GOTB Celebrates Sweet 16! Part 2

After the morning speaker's panel, we broke for lunch and then reconvened outside of the Chad Mission to the United Nations to call on the Chadian government to protect Darfur refugees and IDPs living within their borders. The energy that students brought to the demonstrations was striking.

Photo: Scott Langley Photography.

From there, we moved to the Sri Lankan Mission to the UN to call for independent investigation of war crimes committed by both sides during the Sri Lankan Civil War. A number of passers-by seemed intrigued by the goings-on, and our student activists handed out flyers and information.

Photo: Kelly Turley.

Our Filep Karma action was an interesting one, as Dag Hammarskjold Plaza is apparently a popular demonstration spot on a Friday afternoon.

From Demotix.com:

New York -- three separate rallies, for three separate causes, came together at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza on Friday afternoon. 

Dozens of supporters showed up at 3pm for the Yemen/Libya rally, to show solidarity with the uprisings in those countries. An hour later, more than a hundred high school and college students marched in, part of Amnesty International's "Get on the Bus For Human Rights" program, supporting Filep Karma, a prisoner of conscience in Indonesia. These younger protesters had been bussed in from New England. 

Mixed in with the crowd, were 4 protesters who comprised a 'flash mob', rallying in support of the Goldstone Report, against Shimon Peres appearance at the UN. 

All three causes stood side by side, shared the space and the microphone and the media attention. There must be something in the air this spring.

The day concluded at the Chinese Mission to the UN, and through the rain, our demonstrators kept up their tireless energy, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen.

This was my first Get On The Bus, I've been looking forward to the event since November when I started working with Group 133. And although I woke up terribly sick on Saturday morning, I can say now (after a few days of antibiotics), that the experience was well worth all the work and even the maladies. The coordination team is an amazing group of people, taking time out of busy personal lives to pull this event together. The students and participants are equally inspiring with their creativity and energy during the event. And of course, the expert speakers and the success stories make the event well worth all the work.

Thanks to everyone who worked and participated to make Get On The Bus's Sweet Sixteen a smashing success!

GOTB Celebrates Sweet 16! Part 1

Last Friday, April 8 students and activists from throughout the Northeast region collected in New York City for Get On The Bus for Human Rights' Sweet 16th. Although the weather was soupy and unpleasant, the energy the activists brought to the day's demonstrations was inspiring.

Photo: Scott Langley Photography.

We began at the Great Hall at the Cooper Union with our speaker's panel. We were delighted to have Josh Rubinstein, director of the AI-USA Northeast Office, discuss recent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. We also welcomed Sarah Milburn, AI-USA Chad country specialist, Jim McDonald, Sri Lanka country specialist, Tenzin Dolkar of Students for a Free Tibet, and John M. Miller of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) to speak on the issues of the day. We also watched a brief video message from Lhamo Tso, wife of imprisoned Tibetan filmmaker, Dhondup Wangchen. (You can watch the full interview, conducted by Group 133 members and interns Lisa and Megan, on YouTube here.)

Tenzin Dolkar speaking in front of Lhamo Tso's image at Get On The Bus 2011. Photo: Kelly Turley.

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.

March Group 133 Meeting and International Women's Day

On Tuesday, Group 133 had a very eventful March meeting. The evening began with a vigil and petition-signing outside the Davis Square T stop, in honor of International Women's Day.

Thank you, Gualitiero, for organizing the vigil!

We also enjoyed a delicious home-cooked Sri Lankan meal, in "taste-bud solidarity"for our Get On The Bus 2011 Sri Lanka action. The meal was a wonderful (and vegan-friendly) treat.

Focus on: Tibet

We also discussed the case of Dhondup Wangchen, who will be the focus of a GOTB 2011 action. Dhondup Wangchen is a Tibetan filmmaker who was detained on March 26, 2008, shortly after completing his documentary Leaving Fear Behind. Police held him at Gongshan Hotel, an unofficial place of detention or "black jail," for part of his detention period.  Police tied him to a chair, beat and punched him in the head and frequently deprived him of food and sleep during interrogations. Dhondup Wangchen suffers from Hepatitis B, for which he has not received any medical treatment.

The documentary features ordinary Tibetans talking about the Beijing Olympics, the current situation in Tibet and the Dalai Lama. Wangchen was formally arrested in July 2008 under suspicion of "inciting separatism and stealing, secretly gathering, purchasing, and illegally providing intelligence for an organisation, institution, or personnel outside the country."

After a secret trial, he was sentenced on December 28, 2009 to six years at Xichuan Labor Camp in Qinghai Province. Amnesty International considers Dhondup Wangchen a prisoner of conscience.

For Get On The Bus 2011, Danielle and Megan - local high school students who have become actively involved in the GOTB action team - will be interviewing Lhamo Tso, Dhondup Wangchen's wife who lives in exile in India, via Skype. This interview will be shown during the speaker's panel portion of Get On The Bus 2011 in April.

Leaving Fear Behind
Google Video (Filming for Tibet)





Lhamo Tso: Behind the Sea
Vimeo (FreeTibet.org uploaded by Jon Lister)



Lhamo Tso: Behind the Sea from Jon Lister on Vimeo.

More information:

• Filming for Tibet
• Amnesty International: China must release Tibetan filmmaker
• Human Rights Watch: China: Ensure fair trial for Tibetan filmmaker
• Reporters without Borders: Dhondup Wangchen
• International Campaign for Tibet: Dhondup Wangchen faces trial
• FreeTibet.org: Free Dhondup Wangchen
• Students for a Free Tibet: Spotlight Film: Leaving Fear Behind

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.