Human Rights Week

Come to Amnesty International's Human Rights Week events, beginning November 5, 2007. Winona LaDuke, a celebrated and passionate activist for Native American environmental and social justice issues, will kick off the week--make sure to hear her speak. The week was a huge success last year, with great attendance from Oles, especially at the Letter-Writing Campaign (you guys wrote 400 letters on behalf of individuals in Darfur!). Let's make it a success again this year!

List of Events for Human Rights Week:

November 5th: Winona LaDuke, co-sponsored with PAC, at 7pm at the Pause
November 6th: Interfaith Prayer Service at 9pm outside of Buntrock
November 7th: Panel of speakers at 7pm in HH501
November 8th: Letter Writing 4-7pm in the Crossroads and all you can eat pancake dinner in the Black and Gold Ballrooms from 9-11 pm

Invite your friends! Invite your enemies! Lets try to make a difference!

Guatemalan Dinner

The Cooperative Justice House and World Issues Dialogue invite you to join us for a traditional Guatemalan supper on Thursday, November 1 at 5:30 pm to raise money for the Chico Mendez Reforestation Project in Cantel, Guatemala. Several members of this primarily Mayan mountain community founded the project in response to the dwindling of their groundwater supply that resulted from decades of deforestation. Since 1999, the project has planted as many as 65,000 trees in one year. Six St. Olaf students who have briefly lived in Cantel will share their experiences with the project, the community, and its connection to issues of sustainable development and indigenous rights. Free will donations accepted and encouraged.

**The Cooperative Justice House is the gray house on St. Olaf Ave., across from the president's house

Menu:

• Caldo de res (beef and vegetable stew)
• Tortillas de maíz (corn tortillas)
• Café de maíz (corn drink)
• Ensalada de rábano (radish salad)
• and for dessert...
• Pan dulce (sweet bread)
• Café guatemalteco (guatemalan coffee)

Baha'i students in Iran

Here's an opportunity to support the Baha'i club: attend their film screening about the Iranian government's efforts to deny students of the Baha'i faith the opportunity to attend university.

From the Baha'i club:

If you haven't heard, Baha'i college students just like
yourselves have been banned from attending university by the Iranian
government for many years because of their religious beliefs.
Would you like to know more?

The Baha'i Club would like to invite you to come see a movie in Viking Theater on Thursday, November 1st at 7pm. Come learn more about what is
happening in Iran, what other Oles have to say about this issue, and see an
interview with a professor from nearby Carleton College who taught via
correspondence at an underground Baha'i University.
Hope to see you all there!

For more information about the Baha'i faith, click here.

For more information about Baha'is in Iran, click here.

Green Bikes at St. Olaf

The Cooperative Justice house is working on a project to bring bikes to St. Olaf that will be available to anyone on campus. It's only necessary that you sign a waiver before using them and treat them well so that they can be used by everyone. While there aren't any green bikes on campus yet, we hope to have at least 5 available by the first week of November. Keep an eye out for Justice House members tabling to get those waivers signed.

In the meantime, check out the Manitou Messenger article about the Green Bikes Program.

Garden plot, a month later....

Garden shots, second round

Justice House garden plot at the Greenvale Community Garden

Justice House Garden

Cooperative Justice house: the nitty-gritty

More to come about what we care about, what we do, and why we created this blog...