Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Amnesty international

14:29 / 26.09.02

Well, do you think it's a good idea to volunteer for them? Anybody had any experience with it? Since I have only three months here (not enough to get the job I want), been thinking: I'll use my skills for the greater good part-time.

18:20 / 26.09.02

I looked into the voluntary thing a fair bit, not for Human Rights orgs. tho'- I'd say it's a good idea to volunteer anywhere - but try and have an idea in mind about what you want to get out of it. The problem with voluntary work is that you can just end up wearing one of those stupid vests, asking people "can you spare a minute", when you should (obviously) be using your vast talents to save the world and cure cancer blah de blah. Have an idea abot what you want - experience towards a future career / just to help a good cause / to help develop new skills etc. etc (that's what I did it for - Counselling)and what, in an ideal world, you'd get out of it. Jobs in the charity sector esp. for high profile charities like Amnesty and hard to come by, but volunteering defintely can open a few doors
Good volunteer resource here: http://www.do-it.org.uk/
I'd just add volunteering is very much on the political agenda right now, Tony Blair loves the idea, check out the Guardian on Weds. for news/jobs/volunteer opportunities in this sector.
And it looks fucking good on your CV!

jUne, a sunshiny month

08:13 / 27.09.02

amnesty is a noble cause (i think, uh), so it's not bad to try, at least.
i personnaly feel than i could have a better use of my person by sleeping on the road or climbing into trees with Greenpeace while there were some radioactive garbage transportation from a point to another (ther's no good places, anywhere, either) ; you meet nice people but there's always a bunch of ultras that break your nerves by repeating "man, what they do, they just can't do it anymore, man, you know what i'm sayin'?", which is something, of course, that we all already know...

there's a few links to organizations (that cares of a lot of things) on my blog (yeah, self advertising !) if you want ; i'm sure there's activists that you cannot imagine they exist ! and there's never enough people trying "do something". my opinion.

15:26 / 27.09.02

Cheers! Mr. Illmatic (nice to have made your acquaintance last weekend), the position will involve the use of languages and some office work/research. According to the application pack they sent me, they'll pay for transportation and food, which is very good. The Amnesty is very active in my home country, so I kinda know what they do and find it very noble.
And what you said about doors being open... Man, I'd sure like to work in a place like this.

June, mon cher! Comment ca va?
Yeah, I know what you mean, heheh.. Still, office people are soooo much worse when it comes to being annoying..
Thanks for the blog link, it's in my bookmark, now. I like what I saw, just have to find more time to play the stalker and read the entire thing, archives included. You don't mind, do you?

02:43 / 30.09.02

Oh for the part-timers with a few minutes to spare try StopTorture.org, it's an Amnesty International website.
Sure it might mean you do little and only do it by e-mail but hey, you do something.

14:29 / 18.09.07

Bu-ump!

Hi all, grateful for a bit of direction.

I've been a paid-up Amnesty member for many years now but aside from the occasional online petition and semi-regular donations, (the lazy, easy, conscience-easing stuff) I haven't been very active since I was at university - knocking on for 10 years now. I think I'd like to change that.

I've tapped up my local branch and asked them about the operation they run but while waiting for their reply, I'd be interested to know if anyone else has experience of what being an active member entails and importantly, what successes you've had.

Increasingly, I'm becoming concerned that I'm turning into one of those pub pundits who rails vociferously about all the poisonous horrors of the world but doesn't actually do anything. Nothing very much, anyway. It wasn't always this way; I'm enthusistic about getting off my arse for the first time in a long time and would be interested to know your thoughts about how effective AI are these days.

Cheers!

All Acting Regiment

16:06 / 18.09.07

Very effective, they seem to annoy all the right people; I did a lot of letter-writing for them at school. Always worth joining in with.