Human Rights Day Celebration: Part 2

After the good start of Part 1 of the Human Rights Day celebration (Children's Exhibit during the month of Nov); our Amnesty International Chapter kicked off another successful event.

In marking the 66th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights (UDHR) we convened 4-hr event at the Jones Library in Amherst that was very well attended, and co sponsored by more than two dozens of human rights and peace building groups in the area. Participants came from all ages and ethnic backgrounds.

Here is a brief description of today's Program:

• Opening remarks,  Martha Spiegelman, Coordinator, Amnesty International-Amherst Group 128 

Martha gave a brief description on the history of UDHR and what has been representing in the lives of activists around the world. She also encouraged the audience to send support letters and Season's Greetings cards to Ayatolah Boroujerdi, the Iranian Pris
oner of Conscience adopted by Amherst Chapter.

• Chant, composed by Amnesty International–Amherst Group 128, with Tamador Gibreel and Michael Morgan on drums. A beautiful poetic words collectively composed by our members and delivered and chanted by the whole audience:

Remember, remember

As we open the windows

Dream, dream

As we push through the doors

.....

...........

Nourish, nourish

As we paint....dance....and sing.

      

• Speaker Cynthia Gabriel, Senior Organizer for Amnesty International: Background and History of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a few words about Amnesty International, 

 Selected  Articles  from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Brought  to  Life  by  Performance  and  Art

      Article 1:  Excerpts from Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” in English and Spanish, read by Bassil Farah, Ayssar Farah and Rwan Farah, with Tamador Gibreel and Michael Morgan on drums

      Article 2:  "HeForShe, Equal Rights for Women," excerpts from speech by UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson for HeForShe Campaign, read by Burleigh Muten

     Article 3:  ­­­­­­­­­“Life Liberty Security”, a dance choreographed by Alicia Morton and danced by Alicia Morton and Ritsuka Mastroianni, with Tom Morton reading a poem by A
licia Morton and working a rainstick.

   Article 5: ­­­­­­­­ Torturous cacaphony, a musical piece segueing into “Rights of Man” (Traditional), Sarah McKee on Celtic harp

  Article 6: A reading and Saxophone solo, performed by Mtali Banda

   Article 7:  "Tree of Peace," song composed and performed by Jacqueline Odess-Gillett, guitar and vocal

   Article 9:  ­­­­­­­­­“Kampa Gi
rl’s Story”, Tibetan Memoir, written by Tsultrim Dolma and read by Moha
med Elgadi

  Article 10:  Excerpt from “Tango Lessons”, a novel in progress written and read by Fanny Rothschild, with Tamador Gibreel and Michael Morgan on drums

   Article 13:  “Right to See,” poem written and read by Alexis Stranko

   Article 15: ­­ A few words from Gandhi on nationhood, nationality and self-government, selected and read by Martha Spiegelman, with Sarah McKee on Celtic harp  

   Article 16:  “Same Sex Marriage”, song composed by Tom Neilson and sung by Tom Neilson and     Lynn Waldron, with Bruce Colegrove on guitar

   Article 18:  "The Curious Giraffe," a children's song composed and sung by Dorothy Cresswell 

  Article 19:  ­­­­­Song, Tamador Gibreel singing  [title to be added]

  Article 21:  "The Recurring Dream," written and read by Dusty Miller

 Article 24:  A reading by Hannah Elliot  [title to be added]

Articles 26 ­­­­­­­­­and 27:  Rainbow Players, with Ezzel Floraniña  [title to be added]

Article 28:  “Guantanamo”, photographic exhibit by Pioneer Valley No More Guantanamos, Nancy Talanian presenting

Special thanks and appreciation to the Amherst Media (formerly ACTV) staff, Stephanie and Shawn, for taping the event to make it available to the whole community and online streaming.

Closing,  light refreshments / meeting and informal conversation 

Human Rights Exhibit: More Drawings Added

In a brutal cold day we had our Information Table as usual in the Farmers Market (thanks to Abrahim/Cathy/Martha/Magda/Mohamed) and we celebrated the end of 2014 weekly Tabling (from April to Nov).


After the end of the table, we moved to the Jones Library to put up the new arrival of children's drawings that we received from Kampala, Uganda, and San Francisco, CA



The children' statement and reflection on the  Human Rights Declaration are very powerful. Here are few from San Francisco preschoolers as dictated to their teacher Nahid:

"Hands Not for Hitting. Hands have to be Kind"

"I use my hands to help Mommy and Daddy. Not for Hurting"

We invite you to come down to the Jones Library in Amherst and spend sometime looking at these amazing work of the future leaders and human rights defenders

Human Rights Day Celebration (Part 1): Children's Exhibit

 An  Exhibit  of  Pictures

Related  to  Human  Rights 

This year our Chapter decided to add one more event to our traditional Human Rights Day event: An Exhibit of Pictures Related to Human Rights. In collaboration with Jones Library in Amherst, our dedicated leaders Martha, Irwin, and Fanny hung up last week the first group of student's drawings. In addition to more than 60 drawings arrived this week reflecting the work of preschool children and Amherst Regional Middle School students.

Children and students with help from their teachers used the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights (UDHR) articles and reflected on how they see the world through this lens. The result is more than 60 pretty drawings (in addition to 5 more from the Children of Darfur exhibit) that decorated the Fiction Room on the first floor of Jones Library.
Many thanks to Tom Morton who beautifully designed our poster and flyer that contain his paintings "Arc Cobalt".  
Also thanks to the Amherst Regional Middle School Students who drew striking pictures inspired by the 30 Human Rights Articles with guidance of their Social Studies teacher Irene Laroche, UMass intern co-teacher Allyson Furcick, and ARHS art class students (from art teacher Hannah Hart’s class) and with supplies from ARMS art teacher, Ben Parker.

Thanks are also due to our members at large Nahid (San Francisco-CA) and Abdel-Rahman (Kambala-Uganda).

Many thanks to Tom Morton who beautifully    designed our poster and flyer that contain his painting “Arc Cobalt”.  

These drawings are on display in the Jones Library during the month of November.

Co-sponsors: Amnesty International, UMass • African and African-American Institute• American Civil Liberties Committee of Massachusetts • Amherst Human Rights Commission • Anti-Drones Committee • AuroraDanceAmherst • Baha’i Assembly of Amherst • Code Pink of Western Mass • Grace Church of Amherst, Episcopal Peace Fellowship • Leverett Peace Commission • Lutheran Immanuel Church of Amherst • Mount Toby Meeting of Friends • New England Peace Pagoda • Northampton Committee Against Wars • Northampton Human Rights Commission • Orange Ink • Pioneer Valley No More Guantanamos • Race Amity • Rosenberg Fund for Children • Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is of Hadley • Thomas Paine Friends in Massachusetts • Traprock Center for Peace and Justice • UMoja Now • Unitarian-Universalist Society of Amherst, Social Action Committee • Western Mass Jobs with Justice. 

Welcome Tsultrim Dolma to Amnesty Amherst...!

Tsultrim is a UMASS worker and resident of Amherst for more than a decade... She's originally a refugee from Tibet and active in the human rights movement. Like all refugees, she has a painful story of suffering and struggle in Chinese prisons defending her basic rights a Tibetan. 

She was detained and tortured for 4 months along with 5 of her friends who marched for freedom in Chohko in 1987. "I want to work and help other people and not only Tibetans to gain their freedom" she said with a determined look while she arrived today at the Amnesty information table in downtown Amherst in spite of the rainy day.

Tsultrim is a mother, worker, and soon to be a student. "I can find time to help and work with Amnesty" she said with a glowing smile.

Welcome Tsultrim to Amnesty Group-128

 

A victory for human Rights: Meriam is released today!

Our collective advocacy work paid off:

Amnesty News:

Sudan: Woman condemned to death released after international pressure

Today’s release of Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, a Christian Sudanese woman sentenced to death by hanging for ‘apostasy’ and to flogging for ‘adultery’, is a step towards undoing the horrific injustice visited on her, said Amnesty International today. 

Meriam Ibrahim © AFP/Getty Images

Meriam was released from Omdurman Woman’s Prison today after an appeal court found her not guilty of both charges. She is now with her husband and her two children. 

“Today’s ruling is a small step to redressing the injustice done to Meriam,” said Sarah Jackson, Deputy Regional Director at Amnesty International.  “However, she should never have been prosecuted. Meriam was sentenced to death when eight months pregnant for something which should not be a crime. Furthermore, her abhorrent treatment, including being shackled, violated international human rights law against ill-treatment.” 

Meriam’s case attracted more than a million Amnesty International supporters to take action calling for her immediate and unconditional release. 

“Amnesty International would like to pay tribute to all those who contributed to this massive showing of support,” said Sarah Jackson. “Their letters showed the Sudanese authorities that people around the world were outraged by Meriam’s ordeal”.

“Amnesty International will continue to urge the Sudanese authorities to repeal provisions that criminalize acts of apostasy and adultery so that nobody else in Sudan has to endure the same ordeal as Meriam and to establish a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty.” 

Amnesty Chapter on ACTV Channel 12 : In Support of Torture Survivors

In celebrating the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, on 26 June, the popular TV show Conversations (ACTV Channel 12: Public Access) hosted local Amnesty Chapter's leaders on 6/3/14. 

Martha Spiegelman, Coordinator, and Mohamed Elgadi were interviewed by Isaac Ben Ezra, the producer and host, for 30 min to speak about the human rights situation locally and globally. 

Amnesty leaders covered the cruel solitary confinement in the US; the horrific torture and kidnapping of Nigerian school girls by the terrorist org Boko Haram; freedom of religion in Sudan, and state-run secret torture centers in Sudan (aka Ghost Houses).  The host, Ben Ezra, dedicated more time to discuss the case of Mariam Yehya Ibrahim that was featured in the news when she was sentenced to death for 'apostasy' allegation in Sudan.

The TV show was another opportunity of our Amnesty chapter highlight the crime of torture and other violations of human rights


The show was aired 8 times so far on Sat and Sun in the first 2 weeks of June, and will be aired again on the following days:

6/21/2014 @ 8am and 4pm

6/22/2014 @ 8am and 4pm

6/28/2014 @ 8am and 4pm

6/29/2014@ 8am and 4pm

Here is the Video:

Boko Haram Abducts More Girls in Nigeria

Boko Haram Kidnaps More Girls in Nigeria

Abductions Near Town Where Students Were Grabbed Reflect Lack of Protection

By 

DREW HINSHAW  

Updated June 9, 2014 6:39 p.m. ET

ACCRA, Ghana—Nigeria's Islamist insurgency on Monday kidnapped some 20 girls just miles from a small town where the group abducted several hundred schoolgirls in April, local officials said, in an attack that exposed the military's absence in an area the president pledged to protect.

The village of Garkin Fulani was preparing for its weekly market early Monday when Boko Haram fighters pulled up in a tractor trailer and began pulling young girls into the truck, said Adu Ibrahim, the area's chairman for a vigilante group called the Civilian Joint Task Force.

Source

Amnesty International: 9 May 2014

Nigerian authorities failed to act on warnings about Boko Haram raid on school

Amnesty International has confirmed through various sources that Nigeria’s military headquarters in Maiduguri was aware of the impending attack soon after 7:00 PM on 14 April, close to four hours before Boko Haram began their assault on the town.

National Campaign to close Guantanamo Detention Center

Close Guantanamo and End Indefinite Detention

I Support Closing Guantanamo

Tell President Obama and Congress that you support closing the Guantanamo detention facility. On April 30th, 2013, as over 100 detainees are on hunger strike, President Obama rightly reaffirmed his commitment to close Guantanamo. He must now take action to get the job done and Congress must support the effort.
Each detainee must either be charged and fairly tried in federal court, or be released to countries that will respect their human rights. Under current law, cleared detainees can be transferred out. There is no excuse for human rights violations to continue. Read More »

Our Chapter (Group-128) is planning many activities during Summer and Fall to highlight the crisis of human rights around the world including similar detention centers like Guantanamo (e.g. the Ghost Houses in Sudan and Eritrea).

Wake-up Human Rights Defenders... Spring is here!

 A great start for our official waking up of winter hibernation .... Our first 'tabling' activity at the Amherst Farmers Market was a lot of fun on Sat 4/19/14 ... Thanks to our creative leader, Martha, who decorated the table with flying balloons and bright posters of human rights success stories around the world... Thanks to those came and did the Human Rights Walk inside the Farmers Market, and those who could not come and were there in spirit..

Our logo in English & Arabic

The most 2 used languages in our Chapter

We have a good tentative agenda for our monthly meeting on 4/26....

1. Schedule for tabling on Amherst Common on Saturdays (pls send us the dates you can volunteer even if it was only 30min on a Sat... it's a good chance to shop at the Farmers Market)

2. Making our “talking points” about International Violence Against Women

    Act (IVAWA) for the meeting with Sen. Warren’s staff (on Mon, Aug 28,

    in Springfield) Here is the one-page brief summary of the Bill

3. Starting to brainstorm about the Human Rights Day (yes, we are starting now!)

4. The anti-drone Article to be introduced in Town Meeting this Spring (Drones just killed 3 innocent civilians in Yemen)

5. Financial Report (bring creative ideas to increase our budget for a full-of-events season ahead)

6. Other issues

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file:///Users/mohamedibrahim/Desktop/IMG_2707.jpg

BOROUJERDI is SERIOUSLY ILL and DENIED TREATMENT

News from Amnesty International was not good this week about our adopted Prisoner of Conscience (POC) prisoner, the Iranian human rights defender Boroujerdi who "had been preaching a traditional interpretation of Islam which separates religion from politics in a mosque in a poor neighbourhood in the south of Tehran for some years"
We encourage you to take action by clicking on this link 

"The health of jailed Iranian cleric Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, a prisoner of conscience held in Tehran’s Evin Prison, is worsening. He is in urgent need of medical treatment.

Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, serving an 11-year prison sentence, suffers from a number of illnesses, including diabetes, asthma, Parkinson’s disease, kidney and heart problems and severe pain in his legs and waist. 

He has also reportedly gone partly blind in one of his eyes. His health conditions have apparently worsened and he collapses frequently. He has not been provided with the medical treatment he requires, though prison doctors said in February 2014 that he needed to be hospitalized outside the prison. During the eight years he has spent in prison, he has been admitted to hospital three times.

He is now held in Evin Prison’s Ward for the Clergy: he was imprisoned for advocating the separation of religion and state. He has been under increased pressure to write and sign “confessions”. Prison officials have told him at least once, in October 2013, that if he does not write a letter recanting his beliefs, he will never be released." 

Read the full Urgent Action release here.

Planning "2014 events" Meeting

A well prepared and facilitated meeting (thanks to our Coordinator, Martha) was held yesterday @ the Jones Library and put in action the outlines of a promising 2014 agenda.
Please see the empty spots (on left) for Tabling events and add your name

Jones Library

Financial Report; Legislative Bills and Lobbying; Collaboration with Amnesty Group 133; A proposed Drones Article for the Town Metting (Frank Gatti);  AGM in Chicago; and our website. These were the agenda discussed.

The AGM was discussed and concern over the high cost for participation was raised again and we elided to voice them in writing this time.
Thanks to Alexis, our young enthusistic member for representing the Group in Chicago ... The 3-Day Conference agenda is available here.

Abdelrahman Gasim

We encourage all members to post on our Facebook Page... Thanks to our member At Large, the prominent human rights advocate and member of Darfur Bar Association, Abdelrahman Gasim, for keeping the page very live and interactive (He lives in exile in Uganda after many arrests in Sudan including one when he was extradited from UAE to Sudan).

The meeting also noted with appreciation the Public Open Letter sent by mohamed elgadi, Amnesty member, to President Obama, which found a wide media coverage due to campaign organized by ACT for Sudan, and advocacy group in Boston.