From the Providence Journal, December 11, 2000
Rhode Islanders sign on to letter-writing effort aimed at freeing
political prisoners
Amnesty International sponsored the event that drew attention to
human-rights abuses around the globe.
By GERALD M. CARBONE
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The doctor from Burma bowed his head and wrote in
cursive; beside him, the 16-year-old Wheeler School student wrote his
letters in a neat print; at a table behind them, a college librarian
wrote with his left hand, careful not to smudge his words.
The doctor, the student, and the librarian were three of about three
dozen people who gathered yesterday at the First Unitarian Church on
Benefit Street to write letters on behalf of political prisoners in
nine nations. They wrote on behalf of prisoners from Mexico, where
three farmers have been tortured for being environmentalists, to as
far east as Tibet, where a Buddhist monk has spent nine years in jail
for supporting the independence of Tibet.
For the Burmese doctor, Thein Oo, yesterday's "Writeathon for Human
Rights" was particularly meaningful, for in Burma the simple act of
writing to the government would have put him in jail. Oo wrote on
behalf of a group of Burmese arrested six years ago on the charge of
actions "against or critical of the government."
"I have the desire to help the people who are detained for their
political beliefs," said Oo, whose parents still live in Burma. He
cannot correspond with his parents through e-mail, since Burmese
civilians are prohibited from owning computers.
A desire to help political detainees also motivated Wheeler School
student David Brodeur, a clean-cut teenager who gave up part of his
Sunday to appeal for freedom for dissidents.
Brodeur thumbed through a packet of form letters written by Amnesty
International, sponsors of the event, before he set pen to paper on
behalf of political prisoners in Uzbekistan, Congo, Turkey, Kuwait,
and Indonesia. Brodeur wrote to Turkey's minister of justice on behalf
of a Kurdish man whose crime was that he "did wear clothes and
accessories in yellow, green, and red" -- traditional Kurdish colors.
"A lot of these cases are really depressing, and they're really
unfair," Brodeur said. "It's very upsetting to me. I just feel good to
know that I'm trying to help [by writing letters.] Whether it helps or
not, I'm trying."
Librarian John Henson and Jen Nardone wrote letters on behalf of
foreign political prisoners and for the benefit of their 13-month-old
son, Kai, who crawled around their legs as they wrote.
"It may be a far-fetched idea to think that we can devolve in this
country so that some day his generation could be imprisoned for a
crime of conscience," Henson said with a nod toward Kai. "But we have
got to be adamant" in protecting human rights.
The letter writers put down their pens and lifted their heads to watch
a Buddhist monk in a shiny saffron robe light a tall, white candle
wrapped in barbed wire. The monk, Geshe Gendun Gyatso, knows well the
sting of oppression. With Chinese occupation of his country, he has
been forbidden from practicing his religion in Tibet since he was born
39 years ago.
As the candle burned behind him, Gyatso's message to the three dozen
letter writers was simple: "Pray for world peace," he said.