Outside of the weekly tabling we do in Commons, Yale Amnesty International consistently holds a number of events every semester by itself as well as in partnership with other organizations at Yale. The following are just some of the events that we have brought to campus.
Fall 2010
The Real Protest for Virtual Freedom in Tunisia
Slim Amamou, Tunisian blogger and internet activist, was arrested on January 6, 2011, during a wave of arrests of other freedom activists, and was last revealed by his mobile to be held at the Tunisian Interior Ministry. Slim Amamou gave this talk at Yale University on December 6, 2010, when he was at the university as a World Fellow during the fall semester of 2010.
Write-A-Thon 2010
The write-a-thon featured letter writing, snacks, and good friends. We wrote letters promoting human rights causes around the world in the context of particular individuals’ cases.
Women Human Rights Defenders Candlelight Vigil
Part of the 16 Days Campaign’s Global Day of Action Against Violence Against Women and Militarism, this candlelight vigil featured the Yale and New Haven communities coming together to support and commemorate women human rights defenders. Speakers included Elisabeth Wood, Yale Political Science, who spoke about her research on sexual violence during wartime, and Ana Paula Hernandez, a Yale World Fellow and Mexican human rights defender who spoke about violence and militarism in the context of her work combating narcotrafficking. The Yale Women’s Slavic Chorus also performed.
Democracy in Burma: Panel and Open Forum
Panelists for this event, sponsored by the Council on Southeast Asia Studies, included James Scott (Yale), U Gawsita (All Burma Monks Society), Myra Dahgaypaw (US Campaign for Burma), and U Kyaw Zan Tha (Voice of America).
The Future of Capital Punishment: A Panel Discussion on the Death Penalty
Surrounding momentum to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut, this panel featured impressive speakers and experienced great turnout of over one hundred attendees. Panelists included Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty USA; Juan Melendez, the 99th individual exonerated from death row; and Representative Gary Holder-Winfield of New Haven’s 94th Assembly District. Reverend Ian Oliver, Senior Associate Chaplain for Protestant Life, moderated the discussion. Cosponsors included Yale Law School, the Yale Chaplain’s Office, the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty, Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale, Yale ACLU, and Black Student Alliance at Yale.
Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want: What’s Next for the Human Rights Movement?
This Saybrook College Master’s Tea featured Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty USA.
The Holocaust in the Soviet Union
This discussion of history, international law, justice, and human experience featured Joshua Rubenstein, Director of Amnesty International’s Northeast Region and a Fellow at the Harvard DavisCenter for Russian and Eurasian Studies, as well as Timothy Snyder, professor of history at Yale. It was moderated by Rabbi James Ponet, the Howard M. Holtzman Jewish Chaplain at Yale. The event was cosponsored by Jews for Justice and Yale Hillel.
Spring 2010
The Obama Administration and Human Rights: Reality versus Reputation
This panel featured Charles Hill, policy advisor and diplomat; Lucas Guttentag, founder of the Immigrants’ Rights Project at the ACLU; and Sarah Snyder, diplomatic historian and scholar of human rights policy.
Human Rights Bluebooking Party
This shopping week event served as a time for member recruitment at the beginning of the semester, but also a fun time to look at classes, write some letters for the release of prisoners of conscience, and hang out with Amnesty friends!