Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Amnesty AGM in Winnipeg
Interestingly, the University itself is part of a human rights campaign on behalf of a young Iranian woman who has been sentenced to death for murder. Nazanin Fatehi killed one of her three attackers during an attempted rape by three men (she was 17 years old). Go here if you'd like to sign an online petition to come to the aid of Nazanin. For all kinds of reasons, this is extremely wrong (the sentence, not the petition).
Someone asked me yesterday how I cope with my particular load of 'heavy' information. You know, human rights, the environment, Stephen Harper, George Bush, indigestion... all of it! Sometimes I don't cope that well, but most of the time, I find these things keep me sane and pretty happy:
- solitude
- literature
- nature
- children
- writing
- humour
- friends and family
- inspiring people and stories
It's all about the focus - where we put our minds, so go our hearts.
I can no more ignore a problem infront of me than I could choose not to breath, but I can only do so much, and hope my choices will affect others, or at least my children. Even one starfish at a time, it is worth it.
"I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." ~ Stephan Grellet
The case of this Iranian woman seems to be attracting a lot of attention as it involves a larger issue...
Your list says so much what means to really live...
Yes Tina - pets are a great addition to the list.
I do not wish to play down genuine fears, but compared to previous ages, I think societal views are injustifably fearful. I remember my daughter travelling around Australia at relatively young age, on her own. A dangerous thing to do in Australia, to day isn’t it, compared to 30 years ago? In fact it’s no more dangerous! But I lay bets every person you asked would say it’s exceedingly more dangerous!! It’s just the way we are in the 21st Century, to be more fearful. How about Amnesty considering a manifesto to engage public debate on issues of vision and wellbeing additional to important human rights abuses.
Best wishes
The new Canadian government is passing new laws to 'get tough on crime' - you all know them (harsher penalties etc). Guess what? Violent crime in Canada has declined in the past 20 years, including the murder rate.
The number of casualties in war and armed conflict has defined greatly in the past 10 years - honest.
MOst of us (on this site) will live longer, healthier, more affluent lives, filled with great opporunity than our parents or grandparents did.
Yes, there are things to be concerned about and things to fight/work for and against. I agree with you though and in Amnesty I used the language of 'promoting and fostering a culture that respects human rights' more than the language of 'fight against..'
The list on this post could also be seen as a 'unplug from the cloud of fear' list, couldn't it?
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