Week after week, and term after term, the cases come in to the Dartmouth Chapter of Amnesty International, and Amnesty members meet weekly to write for justice. Why write letters? It can seem a little pointless, maybe even a waste of time and effort, for even the most dedicated participant to write a letter to protest the abuses of an unheeding government on the other side of the world. Most of the letters go unanswered, probably thrown unopened straight into the trash, but sometimes our pleas are heeded and change occurs. It is for these instances of change that we write.
"When the first two hundred letters came, the guards gave me back my clothes. Then the next two hundred letters came, and the prison director came to see me. When the next pile of letters arrived, the director got in touch with his superior. The letters kept coming and coming: three thousand of them. The President was informed. The letters still kept arriving, and the President called the prison and told them to let me go." These are the words of a prisoner of conscience from the Dominican Republic who was released through the efforts of Amnesty International.
Other prisoners of conscience have similar stories to share. A released prisoner from Vietnam said: "We could always tell when international protests were taking place - the food rations increased and the beatings were fewer. Letters from abroad were translated and passed around from cell to cell, but when the letters stopped, the dirty food and repression started again."
"For years I was held in a tiny cell. My only human contact was with my torturers. My only company were the cockroaches and mice. On Christmas Eve the door to my cell opened and the guard tossed in a crumpled piece of paper. It said, 'Take heart. The world knows you're alive. We're with you. Regards, Monica, Amnesty International.' That letter saved my life," from a released prisoner of conscience from Paraguay.
Such is the power of an action that only takes a few minutes from our comfortable world here in Hanover. Amnesty International members send letters, cards, telegrams, faxes and e-mails on behalf of individual prisoners to government officials every week. Our constant action generates effective pressure on government officials and agencies. The Dartmouth Chapter of Amnesty is extremely active and committed to the belief that only when people are made aware of the various human rights violations will they be able and willing to act in defense of the fundamental rights of all people.
Amnesty is an independent worldwide movement working for the international protection of human rights. It seeks the release of prisoners of conscience -- people detained because of their beliefs, color, sex, ethnic origin, language or religious creed, provided they have not used nor advocated violence. Amnesty also educates about and seeks the end of other human rights abuses. The Tucker Foundation has sponsored the Dartmouth Chapter of Amnesty International since its inception more than three decades ago.
Dartmouth's Amnesty International Chapter meets every Tuesday at 8:30 pm in the Tucker Foundation Lounge.
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