Meeting March 23

We went over to Mady's apartment and she shared some of her mom's banana bread and homemade cookies. We talked a little bit about the National Week of Student Action coming up March 31 - April 5.

Then, we watched the film Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. It was a really powerful film and got us talking about of a lot of the problems that have surfaced since the current administration's handling of the "war on terror." The film's website has a really good resource page.

Some of the issues involved include

• the Third Geneva Convention (this text from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) and whether it does or does not apply to "unlawful enemy combatants." Here is a background paper on some of the issues in terms of international law.
  
• The use of and definition of torture (this article from the Washington Post talks about how the justice department and the department of defense have been pushing legal limits in defining torture, allowing things that are explicitly prohibited in the Army Field Manual)
  
• the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (here's a Wikipedia rundown of the act. You can read Amnesty's position here)

Here is "A Guide to the Memos on Torture"

And here are a few more articles...

"Abu Ghraib Techniques were first Used at Guantanamo"
"Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations" (this article has good explanations of the interactions between the different branches and characters in the U.S. government)

Agenda from March 9 General Meeting

Introduction
Meet and Greet/Sign In

About Amnesty International
A little bit about the organization – National Week of Student Action (March 31- April 4, 2008)

Short Presentation
David Slemmons talks about the history of Amnesty International at OU and Groovefest

Old Business

Walk for Women

Letter Writing and Groovefest Planning Meeting March 2nd
· sign and turn in letters
· Groovefest – purpose and theme, tabling (education, membership, and action)

New Business

Budget
· Overview – what’s in it, what’s different, and why
· Interview
· Emergency funding and fundraising for next year

Committees – Tasks and Updates
· Urgent Action
· Short Presentations
· Groovefest
· Membership
· Tshirt
· Volunteer Coordinating

Working in the OU, Norman, and Oklahoma communities

· One Campaign – petition to get 100% Fair trade coffee on campus

· Don’t forget to register for the Oklahoma Sustainability Conference: March 28-29 . This year’s theme is “Red Dirt, Green Culture — Growing Healthy Communities.” The 7th Annual Conference of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network is a continuation of excellence in education and networking, bringing together over 500 individuals from non-profit organizations, business, and family farms to learn and grow sustainably together.

· UOSA presidential candidates Matt Brown and Carol Bodine

Urgent Action Network

Presentation of latest UA
Letter writing (and Easter Egg hunt?) Sunday, March 23rd

Added Items

Fundraiser for Groovefest - March 15th 10pm at Bison Witches on Main Street (must be 21 to enter!)

OKC Peacehouse events for the 5 year Mark of the US war in Iraq -

• March 15th 11am to 1pm - Rally to end the war and bring the troops home - NW highway and Meridian
• March 16th 3pm - Spiritual Walk for Peace from Civic Center park across from OKC City Hall
• March 19th 7pm -Flashlight Vigil for "Remembering the Human Cost of War" on the State Capitol South Steps

Close Meeting

Next general meeting March 30th – time and place TBA

Walk for Women

Walk for Women was a lot of fun!

We learned about World Neighbors and their Work of Women program,
made art out of recycled materials,

listened to some great music, and walked a mile to celebrate the work of women on International Women's day!



Can't wait for more outdoor events now that the weather will be warming up!

Officer Meeting March 6th

Walk for Women

• we set the location for the carpool and need to send out another reminder email

Groovefest

• discussed possible presentations to include national priorities as well as more general information about what Amnesty International is, and what Groovefest is.
• tabling should include components of education, membership, and action
• need to request materials from Adiyah

Individual Officer Reports

President

• proposed participation in the National Week of Student Action

Vice President

• everything is set to go on Big Event, we should have a total of about 30 between our group and Our Earth

Secretary

• attended the ONE campaign meeting on Monday and got information about the campaign for 100% fair trade coffee on campus.
• will get copies of the petition so we can try to help them reach the necessary 500 signatures, or their desired 1000

Treasurer

• sumitted emergency budget for Groovefest and we have a meeting for that Sunday

Urgent Action Coordinator

• will be sending out reminder email about meeting with UA tips

Looked over agenda for this Sunday's meeting

Set a date for Constitutional Convention for April 13th and moved some of the meeting dates around

March 2 Letter Writing and Groovefest Planning

There was a lot to talk about at this meeting, and in all the excitement we decided to write these letters on our own. To write on our UA for this week, click here.

And, don't forget to check out the latest Urgent Action newsletter. Reading the newsletters is a good way to get to know more about AI's work.

Groovefest is in the works, and there is a lot to be done, but for right now our main contribution will be in developing the content for the purpose and theme. The theme they have talked about is "Vote to Promote Human Rights."

This should be a really exciting opportunity for us to get involved in something that is a big part of our group's history. And we'll be lucky to hear more about that history at our next general meeting - David Slemmons will come and give a short presentation about the history of OU Amnesty International and Groovefest. Don't forget, it's this Sunday, March 9th, at 6:30 in the Associates Room of the Union. See you there!