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Issue 3, Volume 1, December 2000
Message from the Director | Program News | Program Updates | Case Updates | Hot Spots | FAQs | Action Updates
San Diego Chapters Unite with Sierra Club for Annual Walk for Human Rights
By Kathryn Ford
Group Coordinator, AIUSA #471
More than two hundred people of all ages joined together the evening of December 10th in Oceanside, California for the 12th Annual Candlelight Walk for Human Rights. Originated by the North County-San Diego Chapter of Amnesty, the Walk is held each year on International Human Rights Day at an outdoor amphitheater and pier along the ocean. The theme for this year's event was "Defending the Defenders of the Earth" to highlight the Just Earth! Campaign. The San Diego Chapters co-sponsored the event with the local Sierra Club Chapter. The event was also supported by student volunteers from six North County high school Amnesty chapters.
Upon arrival, each participant was asked to adopt a prisoner for the night, and received a placard to carry bearing information so they could later write a letter. They also received a Just Earth! decal and a letter writing action to take home on Mexican Environmentalists Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia. During a brief reception featuring live Andean music, people flooded tables to sign petitions and gather more information. Following the reception, an hour long program highlighted both the environmental and torture campaigns with three terrific speakers. First, Chicago author John Conroy, author of "Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People" and the "Dynamics of Torture," riveted the audience relating stories about torturers. He was followed by singer-songwriter Harmon Tipton (Hillcrest Chapter) performing an original song written for the Campaign Against Torture. Western Region Deputy Director Elaine Michetti then tied the two campaigns together by relating the story of the torture and imprisonment of Montiel and Cabrera.
Burmese environmentalist and human rights activist Ka Hsaw Wa finally took center stage. In a powerful twenty minutes, he told the stories of his own activities in Burma; his witness to the deaths of friends and horrendous human rights abuses, his own arrest and torture, and his flight into the jungle where he was awakened to the environmental abuse in his country and its link to human rights abuses. He also spoke of his commitment to fight these abuses through non-violent means. Ka Hsaw Wa finished his moving story to a standing ovation.
The program was then followed by the participants portion of the evening. First, people filed by the mike to read the name and country of their prisoner, then all joined in a symbolic candlelight freedom walk on the pier, and many later joined back in the amphitheater to sing a closing song together.
Both major newspapers in San Diego carried advance stories on the Walk and the Just Earth! Campaign, and the local Fox affiliate provided a five minute spot on their morning show. The North County News station KDCI also interviewed Amnesty students about the event. The event itself was filmed by the local cable station in Oceanside, KOCT, and will be edited into an hour program to begin airing on local television in January. The next day, the North County Times featured on the front page a photo of some of the walkers.
The event was an astounding success!
