19 April 2023

Minutes for April 2023 meeting

 



AIUSA Group 342 meeting
19 April 2023 (via Zoom)

In attendance: Barbara, Bob, Heather, Emily, Marsha

GREETINGS AND MEMBER CHECK-INS

UPDATES
  • Emily: AI is putting together a digital activist toolkit for Sri Lanka9
  • Gun violence prevention (Bob): Advocacy Day at the PA capitol on March 23
    • Cosponsored by Ceasefire PA and March for Our Lives. 
    • Bob's own representative and senator were unavailable, so he met with Chris Pielli of West Chester
    • The rally had about 400 attendees (more people and more TV cameras than last year!)
    • Signs included MOMS (Mothers of Murdered Sons) and EMIR (Every Murder Is Real) 
    • House Judiciary meeting on gun violence for the first time in ten years (none while GOP controlled the house)
  • More on gun violence in the USA
MISC TOPICS
  • Future meeting format
    • Discussion of possibly holding hybrid meetings at Wegmans in Malvern
    • Barbara will also check on using the United Way building in Exton as a meeting space
    • No meeting in May; next meeting will be in June (we can discuss via e-mail list whether to do this in person) 
  • Case file discussion
    • Emily asked about doing a case file or choosing an area/issue/person for our chapter to focus on
    • Barbara will reach out to someone at AIUSA about this
    • Emily suggests seeing if Amnesty has a toolkit available for an issue/country we're interested in covering
  • Guantánamo postcard action
    • Marsha has received 200 "Close Guantánamo"postcards (addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken)
    • Group 342 members can mail them to Blinken, also leave them in random places (e.g., churches, bulletin boards, train stations) to increase public awareness

AIUSA NEWS
ACTIONS
  • URGENT ACTION: "Tortured Son of Opposition Figured Held Incommunicado" (Egypt: UA 29.23)   
  • URGENT ACTION: "Human Rights Activists Must Be Released" (Democratic Republic of Congo: UA 31.23)    

NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, June 21, 7:30 p.m (TBD whether in person or via Zoom)

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