amnesty
international
Connecticut Shoreline Group #566
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Connecticut Shoreline Group #566 |
Previous Events/Campaigns
Weds March 10th 2010 at 7pm
The Death Penalty - A System Broken Beyond Repair
Speaker: Ben Jones,
Executive Director of Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty (CNADP) . The Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty (CNADP) has
been working to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut since1986.
Weds Dec 9th at 7pm
Global Write-a-Thon Dec 2009
As part of a global week of action, we will be hosting an event for local activists to write letters to governments worldwide, asking them
to protect and release victims of human rights abuses. This event is just one of thousands that will be carried out throughout the United States
and dozens of other countries worldwide.
Members of the CT Shoreline Amnesty Group at the Global Write-a-Thon in Dec.
Thousands of people are in prison around the world because of their beliefs, gender, sexual orientation,
race or ethnicity. Many are held without charge or trial and are at risk of torture or execution. The
Global Write-a-thon raises awareness about these human rights abuses and empowers individuals to
take action against these violations.
Amnesty International’s human rights campaigns have been instrumental in obtaining freedom
for prisoners of conscience worldwide through pressure from letters, faxes, and e-mails written
by AI activists. More than 44,000 individuals have been released from jail, rescued from torture
or aided in other ways following action by Amnesty International.
Thurs Nov 19th 2009 at 7pm
Film: The Billboard from Bethlehem
The movie is a "stunning and timely documentary where the owner of an Amercian billboard company (I Wage Peace founder Bruce A. Barrett) invites Israeli soldiers and Palestinian
resistance fighters and children from both sides (The Combatants for Peace) to paint a giant peace mural in the West Bank.
Weds Oct 14th 2009 at 7pm
Immigration Reform - What should it look like?
Speaker: Renee Redman
Renee is an experienced human and civil rights attorney. Prior to joining IHRDC, she practiced immigration law at New Haven Legal Assistance Association
and served as Legal Director of the ACLU of Connecticut. Until 2004, she practiced commercial litigation with Hughes Hubbard & Reed, LLP in New York City.
She clerked for the Immigration Courts in New York City and Newark, New Jersey, and the Honorable Warren W. Eginton of the United States District Court in Bridgeport,
Connecticut. She is an Adjunct Professor at Quinnipiac and University of Connecticut Schools of Law.
Sat October 17 2009, 10:30 AM -4:30 PM
Connecticut State Amnesty International Meeting 2009
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Join Amnesty International activists of all ages
from around the state for a day of guest speakers, activism
training, and discussion about working together as a state.
• For more information, please contact Helen Jack, Yale Amnesty International's State Meeting Coordinator at helen.jack@yale.edu or 603-727-8208.
Troy Davis Vigil , May 2009
- Shoreline members hold a vigil for Troy Davis in Madison CT, May 2009
Investigation into Torture Letter Published in NY Times April 19th 2009: Click Here to read NY Times:
To the Editor:
If President Obama can, with the stroke of a pen, order the closing of the Guantánamo prison and the cessation of the Bush-era torture policies, we need to ensure that those who
orchestrated and sanctioned these policies are held accountable. Otherwise, what is going to prevent the next president from reinstating them with the simple stroke of a pen?
Aidan Moran
Madison, Conn., April 19, 2009
The writer organizes meetings and campaigns for Amnesty International Shoreline Group No. 566.
Weds June 10th 2009 at 7pm
(Madison Library, Basement Room)
Reviewing and Focusing on Amnesty's International Priority Campaigns
Weds July 8th 2009 at 7pm
(Madison Library, Basement Room)
Eric Cohen with Investors Against Genocide
Investing in Genocide: What You Can Do To Stop It
Years after the genocide in Darfur was publicly acknowledged, millions of Americans are unknowingly and inadvertently investing in the companies that are funding this genocide.
Investors entrust their family savings and pension funds to mutual fund and other investment firms, which in turn invest those savings in companies which help to fund genocide.
The workshop will explain how Investors Against Genocide has been campaigning to end this practice, the results achieved, and the simple, no-cost, actions individuals can
take to force the companies to change their investments.
Presenter: Eric Cohen
Eric Cohen is a co-founder and the Chairperson of Investors Against Genocide, a non-profit organization dedicated to convincing mutual fund and other investment firms to
change their investing strategy so as to avoid complicity in genocide.
He also is a Director of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur and serves as its President. Mr. Cohen retired from a 30+ year career in information technology, where
he served in a variety of roles at the corporate vice president level. Mr. Cohen has been working full-time, on a volunteer basis, with Investors Against Genocide and other Darfur-related work.
Tues May 19th 2009
At Scranton Park Gazebo/bus stop (Northeast corner of Stop and Shop parking lot). Madison CT
Vigil for Troy Davis
Troy Davis, a man who may well be innocent, has a 30-day stay of execution that is about to expire. No court has yet held a hearing on the new evidence of tainted testimony,
yet they are willing to end his life.
Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail at a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia; a murder he maintains he did not commit.
There was no physical evidence against him and the weapon used in the crime was never found. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained
inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony. Many of these
witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis.
One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester "Red" Coles – the principle alternative suspect, according to the defense, against whom there
is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.
To read more please go to Amnesty's main web site at www.amnestyusa.org
Weds May 13th 2009
(Madison Library, Basement Room)
Faraz Sanei - “Iran’s Upcoming Elections and the Prospects for a Reemerging Reform Movement:
A Human Rights Perspective.”
Faraz Sanei is the senior human rights lawyer and program director at the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. Faraz completed his B.A. in political science
at the University of California , Los Angeles , and received his J.D. from the Vanderbilt University Law School in 2001. While at Vanderbilt, Faraz served as the Executive
Managing Editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. Upon graduation, he worked as an associate with Snell & Wilmer’s environmental, regulatory,
and natural resources group in Phoenix , AZ. Prior to accepting his current position, Faraz worked as a contract attorney with Sidley Austin’s Los Angeles office.
April 2009
Vincent Woods - Legislative Lobbying Workshop
- A hands on class that will walk you through the whole process of how to approach and meet politicians to get your
point of view across. At the end of it the members of the group should feel quite comfortable participating in a lobby session with their representative.
- A joint event with RJ Julia Bookstore for author and journalist Peter Eichstaedt. Peter will be discussing and signing
his new book "First Kill Your Family - Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army".
To read more about Peter please visit his website http://www.petereichstaedt.com/
March 2009
"Escape from Iraq"
We invite you hear the true account of a young Iraqi’s flight from the terror of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, a
nd his amazing journey to get to the United States.
Feb 2009 :- "The Death Penalty - A System Broken Beyond Repair?"
- Speaker Bob Nave ( The Executive Director of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty (CNADP) and the Connecticut State Death Penalty
Abolition Coordinator for
Amnesty International.)
Jan 2009 -
Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (Plus Global Write-a-thon)
Speaker: James Silk - Executive Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights.
- Shoreline members taking part in Amnesty's Global Write-a -Thon in Dec 2008.
Gurbandurdy Durdykuliev, age 64, a Turkmeni national, was forcibly confined to a psychiatric hospital in February 2004, for petitioning the President of Turkmenistan for permission to hold a peaceful assembly for the purpose of forming an opposition party.
This chapter, along with high school and college chapters in the Northeast, brought pressure to bear on the government of Turkmenistan ultimately resulting in Durdykuliev's release. The members of this chapter are proud of the part we played in this effort.
Josh Rubinstein Talk & Book Signing
Film Event: Darfur Diaries
Santiago, Chile
Alan and Sergio Laurenti, Director of Amnesty International Chile in Santiago.