Amnesty International @ FAU... GET READY!

Hey Amnestyers! We're writing to you with a mix of anticipation and excitement.

As you know, our chapter has been working diligently on the "7 Days/7 Ways to Get Involved" week of events on the FAU Boca Raton campus, aimed at highlighting a different Amnesty International campaign for each day. This week starts off on Tuesday, October 24th with our United Nations Day celebration, and our promotional campaign to introduce the various articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as chartered by the United Nations. We've launched a DIY ("do-it-yourself") flyer initiative called "Write Your Rights!" where we have students personalize a piece of construction paper with their favorite article from the Declaration (viewed here on the UN website); and then we snap a Polaroid picture of them to attach to the flyer.

We even got the support and involvement from professors (like our advisor, Dr. Mark Frezzo of the Sociology department), Student Government leaders (President Kirk Murray, Chief Justice Farid Hamidzadeh, and Boca Raton Campus Senator Greg Wise), and other student clubs (such as the Muslim Student Organization, Association of Latin American Students, and OWL Radio)! Call Josef tomorrow, Monday, October 23rd, if you'd like to take part and add yourself to this awesome campaign.

In addition to the "Write Your Rights!" campaign, our students have worked very hard at assembling other aspects to this kick-off event. We also have created a massive handmade copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that will be rolled out on the Free Speech Lawn the day of our event for students to be able to read as they walk by.

Now here's where we need your help. We also want to "tag" the campus with sidewalk chalk to cite different articles of the Declaration. For example, Article 26 grants the right to education, so on the sidewalk near the Library leading into the Breezeway, we could write something illustrating that specific right for the students to see as they are arriving on campus. So if you can make it to school with your morning coffee at 7am on Tueday morning, October 24th, to begin the tagging, we will provide the chalk! Let your creativity and artistic talent shine-- and send a noble message to the campus at the same time. We know you've got that creative spark in you, so come on out and share it!

Well, that's all for now. we'll be sure to post again soon with more information on Wednesday's HUGE event-- the Day For Darfur on October 25th.

Recap of our first General Meeting

WOW! Can you believe that our FAU chapter of Amnesty International just had its very first meeting today? The overwhelming support of all of you out there who came and stopped by to chat with us at our table in the Breezeway on Tuesday-- especially those of you who made calls to the White House urging President Bush to keep Darfur on the agenda at his speech to the United Nations yesterday-- was impressive.

First things first, we wanted to post the notes from today's General Meeting. Many of you wanted to come today, but were unable to make it due to a class, work scheduling conflict, or illness, but here's what happened today.

At 4:20pm today, a group of about 12 of us descended upon the Free Speech Lawn in front of the Social Sciences Building with blankets, bottled water, and our dry-erase board. We opened the meeting with an "ice breaker" designed to get everybody to know each other a little bit better. The attendees were each asked to find someone who had a birthday as close as possible to their own, and then to spend about 5 minutes getting to know as much about that person as possible. Then when the time was called, each person stood up to introduce their partner, and we learned some VERY interesting things-- like Maria Angelica Vargas, who doesn't know how to dance the hokey-pokey; and Tim Davis, who has a severe mayonnaise phobia! Following introductions, we began the official business of the meeting, by introducing everyone to the history of Amnesty International, as well as its mission to advance human rights worldwide.

However, the most exciting news about today's meeting is that our chapter now has specific campaigns that we plan to initiate this year. The three main campaigns that our FAU chapter will take part in promoting on campus are as follows:

• "Control Arms": a special campaign enacted by Amnesty International aimed at stopping the illegal arms trade, and to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of those who would use them to abuse human rights. There is clear evidence that the international transfer of arms or the training of foreign security forces can provide repressive governments and abusive armed groups with the means to carry out or intensify gross human rights violations. By encouraging governments to act responsibly in this area, Amnesty International USA seeks to prevent or minimize gross violations of humanitarian and human rights law. More information


• "The Environment and Human Rights": Amnesty International USA works on issues related to the environment and human rights as part of their Business & Human Rights Program. Defending human rights and protecting the environment is a universal responsibility. But protecting the environment and a community's way of life can also be a dangerous undertaking, as the tragic deaths of Brazilian Chico Mendes and Nigerian Ken Saro-Wiwa demonstrate-- both were murdered for their activism. One of the goals of Amnesty’s Corporate Action Network (CAN) is to defend the rights of environmental activists and address pervasive patterns of human rights abuses that occur in the wake of environmental degradation. More information


• "Denounce Torture: Stop It Now!": Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (other ill-treatment) are violations of human rights, condemned by the international community as an offence to human dignity and prohibited in all circumstances under international law. Yet they happen daily and across the globe. Immediate steps are needed to confront these abuses wherever they occur and to eradicate them. More information

In addition to the above, our group has also decided to highlight specific Prisoners of Conscience (A "prisoner of conscience" is someone imprisoned solely for the peaceful expression of their beliefs. The term was coined by Amnesty International's founder, civil rights lawyer Peter Benenson, who launched Amnesty International with an appeal on behalf of six prisoners of conscience) for each one of our major campaigns this semester.

Now, you're probably thinking that this may seem like a lot. Well, today, several students signed on to make the commitment to act as Campaign Coordinators to help facilitate each one of the campaigns. Duncan Zevetski and Maria Angelica Vargas have both decided to spearhead the "Control Arms" campaign, Zainab Ali has volunteered to coordinate the "Environment and Human Rights" work, and Ana Halper, Kyriaki Tsaganis, and Supna Talati have joined together to guide our "Denounce Torture: Stop It Now!" initiative. PLUS, Marcus Nielsen has agreed to research prisoners of conscience in regards to each of the campaigns. I applaud the enthusiasm of our fellow activists! And if you're interested in jumping on-board to help out with any of these projects, please send us an e-mail and we'll put you in contact with the coordinator(s) of that assignment. Great teamwork, everybody!

Finally, after the discussion concerning the campaigns, we talked about the recent developments concerning the situation in Darfur. Thanks to the help of activists just like you from all over the country, President Bush made an announcement at the United Nations yesterday that he has appointed a special administrator to his staff to be in charge of overseeing the U.S. efforts to aid Darfur. This is fantastic, and a great first step! However, we can't take time to celebrate victory yet-- we still need to pressure the UN to send over peacekeeping units to stop the genocide and violence occurring in that region of Africa. If you will, please visit the Save Darfur website and check out today's call-in script to urge our world leaders to continue to help Darfur get much-needed relief from its present situation.

Also, today at the meeting, we decided to alternate our bi-weekly General Meetings between having dates scheduled on Mondays/Wednesdays and Tuesday/Thursdays. Furthermore, we have decided to begin holding "Daytime De-Briefing Sessions" (informal meetings to be held from 11:00am to 12:00pm in the Library on the Tuesdays following our General Meetings). In these meetings, we will go over the business discussed at the previous General Meeting, so that members who are more available during the day can still be informed and participate in the group's communication. And as always, we will continue to make the effort of publishing notes from the General Meetings.

THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, AT 6:00PM ON THE FREE SPEECH LAWN IN FRONT OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (SO) BUILDING!

Well, thanks for giving us your time and attention in reading this! We were truly excited to see those of you that were able to attend today, and we also completely understand that not everybody could make it. (P.S. Some of you got the reminder e-mail too late due to a glitch with Google). However, we're here to accommodate you! Please always feel free to give any of our Coordinators a call if you need to reach someone, or send us an e-mail. We look forward to working with all 116 of you registered members in the coming semester!

P.S. We're pleased to announce the launch of our new group webpage on the Facebook. If you haven't already done so, search for the "Amnesty International -- FAU Chapter" today from the option "My Groups" found in the home screen and click "Join This Group".

Our FIRST General Meeting!

Good evening, everyone; we wanted to post a quick note to remind you that our chapter's first-ever General Meeting is tomorrow, Wednesday, September 20th, at 4:00pm on the Free Speech Lawn in front of the Social Sciences (SO) Building.

Bring a blanket or something comfortable to sit on, and your brilliant ideas for our group! We'd like to get started on planning upcoming events and the civic projects we want to bring to the attention of the university community. Also, be prepared to make a new friend! We've got a few "ice breakers" that we'll use to encourage you to meet other students-- like yourself-- who are interested in the fight for worldwide human rights.

Can't wait to see you tomorrow at 4pm!