Freedom Challenge is a team-based challenge for NZ youth to take action for human rights. Your mission is to hold an event in support of our Freedom Challenge campaign to raise money and awareness and to recruit people to Amnesty and your group.
This year’s Freedom Challenge theme is human rights in China and the Beijing Olympics. You will be working on behalf of two prisoners of conscience, Chinese journalist Huang Jinqui and housing activist Ye Guozhu. Our 2008 slogan is Don’t Play Games with Human Rights
Freedom Challenge says:
"Questions or suggestions? Theories or queries? You can contact us at youthcampaigner@amnesty.org.n
z or on 0800 AMNESTY " (2 weeks ago) me too!
Music
The Amnesty Instant Karma CD
Films
Invisible Children, Dictator Hunter
Happiest When
Human rights are respected
Heroes
Huang Jinqiu, Ye Guozhu and all human rights defenders
Excuse the silence of last week – Amnesty has been moving house! Our beautiful new office is located on the other side of the city centre, at 68 Grafton Rd. All mail still goes to the same PO Box, but if you’re ever dropping in, expect to find a bulldozed building at the old site!
Rumour has it that the official office opening bash is happening in October. Watch this space for an invite!
China Takes the Podium
Now 13 days into the Olympics, China’s reaction to heavyweight international scrutiny has been mixed.
Amazingly, Amnesty International’s website was unblocked on 1 August by China’s media monitoring structures! The site was swamped with hits – 14,000 in the first four days! – as Chinese citizens proved their desire to inform themselves of the human rights abuses occurring in the own country and abroad.
The Chinese cyber-police’s unprecedented move came after international journalists discovered, upon arrival in Beijing for the Olympic Games, that numerous websites - such as those of Wikipedia and BBC Chinese - were blocked inside Olympic media venues. Wahey!
On a darker note, Beijing authorities have continued their crackdown on would-be protesters:
• Of 77 applications to hold protests in the allocated “protest parks” in the city, 74 were “withdrawn”, two “suspended” and one was “vetoed”.
• Two elderly women who applied to protest were instead packed off to a re-education through labour camp for “disturbing public order”.
• Christian, Muslim and other minority groups have reported disappearances, harassment and torture of Chinese citizens is ongoing.
• Stringent censorship hasn’t been restricted to the Chinese, with visitors including foreign media journalists being blocked from reporting on protest attempts, travellers from importing religious material and athletes from accessing internet sites. Apple’s iTunes was blocked following reports that athletes had been downloading pro-Tibetan album Songs for Tibet, which was released by artists including Sting, Moby and Alanis Morissette in protest of China’s brutal rule over the province.
The race is won but the games aren’t over… as it were.
Back home, however, it’s Gold Medal’s all round!
Freedom Challenging that’s been going on of late:
Epsom Girl’s Grammar in Auckland held stalls daily in lunchtimes last week, where for a donation students could have their hands henna-ed by the talented group. We were even honoured by having the oh-so-Amnesty Candle Logo done in henna when we attended on Tuesday – talk about brand power! The girls dressed up in those fetching orange Guantanamo Bay jumpsuit-petitions and collected signatures from other students. On Wednesday they presented a skit to an assembly, with their littlest member dressed up as youth detainee Omar Khadr!
Avondale College ran an art competition all week with the theme of the Olympics. All students were entitled to enter any form of original artwork, and entries were be judged by a panel of teachers with a CD voucher awarded to the winner. The group also held a mufti day and a bake sale.
Wellington Girls’ held a mini-Olympics, with obstacle courses representing human rights abuses on the path to Freedom. A house-building competition, to represent the Beijing citizens who were evicted to make way for Olympic facilities was, and I quote, “great fun”.
Media Coverage has also been ongoing, with coverage in:
Manawatu Standard, Wellington’s City Life West, Invercargill Eye, Education Weekly, Wanganui Chronicle, River City Press, Dunedin’s The Star and Plains FM. These are posted on the Facebook and Bebo sites – go see them!
Upcoming Dairy Dates
Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand is proud to host Robert Fisk as guest speaker for its 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) lecture series.
With more than 30 years reporting on the Middle East Robert Fisk is the mos
On 1 Aug, Amnesty International's main website was unblocked in China for the first time, and was immediately swamped with hits - nearly 14,000 in the first four days!
The Chinese cyber-police’s unprecedented move came after international journalists discovered, upon arrival in Beijing for the Olympic Games, that numerous websites - such as those of Wikipedia and BBC Chinese - were blocked inside Olympic media venues.
Wahey!
Ctrl - Alt - Delete media repression indeed.
I trust you’re all kicking back a little and recovering from Freedom Challenge-related fatigue.
The fun never stops however, and this week has seen Green Bay’s Peace Week, which included an origami crane competition and art exhibition, a Peace beauty Parlour, fortune cookie bake sales, Chinese calligraphy workshops, Amnesty guest speakers and speed dating! Phew!
Orewa College held their mini-Olympics, as did Massey High School.
A series of events has continued all week at Westlake Boys as well, following a tour of debates against other schools. They also held a silence-a-thon and a public caging event.
Watch this space for details of events held at Baradene, Diocesan, Epsom Girls Grammar and others!
No rest for the wicked…
Let the Games Begin
I’m sure most of you have had it to the eyeballs with the Beijing Olympics by now – and they haven’t even started! Tomorrow sees the official kick-off and the opening ceremony will turn the spotlight on full blast as the curtain lifts and China takes centrestage. Enter the clowns. No not really… Enter the human rights defenders!
China has picked a significant date to open the Olympics on, the 8/8/08 marks the 20th anniversary of a brutal massacre of over 3,000 in Myanmar during a pro-democracy protest.
China has long been cosy buddies with the Myanmar regime in terms of trade, natural resources and geographical position, hence it’s disrespect of the memory of this tragedy.
Amnesty will continue to campaign throughout the course of the Olympics, in particular to ensure that fair and transparent media coverage by foreign media is allowed. The security of our own Kiwi reporters and athletes is paramount, and we will be monitoring their treatment and that their freedom of speech is upheld.
Media
Pick up has continued to be great, with more coverage this week on local radio stations and in papers up and down the country. For schools still holding events, don’t forget to confirm these with us and we will call the right people to get some media long to take some snaps and get some quotes straight from the horses mouths! The horses being, well, you.
Don’t forget to send us whatever articles you do have written about you! That way we can use you all as our Amnesty pin-ups…
Check out the facebook and bebo pages for some of the photos we have already been sent.
FC Online
The website wall already has over 250 signatures added to it, but surely we can do better than that?! There are at least a few thousand Amnesty members in schools nationwide, and don’t let that stop you from forwarding it on to friends and family too!
Remember, these will be sent to the Chinese authorities, petition-style in a few weeks time, so DO IT!
It’s a Wrap
As you tie up the loose ends for your 2008 Freedom Challenging, please bear a couple of things in mind:
• We want YOU – your photos, write-ups, quotes, any media coverage (scanned/photocopied images or original clippings/recordings)
Send to youthcampaigner@amnesty.org.nz or fax to 09 303 4528
• We want your MONEY – please send us a cheque, made out to Amnesty International, with the name of your school.
Every badge you sell for $1 buys us another 3 badges to be sold next year. How many badges worn in NZ will that become in 10 years time? (No idea, you do the math.)
Every dollar you collect prints another 100 factsheet leaflets, informing another 100 people of the human rights abuses occurring across the globe.
Your money is spent in ways essential to spreading the word on human rights – we couldn’t do it without you!
Send to Amnesty International, PO Box 5300, Wellesley Street, Auckland or use the reply-paid envelope in your FC pack
• We want your petitions – send those babies in and we will forward them all together to be dumped in the in-trays of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Booya! Along with these will be signatures from the wall on th
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Isabella
Thanks! I'm sure we will.
Today we had to count all the badges, stickers, and fake tattoos and allocate them to form classes... what a mission! It's totally worth it though, and I'm sure everything will go really well!
5 weeks ago
Isabella
Hey there!
I just wanted to say that Freedom Challenge is awesome and I think that you guys are doing a great job! I'm in the AI group at Avondale and we've got all sorts of exciting things planned for FC - dance concert, traditional bake sale, possible mufti day and the usual badge/sticker-selling. I'm really looking forward to it! It's great to get the message out there, and people seem to respond really well overall.
Thanks for adding me as a friend, and keep up the good work!
Isabella
5 weeks ago
Freedom Challenge
Hey people - if you want a copy of the FC assembly powerpoint to present to your school or uni group please e-mail me on freedomchallenge@amnesty
.org.nz and I can send it to you.
6 weeks ago
Freedom Challenge
Check out Amnesty's Beijing Olympics microsite - The China Debate. It provides a forum for debate about human rights in China, including postings by experts, videos on the issues, a discussion forum and links to actions.http://www.thechinadebate.org/en/
6 weeks ago
Daria-Xo
I'm an organiser from St Marys Diocesan School Amnesty Group.
We've been taking part in Freedom Challenge for a few years, it's a great way to support a fantastic cause!!!!
Keep up the great work.
8 weeks ago
Freedom Challenge http://uncensor.com.au/
This is an awesome website created by AI Australia that allows you to take action to end internet censorship in China. Check it out!
8 weeks ago
Freedom Challenge
Hey guys - Green Bay High School is thinking about doing a balloon releasing event for Freedom Challenge. Reports teacher coordinator nicole Polke:
“The kids decided to sell yellow balloons to be filled with helium. Each balloon would come with a small card attached to it on which to write one’s biggest wish (peace, freedom, etc). During lunch time, all of us would then let them fly. Thought it’s a great way to raise some more money and send a message out to the community, too.”
Freedom Challenge
As part of its "Human Rights in Games" campaign, the French section of Amnesty International Canada presents "Pictures For Truth" a video game specially designed to educate youth on the issue of human rights in China.
"Pictures For Truth" puts the player in the role of a foreign journalist visiting China. Through photos and interviews which he collects during his travels, he publishes articles denouncing suspicious events that he witnesses, attempting to start international mobilization and hoping eventually to release his friend who has been unjustly imprisoned.
This video game is an ideal tool to encourage reflection about human rights. You can find it at www.picturesfortruth.com
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