Weekly Action and News 15/12/2023
Manchester Amnesty Weekly Action and News
Please do this action and make a difference
As members will know, this week, the government managed to get their bill declaring Rwanda a safe place to send asylum seekers through its second reading in the House of Commons. Sacha Deshmukh, CEO of Amnesty International UK called the bill “a sad assault on the rule of law and the protection of human rights in this country,” and called for it to be dropped in its entirety. As well as being inhumane, the bill is likely to be unworkable. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has started this petition to call on the government to abandon its plans to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda. You can sign it by clicking on the link below.
***THIS EVENING*** MANCHESTER AMNESTY SILENT VIGIL
Ninth Silent vigil calling for a permanent ceasefire
and the protection of all civilians in Palestine and Israel
St Peters Square, Manchester, Friday 15th December, 5pm to 6pm
Meet in front of Central Library (next to Father Christmas)
Look for the Manchester Amnesty yellow banner.
Please dress warmly, wear black/dark colours
and please do not bring placards, banners or flags.
We will provide placards with Amnesty’s messages and tealights.
Crisis in Israel and Palestine
Members are invited to a special online meeting on Thursday, 11th January at 7pm to review our vigils for Palestine/Israel and the other actions we have taken, and to plan for further activities. All are welcome. Please let alison.wearden@gmail.com know if you plan to attend the meeting, or if can’t attend but want your email to be included in the group list.
Write for Rights 2023
We finished our Write for Rights campaign this year with a convivial group meeting at Central Library writing cards, drinking mulled wine, and eating festive nibbles. We’ve had a busy season, with stalls at the Cathedral, Central Library and People’s History Museum. All told, we got 118 solidarity cards and 27 appeals done, a 36% increase on last year.
A big thanks to all who turned out to help!
Even though we got more cards done than last year, overall the stalls did not get much interest from the passing public and we are thinking about how to do things differently for Write for Rights in 2024. Any ideas gratefully received – anne.walker9@ntlwolrd.com.
You can still do your own solidarity messages and appeals as the campaign runs until the end of January. Find out more about Write for Rights and download the campaign booklet at https://www.amnesty.org.uk/write-rights-2023-get-started
Save the date Wednesday, February 21st, 2024
We will be having a craft stall at the People’s History Museum.
Please let Kathryn Fletcher know if you can help. bussk@btinternet.com
Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine and other organisations
will be holding their weekly demonstration against the killing in Palestine in
Platt Fields park, Rusholme, M14 5LL, next to the Costume Museum
this Saturday 16th December, from 12.00-14.00.
Please support this event, but as always, we ask you to do this as a private person and not to take Amnesty banners or logos. Thankyou.
*****TONIGHT Friday 15 December, from 6.45pm for prompt 7pm start*****
Rethink Rebuild Society invites you to a screening of
OBJECTOR (2019), a film about Atalya Ben-Abba, an Israeli army refuser, directed by Molly Stuart
The film will be followed by Q&A with Atalya Ben-Abba herself on Zoom from Israel
Runtime 75mins; Certificate 12; In English / Hebrew, with Arabic subtitles
Rethink Rebuild Society (the Syrian Community of Manchester),
First Floor, Discovery House, Crossley Rd, Levenshulme, Manchester SK4 5BH
Tickets not needed, just turn up, but please don’t be late!
Good news
Nepal - On December 5, 2023, a court convicted 26 defendants, belonging to a dominant caste, for the murder of six young men belonging to the oppressed Dalit caste. The 26 had assaulted a group of Dalits claiming that one of them was having an affair with a girl from the ruling caste.
Italy - On 5 December 2023, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Italian government to immediately transfer a child detained since 24 June in degrading material conditions and in a situation of severe isolation from the Sant'Anna reception centre in Isola Capo Rizzuto. The appeal in favour of the minor had been filed by the Association for Legal Studies on Immigration.
Israel / Occupied Palestinian Territories - On December 8, 2023, Italian-Palestinian student Khaled El Qaisi was able to leave Israel. Arrested on 31 August by Israeli security forces, for reasons never disclosed, at the border with Jordan, he was transferred and arbitrarily detained in an Israeli prison and then released on 1 October but with a ban on expatriation.
Manchester Amnesty issue and campaign coordinators
Anti-racism –Hazel Errey hazelerrey@gmail.com
Craftivism – Lima Al-Iskalachi limazakoor@gmail.com
Europe/ Turkey Fatih Segmen - fsegmen@yahoo.com
Human Rights in the UK Lancine Sacko - sacko10@hotmail.co.uk
Individuals at Risk (bi-monthly appeal writing drop ins) - Anne Walker anne.walker9@ntlworld.com
Manchester Central Library café, 2-4pm 4th Saturdays January, March, May, July, September, November
Israel's Apartheid Against Palestinians - Mike Reed mikewreed101@gmail.com
LGBTQ+ and Pride coordinator – Zoe Song weiyi.zoe.song@gmail.com
Press freedom and Julian Assange – Lima Al-Iskalachi limazakoor@gmail.com
Refugees – Alison Wearden alison.wearden@gmail.com
UAE – Kathryn Fletcher bussk@btinternet.com
Our website Manchester | Amnesty International UK
Communications Secretary
Manchester Group of Amnesty International
Please contact me with items for our Weekly Action and News email, or with ideas for longer articles for the quarterly Manchester Amnesty Group Bulletin.
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