Amnesty Group Rallies At City Hall

An Amnesty International rally brought refugee speakers and world beat music to Boston's City Hall Plaza on Saturday, as approximately 450 people gathered in support of the rights of students worldwide.

The event, organized by the Amnesty student group Students for Students, started with a 30-minute parade and included speeches by Iranian, Cambodian and Haitian refugees. A number of local bands played during the program.

According to Susan Rich, the group's coordinator, Boston area high school and college students held the rally "to make sure that people know about human rights and violations to students."

Marcel des Rohuil, whose family emigrated from Haiti in 1982, spoke about political persecution in her native country.

Rohuil, 18, said that her family had been harrassed by the Haitian government because of her father's political activism. Americans, she said, often fail to recognize such political burdens in their dealings with immigrants.

"I did not give up Haiti for pleasure," she said. "We must try to understand immigrants."

Rohuil said that she had found life in the U.S. more difficult than she had expected. "I was attacked because of my nationality, language and color," she said.

Reza Jalali, a Kurdish refugee from Iran and a former political prisoner whose case was advocated by Amnesty International, and who became a U.S. citizen two months ago, said his newfound freedom was the result of intense lobbying by Amnesty members.

"You guys saved my life," he said. "My standing in front of you is a testament to the power of Amnesty International."

Jalali said he was arrested for his attempts to uphold his national identity, including speaking Kurdish and writing Kurdish poetry Eventually he was expelled from Iran, he said.

Inspired by the plight of his people, he said, he decided to become "the voice of the voiceless, an unofficial spokesman of my people."

Jalali said the threat of Saddam Hussein should have been evident to the world without high-tech surveillance. "It was in black and white in the annual reports of Amnesty International," he said.

Gabrielle Tayac, a member of the Piscataway nation and a former Amnesty International Bunche fellow, said that Americans should understand that their nation has been "made up of the blood of Indian people."

"We should understand what is underneath the concrete--what the reality is," she said.

Megan Artz, a sophomore at Tufts University, described a new group being established to educate students about human rights violations. "Communication is the key to empowerment," she said. "Students are called upon to protect the conscience of nations.