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St. Cloud State University
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Group delivers grassroots effort
By Shinobu Nakamura
Published:
Thursday, April 7, 2005
Media Credit: Kimiko Asakura
Sara Harris, president of SCSU Amnesty International, explains past events and successes of the organization. The organization is located in Atwood room 135.
Writing letters might sound like a small action to save somebody's life, but the members of SCSU Amnesty International know it really has the power to change somebody's life across the borders.
Amnesty International (AI) was founded in London in 1961. According to AI's brochure, it is a Nobel Prize-winning grassroots organization with over 1 million members worldwide. It works to promote human rights based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international standards.
The organization is independent of all governments, political parties, ideologies, economic interests and religious beliefs.
SCSU AI has quite a few cohorts to work on these grassroots activities with the intention to save people's lives both outside and inside the country.
"About 20 members are active and regularly attend meetings and events. About 10 members attend all weekly meetings," president of SCSU Amnesty International Sara Harris said. "Most of the members are SCSU students, but some members are from the community."
The main activities of SCSU Amnesty International are writing letters to the government, teach-ins and informational booths.
In the weekly meeting, members try to write a letter called an Urgent Action letter, to the several governments on behalf of individual prisoners who are in immediate chance of legal or medical crises, torture or execution.
"We get these (Urgent Action information) from Amnesty weekly and it basically outlines the situation. They are all very well researched," Harris said. "We'll take a look at these and then write out an Urgent Action."
The letter includes a recommended action to the case and the information about whom they should appeal to. Members write a letter referring to this guideline.
Having a policy that helps maintain AI's principle of impartiality, members of particular AI sections are not permitted to take action as AI members on cases within their own section.
"U.S. Amnesty does have urgent actions to stop executions in the USA and members are permitted to write them," Harris said.
According to the brochure of Amnesty International USA, more than 40,000 individual prisoners have been helped by Amnesty International through these grassroots activities since its establishment.
They also send letters and holiday cards directly to the people detained in prison unjustly as part of their activity.
"We send cards to them to cheer them up with little a message of hope," Harris said.
They draw pictures, make cards and send it to people during the holiday season.
Teach-in is AI's other main activity. They invite either on-campus or off-campus speakers and have them come and speak about human rights.
"This year, we sponsored Winona LaDuke who is a Native American activist and lives in Minnesota," Harris said. "Three hundred people came."
"We had two events on Sudan this year and many people had come," Harris said. "We had a speaker talk about racial issues in Latin America and lots of people from the community came. In that way, we involve campus community at large and people from all around."
They also ask people to sign petitions at an informational booth. A petition is a quick way to get students involved in their activities, Harris said.
"What we are working for is not political or controversial- it is basic human rights for people everywhere.� The effort I put in is worth it because I know we are making a difference," she said. "(AI's) successes are very gratifying and help to keep me motivated for this life saving work.� Another motivator is the people who work and volunteer for this organization, they are amazing and very fun to work with."�
Third-year student Shanna Lowe has been an active member of AI since transferring to SCSU. AI was one of the reasons she came to SCSU.
"I was looking at three different schools but decided on SCSU because they had an AI chapter," Lowe said. "Being able to help other people makes me feel good. When I tell people what AI does, they say 'why do you write letters, it's not like one letter will help,' but actually over 40,000 people have been freed from the letters that Amnesty has written. I know I'm just one person, but it takes me literally 15 minutes to read and write a letter that could potentially save another person's life."
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