Reminder: Monthly meeting of Amnesty International Group 39 is this Monday, July 13th at 7 pm. @ First Unitarian Church, Ellsworth & Morewood.
We’ll review the successful Write to Witness event, plan our annual picnic in August, and write letters to prisoners! See you there!
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Thank you – the Write to Witness event was a great success!
Thank you to the volunteers of Amnesty International Pittsburgh, City of Asylum staff and writers-in-residence, the writers who shared their works and thoughts, and all of the attendees who made Write to Witness such a great event and great way to raise awareness about the issues facing writers around the world. In addition to supporting the event, attendees wrote at least 25 letters and wrote lovely messages of support for Raif Badawi.
Please check amnestyusa.org to stay up to date on current cases and ways you can take action and stay involved.
Pittsburgh’s Group 39 will host our largest annual event, the Write-a-thon and Human Rights Festival in December. Stay tuned for further updates about that and other events and actions on amnestypgh.org, on Twitter @amnestypgh and on Facebook: Amnesty international Pittsburgh Group. You may also join our Google Group “Amnesty International Group 39” to receive email updates as well.
Feel free to email us at amnesty39@gmail.com with any questions, feedback or ideas for more events.
We’re specifically interested in volunteers to help restart our Sunday Human Rights Cafe, where we set up some letter writing at a local cafe or tea shop once or twice a month for 2 hours.
Some pics from the event. See you at the next one and thank you for your support!
WRITE TO WITNESS: Amnesty International Pittsburgh & City of Asylum event June 23rd!
Join Amnesty International Pittsburgh and City of Asylum for a FREE event celebrating the value that writers, journalists, poets, and bloggers bring to humankind by bearing witness to the truth. Hear the courageous stories of these individuals and learn what you can do to defend the right to witness.Information will be available about the work that Amnesty International does on a global scale, and the important work that City of Asylum does right here in Pittsburgh!
Schedule:
Doors at 6:30 pm: learn about writers at risk, write a letter or draw or write a message for Raif Badawi
Main program 7-8:30:
Esmirna Matos
Joy Katz
Amnesty volunteers read short poems by Liu Xiaobo, Tariq Ramadan, and Nay Phone Latt – former or current writers at risk/in danger
Joy Katz
Amnesty volunteers read short poems by Liu Xiaobo, Tariq Ramadan, and Nay Phone Latt – former or current writers at risk/in danger
Tony Norman
City of Asylum writers:
Israel Centeno
Yaghoub Yadali
Sarah Shotland of Words Without Walls
8:30-9 pm Write one last letter, talk to the writers, and eat the rest of the food!
City of Asylum Alphabet City Tent, 324 Sampsonia Way, 15212. Directions: http://cityofasylum.org/events/directions/
For more information, amnesty39@gmail.com
RSVP on City of Asylum’s site: http://cityofasylum.org/event/write-to-witness/
OR
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/361251004071136/
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This event is part of City of Asylum’s Alphabet City Open Stage series. As part of our commitment to giving voice and visibility, Summer on Sampsonia’s Alphabet City Open Stage provides writers, artists, and thinkers with a platform for their work. Every two weeks, the Alphabet City Tent will be opened to anyone in the community, from poets to professors, to read, share, discuss, and think.
Download and share the flyer: Write to Witness June 23 2015 FlyerA
Henderson Hill in Pittsburgh March 26th
Amnesty International Group 39 is also a sponsor of this great event. March 26th!
Sponsorship:
National Lawyers Guild-Pitt Law Chapter, Prisoner Legal Support Project, Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
Date and Time:
Thursday, March 26, 2015 – 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Location:
University of Pittsburgh School of Law
3900 Forbes Avenue Room 109
15260 Pittsburgh , PA
United States
See map: Google Maps
A TALK BY HENDERSON HILL | BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR: PENNSYLVANIA ILLUMINATES THE NATION’S ABANDONMENT OF THE DEATH PENALTY
The National Lawyers Guild-Pitt Law Chapter, along with the Prisoner Legal Support Project and Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is hosting a talk by veteran litigator and anti-death penalty advocate, Henderson Hill, on Thursday, March 26th at 7 PM in Room 109. Hill is the executive director of the 8th Amendment Project and has worked for two decades in capital defense and civil rights litigation. He will discuss Pennsylvania’s recent moratorium on the death penalty, as well as the need for abolition of the death penalty nationwide.
Throughout his career, Hill has served as executive director of the Federal Defenders of Western North Carolina, spent 15 years as a partner with Ferguson, Stein, Chambers, Gresham & Sumter, and served as director of the North Carolina Death Penalty Resource Center. He also founded the Center for Death Penalty Litigation and the Charlotte Coalition for Moratorium Now. Hill received the Paul Green Award from the North Carolina Civil Liberties Union for his work to abolish the death penalty. He received his B.A. degree from Lehman College at the City University of New York and his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.