Manly

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AI Manly Members
At Manly Village Market AI Manly stall
People sign Burma petitions

The Manly AIA group is involved in letter writing and campaigning on a broad range of human rights issues. We are a lively and sociable group from the Manly community who are always looking for new members.

There are currently around fifteen members, spanning generations and cultures. We get involved in AIA campaigns and run letter-writing information stalls quarterly. We are working on a case file on Father Ly, a Prisoner of Conscience in Vietnam. One of our members is on the Speakers Network.

There is always a lot going on, so you can get involved as little or as much as you like, in whatever way you feel suits you.

Website

Manly Group is now on Facebook. Join up and keep updated on news and events.

When we meet

We meet on the second Thursday of each month at a member's home. Members provide refreshments (including plenty of wine) and a good time is had by all. But of course the purpose is a serious one: to do what we can for those whose human rights are being infringed. We also have a letter writing night each month when we write letters to the authorities calling for justice for prisoners of conscience. Visitors and new members are always welcome. Please call Gill on 9948 0598 or Kim on 9949 4917 for details of the next meeting or email ai_in_manly@hotmail.com.

Activities this year

At our February meeting, we agreed that the early emphasis should be on a dialogue with our community on asylum seekers. A seminar on the subject was held at the ‘Amnesty in the Alehouse’ at the Steyne Hotel on 25 February to brief supporters on how to engage people in conversations about asylum seekers as a means of dispelling the myths surrounding the issue. About fifty people attended and it was successful despite some resistance from a few people who saw ‘boat people’ as ‘queue jumpers’. This brought home what a divisive issue this is in our community.

Stalls on the same subject at the Manly Market were washed out by rain on 19 March and 16 April but the stall held on 18 June in brilliant sunshine was an outstanding success, with 258 people signing our petition asking that asylum seekers not be sent to Malaysia and over 200 signing the petition deploring mandatory detention. We had some interesting discussions with those who were against ‘queue jumpers’ being taken in. Only a handful were antagonistic.

Our first letter writing evening in 2011 on 15 February centred on Father Nguyen Van Ly, who faces further incarceration after suffering a stroke and being released for a year. Father Ly has spent 17 years in gaol for campaigning for basic human rights guaranteed by the Vietnamese Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Other letters supported prisoners of conscience in Nigeria, China and Uganda. Our letter writing night on 28 April resulted in 27 letters on prisoners of conscience in Colombia, China and Nigeria and those facing the death penalty in Iran and the United States.

The celebration on 28 May of 50 years since English lawyer Peter Benenson kicked off Amnesty when he took up the cause of two students who were jailed in Fascist Portugal for toasting liberty was a very happy occasion. Over 100 people called in at the Manly Community Centre to share a wonderful spread, see posters and a video projected on a wall and toast liberty. Speakers spoke briefly of the freedoms we take for granted that are not enjoyed in many parts of the world, particularly the freedom to speak out about injustices without fear of reprisals. We are grateful to those wonderful volunteers who spent many hours organising this happy event and who provided the food and ‘bubbly’.

85 supporters enjoyed the documentary Our Generation on the big screen at the Manly Cinemas on 10 August. This showed the struggle of the Yolgnu people of North East Arnhem Land to retain their cultural identity in the face of the 2007 ‘Intervention’ which took away basic rights. The distinguished journalist and commentator, Jeff McMullen, gave some background and brought the film up to date. The screening coincided with Indigenous Peoples’ Day and the release of a major Amnesty report on Aboriginal Homelands. The event was a great success and a credit to all who helped and particularly Leona Kieran, the main organiser.

On a beautiful Spring day, the stall at the Manly Market on 17 September on the abolition of the death penalty was highly successful. A total of 802 signatures were obtained on petitions on execution of children in Iran and individual death penalty cases in Saudi Arabia and China. We had some interesting conversations with some who said that they supported the death penalty here but they were a tiny minority.

On 19 September, we tried a different venue for the letter writing, the Wharf Tavern in Manly. Seven of us wrote a total of 18 letters, four on our main prisoner of conscience, Father Ly in Vietnam, four in support of Aboriginal homelands and the others on other prisoners of conscience facing injustice. It was a pleasant way of combining a serious purpose with a convivial get together.