Amnesty International at OU

Troy Davis faces execution in Georgia in two weeks

2011-09-07T23:13:00.003-05:00

We will be writing letters this Friday to ask for clemency for Troy Davis. You can help! Sign the petition on Amnesty USA's website.

http://blog.amnestyusa.org/deathpenalty/dont-let-georgia-kill-troy-davis/

Troy Davis Information

2011-08-31T22:25:00.001-05:00

http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/usa-troy-davis/watch-videos-examining-the-troy-davis-case?msource=W1108EADP01&tr=y&auid=9376725

Amnesty USA has created a four-part video series explaining the background of the Troy Davis case and the need for clemency.

My Fellow American

2011-08-28T16:14:00.002-05:00

We will be viewing and discussing this short video at our meeting today, feel free to comment here or on their website!

http://myfellowamerican.us/

Maquiladora (film screening Thursday Dec. 2 7:30 PM) What is a Maquiladora?

2010-11-30T19:01:00.002-06:00

A maquiladora (Spanish pronunciation: [makilaˈðoɾa]) or maquila (IPA: [maˈkila]) is a concept often referred to an operation that involves manufacturing in a country that is not the client's and as such has an interesting duty or tariff treatment. It normally requires a factory, that may import materials and equipment on a duty-free and tariff-free basis for assembly or manufacturing and then "re-exports" the assembled or manufactured product, sometimes back to the originating country. A maquila is also referred to as a "twin plant", or "in-bond" industry. The principal examples of this sort of operation occur in Latin America, but also occurs in other countries in the world, that have adequate legislation. Currently about 1.3 million Mexicans are employed in maquiladoras.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquiladora

The Maze of Injustice

2010-10-20T07:35:00.002-05:00

A link to the full report can be found here:

Human Rights Abuse in the USA

2010-10-08T18:11:00.008-05:00

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/fbi-tracking-device/all/1

Well, I guess this answers the question of whether the FBI is still illegally spying on American citizens.

This week, a California college student named Yasir Afifi found a battery-powered tracking device on his car. His friend thought it was suspicious, and posted a picture of it online. Two days later, the FBI showed up at his house to collect the device that they claimed was "expensive." As Brian Alseth from the ACLU puts it, "It seems very frightening that the FBI have placed a surveillance-tracking device on the car of a 20-year-old American citizen who has done nothing more than being half-Egyptian."

Flood in Pakistan

2010-08-31T17:06:00.008-05:00

Photo Credit: journeyfish.com

If you were at the last meeting, you will remember that we decided our first action this year will take the form of a fundraiser to aid victims of the floods in Pakistan. The human rights aspect of the Pakistani crisis is underscored in these articles from the NY Times and the BBC:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/world/asia/24pstan.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10981230

"Nearly five million people have been displaced from the worst flooding ever recorded in Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands are being housed in orderly tented camps set up in army compounds, schools and other public buildings, but thousands more are living on roadsides and canal embankments, spreading out mats under the trees or making shade over the simple rope beds they brought with them.

The town of Sukkur is overflowing with displaced people. On the edge of the town, a group of 15 families with scores of children are camped along the Dadu Canal. Their mood is edgy, and they race in a horde after any vehicle that slows in the hope that it bears food or assistance. One woman showed her fractured arm, the result of a tussle for food.

“People are looting,” said Shad Mohammad, 28, a shopkeeper and father of five, who came here after his town, Ghospur, was flooded 15 days ago. “People run after trucks snatching things. People come, sometimes the government comes, or charities with food. Sometimes you get something, sometimes not.” "

The Genocide Behind Your Smart Phone

2010-07-18T10:02:00.002-05:00

Here is an informative Newsweek article about conflict minerals (similar to blood diamonds) that have been sneaking into supply chains for major technology companies in the US. As technology users, we should be concerned about where these materials come from; it seems they often come from Congo, and sometimes the money supports militia operations.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/16/the-genocide-behind-your-smart-phone.html

Activist in Residence from Ghana - Co-hosted by the Women's and Gender Studies and African and African American Studies Programs

2009-09-17T11:36:00.004-05:00

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the African and African American Studies Program present Franciska Issaka, an activist, organizer, former elected and appointed government official from Ghana next week. She is the Activist-in-Residence for this fall and also the first speaker part of Dr. Irvine’s Women and World Politics Presidential Dream Course.

She is an inspiring and interesting figure with amazing experience. You can find the event on facebook. Please feel free to email, post, distribute, and encourage everyone to attend these awesome events.

Her schedule is as follow:

September 23 2.30pm Workshop “How To Change the World” lessons learned from everyday activism in Ghana, Traditions Room OMU

September 23 7pm Public Lecture “Realizing Women’s Rights in Africa: The Interface between Cultural and Universal Rights,” Scholars Room OMU

September 25 10am Breakfast “From One Activist To Another” meet and greet Franciska Issaka, a human rights activist from Ghana, Women’s and Gender Studies Lounge PHSC 531

Groovefest Fundraiser April 21st at 10pm

2009-04-15T23:35:00.001-05:00

Groovefest Meeting tomorrow 7pm Union Food Court

2009-04-15T23:15:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone,

There will be a Groovefest meeting tomorrow, Thursday, April 16th at 7pm in the Union food court. We may move to a classroom if it happens to be loud in there, just text me if you come late and can't find us.

Also, for those of you over 21, don't forget we are having a fundraiser show at the Deli next Tuesday, April 21st at 10pm - JonBear Fourtet, The Whiskey Trio, and Penny Hill solo, $5 at the door, all proceeds go to paying our exorbitant bills.

For those of you who didn't get to make it to the "Peace Not Prejudice" film festival last night, you should check out the video we made, up on our new youtube channel, www.youtube.com/ouamnesty. If I have time I'll post some highlights from Rosa's speech there soon.

See you soon,
Sarah

Handprint Mural for Stop Violence Against Women Campaign

2009-04-15T13:19:00.000-05:00

Max, Tom, and Will outside of Second Wind after the April 4th fundraiser.

Updates, Meeting this Wednesday 4/1 8:30pm

2009-03-30T14:58:00.001-05:00

Hey Guys,

Just a reminder we'll be having a work meeting for the State Conference this Wednesday, April 1st at 8:30pm at my house (816 S. Lahoma Ave.) to put together the conference materials and chalk the sidewalks for the statewide conference. (Bring your chalk!)

"Don't Look Away" Violence Against Women Panel Discussion
We will be making a short announcement about our State Conference at the panel discussion that is this Thursday, April 2nd at 7pm in the Sandy Bell Gallery of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. It is also likely we will be allowed to have a table, so please try to make it to this event. It will be a really interesting panel and a great opportunity to let people know about our conference.

Web Updates
We've made a lot of progress on the internet! The Groovefest website is up (www.groovefest.org) and both the Amnesty and Groovefest myspace pages got a redesign (www.myspace.com/ouamnesty, www.myspace.com/normangroovefest). Also, there are new pictures up on our flickr site - go check yourselves out! www.flickr.com/ouamnesty

Publicity for State Conference
There are fliers below for both our state conference and our fundraiser concert. We will have printed copies available on Wednesday but feel free to print some out before that and post them anywhere and everywhere. Also, if you frequent any departmental buildings (i.e. political science, honors college, etc) please ask if they would be willing to send out publicity for our event to their mailing list.

Election Results
Congrats to our 2009-2010 Officers, now in training!
President - Anna Przebinda
Vice President - John Best
Treasurer - John Goetzinger, (fall) Katie Knutter
Secretary - Cacie Thomas
Fall Groovefest - Sarah Warmker, Elliot Hale
Spring Groovefest - Katie Baker
Urgent Action Coordinators - Mady Ohs, (fall) Cindy Woods

As always, call/text/email if you need anything!

Sarah

2009 Oklahoma State Conference Flier

2009-03-29T23:25:00.004-05:00

Meeting and elections this Sunday, Lots of Updates

2009-03-25T14:42:00.005-05:00

Hey Everyone,

Our next meeting will be this Sunday, March 29th at 7pm in the Associates Room of the Union. We will be electing new officers for the 2009-2010 school year.

Elections
New officers will take over their roles effective immediately, so that we can make sure our transition to next year is a smooth one since many of our current officers are studying abroad next year. Whoever becomes the group coordinator can also apply for my job with Amnesty as an SAC (Student Activist Corps leader) for Oklahoma. Also remember that the officer positions are flexible and ultimately the group decides how responsibilities are distributed! If you want more info about positions, email okamnestyinternational@gmail.com.

Big Event
If you signed up to do Big Event 2009 this Saturday, don't forget that tomorrow (Thursday) is the last day to register in Beaird Lounge of the Union between 9:00am and 4:00pm. Bring your student ID! If you want to fill out the forms to speed up the registration process you can print them off at bigevent.ou.edu. On the day of the event, Cassie Ketrick from OU Web Communications will be coming along to make a video for OU's official youtube channel (www.youtube.com/universityofoklahoma). Email Chris Schroeder (schro87@ou.edu) if you have any questions about Big Event!

Don't Look Away: Violence Against Women and Human Rights in Oklahoma
The Women's and Gender Studies Program and the Xenia Institute are hosting a Panel Discussion on Thursday, April 2nd at 7pm in the Sandy Bell Gallery at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. See the flier for more details.

Amnesty International Releases Report on Immigrant Rights
Amnesty International USA just released a report about detention of immigrants called "Jailed without Justice." The keynote speaker for our statewide conference, Rosa Clemente, recently became Amnesty International's campaign director for immigrant rights, and she will be talking about some of the things in this report at the conference. You can find more info on Amnesty's website here.

Statewide Conference
As you all know, we are hosting the Oklahoma Statewide Amnesty International Conference at Sarkey's Energy Center from 9am-4pm on Saturday, April 4th. The registration form is attached, please fill it out and send it back if you plan on attending, even if you are a volunteer. If you want to volunteer the day of the conference but you have not been assigned a task yet, just reply to this email - we have a few more things left to cover, especially on the day of the event.

Videos needed - Peace Not Prejudice Film Festival
The Muslim Student Association has invited us to participate in a "Peace not Prejudice" film festival. We need at least two volunteers to use handheld video cameras to film our statewide conference and interview a few people during our state conference, also so that we can send this documentation to our AIUSA field organizer, who will be unable to attend our conference because of a scheduled surgery. If the videos are good, we might be able to get them on OU's youtube channel as well. Let me know if you're interested in doing this - we have cameras you can use. If you want more info about this, email okamnestyinternational@gmail.com.

As always, call/text/email me if you have any questions.

See you soon!
Sarah

Updates and Meetings this weekend

2009-03-05T12:43:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all your work on getting information for our state conference. I know some of you have had trouble getting calls back from your contacts. Ultimately, if they don't call you back by Friday, don't worry about it, we can always go with what we already have.

In light of an city ordinance passed a few weeks ago that requires us to do a substantial amount of paperwork for Groovefest, we will have a Groovefest planning/Board meeting on Sunday, March 8th at 5:30 in the Associates Room of the Union, prior to our 7pm State Conference planning meeting in the same room. This is a lot of work so we will have food at this meeting (fruit, veggies, and pizza). Please try to make it to one if you can't stay for both.

We are making good progress following our timeline, thanks guys for all you do.

Sarah

Reminders

2009-03-03T12:44:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to remind you all of a couple of things - we need to have those phone calls made by Wednesday at the latest. I have attached the minutes from Sunday's meeting in case you need a reminder of what you signed up for.

For contacting food vendors - when you make contact, you should send an email to okamnestyinternational@gmail.com with
1. The name of the business/group you talked to, including the individual you talked to
2. Their contact info, and
3. What they said they would/could do (or not)

Remember to let them know that we would include their name/logo in all promotional materials for the event.

Also, there will be an event tonight that you should try to make it to if you can:

A Night for the Women of the Congo
TONIGHT, Tuesday 3/3
7-9 pm
Meacham Auditorium in the Union

After the presentation, documentary, and vigil, we will also have t-shirts and handmade bags made by Congolese survivors of rape for sale. The money raised goes directly back to the women of the DRC to aid in their recovery. T-shirts are $10 and bags are $20.

Come make a difference for the Women of the Congo. Hope to see you there!

General Meeting March 1, 2009

2009-03-01T22:52:00.001-06:00

Introduction
Meet and Greet/Sign In

Old Business

Valentine’s Day Fundraiser - We raised $166, see photos at www.flickr.com/photos/ouamnesty
Budget
Vagina Monologues – tabling

Elections
Set Election Dates for next year's officers (March 29th, 7pm)

Groovefest
“Human Rights Here and Now”
Sunday, April 26th, 2009 in Andrews Park (201 W. Daws)

State Meeting
Draft Workplan & sign up for tasks

Urgent Action Network
Sign Letters for UA cases

Weapons in Gaza
Women in the DRC
OPIM in Mexico

Added Items
Groovefest Vendor Prices

Close Meeting
Next meeting will be a State Conference Planning Meeting - Sunday, March 8th at 7pm, location TBA

News and Updates - lots of events this week!

2009-02-22T11:35:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

There are a lot of events coming up this week that I wanted to let you know about. First off, we will be having a Groovefest planning meeting today at 2pm in the Will Rogers room of the Union (next to the food court). Our next General Meeting will be Sunday, March 1st at 7pm - location TBA.

Creating for the Women of the DRC
For this week's V-day events, the Norman Women's Collective will be putting together an installation piece in the South Oval for the women of the DRC. They are meeting today at 5pm at 783 Debarr (aka "Universe City") to work on the project. "Please bring art supplies, glitter, all kinds of paper, fabric, boxes to make into cell phones and laptops, canned food cans, and creative ideas about creating the following: Bricks of "gold", "silver", and other "metals", diamonds and gemstones, flowing water, and lumber/timber."

The Vagina Monologues
The Women's Outreach Center will be hosting the 2009 edition of the Vagina Monologues at OU. We will be tabling at the Vagina Monologues this Monday and Tuesday (February 23rd and 24th) from 6-7pm in the hallway in front of Meacham Auditorium. We still need volunteers to sit at the tables and help get the supplies from my house to the events. It would also be great if someone could help writing Urgent Action letters on this issue. "Suggested donation of $5 with personal care item for Women's Resource Center or $7 without. The Vagina Monolgues will be preceded with a performance of "Still That Girl" by Ella Rhodes. V-Day, a non-profit corporation, distributes funds to grassroots, national and international organizations and programs that work to stop violence against women and girls. For more info visit www.vday.org"

Women's Studies Activist-in-Residence
This week Igballe Rogova, the Executive Director of Kosova Women's Network, will be visiting OU as the Women's Studies Activist in Residence. The Women's Studies department is hosting a series of events around her visit:
Wednesday, February 25th 7pm-9pm: "Calling the Ghosts" Film, a story about Rape, War, and Women in the Balkans. This event will be held in the Women's Studies lounge in the Physical Sciences center 530.
Thursday, February 26th 10:30am-12pm: Symposium lecture "Europe's Newest State: Women's Organizations, Democratization, & the Politics of Peace in Kosovo" OMU Scholars Room
Thursday, February 26th 2pm-3:30pm: Workshop with Rogova "From One Activist to Another: learning lessons from activism around the world" OMU Weitzenhoffer Room
Thursday, February 26th 5pm-7pm: Reception Honoring Igballe Rogova - Recognition of Igballe Rogova as the WS Activist-in-Residence 2009 OMU David L. Boren Lounge
Friday, February 27th 9am-11am: Breakfast with Rogova - a personal breakfast with an international women's rights activist. Women's Studies Lounge, Physical Sciences Center 530.

"Intelligence and Torture" Panel Discussion
The Center for Middle East Studies & International Programs will present a panel discussion, "Intelligence and Torture" with Staff Sergeant Eric Maddox, author of "Mission: Blacklist # 1" and panelists Dr. David Edger and Dr. Christopher Howard. The panel discussion is open to the public and will be held on Thursday, February 26, 2009 from 4:30pm - 5:30pm in the Gaylord College of Journalism library. "Join us in an open discussion with Staff Sergeant Maddox about his key role in the capture of Saddam Hussein and the controversy between violent and non-violent interrogation methods." The panel will be moderated by Dr. John Fishel.

Thanks guys and see you soon! As always, call/email if you have any questions

Sarah

News and Updates

2009-02-11T23:40:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody,

We've got a lot going on so here's the latest:

Groovefest Theme and Call for Artists
We will be having a brief meeting tomorrow (Thursday February 12th) at 7pm in the Sooner Room of the Union to vote on the theme for Groovefest and finalize our call for artists so that we can start publicizing that this weekend and get those fliers out ASAP.

COSO (Council of Student Organizations) Meeting
Anyone interested in taking on a leadership role in Amnesty next year should try to attend the COSO meeting tomorrow from 5-7pm in the Associates and Regents Room of the Union. It is mandatory for student organizations who want funding from UOSA (which is our main source of funds!). They will be talking about the budget process for getting funding from the school, among other important logistical things.

Valentine's Day Fundraiser
Thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help with this fundraiser, it looks like it's going to be great! We will start setting up at 11am so if you want to be part of the set up crew show up then and I might even make you breakfast. Anyone bringing things to sell should try to arrive between 1 and 1:30 so we can have all the tables set up by 2. If anyone has extra folding tables or tablecloths and could lend them for the day, we could use a few more. We have some craft supplies for DIY valentines but if anyone has extra glue/paint/paper etc and would like to donate we could use more of that as well.

High School Visits
We got a last minute invitation to give a presentation at Norman High School today. Will and I talked to a group of about 25 students about Amnesty and invited them to come to our events and start a chapter of their own if they're interested. A couple of students from the Young Democrats and Global Awareness clubs asked if we would be willing to also give presentations to their groups, which usually meet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If anyone is interesed in coordinating these visits let me know.

As always, email/call/text me if you have any questions.

Sarah

buttonmaking and flier posting today

2009-02-07T11:23:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

Sorry I forgot to send this earlier - the warm weather must have gone straight to my head. For anyone who hasn't gotten it through the grapevine, we will be meeting today at 2pm at my house (816 S. Lahoma Ave) to make buttons and post fliers for our Valentine's Day fundraiser. Thanks to Danny & Our Earth for lending the buttonmaker. Bring any art supplies you want to use for buttons and tape or tacks if you can.

If you can't make it at that time but still want to put some fliers up or make buttons, we might do another round on Sunday. Just call/text/email/facebook me if you want to pick up fliers or make buttons on Sunday.

More updates soon.

Sarah

Upcoming schedule and Human Rights events this week

2009-02-03T00:14:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone,

This email is to catch you up on a couple of things. First, for anyone who is interested in participating in visits to local high schools to invite them to get involved in Amnesty and Groovefest, we are having a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 8:30pm in the Bookmark cafe, located in the basement of Bizzell Library, to plan what we want to present and who we can get in contact with. If any of you have recommendations for teachers or administrators at Oklahoma high schools we should contact, please pass their names along.

New Updates on Calendar
At the last meeting we set a tentative schedule for the rest of the semester. It is posted on the calendar on our blog (ouamnesty.blogspot.com). Since we will be doing a lot of fundraising and preparation leading up to our two big events in April, we will probably be meeting frequently and irregularly so check back often to stay in the loop.

Also, there are several events happening on campus this week related to human rights.

Gaza: A Panel Discussion
Tuesday, February 3, from 4:00-5:30 in Meacham Auditorium, the Sooners for Peace in Palestine, Hillel, and Muslim Student Association will host a panel discussion on recent events in Gaza. Panelists include Dr. Norman Stillman, Dr. Maurice Roumani, Dr. Joshua Landis, and Dr. Husam Mohamad.

Norman Human Rights Commission "Inclusive Community Discussion"
The University of Oklahoma, Norman Human Rights Commission, City of Norman and Norman Chamber of Commerce are hosting an "Inclusive Community Discussion" at 6:30pm in the Oklahoma Memorial Union (the advertisement did not specify a room but it should be on the Union schedule posted in the hallways). They have specifically invited OU students to attend this discussion.

"What we hope to provide again at this second Inclusive Community Discussion is a safe and respectful place for people to discuss whether we are a community that is genuinely open to the participation and opinions of all of our residents," said Mayor Cindy Rosenthal, who is also a member of the OU faculty. Some of the issues to be discussed are public safety, transportation, housing, employment, and the business and shopping environment. "A central goal is to identify those areas where we can make Norman a more welcoming community."

Urgent Action Network
We received another Urgent Action today about a prominent human rights lawyer in China who is being held incommunicado in an unknown location. You can read the printable version of the report here:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa02409.pdf

You'll get another email soon about Groovefest, State Conference updates, and our Valentine's Day fundraiser.

As always, call me if you have any questions/concerns or if you want something to do!

See you soon,
Sarah

Groovefest Vendors

2009-02-01T15:33:00.002-06:00

Okay, guys,

I have been working hard to get stuff ready so we can get lots of vendors this year at Groovefest. When I went through the pile of papers we got from the Groovefest committee, I found contact information for 15 former vendors and 11 non-profit groups. I also looked up contact info for many non-profit advocacy groups at OU and added them to the list.

I will post the list to the Blog so that everyone can look at it and add to it if they come up with more ideas. We probably have enough in the way of non-profits, but we could definitely use some more vendors and artists, especially since we probably won't be able to convince every person we contact, even if they have come in the past.

Should we just charge one price for all vendors, regardless of whether they are selling artwork or “crafts”? It seems there is a fuzzy line between the two – last year they charged a henna artist/palm reader the artist price and charged a guy who made tie-dyed tee shirts the vendor price. Maybe one price for food sales and one price for everything else? Non-profits should still be free, of course.

I am going to need help contacting these people, I think. What do you guys think we should do: send emails, call, go in person? All three? For anyone who wants to help, I would write up an example schpiel that you could use when calling people.

There is a scrap of paper that says "Noise Ordinance". Do we need one of these, or any other permits for selling things or having music?

Could we ourselves sell things at Groovefest if we are already selling the t-shirts? We could raise money to help cover the Flobots that way. Maybe food, etc?

Anyway, it's stuff to think about. See you guys later!
Katie B.

News and Updates

2009-01-30T19:55:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone,

Our next meeting will be this Sunday, February 1st at 7pm in the Associates Room of the Union. Bring your chalk if you have it and have time to chalk sidewalks afterwards.

Counter Terror with Justice
You guys may have noticed that since Obama got elected he's been doing all kinds of neat stuff like issuing executive orders to ban torture and close Guantanamo. We can do more chalking or work out a campaign on this soon if we want to. You can read more about Amnesty's 100 days campaigns on their home page: http://www.amnestyusa.org/

Statewide Conference
In case you haven't heard, we pushed the date for our statewide conference back to April, probably the 18th. I have been communicating with Rosa Clemente, the who was the Cynthia McKinney's Vice Presidential candidate for the Green Party in this last election. I think she would be a really good speaker, she is available for the date and she is interested in coming to OU. The problem is we don't have any money from the Speaker's Bureau to pay her way here. So, if you know of a department here on campus, an organization, or anyone who would contribute to funding this, or if you want to help fill out the applications, please let me know ASAP. If we're going to get her here we need to finalize it in the next week. If you want to know more about her, check out her www.myspace.com/rosaclemente (her website doesn't seem to be working). If you have any other suggestions for speakers, workshops, or faculty who should be involved, let me know.

Groovefest
Andrews Park has been reserved so we have officially set a date for Groovefest for April 26th. At the last meeting we set tentative due dates for artwork and band submissions (Friday, March 6th) and emcee tryouts (Saturday, March 7th). This Sunday we need to finalize the details on our call for artists so we can get our publicity and fundraising going.

Valentine's Day Fundraiser
At our last couple of meetings we have been brainstorming about a Valentine's Day fundraiser to get donations toward AI and our group funds (the latter of which will go mainly to Groovefest and our Statewide Conference in April). So far we have come up with a bake-sale/art show/craft fair/yard sale with music and party pics. I think if we get even a third of that to happen we should be able to make some money and have a great time. But, we need to finalize who/what/when on Sunday.

Gaza/Israel
Amnesty has researchers currently on the ground in Gaza. You can keep up to date with their findings on the Amnesty USA home page here: http://www.amnestyusa.org/

Please refer to this link to get information on the crisis in Gaza, recommended actions, and available resources:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/pdf/gazaaction.pdf

Urgent Action
Larry Swearingen was granted a stay of execution by the US Court of Appeals this week. We don't need to take any further action right now. For the details, you can see the UA update at the bottom of this email.

That's all for now, as always, call me if you have any questions.

See you soon!
Sarah

__________________________________________________
27 January 2009

Further information on UA 17/09 (21 January 2009) – Death penalty / Legal concern

USA (Texas) Larry Ray Swearingen (m), white, aged 37

Larry Swearingen was granted a stay of execution on 26 January 2009 by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the federal court one level below the US Supreme Court with jurisdiction over Texas cases. He was scheduled to be put to death in Texas on the evening of 27 January 2009.

Larry Swearingen was sentenced to death in 2000 for the murder of Melissa Trotter in 1998. Melissa Trotter went missing on 8 December 1998. Larry Swearingen was arrested three days later, and has been incarcerated ever since. The body of Melissa Trotter was found in a forest on 2 January 1999. Larry Swearingen was tried for her murder, and sentenced to death.

He maintains his innocence of the murder. Several forensic experts have provided statements and testimony that support his claim. One of these experts, Dr Joye Carter, is the former Chief Medical Examiner of Harris County in Texas who performed the autopsy of Melissa Trotter and testified at Larry Swearingen’s trial that in her opinion, Melissa Trotter had died 25 days before her body was found. In an affidavit signed in 2007, Dr Carter stated that she had looked again at the case and changed her opinion. She concluded that Melissa Trotter’s body had been left in the forest within two weeks of it being found.
If accurate, this would mean that the body was dumped at a time when Larry Swearingen was
already in custody. Other experts have stated that the body may have been left in the
woods only a few days before it was found (see original UA).

The Fifth Circuit panel did not address the merits of Larry Swearingen’s innocence claims,
but only considered whether they were sufficient to overcome the obstacles under federal
law preventing the court from authorizing the filing of a successive habeas corpus petition
in the lower District Court. Under this federal statute, the prisoner must show that "(i)
the factual predicate for the claim could not have been discovered previously through the
exercise of due diligence; and (ii) the facts underlying the claim, if proven and viewed in
light of the evidence as a whole, would be sufficient to establish by clear and convincing
evidence that, but for constitutional error, no reasonable fact-finder would have found the
applicant guilty of the underlying offense."

The Fifth Circuit said that there were "two independent gates" through which a motion to
file a successive petition must pass before the merits of the prisoner’s claim will be
addressed. First, the Fifth Circuit would have to determine whether the motion made a
prima facie (on first sight) case that the above requirements of the federal statute were
met, including that there is "a sufficient showing of possible merit to warrant a fuller
exploration by the District Court." Secondly, once the case was remanded to the District
Court, the latter would also have to determine whether the requirements of the federal
statute had been met before it could address the merits of the successive petition.

The Fifth Circuit court held that "given the importance of Dr Carter’s expert testimony to
the State’s case, we find that Swearingen has made a prima facie showing that but for the
constitutional error of the State sponsoring the false testimony of Dr Carter, no
reasonable juror could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." The constitutional
precedent on this issue is the 1972 Supreme Court ruling in Giglio v. United States. The
Fifth Circuit also found that Larry Swearingen had made a prime facie case that his legal
representation at trial had been constitutionally deficient, including in cross-examining
Dr Carter. Here the precedent is Strickland v. Washington (1984). The Fifth Circuit panel
therefore authorized Larry Swearingen to file a successive habeas corpus petition in the
District Court limited to these issues. The court stressed that "this grant is
tentative" in that the District Court "must dismiss" the petition, "without reaching
the merits," if that court were to find that Swearingen had not satisfied the federal
statutory requirements relating to successive petitions.

One of the three Fifth Circuit judges wrote a separate, concurring opinion. He said that
he wished to address "the elephant that I perceive in the corner of this room: actual
innocence." Judge Jacques Wiener continued: "Consistently repeating the mantra that, to
date, the Supreme Court of the United States has never expressly recognized actual
innocence as a basis for habeas corpus relief in a death penalty case, this court has
uniformly rejected stand-alone claims of actual innocence as a constitutional ground for
prohibiting imposition of the death penalty." Judge Wiener noted, however, that the
Supreme Court had made certain statements that "at least strongly signal that, under the
right circumstances, it might add those capital defendants who are actually innocent to the
list of persons who – like the insane, the mentally retarded, and the very young – are
constitutionally ineligible for the death penalty."

Judge Wiener said that could foresee the "real possibility" that the District Court might
interpret the expert forensic opinion as clear and convincing evidence that Larry
Swearingen could not possibly have killed Melissa Trotter and yet still "find it
impossible to force the actual-innocence camel through the eye of either the Giglio or
Strickland needle, and thus have no choice but to deny habeas relief to an actually
innocent person." As such, Judge Wiener suggested, Swearingen’s predicament might be
"the very case" for the full Fifth Circuit Court or the US Supreme Court to "recognize
actual innocence as a ground for federal habeas relief." He concluded that "to me, this
question is a brooding omnipresence in capital habeas jurisprudence that has been left
unanswered for too long."

There have been five executions in the USA this year, three of them in Texas. Since
executions resumed in 1977, there have been 1,141 executions in the USA, 426 of them in
Texas. Among those who have been put to death by the state are people whose guilt was in
doubt to the end. Since 1977, more than 100 people have been released from death rows in
the USA on grounds of innocence. The average time between being sentenced to death and
exoneration in these cases was nearly 10 years.

No further action by the UA Network is requested at present.
Many thanks to all who sent appeals.

Urgent Action - Death Penalty case in Texas

2009-01-26T13:37:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone,

If you have access to a fax machine you should write letters to the Governor and Board of Pardons and Paroles in Texas about the case of Larry Swearingen. He's scheduled to be executed tomorrow so the appeals should be sent by the end of the day today. You can get a printer-friendly version of the Urgent Action here: http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa01709.pdf

Our next meeting will be this Sunday, February 1st at 7pm in the Associates Room of the Union. More updates coming soon.

Stay warm and safe!

Sarah

21 January 2009

UA 17/09 - Death penalty / Legal concern

USA (Texas) Larry Ray Swearingen (m), white, aged 37

Larry Swearingen is scheduled to be executed in Texas on 27 January. He was sentenced to death in 2000 for the murder of Melissa Trotter in 1998. He maintains his innocence of the murder. Several forensic experts have provided statements and testimony supportive of his claim.

Melissa Trotter went missing on 8 December 1998. Larry Swearingen was arrested three days later, and has been incarcerated ever since. The body of Melissa Trotter was found in a forest on 2 January 1999. Larry Swearingen was tried for her murder, and sentenced to death.

On 14 January 2009, Larry Swearingen's lawyers filed an appeal in the US Supreme Court to stay his execution on grounds of innocence. The petition argues that "the State's only theory of guilt, which was that Mr. Swearingen killed the victim and left her body in the forest on December 8, 1998, twenty-five (25) days before the corpse was recovered on January 2, 1999, is not just implausible, it is utterly impossible." The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the motion for a stay of execution.

In support of this innocence claim, the petition cites the opinions of three current or former Chief Medical Examiners and another forensic pathologist. One of these experts, Dr Joye Carter, is the former Chief Medical Examiner of Harris County in Texas who performed the autopsy of Melissa Trotter and testified at Larry Swearingen's trial. At the trial she had testified that in her opinion, Melissa Trotter's death had occurred 25 days before her body was found. In an affidavit signed in 2007, Dr Carter stated that she had looked again at the case and changed her opinion. She stated that she had reviewed the autopsy report and photographs and also "several pieces of forensically important information that, to the best of my recollection, were not made available to [me] during trial or pretrial proceedings." This information included video footage of the crime scene taken on the day Melissa Trotter was found, medical records giving Melissa Trotter's weight immediately prior to her disappearance, and the temperature data for the area in which she was found for the period 8 December 1998 to 2 January 1999.

In her affidavit, Dr Carter concluded that Melissa Trotter's body had been left in the forest within two weeks of it being found. If accurate, this would mean that the body was dumped at a time when Larry Swearingen was already in custody. Another forensic pathologist, and former Chief Medical Examiner for Nueces County, Texas, Dr Lloyd White, has given a written statement that he supports Dr Carter's conclusions based on her 2007 re-evaluation of the evidence. He also agrees with Dr Gerald Larkin, another forensic expert, who concluded that "Ms Trotter's body was exposed in the wood for several days only, and not for two or three weeks". Dr White states that there is strong support for the conclusion that the body was left in the woods "at least one week after Mr. Swearingen was incarcerated on December 11, 1998, and probably more than two weeks after".

The petition to the Supreme Court argues that the post-conviction expert evidence amounts to "uncontested forensic pathology showing that Mr. Swearingen could not possibly have been the person who killed the victim. The only way to convict would be for the jury to conclude that Mr. Swearingen had an accomplice who stored the body so it would not decompose and disposed of it later. That, however, is speculation so rank that the State has never even proposed it. Indeed, it collides with the State's insistence at all stages of proceedings that no one but Mr. Swearingen killed the victim and threw her into the woods".

Larry Swearingen has repeatedly sought full DNA testing of crime scene evidence. According to the appeal before the US Supreme Court, "the DNA analysis that the State has conducted so far is compelling evidence that Mr. Swearingen is innocent. State examiners found male blood under the victim's fingernails. Testing excluded Mr. Swearingen as the donor." The petition also notes that at an evidentiary hearing in 2008, a co-worker of Melissa Trotter had testified that, only weeks before her disappearance, another man had "made serious threats to rape and strangle the victim".

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Texas continues to account for a large number of the USA's executions. Of the 1,138 people put to death nationwide since 1977 when executions resumed in the USA, 424 have been in Texas. There have been two executions in the USA so far this year: one in Texas, one in Alabama.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, unconditionally. To end the death penalty is to abandon a destructive, diversionary and divisive public policy that is not consistent with widely held values. It not only runs the risk of irrevocable error, it is also costly, to the public purse as well as in social and psychological terms. It has not been proved to have a special deterrent effect. It tends to be applied in a discriminatory way, on grounds of race and class. It denies the possibility of reconciliation and rehabilitation. It promotes simplistic responses to complex human problems, rather than pursuing explanations that could inform positive strategies. It prolongs the suffering of the murder victim's family, and extends that suffering to the loved ones of the condemned prisoner. It diverts resources that could be better used to work against violent crime and assist those affected by it. It is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to it. It is an affront to human dignity. It should be abolished.

Today, some 138 countries are abolitionist in law or practice. In 2007, the UN General Assembly called for a moratorium on executions worldwide and for retentionist countries to work towards abolition.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible (please include Larry Swearingen's prisoner number, #999361, in appeals):
- expressing sympathy for the family and friends of Melissa Trotter and explaining that you are not seeking to condone the manner of her death or to downplay the suffering caused;
- opposing the execution of Larry Swearingen;
- noting that several forensic experts, including the former Harris Country Chief Medical Examiner, who performed the autopsy of Melissa Trotter and testified at the trial, have provided expert opinion supportive of Larry Swearingen's claim of innocence;
- calling for Larry Swearingen's execution to be halted and his death sentence to be commuted;
- at a minimum calling on the Governor to stop the execution and allow full DNA testing to be conducted.

APPEALS TO:
Rissie L. Owens
Presiding Officer, Board of Pardons and Paroles
Executive Clemency Section
8610 Shoal Creek Boulevard
Austin, TX 78757
Fax: 1 512 467 0945
Salutation: Dear Ms. Owens

Governor Rick Perry
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428
Fax: 1 512 463 1849
Salutation: Dear Governor

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY
All appeals must arrive before 27 January, 2009

Opportunity with Choice USA

2009-01-26T11:37:00.004-06:00

Here is an opportunity that might be of interest to some of you:

Choice USA is looking for high school, community college, and undergraduate students who are interested in issues of sexual and reproductive health to apply to our Midwestern Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute (RJLI). At the RJLI students will expand their knowledge of reproductive health, rights and justice; hear from experts in the social justice movement, connect with others who share their passions and learn how to take action to create change!

Please help us circulate this information to undergraduate students that you think might be interested in applying! A flyer is attached and more information is provided below.

Thanks so much,

Joy Lawson

p.s. if you know of any other contacts at Midwestern schools that we should be in touch with, please let us know.

What Do You Care About?

Sex Education
The Environment
Violence against Women
HIV/AIDS
Immigrant Rights
Economic Justice
LGBTQ Rights
Access to Healthcare
Birth Control

So do we.
Make the connections.

Ann Arbor, MI
March 13-15, 2009

Apply today!
We are looking for students in the Midwest who are interested in issues of sexual and reproductive health to apply to our Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute (RJLI). The RJLI is an all expenses paid weekend long training that takes an in-depth look at issues that affect our reproductive freedom - and connects those issues to the broader social justice movement.

At the RJLI you will:
Expand your knowledge of reproductive health, rights, and justice;
Hear from experts in the social justice movement,
Connect with others who share your passions ;
Learn how to take action!

As a graduate of the Institute, you will return to your community ready to make real change and empowered by a regional network of fellow pro-choice activists along with the long-term support of Choice USA staff.
Apply Today!!
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact: jlawson@choiceusa.org .

Hope to see you in March!

Best,
Joy Lawson

O: 202.719.9443
C: 202.615.2965
F: 202.965.7701

P.S. Can't attend? Consider donating so that another young person can have the opportunity!

Got something to say? Check out our blog:
www.choiceusa.org/choicewords

Next Meeting Sunday, November 23rd

2008-11-18T23:19:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

We won't have a Wednesday meeting this week, but our next general meeting is this Sunday, November 23rd at 5pm in the Heritage Room of the Union. Check out the latest Urgent Action at
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa31608.pdf and bring your letter to the meeting.

Please find some new info on the Corporate Accountability section of our wiki. http://sites.google.com/site/ouaiwiki/ (Extra special thanks to Jace for all the info on living wage). If you would like to contribute to the research on this wiki, all you need is a google account. Send your google account info to this address and we will authorize you.

As far as Corporate Accountability goes, for the rest of the semester we will be screening documentaries on this subject to watch as a group and planning for the film series on this campaign, that will happen in the two weeks leading into the Statewide Conference.

Good luck with classes and see you soon

Sarah

2008 Southern Regional Conference in Memphis

2008-11-09T12:13:00.014-06:00

We dressed up for halloween on the drive to Memphis

Jaribu Hill and William Lucy were two of the panelists in the opening session, both labor leaders from the south.

Jaribu Hill led us in song to open the panel discussion. She is the founder and director of the Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights, and also founded the Southern Human Rights Organizers' Conference. Check out this article she wrote about Human Rights organizing in the south that touches on some of the things she talked about last weekend. If you want to hear some of her powerful singing in front of crowds, check out this video I found of her singing at the Million Worker March in D.C. in 2004.

Here's some info I found about Bill Lucy on his bio on AFSMSE website: "For more than three decades, Lucy has been involved in international affairs; he is the highest-ranking African American in the Labor movement. He was one of the founders of the Free South Africa Movement that launched the successful anti-apartheid campaign in the United States in the mid 1980s. He led an AFL-CIO delegation to South Africa to monitor the first democratic election. Lucy serves as vice-president of Public Services International, the world's largest union federation. He also serves on the boards of directors for the International Rescue Committee, Americans for Democratic Action and the Center for Policy Alternatives.

He is a founder and the president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), an organization of union leaders and rank-and-file members dedicated to the unique needs of African Americans and minority group workers."

This is the Southern Regional Director, Jared Feuer, keeping us updated on Amnesty's membership drive.

Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty USA, speaks to us at lunch on Saturday about the new direction of AmnestyWe sat next to him on the bus to the Civil Rights Museum and he was really interested in coming to visit us in Oklahoma!The motel where Dr. King was assassinated has been turned into the National Civil Rights Museum. They have a cool website with a lot of photos and information.

We had a great time and can't wait for the 2009 conference in Atlanta!!

UN Day, Corporate Accountability

2008-10-23T23:56:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

Just a reminder that there will be UN day activities on our campus tomorrow, Friday, October 24th. There will be a discussion about Human Trafficking in Beaird Lounge at 3pm. The discussion will feature Famke Janssen, a UN Goodwill Ambassador and international film actress, Dr. Jill Irvine the director of OU's Women's Studies Program, and Zach Messitte, OU's vice provost for international programs. The discussion will be followed by a reception from 5:00-6:00pm.

Also, we will be having our next informal meeting on Sunday, October 26th at 5pm at Katie Baker and Katie Knutter's apartment, Traditions East A304. At this meeting we will be talking about Corporate Accountability. At our last informal meeting, we agreed to look into the human rights records of some corporations on our campus (Among them, ConocoPhilips, Starbucks, Wendy's, Coca Cola, and businesses in the bookstore.) We mentioned others (Dell, Apple, Nike) that should be looked into - if you would like to research these or any other corporations on our campus, please bring what you find to share with everyone at Sunday's meeting. Please see the attached documents from Sarah Whitten and her message at the bottom of this email for more info.

Finally, we will have a brainstorming session on Wednesday, October 29th at 7pm for our Oklahoma AI State Meeting, scheduled for February 7th. We will meet in the Bookmark cafe (in the basement of Bizzell library) and then head up to a study room. If you arrive late or can't find the group, call Will on his cell phone at (918) 669-2372.

Thanks everyone and see you soon,
Sarah Warmker

Hey guys,

Here's some info I found on the Amnesty site about corporate accountability. It has parts of the UN's Norms of Business and Amnesty's explanation of different ways that companies can be complicit with human rights abuses. It also has the articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that deal with labor. It think this will give us basic concepts that we can all agree upon to help us harness our efforts and produce more eloquent and powerful communication with others. The page I got it from is full of other awesome information.

I also had the idea that we could create a Code of Labor Conduct that states particular labor rights, human rights, and environmental rights criteria that a company must uphold before the university does particular business (sell items on campus, use the OU logo, etc) with it. This would be longlasting after we were gone, and it would hold the university accountable.

Let me know what you guys think about this idea! I can't wait to see what kind of discussion we can get going this Sunday!

Sarah Whitten

Next meeting October 19th, UN day activities

2008-10-18T22:50:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone,

Thanks so much to everyone who volunteered at WorldFest. The World Neighbors staff has expressed their excitement about the success of the event and their appreciation to all volunteers. Sales exceeded all of the past four years, which is great because all proceeds from WorldFest benefit World Neighbors and the continued expansion of their program areas. The impacts on the awareness levels of our local community and the opportunities that fair trade gives to all the producers and artisans are getting bigger every year. Keep in mind, especially if you had a good experience at WorldFest, that World Neighbors is a great place to do an internship - you can find out more on their website.

Upcoming Meetings
Our next general meeting is on Sunday, October 19th at 5pm in the Heritage Room of the Union. We will hear a short presentation from Teach for America and then plan our events and activities for the rest of the semester. Based on the interest list that we brainstormed at our last general meeting, we will start working first on education and action on the following issues, that got the most votes of interest:

Corporate Accountability
Torture and the Counter Terror with Justice campaign
GLBT rights
Violence Against Women

These issues were also of interest and we will make sure to include them in our agenda soon:

Darfur
Human Trafficking
Institutionalized Violence/Police Brutality
US War on Drugs
Israel/Palestine
Death Penalty

Keep in mind these lists are flexible and can always be added to or adapted. So if you have an idea, let us know!

Volunteering
Our Volunteer Coordinator, Chris Schroeder, has been talking with representatives from Habitat for Humanity about setting up our next volunteer activity. We will probably have our next volunteer event within a month. We'll let you know when we get confirmation on a date.

Student Action Network
The first meeting of the newly formed Student Action Network will be held this Sunday, October 19th at 2:30pm in the Heritage Room of the Union.

The goal of this new student organization is to put representatives from the activists organizations here at OU into the same room to see how we can: a) quit competing with each other, b) help each other, and c) let each other know what else is going on. Many of us have goals that overlap, and we need to cooperate more whenever we can, we hope to at least begin to facilitate this.

The group has initiated a message board to act as a centralized and accessible forum for communication between student groups at ouactionnetwork.proboards.com.

This will be a great opportunity to find out about and meet representatives from many of the best groups on campus.

Troy Davis Update
Unfortunately, this past Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to hear Troy Anthony Davis's appeal. The high court's decision to deny Troy Davis' petition sets a precedent that no court of law will ever hold a hearing on the witnesses who have recanted their trial testimony in sworn affidavits. An execution warrant has been issued for Troy Davis for October 27 at 7pm. We can discuss possibilities for further action at our meeting on Sunday.

United Nations Day Activities
On Friday, October 24th, there will be a discussion about Human Trafficking in Beaird Lounge of the Oklahoma Memorial Union from 3:00-4:30pm, featuring Famke Janssen, a UN Goodwill Ambassador and international film actress, Dr. Jill Irvine the director of OU's Women's Studies Program, and Zach Messitte, OU's vice provost for international programs. The discussion will be followed by a reception from 5:00-6:00pm.

Famke Janssen was named a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Integrity on January 28, 2008. As a Goodwill Ambassador for Integrity, Ms. Janssen uses her celebrity status to raise awareness about the chronic problems of human trafficking, illicit drugs, and governmental corruption. She is an actress best known for her roles in the James Bond movie GoldenEye, the television series Nip/Tuck, and the X-Men trilogy where she played Dr. Jean Grey/Phoenix. She has also appeared in Woody Allen's Celebrity, Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man, and Ted Demme's Monument Ave. Born in The Netherlands, Janssen speaks Dutch, English, German and French. She is a graduate of Columbia University where she majored in literature. Ms. Janssen will be discussing her role as a UN Goodwill Ambassador and her new film, Taken, in which she plays the mother of a child sold into slavery.

The dinner will begin at 7 p.m. in the Sandy Bell Gallery of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Avenue in Norman. A discussion with Dr. Jill Irvine of Women's Studies will follow the dinner and a trailer of the movie will be shown.

On Saturday, October 25th, there will be a luncheon and discussion on Women and Human Rights from 12 noon - 1:30pm at the University of Oklahoma Faculty House Restaurant (601 NE 14th Street, Oklahoma City).

Hope that midterms are going well for all of you. As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

See you soon,
Sarah Warmker

Groovefest, Troy Davis, and other updates

2008-09-29T19:58:00.001-05:00

Thanks so much for making Groovefest such a huge success! The weather was perfect, the music was great, and I heard a lot of positive comments about the theme & discussion that was generated in the park. Thanks especially to everyone who volunteered along the way researching the theme, painting signs, setting up the displays, working the booth, cleaning up, and talking to folks about Amnesty. Groovefest couldn't have happened without you! Our school paper covered it today, and though the article is a bit confused on some points it is still good that we got some publicity so people can keep an eye out for the spring event. We got some good advance publicity on KGOU's website, in the Gazette, and in the Norman Transcript.

Troy Davis Update
According to this article from an Atlanta newspaper, the Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision on whether it will hear Davis's case. The article gives some of Davis's back story and explains some of the legal questions at stake in the case. We'll keep you updated as we get information.

World Neighbors Events
World Neighbors will be offering a special presentation tomorrow called "The Food Crisis in Africa: Effective Solutions from the Field" on Tuesday, September 30 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at their headquarters building (4127 NW 122nd Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73120). The evening's featured speaker, Qureish Noordin, a member of World Neighbors Kenya-based team, will discuss the current impact of the food crisis on African women, and why the way World Neighbors responds is so vital to long-term solutions. Your RSVP welcomed by September 30 to Kylie McBride at 405.418.0489 or kmcbride@wn.org.
Also, don't forget the fair trade event WorldFest this weekend Friday-Sunday October 3-5 at the Bricktown Event Center in Oklahoma City. Many of us will be going up to Oklahoma City to volunteer, so if you can offer to drive or need a ride, please contact Chris Schroeder at schro87@ou.edu so we can try to carpool.

Regional Conference
If you are interested in attending the Regional Conference in Memphis from October 31-November 2nd, please check your schedule and decide by THIS FRIDAY so we can get a head count, start planning for travel and accomodations, complete our group's registration, and get on the waiting list for some possible travel subsidies from AI. Also, be thinking of fundraisers we could do to raise the gas money. I know most of us don't have much money, but if we plan ahead and put a little work into raising the funds, I think we could get it covered so we don't have to rely on money out of pocket. If you are interested in going, please reply to this email or call me at (405) 816-1613. For more information about the conference, visit amnesty's website.

Upcoming Meetings
We have a letter writing meeting coming up on Sunday, October 12th - time and place TBA. Which means, if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. Our next general meeting is on Sunday, October 19th at 5pm in the Heritage room of the Union.

Troy Davis event tomorrow, Groovefest meeting Wednesday

2008-09-21T16:42:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

We will be on the grassy lawn on the east side of Dale Hall tomorrow from 9am until 4pm asking people to call, text, or email the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles asking for a stay on the execution of Troy Davis. We will have fliers with information, laptops for sending emails, and phones for making calls to the Board, so if you can bring any of these things or you want to come by to help during any time during the day, please do.

If you want to take action online or want more information about Troy Davis's case, visit www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis

We will be meeting Wednesday night at 7pm at Sarah Whitten's house (420 College Ave) to finalize our preparations for Groovefest and get all of our facts & information ready to be hung from trees in the park. We will also be writing Urgent Action letters at this meeting.

See you soon!

Worldfest learning village volunteers

2008-09-21T13:33:00.003-05:00

Worldfest needs more volunteers in the learning village. If you are interested in switching over to the learning village instead of just a general volunteer, you will need to have some training because you are going to be molding people's minds directly. It should be really rewarding and fun, so get in contact with me if you are interested. My email address should be on this side bar over here >>>
Chris

2008-09-19T18:37:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone,

We will be getting together this Sunday at 3pm at my house (816 S. Lahoma Ave.) to have our first letter writing meeting of the year. We have several things to do and talk about.

Troy Davis and the death penalty

I think it's important that we do something in support of Troy Davis. This case is getting worldwide attention (look at his website here, for french speakers, here is the coverage in LeMonde, and take a look at this opinion piece in a student paper here). He is scheduled to be executed this Tuesday (the 23rd), and even though there is no material evidence linking him to the crime and 7 of the 9 non-police eyewitnesses have recanted or changed their testimony, on Sept.12th the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole refused to grant him clemency. Please find out more about the case and send your appeals to the Board here: http://www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis

Here is what the OSU group did last week

We should put something together on Monday. We need to speak out in the southern region when things like this happen. Please come forward with ideas for Monday - I think that spelling out the word "justice" on the south oval would be a good way to do it if we can get enough folks together, we just need to coordinate our school schedules.

Groovefest

We still have some work left to do on our materials for Groovefest. We have most of the banners finished for our theme but we still need to make the fact sheets and articles so that they can be hung from trees, put together the book lists, and make some decorations and handouts. I will probably start working on these on Saturday so call me if you can help (405.816.1613).

Also, for those of you who are of age, there will be a Groovefest fundraiser on Thursday night (the 25th) at the Deli.

Urgent Action

Here is a description of our Urgent Action this week:

On 12 September, a group of 24 Uzbekistani nationals, who have been living for around a year in the eastern Turkish town of Van, were expelled to Iran. The group is now held by an unidentified Iranian group. Amnesty International fears for their safety while they are being held by the unidentified group and also that they could be subjected to forcible return to Uzbekistan by the Iranian authorities if and when they are released by the group that is currently holding them.

If returned to Uzbekistan the adults of the group would be at risk of incommunicado detention, torture or other ill-treatment. The group has been recognized as refugees by the UNHCR.

Police officers at the Security Directorate in Van reportedly invited the group to visit the Directorate to receive educational materials for the children's schooling. When the group arrived at the Security Directorate, they were allegedly put onto a bus and transported to an isolated area close to the Iranian border. The Turkish security officials who transported them told the group that "we don't need you here" as they forced them into Iranian territory. Once there, an unidentified group apparently not linked to the Iranian government seized them and allegedly threatened to kill them.

To read the rest of the Urgent Action report, please click here

As always, let me know if you have any questions/concerns. See you Sunday!

Agenda from September 14th meeting

2008-09-15T18:37:00.001-05:00

Introduction Meet and Greet/Sign In
About Amnesty International: How to be a more strategic activist, National Priorities

Constitution
Proposal of amendments, discussion, clarification
Vote to approve 2008-2009 Constitution

Planning the Year
Compile list of issues/interests
Develop Semester Plan for Meetings

Groovefest “See the Cycle, Be the Cycle: Vote with your Dollar”

September 28th, 2008 2-9pm in Andrews Park (201 W. Daws)
• Volunteer Signups
• Meeting this coming Wednesday the 17th at 7pm at Sarah Whitten's house (420 College Ave)

Southern Regional Conference
“Our Rights, Our History, Our Vision”
Memphis, Tennessee October 31-November 2, 2008

Oklahoma State Meeting

Tentatively scheduled for February 7th in the Union

Added Items
Fair Trade Norman meeting immediately following this one

Historian Katie Baker mentions that our photo blog is up

WorldFest is coming up - October 3rd-5th in OKC

Close Meeting
Next meeting Sunday, September 21st at 2pm at Sarah’s house (816 S. Lahoma Ave.) time TBA

Photoblog

2008-09-07T23:14:00.002-05:00

Hi guys,

Since we're using everything Google, I've begun using our Picasa Web Albums account (Google-operated) for photo hosting. The username and password are the same as the ones for the gmail account. I uploaded some pictures, including some new ones from the Meet and Greet Picnic. Check it out!

http://picasaweb.google.com/okamnestyinternational

See you later,
Katie B.

Updates on Fall 2008 semester

2008-08-23T13:29:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone! Hope that you are all feeling good about school starting again.

Here's what our schedule looks like for the semester so far

Immediate events
SOW (Sooner Orientation Week) Involvement Fair Sunday (tomorrow!) from 2-6 in the Walker-Adams mall between the dorms.
CAC Howdy Week

Start-of-School events
August 28th - chalking for picnic & informational meeting
September 1st (Monday) 5pm - Labor Day Picnic (Pot luck) in Reeves' Park (back to school party!)
September 2nd (Tuesday) 7pm - Informational Meeting in the Scholars Room of the Union

General Meetings
So far all have been scheduled for 5pm on Sunday evenings in the Heritage Room of the Union. Here are the dates:
Sept. 14
Oct. 19
Nov 9
Nov. 23
Dec. 7

Other dates to keep in mind:
Fall Groovefest September 28th in Andrews Park
WorldFest Fair Trade Market in OKC Oct 3-5 (Volunteer opportunity for our group if we want it!)
AI Southern Regional Conference in Memphis Oct 31-Nov 2
International Human Rights Day & 60th Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights Dec 10th

More updates coming soon!!

July 2

2008-07-02T12:13:00.001-05:00

Please please read this article I read in the NY Times. It says we pretty much stole our interrogation techniques at Guantanamo from Chinese communists during the Korean War. Torturewhat?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/us/02detain.html?ex=1372737600&en=727ea9eaf9d71aa3&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Meeting June 24th

2008-06-24T21:52:00.007-05:00

Fall Groovefest
Groovefest board meeting tomorrow at 7pm in the Will Rogers room of the Union
Sarah Whitten presented her idea for the theme (look on the groovefest blog!)
We talked about trying to prepare the educational materials this summer since the event is relatively early in the semester - September 28th!

Ideas for Summer Activities
Statewide Conference Planning
Prepare education materials for Groovefest
Fundraising
Awareness activity on Guantanamo Bay

Urgent Action
It would be a good idea to do fundraising for our postage expenses
We watched "Sierra Urban," a documentary about residents of Medellin, Colombia
For more info about the human rights situation in Colombia, read this

First summer meeting, Urgent Actions

2008-06-23T20:25:00.001-05:00

FIRST SUMMER MEETING

Since several of us are in town for the summer and have expressed interest in holding summer meetings, we will have our first summer meeting tomorrow (Tuesday June 24th) at 7:30pm at Sarah Whitten, Chris Schroeder, and Matt Whiteway's house on 420 College Ave. It is very close to campus, but if you need a ride feel free to call me (Sarah) at 405.816.1613 and I'd be happy to pick you up.

URGENT ACTIONS

For those of you not in town, you can still write Urgent Action letters with us. I have attached the latest ones to this email. Our newest one is about the Human Rights situation in Colombia. Trade unionists and human rights defenders have been threatened by paramilitaries there, and we have a movie that explains the complex, ongoing conflict in that country that we can watch tomorrow. It's called "La sierra urban: warfare in the barrios of Medellin, Colombia."

You can keep up with our Urgent Actions and find more on our UA blog at ouamnestyua.blogspot.com

GROOVEFEST NEWS

Also, a date has been set for the Fall '08 edition of Groovefest - Sunday, September 28th. There will be a Groovefest meeting Wednesday night (June 25th) at 7pm in the Will Rogers room of the Union (home of the booths and the sooner schooner, by the food court) Next fall's theme and slogan will be voted on, and other issues like nonprofit status for the event will be discussed. If you are interested in getting involved with Groovefest, Norman's biannual human rights music festival, this would be a good meeting to attend. If you want to know more about Groovefest you can visit www.groovefest.org

If you want to get on our Groovefest committee, which is in charge of Community Awareness and Education for the event, our Groovefest coordinator for Fall is Sarah Whitten. You can email her at sarshgirl@ou.edu.

See you soon!

Thanks for a great 2007-08!

2008-05-28T21:37:00.005-05:00

Hello fellow human rights activists,

Thank you for being amazing! This message is to send you well wishes for summer, a year-in-review summary of our activities this past year, and a little bit of info about what is coming up, including changes in our mailing list.

This year our group experienced a lot of growth and success, thanks to efforts from many of you who helped us meet our goals. At our first few meetings of the year, we listened to several great short presentations about several different human rights topics from both members and visitors, and had great discussions that, more often than not, lasted long after the meetings were over. Many of us attended our first "Groovefest" human rights music festival in October, where several new group members got acquainted with each other and with the Groovefest crowd at our information table. In November, John Perkins, author of "Confessions of an Economic Hitman," came as our guest speaker and gave an inspirational presentation about the role of corporations in the contemporary world. At the end of November our group constructed a cardboard "Maze of Injustice" installation on the south oval to raise awareness about the April 2007 Amnesty International report of the same name that uncovered a failure to protect indigenous women from sexual violence in the U.S. During the spring semester, with the help of our new Urgent Action Coordinator, Mady Ohs, our chapter started meeting every week, changing our meeting format to include alternating general and letter writing meetings. In March, we participated in the World Neighbors' "Walk for Women" on International Women's day. In April, we volunteered at a coop support center for foster parents with Big Event, held a constitutional convention to talk about changes to our group and amend our constitution, and later that month held elections for the 2008-2009 school year, creating six new officer positions (Historian, Assistant Treasurer, Volunteer Coordinator, Groovefest Coordinator, Campus Liaison, and even a Mascot). For our last event of the year, we cohosted the Spring '08 edition of Groovefest at the end of April, during which our volunteers at the Groovefest/Amnesty table collected an impressive number of signatures for our Urgent Action letters. Our presentations on the main stage for the "community forum" segment of Groovefest included a presentation about Guantanamo Bay by Will ODonnell and poetry from Chris Schroeder. Our Groovefest volunteers that day got the chance to talk (and dance!) with a lot of other activists from Norman. All of these events happened in addition to all the meetings, letter writing sessions, discussions, movie screenings and other events we attended together. This remarkable level of activity would not have been possible without the energy and spirit of our human rights community, and undoubtedly our momentum will allow us to do even more next year!

Speaking of next year, we've got a lot in the works, including another round of Groovefest, regularly scheduled volunteer events, and hosting the second annual AI Statewide Conference in the spring. Of course, we will continue our regular meetings and Urgent Action letter writing too.

For those of you in Norman over the summer, we will be holding informal meetings periodically to write our UA's, screen films, and enjoy each other's company. If you're not in Norman, you can still keep up with our Urgent Action Network online - so either way, make sure you sign up for our "members" mailing list for 08-09 if you want to stay informed!

About our mailing list

Our group has grown a lot this year, and with it the volume and frequency of our emails. In order to communicate better with people who have different levels of involvement, we have decided to discontinue our old mailing list and create two new lists to replace it - one for "members" and one for "friends."

Our "members" list will receive all of our emails, including weekly reminders about meetings, details about activities and events, urgent actions, and committee reminders. This list will normally receive one or two emails a week. If you would like to be on this list for the 2008-2009 school year and this summer, please send an email with the subject "members" to okamnestyinternational@gmail.com

Our "friends" list will receive monthly updates about our most recent news and upcoming events. If you would like to be on this list for the 2008-2009 school year, please send an email with the subject "friends" to okamnestyinternational@gmail.com

Thanks for everything!

OU Amnesty International

COMMUNITY FREE SPEECH FORUM

2008-04-24T01:22:00.000-05:00

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
April 23, 2008

HUMAN RIGHTS MUSIC FESTIVAL TO FEATURE COMMUNITY FORUM

The University of Oklahoma chapter of Amnesty International will be hosting a community forum during "Groovefest" music festival this Sunday in Andrews Park to provide information and promote discussion about human rights issues.

The forum will be held in seven brief sessions, each with its own theme. The sessions will be moderated by OU Amnesty International members and other local activists.

Starting at one o'clock, there will be a short presentation about Human Rights focusing on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 2008 marks the sixty year anniversary of this founding human rights document.

At 1:45, Kara Joy McKee will lead a session on non-violent communication.

At 2:30 session will cover the theme of the festival, "Use your vote to promote human rights."

The 3:15 session will consist of a short presentation and discussion about the 2007 report "Maze of Injustice: the failure to protect indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA." A significant portion of the research in the report was conducted in Oklahoma.

The 4:30 session will focus on human rights issues surrounding Guantanamo Bay and Amnesty International's "Denounce Torture" campaign.

At 5:45, OU students will present their thoughts in verse form for "Poetry of Dissent," followed by an open mic for other local poets.

At 7:00, local musician and OU student Rachel Kastner will share her thoughts and songs about freedom and political courage.

Groovefest began in 1986 as a musical gathering of Norman locals and has evolved into a forum for human rights awareness and community building. The biannual festival has become an important meeting place for local activists, artists, musicians, students, and families.

COMMUNITY FORUM SCHEDULE SUMMARY
1:00 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1:45 Non-violent communication
2:30 "Use Your Vote to Promote Human Rights"
3:15 The Maze of Injustice Report
4:30 Denounce Torture
5:45 Poetry of Dissent
7:00 Freedom and political courage

Election Results - Announcement of 2008-2009 Officers

2008-04-21T00:06:00.002-05:00

Amendments to the Constitution - all approved

Article 2 – Object of Organization
-add “The Convention on the Rights of the Child” and “The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families” to Section 4.
Article 4 - Executive Committee
Section 1
-change six permanent positions to five – section to read “The executive committee is composed of five (5) permanent positions including one(1) faculty advisor and four (4) officers (see Section 6).
Section 6 – Officer Duties
-delete “keeps records on membership” and “responsible for directing the Programming Coordinator in his/her responsibilities” from The Vice President’s duties.
-delete The Programming Coordinator from list of permanent officers
-add “keeps records on membership” to The Secretary’s duties
Section 8 – Elections
-add a clause (6) on Voting Requirements – “To be eligible to vote in elections, a member must have attended at least one (1) chapter meeting, not including the meeting at which the elections take place.”
Article 8 – Supremacy Clauses
-delete clause “Even though this chapter of Amnesty International is not officially affiliated with Amnesty International” from Section 2.

2008 - 2009 Officers
President - Sarah Warmker
Vice President - Ephraim Alajaji
Secretary - Cindy Woods
Treasurer - Will O'Donnell
Assistant Treasurer - Katie Knutter
Urgent Action Coordinator - Mady Ohs
Historian - Katie Baker
Volunteer Coordinator - Chris Schroeder
Groovefest Coordinator - Sarah Whitten
Campus Liaison - Serena Prammanasudh
Mascot - Matt Whiteway

Thanks and congratulations everyone! It looks like we're on the road to have a great year next year... complete with our own real live candle to be a walking, talking Amnesty logo at our events. Seriously!

Agenda for April 20th General Meeting

2008-04-20T23:57:00.004-05:00

Introduction
Meet and Greet/Sign In

About Amnesty International
About Us!! Review membership committee’s brochure

Old Business

Constitutional Convention
· Review 2007-2008 Constitution
· Amendments proposed at Constitutional Convention
· Propose revision committee for next year

New Business

Review Officer Responsibilities

Hold elections

Groovefest - Sunday April 27th 11am – 11pm

Moderators for second stage for community free speech forum
2 Volunteers each hour for AI/Groovefest table to handle money (partnered with a board member)
Other volunteers – set up 8:30, during show 11am – 11pm, clean up morning after
Tabling and fundraising for AI (Tabling should include components of education, membership, and action)

Working in the OU, Norman, and Oklahoma communities

Campout to Stampout Genocide sponsored by Students for Action in Darfur – Tuesday, April 22nd, in the South Oval
Fair Trade Week April 21st – 24th
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival April 21st – 24th sponsored by International Affairs Society
Unite for Uganda sponsored by Oklahoma Students for Uganda – Saturday, April 26th at Westmoore High School from noon to 7pm (our table will need to be staffed from 1- 4 p.m. for the Club Fair of Africa related organizations in Lobby) Westmoore High’s Address is 12613 South Western, Oklahoma City, OK 73170

Urgent Action Network
Presentation of latest UA
Next Letter writing meeting Sunday, May 4th – time and place TBA

Close Meeting
Take end of year Survey

2008 - 2009 Elections to be held Sunday, April 20th

2008-04-18T20:57:00.001-05:00

Upcoming elections will be held during our general meeting this Sunday, April 20th, at 7pm in the Presidents Room of the Union. As determined at the constitutional convention last week, these are the positions and voting requirements:

President
Vice President
Secretary
Tresurer
Urgent Action Coordinator
Historian
Volunteer Coordinator
Groovefest Coordinator (elected each semester)

To vote in an election requires attendance to two general meetings (including the meeting at which the election takes place).
To run for office requires attandance to two general meetings and two other events or meetings.

If you would like to run or nominate someone to run, please send an email to okamnestyinternational@gmail.com.

We will also be voting to approve new materials and procedures for our group. Keep in mind it will be an open ballot so even if you decide last minute you can still run or propose something for a vote.

International Affairs Society Human Rights Watch Film Festival

2008-04-18T20:45:00.005-05:00

The OU International Affairs Society and the School of International and Area Studies will be hosting a Human Rights Watch Film Festival on the OU campus April 21st, 22nd and 24th. Documentaries are free and open to the public. The focus is human rights issues on several continents. For detailed descriptions of the films please visit www.hrw.org/iff/2007/traveling/titles.html

For film schedule and brief synopsis see below.

Monday April 21st, Dale Hall 218:

Enemies of Happiness @ 6pm -- Set in Afghanistan in 2003, tells the story of a young woman running a dangerous campaign for a seat in the country's first democratic parliament in 30 years.

White Light/Black Rain @ 7:30 pm -- A film that reveals both unimaginable suffering and extraordinary human resilience in the light of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

Tuesday, April 22nd, Sarkeys Energy Center room A235:

City of Photographers @ 6pm -- A story about the motley group of photographers who recorded and documented a nation under the turmoil of the Pinochet regime.

Cocalero @ 7:30pm -- A film about controversial Bolivian president Evo Morales and his rise to prominence.

Thursday, April 24th, Dale Hall 200:

Lumo @ 5:30 pm -- Documentary of a young Congolese woman on an uncertain path to recovery at a unique hospital for rape survivors.

Agenda from General Meeting April 6

2008-04-11T15:27:00.001-05:00

Introduction
Meet and Greet/Sign In

Human Rights in the news
headlines

About Amnesty International
A little bit about the organization – the Counter Terror with Justice Campaign

Old Business

Letter Writing Meeting March 23rd
· sign and turn in letters
· Ghosts of Abu Ghraib

Big Event

New Business

Budget
· Allocation announced
· Emergency funding?

Constitutional Convention April 13th

Elections at next general meeting April 20th

Groovefest - Sunday April 27th 11am – 11pm
· Second stage for purpose and theme, free speech/spoken word
· Volunteers for Groovefest table to handle money (partnered with a board member)
· Other volunteers – set up 8:30, during show 11am – 11pm, clean up morning after
· Tabling and fundraising for AI (Tabling should inlcude components of education, membership, and action)

Working in the OU, Norman, and Oklahoma communities

“Project Barefoot”
Opportunity to Volunteer with Norman Music Festival
Fair Trade Week April 21st – 24th

Urgent Action Network
Presentation of latest UA
Next Letter writing meeting Sunday, April 13th at 6pm (in conjunction with Constitutional Convention)

Added Items

Close Meeting

Next general meeting and 2008-2009 elections Sunday, April 20th – time and place TBA

Big Event

2008-04-06T14:02:00.008-05:00

Big Event was great! We were assigned to a clothing and equipment coop that helps foster parents take care of their kids.

We helped clean the facility and sort the donated clothing and supplies.

The ladies from the Methodist church prepared lunch for us.

(Thanks, ladies!)

We had a really great time and we all agreed that we want to try to do volunteer work more often.

Officer Meeting April 3rd

2008-04-04T12:33:00.003-05:00

This meeting was short and sweet.

The agenda for Sunday's meeting was amended and approved. Our short presentation will be a representative from the ONE campaign.

We scheduled elections for 2008-2009 will be held at the General meeting on April 20th, with two new positions offered: Historian and Volunteer Coordinator.

At that meeting we will also have everyone sign up for their volunteer positions for Groovefest.

Big Event is under control - we will be going to clean a foster home this Saturday, April 5th.

Next weekend (April 13th) is the Constitutional Convention.

Amnesty Budget for 2008-2009

2008-04-02T10:45:00.001-05:00

If you're interested, our allocations for next year are posted outside of the Conoco-Phillips Student Center at the Union. I'll post more details later, but I do know that we were allocated a total of $1,100 for 2008-2009. The good thing is, we have some money for next year.

Meeting March 23

2008-03-27T20:14:00.007-05:00

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

2008-03-09T22:20:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-08T22:26:00.020-06:00

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

2008-03-07T11:20:00.002-06:00

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

2008-03-03T23:32:00.004-06:00

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!

Officer Meeting February 28th

2008-02-28T17:12:00.002-06:00

The committee heads will be coming up with task lists by this Sunday's meeting (March 2nd), with the exception of Groovefest, which Will should have by next Thursday (March 6th).

Individual Officer Reports

President

We're searchable!!! Our website is now listed under the regional listings on amnestyusa.org
Fundraising answers - Sarah heard back from Adiyah about our concerns with fundraising for other organizations. We got the green light for co-sponsoring Groovefest and participating in Walk for Women (with a donation/information table for AI & their stop violence against women campaign)

Vice President

Ephraim was not here, but he is working on Big Event!

Secretary

We talked briefly about ways to improve the active members list
Cindy mentioned a campaign to make 100% of the coffee on campus fair trade, and will forward some contacts

Treasurer

Will set up our budget interview with UOSA for Sunday, March 9
He is looking into emergency funding for Groovefest this spring, and will have a phone conference today with the Groovefest planners

Urgent Action Coordinator

Mady is trying to think of ways to make the letter writing go more smoothly

We talked about transitioning from the gmail account to our OU account and thinking about making a new system for our listserv

We also talked about staying informed with the other Oklahoma Amnesty groups

Groovefest is happening!

2008-02-28T15:16:00.003-06:00

That's right, folks. I've received word that Groovefest IS happening this spring (tentatively Sunday, April 27) and OU Amnesty International is co-sponsoring! I'm putting together an application for emergency funding so that we can do our part to help make Groovefest an awesome success.

Our informal meeting this Sunday will be coordinated with a Groovefest planning meeting. We will meet at Blu Wine and Foods on Crawford, just south of Main, at 6:30 and conduct our UAN letters and group business. Right around 7:00 pm we will meet with the Groovefest board and start talking about ways we can raise money and support for Groovefest. Hope to see you all there!

-Will

Agenda from Feb. 24th General Meeting

2008-02-25T10:41:00.003-06:00

Introduction
Meet and Greet/Sign In

About Amnesty International
A little bit about the organization - successes

Short Presentation
Ideas/requests for short presentations/guest speakers

Old Business

Statewide Conference
Letter writing meeting Feb 17th – sign and turn in letters

New Business

Budget turned in February 21st

Get Into Committees
· Urgent Action
· Short Presentations
· Groovefest
· Membership
· Tshirt
· Volunteer Coordinating

Working in the OU, Norman, and Oklahoma communities

· Conflict in Kenya – Oklahoma Wow! (Work of Women) Network Program on Thursday, Feb. 28 from 6 to 8 pm. Peter Gubbels, World Neighbors vice president of the international program, will discuss the current conflict in Kenya, its roots and how it is impacting Kenyan women and World Neighbors programs in East Africa. (presentation begins at 7pm, Village Tours begin at 6)

· Walk for Women: March 8. The purpose of the Walk for Women is to unite several Oklahoma City metro area community members in an effort to advocate against global issues such as hunger, poverty, disease, access to safe water, environmental degradation, illiteracy, gender inequalities, etc. This event will be held on March 8, 2008 from 9 am to 12 pm at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond (around Broncho Lake) in honor of International Women’s Day

· 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.

· National Week of Student Action 2008 – Shut Down Guantánamo - registering to participate in this year's NWSA (March 31- April 4, 2008)

Urgent Action Network

Presentation of latest UA
Letter writing Sunday, March 2nd

Added Items

Big Event registration deadline is this Friday, February 29th - register under Amnesty International/Our Earth

Katy talked to Student Affairs about barefoot for children project

Close Meeting

Next general meeting – March 9th time and place TBA

Spring Groovefest

2008-02-24T20:13:00.002-06:00

I went to a Groovefest planning meeting tonight for information on the biennial concert which is scheduled for April 27th (the day after the Norman Music Festival). For those of you who don't know, Groovefest was started in 1986 by Oklahoma Amnesty International! We had a table up at last fall's concert, but other than that we have been conspicuously absent for three or for years. Everyone was really excited that OU-AI was ready to be a part of Groovefest once again.

Groovefest needs a lot of help, and I think we are in a position to help make it happen. Quite simply, Groovefest needs time and money. I'm going to check tomorrow to see what kind of funds we have left in our UOSA account; there's a possibility we might be able to co-sponsor Groovefest. This is going to be a pretty sizeable commitment, but I think we can do it. We could also apply for emergency funding through UOSA, or obtain additional funds from the CAC Speaker's Bureau and Concert Bureau. We will also be contacting Adiyah Ali, our regional AI-USA coordinator, to see about the possibility of getting funds from the regional or national AI offices.

There are two questions that I will be trying to answer this week:
1) If Groovefest is co-sponsored by Oklahoma Amnesty International (that's us), would the University's insurance coverage for events extend to Groovefest? This may not sound like much, but we would be saving Groovefest about $500 for event insurance. However, that leads me to question
2) If Groovefest is co-sponsored by OU-AI, is it subject to the same rules/restrictions as a University-sponsored event? For example, would all vendors have to sell Coca-Cola products? Would Groovefest be alcohol-free? Could we only use the money for things like printing/tabling materials, or could we spend it on things that are necessary to make Groovefest run (like the thousands of permits, sound equipment, etc.)?

We will be having our next informal meeting in conjunction with the Groovefest planning meeting. I will have more information on that sometime soon. Thanks!

-Will O'Donnell

Letter Writing meeting Feb. 17th

2008-02-22T13:58:00.002-06:00

At this meeting we wrote on two Urgent Actions - our first one about a child offender facing the death penalty in Iran and another about in Kenya. It's not too late to write letters of your own, even if you didn't make it to the meeting! The reports can be found here and here. If you need some help getting started, Amnesty's website has some great resources and tips to explain how to write the letters most effectively.

We talked about ideas and plans for next year, including the issues we will be focusing on and possible events.

And everyone got to see the hole in Sarah's house...

Don't forget to bring your letters to our next general meeting on the 24th at 6pm in the Scholars room.

Statewide Conference in Stillwater

2008-02-16T22:56:00.002-06:00

The statewide conference was really inspirational. We got some valuable information and listened to some really talented speakers, as well as getting to know other human rights activists from other chapters across the state.

Jennifer McLaughlin from the Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault gave a really informative presentation on the some of the problems highlighted in Amnesty International's "Maze of Injustice" report. We really felt inspired to continue working on this campaign, and hopefully now that Oklahoma's legislature is in session we can do some lobbying to bring attention to the issues she presented.

Adiyah Ali, our AI regional coordinator, put on a fundraising workshop that gave us some great ideas and tips for fundraising, which is a really important aspect of human rights work - after all, human rights work costs money! Fundraising is one thing that our chapter really needs to work on, so it was great to get some help in that area.

Rockey Robbins was the keynote speaker at the conference, drawing on his experiences working in Native American communities to bring our attention to other ways of thinking about our relationship to human rights work. He is currently an Associate Professor in Counseling Psychology here at OU.

After the conference, we went out for Thai food with students and professors from several other schools. We had some great conversations, and ate a lot.

Who knows, maybe we can host next year's conference...

Agenda from February 10th General Meeting

2008-02-14T14:16:00.001-06:00

Introduction
Meet and Greet/Sign In

About Amnesty International
A little bit about the organization – National Priorities
(for more information on this, click here)

Short Presentation
Ephraim gives a short presentation about short presentations
Esha Mufti from Students for Action in Darfur (more info)
Ideas/requests for short presentations/guest speakers

Old Business
Letter writing meeting Feb 3rd – sign letters

New Business

Budget

Statewide Conference this Saturday (!!) February 16th from 10am-4pm in Willard Hall at OSU

Get Into Committees
· Urgent Action (Mady)
· Short Presentations (Ephraim)
· Groovefest (Will)
· Membership (Sarah)
· Tshirt (Ephraim)
· Volunteer Coordinating (Will)

The Vagina Monologues – Performance February 11th and 12th in Meacham Auditorium at 7pm

Working in the OU, Norman, and Oklahoma communities

· Walk for Women: March 8. The purpose of the Walk for Women is to unite several Oklahoma City metro area community members in an effort to advocate against global issues such as hunger, poverty, disease, access to safe water, environmental degradation, illiteracy, gender inequalities, etc. This event will be held on March 8, 2008 from 9 am to 12 pm at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond (around Broncho Lake) in honor of International Women’s Day
· 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.
· National Week of Student Action 2008 – It's that time of year again! National Week of Student Action (NWSA) 2008 is quickly approaching and we need YOUR help. Help us Shut Down Guantánamo by registering to participate in this year's NWSA (March 31- April 4, 2008). Join other student activists in demanding the closure of Guantánamo and release of prisoners unless they are to be charged and tried in accordance with international standards of fair trial.

Urgent Action Network
Presentation of latest UA
Letter writing Sunday, February 17th at 7:30pm at Sarah’s new house (816 Lahoma, just south of Brooks)

Added Items
There are many opportunities for us to get out into the community this semester - here are just a few we talked about at the end of the meeting.

The Oklahoma WOW! (Work of Women) Network Program will give a presentation about the current conflict in Kenya on Thursday, February 28th at the World Neighbors Headquarters located at 4127 NW 122nd Street in Oklahoma City. For more information about this event and the Walk for Women on March 8, click here.
Sarah Whitten talked to us about the Clinton Global Initiative.
Katie Baker informed us of her idea for an awareness-raising project about poverty that we will find out more about at our next meeting.

Close Meeting
Next general meeting – February 24th

Officer meeting Thursday, Feb. 7th

2008-02-09T16:46:00.000-06:00

Officer Reports

Treasurer - Will is looking into the requirements for the UOSA budget, which is due soon. He will attend the UOSA budgetary meeting next week to find out more information.
Urgent Action - Mady is finding out the necessary procedures for postage to mail our UA letters, and had the idea to send out the UA as an attachment to the email announcement of letter writing meetings so people can read & become familiar with it in advance
Vice President - Ephraim is formulating a list of committees and will make sign up sheets
President - the OU website has been updated with mostly correct information, and we now have access to our OU email account, but we need a web developer
Secretary - Cindy suggested that we do an event related to poverty and we discussed the importance of making activists in the developed world understand the significance of social, economic, and cultural rights

Dr. Skeeters gave us information about the allocation of UOSA funds and suggested some ideas for next year's events, including putting together a panel discussion or inviting a speaker, having a banquet (an awareness raising "hunger banquet," perhaps)

We need to get a good idea of what events we're having next year so they can be included in our budget.

Letter Writing meeting February 3rd, 2008

2008-02-06T20:55:00.000-06:00

We met at Ephraim's apartment and wrote letters for our latest Urgent Action, concerning the safety of human rights workers at a center in Coahuila, Mexico called "Fray Juan de Larios."

After we finished our letters, we watched the film "Invisible Children" and had some great discussion about it. Thanks so much to Audrey for bringing the movie and giving us background information on the film and about Students for Uganda.

Officer Meeting January 31, 2008

2008-02-01T01:55:00.001-06:00

Officer Reports

Treasurer

Will be working on putting together a “blue form” (UOSA accounting request form) policy
Budget – need to find out deadline for 2008-2009 budget and requirements

Urgent Action

Will send out email to inform everyone about Sunday’s meeting
Purchase supplies (stamps, envelopes, etc) and make sure copies of letters are made

Vice President

Will be putting everyone into committees

Urgent Action (Mady)
Short Presentation (Ephraim)
Groovefest (Will)
Statewide conference (Sarah)
The Vagina Monologues (Kylie)
Membership (Sarah)
Tshirt (Ephraim)
Volunteer coordinating
Camping (yes, really) (Will)

President

Trying to get website going so we can have a calendar
Dr. Skeeters might start coming to meetings
Organizing, organizing…

Constitutional Convention – we should plan one, to work on our group’s constitution

Agenda for General Meeting January 27th

2008-01-31T13:22:00.000-06:00

Introduction

Meet and Greet/Sign In

About Amnesty International

History and significance of organization
Our group new format for meetings (formal/informal meetings on alternating Sundays)

About us: As the OU chapter of Amnesty International, we are dedicated to promoting the impartial protection of human rights by

providing opportunities for education and discussion to encourage awareness of human rights violations committed both internationally and domestically.
meeting regularly to write letters and organize actions on behalf of victims of human rights violations.
supporting organizations that improve the quality of life in our community.

Working in the OU, Norman, and Oklahoma communities

Oklahoma Sustainability Conference: March 28-29
Next week’s “Focus the Nation” on Global Warming

Short Presentation

Danny Terlip, president of Our Earth (OU’s Environmental Student Organization) will be talking about “Focus the Nation,” an effort to focus people's attention on global warming solutions through their own disciplines. Next week’s nationwide teach-in will include brown bag lunches as well as a round table discussion and webcast.

Old Business

Last semester – Groovefest, John Perkins, Maze of Injustice

New Business

Scheduled Events

Statewide Conference – February 16th from 10am-4pm in Willard Hall at OSU - Registration, Transportation

The Vagina Monologues – Performance February 11 and 12
Dress Rehearsal with talk back about the performance February 10th at 2pm at the Unitarian Church (1301 W. Boyd, just west of Berry), free to the public
Sign-up sheet for selling tickets (two free tickets if you volunteer!)
Groovefest - Spring edition
Big Event – Saturday, April 5, 2008 – volunteer applications due Friday, February 29th

Urgent Action Network

Presentation of latest UA
Letter writing Sunday, February 3rd at 7:30pm at Traditions East

Added Items

Close Meeting
next general meeting Sunday, Feburary 10th at 6pm in the Frontier room of the Union