Take Action Thursdays: Investigate War Crimes in Sri Lanka

On Wednesday, I mentioned I’d been inspired to revive Group 133’s blog. As some of you may know, Get on the Bus for Human Rights has become our group’s signature event. The past April marked GOTB’s 15th anniversary. It was a pretty spectacular day. And I’m sure we’ll recap in future posts. Over the last few years we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to utilize social networking and new media tools for GOTB. Our MySpace site is probably defunct (notice how I don’t link to it). Facebook brought us plenty of fans. And we’re finally starting to grow a small following on Twitter. One of the trends I really like on Twitter is FollowFridays — where you tweet the names of Twitter users you’d like others to follow and tag it with #followfriday or #FF. As Amnesty International members, we highlight the cases of individuals we’d like others to follow. We prepare petitions and format letters and emails. And so starting today, Group 133’s blog will be launching Take Action Thursdays.

Say what? The idea is simple. Every Thursday, we’ll post a way for you to take action in support of human rights — and we’ll do our best to include a local angle.

Today we’ll start with Sri Lanka. We’ve been working on the case of J.S. Tissainayagam (Tissa) for well over a year. He’s a Sri Lankan journalist, who was arrested and detained by Sri Lankan police and indicted under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act for two articles written by him in a monthly magazine criticizing the government’s conduct of the war against the opposition Tamil Tigers. While it was announced earlier this month that Tissa would be pardoned, details remain unclear and we continue to urge Sri Lanka officials for a full and unconditional pardon for him. His case was one of the cases highlighted at this year’s Get on the Bus.

Because of our work on behalf of Tissa, Sri Lanka is very much on our minds, here in Group 133. Even more so because this week marks the first anniversary of the end of the 30-year war in Sri Lanka between the security forces and the separatist Tamil Tigers. During the war, both sides committed violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, including war crimes. Despite promises by the Sri Lankan government to hold accountable those responsible for these crimes, there has been no investigation by the government so far. I could tell you more, but Jim McDonald does it so much better than me.

This is your first Take Action Thursday folks: Sign AIUSA’s online petition calling for an investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka today.

But wait, there’s more… step out from behind that keyboard.

Candlelight Vigil for Sri Lanka Remembrance Day
Saturday, May 22nd
7-8.30 pm
Harvard Sq., Cambridge (behind Harvard Sq. T station)

Join Group 133 members in Harvard Sq. this Saturday, May 22nd from 7-8.30 pm for a candlelight vigil calling for accountability for human rights violations committed during the 30-year war in Sri Lanka. We’ve got posters and candles. We just need you. Hold a candle, help us collect petition signatures.

Revival. Going Viral. End Violence Against Women

Our little blog has been hibernating. You may have noticed it’s been about a year since our last post. We, as group, on the other hand have been busy organizing bees. Finding the time to document what we do and disseminate that information has been challenging. But I recently had a conversation with our friend blogginrobin over at the Boston Firefly Project about blogs and making news go viral. It got me thinking about ways to revive Group 133’s blog (more about that tomorrow).

In the meantime, I invite you to read blogginrobin’s post that inspired me to jump back into the blog-o-sphere:

I would like to thank Ashley Judd for being gracious enough to say a few words about the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). She was a panelist at “Slavery and Human Rights” earlier this month with journalist and abolitionist, Kevin Bales of Free the Slaves.

The bill was introduced in the House as H.R.4594 by Rep. Bill Delahunt (MA-D) and it is currently co-sponsored by 71 representatives.  On the Senate side, S. 2982, has been introduced by Sen. John Kerry (MA-D), and this bill currently has 28 co-sponsors.

Violence against women takes many forms.  Rape is often used as a weapon in military conflicts such as the former states of Yugoslavia and in the Congo where the BBC has reported gang rapes are on the rise.

Another form of violence left Manzour, a mother of two from Pakistan, scarred for life after her in-laws threw acid at her causing her chin to fuse to her chest in a report found by the BBC.  The video contains disturbing images.

A reporter from The Economist recently reported the visit of Xinran Xue, a Chinese writer, who witnessed a birth in Shandong province and wrote about it in her book, Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother.

Xinran writes, “when we heard a moan of pain from the bedroom next door. . .The cries from the inner room grew louder- and abruptly stopped.  There was a low sob, and then a man’s gruff voice said accusingly:’Useless thing!’  The writer saw in horror a tiny foot poking from a slops pail after the baby girl was discarded by the midwife.  She tried to save the baby but was restrained by two policeman who told her, ‘Don’t move, you can’t save it, it’s too late.’  An older woman explained the rationale to the writer saying, ‘It’s a girl baby, and we can’t keep it.  Around these parts, you can’t get by without a son.  Girl babies don’t count.’”

This is an outrage, but you can do something about it.  You can help these women break free by asking your US Senator and US Representative to support IVAWA in an e-mail.  Writing personal letters are extremely effective.  One state politician revealed that they pay attention to an issue if they receive five letters on the same topic.  This is an achievable goal.

IVAWA would lend support to non-government organizations that would develop a strategy unique to the area as they work their way towards preventing violence against women.  It could be as simple as funding the education for girls or providing a micro-finance loan that would allow women to be economic independent.  Amnesty International’s website offers a range of actions that you can take to support this bill.

During the panel discussion, Ashley Judd talked about finding your outrage.  Once you found your outrage, your passion will rise up and empower you to make a difference.  My outrage is human trafficking,  a problem which has touched my own city, Quincy, where a Chinese brothel was recently discovered.

Activist and historian Howard Zinn, who passed away earlier this year, wrote, “We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change.  Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”

Change starts with you.  Be the change.

Despicable

Yesterday the Sri Lanka government shelled a hospital and killed at least 49 people. The day before they shelled defenseless civilians and killed over a thousand men, women and children. The Sri Lanka government disputes this information. If the information is inaccurate that is just one more reason to criticize the Sri Lanka government because it is the Sri Lanka government that has waged a campaign of death, intimidation, and arrest of the independent journalists in their country.

Group 133 recently held a vigil in Harvard Square in behalf of J S Tissainayagam. He is considered a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International, being held in detention by the Sri Lanka government for no reason apparently except to stifle the truth from being told about what is going on in Sri Lanka government.

Vigil led by Amnesty Group 133 for J S Tissainayagam

This vigil featured Priya Suntharalingam a high school student who recently staged a hunger strike to focus attention on the atrocities going on in Sri Lanka. You can read her statement here.
You can read more about J.S. Tissainayagam here and you can take action to stop Sri Lanka’s attack on civilians here.

Earth Day

I had the privilege to meet Rodolfo Montiel once. He is a brave man and a wonderful man.

Mexican Environmentalist Rodolfo Montiel

Intense public pressure by Amnesty International freed him and protected him after he had been wrongfully imprisoned and tortured. He is in danger in Mexico because he is an environmentalist. It doesn’t seem like you should risk life and limb for trying to protect your land and your people?

He was released, but there has never been an investigation into his mistreatment. Other environmentalists are still at risk of mistreatment or death in Mexico. You can help by taking action at the Canadian section of Amnesty’s website.

I also remember Rodolfo said while visiting in the states, “Maybe we wouldn’t have all the problems we have in Mexico with the environment if you didn’t have such giant houses in the US.”

Happy Earth Day.

Never Giving Up/Having Fun

Our local group recently participated in the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Amnesty International USA. This is a big pow wow of human rights activists from around the country. There is training, inspiration, and decision making that goes on for three days. The meeting moves to a different region every year, so it won’t be back in New England for five years.
During this year’s AGM we hosted a “Get on the Bus” (www.gotb.org) party. In honor of one of our actions that will happen at this year’s Get on the Bus, we invited some Tibetan performers.

Tibetan Performers at "Get on the Bus" party

The performers played music from various regions of Tibet and also sang and danced.
Then they invited the audience to get up and learn a Tibetan dance if they wanted to. There was none of the usual looking around and hesitancy, instead three quarters of the audience immediately got up and joined in.

There was then a lively and very fun dance session, with a couple of Group 133 dancer/activists leading the charge. I later found out that some Irish dancing and Tibetan dancing are similar and that is why they picked it up so fast.

AI Activists Learn Tibetan Dance Steps

The AI Tibetan Dance Party

I had a couple of thoughts after this session. Human Rights will prevail because we have more fun than the forces of evil. Human Rights will prevail because just like these Tibetan cultural representatives, we are all never going to give up.

20% goes a long way…

When I dine out, I typically leave a 20% tip. I’ve got a lot of friends in the service industry.

Starting today through Sunday, March 29th if you and your friends dine at Fajitas and ‘Ritas at 25 West Street in Boston (near Downtown Crossing; map) and bring along this brochure, 20% of your tab will be donated to Amnesty 133 and Get on the Bus.

Get on the Bus for Human Rights (GOTB) is an annual day of human rights activism and education organized by Group 133 of Somerville, MA and a small team of volunteer community organizers. Now in its fourteenth year, GOTB brings together upwards of 1,200 students and activists from throughout the Northeast to New York City to take peaceful action in support of human rights. GOTB embodies a keystone of Amnesty International’s (AI) mission to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave human rights abuses.

To me, GOTB represents the spirit of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) grassroots activism; it’s the largest volunteer-run AI event in the country.  The event also fosters a great sense of civic engagement among its mainly high school and college-aged participants.

GOTB participants gather on the third Friday of each April to learn from a speakers panel comprised of experts, survivors, and people immediately impacted by human rights violations. Following the panel and letter writing activities, participants rally outside embassies, consulates, corporate headquarters and other locations related to the issues discussed in the panel, while a small delegation typically meets with diplomatic representatives.

You can find out about us and this year’s campaigns on http://www.gotb.org or follow our progress on the GOTB blog. Wanna experience GOTB yourself? Register and join us on the bus April 17th!

So come on down to Fajitas & ‘Ritas this week. What better way to celebrate a night out?! Good food, good friends, and guaranteeing a 20% tip to some dedicated volunteers.

Why we do what we do.

Yesterday the Tibetan Government in Exile released new disturbing video footage of Tibetans being tortured by the Chinese government.

View the footage here.

There were reports of torture following last year’s mostly peaceful protests in Tibet one year ago. However, this is appalling video record of it. Of course many things happen that are this bad or worse and they are never recorded and sometimes not even known.

I had the privilege to meet with Phuntsok Nyidron a few years ago. She is a Tibetan nun who was imprisoned under truly brutal conditions almost all of her life from age 14 to age 30. We spoke to her and told her of many of efforts that had been made to try and secure her release. She said in all seriousness, “Hearing stories about what people do for the Tibetan people makes my entire imprisonment worth it.”

I don’t know if many of us can even imagine what some horrible hours of her imprisonment were like, never mind over ten years, or what this poor young man in the video experienced for just trying to stop a monk from being beaten.

He was brutally beaten and tortured, and died at the hand of the Chinese government. HIs "crime" was just trying to stop the beating of a Tibetan monk.

As busy as any of us are, compared to this we have to find the time to write a letter, join a protest, or even send twenty bucks to some human rights organization working on it. Check out the Get on the Bus website  for some things we all can do.

Fathi El Jahmi is what Amnesty International calls a “Prisoner of Conscience.” The original definition being “anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, color, language, sexual orientation, belief, or lifestyle so long as they have not used or advocated violence.”

Fathi El Jahmi, imprisoned in Libya for his peaceful political beliefs

Fathi’s is one of many cases we have worked on over the years, that have included individuals in Tibet, Chile, Turkey and the United States just to name a few countries. These cases help to personalize the work and to remind us that our efforts to stop systemic human rights violations involve real live human beings who are fundamentally just like us.

I have not met Fathi El Jahmi but I have met his brother who is a wonderful man and who derives great hope from Amnesty’s efforts.

We uses all kinds of methods to work on freeing prisoners, including public demonstrations, the traditional letter writing to government officials, and really anything that we can come up with. A new method is to create a cause on Facebook and one of our group members took the initiative to do so this week. Join Fathi’s Facebook Cause.

You can find out the latest news on Fathi’s health, his cases, and how you can take action on his behalf by subscribing to AIUSA’s Northeast Special Focus Case yahoo group.

Protect Journalists in Sri Lanka

Amnesty Group 133 members had a demonstration on March 6 in Davis Square in Somerville as part of a global vigil for the detained Sri Lankan journalist, J.S. Tissainayagam.

Journalist JS Tissainayagam who has been imprisoned without a charge

He has been detained now for a full year. There were demonstrations around the world and our local chapter, with help from the Boston Firefly Project (Group #709), did our part as well. The biggest demonstrations were in London and can be read about on the BBC news.

JS Tissainayagam has been held without trial. The Sri Lankan government’s treatment of journalist has been heinous. Recently one of the top journalists in Sri Lanka Lasantha Wickrematunge was murdered in cold blood, presumably by the government.

These abuses are the equivalent of the US Government arresting Tom Brokaw without cause and murdering Morley Safer. Join us for calling for the release of J.S. Tissainayagam.  Take action now at AIUSA’s website.

Amnesty 133 Members Demonstrating Support for Protection of Journalists in Sri Lanka

Tibet 50 Years Later: Presentation and Discussion about Human Rights in Tibet on the Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising

Please join us this week for the March meeting of Amnesty International Local Group 133, featuring a screening of the 2008 Tibetan documentary, Leaving Fear Behind.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Amnesty International Northeast Regional Office

58 Day Street, Suite 409 

Somerville, MA 02144 (Two blocks away from the Davis Square stop on the Red Line)

As part of our March meeting, Group 133 Co-Coordinator Rick Roth will help us understand the current state of human rights in Tibet. We will watch Leaving Fear Behind, the documentary at the center of Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen’s arrest. Wangchen has been held by Chinese authorities since last March. His case will be highlighted at Group 133’s upcoming Get on the Bus for Human Rights event (www.gotb.org), where we will call on China to unconditionally release Dhondup Wangchen. (For more information about the film, please go to www.leavingfearbehind.com.)

The first half-hour of the meeting will be dedicated to letter writing on urgent human rights issues.

We hope to see you there!