Human Rights Day Vigil, Potluck, Discussion

Tuesday, December 9th was a busy day for activists. After href="/news/2003/12/1536.php">PPU's demonstration in front of City Hall, the crowd of approximately 100 people held a candle light vigil to celebrate International Human Rights Day.

Tuesday, December 9th was a busy day for activists. After href="/news/2003/12/1536.php">PPU's demonstration in front of City Hall,
the crowd of approximately 100 people held a candle light vigil to celebrate
International Human Rights Day. People listened to a reading of the articles
of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and href="http://www.earthchartersummits.org/TheEarthCharter.htm ">Earth
Charter.

Jason Crane, former chairperson of the Green Party of
Monroe County was the MC for the rally. He said that there is much work
to do in order to make sure that the rights laid out are enjoyed by all, but
he believes that it will happen. Afterwards, members of the audience read
each article of the documents and then the crowd held a moment of silence.

Folks then headed to the Downtown United Presbyterian Church for a potluck
dinner and series of speeches. Many local activist groups set up tables in
order to network with others there.

The topic of the night's speeches was "The Patriot Act: The Trivialization of
Freedom", or more succinctly "Are They Coming For YOU?" Thomas Tobin, Deputy
Editorial Page Editor of the D&C, gave the keynote speech, discussing how the
USA PATRIOT act was passed by a landslide in both the House and Senate, the
so-called Patriot II act - which has recently been split up into many small
parts so that it can be introduced piecemeal - and tactics that we can use to
overturn the first act and prevent the second act from being voted in.

This was followed by several satirical performances by the Rochester Youth
Action Network (RYAN). Many people speaking and in the audience were
impressed with the group's work and happy to see young people engaged in
activism. Read more here.

The speeches ended with eight personal accounts on how the Patriot act has
affected people's lives so far. Bill Abom discussed how it has increased fear
in the immigrant farm workers that he works with. Yasmin Kobir talked about
how the Patriot act has made many Muslims in our community similarly fearful.
John Keevert discussed the connection between the Patriot act and the police
repression that happened during the recent FTAA protests in Miami,
specifically the provisions that assist federal, state and local law
enforcement agencies in working together. His point was driven home by
footage that Rochester Indymedia took at the demonstrations. Pat Mannix
shared the her experience of opening her mail one day and finding that two
pieces of it had been opened, which she strongly suspects were opened because
of their political contents. John Perry Smith discussed how the Patriot act
allows government agencies to obtain information on what books people are
reading. Finally, Jen Maher gave a Quaker perspective on the Patriot act and
told the audience what they were doing to oppose the law.