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Join Us in New Orleans
April 9-11, 2010
Join our fight for Human Rights at our 2010 Annual General Meeting!
 Photo courtesy New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau |
How can you make a valuable contribution to human rights in only three days? By attending the 2010 AGM in April 9-11, 2010 in New Orleans! Educate yourself and others by attending panels of speakers consisting of prominent human rights activists, including Howard Zinn, Gloria Steinem, Bernice Reagon and Alice Walker, and meet other amnesty members and human rights activists from around the country. Every year, the AIUSA community comes together to discuss the most pressing issues in the fight for international human rights at the Annual General Meeting, with this year's focus being the Demand Dignity Campaign. Our newest, it focuses on human rights abuses that arise from poverty, and engages with the root of the problem to demand government accountability, universal access to rights, and active participation by the poor to reverse the damage.
The location of this year's meeting adds poignancy to the theme. The devastation wrought by Katrina in 2005 is well known but what might not be as apparent is that the effects continue to be pervasive. Thousands of people became homeless as a result of the disaster and adequate permanent housing for them has yet to be established. Also, over $3.2 billion promised by FEMA still needs to be distributed, meaning many public buildings, such as police stations, schools and hospitals, have yet to be rebuilt. These are just two of the many issues that still plague New Orleans five years after the hurricane struck. The Gulf Coast is a region of the US that especially feels the hardships that poverty wreaks, and who better knows its wrath than lose who live with it every day. Holding the 2010 conference in New Orleans helps show the solidarity that Amnesty members feel with those affected by such circumstances, and reinforces our belief that people living in poverty should be respected and empowered as the key agents of the fight for their right to live with dignity. Governments, companies and others in power should respect those living in poverty's rights to know, to participate, and to protest. We hope this conference will provide us with a unified platform, comprised of Amnesty staff, members, and the community, from which we can make these crucial demands.
It will be a stimulating experience to examine new ways in which to prevent human rights violations around the world as well as in our own backyard. The AGM is not merely for Amnesty USA members, but for any and all interested parties looking to join together to fight for basic rights so often abused even in our own country.
Come join a movement of passionate, like-minded people and together we will change the world.
Speakers
ALICE WALKER | |
 | An accomplished author, Alice Walker has published both prose and poetry and is most famous for her work The Color Purple which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983. As a college student, Walker became deeply involved in the African American Civil Rights Movement of the early 1960s. This initial exposure to human rights activism has become a lifelong passion for Walker as she continues to play an influential role in civil rights and anti-war activism. |
BERNICE REAGON | |
 | Singer, songwriter and composer, Bernice Johnson Reagon has used her musical gifts to advocate for civil rights. She too began her activism in college and first garnered attention as one of the founding members of "The Freedom Singers", a musical group that helped fund and spread awareness about the Civil Rights Movement. As specialist in African-American oral history, performance and protest traditions, Reagon is Professor Emeritus of History at American University in Washington D.C. and Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History. |
GLORIA STEINEM | |
 | As a journalist, Gloria Steinem has dedicated her career to supporting feminist and civil rights activism. She was one of the leaders in the forefront of the women's right movements in the 60's and 70's known as the "Second Wave of Feminism." Steinham has co-founded many feminist groups including: The National Women's Political Caucus, Women's Action Alliance and Choice USA. She is also the founding editor and publisher of Ms. Magazine, a publication seeking to raise awareness about feminist issues. |
HOWARD ZINN | |
 | Howard Zinn is a social activist who has worked extensively with civil rights, civil liberties and the anti-war movement in the U.S. He attributes his anti-war stance to the bombing missions he flew in WWII. Zinn is best known for his book A People's History of the United States which presents the history of the nation through the eyes of marginalized groups outside the political and economic establishment. He continues to write extensively and is currently Professor Emeritus at Boston University. |
CONGRESSMAN JOSEPH CAO | |
 | Born in Saigon, Congressman Cao escaped to America with two of his siblings at the age of eight. After obtaining his Master's degree in philosophy, he began to work in Washington D.C. as an advocate for refugees. Cao was also a member of the National Advisory Council of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops where he addressed women's right, social justice, child abuse and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He lost his home to Katrina and like so many others has struggled to rebuild. In 2009 Congressman Cao was elected to the Republican National Convention representing the 2nd District of Louisiana. |
Interesting Facts About New Orleans
- Founded in 1718 as a small trading camp, the city soon after grew into a rectangular, secured community that is today known as the city's historical French Quarter.
- The picturesque lagoons of City Park are the last traces of Bayou Metairie though three other bayous remain within the city.
- Since 2002 New Orleans has hosted many large and small scale film productions, leading the city to be nicknamed Hollywood South.
- Known as the birthplace of jazz, blues, and rock & roll, many are surprised to know that New Orleans is also home to the first opera house in the United States.
- During the Streetcar Union strikes in 1929, two streetcar operators helped their fellow protestors by making them free sandwiches with one pound loaves of French bread. The brothers nicknamed these sandwich-eating protestors the "poor boy" men, and from then on New Orleans has been known for its po-boy sandwiches.
