Skip to main content

When writing saves lives

Amnesty International has an enviable reputation. It's letter writing to prisoners of conscience and publicly agitating for human rights is well know. But what difference does a written letter actually make?

Mahendra Kusuma Wardhana - a former prisoner of conscience - has a personal experience of how much difference Amnesty letter writing campaigns can make.

Wardhana writes in "Writing saves lives" on the New Statesman of his experience:

"This week marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – the document that led to the foundation of Amnesty International. To mark the anniversary, Amnesty is calling on everyone to send a greetings card to show solidarity and support to a prisoner of conscience or a human rights activist or organisation.

But how much can writing one card make a difference? How much can such a tiny gesture really change things? The answer is far greater than you can ever imagine.

I should know. I was a prisoner of conscience in my native Indonesia and received more than 4,000 cards of support during my time in custody.

That simple act of solidarity had a real impact for me.

My crime had been to take part in an anti-government demonstration to complain about their decision to dramatically raise fuel prices. As part of the protest, photographs of the president and vice-president were burnt. I was jailed for three years for this “offence” and was tortured.

Shortly afterwards, Amnesty International labelled me a Prisoner of Conscience and featured me in their Greetings Card Campaign.

Once the cards started to arrive, the prison guards were more careful in dealing with me. It also helped me to know that I had lots of support. I was convinced that what I did was not criminal and it was important to me to know that other people believed that too."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t
Post a Comment
Read more

The NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) goes on hold.....because of one non-Treaty member (Israel)

Isn't there something radically wrong here?    Israel, a non-signatory to the NPT has, evidently, been the cause for those countries that are Treaty members, notably Canada, the US and the UK, after 4 weeks of negotiation, effectively blocking off any meaningful progress in ensuring the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.    IPS reports ..... "After nearly four weeks of negotiations, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference ended in a predictable outcome: a text overwhelmingly reflecting the views and interests of the nuclear-armed states and some of their nuclear-dependent allies. “The process to develop the draft Review Conference outcome document was anti-democratic and nontransparent,” Ray Acheson, director, Reaching Critical Will, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), told IPS. “This Review Conference has demonstrated beyond any doubt that continuing to rely on the nuclear-armed states or their nuclear-dependent allies for l
Post a Comment
Read more

#1 Prize for a bizarre story.....and lying!

No comment called for in this piece from CommonDreams: Another young black man: The strange sad case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas  stopped  him and two friends, found some marijuana, searched put Carter, then put him handcuffed  behind his back  into their patrol car, where they say he  shot himself  in the head with a gun they failed to find. The FBI is investigating. Police Chief Michael Yates, who stands behind his officers' story,  says in an interview  that the death is "definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance." You think?
Post a Comment
Read more