Next General Meeting for the FAU chapter of Amnesty International

This semester, we will be holding two General Meetings bi-weekly in an effort to accommodate our members' schedules. The meetings will cover that same information, so feel free to pick one that best fits your schedule that week.

The next General Meeting(s) will be held Monday, January 29th, at 12:30pm, and again on Thursday, February 1st at 4:00pm on the Bookstore Lawn next to Starbucks in the Breezeway. Look for us with the bright orange Amnesty International banner and our now-trademark blankets on the lawn! We plan to discuss in detail the three major campaigns we'll be working on this semester, as well as forming committees for our upcoming events.

See you then, if not sooner!

Meeting Notes from 2007's first General Meeting!

Happy Thursday! We're posting to give you an overview of what had been discussed at last week's General Meetings.

As you know, this semester we began holding the same General Meeting twice in one week to be able to accommodate more of our over 200 members. So on Tuesday, Jan. 16 at 4 p.m. and on Thursday, Jan. 18 at noon, Assistant Group Coordinator, Ana Halper, and our Darfur Action Coordinator, Sapna Talati, chaired the meetings, respectively. Below is a bulleted list of highlights from the meeting:

CAMPAIGNS FOR SPRING 2007

• Every semester, our chapter votes as a group on the three major campaigns we intend to focus on bringing to the campus. This semester, the members have spoken, and we will be concentrating on Darfur activism to end the genocides of Sudan, Conflict diamonds (also known as "blood diamonds") that are being harvested to finance terrorism, and the Business & Human Rights campaign, aimed specifically on stopping sweatshop labor.


• At our next meeting, we will need to organize our members into Campaign Teams, so if you would like to join one of our campaigns this semester, please e-mail and let us know which team you would like to be a part of, and we'll make sure you get added to that list. For more information on the campaigns we've selected, as well as the other Amnesty International campaigns currently underway, click http://www.amnestyusa.org/activism/campaigns.html to check them out.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Save Darfur Interfaith Rally: This Sunday, January 28, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., our chapter will be joining with several different area groups to co-sponsor an inter-faith rally for peace in Darfur with the Save Darfur Coalition of South Palm Beach. This is going to be an amazing event with speakers from all the major world religions coming together in the name of peace. In addition, there will be interactive tents that you can visit, petitions that you can sign, and free food and music for your entertainment. The event is free of charge, and we would love to have you come show support to the tent we are sponsoring with Hillel of Broward and Palm Beach! The rally will be held at Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, and for a map, click here: map to Temple Beth El. If you would like to arrive early to assist with the set-up of our tent, feel free to call/text Josef, or e-mail him. (And special thanks to all of you who have already RSVP'ed to this event on Facebook! Kudos to chapter member Melanie Tolchin for setting up the event information.)


• Amnesty International Florida State Conference 2007: This year, our very active and very new FAU chapter has been selected to host the annual state conference. Our chapter member, Stacey Ray, is a professional event planner who has undertaken the monumental task of coordinating this conference. Currently, we have a list of workshops that we are going to be presenting to the delegates in attendance from all over the state. The UM and FIU chapters are also going to be assisting us with these workshops. We'll get you more information as it develops!
  
• MAKE SOME NOISE!: Concert for Peace in Darfur: During the National Week of Student Action (March 23 to March 30), student groups from all over the U.S. will be hosting events aimed at raising awareness for Darfur and calling for a stop to the genocides in that region of Sudan. On the last day of this amazing week, March 30, we will be holding an all-day music festival for peace in Darfur in conjunction with MTV and their college network, mtvU. In addition to a full lineup of musical acts ranging from hip-hop to punk rock, the FAU Housing Lawn will be covered in booths sponsored by different organizations that will be focused on the crisis in Darfur. WE'RE GOING TO NEED HELP PLANNING THIS, SO IF YOU'D LIKE TO BE A PART OF THIS HUGE EVENT, PLEASE E-MAIL US!


• No Sweat: A Sweatshop-Free Fashion Show: In April, we will be organizing a sweatshop-free fashion show sponsored by No Sweat Apparel and Luis Hernandez Salons. This will be a full-on fashion show with a cool, relaxed vibe (and a live band, courtesy of mtvU) designed to promote fashionable, sweatshop-free alternatives to the FAU student body. If you or someone you know makes their own clothes, and would like to have them showcased in our fashion show, please let us know-- we want to hear from you! And, as always, if you'd like to get involved with planning this event, e-mail as well.

So as you can see, we have a very exciting semester coming up! Feel free to post a comment if you have any feedback-- especially if you'd like to participate in the preparation of these events. We give volunteer hours for your transcript through the FAU Volunteer Center, so get in touch if you'd like to make that happen.

In the meantime, we'll see you at one of our next General Meetings! The next General Meetings are scheduled for Monday, January 29th at 12:30 p.m. and Thursday, February 1st at 4 p.m. And remember to join our Facebook group or stop by our MySpace page!

Make your New Year's resolution to get more involved with Human Rights!

Hey there, and welcome back to an exciting semester for Amnesty International at FAU! We've got a very busy Spring 2007 planned, and we're eager for you to be a part of it.

The event information below is for our first rally of the year with the Save Darfur Coalition of Palm Beach County. This is going to be a great event, and we're co-sponsoring a tent at the rally with Hillel of FAU on the theme of genocide prevention and awareness.

So come by Temple Beth El in Boca Raton on Sunday, January 28, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for an amazing inter-faith rally calling for a stop to the genocides in Darfur-- because no matter what your religious beliefs are (or aren't), everyone can share in the beauty of peace.

And also, don't forget our bi-weekly General Meeting! Make sure you stop by the Bookstore Lawn next to Starbucks in the Breezeway tomorrow at 12 p.m. noon! Look for Ana, our Assistant Group Coordinator, or Sapna, our Darfur Action Coordinator, on blankets in the sunshine with the Amnesty banner.

See you soon!

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SPREAD THE WORD
AND Get Involved in our
RALLY FOR DARFUR : STOP THE GENOCIDE
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
More Info:561-391-8900 or SAVEDARFURSPB@GMAIL.COM

Sunday, January 28, 2007 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Temple Beth El, Boca Raton
333 SW 4th Ave
SW 4th Ave , Between Palmetto Park Rd and Camino Real, Across from St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church.

Dynamic Speakers including Pastor Billy Thompson, Miami Heat invitees, interfaith clergy, humanitarian aid workers and governmental officials
Music, Dance & Poetry
TAKE ACTION