Amnesty International Group 22 Pasadena/Caltech News Volume XIX Number 10, October 2011 UPCOMING EVENTS Thursday, October 27, 7:30 PM. Monthly Meeting. Note new location - 505 S. Wilson Ave., Pasadena. Help us plan future actions on Sudan, the 'War on Terror', death penalty and more. Call 626-795-1785 for more information. Tuesday, November 8, 7:30 PM. Letter writing meeting at Caltech Athenaeum, corner of Hill and California in Pasadena. This informal gathering is a great way for newcomers to get acquainted with Amnesty! Sunday, November 20, 6:30 PM. Rights Readers Human Rights Book Discussion group. This month we read "The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen" by Kwame Anthony Appiah. COORDINATOR'S CORNER Hi everyone This is my favorite season - Indian summer. Warm, with relaxing winds. All too soon it will be colder and time to get out the turtlenecks and sweaters. Don't forget to register for the Western Regional Conference that is happening in LA November 4-6. It's still not too late! See the WRC section in this newsletter. We were saddened to hear that Troy Davis was executed, after all the last-ditch efforts to save him. This month's DP column by Stevi has his moving last words. Con carino, Kathy RIGHTS READERS Human Rights Book Discussion Group Keep up with Rights Readers at http://rightsreaders.blogspot.com Next Rights Readers meeting: Sunday, November 20, 6:30 PM Vroman's Bookstore 695 E. Colorado Boulevard Pasadena The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen by Kwame Anthony Appiah About the Author (born May 8, 1954, London, Eng.) British-born American philosopher, novelist, and scholar of African and of African American studies, best known for his contributions to political philosophy, moral psychology, and the philosophy of culture. Appiah was the son of Joseph Appiah, a Ghanaian-born barrister, and Peggy Cripps, daughter of the British statesman Sir Stafford Cripps. He attended Bryanston School and later Clare College, Cambridge, where he earned a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1982. He taught philosophy, African studies, and African American studies at Yale University (1981-86), Cornell University (1986-89), Duke University (1990-91), and Harvard University (1999-2002). He joined the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University in 2002. Appiah's early writings concerned the philosophy of language. He turned his attention to political and cultural issues in In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture (1992), a philosophical exploration of the nature of African identity in the West and in an increasingly global culture. In Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race (1996; with Amy Guttman), Appiah argued that the notion of biological race is conceptually problematic and criticized what he saw as the tendency to overstate the importance of race as a component of individual identity. The Ethics of Identity (2005) critically examined the various notions around which "group" identities have been defined - including race, religion, gender, and sexuality - and considered how group identity may both contribute to and constrain individual freedom. Appiah's other books include Experiments in Ethics (2008), The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen (2010), and the novels Avenging Angel (1991), Nobody Likes Letitia (1994), and Another Death in Venice (1995). Copyright @ 1994-2011 Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. For more information visit Britannica.com How does moral progress happen? How are societies brought to repudiate immoral customs they have long accepted? In The Honor Code, Kwame Anthony Appiah explores a long- neglected engine of reform. Examining moral revolutions in the past - and campaigns against abhorrent practices today - he shows that appeals to reason, morality, or religion aren't enough to ring in reform. Practices are eradicated only when they come into conflict with honor. In gripping detail, Appiah begins his work with a portrait of the often-deadly world of aristocratic Britain, where for centuries gentlemen challenged each other to duels. Recounting one of the last significant duels in that world - between a British prime minister and an eccentric earl - Appiah shows a society at the precipice of abrupt change. Turning to the other side of the world, Appiah investigates the end of footbinding in China. The practice had flourished for a thousand years, despite imperial attempts at prohibition, yet was extinguished in a generation. Appiah brings to life this turbulent era and shows how change finally came not from imposing edicts from above, but from harnessing the ancient power of honor from within. In even more intricate ways, Appiah demonstrates how ideas of honor helped drive one of history's most significant moral revolutions - the fast-forming social consensus that led to the abolition of slavery throughout the British empire, and recruited ordinary men and women to the cause. Yet his interest isn't just historical. Appiah considers the horrifying persistence of "honor killing" in places like Pakistan, despite religious and moral condemnation, and the prospects for bringing it to an end by mobilizing a sense of collective honor - and of shame. With a storyteller's flair and a philosopher's rigor, The Honor Code represents a new approach toward moral inquiry. Ranging from a great mandarin's abandonment of an ancient Chinese tradition to Frederick Douglass's meetings with Abolitionist leaders in London, Appiah reveals how moral revolutions really succeed. PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE Gao Zhisheng by Joyce Wolf If you are invited to a diplomatic reception by the Chinese Embassy, don't try to present your host with a gift copy of Gao Zhisheng's book, A China More Just. Slovakian legislator Ondrej Dostal did just that, and he was forcibly ejected from the party. The story was reported in The Epoch Times, http://tinyurl.com/3fgyr3e. A youtube video at http://tinyurl.com/3cq4jgv offers a glimpse of a Slovak (or Czech) translation of Gao's book. You might also enjoy a bit of the Slovakian video at http://tinyurl.com/64v5asj. Seriously, it's good to learn of international efforts in behalf of Group 22's adopted prisoner of conscience, human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. He endured arrests and torture while in custody and has been missing since April 2010. In a letter to the Chinese Ambassador that accompanied the book, Dostal wrote, "I join my voice to the voices of world's democratic public who requests the release of Gao Zhisheng to freedom." Back in the U.S., Gao was the subject of an August 22 press release from the Congressional Executive Committee on China, which stated, "CECC Chairman Christopher Smith [R-NJ] and Cochairman Sherrod Brown [D-OH] call on Chinese authorities to immediately account for and free China's most famous human rights lawyer, Gao Zhisheng." The CECC also publishes an annual report on human rights in China, available from their website. You can subscribe to their email list and newsletter. http://www.cecc.gov. Our own California Senator Dianne Feinstein is listed as a member of this commission. I suggest that this month we might write to Senator Feinstein and express our appreciation for the Commission's report and press release about Gao Zhisheng. Her contact information is available at http://www.feinstein.senate.gov. DON'T HAVE TO LIVE LIKE A REFUGEE By Laura G. Brown Group 22 was represented by Joyce Wolf and Laura Brown at the Social Activism Speaker Series (SASS) event "Advocating for Refugees" on Oct. 18 at Caltech. A refugee caseworker, Shurkry Cattan, talked about his efforts to resettle refugees from diverse countries, such as Somalia and Jordan. He's worked with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and most recently with a group called Tiyya in Orange County. Cattan talked about being inspired to visit Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan after his parents went through a similar ordeal. The people there and more than a million more like them in 58 camps spread over Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan have no hope of resettlement, he said. Instead, they live their lives as permanent residents of these crowded camps plagued with garbage and sewage problems. Surprisingly, the largest number of refugees in the world right now are from Iraq, Cattan pointed out. More than 2 million people have fled Iraq following the 2003 U.S. invasion and war in what has been described as the biggest mass migration since Israel was created in 1948. Most Iraqi refugees have gone to Syria and Jordan. Since 9-11, only a few thousand Iraqis have been allowed to resettle in America. Most recently, Cattan has worked with Tiyya to help refugees obtain resources, jobs, and citizenship. He also provided a youth soccer camp last summer in Glendale. To Cattan, the reason for assisting refugees is a simple one: "It's a humanitarian issue. These are people, and they need help." Those interested in more information or in volunteering can contact him at shukrycattan@gmail.com. WESTERN REGIONAL CONFERENCE: NOVEMBER 4-6, LOS ANGELES HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL: ONE MOVEMENT, ONE WORLD Amnesty West invites you to attend the 2011 Western Regional Conference. Join hundreds of human rights activists from across the region in sunny California for expert panel discussions, skills-building workshops, and networking with leaders from across the Western region. Find out more today! This year's conference theme, Human Rights for All: One Movement, One World, underscores the momentous human rights victories and struggles of the past year and spotlights the growing grassroots movement to fight human rights abuses around the world. Over 500 committed Amnesty activists from across the thirteen Western states are expected to converge in Los Angeles to participate in skills-building and content-focused workshops, expert panel discussions, and direct actions for human rights. The conference will feature prominent human rights defenders and leaders in the field who will discuss the most pressing human rights concerns of today: the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, the growing movement to abolish the death penalty; protecting migrant rights; ending poverty; the torture debate; and much more. The conference will also include a special human rights track with partners and allies in the broader human rights community. Register for the conference today and visit http://www.amnestyusa.org/events/regional- conferences/western-regional-conference for more information about content, Ideas Fair, group sales, subsidies, and more. (The conference agenda is now available at http://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/2011WRCAgenda.pdf) DEATH PENALTY NEWS by Stevi Carroll - Troy Davis As we know, Troy Davis was put to death by the state of Georgia September 21, 2011, after a long worldwide effort to have his sentence commuted to life without parole. To the end of his life, he remained firm in his innocence. To the family of Mark MacPhail, Troy said, "I was not responsible for what happened that night. I did not have a gun. I was not the one who took the life of your father, son, brother." To the medical personnel who conducted his execution, he said, "May God have mercy on your souls." To his family and friends, he said, "Keep the faith." The faith that we are asked to keep is our continued struggle to educate our brothers and sisters about the difficulties inherent in the death penalty and to work toward its abolition. In that vein, we have the opportunity to work on a petition drive to put the death penalty on the November 2012 ballot. - SAFE California The initiative to have the death penalty on the ballot has been given the go ahead by the Attorney General. This initiative does NOT intend to abolish the death penalty, but rather to replace the maximum sentence to life without possibility of parole. The prisoner will be required to work, if able, and to pay any victim restitution fines. To read the text of the initiative, go to http://www.ibabuzz.com/politics/2011/10/21/dea th-penalty-abolition-measure-cleared-by-ag/. We, along with the ACLU, the Los Angeles County Coalition for Death Penalty Alternatives, Death Penalty Focus, and other groups, have the opportunity to take part in this drive. We need to gather 750,000 signatures, and while the campaign will employ some paid signature gathers, we volunteers will need to gather at least 100,000 of them. To get involved with this effort, contact our Amnesty group or Death Penalty Focus at http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=637 . - James Byrd, Jr. Troy Davis was not the only person executed in the United States on September 21, 2011. Lawrence Russell Brewer was also put to death in Texas. Mr. Brewer was one of three men convicted of the brutal murder of James Byrd, Jr. While this crime is heinous, the response of Mr. Byrd's family is more noteworthy. Mr. Byrd's son, Ross Byrd said, "You can't fight murder with murder. Life in prison would have been fine. I know he can't hurt my daddy anymore. I wish the state would take in mind that this isn't what we want." His sister, Betty Boatner, went further to say, "If I saw him (Lawrence Brewer) face to face, I'd tell him I forgive him for what he did. Otherwise, I'd be like him. I have already forgiven him." While many victims' families believe the death of the murderers will bring them relief from the suffering they feel, for the Byrd family this prove not only not to be true, but as Mr. Byrd's sister acknowledged, "Otherwise, I'd be like him (the murderer)." - Sentence Commuted October 18 Joseph Murphy Ohio - Stays of Execution October 4 John Henretta Tennessee 5 Marcus Johnson Georgia 25 H. R. Hester Tennessee - Executions September 21 Lawrence Brewer 44 Texas 3-drug w/ pentobarbital 21 Troy Davis 41 Georgia 3-drug w/ pentobarbital 22 Derrick Mason 37 Alabama 3-drug w/ pentobarbital 28 Manuel Valle 61 Florida 3-drug w/ pentobarbital October 20 Christopher Johnson* 38 Alabama 3-drug w/ pentobarbital * Volunteer - an inmate who waived ordinary appeals that remained at the time of his or her execution GROUP 22 MONTHLY LETTER COUNT UAs 27 POC 3 Total 30 To add your letters to the total contact lwkamp@gmail.com. Amnesty International Group 22 The Caltech Y Mail Code C1-128 Pasadena, CA 91125 www.its.caltech.edu/~aigp22/ http://rightsreaders.blogspot.com