For September: I Didn't Do It for You : How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation

For September we have chosen Michela Wrong's I Didn't Do It for You : How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation. We are looking forward to learning more about Eritrea to better inform us in our campaign on behalf of prisoner of conscience, Estifanos Seyoum.

Scarred by decades of conflict and occupation, the craggy African nation of Eritrea has weathered the world's longest-running guerrilla war. The dogged determination that secured victory against Ethiopia, its giant neighbor, is woven into the national psyche, the product of cynical foreign interventions. Fascist Italy wanted Eritrea as the springboard for a new, racially pure Roman empire; Britain sold off its industry for scrap; the United States needed a base for its state-of-the-art spy station; and the Soviet Union used it as a pawn in a proxy war.

In I Didn't Do It for You, Michela Wrong reveals the breathtaking abuses this tiny nation has suffered and, with a sharp eye for detail and a taste for the incongruous, tells the story of colonialism itself and how international power politics can play havoc with a country's destiny.

Torture Awareness Month: Extraordinary Rendition Action

First post this month in recognition of Torture Awareness Month. Group 22 members are helping to promote legislation pending in Congress to end the practice of “extraordinary renditions” in which the United States is sending individuals for interrogation to countries with a record of torture. While US laws prohibit these types of transfers, the US Government is reported to have sent or been complicit in sending individuals to countries such as Jordan, Morocco, Syria, and Egypt – countries the US has criticized for practicing torture. Help us out! Urge your Representative to cosponsor and pass H.R. 952, the “Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act” and your Senator to cosponsor and pass S. 654, the “Convention Against Torture Implementation Act." Take action now!

Burma: Human Rights Links

More follow-up to our discussion of Finding George Orwell in Burma;
 
Burma Project -Voices of '88 commemorates the 1988 demonstrations and includes photos, cartoons and poetry.  Burma- Grace Under Pressure is a slick multi-media presentation of photography from contemporary Burma that guides you through the basic human rights issues facing the country. (I quite enjoyed the soundtrack!)

Larkin mentions the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners as her source for information on the experiences of Burmese prisonsers of conscience.  I recommend browsing "Learning Behind Bars" in the Photo Gallery.

Also from Larkin's acknowledgments, here are links to BurmaNet and The Irrawaddy News Magazine Online Edition for more in depth news about Burma.

Last but not least!  Take action:  sign the petition for Ma Khin Khin Leh!

Reading the World

Reading the World is a collaboration of booksellers and publishers to promote international titles, just the kind of books that Rights Readers love to read.  In fact, as part of this promotion, the online journal of literature in translation, Words Without Borders, is sponsoring online discussions of several of the highlighted books, including Rights Readers summer selections, Voices from Chernobyl and The Noodle Maker!  Making a note to check on these discussions once they are underway...

More on Larkin and Orwell

Continuing with the links related to Finding George Orwell in Burma, here is an NPR interview with the author, Emma Larkin.  Larkin was also interviewed for a recent NPR report on the extension of Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest.

Visit this Orwell site  to read the essays, Shooting an Elephant  and A Hanging, mentioned in the book.  Here's a link with some Orwell photo  (try Gallery 2).

Burma: Festivals and Food

I'm very late with this but I am planning a few posts related to last month's book, Finding George Orwell in Burma.  Let's start with the fun links:  Here are pictures of the Water Festival from a few weeks back. (I was intensely envious looking at these last week when it was sweltering here.)  For those curious about Burmese food here are some tempting pictures.  Here's where you can go if you can't resist.

Be Irrepressible!

Just got back from voting in today's primary election and thought my friendly pollworkers were lonely. Too lonely. This post is coming a bit late in the day to boost the turnout, but as I walked back home I thought maybe I should get back to blogging about people who want to vote but can't.

Or how about: want to read the internet and can't. I've added a new feature to the sidebar from Irrespressible.info, a project of Amnesty International - UK which highlights text from web pages that are banned somewhere in the world. Click on the feature to find out more about the excerpt and other action opportunities. These excerpts come from a database of material compiled by the OpenNet Initiative. Check out their cool interactive map on the state of internet censorship worldwide. Too bad the site isn't more explicitly linked to Amnesty-USA's campaign to pressure Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to be responsible corporate citizens regarding censorship in China via shareholder activism and other actions. (So I'm just filling that gap by making the connection for you!)

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