cornell University, February 25, 2010.
#112 The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn’t Working 4/6,7,8,10
Robert Calderisi, Africa Commissioner, Commission on Effective Development Cooperation with Africa gave a talk on his experiences at the Institute for African Development, CU on November 12, 2009.
>Public Access TV http://www.pegasysaccess.org is available to local residents: learn how to make and broadcast your own programs!<
* (up-to-date schedules http://www.pegasysaccess.org/info/ch13sched.shtml)_
Congratulations to Jurden Alexander on the special award at the Pegasys yearly awards ceremony March 5!
EVENTS IN THE AREA: Cornell Amnesty is working on immigration reform, ending automatic detention: see http://www.amnestyusa.org/immigration-detention/page.do?id=1641031. Benefit concert Apr. 29. Info elr64@cornell.edu.
AI at SUNY Cortland: Info liz.perry@cortland.edu / jessie.steinberg@cortland.edu.
March 3 the Common Council of the City of Ithaca, NY unanimously passed a resolution affirming the city’s appreciation of its immigrants and urging the U.S. Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform!
Land of Plenty? Voices of Recent Immigrants at Work in Tompkins County. March 25th, 5:30pm. The History Center presents immigrants speaking on their journey to America, efforts to find work, and what they do for a living.
OUT IN THE WORLD: AI’s CAFRAN = Central African network has several appeals for action (human rights defenders in Democratic Republic of Congo, Conflict Minerals Act pending in the U.S. Congress, attacks on opposition politicians in Rwanda): see the Feb. newsletter at http://tinyurl.com/yfyvmql. Our group is a member of CAFRAN.
Amnesty USA is campaigning for President Obama not to give up on trying terrorism defendants in federal courts. Courts are designed to determine guilt or innocence; for civilians, they do it more reliably than military bodies. See http://www.amnestyusa.org/counter-terror-with-justice/page.do?id=1011329.
Join AI in calling for justice for 45+ women arrested, then raped by police in Atenco, Mexico: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=13770&ICID=I1003A02&tr=y&auid=6033999.
Poverty = denial of human rights: many actions http://www.amnestyusa.org/demand-dignity/page.do?id=1041191.
FROM OTHER SOURCES: “A Houston judge ruled that the Texas death penalty procedures are unconstitutional… hearing on April 27 to hear evidence on the issue. State District Judge Kevin Fine said he wants more information before making a final decision about whether the state’s death penalty statute allows for the possible execution of an innocent person.” From Texas Moratorium Network, Austin: http://www.texasmoratorium.org/.
Going away? Should we drop your address, or change to e-mail? Tell us c/o W. Browne, 206 Eddy St., Ithaca NY 14850, 273-3009, e-mail ewb2@cornell.edu. Info: coordinator Ute Ritz-Deutch uteritzdeutch@yahoo.com, tel. (607) 351-8033.