FREE screening of Dead Man Walking

Join Amnesty International Pittsburgh and the Network of Indian Professionals(NetIP) for a free screening of the acclaimed film Dead Man Walking, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.  The film is based on the true story of  Sister Helen Prejean, who establishes a special relationship with Matthew Poncelet, a prisoner on death row in Louisiana.

Sister Prejean will be in Pittsburgh on May 16th,so we will host this screening to encourage thinking and discussion around the use of the death penalty in the US (and Pennsylvania).  Please join us for the film and discussion following.

When: May 2, 6-9 pm

Location: 5429 Penn Avenue in Garfield/Friendship (across from Quiet Storm)

Accessible via 88 Penn bus, or bus/walk: 87 from Friendship at Atlantic or 71A/C from Penn & Negley.

 

Storytelling and Human Rights Symposium

Hosted by Global Solutions Pittsburgh and Point Park University Honors Student Organization

*Amnesty International Group 39 is proud to attend and participate in the Storytelling and Human Rights Symposium!  When you attend, look for our literature and I’m sure we’ll have a petition and/or postcard to sign!*

The Point Park Honors Student Organization is partnering with Global Solutions Pittsburgh and the Point Park United Student Government to present a Storytelling and Human Rights Symposium. Students from all local universities as well as the general public are invited to attend.

Drew Kahn is the keynote speaker for the event. Kahn is a theatre professor at Buffalo State College and the director of the Anne Frank Project, which aims to use the power of storytelling to explore genocide. Kahn recently gave a popular Ted Talk in Buffalo about his travels to Rwanda.

The symposium will be interactive. Both the keynote speaker and a discussion panel will present historical human rights violations and discuss how theatre, journalism and the arts can aid in healing and preventing genocide and other injustices. Afterwards, the audience will break into small workshops with the panelists where they will create their own skit, story or piece of art that describes a particular human rights violation to share with the entire group.

Breakout Group Themes:
(1) Theater and Performance – Drew Kahn
(2) Communications and Journalism – TBA
(3) Human Rights and Advocacy – TBA
(4) Storytelling and the Arts – TBA

The entire day will center on the role of communication in genocide and the importance of storytelling, theatre and writing, in learning, healing, and preventing future tragedies.

Event Schedule: April 12th, 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM, GRW Theater University Center
2 PM: Intro and Keynote Speaker (Drew Kahn)
3 PM: Panel Discussion
– Short Break –
4 PM: Breakout groups
5 PM: Presentations
6 PM: Wrap-Up

Start: April 12, 2013 2:00 PM
End: April 12, 2013 6:00 PM
Category: Open to the 
Organizer:Point Park University Honors Student Organization / Global Solutions Pittsburgh
Phone: 412-471-7852
Email: tim@globalsolutionspgh.org
Venue: GRW Theater – Point Park University Center
Address: Google Map 414 Wood St., Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 15222

To register, please visit: http://globalsolutionspgh.org/event/storytelling-human-rights-symposium/

 

See you there!

 

 

Happy International Women’s Day from Amnesty International Pittsburgh!

Some Pittsburgh events hosted by some Amnesty International Pittsburgh affiliates on International Women’s Day, March 8:

Road to the US Social Forum III

Spend part of International Women’s Day with New Voices Pittsburgh, the Campus Women’s Organization of the University of Pittsburgh and others in a discussion and webcast from Philadelphia. Planners of the next US Social Forum http://www.ussocialforum.net/road-to-the-next-ussf are inviting you to reflect on how the current context of economic crisis and opportunity to challenge illegitimate and corrupt power structures impacts organizing for the next major gathering of those who believe “another world is possible, and another United States is necessary!

Read more about the evening on the flyer attached here:
http://www.ussocialforum.net/sites/default/files/National%20Plenary%20Flyer.pdf
Join the national event page and share with other activists that you know around the world who would be interested in participating:
https://www.facebook.com/events/333164690128520

Galen Tyler, Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign
Tamara Shapiro, Occupy Sandy
Ethel Long-Scott, Women’s Economic Agenda Project
James Braggs and Taliba Obuya,
Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide

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International Women’s Day: Call to Action

Join us in celebration of International Women’s Day on Friday, March 8! This event focuses on how women have been impacted by wars. The free event will feature a screening of “The Invisible War.” The 2012 documentary film exposes sexual assault in the United States military and is nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards.

The event also features a dramatic reading, speakers Francine Porter, Joyce Wagner, Edith Bell and Scilla Wahrhaftig and will end with a Q&A after the film.

This event is sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center, Code Pink Pittsburgh, Women’s League for International Peace and Freedom and American Friends Service Committee of PA.

We hope to see you there!

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SUNSTAR Music Festival
@ 6119 Penn Ave

Light Asylum (coldwave/EBM/electro-industrial) ::
Called “warriors sent from the future” – Pitchfork

The Brooklyn-based duo of vocalist Shannon Funchess and producer Bruno Coviello merge their look and sound to produce dark synth pop theatrics that you have to experience live. Co-presented with VIA, Pittsburgh’s cutting-edge music and new media collective.

Afro-punk outfit Vie Boheme (Pgh) and local DJ Lauren G (VIA, www.facebook.com/VIA.Pittsburgh @VIA_PGH) join for this KST/VIA co-presentation at 6119.

Visuals by: Audra Wist (VIA, CMU, Yale)
Audra is Pittsburgh-based artist working in video, performance, sculpture, and photo that deals with arrangement of paradoxes in fetish, trauma, celebrity and the mundane. Exhibitions/collaborations: The Aviary for the third installment for All Visual: Boston, live visuals with local artist and long time friend, Kevin Ramser, for Bomba Estereo, vitaminwater: LIVE, Distal, LE1F and the like. In addition, she studies floral design and provides event styling and art direction for VIA and other local parties and galas. www.audrawist.com, www.vimeo.com/audrawist @ummmmmmt

Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s 3rd biennial SUNSTAR Music Festival in honor of Women’s History Month celebrates the best of women in music with a three-day lineup of concerts, parties, and talks. SUNSTAR showcases the vibrancy and diversity of independent female artists. In addition to concerts and special events, the festival includes a FAMILYtime event for young women and their mothers to engage in contemporary performing arts.

“Hool: Rebellion”

On the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8), Amnesty International Group 39 and AID Pittsburgh are presenting

“Hool” — A Documentary film screening

The story of the oppression of the Adivasis (tribals) in East India and their fight for their rights.

In solidarity for Soni Sori, imprisoned Adivasi activist

Come to learn about

  • The cost of development on the human rights of indigenous communities in India
  • The fate of Soni Sori, who is recognized as prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International
  • Ways to support Adivasi communities and fight violence against women

When: Monday, March 4, 2013, 7pm
Where: William Pitt Union, Room 837 (4200 5th Ave in Oakland, Pittsburgh, PA)