Sorry this mailing is a day late!

Thanks to those who came to the pub quiz with Mary’s Meals last night – we had a great turnout! Hope you had fun! I’ll let you know how much money has been raised when it’s all counted up.

This week’s meeting

This week we are back in Qudos in the QMU, 5pm, Tuesday.

We’ll continue to focus on Guantanamo Bay, then for some encouragement take a look at some Amnesty success stories over the last few months! If you’re new this semester, we’ll have a table dedicated to introducing the charity and society.

As well as this, we’ll crack on with Secret Policeman’s Ball planning!

Coming up

THE SECRET POLICEMAN’S BALL 2012, Saturday 4th February: Our biggest event of the year is less than three weeks away! If you’ve not heard of it, this is a night of stand-up comedy and sketches all hosted by the brilliant Billy Kirkwood- keep your eyes peeled for posters up around campus and in the QMU. Tickets are only £5 and are available from the QMU box office and online at http://www.wegottickets.com/event/150821: snap ‘em up!

Last week we had loads of people offering to help- thanks so much! We have thousands of fliers arriving this week so we need plenty more people to scatter them around Glasgow. Here’s the event page for more info: http://www.facebook.com/events/195138300581324/.

We also want to hold a bake sale to help promote The Secret Policeman’s Ball and a Guantanamo campaign on campus, but we’ll discuss that tomorrow and I’ll send you more details if you can’t make it to the meeting.

See you soon!

Catherine

Website: http://www.guamnesty.org.uk/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/guamnesty
Please join our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/guamnesty/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/guamnesty/

The Secret Policeman’s Ball is back! On Saturday the 4th of February Glasgow University Amnesty International are hosting their fourth annual SPB: an award winning night of the best comedy Scotland has to offer.

We’re delighted to announce that double Bafta Award winning comedian Billy Kirkwood is back to compere for the fourth year running. Also giving you a lot to laugh about this year are: Graham Mackie, Chris Forbes, Sian Bevan, Barry McDonald, Des O’Gorman, Keir McAlister, Scott Gibson, and Jay Lafferty.

With a line up comprised of some of the best comedy talent in Scotland you barely need another reason to attend. But of course we’ve got one. The Secret Policeman’s Ball is a student-run benefit show being held in aid of Amnesty International. The work that Amnesty International does is vital in the fight against human rights abuses, and the positive impact that their work has is felt by individuals all over the world.

So join us for a night of comedy, laughter and high-jinks that’ll give you something to feel good about long after the show is over!

The Secret Policeman’s Ball 2012 is being held on Saturday 4th February at the Queen Margaret Union, University Gardens. Doors open at 7:30pm. Tickets are £5 and are available from the QMU box office and online at www.wegottickets.com

Sorry this update is a day late. Hope you’re all getting through exam season happily! The Protect the Human club night at Stereo was a great success! We made nearly £600! Amazing! Thanks to Owen for doing such a brilliant job and to all of you who went along.

This week’s meeting

This week we’re in Committee Room 1 at 5pm, Tuesday in the QMU.

It’ll be our last meeting of the term so we’ll have a nice relaxed one! We’ll start getting some decorations prepared for the Secret Policeman’s Ball, talk about plans for next semester and have a bit of a feedback session about what you enjoyed this term, didn’t enjoy so much, or want to do more of!

Coming up

- Same sex marriage consultation in Scotland: Action before the 9th Dec: The Scottish Government is currently seeking views on the introduction of religious ceremonies for civil partnerships, and the possible introduction of same sex marriage. Amnesty strongly supports the Scottish Government’s proposal which seeks to create a balanced relationship between same sex and mixed sex couples when it comes to civil partnerships and marriage. Our group is organising an awareness-raising event on campus. We’ll discuss it some more on Tuesday, but as ever the more people and the more ideas the merrier! Follow this link for more information about the consultation: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=325. We started to plan this last week- but because some of us are really bogged down with work we’re looking for some one who isn’t to take the reins on this one- but we’ll discuss tomorrow!

- Christmas caroling: We’re caroling at 12pm on Sunday 11th and Monday 12th December, from 12pm for an hour or so, starting on Byres Rd then moving to town; hopefully raising lots of money! Come along whether you can sing or not- we’ll hit the pub afterwards!

-Write for Rights Day, Sat December 10th: The anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is Amnesty’s biggest letter writing date. Check out this link for more info http://www.amnesty.ca/writeathon/.

- Pub quiz with Mary’s Meals, Sun 15th January, Jim’s Bar, QMU, 7pm: A lovely way to spend a Sunday evening; a quiz with prizes worth competing for! This is a joint event with GU’s Mary’s Meals group: if you want to learn more about the charity, here’s the link to its website:http://www.marysmeals.org.uk/
We’ll need a group of volunteers to help arrange this closer to the time; let me know if you’re particularly interested in helping out.

- The Secret Policeman’s Ball is confirmed for Saturday 4th February in Qudos- very exciting! Billy Kirkwood is confirmed as our compere. The posters are almost designed so we’ll start on a massive PR drive soon. There’s masses to organise so we need everyone to get involved. This annual night of comedy has been more and more successful over the last couple of years, raising thousands of pounds for Amnesty, and we want to make this one the biggest yet!

- If you have any fundraising/campaigning ideas, please share them!

If you’ve not been to meetings so far, please come along- newcomers are always welcome. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, 5pm in Committee Room 1 in the QMU.

See you on Tuesday (tomorrow!) at the meeting!

Catherine

Website: http://www.guamnesty.org.uk/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/guamnesty
Please join our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/guamnesty/

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! It’s exam and essay time for all of us, but there’s no better way to spend an hour’s break from the library than at Amnesty!

This week’s meeting

This week we’re in Qudos at 5pm on Tuesday. We’ll be continuing the greetings card campaign- there will be Christmassy snacks and music!

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10673.

We’re also making a “Love is a Human Right” banner to coincide with the campaigners who are planning action on marriage discrimination (see below), as well as starting to plan next year’s events before we all disappear for the Christmas hols.

Coming up

- Reclaim the Night, TOMORROW: November is upon us again and once again this year, Rape Crisis is marking the 16 Days of Action for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. We have a group of people joining the Reclaim the Night march tomorrow (complete with Amnesty banner we made last week). We’re meeting outside the QMU at 6pm; please join us!

- Protect the Human club night at Stereo, Thurs December 1st: This Thursday! Look out for the fab posters, and bring yourself and friends along for a boogie. Check out the Facebook page for more info: http://www.facebook.com/events/188669591217860/.

- Same sex marriage consultation in Scotland: Action before the 9th Dec: The Scottish Government is currently seeking views on the introduction of religious ceremonies for civil partnerships, and the possible introduction of same sex marriage. Amnesty strongly supports the Scottish Government’s proposal which seeks to create a balanced relationship between same sex and mixed sex couples when it comes to civil partnerships and marriage. Our group is organising an awareness-raising event on campus. We’ll discuss it some more on Tuesday, but as ever the more people and the more ideas the merrier! Follow this link for more information about the consultation: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=325

- Christmas caroling: The Amnesty choir is practising this Wednesday! More info to follow- but if you can’t make it, come along to sing anyway- whether you can sing or not! We’re planning on caroling at 12pm on Sunday 11th and Monday 12th December, from 12pm for an hour or so, starting on Byres Rd then moving to town; hopefully raising lots of money.

-Write for Rights Day, Sat December 10th: The anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is Amnesty’s biggest letter writing date. Check out this link for more info http://www.amnesty.ca/writeathon/. We’re still to confirm whether we’ll arrange anything for this with Glasgow’s Daytime Amnesty group.

- Pub quiz with Mary’s Meals, Sun 15th January, Jim’s Bar, QMU, 7pm: A lovely way to spend a Sunday evening; a quiz with prizes worth competing for! This is a joint event with GU’s Mary’s Meals group: if you want to learn more about the charity, here’s the link to its website: http://www.marysmeals.org.uk/
We’ll need a group of volunteers to help arrange this closer to the time; let me know if you’re particularly interested in helping out.

- The Secret Policeman’s Ball is confirmed for Saturday 4th February in Qudos- very exciting! Billy Kirkwood is confirmed as our compere. The posters are almost designed so we’ll start on a massive PR drive soon. There’s masses to organise so we need everyone to get involved. This annual night of comedy has been more and more successful over the last couple of years, raising thousands of pounds for Amnesty, and we want to make this one the biggest yet!

- If you have any fundraising/campaigning ideas, please share them!

If you’ve not been to meetings so far, please come along- newcomers are always welcome. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, 5pm in Qudos in the QMU.

See you on Tuesday at the meeting!

Catherine

Website: http://www.guamnesty.org.uk/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/guamnesty
Please join our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/guamnesty/

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! This is a roundup of the coming meeting and events, but please scroll down further to check out what our brilliant sister society, STAR (Student Action For Refugees) have coming up, too.

This week’s meeting

We’re in Committee Room 1 in the QMU, Tuesday at 5pm.

This week’s meeting is an exciting one as we have a guest speaker, Alieu Ceesay, coming to speak to us about the human rights situation in Gambia. He’s our first speaker of the year so be sure to come along! Along with Alieu there’ll be some members of the Glasgow-based Gambia group who will be more than happy to answer any questions we may have. After the talk we’ll do some actions, as well as continuing to make plans for the carol singing and PRing for the club night at Stereo.

Coming up

- Protect the Human club night at Stereo, Thurs December 1st: This is creeping up on us! The flyers have been printed so we’ll get together a PR team to distribute them everywhere! As well as PRing we need people to come and have a drink and a dance all in aid of Amnesty.

- Christmas caroling: We have a good amount of names down for this, as well as singers from the Choral Society (thank goodness). So Elena and Jessie will make some announcements on Tuesday about what happens next!

-Write for Rights Day, Sat December 10th: The anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is Amnesty’s biggest letter writing date. Check out this link for more info http://www.amnesty.ca/writeathon/. A couple of us are going to the Glasgow Daytime Amnesty Group to brainstorm some ideas for a bigger event we could hold on this date. Throw any ideas this way!

- The Secret Policeman’s Ball is confirmed for Saturday 4th February in Qudos- very exciting! Billy Kirkwood is confirmed as our compere and in the next month we’ll get going on a big publicity drive- there’s lot’s to do! Our posters are being prepared right now. This annual night of comedy has been more and more successful over the last couple of years, raising thousands of pounds for Amnesty, and we want to make this one the biggest yet!

- If you have any fundraising/campaigning ideas, please share them!

If you’ve not been to meetings so far, please come along- newcomers are always welcome. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, 5pm in Qudos in the QMU.

See you on Tuesday at the meeting!

Catherine

Website: http://www.guamnesty.org.uk/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/guamnesty
Please join our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/guamnesty/

A wee bit of information from STAR (Student Action for Refugees) Glasgow

Recent changes in legislation have meant that the UK Border Agency is now able to forcibly remove families from their homes in order to deport them. This led to the dawn raiding of two families last week and then the detaining of a mother and her 5 year old son who. Dawn raiding was stopped a few years ago and the coalition promised when they took power to stop child detention, shortly before opening a ‘family removals centre’ however both of these things appear to be with us again. These actions breach human rights and are likely to be more frequent unless something is changed so a mass protest is being held next Monday (the 21st of November) at the Glasgow Home Office on Brand Street, 2 minutes from Cessnock Underground to call for them to be stopped.

Also coming up: A ceilidh this Thursday at 8pm in Qudos to raise money for John Oguchukwu, a student of our university who was deported and a Sleep Out this Friday to raise awareness for destitute asylum seekers in Glasgow.

More information on all of these events at www.starglasgow.wordpress.com

Firstly, a biiiig well done to all the campaigners who stood on library hill last Wednesday for our End Stoning campaign. We were there for just over two hours and collected an amazing 458 names! Thanks to everyone for your time and enthusiasm!

(End Stoning: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=12139)

This week’s meeting

We’re in Qudos in the QMU on Tuesday at 5pm and we’ll be focusing on human rights in Burma, as well as planning publicity for upcoming fundraising events (see below!).

Coming up

- Protect the Human club night at Stereo, Thurs December 1st: In the coming weeks we need to people to PR for this, but the most important thing to is to come and have a drink and a dance with all proceeds going towards Amnesty!

- Christmas caroling: This week we’ll start organising this properly and get an Amnesty choir together in preparation for caroling in December. Join in whether you can sing or not!

- The Secret Policeman’s Ball is confirmed for Saturday 4th February in Qudos- very exciting! Billy Kirkwood is confirmed as our compere and in the next month we’ll get going on a big publicity drive- there’s lot’s to do! Our posters are being prepared right now. This annual night of comedy has been more and more successful over the last couple of years, raising thousands of pounds for Amnesty, and we want to make this one the biggest yet!

- If you have any fundraising/campaigning ideas, please share them!

If you’ve not been to meetings so far, please come along- newcomers are always welcome. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, 5pm in Qudos in the QMU.

See you on Tuesday at the meeting!

Catherine

Website: http://www.guamnesty.org.uk/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/guamnesty
Please join our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/guamnesty/

Hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend.  Was great to see so many back on Tuesday- and to have so much more space in Qudos was such a delight!  We’re back in Qudos, 5pm on Tuesday in the QMU.  After the vote on campaign areas last week, the two which came out on top were human rights in Burma and women’s rights, so these will be our campaigns for the next few weeks!

This week we’re focusing on women’s rights.  We’ll have three areas set up; one on women in Afghanistan, one on women in Iran, and another dedicated to banner making for all the arty types!  There’s loads of information on the AI UK website:

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10220. and of course there’ll be loads to learn and discuss at the meeting on Tuesday.

Also, we’re having our second social at The Common Rooms straight after the meeting.  Please come along for drinks and FREE FOOD!!

Afterwards (~6 PM), we will be heading to the Common Rooms on Byres Road for our first introductory social, so if you can’t make the meeting, please come along for that!

I hope everyone is keeping steady and warm during this freezingness. Tonight is our last meeting of the semester so if anyone fancies a study break and partaking in a wee quiz and some making of greetings cards then skate down at 5pm, QMU, as usual.

Friday 10th December: Troy Day, 11.30am, Queen Street Station.
Fingers crossed we can get across to Edinburgh on Friday for the Troy Davis demonstration. All information at this link:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133468266710149

Anyone who is coming please let me know so we have an idea of who shall be joining us. Either reply on here or text me on 07842094672.

Thanks and good luck to everyone with deadlines and exams.

The arrival of all this snow has made me feel very festive and this weeks Amnesty happenings are a definite reflection of that!

Tuesday 30th November: Greetings cards – Amnesty UK’s annual greetings card campaign is underway and we’re also hoping to make some lovey Christmassy cards to sell on Friday so this Tuesday’s meeting well be nice a crafty. Come along to get creative and to send a message of hope to prisoners of conscience across the globe.

Friday 3rd December: Winter Folk Night, The Halt Bar, 7pm, Open Mic.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=113829242016007

Friday 10th December: Troy Day – Edinburgh, 1.30pm

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=131972840192135

The 10th of December is human rights day and all the Scottish Uni Amnesty groups are gathering to hold a day of solidarity for Troy Davis. A group of us shall be travelling through, leaving Glasgow around 12pm. If anyone is interested follow this link:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=131972840192135

for more information and sign up either on Tuesday or by getting back to me. Group discounts on the train!

I realise many people have exams and deadlines and it’s a bit of a rubbish time of year. If you’re lucky enough (like me) to be free though this should be a great day and a fantastic chance to get some justice for Troy Davis.

Thanks,
GU Amnesty.