Flashing for Justice!
What are YOU doing on August 30th?
Please join Amnesty St. Louis as we partner with the Justice for Reggie Campaign to raise awareness about the death penalty in Missouri.
Background: You may recall that Reggie’s case was highlighted by the AI International Secretariat in the December 2010 Global Write-a-Thon as a priority case for Human Rights Day/Week.
We need to get a rough head count for effective action, so please RSVP on Facebook and/or contact Meredith Reese, Anti-Death Penalty Coordinator for the St. Louis Region, to let us know you’ll be there!
In solidarity, Emily – Emily Beck “Moonlighting Organizer of the Moment”——– Original Message ——–
Friends,
We have identified the times and sites in St. Louis for the Flashing for Justice in celebration of Reggie’s 40th birthday on Tuesday, August 30. Please take note of them and help us get people out.
The flash will be 3-5 minutes in length and be recorded for uploading to a designated server location. We will have signs that let passers-by know that it’s Reggie’s birthday, that he’s on Missouri’s Death Row and that he has a November 7 hearing.
Noon Sites:
Skinker Blvd and Forest Park Corner
Lindell Blvd and Grand Corner
4:00 pm Sites:
Municipal Court Building, 12th & Market
Lucas & Hunt Rd & Natural Bridge Corner
Jamala Rogers, Coordinator JUSTICE for Reggie Campaign P. O. Box 5277 St. Louis, MO 63115 (314) 367-5959 www.justiceforreggie.comSt. Louis Global HUMAN RIGHTS WEEK Event Schedule:
Saturday, 12/11: WRITE-A-THON AT SCHLAFLY BOTTLEWORKS!
3pm-9pm
Join us to write life-saving letters and sign petitions and postcards, all while having a bite to eat at our favorite St. Louis brewery!
Group #105 partners with the student group at Webster University and the Justice for Reggie Clemons campaign (more info at: http://www.justiceforreggie.com/) for the “2010 Write for Rights” to celebrate Human Rights Day. This event will occur from 3-9pm at Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Ave., Maplewood, MO). Other university groups will join us the at a letter writing table. Please feel free to stop in anytime from 3-9pm to sign petitions and write a few letters. We have set a group goal of producing 150 letters!
Amnesty St. Louis has a long-time partnership with Schlafly, and we are excited this year to partner with student activists from Webster University and Washington University! So, tell your friends, and come help us make Human Rights Day a reality–St. Louis style!
Tuesday, 12/14: HOLIDAY CARD ACTION!
7pm-8:30pm
Join us at Bethel Lutheran Church for our AIStL holiday party, where we will draft cards of hope to prisoners all over the world. Bring a dessert to share, or just bring yourself and a pen!
At our next regular scheduled meeting on December 14th (at Bethel Lutheran Church) we will hold our annual Holiday Card Writing Party. Please bring a desert to share as we write messages of support to prisoners around the world. If you can’t contribute to the desert potluck please feel free to still attend the meeting to write cards. This will also be an opportunity to reflect on our successes in 2010.Wednesday, 12/15: JUSTICE FOR REGGIE CLEMONS!
6pm-8pm
Amnesty partners again with the Justice for Reggie Clemons campaign on to recognize its 5th anniversary on Wednesday, December 15 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm. Legacy Books & Cafe will host the event at 5249 Delmar Blvd. The program will include a letter writing session as we participate in the Amnesty International’s Global Write-a-Thon. Please join us as we re-commit to the fight to free Reggie.
November 4th Film Showing Is a Success!
As part of our ongoing campaign against human rights violations in Burma (Myanmar), Amnesty St. Louis partnered with St. Louis Cinemas for a one-night-only, FREE, FEATURE PRESENTATION of Burma VJ (video journal): Reporting from a Closed Country on Thursday, November 4th.
Shown at the Chase Park Plaza Cinemas, the film illustrated the state of human rights in Burma (Myanmar). For more details about the film, visit http://burmavjmovie.com/.
Local groups–including St. Louis Group #105 (AIStL), Webster University, Washington University, Saint Louis University, and City Affair attended the showing, filling the 100-person theater to capacity. Volunteers were on hand to collect signatures on petitions, postcards, and letters to the government of Burma (Myanmar), calling for the release of three students who were involved in the 2007 uprisings, as well as the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Coinciding with the first democratic elections in Burma in almost two decades on November 7th, Aung San Suu Kyi completed her house arrest sentence on November 13th, and was released!
Amnesty members from all over St. Louis chose to feature the film to raise local awareness of human rights conditions in Burma (Myanmar). Specifically, AIStL has been assigned the cases of three pro-democracy students who were arrested in October 2007 for protesting high gas prices. They have been sentenced to long prison terms (65, 65, and 11 years), and they are at risk of torture. But we can help them!
We consider this event a success–not only because we had a hand in the campaign for the freedom of perhaps the most well-known political prisoner in the world–but because the event was well-attended by many faces new to Amnesty, who took the opportunities to act collectively for a cause greater than ourselves and appreciate our own human rights.
If you were unable to attend, you can still TAKE ACTION.
~ presented in partnership with St. Louis Cinemas and Webster University ~
Our Mission and the Movement
For almost 50 years, Amnesty International’s membership from across the world have stood up for humanity and human rights. Our purpose is to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. We investigate and expose abuses, educate and mobilize the public, and help transform societies to create a safer, more just world. We received the Nobel Peace Prize for our life-saving work.
Learn more by browsing this site, and check out other resource links to the right!
Welcome to Amnesty International St. Louis!
The local chapter of Amnesty International–St. Louis Group #105–welcomes you! Please browse our site for more information, and to join us for upcoming events and meetings.
Here you also can find answers to FAQs about Amnesty International, take action on important human rights issues, and find out how to join Amnesty and become an active member.
We hope that you will consider getting involved at any level to make a difference in human rights!
This World Cup, Defend the Human Rights Defenders!
Watching the World Cup? Be sure to take action and STAND UP UNITED for Human Rights Defenders Worldwide! Click on the picture below to join the world’s most important team: human rights defenders.
Women on the Bridge Monday, March 8!
A Bridge for Peace: St. Louis to the Congo
In honor of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Women for Women International and Amnesty International St. Louis partnered to support a global campaign to stand with the women of the Congo.
Coordinated locally by Monica Mills, the event sought to bring attention to the issue of violence against women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, site of over 5 million deaths and hundreds of thousands of rapes, in a conflict spanning more than a decade.
The women of the Congo say peace means being able to live and to work freely. They see peace as walking to the fields without fear of rape; they envision a more prosperous future, harvesting from the fields the fruits of their own labor. Yet war wages on.
To honor the resilience of these and the millions of other women survivors of war around the world, Women for Women International hosted Join me on the Bridge to unite women (and men!) all over the world in a global movement showing that women can build the bridges of peace and development for the future.
Learn more about how to take action for the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and International Women’s Day to support the human rights of Congolese women and women everywhere!
Women in the Congo
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, women and girls daily suffer gross violations of their human rights. The rates of sexual violence against women in the Congo are some of the highest in the world.
Tens of thousands of women and girls have suffered systematic rape and sexual assault since the devastating conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) began in 1998. Rape, sometimes by groups as large as twenty men, has become a hallmark of the conflict, with armed factions often using it as part of a calculated strategy to destabilize opposition groups, undermine fundamental community values, humiliate the victims and witnesses, and secure control through fear and intimidation.
You can make a difference in the lives of millions of women!
Educate yourself
- Human Rights in the Congo: widespread rape and violence against women is a human rights scandal happening daily in the Congo, but women, girls, men, and boys alike have experienced human rights violations stemming from widespread conflict, disease, and hunger in the country and broader area.
- Violence Against Women in the Congo: read the report by Amnesty International about violence against women in the Congo
- Conflict Minerals in the Congo: many human rights abuses in the Congo, including child slavery, indiscriminate killings, and violence against women, are perpetrated in the race to control Congo’s mineral trade.
- Violence Against Women: Violence Against Women is a global epidemic. Women and girls are often targeted because of their gender or sex for extreme and brutal types of violence.
- The International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA): This legislation would create a comprehensive 5-year strategy to reduce violence against women in 10-20 targeted countries worldwide where the United States can make a significant difference in the lives of women and girls.
- Ask your Senators and Representatives to support I-VAWA
- Ask your representatives to co-sponsor the Conflict Minerals Trade Act of 2009
- Take action to support Women’s Human Rights and women’s human rights defenders worldwide
- Join Amnesty International and join the largest grassroots human rights movement in the world to ensure human rights for all people
- Join with Women for Women International to help women worldwide to live lives of dignity and worth, free from fear and violence
- Join the Amnesty International St. Louis local group #105 every 2nd and 4th Tuesday to learn more about human rights and you can do!
What are we reading?
At our last book club, we read The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights, by Irene Kahn, the first woman, first Asian, and first Muslim to head Amnesty International as Secretary General from 2001-2009. We shared a rousing discussion about poverty and human rights. Our next discussion is not to be missed!
Our next book is still to be determined. If you have any ideas, Contact us or attend a meeting for more info!
2010 Annual General Meeting in New Orleans!
In April, 7 Amnesty St. Louis members drove to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in New Orleans!
Bernice Reagon Johnson
AIUSA Executive Director Larry Cox
Executive Director of AI Burkina Faso talks about maternal mortality
Amnesty Directors from Sierra Leono and Peru
Nick Cage stops by to say hi to his Amnesty peeps
