The AIUSA Annual General Meeting 2003

Over 850 Amnesty International USA Members, speakers, staff and international guests met in Pittsburgh, PA for the 2003 Annual General Meeting (held April 4-6, 2003), making this conference the largest since Boston in 1990. The conference focused on human rights strategies and profiled grassroots activism.

Guest speakers included international human rights spokesperson Bianca Jagger, Ginetta Sagan Fund Award recipient Sonia Pierre, Cambodian activist Arn Chorn Pond, and human rights strategist Debra Liang-Fenton. New programming included a human rights career forum, a workshop on building organizational diversity and a "teach-in" on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

Special events included the first Amnesty International Film Festival in Pittsburgh, an ambitious one-week showcase featuring 13 new films related to human rights issues. The festival sold out in several screenings and was successful in attracting an audience diverse in ages, ethnic backgrounds, and occupations.

Over 400 activists walked solemnly through the streets of Pittsburgh in a candlelit vigil to remember the victims of violent crime and bring attention to international human rights standards violated by the US death penalty system. Speaking passionately about recent developments in the abolition movement, Bianca Jagger asked marchers to imagine a world with no death penalty and encouraged them to take steps to further impact change.

The New McCarthyism: A Dialogue about Human Rights and National Security, was a special event at The Andy Warhol Museum featuring Executive Director William F. Schulz, Bianca Jagger, and its museum director Thomas Sokolowski. Cambodian-American musical guests Seasia performed at the event as well as during the opening ceremonies of the conference, including their inspiring cover of John Lennon's anthem Imagine.

Resolutions passed by the AGM and to be reviewed by the Board include affirmative steps to recruit, empower, and service youth members; dedication of a day of remembrance to victims of political violence; a resolution calling for an update of Amnesty International's findings based on new evidence on the Mumia Abdul-Jamal capital case; the integration of human rights violations related to discrimination against people who are or perceived to be LGBT in ongoing AIUSA campaigns against discrimination, and recognition of Barbara Bocek for her dedication to human rights.

AGM 2003 had multiple opportunities to develop, utilize, and showcase student activism. Approximately 50 students from local campuses took part in ambitious projects to create posters profiling the impact of HIV/AIDS on human rights and to prepare case studies/profiles on other NGOs and their ESCR work as a framework for the ESCR Teach-in and panel. Local students were also involved in a project to outreach to young professionals networks, area churches and development groups and to compile a database of contact information for outreach to future events. Global AIDS was chosen as the thematic basis of the national week of student action. Students made AIDS quilts that were displayed at the Closing Plenary which can be used at fall regional conferences and possibly future AI HIV/AIDS related work.

Advancements to becoming a more multicultural organization were also present in several ways, including a full day workshop, Building a Culture of Diversity in AIUSA; a brown bag lunch increasing membership awareness about the Ralph J. Bunche Fellowship and introducing current fellows' projects; and a working group for Latino/a members to analyze the situation and challenges of the Latino community in AIUSA. On-site child care services were provided for the first time in many years.

The next AGM will take place in New York City, March 26-28, 2004.

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