Amnesty International Write For Rights, 11am to 4pm, Saturday 9 December 2023 at Kitchener Public Library

What: Amnesty International Write For Rights
When: 11:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday 9 December 2023
Where: Kitchener Public Library, Meeting Room D
Location: 85 Queen Street North, Kitchener, Ontario Map 1
E-mail: groupnine9@gmail.com

Write For Rights -- Amnesty International
 
Children are welcome!

Write for Rights is the world’s largest human rights event. It’s a moment when Amnesty International’s 7 million supporters around the world join together in a letter-writing blitz calling on governments to respect human rights!

Drop in and find out about the 11 cases we are highlighting this year. You can make a difference by signing letters and petitions to governments defending the rights of refugees, women, indigenous peoples, and human rights workers!

A letter from the organizers

Hello,

We hope to see you soon at our first in-person Write for Rights event since COVID!!! This year it will be held in KPL Room D Saturday December 9 from 11am to 4pm.

We will be joining together with Amnesty International’s millions of supporters around the world in a letter-writing blitz calling on governments to respect the rights of eleven selected groups and individuals at risk.

We have had many successes over the years including the release of political prisoners, the ending of torture in specific cases and in bringing human rights offenders to justice.

We are including a package so that you can print and sign letters in advance and bring them to the event. Then when you arrive, you can focus on creating cards of support for the individuals at risk. We will have cards and art materials available for you to use.

We are also including a young people’s activity package — so if you are a parent, teacher, grandparent and have some time to sit down with your young person — you can create a card of support for indigenous Torres Strait islanders and bring it to our event. Take a picture of your activity and send it to groupnine9@gmail.com so that we can post it to our Facebook page. The young person’s activity will also be available at the KPL event as well as a creative activity for younger children!!

At our regular meeting on Tuesday, 5 December 2023 we’ll be firming up plans for the event as well as signing letters — so if you have downloaded and printed the package, please bring your letters to the meeting.

Helpful information about the event:

  1. If you are coming to the KPL by car, you can park for free in the open-air lot to the east of the Library. If you park underground you’ll have to pay.
  2. Room D is on the lower level. Food brought from outside is not allowed. If you wish to have something you can purchase it at the café upstairs.
  3. If you are printing your own letters at home and do not want to bring them to the Library on the 9th, you can drop them off in the W4R box which will be on the front steps at 97 John Street West Map 2 from 10-17 December. In either case, please do NOT put your letters in individual envelopes. Fold each letter in half and write the country to which it is being sent on the outside. Please have all your letters in a single large envelope with your name on the outside, or held together with a rubber band and a label giving your name.

Take care,
David and Margaret

PS — If you want to edit your letters please send a request to groupnine9@gmail.com and we will send you a WORD version.

Group 9 Amnesty International (Waterloo Region) Write for Rights campaign starting December 1, 2021

Write For Rights -- Amnesty International
Amnesty International — Write For Rights
Dear Group Nine Human Rights Supporters,

For many years now Group Nine Amnesty International (Kitchener-Waterloo) has actively participated in Write for Rights on Human Rights Day December 10. We have joined with Amnesty International’s seven million supporters around the world in a letter-writing blitz calling on governments to respect the rights of selected individuals at risk. We have had many successes over the years including the release of political prisoners, the ending of torture in specific cases and in bringing human rights offenders to justice.

This year while human rights abuses continue worldwide, COVID-19 again makes an in-person event impossible.

In spite of that constraint, last year together we took over 300 actions in our “Ten Days for Human Rights” at-home campaign.

This year, we hope you join us again to produce a mountain of letters and sign online actions to let governments know that we are still watching, and send messages of support and encouragement to those who are in the front lines of the struggle for human rights.

Here is the Group Nine Write for Rights 2021 letter writing plan:

Ten Days for Human Rights!!!

There are two ways in which you can participate in the letter and card actions:

  1. by sending individual actions yourself (by post and/or online) at your cost,
  2. by collecting all your letters and cards for us to send by bulk mail at our cost. We will also have some in-person outdoor photo opportunities for sharing messages of support on social media and a small group indoor socially distanced card- making gathering (more on that separately).

Each day from Dec 1 to 10, Group 9 will send you an email giving background information on one case, a sample letter, a link for an online action, and a suggestion for a supportive action (usually a card) that you can take. We will repeat this each day for 10 days to cover all the cases.

Option 1 – If you are sending individual actions:

Each day, participants will complete and mail the letter and card – as well as getting their “bubbles” to do the same. Please keep a record of the number of cards, letters and online actions sent for each case (including cc’s).

On December 11th, we will send out an email to everyone asking each of you to send in the number and type of actions you and your bubble have completed for each case.

Option 2 – If you would prefer to have your letters and cards included in a Group Nine bulk mailing:

Collect your letters and cards during the ten days so that you can make one delivery. Please do not use an envelope for each letter or card. Rather, fold your letter once and write the name of the recipient and country on the outside. Do the same on the outside of the card. Put them all in one large envelope or wrap with a rubber band and include a slip with your name so that we can keep a record. Mary and David will provide a drop-off box at their front door in Waterloo from Dec 10 to Dec 15. They will quarantine the letters, organize them by recipient and then mail them in bulk.

Email groupnine9@gmail.com for the drop off address and directions.

If you would like to make a contribution towards postage costs for the bulk mailing, please send an e-transfer to groupnine9@gmail.com

We know that this is much more lonely work than coming out to Seven Shores Café to write letters together and socialize over coffee and delicious treats, but we hope that you will involve your “bubble” in creating a mountain of cards and letters for Ten Days for Human Rights!!!

We’ll keep you posted about our possible in-person events via separate emails.

Your first case letter will arrive on December 1.

Thank you for your support for human rights!

David and Margaret for Group 9

Group Nine is the local chapter of Amnesty International Canada in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. We normally meet at 7:30 pm on the first Tuesday of every month in *Room 4224 (The Fretz Seminar Room) at Conrad Grebel College*, University of Waterloo (140 Westmount Road North, Waterloo N2L 3G6). Please confirm by email or on our Facebook page..

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmnestyInternationalGroup9/

Website: https://www.amnesty.ca

E-mail: groupnine9@gmail.com

Amnesty International: Write for Rights — Saturday, 5 December 2015

Write For Rights -- Amnesty International
Amnesty International — Write For Rights
Here is the poster for the December Write for Rights event of Amnesty International Group Nine. Please distribute it as widely as you can, either electronically or in printed form.

The seven cases upon which we will be focusing this year can be found at www.writeathon.ca. If you want to bring printed letters with you to Seven Shores on the 5th, we’ll be happy to mail them for you. If you send them yourself, either by post or electronically, please let us know so that we can get a count of the total sent from Group 9 (Amnesty Canada asks us for this).

Many thanks to all,

David Lubell and Margaret Jackson


What will you be doing to change a life?

Write For Rights - Amnesty InternationalI will be writing letters of solidarity to prisoners of conscience on International Human Rights Day

Join Amnesty International’s Write for Rights letter writing event and your words can change a life.

Time and Date: December 5th, Noon to 4:00pm

Location:
Seven Shores Cafe Map
10 Regina Street North, Waterloo

Contact: groupnine@gmail.com
Facebook: Amnesty International Kitchener Waterloo Chapter, Group 9

Take Part: www.writeathon.ca

Film about Missing Mexican Students — Cinema Politica, Wednesday, 23 September 2015 at 7:00pm

Almost missed this. Via e-mail:

Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2015 13:24:09 -0400
Subject: Film about Missing Mexican Students
From: Group Nine <groupnine9@gmail.com>

Here’s an event not to miss: Cinema Politica is showing Ayotzinapa: Chronicle of a State Crime in room 301 of the RCH Building at the University of Waterloo on Wednesday, 23 September 2015 at 7:00pm. This film is an exposé of the Mexican police and military authorities in the armed kidnapping and disappearance of 43 students. This is one of the cases that Group 9 featured at our table this summer.

Ayotzinapa: Chronicle of a State Crime | cinema politica


This is the official Group Nine e-mail address.

Group Nine is the local chapter of Amnesty International Canada in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. We normally meet at 7:30 pm on the first Tuesday of every month in Room 4224 (The Fretz Seminar Room) at Conrad Grebel College, University of Waterloo (140 Westmount Road North, Waterloo N2L 3G6). Please confirm by email or on our Facebook page.

www.amnesty.ca
groupnine9@gmail.com

Peace Quest KW Hosts Panel Discussion “Is War Ever Black and White?” — 30 April 2015

Is War Ever Black and White?
Is War Ever Black and White?
For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Emily Mininger, e.mininger@gmail.com

Local Peace Group Hosts Panel Discussion “Is War Ever Black and White?”

By Emily Mininger
April 14, 2015

Waterloo, ON — Local peace group PeaceQuest KW is hosting a panel discussion event “Is War Ever Black and White? Recolourizing the Reality of War on April 30th at Stirling Mennonite Church.” This free public event is features speakers Marlene Epp, professor of History and Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Waterloo; John Siebert, Executive Director of Project Ploughshares; and Andrew Thompson, Director, Amnesty International Canada Board.

As we are currently in the midst of commemorating the 100th anniversary of World War I, PeaceQuest wants to use this as an opportunity to raise conversations about working towards peace. April 22nd- May 25th marks the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of 2nd Ypres, and so PeaceQuest KW seeks to hold a conversation about the complex nature of war around this prominent anniversary. To quote PeaceQuest KW facilitator Emily Mininger, “Instead of glorifying our past conflicts, we should be motivated by horrific violence to ensure that it never happens again. PeaceQuest encourages Canadians to reflect on how we can learn from these tragedies to build a brighter future.”

Much of the time, news and popular media, war is painted as a black and white image- us vs. them, evil vs. good, hero vs. villain. As we’re commemorating the 100th anniversary of WWI, the “Great War” is often depicted as a just and noble war in which we heroically defeated the evils of the Central Powers. But is that really the case? Can a conflict that caused the deaths of over 9 million combatants and 7 million citizens truly be noble?

This panel discussion hopes to dig into a complicated reality, as we replace the monochromatic commemorative narrative with a full colour version that illustrates the true complexity of war from WWI to our present conflicts.

This event is being hosted in collaboration with PeaceQuest, Stirling Mennonite Church’s Peace and Justice Working Group, the MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement at Conrad Grebel University College, and Educators for Justice.

-end of release-

Is War Ever Black and White? Recolourizing the Reality of War
Poster – Is War Ever Black and White?

Download poster (.PDF file, 535 KBytes)

Facebook page: Is War Ever Black and White? Recolourizing the Reality of War | Facebook

Group Nine of Amnesty International in KW meeting, 7pm Monday 29 Sept 2014

From the Group Nine mailing list:

Group Nine Meeting

Amnesty International CanadaThe meeting will be on Monday, 29 September, 7PM, room 1301, at Conrad Grebel on the east side of Westmount Drive just north of University Avenue.

Parking is free and, for those who need it, there are several accessible spaces just in front of the main door.

Our main agenda item will be organizing for the Write-for-Rights event in December. This always occurs on or near Human Rights Day which is on the 10th. Nancy Bernhardt can no longer organize these, but she will be there on the 29th to advise anyone else who can volunteer.

One of the items to be discussed is the invitation from Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel to give a one hour presentation on Group Nine and Amnesty International to their brown bag lunch series. I’ve tentatively set this for November 20th.

If there are any other items you’d like to have on the agenda, please let me know ASAP. In general, I see this as an opportunity for all of us to get to know each other and make plans for the coming year. New members are always welcome!

Hope to see you on the 29th!

David Lubell

groupnine9@gmail.com is the offical Group Nine e-mail address. Group Nine is the local chapter of Amnesty International Kitchener-Waterloo and area.

Website for Group Nine : *under reconstruction*
Amnesty International Canada: http://www.amnesty.ca