Amnesty International Bournemouth Poole Christchurch Group

local news & events Amnesty International group for Bournemouth, Poole & Christchurch

Group Newsletter August 2024

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Welcome to the latest newsletter.
Our next meeting  is on Thursday 5th September 2024, 7.30pm – 9.00pm at Moordown Community Centre. We will catch up on campaigns, letter writing, and finalize planning for…

Jamnesty

After lasts years success, we are holding another Jamnesty on

Saturday 7th September at Chaplin’s Bar

Last year was our first Jamnesty, but we still had a fantastic day with 11 bands and 6 poets – and we raised over £1600! This year we don’t have to contend with the Air Show and can build on what worked best last year. Cakes will again feature – please get in touch if you would like to make/donate some.  Details of the performers, etc are on our Events page. Please contact us if you would like to help on the day.
Roxanne Phillips will be returning to Jamnesty next month.

Please write to your Member of Parliament

Apologies to those living in Christchurch, but most of you are still getting used to having a new MP.  And, hopefully, one with a much more progressive outlook than the person they replaced. Our group last met on election day, so we will discuss how to build relationships with the new MPs at our next meeting.
But as an Amnesty International supporter you can help. Let your MP know you want them to commit to supporting and defending human rights in this country and internationally. You can download this pre-forma letter to edit and send. Please personalise as much as you can.
If you are not sure of your MP, check here- https://www.theyworkforyou.com/ – you can also send them a message via this site. But some of us still believe posting a letter has more impact. MPs do reply!
Still write if your MP hasn’t changed – lets remind Sir Christopher that many of his constituents don’t share his views on the treatment of refugees…
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Template-for-post-election-letter-to-MP.docx
Protests in Venezuela earlier this month

South America Newsletter

The latest South America Newsletter has updates on Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador and Brazil. This was published just after the election in Venezuela, and there already there were protests as President Maduro claimed victory. Now the  authorities have carried out mass arbitrary arrests of demonstrators. Over two thousand people were arrested for protesting or being seen as critical of the government. Most of the detainees are young people, including at least 105 aged between 13 and 17. At least 16 people with disabilities, such as visual or hearing impairments, remain in detention. Credible allegations of incommunicado detention and denial of legal counsel persist, leading to a high risk of ill-treatment and torture. Please act on this Amnesty Urgent Action (its a letter, but you can email it), urging the authorities to release all those detained for exercising their rights.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-august-2024
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr53/8396/2024/en/

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Group Newsletter July 2024

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Welcome to the latest newsletter.
Our next meeting  is on Thursday 4th July 2024, 7.30pm – 9.00pm at Moordown Community Centre. We will catch up on campaigns, letter writing, and discuss new ideas about campaigning. We don’t meet in August.

Future Events

After lasts years success, we have now booked for this years Jamnesty on

Saturday 7th September at Chaplin’s Bar

Last year was our first Jamnesty, but we still had a fantastic day with 11 bands and 6 poets – and we raised over £1600! This year we don’t have to contend with the Air Show and can build on worked best last year. So still plenty of cakes! We will soon put up details of the performers, etc on our Events page. Please contact us if you would like to help on the day.

We had planned to return to BourneFree, which is next Friday and Saturday.
Unfortunately the organisers now insist stalls have to be set up (and run) over both days of the Festival. We don’t have enough volunteers to do this, so cannot now have a stall. We are obviously are unhappy at effectively being excluded for not being “corporate” enough!
Young girls at a Women-Friendly Space at a Rohingya refugee settlement
in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

I Don’t Agree with Nick

In 2017, almost one million Rohingya refugees were forced into Bangladesh from Myanmar following wide scale persecution, Human Rights violations, extrajudicial killings, summary executions, arson of Rohingya villages and schools, and diverse other atrocities.
Leading up to the 2017 atrocities, Facebook became an echo chamber of virulent anti-Rohingya content, which Meta was warned about repeatedly. The Myanmar authorities even temporarily blocked the Facebook platform in 2014 because of its role in fuelling ethnic violence and “instigation” during the Mandalay riots. Meta failed to take meaningful action.
The Rohingya community have asked for $1 million US dollars as part of a remedy to help fund educational projects for refugee children – a drop in the ocean to Meta, but a life changing intervention to hundreds of thousands of children.
Our group have written to Nick Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister, and now the President of Global Affairs of Facebook. Download the letter and write to Nick in London. Or you can sign the AIUK petition
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/activist-actions/Meta-remedies

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Group Newsletter May 2024

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Welcome to the latest newsletter.
Our next meeting  is on Thursday 2nd May 2024, 7.30pm – 9.00pm at Moordown Community Centre. We will catch up on campaigns, letter writing, and discuss new ideas about campaigning.
Leidy Cadena shares her powerful personal story of what a rubber bullet did to her          Content Warning: contains scenes of injury and (police) violence

Regulate the trade in policing equipment

Amnesty has launched a campaign for an international treaty to regulate the trade in policing equipment. Across the world, peaceful protesters face waves of repression from police and military forces in deliberate attempts to crush dissent. While less lethal weapons like tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and batons are promoted as safer alternatives to firearms, all too often these weapons are used unlawfully to harass, intimidate, punish, or drive away protesters, undermining their right to peaceful assembly.
24-year-old Leidy Cadena – see video above –  was blinded during a protest in Colombia by a Mobile Anti-riot Squads agent, who shot her directly, causing her to lose sight in her right eye. The same injury happened to Payu Boonsophon, 29-year-old in Thailand. In Chile, Gustavo Gatica 26 years-old, was blinded in both eyes. In France, 80-year-old Zineb Redouane was killed when, during a protest, a tear gas grenade struck her head. Sign the petition…
https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/take-the-torture-out-of-the-protest/

Future Events

After lasts years success, we have now booked for this years Jamnesty on

Saturday 7th September at Chaplin’s Bar

Last year was our first Jamnesty, but we still had a fantastic day with 11 bands and 6 poets! And this year we don’t have to contend with the Air Show…
We are also planning to return to BourneFree, on Saturday 6th July. We had to miss last year, after several successful years attending the event in Bournemouth Gardens. And, despite reservations, the 2022 switch to Meyrick Park was a great success.

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Group Newsletter February 2024

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Our next meeting  is on Thursday 7th March 2024, 7.30pm – 9.00pm at Moordown Community Centre. We will catch up on campaigns, letter writing, and discuss new ideas about campaigning.
We will also plan our involvement in next months Iftar, as explained below…

Iftar in Bournemouth

In conjunction with Feed our Community we will be hosting an Iftar on 21st March. This will be at the Garden Rooms café in Boscombe. An Iftar is the  evening meal with which Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset. It is a significant religious observance during the holy month of Ramadan, symbolizing the breaking of the fast.
We’re still at the planning stage, but Nabila Hanson, Amnesty International UK country coordinator for China, and Professor Bonnie Ling, from Work Better Innovations, have been booked as speakers.
If interested in attending please keep an eye on our Events page, which we will keep  updated.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/event
Marielle Franco, murdered in March 2018

South America Newsletter

The latest South America Newsletter has updates on Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Venezuela.  Our group have taken part in several campaigns since the repressive response to the 2019 protests in Chile, calling for an end to impunity for those who were in charge. Now an indictment has been filed against three current and former senior commanders of Carabineros de Chile, including the the current Director General of Carabineros, Ricardo Yáñez.
Amnesty International considers this development a step towards justice for the grave and widespread human rights violations committed during the response to the protests.
The newsletter also has an update on the murder of human rights defender and politician Marielle Franco (above) and her driver Anderson Gomes. Its now almost six years since their assassination. Again, this is a campaign our group has frequently worked on.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-february-2024

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Group Newsletter end November 2023

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Welcome to the latest newsletter.
Please note we won’t be meeting at Moordown In December, as we are gathering for two Write 4 Rights (W4R) events instead (see below). Our next meeting at Moordown Community Centre  is on Thursday 4th January 2024, 7.30pm – 9.00pm.

Write for Rights 2023: Justyna Wydrzyńska

W4R 2023

It’s great to announce that Bournemouth library have welcomed us back to hold not one, but two W4R events. We are booked for
Friday 8th December 1.30 – 3.30
Saturday 9th  December 1.30 – 3.30
W4R is Amnesty International’s annual campaign, sending greetings cards to prisoners of conscience, their families and other human rights defenders around the world.  Worldwide several million messages of support and appeal letters are now sent during a W4R campaign. They made a big difference to the people and communities confronting injustice and facing human rights violations.
We have tried numerous venues around Bournemouth over past 20 years, most outside and invariably cold or wet, sometimes both. Please stop by and send a card.
One case featured is that of Justyna Wydrzynska. Her story is heavily featured in the latest Europe Newsletter (and the AIUK coordinator has organised a demonstration outside the Polish Embassy in London on Saturday 2nd December). But you can also help Justyna –  sentenced to 8 months’ community service for helping a pregnant woman to access abortion pills in Poland – by sending a message to the Prosector General
You can find comprehensive details of all ten W4R cases on our website – including videos, addresses and sample letters. You can also download the W4R booklet. The two other cases featured by AIUK are below.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/write-for-rights-2023
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