Letters capable of changing lives












            ******************************************************************************************

            * Letters capable of changing lives
            ******************************************************************************************
            On Wednesday, 11th December, the K4 student club changed into one of the 25 places in the 

            where you could have participated in a Letter Writing Marathon “Write for Rights”– one of 
            biggest human rights event organised yearly by Amnesty International to mark International
            (10th December).

            While many others might have been chatting on Facebook, reading Tweets or checking their e
            Marathon’s participants got hold of pens, pencils and paper and enthusiastically started t
            of support for wrongfully imprisoned, persecuted or oppressed people from all around the w

            club, attention was drawn to cases of the Ethiopian Eskinder Nega, sentenced to 18 years f
            the government, the Mexican Miriam Lopéz, who was tortured and sexually abused by soldiers

            case of hundreds of inhabitants of the Nigerian region Badia East, who are left without ho
            demolition in the region.
            All letters written during the “Write for Rights” days (6th – 16th December) are addressed

            representatives of the countries concerned and should influence them and cause an improvem
            current situation. Although it may seem that one cannot reach much just by writing letters
            proved to be true. The power lies in numbers, and Amnesty International organises “Write f

            in countries all over the world – everyone can run their own event: group of friends, scho
            – one just has to register. Solely during the last year, almost two million letters were s
            the authorities to action. The movement has so far achieved e.g. the release of blogger Ja

            (Azerbaijan) or the establishment of a Special Cabinet for Women in Guatemala.
            The number of visitors in K4 this year shows a growing interest for the event – without do
            to a rich accompanying programme of the evening, organised by PUSA, the Prague University 

            International, with the help of Lungta, a non-governmental non-profit organization concern
            and Tibetan culture. Visitors of the event could have seen a photo-exhibition about Tibet,
            Himalayan fairytale for adults, taste Tibetan soup Thungpa or watch a documentary about th

            Lama. One of the guests of the evening was a Tibetan writer and poet, Sonam Gyaltso. A fol
            and the beat band Podzemníci played to accompany the letter writing.
            Acclaim came not just from the visitors – also the team of PUSA were satisfied with the ev

            of hand-written letters only proves that the “Write for Rights” evening organised by PUSA 
            one of the group’s main goals – to wake public’s interest in human rights. PUSA, the first
            of Amnesty International established in the Czech Republic, operates at Charles University

            now and offers student the possibility to take part in events such as signing of petitions
            other events and campaigns to support  victims of injustice.
            Only time will show, what improvements in the field of human rights will be achieved thank

            Writing Marathon 2013. It seems, however,  that even in an era of texting, e-mails and soc
            letters have not lost their significance and romantic charm. Hopefully it will also turn o
            marathon will be just a long-distance run.
                                                                                                      
            David Williams is a third year student studying a BA in Music from University College Dubl
            on his love for music with his Violin and Conducting ambitions. David was keen to write fo