it's not an issue of innocence or guilt...

it's about the right to due process to determine one's innocence or guilt related to specific charges...

yesterday we referenced an op-ed by amy goodman to talk about the human rights violation that is guantanamo bay and today we turn to ruhal ahmed whose story was recently chronicled in the docu-drama the road to guantanamo...




peace out <3

amnesty international is at ground zero on guantanamo bay...

"It is appropriate that a person from Australia, home of the kangaroo, should be the first one dragged before the kangaroo court at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. David Hicks, imprisoned there for more than five years, pleaded guilty Monday to providing material support for terrorism."

i've always loved amy goodman, maybe because we're part of the liberal wing of the tribe or perhaps because she's just a damn good commentator but she's the source of the above quote...

someone i met last weekend at amnesty international's annual general meeting in milwaukee was jumana musa the advocacy director of domestic human rights and international justice for amnesty international usa...

amnesty international has been all over the guantanamo bay human rights issue from the get-go at gitmo...and this week's first detainee trial referred to by amy goodman is simply a continuation of that commitment to the values of fairness, due process, rule, of law, and human dignity...here's what jumana shared with me yesterday...

This week, I observed the first military commission hearings for Amnesty International. As you probably know, Australian national David Hicks pleaded guilty to “providing material support for terrorism.”

Amnesty International was there, irrespective of Mr. Hicks' guilt or innocence, because his plea was made after years of indefinite detention, isolation, and allegations of torture and ill-treatment. Amnesty was there because the military commission system does not provide for due process or justice... and it does not represent the America we believe in.

I want to personally thank you for being an Amnesty supporter, because your support is what enables us to investigate the abuses at Guantánamo as well as a myriad of other human rights abuses around the world.

This week's proceedings do not bode well for the 60 to 80 people whom the government claims it will prosecute under the military commission system. The proceedings reaffirm the need to close the Guantánamo detention camp and to end the lawlessness that it has come to symbolize.

The military commissions should be scrapped. The government should charge the Guantánamo detainees with recognizable criminal offenses and bring them before a fair trial before a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal, or else release them with full protections against further abuse.

You can read my report on the proceedings in Guantánamo earlier this week here.

you can take action on closing guantanamo bay by clicking here or on david hicks who has been illegally detained - regardless of his guilt or innocence - and denied due process for far too long by clicking here...

why??? well if not for the tennessee dude (haha) then follow amy goodman's lead...

peace out <3

"The grim Guantanamo experiment is reaching its climax. The house of cards that has been erected to support this immoral, criminal enterprise is poised to collapse. Call, shout, sit down, march, donate, write, protest … demand that Guantanamo be closed"

tennessee human rights activists gather for first time in more than six years...

i got involved with amnesty international back in 99' about a year out of graduate school (political science at vanderbilt - which is a little bit like eating flank steak at a vegan restaurant)when suddenly i had discretionary time on my hands...i have been doing human rights education and activism since 1980 when i was i athens, ga...

in the fall of 2000 about a dozen amnesty activists from nashville and knoxville gathered on the utk campus for some educational workshops and exercises...we haven't done this in tennessee since this time...the issue being that if we choose to remain isolated withion our individual chapters (which is the safe thing to do) we'll never know what we might be able to achieve though coordinated, collective action - that is, what would happen if we intentionally build a human rights network and movement here in tennessee...

so here's the announcement:

1ST STATEWIDE MEETING IN 6 YEARS

Saturday March 31st
10 a.m to 5 p.m.
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN

PLEASE RSVP SO WE HAVE FOOD FOR YOU

the meeting will take place on the vanderbilt university campus (nashville) in the wilson freshman class building room 121 (a map will follow later this week)...remember, we have $$$ to reimburse you for gas expenses and will find places for you to sleep on either (or both) friday night and saturday night as you might need. And, lunch will be provided for you (which is why we are asking for rsvps).

our agenda for the meeting is as follows:

10:00 – 10:10 Introductions…review agenda

10:10 – 10:30 Opening Exercise … blanket activity

10:30 – 11:30 Human Rights 101

11:30 – 11:45 Stretch Break

11:45 – 12:15 Roundtable discussion: review activities for 2006-07

12:15 – 1:00 Working Lunch – reviewing films for organizing events

1:00 – 2:00 Recruitment and Retention Strategies

• Share best practices
• Using the internet:
• MySpace and blogs
• Managing e-mail lists
• Why the phone is still your best friend
• Effective Tabling

2:00 – 2:15 Stretch Break

2:15 – 3:15 Stop Violence Against Women workshop

3:15 – 3:45 Teambuilding exercise >>> coordinating priorities for 2007-08

3:45 – 4:15 Getting to Miami for Regional Conference: Fundraising Strategies

4:15 - 4:30 Closing and depart

don't forget that we have some $$$ to reimburse you for gas if you're traveling and to have food for lunch AND we can find you a place to crash if you want to come in on friday night or stay over Saturday night (sorry - partying is on your own).

so contact us today at 615-473-2950 to rsvp!

peace out <3

in this instance i love me a hollywood liberal...

inhuman traffic is a fast-moving and compelling documentary that provides an introduction to the human rights tragedy of trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation in europe...

Inhuman Traffic

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it dovetails specifically with amnesty international's stop violence against women campaign although this project featuring angelina jolie is a partnership with mtv (good for mtv i say)...

check out the coalition against trafficking in women (CATW) which is a non-governmental organization that promotes women's human rights by working internationally to combat sexual exploitation in all its forms...

obviously not all men are exploiters or abusers of women but almost all sexual predators are men - think about it...

peace out <3

some women are even more vulnerable...

the taped 911 call played for the cadets at the anchorage police academy going through training in responding to sexual assaults...

"help me, please help me, i don't know where i am...pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease help me,"...

cindy pennington, the first native american woman ever admitted into the anchorage police academy, knew the woman was native american and pretty sure she was rural - native americans come from all around alaska to find work in anchorage and the women, especially, are not city-smart...

the woman had been brutally assaulted, had fled from her attacker, naked in 20 degree below zero conditions, and was calling from a phone booth - and had no idea where she was and therefore could not tell the dispatcher where she was...it was the seventies and the sophisticated tracing and tracking equipment now standard in most police departments didn't exist then...

it took the police hours to find the naked, freezing, traumatized survivor...she was in the hospital for 6 months and lost most of both of her feet to frostbite and she had to recover from being sexually assaulted...

this was one story i took away from the session on ending sexual assault against native american and alaska native women...consider this:

• over 85% of the rapes against native american women in the lakota nation of south and north dakota are perpetrated by non-native men...


• in alaska native peoples constitute some 7% of the population yet native alaskan women constitute nearly 50% of all sexual assault victims...

the women presenting at this panel were thrilled to be working with amnesty international to remove the veil of ignorance over the plight of native american women and sexual assault...

on april 24th the full report on sexual violence against native american and alaska native women will be released and will note that, "more than one in three native american or alaska native women will be raped at some point in their lives...one support worker will be quoted as saying, "women don't report because it doesn't make a difference...why report when you are just going to be revictimized?"...

this report unravels some of he reasons why indigenous women in the usa are at such risk of sexual violence and why survivors are so frequently denied justice...sexual violence against women is not only a criminal or social issue, it is a human rights abuse,"...

check out the report online on april 24th by clicking here...

now you know...now you and i are responsible...

peace out <3

sooooooo...web 2.0 is what we've been doing???

so they said that there wasn't a web 1.0 until there was a web 2.0...sort of like there's no light without dark...but i digress, do i not???

both lynne and i went to the online organizing 1.0-an interactive workshop on YouTube, social networking sites, blogging, and activism at the amnesty international annual general meeting in milwaukee (it's where i've been blogging from dingo, k'?)...and it's interesting to see the various levels of comfort people have with the new, interactive internet or web 2.0...

it's definitely a young person's world, or, you have to think young and be open to change in order to grasp the significance of the new web as an activist networking community and an organizing tool...

while our local amnesty group has used blogger and myspace (and the old school yahoogroups listserve) as tools we have barely gotten on the YouTube wagon and totally missed the digg.com and del.icio.us boats (which are social bookmarking sites)...

so the challenge is multi-faceted: to have enough people to maintain fresh content on the sites (know your capacity), use unique and opinionated voices to make your content interesting, link you sites to other sites (tit for tat) to drive traffic, and begin creating our own podcasts and videos to spread the message, issues, content, and actions of human rights and social justice...

that's right - it's not about YOU per se it's about utilizing tools in interesting, creative, and hopefully effective ways to spread the message, the word the culture of human rights for all...

peace out <3

reasonable question posed: how do we fix it???

this is a follow-up to yesterday's blog on a nearly-fifty year old having a whoa moment and a comment posted there within...

you mean after we eliminate all the drab, gray sunflowers???

i would suggest at least two ways in which the problem is addressed - one big picture and the second more concrete...

the big picture one (and for most the least satisfying) is rather existential...the thing about change - substantive, lasting change - is that it comes slowly and its work, mostly cumulative work, related to establishing and building relationships...

and the thing about building authentic relationships is that you can't rush it ... sort of like cooking a good marinara sauce ... you have to be patient, you can't be ahead of where you're actually at, AND most importantly you have to be committed to not only the process but to the belief that underlies human rights - all human lives are of equal value and that each person has a right to a life of dignity...

on a more concrete basis i think that caucasians like myself need an awakening of sorts that relates to the discovery of our unearned privilege based solely on being white in a society where skin color has huge ramifications...and about determining whether one is an activist or an organizer (which bears a relationship to the big picture above)...

(and here i go to first person) as a white organizer (and this intersecxts with class as well) there are things i think i have to do...one is to understand that there is a world beyond that of the world of white liberals...that this world where marginalized people live - people whom i/we need to be working with in order to build an effective human rights movement - has community based organizations already existing to try and meet the challenges of their day-to-day reality...that i must seek out these organizations and approach them respectfully...

and the first action i take??? to listen to their leaders and members, listen to what their lives are like, what issues concern them as they live embedded in their community and after that process i can begin to process what has been shared with me and begin to identity how these issues intersect with human rights work..,

and for amnesty international to attract underrepresented communities' members into the organization amnesty has to develop campaign work that resonates with the reality of life in these communities, has to change its operational mechanisms so that these new members can participate in the decision-making of the organization and feel integrated into rather than pasted onto its structure and activities...

well that's my two cents worth for this morning...i'll be reporting back on a workshop related to using blogs, myspace etc... in organizing and later today on ending sexual assault against native american and alaska native women (relate that to what i've shared above)...

peace out <3

old dogs should learn new tricks or...

how i had an unexpected WHOA! moment at the maac meeting...

maac is the multicultural assessment and advisory committee of amnesty international - a board committee charged with moving amnesty to greater internal (and external) diversity - multicultural - anti-oppression achievements...

so we're meeting here at the annual general meeting and having a discussion about the implementation process for the new strategic plan - a plan that could have sweeping (positive) impacts upon the relevance and impact of amnesty as a human rights organization at the community level...

anyhoo we were having a discussion with njambi who is a staffer in washington working as a student leadership coordinator and she shared with us the difficulties encountered when trying to recruit culturally diverse and underrepresented youth into amnesty international...

it seems that even when amnesty is successful in bringing new people in, especially from economically disadvantaged communities, we are rather inept at creating safe spaces for them and sustaining their interest in human rights work with amnesty...and that is, i believe, precisely because as an organization we have not gone through the necessary internal cultural changes that will allow amnesty to attract new members...we have not developed campaigns that are rel event to their day-to-day realities AND we remain insensitive to the experiences and realities of people who are not predominantly white and middle classed...

for example - and here's my WHOA!!! moment - we don't imagine that some people have never flown before, that they have never had to get to the airport for a flight, never gone through security checkpoints (in an airport!), nor had to make a connecting flight...

so if you recruit a kid from the inner city who's never been involved with amnesty and book them to come to a conference, training, or planning session and wonder why they don't show up maybe it's because they didn't get the support they needed for interacting in a world that people of privilege take for granted...that the tools you laid out without checking in to see if they needed instructions were in fact obstacles to their participation...

that's one way that white (or class) privilege can play out in everyday life...it takes training for people who look like me to see things from a perspective different from the privileged one i navigate through on a daily basis and if we want to build a human rights movement that represents the world we want to see we have to challenge ourselves at every step just as we challenge those around us ... we too must be the change we hope to see and not see ourselves as outside that process...

peace out <3

hey cheesehead, amnesty's annual general meeting starts today...

hey, don't take it personally but amnesty international's annual national conference starts tomorrow and its in milwaukee - you cheesehead...

but i'm here today sitting in my room on the 16th floor at the milwaukee city center hilton drinking a sprecher black bavarian style beverage in a 16 oz. bottle - hey is there a theme emerging ... sixteen candles ...anyhoo...

i'm in a day early because i have to earn my way into the conference...i've been more or less unemployed since mid-august (save a couple of temp contracts albeit still doing social justice work) and couldn't afford the registration fee for the conference..so i'm here to do 4 hours worth of volunteer set-up work so that my fees are waived..it's a good deal...

on the other hand because i serve on amnesty international's multicultural assessment and advisory committee (maac) i was flown here and get a room on the committee's dime - but again, i hafta work to pay my way...

so i'll be blogging a little more often than usual as i cover the conference to give people back at home a taste of the big event...so all you hooligans on the list serve who NEVER check the blog click here and keep up with it this weekend (i mean seriously, i'm an old man blogging which is a young kid's game - the least you punks could do is read the blog regularly - am i right, am i right???)...

so if news of bordertown emerges, j-lo shows up, the slam poet mixer gets hot, or anything else cool happens you'll be the first non-attendees to know - cool???

peace out <3

all-star album for darfur announced; r.e.m. debuts first track...

the day of their induction into the rock and roll hall of fame, r.e.m. presents "number 9 dream," the first release from the forthcoming album "instant karma: the campaign to save darfur,"...other recording artists include u2, green day, cristina aguilera, jack johnson, the black eyed peas and more...proceeds will go directly to amnesty international's critical work to ending the violence in darfur...

supported by yoko ono, who has generously donated all music publishing royalties, the cd - part of ai's global music activism project "make some noise" - aims to harness the power of lennon's solo songbook to inspire a new generation of activists to stand up for human rights...

instant karma: the campaign to save darfur, arrives nearly 20 years after ai's hugely successful worldwide human rights now! tour that celebrated the 40th anniversary of the signing of the universal declaration of human rights and introduced the idea of basic human rights protection to millions of people worldwide...the 1988 tour saw musicians including bruce springsteen, sing, peter gabriel, tracy chapman, and youssou n'dour join together in a series of live performances...hundreds of thousands of people filled stadiums and crowded into fields for concerts from south america to eastern europe and from africa to asia...

for the full skinny on instant karma: the campaign to save darfur click here...

to take action on darfur click here...

peace out <3

would you have identified the subtext of this video???

i was origionally searching for a human rights video to blogpost today and found this cool one on the right to education (#26 in the universal declaration of human rights)...

but...

then i watched it a second time and it struck me as quintessentially about white privilege which i don't think was the director/creator's intent...what do you think???

Youth For Human Rights #26



white privilege, a social relation
1. a. A right, advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by white persons beyond the common advantage of all others; an exemption in many particular cases from certain burdens or liabilities.
b. A special advantage or benefit of white persons; with reference to divine dispensations, natural advantages, gifts of fortune, genetic endowments, social relations, etc.
2. A privileged position; the possession of an advantage white persons enjoy over non–white persons.
3. a. The special right or immunity attaching to white persons as a social relation; prerogative.
b. display of white privilege, a social expression of a white person or persons demanding to be treated as a member or members of the socially privileged class.
4. a. To invest white persons with a privilege or privileges; to grant to white persons a particular right or immunity; to benefit or favor specially white persons; to invest white persons with special honorable distinctions.
b. To avail oneself of a privilege owing to one as a white person.
5. To authorize or license of white person or persons what is forbidden or wrong for non–whites; to justify, excuse.
6. To give to white persons special freedom or immunity from some liability or burden to which non–white persons are subject; to exempt.

peace out <3

take action - freedom writer at risk...

each month, members of amnesty international usa's freedom writers network take action on three selected human rights cases...action by you can help bring about a prisoner's release, secure vital information, launch an investigation, or even save a life...

journalist sumi khan of bangladesh has received death threats and been attacked as a result of her investigative reporting...she has written articles alleging the involvement of local politicians and religious groups in attacks on members of minority communities...she was stabbed in an attack in 2004, and her attackers remain at large...amnesty is urging the bangladeshi authorities to protect journalists who have been threatened as a result of their professional activities, and the organization is calling for an impartial and independent investigation into the threats and attack against sumi khan...

a sample letter to mr. iajuddin ahmed president and chief adviser of the caretaker government of bangladesh can be viewed by clicking here...(it is also asked that you send a copy to ambassador shamsher m. chowdhury in washington dc...

if you want further information on the case of sumi khan in order to write a more personalized letter then click here...

taking action saves lives so please take 5 minutes to do this...

peace out <3

you made it happen - environmental defender freed!!!

"We won! Andrei is free!"– Yevgenia Zatoka (Andrei's wife)

Turkmenistan: Amnesty International is happy to report that Andrei Zatoka was released from jail on January 31. Andrei had been detained on December 17 by local police at the airport in his home city of Dashoguz. There were allegations that he was targeted to punish him for his peaceful work as an environmental activist. He and his supporters are grateful for the appeals sent by AI's Urgent Action network on his behalf.

amnesty international works because YOU take action...

peace out <3

march 8th was international women's day...

this report comes from diba enayat who is the tennessee state coordinator for amnesty international's stop violence against women campaign...

This past Thursday, March 8, was International Women's Day and this year, Amnesty decided to focus on ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, or CEDAW (actually the Treaty for the Rights of Women is probably easier).

In Nashville as part of the campaign I spoke to students at a local high school, Pope John Paul II, about CEDAW. I started off giving an overview of CEDAW at the morning assembly, which is in front of the entire school. I just spoke about the basics--what is CEDAW, what obligations countries who ratify CEDAW have, why the US should ratify CEDAW, and what they could do if they wanted to join the effort to encourage/pressure US ratification.

The faculty advisor to Pope John Paul's student Amnesty group had also asked me to stay and talk to her intergroup conflict class more about CEDAW and some of the other foci of the stop violence against women campaign. The students had an opportunity to ask questions about CEDAW and it generated a great discussion.

One sentiment that kept emerging among the students was that, considering some of the countries who have ratified CEDAW have some of the worst records of women's rights violations, what good is a treaty like this? I had grappled with this same issue myself. After all, the CEDAW committee has very limited authority to promote the implementation of the Convention, CEDAW is often ignored by the states party to it and it has endured more reservations than any other UN Convention.

This issue has been somewhat addressed by the introduction of the Optional Protocol to the Convention, adopted by the General Assembly on October 6, 1999 and opened for signature on December 10, 1999. The Optional Protocol is aimed at strengthening the weak enforcement ability of CEDAW, but as of January 2007 only
84 countries of the over 183 countries who have ratified CEDAW have also adopted the Optional Protocol.

However, despite those obstacles, I think CEDAW is important in giving women worldwide a sense of being part of an international community that acknowledges their rights, and giving them a standard that they can look to when their own governments fail to protect those rights. I think without these standards, as ideological as they may be, we would have nothing against which to judge the acts and events that comprise human history.

So, at the end of the day, I think its better if something like CEDAW exists rather than not--it provides a standard that has served and will continue to serve as a vehicle for improvement. CEDAW has been used by women to ensure women’s legal rights, improve health care for women, promote education for girls, improve the lives of women at work, and implement programs against domestic violence--not just an ideology but a real impetus for change for those who embrace its provisions.

RSVP for the road to guantanamo house party...

have you ever hosted or attended a house party movie/video screening???

they are very cool because they are like miniature town hall meetings that encourage democratic dialogue and organizing amongst community members who share a common vision about justice, fairness, and the maturation of human society as it seeks to survive in a world that is very different from the one in which "fight or flight" and other human genetic responses first evolved...

NEXT MONDAY amnesty international nashville is hosting a house party to screen the acclaimed docu-drama The Road to Guantanamo (trailer below)...

The Road to Guantanamo focuses on the story of the 'tipton three' - young guys from brmingham, england who travel to pakistan to organise a wedding, decided to pop over to afghanistan to 'help' and ended up getting embroiled in the conflict, captured with taliban fighters and subsequently picked up by us marines for the crime of speaking english in a foreign country...from this point 'til their release, they are essentially told that they are al qaeda in the hope that they'll admit to what is obviously not true...if you can put yourself in their places, this is a harrowing film - being in a situation where you are being bullied and tortured - via some truly horrible methods and treatment - into admitting you're something you're not, with no means of proving your innocence must be...well...

What: Home Screening of The Road to Guantanamo
When: Monday, March 19, 6:30 pm
Where: Bellevue at 821 Stirrup Drive, 37221,
RSVP: (required): Philip Vest 615-662-1251

ROAD TO GUANTANAMO TRAILER

les boys (and girls) do cabaret...

i experienced a rare treat last night at the bong java after hours theater in the form of the politically incorrect cabaret's berlin to braodway...i haven't enjoyed myself so thoroughly in eons...

so what is it??? berlin to braodway explores the similarities between early twenty-first century america and early twentieth century berlin ... analogously comparing the rise of hitler in the post-weimarian republic of germany's own roaring twenties to the current neocon insurrection that has held washington dc hostage for the past 5 years since 911...

but wait - it's not just that, it's about the abuse of power and so the recent outcome of the mid-term elections had its impact on the improvisational structure of the cabaret...so while dick cheney, donald rumsfeld, and condi rice all bear their burdens a new character appears to have usurped dubya's prominence in the show - that's right, the democrat's own howard dean becomes a central target because we all know "that the democrats have never let us down"...

this cabaret included political satire, racy humour and outrageous costumes while the music includes jazz, classical, broadway, music theatre, featuring mick jagger's "streets of berlin," a rousing musical tribute to our latino comrades, the story of jack abramoff and the beanstalk, and standup comedian eddie conrad...

but no camp of the berlin cabaret would be complete without the work of bertolt brecht making its presence known and it was - both in the form of music and spoken word...along with garcia lorca and a richly updated presentation of allen ginsberg (you know, drugs and gay sex - those ultimate american values)...

while the entire politically incorrect cabraret cast romped its way through a wonderful production special kudos go to andrew duxbury as the ansager (you saw joel grey in cabaret - andrew is much funnier), kimberly kirklin who can dance and sing wonderfully, ellisa mayor whose waffle house skit was hee-haw-larious, and director diane mcnaron...

kudos to bongo java upstairs theater for booking the show...you can still catch them april 14th in atlanta - well worth the drive!

peace out <3

exiting status quo - priceless!

The justice department issuing a statement calling a portion of the FBI's wiretapping activity illegal...

Defense lawyers for Jose Padilla arguing that he is unfit to stand trial due to repeated and prolonged torture by the US government, and the prosecution promptly "losing" videos of his interrogations...

The continuing downward spiral of President Bush's approval ratings...

Even the most remote possibility of a change in US policy both domestic and foreign...

priceless.

hey, alberto gonzalez - WAKE UP!

i gotta tell ya that the mere idea of corporations profiting from their participation in torture turns my stomach lining inside out so at a very minimum i want to see people take action to make this unamerican activity stop...

more than two years ago, the us army released the fay/jones report, which confirmed that prisoners at abu ghraib had been brutally abused by interrogators and translators working for private companies contracted by the us government and military...

the report asked the attorney general to look into the cases of abuse – yet more than two years later, most of these cases remain untouched...victims and their relatives have had no access to justice, and private companies operating in zones of conflict are getting the message that torture is a part of business as usual...

Send a message to the US Attorney General asking him to investigate contractors who have been accused of killing, torturing and abusing people in Iraq and Afghanistan »

Direct+Action=Direction

When descriptions of resolutions put before the Senate include "symbolic" and "non-binding" you know something isn't right. Now should be a time for decisive action to counteract the "decisive action" that got us into this messy war in the first place. Instead of the strong progressive Congress we thought we voted into office, we are getting a much more cautious government. We don't need or want to tiptoe around the President. We do not need or want a Vice President who is so quick to accuse those with dissenting opinions of aiding the terrorists. We do not need or want an expansion into bordering countries.

What we do want is a concrete strategy for ending the war. Period. We want health care. We want an end to dependence on foreign oil and non renewable resources. We want the government out of the bed of big business. We want fair immigration reform. Is that too much to ask? Is it too much to ask Congress to do what we voted them into office to do?