Amherst Bulletin: Human Rights Day event honors late leader Spiegelman

 By SCOTT MERZBACH
Staff Writer

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

• Amherst MA

AMHERST — Human Rights Day, the commemoration of the United Nations adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, will be marked in Amherst next month, as the local chapter of Amnesty International honors the service of the late Martha Spiegelman, its leader for the past decade until her death Nov. 10.

The Human Rights Day program is set to take place at the Jones Library’s Woodbury Room on Dec. 9 from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

Spiegelman, who died from pancreatic cancer at the Hospice of the Fisher Home, will be recognized for overseeing Amherst Chapter 128 and her many activist pursuits, including marches and protests for gun control and for peaceful solutions to war, weekly tabling for Amnesty International, sponsoring letter-writing to prisoners of conscience, and financial support of organizations such as the Media Education Foundation.

A native of New York City, Spiegelman began her career teaching chemistry and biology, last employed at Smith College.

With her husband, Irwin, Spiegelman founded the Thomas Paine Friends group that sponsored regular events calling attention to injustices and human rights issues, emanating from the spirit of Paine’s works.

Amnesty International’s Amherst Chapter 128 was founded in 1978 by two Amherst College seniors before the reins were handed to Professor George Greenstein. Then, a small group convened at the Bangs Community Center on the first Monday of every month. The group’s first case was Indonesian labor leader Abdul Rachman, followed by the case of Zhang Jingzheng, a dissenter in China. Other early cases included actions from Central America and Eastern Europe.

The chapter still organizes several events in which the public takes part, including the annual Human Rights Day program, at least one “Write-for-Rights” activity every year, a torture awareness demonstration in June and the Human Rights Art Exhibit at the Jones Library, showcasing pieces done by Amherst Regional Middle School students inspired by the 30 articles of the Declaration of Human Rights.

That exhibit will be on display in the Jones throughout December. Students and teachers involved in the creation of the exhibit will make short presentations at the Human Rights Day event.

 Read Article Here.

 

 

Honor Human Rights Day

  

Martha Spiegelman (center)

Sat 12/9/2023 @ 1:30 pm, Woodbury Romm, Jones Library: 43 Amity St, Amherst, MA 01002

Come honor this global Human Rights Day by celebrating the life and service of our beloved local Amnesty International Coordinator (1936-2023).

    Martha, who has led our group with so much wisdom and energy for the past decade, succumbed to pancreatic cancer on November 10th at the Hospice of the Fisher Home in Amherst. We miss her so much.

Please, if you wish, share any memories or appropriate readings, poems or music in her honor. What     Martha would love is a discussion of current injustices and human rights abuses and triumphs.

Also, Amherst Regional Middle School students will mark their 10th year of creating beautiful and meaningful artwork based on the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that were written by Eleanor Roosevelt. The exhibit will be on display in the Jones Library during the month of December. Students and teachers will make a short presentation at this event in honor of this remarkable 10th anniversary.

 

    In addition, note that Martha and her spouse Irwin Spiegelman found Thomas Paine Friends (www.thomas-paine-friends.org and www.facebook.com/thomaspainefriends) with which they sponsored regular events calling attention to injustices and human rights issues emanating from the spirit of the writings of Thomas Paine. We so hope to be able to connect with Thomas Paine members on December 9th.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 75

 Come to celebrate with us on Sat 12/9 at Jones Library (Downstairs) @ 1:30 pm

10 December 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of one of the world's most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This landmark document enshrines the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being - regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

The Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 and sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.  

Available in more than 500 languages, it is the most translated document in the world.

A year-long initiative focusing on universality, progress and engagement, will culminate in a high-level event in December 2023, which will announce global pledges and ideas for a vision for the future of human rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights.

2023 Theme: Freedom, Equality and Justice for All

 

Youth and Human Rights 75 initiative

Our Summer Activities

 At the Amherst Farmers Market... 

Martha Spiegelman, AI Group Coordinator, checking the new book of Prof Joe Wronka :Human Rights and Social Justice". He donated one copy to the Group

Prof Wronka is very active in advocating and teaching human rights in the area and was a keynote speaker at the Human Rights Day event few times.

UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 26 June

 

"Torturers must never be allowed to get away with their crimes, and systems that enable torture should be dismantled or transformed."

UN Secretary-General António Guterres

 

Why do we mark 26 June?

The UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on 26 June marks the moment in 1987 when the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, one of the key instruments in fighting torture, came into effect. Today, there are 173 State parties to the Convention.

Read more ... 

 

 

Human Rights Day Program

 

For Immediate Release:

 RENOWNED POET AND ACTIVIST MAGDALENA GÓMEZ TO SPEAK IN AMHERST

ON RIGHTS OF THE CHILD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DAY, DECEMBER 10TH

 Contact: Martha Spiegelman, spiegelmanmartha@gmail.com

 

Human Rights Day Program, Saturday, December 10, 2022, 1 to 3:30 PM,

 

in the Woodbury Room, Jones Library, 43 Amity Street, Amherst MA,

 

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

 

The Amherst Chapter of Amnesty International, moved by Magdalena Gomez’s lifelong commitment to human rights and her connection with the rights of the child, has invited her, the recent poet laureate of

Springfield (2019-2022), to speak on Human Rights Day. Gomez’s talk: Rights of the Child/ Voice of the

Child: An Urgent Listening, draws from her childhood memoir, Mi’ja: A Memoir Noir (Heliotrope Books, NYC). Gomez will address how each of us can champion child rights, beginning with our own communities.

Gómez is the daughter of a Spanish Roma immigrant, and a Puerto Rican mother, and examines the societal roots of child violation. Gomez’s theatrical, poetic and provocative background promises a rousing presentation.

 During December, as well, the Student Human Rights Art Exhibit, now in its ninth year, created by Amherst Regional Middle School students, will be on display in the Jones Library. Students have created artworks inspired by the United Nation’s 30 articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They will make a short presentation in the program on December 10th.

 Human Rights Day, December 10th, commemorates the date, in 1948, that the United Nations approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was largely through the efforts of Eleanor Roosevelt, first U.S. delegate to the UN and chairperson of the committee, that we have this crucial founding document which was unanimously approved by UN members. On the heels of the atrocities of World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt was determined to meet the need for identifying basic human rights for all people. The UDHR is recognized today as having paved the way for the adoption of more than 70 human rights treaties at both regional and global levels.

 Moreover, the Human Rights Day observance in Amherst calls to attention another significant UN document, The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN in 1989. The Convention has been ratified by every nation except the U.S.  At this forum, we will discuss the question and U.S resistance to ratifying this important document. 

__________________________________________________________________________________

      Magdalena Gómez is an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow (2021-2022) and the Springfield      Poet Laureate (2019-2022) Her poems have been set to music and performed Off-Broadway and across the U.S.; Montreal, and Paris. She toured the U.S.as a jazz poet with Chinese-American composer and baritone saxophonist, the late Fred Ho, for a decade. Venues for her poetry performances have included Lincoln Center, NYC; The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM); Union Theater, Wisconsin; The Los Angeles Theater Company; Gala Theater, in Washington D.C.; the San Francisco State Poetry Center, and the Montreal Jazz Festival. In 2018 she received a New England Public Media Arts and Humanities Award.

     Her recently published memoir noir, Mi’ja, Heliotrope Books, NYC, has been hailed by readers and scholars across the US and Europe:  “Gómez’s masterpiece heals as it startles, a chronology of nuestra America from the vantage point of the South Bronx in the last quarter of the 20th Century. ---Dr. Benjamin Barson, composer, musician and Fulbright-García Robles Scholar.

Our First Zoom Meeting !

 

 

Poet/Magdalena Gomez

Dear Amnesty group,

 Thank you for a good meeting today .. it was our first Zoom meeting since this Amnesty Chapter started in 1978 (yes, we are 44 years old) ...

Here are the main points discussed and agreed upon:

• We are inviting all members to come out and participate in the the Information Table at the Farmers Market on  Sat September 3 (10:30-12). This is the time when we usually meet new students and recruit members.
  Action: Fanny, Alexis, Hamror, Martha, and Mohamed
  
• Fundraiser: Our bank balance is $277.23 and this is not enough to run our activities. Few members suggested different ideas to feed our bank account and Magda's suggestion was adopted that every member to donate $5-$20 or more.
  Action: people will bring donation to the Information Table on 9/3 @ 10:30-Noon or mail their checks to Martha or Mohamed (address below).
• Human Rights Day on Sat 12/10: diverse topics and speakers were discussed and a consensus agreement was on  play writer/poet/women rights activist Magdalena Gomez as the first choice.   Few other options were discussed including: Children and youth forum (Tamador); The Lost Boys/Girls (Alexis); Former Chair of Amherst Human Rights Commission Reynolds Winslow (Magda).   
  Action 1): Martha (and Fanny/Mohamed) to contact Magdalena and see her availability on 12/10
  Action 2): Martha to book the main Jones Library room for the event 
  
• The Group Facebook page needs more traffic and postings from the members: Mohamed to post this meeting on our FB page and other activities ... pls be active and share human rights topics on the page
  

Thank again for our members at large (Tamador and Ismail)  :)

Pls let me know if I missed any point

Highlights of the HRD event

 A great event  and good discussion of the four speakers at the event ...

 

 

    

   

 

Human Rights Day 2021

In preparation of the Human Rights Day event in less than 2 weeks (Sat Dec 11 @ 1pm ), we would like to share and reflect on some of the great accomplishments of our Amherst Chapter (more than 43 years of defending human rights around the world).

Come and celebrate with us ... we have a great program of diverse speakers and talents 

A HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED ECONOMY CAN BREAK CYCLES OF POVERTY

"Rampant poverty, pervasive inequalities and structural discrimination are human rights violations and among the greatest global challenges of our time. Addressing them effectively requires measures grounded in human rights, renewed political commitment and participation of all, especially those most affected. We need a new social contract which more fairly shares power, resources and opportunities and sets the foundations of a sustainable human rights-based economy."

 

 

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. [...] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

  -Eleanor Roosevelt

 

This last summer and fall witnessed lot of events and activites of our Amnesty chapter compared to last year (COVID-19) ... The pictures here reflect some of the Farmers Market petition signing

We look forward to your participation  on Dec 11 @ the Jones Library 1:15-3:30pm

We are Back ....

 

We are back at the Amherst Farmers Market ... we had a good tabling activity today with 2 potential new members (young and enthusiastic) ... we discussed a tentative plan to recruit more members and spread the word of human rights wide ... we discussed sending a new representative to cover the Human Rights Commission of Amherst Town.. we discussed doing more presentations at the High and Middle schools to recruit young members ... We are optimist about the summer and fall activities ...
Come an join us ...

 

June 26 at the Farmers Market in Amherst .. we observed the UN International Day for Torture Survivors.. we got a visit from the human rights expert, Prof Suleiman Baldo, who served in many human rights orgs before: HRW, ICTJ, Enough Project , The Sentry and many other Think Tank Org around the world. 

Mohamed Elgadi, speaking at a Zoom Meeting

 Our Celebration of the Torture Survivors Day was also by participating in a Zoom meeting of human rights group in Australia in which our member Mohamed Elgadi gave a presentation for 35 min followed by Q&A session

 

Amherst Chapter & IRAN

Many of human rights or ordinary citizens who stop by our Information Table at the Farmers Market may have this question in their mind: why the Amherst Chapter of Amnesty highlight the human rights of Iran with more focus than other Chapters? 

Why our current and previous adopted Prisoner of Conscience (POC) is from Iran? The main annual activity of the group was dedicated to Iran and the keynote speaker was from Iran in 2012.

We do not have any of our current members from Iran however, we have few active members who embrace Islam as religion/culture. These members in particular were/are concerned about the abuse of Islam in the hands of many dictators and Islamist military groups (Sunni or Shi'ite groups). 

 source

Iran Human Rights

Amnesty International has been documenting and campaigning around serious human rights violations in Iran including detention of human rights defenders and other prisoners of conscience, unfair trials, torture and mistreatment in detention, deaths in custody and the application of the death penalty. Iran executes more people than any country in the world, other than China. Ethnic, religious and linguistic minority communities face persistent persecution. The Iranian authorities also suppress freedom of expression of a range of civil society actors including attorneys, scientists, environmental activists, artists, women’s rights activists, trade unionists, journalists and bloggers and those expressing their opinions on social media. There has been a worrying trend of imposing extreme sentences against prisoners of conscience such as human rights attorneys Nasrin Sotoudeh who has been sentenced to a total of 38 years in prison plus 148 lashes and Amirsalar Davoudi, who has been sentenced to 30 years in prison and 111 lashes for his human rights work, including publicizing violations through a channel he set up on the Telegram mobile messaging app and giving media interviews.

Read more...

Human Rights Day: Climate Change

Human Rights Day

 

In a well-attended event, our community in Amherst celebrated the Human Rights Day that was organized by the local chapter of Amnesty International. We hosted a panel on Climate Change. The two distinguished 

speakers were Solomon Goldstein-Rose and Irene LaRoche.

Solomon shared the gloomy picture of climate injustice and what we can do locally and globally to fix it. Irene and her students from Amherst Middle school spoke about the action they are involved with to make this change happens.

The following statement was in the invitation brochure that was circulated in town: 
"Building on the momentum of AI’s participation this fall in the “People’s Summit on Climate, Rights, Human Survival,” we welcome climate expert Solomon Goldstein-Rose and Amherst Regional Middle School social studies teacher Irene LaRoche as panelists, and human rights advocate Mohamed Elgadi as moderator. 

Given that mobilization at the local level to make an impact globally is crucial, they will discuss strategies and actions to address climate injustice. Goldstein-Rose, having served as the youngest member of the Massachusetts legislature from 2017 to 2019, now focuses full-time on climate change. His research has evolved into a framework being published this March in book form as The 100% Solution: A Plan to Solve Climate Change. 

LaRoche is a social studies teacher at Amherst Regional Middle School with a current focus on the intersection of human rights and the climate crisis. For the past six years, she also has guided her students to create remarkable visual artwork inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Each year their work is on exhibit throughout December at the Jones Library in Amherst. 

Elgadi, adjunct faculty at Springfield College, has conducted research and taught in the environmental sciences. He is a longtime activist in the cause of human rights.