June 4th 1989 is a date that will forever be remembered in infamy in history. It was the day that the Chinese government cracked down violently on the pro-democracy movement began by students, but eventually growing to include a broad cross-section of the population of the world’s most populous people. That day, tanks rolled...
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This speech was prepared for the first meeting of the Columbia University Amnesty group, where I served as webmaster for one year. It was intended as an introduction to the world of Amnesty International including some of the history behind the organization.
Hi everyone and welcome to the first meeting. First of all, can everyone...
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This poem was sent to the members of the cuai-board email listserv as a christmas card and may have been influenced by the alcohol that inevitably accompanies christmas gatherings.
To all my friends in amnesty
I write to you with festive cheer
for from semester, we are free
so closer still to your degree
but come with me, we’ll...
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Thank you Jules. I too would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to what is sure to be a very exciting and productive youth summit. For those who don’t know me, I’m not really worth getting to know and I thought I should just say so now so as to save...
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Melbourne
This entry shold be titled “Murphy’s Law Case Study: Stand Up For Your Rights”. As I said many times to the crew during the course of the day, the alignment of the planets just wasn’t quite right this year. Many many many things went horribly wrong. I suppose the challenge of event management is...
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Hello everyone. First I would like to thank whoever it was who suggested that I speak here today for giving me this opportunity. Those here that know me know well that I love the sound of my own voice and if there is one thing that I like more than volunteering to hear it,...
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It was a crisp cool morning, much like many of the other mornings in October in Melbourne. In fact, on waking up I could scarcely differentiate this morning from any other but I knew that today was going to be different. Two very important things were going to happen today, the Australian federal election...
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Hong Kong
I step out of the car. I am instantly shrink-wrapped in the oppressive heat and humidity of the hot summer day. As I close the door I catch the announcement on the radio – just as I feared, this is the hottest July 1st on record. Brilliant. I turn and make my way...
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Melbourne
This speech was written to be given at the beginning of the 2004 academic year by myself as the immediate past president of the group to the Melbourne University Amnesty International group. It was never actually delivered because the executive made a decision to, instead, start the year with a fun group activity.
Hello everybody...
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My successor as president of the Melbourne University Amnesty International group, Anthony Nicholas, began a fairly regular weekly poetry reading on something human rights related. As the outgoing president, I was called on to present the first poem. It is not very good. The final paragraph is borrowed from the Norwegian poet Nordahl Grieg.
A...
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