Group Newsletter December 2019

Welcome to the latest newsletter.
Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December – the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. You may like to bring this to people’s attention as you go about your day tomorrow…
The next meeting  is on Thursday 12th December, 7.30pm  at Moordown Community Centre. You may have noticed there is an election that day and the room we usually meet in is being used as a polling station. Consequently we will meet in the cafe. It will be more of an informal gathering as we will just be writing cards as part of Write 4 Rights (see below). Hopefully we can engage one or two passing voters, so it should be an interesting evening. As ever, bring along any seasonal nibbles and any (non religious) spare cards.

Write 4 Rights

Every year Amnesty International has encouraged and helped groups send greetings cards to prisoners of conscience around the world in December. Traditionally there were just half a dozen names selected.  In recent years Amnesty has branded this as “Write for Rights” (W4R) and produced much more informative information leaflets, covering many more prisoners of conscience. We have always made this a mainstay of our December meeting.If you have been tempted to try one of our meetings, but never quite got there, this is an ideal opportunity.  We bring along seasonal “nibbles”and basically write cards to the various prisoners of conscience who have been selected.

We also try to have a public event in Bournemouth.  For a few years we’ve been at Castlepoint and last year we tried Old Christchurch Road.  Neither venue was that successful as its hard to stop shoppers from charging past you! This year we will try ground floor foyer at the Central Bournemouth Library on
Saturday 21st December 2019 (12 noon till 3.00pm)
For more information about W4R, and details of the cases if you want to work on them at home or do online actions, go to the AIUK site:- https://www.amnesty.org.uk/write-for-rights

SW Schools Human Rights Conference

On Tuesday 5th November just under 300 students and teachers gathered at Talbot Heath School. We had a stall to highlight the long standing existence and activism of the group in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch. We highlighted our current campaigns, such as justice for Marielle Franco, and the just launched Write 4 Rights. Read more about the event here:-
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-west-schools-human-rights-conference

Autumn Quiz 2019

Thanks to everyone who turned out for latest Amnesty Quiz at the Branksome Liberal Club in Parkstone. 6 teams battled it out and we raised £220. With overseas postage now starting at £1.35 this is a great boost to our funds. And much more fun than doing a street collection! Read more about the event here
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/autumn-quiz-2019
We posted 6 sample questions on the site:-
1) In 1696 the government of the day imposed a window tax, which led to people bricking up windows to reduce their tax burden. What famous two word saying originated from this tax?
2) In what decade was the MOT introduced?
3) Who came to prominence with the hit song Budapest?
4) Which common pet has the Latin name carassius auratus?
5) What is the 4th most popular surname in the UK – also name of an occupation (although different spelling)?
6) Which bank note will Alan Turing be appearing on in 2021?

Find the answers here
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/autumn-quiz-2019-sample-questions
Do reply to this newsletter if you would like a copy of the quiz (or our bumper edition Christmas Cracker jokes!) for you Christmas Day entertainment…

South America Newsletter December 2019

The November edition of the South America Regional Newsletter is now on the blog. Our group has focused on South America since its inception, which is also reflected in our case files and the letters we write.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-december-2019