Cozmopolitan Sunkyoung

When it comes to the issue of human rights, I haven’t done much but being angry at some cases of the violations of human rights. But when a friend of mine called for a petition for Troy Davis, who had been on death row for 20 years in Georgia State, several months ago, I signed up for news from Amnesty International. I have since participated in some of their campaigns, one of which made me want to spread further.

Yesterday (10 December) was Human Rights Day and what I did to celebrate it was simple: pick up a pen, several sheets of paper and envelopes. I do this – most of the cases are cards nowadays – when I want to give friends congratulations for their birthdays, weddings and babies. But this time the recipients were quite different from the usual. They were, among others, President of Azerbaijan, Vice-President of Yemen and President of Mexico.

For the month of December, Amnesty International runs a campaign, “Write for Rights“. There are 10 persons and organisations for this year’s campaign and you can choose any of them for whom you would like to give support (I couldn’t really decide whom I want to help or not so I wrote for all of them).

While writing the letters, which caused me to be unable to hold a pen in the end because of a pain in my fingers, I came to realise why it is more powerful and impactful to write a letter rather than sending emails. The first impact occurred in myself. Although I only used set mails provided by Amnesty International, writing the messages myself on the paper was a sort of experience of embodiment. It was similar to the process that happened when I was trying to memorize English words back in school days: when I learned new words, I wrote them on the blank sheet of paper numerous times until I felt like it stayed in my head.

Those presidents, ministers or police chiefs to whom I addressed may or may not read my letters. And it’s also totally up to them how to respond  to them, if at all. But what I learned can hope is that these letters show them there are people who are concerned about the cases and matters. And if these people even bother to write letters for those in need, they can’t be simply ignored.

So, add your support. A simple thing can bring a change to a hard thing.

UPDATE: Jabbar Savalan, who had been imprisoned by the Azerbaijani authorities because of calls for protests against the government he posted on Facebook and who is one of those for whom I wrote petition letters, was released on Sunday 26 December 2011.

구미인들의 티베트 사랑은 유별나다고 할 수 있는데 오늘 사내 메일을 통해 아래와 같은 메일을 받았다.
It is said that a lot of Western people love Tibet with such a passion, and today I was forwarded an internal email as below.

Subject: Dalai Lama at the EP – European Fasting

Thursday the 4th of December Dalai Lama will speak at the European Parliament. Tenzin Gyatso’s visit coincides with a decisive moment for the Tibetan’s future. Dalai Lama strategy – non-violence and dialogue with China in order to obtain an effective autonomy, and not independence – risks to be definitively defeated by Chinese authorities’ unavailability to accept any step forward. If this occurs, it will not be only a tragedy for the Tibetan people. If the non-violent solution and federal autonomy will not be take into consideration, a hard beat will be stroke against the right for democracy for 1,5 billion Chinese and against peace hope of all humanity.
 
To greet and sustain the Dalai Lama in his non-violent struggle, we propose to everybody – European civil servants, MEP, assistants and visitors – to observe a day of fasting, from midnight of the 3rd to midnight of the 4th and to wear the traditional white scarf.
 
We ask to all of those that intend to participate at the fasting (are allowed water and sugared beverages during the 24 hours) to preannounce it, in order to publicise the list of the participants. The list will be given to the Dalai Lama during the morning of the 3rd.
 
Kind regards,
 
Marco Cappato (MEP, Italian radicals)           
Thomas Mann (MEP, Chair of the Tibet intergroup) 
Marco Pannella (MEP, Chair of the Non-Violent Radical Party, Transnational and transparty)

요약하자면, 12월 4일 달라이 라마가 유럽의회에서 연설을 하는 것에 맞춰, 달라이 라마를 환영함과 동시에 그의 비폭력 노선을 지지하는 뜻에서 유럽의 공무원과 유럽의회 의원, 수행원, 방문객들에게 3일 자정부터 4일 자정까지 금식을 하고 흰색 스카프를 두르자고 제안하는 것이다. (본문은 영어 외에도 불어, 이탈리아어로 작성되었다. ‘traditional white scarf’에서 ‘traditional’이 무엇의 전통을 말하는 것인지는 모르겠다.)
This email was written in French, Italian as well as English. And I’m not sure that, in ‘traditional white scarf’, what ‘traditional’ refers to.

영적 지도자이자 정치가이기도 한 달라이 라마는 작년 10월 미국 의회로부터 황금 메달을 받음으로써 (관련기사), 티베트의 자치권 획득을 위해 미국의 지지를 효과적으로 이용하겠다는 뜻을 밝힌 것이라 하겠다. 비록 많은 티베트 지지자와 달라이 라마의 추종자들이 그가 부시로부터 메달을 수여받는 모습을 보고 대단히 실망을 하였지만 말이다. 그가 이제는 유럽연합 시민들의 대표들이 모여있는 유럽의회에서 연설을 하게 되는데, 단식과 같은 열성적 성원에 힘입어 그가 유럽연합으로부터는 어떠한 정치적 효과를 얻고자 하는지 눈여겨 볼 일이다.
Dalai Lama, a politician as well as a spiritual leader, received the US Congressional Gold Medal in October 2007 (related article) and this showed his will to effectively use the US’ support for him and Tibet in order to achieve Tibet’s autonomy. Though lots of Tibet supporters and his followers were disappointed at the scene where he was received the medal from President Bush. Now Dalai Lama will give a speech at the European Parliament where the representatives from the EU citizens are located. With passionate support such as fasting, it will be worth paying attention to what kind of political influence he will try to draw from the EU.