Hi everyone,

I know this is the stressy essay time of year but hang in there, you’ll make it! Also, we have Jamnesty to look forward to so remember to get your tickets on Tuesday and bring back money/spare tickets if you have taken any away to sell.

Next meeting: Right to Education, Write for Rights and FGM

On Tuesday Debbie is going to talk to us about our right to education. We are focusing on this as part of the ‘Right to Education Week’ which was established to raise awareness of the many Palestinians who are being denied access to education in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

After this discussion, we will be looking at the Write for Rights campaign, which AIUK launched earlier this month. There are 13 cases that Amnesty are focusing on and asking us to get involved with. Some of these are specific to women’s rights, our current campaign, and therefore we can focus on these.

The final part of our meeting will be on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Jana will take this part of the meeting as she has studied this as part of her course. We deliberately decided to make this last so that anyone who thinks that this will upset them and does not want to hear about it can leave earlier. This presentation has been designed to be the most informative but least distressing and Jana will give an introduction to what she will cover so that you can decide whether or not you want to stay.

Tuesday 19^th November: Guest Speaker – Scottish Transgender Alliance

A reminder that Nathan Gale from the Scottish Transgender Alliance (part of the Equality Network) will be coming to talk to us, so we are really looking forward to hearing from him. We will also take part in their postcard campaign and discuss how to include this at Jamnesty.

Wednesday 20^th November: Day of Silence and Jamnesty!

Day of Silence – All day on campus/at home/in your bed/at work/wherever you are in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community

Thanks to Debbie and Alex who visited the SRC drop-in, the SRC are going to publicise our Day of Silence via social media and try to get it in the next SRC mailing if that comes out beforehand.

We thought of buying white t-shirts so that we can decorate them with our GU Amnesty stamp and solidarity messages. Jana has looked into these and the cheapest are £4.50 ethical and fair-trade so we can discuss whether or not to go for these.

Jamnesty: Halt 2, Woodlands Road, doors open 7:30pm, tickets £3/£4 on the door

Of course we have Jamnesty in the evening, which we are all super excited for! Please remember to get your tickets in advance as they are selling fast. You can get tickets at the meetings, and you can take tickets away for friends that you know are coming. You don’t need to pay for these at the time, I’ll make a note of who is taking away tickets and can collect money the week after.

Now get back to that coursework you’re supposed to be doing,

Ruth