Shine a light, Save a life

Less than 24 hours until Get on the Bus hits the streets of NYC. We're burning the midnight oil here in Somerville, MA. Tuesday night, 15 volunteers sorted and collated print materials. Danielle and Helen stayed until 10pm! Val worked overtime finalizing the bus passenger lists Wednesday. Patrick will be packing up the car with posters, event programs, and merch. I wonder if they're main lining caffine, like me?

It takes a huge effort of time and energy by a small group of volunteers to pull off an event of this size year after year. Did you know we plan for GOTB six months in advance, including selecting which cases to profile? This year, event planning was underway well before the wave of peaceful protests in North Africa and the Middle East and the subsequent news of repression of students in Iran and the torture of women in Egypt, among other human rights abuses reported.

In recent weeks, we also learned that Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu are currently being hunted by police. Both have been arbitrarily arrested on numerous occasions in the past following peaceful protests and have been detained for periods of up to 37 days. Let's be blunt -- they're being harrassed and intimidated by police.

Knowing the that the threat of arrest is always real and immediate, Jenni lives out of a suitcase and in safe houses, ready to move a moment's notice (starting at the 1:40 minute mark).

Video by [wide angle] via Amnesty International: Demonstrating Under Dictatorship

I was deeply moved by Jenni's speech at Amnesty International's Annual General Meeting in March. She's the type of leader who incites hope. It's individual stories of hope -- the human face of determination and survival -- that resonate most strongly with me.

Tom Stoppard -- who's probably my favorite playwrite of all time -- describes the work of Amnesty International in the UK Guardian:

What it does, he says, "is connect awareness to protest globally… And, of course, the very phrase 'a prisoner of conscience' is a very potent idea. Someone who's been locked up because of his conscience."

On this Friday and next, GOTB will embody the connection between awareness and protest. We'll draw attention to some of our human rights concerns, including prisoners of conscience like Dhondup Wangchen, filmmaker of the documentary Leaving Fear Behind and Filep Karma, a West Papuan activist. And we've tested the batteries to make sure we'll have working megaphones to amplify our voices so that diplomats and international leaders will know we are on their doorstep.

We need you to join us -- in person and virtually -- to make the greatest impact! Jam the fax lines. Flood inboxes with messages of hope. Pre-formatted letters are available for download on the GOTB website. Or just take a moment of action: shine a little bit of love and light on Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu by signing a letter online.

GOTB 2011 registration is open!

Registration is now open on the revamped Get On The Bus website, www.gotb.org! Val, a longtime supporter of GOTB recently redesigned and relaunched the GOTB website. The new site looks great, and we owe Val a great deal of thanks for her hard work.

If you're planning on attending GOTB and traveling with us, registration is now open (for individuals and groups). You can find the registration page at: http://www.gotb.org/register-online.html.

Meanwhile, the March GOTB planning meeting was this Tuesday, and with Get On The Bus for Human Rights just about a month away, the rest of the GOTB action committee has had their hands full with finalizing plans and logistics for the event. I've been inspired by all the time and effort all the GOTB coordinators have put into planning this event -- from the Action Coordinators, our bus coordinator, high school student coordinators, coordinators working on the route and permits, and everyone else -- the effort has been outstanding!

At next week's general Group 133 meeting, we'll be learning more about the case of Tibetan filmmaker and prisoner-of-conscience Dhondup Wangchen. The March Group 133 meeting will be on Tuesday, March 8 at 7p.m. at the Amnesty International Northeast Regional Office at 58 Day Street, Suite 409 in Davis Square, Somerville.

GOTB January Meeting

Group 133 members and other GOTB coordinators were delighted to have more students and other newcomers at our January GOTB planning meeting last night.

At last night's meeting, members of the GOTB Action Team discussed next steps and logistics for the April 8th New York City event. The actions planned for the 2011 event are: calling for the immediate release of Tibetan filmmaker Dhondep Wangchen, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of West Papuan prisoner of conscience Filep Karma, calling on the government of Chad to protect Darfuri refugees and internally displaced persons within Chad, and calling on the UN to launch an independent investigation into war crimes committed during the civil war in Sri Lanka, with a possible "side action" at Dow Chemical (formerly Union Carbide) corporate headquarters regarding the industrial disaster in Bhopal, India.

This year's event will also include a solidarity event in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 15 organized by Amnesty International groups in the D.C. Metro area and Mid-Atlantic region. GOTB organizers also plan to reach out to AI groups across the country and internationally to plan similar solidarity actions in support of this year's issues.

AI Student Area Coordinators, 133 members and high school students involved with GOTB also plan to continue to reach out to high school and college AI group and similar organizations.

Next month's meeting will be Tuesday, February 1 at 7p.m. at the AI Northeast Regional Office in Davis Square. In addition to planning and logistics, the Group 133 Refugee Action Team will present detailed information regarding the planned action calling for the protection of Darfuri refugees and internally displaced persons - particularly women and girls - in eastern Chad.

Case Update

The picture below shows Filep Karma looking merry and healthy yesterday, the day after Christmas, after having traveled to Jakarta for much-needed medical care in August of this year. The picture appeared on the Free West Papua Campaign's Facebook page yesterday.

(Filep Karma and Buchtar Tabuni in Polda Prison, Jayapura, December 26, 2010. Photo by Ricky Dajoh)

Check back here for more detailed case information about all the planned 2011 actions, including actions in support of Filep Karma, Dhondup Wangchen, Darfur refugees in Chad and internally displaces persons within Chad, and calling for an independent investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka.

All of us of Group 133 are very excited this year that our friends in the Mid-Atlantic and Washington, D.C. region will be holding solidarity actions at embassies in D.C.! Right now, New York City events are tentatively scheduled for Friday, April 8, 2011 and the D.C. events for Friday, April 15, 2011. Check here often for updates.

The next GOTB planning meeting will be Tuesday, January 4, 2011, students and activists, GOTB veterans and newcomers who are interested in helping organize this year's GOTB events are encouraged to attend. (We're currently looking for someone to help update and maintain the GOTB web site, www.gotb.org.) Contact Group 133 for more info.

Note: Amnesty International takes no official stance regarding the independence movements in West Papua or Tibet, but rather is concerned for the human rights of the people living in those areas as well as those of prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders acting on behalf of their people.

A Get On The Bus Success Story

One of the actions of the 2010 Get On The Bus event included demonstrating outside the Sri Lankan Mission to the United Nations and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of J.S. Tissainayagam.

J.S. Tissainayagam, or "Tissa," a Sri Lankan journalist, was arbitrarily detained by the police in Colombo on March 7, 2008 and subsequently indicted five months later. Under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, two articles written by Tissa which criticized the government's conduct in war against the Tamil Tigers, were used to convict and sentence him to 30 years hard labor. In May of 2009, President Barack Obama specified Tissa as an "emblematic example" of the unfortunate truth of mistreatment of journalists.

On August 31, 2009, he was convicted and sentenced to 30 years rigorous imprisonment, but Tissa appealed his conviction. On January 11, 2010, the court granted his request to be released on bail while his appeal was pending. Amnesty International considered him to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely in connection with his journalistic activities.

On May 3, 2010, the Sri Lankan government announced that President Rajapaksa had planned to grant him a pardon, but the pardon had not yet been issued. The long-awaited presidential pardon was finally issued in mid-June. J.S. Tissainayagam left Sri Lanka and entered the United States on June 19, 2010. Thanks to those who took action on his behalf.

(Tissa speaking at the 2010 Amnesty International Northeast Regional Conference in November at Boston University.)

You can read about more Get On The Bus success stories and history on the GOTB web site.

.... and we're back! The GOTB team is going live.

Get on the Bus for Human Rights (GOTB) is an annual day of human rights education and activism organized by Amnesty International Group 133 of Somerville, MA. The GOTB team has grown to include a dedicated team of volunteer community organizers over the past few years – among them are student leaders, members of Boston-area AIUSA chapters and local community coalitions.

We’ve been hard at work organizing on the ground to bring GOTB'09 to a bus stop near you! We have lots to fill you in on:

• Check out our official GOTB website; it has the tasty nuggets and helpful how-tos.

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• Friend us on Facebook.

• And p.s. - GOTB Twitter is coming!
  

Save the Date: GOTB ’09 is Friday, April 17th 2009!