Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Tamaz Altafi, 17, a senior at Saratoga High School, checks out information about Amnesty International posted by the school's student chapter.
High school students get involved in world issues
By Rebecca Ray
Recently, a group of high school students held an event to show that doing something as seemingly insignificant as writing a letter can achieve something as monumental as freeing a political prisoner from torture.
On Friday, April 6, the Saratoga High School chapter of Amnesty International took part in the worldwide organization's National Week of Student Action to Stop Torture in Peru. Chapters around the country participated in the events, held throughout the first week of April, to show other students how they could join them in freeing prisoners, ending torture and upholding basic human rights in Peru.
In addition to hanging posters in the quad during lunch, club members at Saratoga High ran an information table, where they distributed information about human rights abuses going on in Peru, as well as information about Amnesty International.
During the week's events, Amnesty International joined Peruvian human rights defenders in pressuring Peruvian officials to stop prisoners from being tortured for unjust causes or reasons. The organization, which seeks to stop and educate others about human rights abuses worldwide, and focuses on having students write "urgent action" letters to officials in other countries about specific prisoners. This year, in addition to writing letters to Peruvian officials, the 12 or so students in Saratoga High's chapter have written to officials in Iran and southeast Asian countries.
According to chapter President Alex Salvadore, 17, a junior, the National Week of Student Action is the biggest Amnesty event the chapter has participated in this year. He said he wished more students would join Amnesty, but that some students have not joined because they perceive it as being a political organization. He said that the National Week of Student Action was more successful than he'd hoped in that quite a few students approached the information table and asked members about the club, organization and event.
Salvadore first heard about Amnesty and knew he wanted to help the organization's cause in 1989, when he saw a picture of a student in Tiananmen Square standing in front of a long row of tanks in the street. The picture made him see how great the need for basic human rights was worldwide, and he wanted to be part of helping to assert those basic human rights, he said.
Once students send letters, they usually wait several months before they receive updates from Amnesty on the prisoners about whom they wrote, and some prisoners don't get released. But, Salvadore said, he believed the chapter had released several other prisoners, which made people see how important Amnesty's cause was and how much of an effect small organizations and small actions could have.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
