Why Human Rights - Why Now?

Dear Friends,

If you hear desperation creeping from my voice, it is simply because of the condition of this civilization (if you can call it that). We can be paralyzed into ignorance and say that Earth has always been a violent planet, just look at its history.  Or mutter that somehow we always manage to get through it or some such justification for the way things are. Or you are being a doomsayer with all that negative talk.

But there comes a time where reality must be confronted.  This is one of those times, where our planet is making its way to a death grip of tyranny.  Some of our most basic civil rights are eroding in front of our eyes. The nuclear arms race is again being run. How can you possibly win a race like this?

On the plus side we have the ability to communicate like never before. Instantaneously, I can reach out to poets in Moscow, Bucharest, Los Angeles and London, etc.  We can work together, leave our egos at the door and take pride in our craft and our potential or is that poetential to shine the light of truth.

But we have to get cracking.  December 10th is Human Rights Day. Celebrate with a conflagration of poetry that burns in the eyes and ears of merchants of chaos and destruction. Tell the world about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and make everyone you know aware of them. Get these rights taught to our children so they know their birthright.

Our job as artists and poets is to give voice to things many might consider to be unpopular. Our job is to put beauty into the ugliness and spirit into our culture as never before.  This planet is crying  Earth cries for us to come to its rescue and remove the ignorance that holds us back.  Ignorance is not bliss.

Call to Caring Arms

As you know, December 10 is Human Rights Day and what better way to celebrate this incredible event by putting on a reading.  So it is only weeks away, when did that ever stop a poet from putting on a reading. Your city, town, community want you to put on a reading. Seriously folks, I can hear the people of your village screaming now that they need poetry.  So give it to them.  Give your fellow poets a rallying point for their work and their soul.  Contact Stazja and tell her about your event or ask for help if you need it. We realize that December 10 is just around the corner, but if we work swiftly and with great energy we can put together a great series of events around the world and lay the foundation for our future.  The countdown has begun, the world is in great need of a massive poetry transfusion!

Founding Chapter Reading

The founding chapter of Poets for Human Rights will celebrate International Human Rights Day on Sunday, December 10, with a reading at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.  The event will begin at 1 P.M. and is free and open to the public.

The program will include featured poet Larry Jaffe, recognized internationally for human rights poetic activism. Also reading will be Renee Duke, Venus Jones, Alicyn Lopez, Stazja McFadyen and Wayne S. Williams. 

Rodrick Colbert, representing Amnesty International’s Tampa Chapter, will be a guest speaker.

Winners will be announced for the Anita McAndrews Award Poetry Contest and the Alexander Youth Award Poetry Contest, sponsored by Poets for Human Rights.

Anita McAndrews (1924-2005) was a poet, writer, award-winning investigative journalist and prolific artist. She lived in Panama City, Panama for thirty-five years, where she taught English as a second language to inner-city children, hosted her own weekly radio program, served on the board of the National Museum and was a founding member of Panama’s Art Museum.  Her last fifteen years were spent in Clearwater, FL, where she advocated for human rights and tutored at the Community Learning Center.

Alex Popoff (1978-2002) was a young man whose life was cut short by complications due to cystic fibrosis, his impact on people reached beyond his immediate sphere of influence. Deeply concerned by the capacity of humans to harm one another, he signed the 9/11 Memorial in New York City, just months before his death. “The Popoff family has kept human rights and unity as core values for generations,” explained Alex’s sister Georgia Popoff, a poet and human rights advocate from Syracuse, New York, who established the Alexander Popoff Youth Award Contest.

Both contests have drawn entries from across the United States, and from other countries including Canada, India and Indonesia. The winning poem in each of the contests will be awarded a cash prize of $100.

The program will close with a reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Other Poets for Human Rights chapters are organizing events in Austin, Texas; Bucharest, Romania; Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Port St. Lucie, Florida, and London, Ontario and many other cities around the world.

Poets for Human Rights is an international coalition of poets and human rights advocates co-founded by Stazja McFadyen and Larry Jaffe.  McFadyen was program coordinator for the Austin International Poetry Festival between 1998 and 2004. Jaffe served as International Readings Coordinator for the UNESCO Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry Project from 2001 to 2004 and earlier this year, toured the Czech Republic and Slovakia to promote his poetry and human rights work.

Passionate about his purpose, Larry Jaffe said, “Every day I read about various human rights violations and in my heart I know we can make a better world. It is my great hope that we as poets lead the way to a new and better civilization.”                      

For more information about Poets for Human Rights, you can visit the web site at www.poetsforhumanrights.org or e-mail stazja@yahoo.com. 

Banner Time

If you would like to add a Poets for Human Rights banner to your web site we have two different styles for you.

Your International Human Rights Day

International Human Rights Day is Sunday, December 10, 2006.  We encourage each of you to hold a reading in your area for the occasion.  

• A student in Malaysia who is organizing a reading at the International School of Kuala Lumpur. 

• In Houston, Ken Jones has lined up approximately 30 poets for his reading at the Artery art house, and has arranged for a video, to be aired later. 

• Send news about your event.

• Poets for Human Rights

• PforHR Discussion Group

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Youth for Human Rights

• Artists for Human Rights