Get on the Bus for Human Rights (GOTB) is an annual day of human rights activism and education organized by Amnesty International Group 133 of Somerville, Massachusetts and a dedicated team of volunteer community organizers. GOTB brings activists from throughout the Northeast – riding buses, commuter trains and in carpools - to New York City to take peaceful action in front of embassies, consulates, missions to the United Nations, and corporate headquarters in support of human rights.
The first Get on the Bus trip to New York City took place on April 19, 1996 when thirty Amnesty Group 133 members decided take a day trip down to New York City to visit the United Nations.
Of course, human rights activists can never pass up the chance to have a demonstration, especially when spending the day near so many foreign consulates. The trip was taking place only a few months after the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other peaceful environmental activists in Nigeria. These Group 133 activists decided that they should take the opportunity to tell the Nigerian Government exactly how upset they were about the deaths of these heroic activists.
The day was an incredible success. Activists from Boston and New York paced in front of the Nigerian Consulate shouting, "Ken Saro-Wiwa... We will not forget!" And to keep our word that we would not forget, we decided that we'd just have to go back every year. From this modest beginning, GOTB has grown exponentially each year.
GOTB organizers and participants are students and activists who embody a keystone of Amnesty International's mission to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave human rights abuses. At the next GOTB event, we'll spend the morning learning from a speakers panel comprised of experts, survivors, and people immediately impacted by human rights violations. They will provide us with a greater understanding of the issues for which we'll be demonstrating in the afternoon.
