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Newsletter 2014-07-12: Pride Glasgow! Volunteer Opportunities and Coming Up

Hello and welcome to another summertime newsletter. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Lots to get through this week again!

First and foremost, next week is Glasgow Pride! Once again GU Amnesty intend to go along and join in the march and we may have a small social gathering thereafter. Hope to see everyone, including our friends from Glasgow West and possibly even Ayr there! There are a number of interesting things coming up as well as a whole host of pretty dandy volunteer opportunities. Interested? I am, so read on!

Saturday 19th July: Pride Glasgow!

It’s that time of year again. Get out your best marching boots and come along and join us for a day of celebration of identity. If you haven’t been before I would strongly urge you to come along. All are welcome, the atmosphere is very friendly. I wasn’t able to make the event last year, but I went to the one before that and it was definitely a highlight of my summer.

We’re going to march in the parade. This year it starts from Clyde Place (see map), and initially over the George V bridge. The assembly time is 9:30 AM, and the destination is the King Street Car Park at 11:30.

Start:

Our plan is to meet up outside Bridge Street Subway at 9:15.

Please get in touch via FB, Twitter or the website if you’re running late! Some folks have expressed an interest in joining us afterwards; thats fab too- we’ll probably head to a park or cafe or similar depending on the weather once the march has wound up. You can either meet us at King St Car Park, where we’l be until 12 at least, or get in touch as above and meet us at the social.

Photos from two years back.
One of the photos from Pride 2012

For those who can’t join us on the day, you could tweet your support (@guamnesty using the hashtag #glasgowpride. Include us in the tweets so we can retweet you!

Amnesty UK Volunteering Opportunities

With the Commonwealth Games nearly upon us and the Edinburgh Festival following hot on its heels, there are volunteering opportunities for both! If you fancy helping out, have a look and see if any of the following interest you:

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/amnesty-commonwealth-ambassadors

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/amnesty-edinburgh-festival-ambassadors

Please note that the closing date for the Commonwealth Ambassadors and Edinburgh Festival Ambassadors is this Monday (14th July), so get your skates on if you want to take part!

If you’re in Edinburgh and don’t mind the commute, there are opportunities to help out at the Scotland Office:

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/administrator-volunteer

These close next Monday (21st July).

Volunteering Opportunity with Philanthrobeats

From our friends over at the ever-groovy Philanthrobeats, Sarah Crowe got in touch to let us know about a really positive volunteering opportunity:

Philanthrobeats are offering one-to-one music classes for asylum seeker/refugee children
and we are looking for volunteers! Philanthrobeats are launching
one-to-one music classes with asylum seeker and refugee children. If any skilled
musicians out there want to get involved, take a look at the info on our website where you
can also find the volunteer application form.

http://philanthrobeats.org.uk/music-classes/

It’s worth keeping an eye on PB’s website (http://philanthrobeats.org.uk/) for their upcoming events.

AIUK Student Survey

A quick word from Rachel Statham from the STAN committee:

Hello Scottish Activists,

Please take a few minutes to fill out our AIUK student survey and give a little feedback
on what your Student Action Network Committee can do to help improve the student
activist experience –
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Jc2KR6Cc%2bzHN9keazRXvUg%3d%3d
It’s quick and straight forward, and will guide new student materials for the coming year.

Most importantly, a huge thank you on behalf of the student network for all your inspiring
activism over the past year – have a wonderful summer and I look forward to hearing of
your plans in the autumn!

I’ve done the survey and it really is ‘quick and straightforward’; it took me only a minute or two. Feedback is really important in general – we’ll be looking for your feedback throughout the year so be ready for that! – and it’s worth your time to make sure your experiences are represented.

GHRN Events

You may have seen us promoting GHRN events in the past. They are the Glasgow Human Rights Network. Their website speaks for itself, but I’ll briefly quote the introduction:

The Glasgow Human Rights Network aims to bring together researchers, practitioners,
members of civil society organisations and policymakers who address human rights issues.

They put on rather quite interesting events and conferences which are worth attending if you realy want to get into the nitty-gritty of human rights issues in depth.

This week there is a one-day conference on LGBTI rights in the Commonwealth:

18th July 9.00am – 5.00pm
Sir Charles Wilson Building, University of Glasgow
E15 on campus map

‘LGBTI Human Rights in the Commonwealth People of the Commonwealth’ is a free
one day conference. The event is being held in Glasgow on Friday 18th July, five days
before the opening of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

For full details and to register, please visit the Conference website.

The website is hosted over on the Equality Network

It looks to be a very interesting conference, and definitely worth a look; particularly given the focus we gave to LGBT issues last year.

Freshers Week 2014

It’s still a little over two months away, but we’ll be having a stall as usual during Freshers Week 2014. Not only that, but we’re planning on at least one event in collaboration with our good friends in STAR which I am really excited about. Details will come a bit closer to the time, but it promises to be really informative.

The reason I’m giving this advance heads-up as we’ll be looking for helpers- it reflects positively on the society if we’re got a well-run stall. The huge attendence after Fresher’s Week last year proves that if nothing else!

Letter Writing: A Reply

Towards the end of last term we did some letter writing under the banner of ‘Scotland Stands for Human Rights’. And we got a reply!

Reply from Blair Jenkins of Yes Scotland

It’s great to get a reply and when we do we want to make sure everyone is aware that we do- letter writing is one of the vital things we do as a group, and that Amnesty International does in general, so when we get feedback on it we’re sure to make the most of it.

There will be plenty more letter-writing opportunities in the year to come!

End of Newsletter

Well done for making to the end of the newsletter. If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback you can always get in touch either via the website or on Facebook or Twitter.

This week’s ‘thanks for reading’ reward is a picture of a cute bird I snapped having a drink in my back garden.

Bird is the word

I figured having featured VladPut last time y’all deserved something a bit, well… nicer.

Hope to see you next week at Pride!
Rob

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Amnesty International Scottish Student Conference 2013

This year it is Glasgow University Amnesty’s turn to organise the Amnesty International Scottish Student Conference!

The conference will be held on Saturday 9th February 2013, and consist of a one day event at Glasgow University open to all students interested in the work of Amnesty student groups in Scotland. We will be addressing a range of topics through discussions, guests speakers and film-screenings. This is a great opportunity to meet other like-minded student activists, learn more about Amnesty’s work and about human rights in general, and hear what the other student groups have been up to this year.

To round off the day GU Amnesty cordially invites you to THE SECRET POLICEMAN’S BALL 2013 – our biggest fundraiser of the year – it is a night of stand-up comedy held at the Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow University.

Accomodation can be arranged for all those wishing to attend the Secret Policeman’s Ball – please email and ask!

Facebook Event Page for the Secret Policeman’s Ball – https://www.facebook.com/events/319937054773907/

Please click attending on Facebook for the conference so we have a rough idea of numbers – https://www.facebook.com/events/424014144334609/

CONFERENCE DETAILS:

Date: Saturday 9th February 2013

Time: 10am – 4pm

Venue: Queen Margaret Union, 22 University Gardens, G12 8QN

Cost: FREE to attend (so just food and travel costs)

Questions? email us

Speakers:

On the subject of CONFLICT MINERALS… Congo Scots http://www.congoscots.co.uk/Pages/about.html On the subject of SCOTTISH GYPSY TRAVELLERS… Amnesty Scotland Jess Smith http://www.jesssmith.co.uk/ On the subject of FALUN GONG… Yu Yu Williams Including a FILM SCREENING of Free China

Week 6 and Conference Info

Hi everyone,
Week 6 in Brief:
  • Monday 25th October, Protect the Human gig night, The 13th Note, 8.30pm, £3.50 (for directions and travel arrangements see below).
  • Tuesday 26th October, meeting, committee room 1, QMU, 5pm. Troy Davis and the death penalty flash mob preparation. Please print off Troy Davis mask by opening the attachment.
  • Wednesday 27th October, 11am-2pm, Flash Mob and signature collecting.
  • AIUK Student Conference, 12th-14th November, London.
Itty Bitty Details:
Protect The Human

Protect The Human!

Protect The Human Gig (Monday 25th October)
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=1552414063922#!/event.php?eid=155659441137836. Please invite everyone you know along to this promised to be awesome event! Music from Michael Timmons, Iona Bain, Overtone and Floor 16 it’s a night not to be missed! Tickets are £3.50 with all proceeds going to Amnesty International.
The 13th note can be found at 50-60 King St, Glasgow, G1 5QT, just down from Trongate. Check Google Maps.
If anyone fancies helping to decorate, a few of us will be heading there for 7.30pm. Either come along to the venue for then or if you wish to head down with me I’ll be at Kelvinbridge underground at 7pm and consequently at St Enoch underground at about 7.15pm. Anyone opting for that text me on 07842094672. Will be much appreciated!
Anyone else wanting to be directed, Jen will be leaving at 8pm from Kelvinbridge underground station (by the ticket machine as entrances get confusing) and thus also at St Enoch at 8.15pm. Anyone fancy that let me know also, 07842094672.
Otherwise hopefully see you all there!
Tuesday 26th Meeting
Following our recent death penalty campaign focus we shall be using Tuesdays meeting to prepare for a flash mob to take place the following day. Information on the campaign can be found at the following link: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=11458.
We shall be making placards, banners, props etc. so if anyone has any cardboard boxes/card/crafty things in general please bring them along. Anyone who is free on Wednesday and up for taking part in the flashmob then please open the link and print off the Troy Davis face which we will then make into masks on Tuesday. The picture is colour but if we all just do black and white then we’ll be a unit.
Wednesday 27th Flash Mob
All the details shall be decided Tuesday so I shall send them out Tuesday evening so all can join in.
Student Conference
This years Amnesty UK’s student conference will be in the Human Rights Action Centre in London. We have 11 places to send people down so i will ask that if you’re interested please e-mail me back and we’ll arrange places.
The weekend will allow you to hear inspirational speakers discuss and debate today’s human rights issues, learn new skills, take action, vote and meet Amnesty students from across the UK. I highly recommend it, it’s always a great weekend!(http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=11635)
Conference places cost £20 per person, which includes:
  • Crashpad accommodation – bring bedding to make yourself comfortable (e.g. sleeping bag, mat)
  • All food for the weekend, from an evening meal on Friday through to a packed lunch on Sunday
  • Entry to the social events on Friday and Saturday evening
  • Transport between the conference centre and crashpad
Of course there will then also be the cost of traveling to London, by which means of transport can be decided. We will be able to apply for some funding from the SRC but it will involve presenting receipts so anyone wanting to go will need to be able to pay upfront in order to reclaim costs back. Not sure how much they will offer us either but if trains are booked early or people are up for mega busing it then travel needn’t be expensive! 🙂
Finally, thank you very much everyone, and thank you for all your continued dedication to the group. A win for the letter-off and a cracking fundraising start with the Isle of Arran we’re well on the way to a successful year!