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For Immediate Release
May, 25 2011, 11:29am EDT
Contact:
AIUSA media office 202.509.8194, media@aiusa.org
Amnesty International Issues Global Call to Action on 50th Anniversary, as Demands for Human Rights Transform Middle East and North Africa
World Premiere of Moving Video, Standing Up for Freedom, with Music by Composers Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, Released as Commemorations Held Across the Globe
WASHINGTON
Amnesty International will observe its 50th anniversary by issuing a global call to action on Saturday, May 28, the day in 1961 when its founder published an appeal for amnesty for six prisoners unjustly imprisoned; the enormous response led to the founding of Amnesty International, today the world's largest human rights organization. The birthday comes as the group's defining tactic of collective action is validated as a model of transformative change across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
"Since the Amnesty International candle first shone a light on the world's hellholes, there has been a human rights revolution. The call for freedom, justice and dignity has moved from the margins and is now a truly global demand," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International secretary general.
Amnesty International members are commemorating this anniversary in many ways, but one of the crown jewels is the beautiful animated video Standing Up for Freedom produced by Prague-based Eallin Motion Art & DreamLife Studio, a world-renowned international motion art production company based in the Czech Republic. This emotive video directed by Carlos Lascano takes viewers on a metaphorical journey showing mankind's struggle for freedom over the last 50 years. Eallin has been an Amnesty International supporter and developed this art to illustrate that the struggle for freedom may be suppressed at times, but it always prevails.
The accompanying music was contributed by composers Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, with contributions from renowned musicians around the world including from the United States, Canada, Russia, United Kingdom, France and Switzerland.
"It was a tremendous honor to write a piece of music that embodies the courage and spirit of Amnesty members, who have saved lives, tackled injustices, and upheld the principles of human rights for an amazing 50 years," said Zimmer and Balfe. "We hope the music helps to highlight the profound impact this organization has had on the lives of millions around the world. We are truly inspired by them."
The organization said that despite progress, human rights violations are at the heart of key challenges facing the world today and everyone has a role in addressing them.
"This video illustrates the struggles people endure to be free and live with dignity," said Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA executive director. "We are seeing that struggle continue as hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets in the Middle East and North Africa to make sure their human rights are respected and governments that continue to repress and subjugate are held accountable.
"It is a pivotal time in world history, and we cannot let this opportunity pass. The time to act is now-- demand that human rights are not an afterthought but at the core of how people across the world live," said Cox.
Concerned individuals can view and download the video and take action at www.amnestyusa.org, AIUSA's newly redesigned website.
For half a century Amnesty International -has borne witness to abuses and atrocities, has offered hope to the oppressed and forgotten, and has campaigned with innovation and determination for justice. It has played a leading role in making torturers international outlaws, in ending the untouchable status of leaders accused of human rights crimes and in achieving unstoppable momentum toward a death penalty-free world.
In 1977, Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
More than 60 countries from Argentina to Ghana to Turkey to New Zealand to the United States will pay tribute to the tale of two Portuguese students imprisoned for raising their glasses to liberty - an injustice that so outraged British lawyer Peter Benenson that he launched Amnesty International on May 28, 1961.
To honor Benenson's legacy, Amnesty International will hold a celebration at St. Martin-in-the-Fields church, in London on May 28. This is where Benenson forged the idea that ordinary people working together could prevent injustice and defend freedom and human rights for all. The program will include remarks by AI Secretary General Salil Shetty, readings by author Michael Morpurgo and actor Colin Salmon, and a performance by celebrated soprano Elianne Pretorian.
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
(212) 807-8400LATEST NEWS
Muslim Rights Group Calls for Probe Into GOP Lawmaker's Threat to Omar, Tlaib
Randy Fine "must be investigated by state and federal law enforcement authorities and condemned by both Democratic and Republican Party leadership," said the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Nov 28, 2024
The country's largest Muslim civil rights group on Thursday called for added protections for U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar after Florida state Sen. Randy Fine issued an apparent threat against the two Muslim lawmakers.
Fine, who has the endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump in his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, called himself the "Hebrew Hammer" in a post on X on Tuesday and suggested Reps. Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Omar (D-Minn.) should leave office for their own safety.
"Bombs away," he added.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has spoken out previously about anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim statements by Fine (R-19), called the lawmaker an "unhinged anti-Muslim bigot."
His apparent threat of violence "must be investigated by state and federal law enforcement authorities and condemned by both Democratic and Republican Party leadership," said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy executive director of CAIR. "President-elect Donald Trump, in particular, should denounce Mr. Fine's remarks and the Florida Republican Party should expel him."
"We also call on U.S. Capitol Police to step up protection for Representatives Omar and Tlaib to ensure their safety as they come under increasing threats from anti-Muslim and pro-genocide bigots like Randy Fine," said Mitchell.
Fine was held in contempt of court in Florida earlier this year for making obscene gestures and mouthing curse words at a hearing. He is running in a special election set for April 1, 2025, due to Trump's appointment of Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) to be national security adviser.
In 2021, the Florida chapter of CAIR filed an ethics complaint against Fine after he posted on social media calling Palestinian people "animals" and calling for their annihilation with the hashtag "#BlowThemUp."
Omar and Tlaib—the only Palestinian-American in Congress—have been vehement critics of the United States' support for Israel's assault on Gaza, and defenders of Palestinian rights.
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Native Americans Hold National Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving
"'Thanksgiving' is a white-washed holiday designed to conceal its true origins of violence, genocide, land theft, and forced assimilation," said the Indigenous Environmental Network.
Nov 28, 2024
In contrast with Thanksgiving celebrations across the United States on Thursday, Native Americans held a National Day of Mourning, promoted accurate history, and championed Indigenous voices and struggles.
Despite rainy conditions, the United American Indians of New England held its 55th annual National Day of Mourning at Cole's Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Kisha James, who is an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and also Oglala Lakota, shared how her grandfather founded the event in 1970 and pledged to continue to "tear down the Thanksgiving mythology."
"The past influences the present" and "the settler project" continues with racism, misogyny, and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, James told the crowd. "The Pilgrims are not ancient history."
James took aim at fossil fuel pipelines, oil rigs, skyscrapers, corporations, the U.S. military, mass incarceration, and the criminalization of immigrants, and declared that "no one is illegal on stolen on land."
Jean-Luc Pierite, a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana and president of the board of directors of the North American Indian Center of Boston who helped organize this year's gathering, toldUSA Today that "while we are mourning some tragic history but also contemporary issues, we are also expressing gratitude for each [other] and building this community space."
"Coming together as a community for a feast and to express gratitude—that's not something that was imported to this continent because of colonization," Pierite said. "Indigenous peoples have had these practices going back beyond, beyond colonial contact."
This year's event in Plymouth included speeches about the suffering of Palestinians—as Israel wages a U.S. government-backed war on the Gaza Strip that has killed at least 44,330 people, injured 104,933, and led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice—and of people impacted by extractive industries.
"The message from Indigenous peoples internationally has been consistent: that we need to center the development of traditional ecological knowledge, Indigenous knowledge, and move away from fossil fuel extractive economies," said Pierite. "At this time the world needs Indigenous peoples."
In New York City, police
arrested 21 pro-Palestinian protesters who blocked the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade route.
According toABC 7:
For the second year in a row, the group ran in front of the Ronald McDonald float to briefly stop the parade.
This year, they jumped the barricades at West 55th Street just after 9:30 am.
Many sat on the ground, locking arms and chanting "Free, free Palestine!"
Others held a banner behind them, reading "Don't celebrate genocide! Arms embargo now."
Video footage shared on social media shows members of the New York Police Department grabbing protesters and their banner, and throwing at least one person face-first into the road.
Multiple Indigenous groups circulated messages about Thanksgiving on social media Thursday.
NDN Collective said that "as Indigenous peoples, we reject colonial holidays rooted in the genocidal erasure of our existence. We demand #LANDBACK to reclaim sovereignty, repair ties with Mother Earth, and protect Indigenous ways of life—honoring them for generations to come."
The Indigenous Environmental Network similarly
highlighted that "'Thanksgiving' is a white-washed holiday designed to conceal its true origins of violence, genocide, land theft, and forced assimilation."
"We must re-evaluate what we've been taught about the history of this land and recognize that genocide, extraction, and exploitation of our lands and communities continue today," the group argued.
Brenda Beyal, an enrolled member of the Diné Nation and program coordinator of the Brigham Young University ARTS Partnership's Native American Curriculum Initiative, wrote about the history of Thanksgiving on Wednesday for The Salt Lake Tribune.
"Our history books mark 'the first Thanksgiving' in 1621 when at least 90 Wampanoag men, led by Massasoit, walked in on a Puritan harvest feast," Beyal detailed. "Approximately 150 years later, all 13 colonies celebrated a day of solemn Thanksgiving to celebrate the win of the Battle of Saratoga in December of 1777. [U.S. President] George Washington called for a day of thanksgiving and prayer in 1789 to give gratitude for the end of the Revolutionary War."
"Then, in 1863, [President] Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday to be held in November of every year," she continued. "During the same year that Lincoln canonized Thanksgiving, the Shoshone experienced the worst slaughter of Native Americans in U.S. history while winter camped on the Boa Ogoi (Bear River) near what is now Preston, Idaho. More than 400 men, women and children were massacred."
"This Thursday, my family and I will gather for a meal of thanksgiving. I have extended an invitation to whomever needs a place to rest, feast, and give gratitude. There is room at my table," she explained. "Ultimately, it is my hope that we as a nation can continue to consecrate days of remembrance, where we can both celebrate and mourn, acknowledge and repair, and find ways to be thankful, even with a wounded heart."
Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, Diné/Dakota writer Jacqueline Keeler addressed the future under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who won another term in the White House this month.
"In my book Standoff: Standing Rock, the Bundy Movement, and the American Story of Sacred Lands, which was published after Trump's first term, I delved into the settler colonial mindset that the Pilgrims landed with on these shores, and contrasted it with the perspective of the Indigenous people of the United States," Keeler noted.
"Origin stories define people by articulating the terms of their relationships with our Mother, the Earth, as well as other living beings, and each other. In my book, I proposed that these stories could act as algorithms," she continued. "The 'origin story' algorithm for settler colonists was straightforward; they came to other people's lands, occupied them, and sent the wealth back to their ruling 1%. Based on that origin story, you can predict what Trump and his base will do next."
"My question at Thanksgiving time," she concluded, is "how do we create a new origin story that includes everyone and puts us on a path to come together as a people—in harmony with each other and the Earth, our Mother."
Lakota historian Nick Estes, a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and co-founder of the Indigenous group the Red Nation, appeared on Democracy Now! on Thursday to discuss the origins of Thanksgiving and his book Our History Is the Future, which focuses on seven historical moments of resistance that form a road map for collective liberation.
Estes examined the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's battle against the climate-wrecking Dakota Access Pipeline. "I actually look at a physical map that was handed out to water protectors who came to the camp. And on that map there was, you know, where to find food, where to find the clinics," he said. "To me, that provided, you know, a kind of interesting parallel to the world that surrounded the camps."
"You had the North Dakota National Guard, the world of cops, the world of the militarized sort of police state. And in the camps themselves you had sort of the primordial sort of beginnings of what a world premised on Indigenous justice might look like. And in that world, you know, everyone got free food. There was a place for everyone," Estes noted. "The housing... obviously, was transient housing and teepees and things like that, but then also there was health clinics to provide healthcare, alternative forms of healthcare, to everyone. And so, if we look at that, it's housing, education—all for free, right?—a strong sense of community."
"Given the opportunity to create a new world in that camp, centered on Indigenous justice and treaty rights, society organized itself according to need and not to profit. And so, where there was, you know, the world of settlers, settler colonialism, that surrounded us, there was the world of Indigenous justice that existed for a brief moment in time," he said. "And in that world, instead of doing to settler society what they did to us—genociding, removing, excluding—there's a capaciousness to Indigenous resistance movements that welcomes in non-Indigenous peoples into our struggle, because that's our primary strength, is one of relationality, one of making kin."
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Israeli Attacks Wound Two in Lebanon on Day 2 of Cease-Fire
The cease-fire deal prohibits all military operations by Hezbollah but only "offensive" action by Israel.
Nov 28, 2024
Experts on the Middle East warned this week that a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah could be temporary, and reports out of southern Lebanon on Thursday indicated they were correct as security sources said two people were injured in Israeli strikes on the village of Markaba.
The truce went into effect early Wednesday after being brokered by the United States and France, with Israeli forces given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon.
But one day after the deal went into effect, an Associated Press correspondent in northern Israel reported that they heard artillery strikes across the border in Lebanon as well as Israeli drones.
On Thursday morning, Israeli tanks hit the southern Lebanese towns of Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba, Khiyam, and Taybe, according to Lebanese state media and security sources, injuring at least two people.
All the areas lie within two kilometers (1.24 miles) of the Lebanon-Israel border.
Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Lebanese Parliament who is part of the Hezbollah March 8 alliance, said Israel had attacked civilians who were "returning to the border villages."
"There are violations today by Israel, even in this form," he told reporters.
Thousands of Lebanese people began returning to their homes in the southern part of the country after the cease-fire deal went into effect, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) should not allow civilians back into southern villages. His order contradicted a statement by Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, who led cease-fire negotiations and said Wednesday that residents could return home.
Israel imposed a last-minute curfew on Wednesday night, prohibiting Lebanese citizens from crossing into the south overnight.
The IDF then accused Hezbollah of violating the cease-fire, announcing on Thursday: "Over the past hour, several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the cease-fire. The IDF opened fire toward them."
Drop Site Newsnoted that the deal bars Hezbollah from carrying out "any operations" against Israel but only prohibits Israel from conducting "offensive" attacks in Lebanon.
"It's kind of a bit insidious where they say 'offensive,' meaning somehow there's this little kind of wiggle room for what they will interpret as defensive, which in Israeli logic and discourse and action means anything," Karim Makdisi, a professor of international politics at the American University in Beirut, told Drop Site News. "Anything can happen. They can say, 'Well, this is defense.' Even the genocide in Gaza, as far as they're saying, is defensive."
Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News said the Biden administration has attempted to "rig the deal" and allow Israel to strike in Lebanon as it sees fit, providing Israel with a "letter of guarantee" that recognizes "Israeli freedom of action on Lebanese soil" if any attempts are made to strengthen Hezbollah.
The U.S. State Department refused to comment on the letter when asked about it by Scahill.
Since October 2023, Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least 3,823 people and injured at least 15,859.
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