Get Active

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Help us Stop the Cycle of Genocide by showing "Screamers" on your college or university campus. We can help you with information about supporting groups and promotional materials. Contact us at: info@screamersmovie.com

DARFUR: TAKE ACTION!
Organizations around the world are working hard to get support on the ground. The following organizations have supported “Screamers” and provide up-to-date information on Darfur. Check them out to see what you can do now to help.

SAVE DARFUR
Save Darfur has supported screenings of Screamers, from its premiere in Los Angeles, to its opening in New York City, and special screenings in the U.S. Congress and the Cannes Film Festival. Check out their web-site for concrete actions you can take now.
www.savedarfur.org

“The Save Darfur Coalition was founded at the Darfur Emergency Summit at CUNY Graduate Center in New York City on July 14, 2004. Since then, the coalition has grown into an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations with more than 1 million activists and 1,000 community groups committed to ending the genocide in Darfur. Save Darfur is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with a staff of 30 professional organizers, policy advisors and communications specialists. The mission of the coalition is to raise public awareness and mobilize a massive response to the atrocities in Darfur. By engaging and educating Americans on the dire situation in Darfur, the coalition continues to apply political pressure on elected leaders to end the first genocide of the 21st century.”

STAND NOW
If you are a student and want to know more about what you can do, go to the STAND NOW web-site to see if your university or college is hooked into the Darfur network.
www.standnow.org

“With more than 700 chapters at schools around the globe, STAND is the fastest-growing student anti-genocide coalition in the world today. STAND chapters actively organize to prevent and stop genocide wherever and whenever it may occur. In partnership with the Genocide Intervention Network, STAND's long-term goal is to establish a permanent anti-genocide constituency that holds elected officials accountable for doing all that they can to prevent and end genocide.”

NOT ON OUR WATCH
www.notonourwatchproject.org
“Our mission is to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities. Drawing on the powerful voice of citizen artists, activists, and cultural leaders, our mission is to generate lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for the vulnerable, marginalized, and displaced.”


Other organizations to follow:

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Human Rights Watch has valuable updates on Darfur, detailed reports on the conditions on the ground and advice about what you can do now.
“Human Rights Watch is working to document and end human rights abuses in Darfur. Help us continue our work.” www.hrw.org

GENOCIDE INTERVENTION NETWORK
www.genocideintervention.net
“The Genocide Intervention Network envisions a world in which the global community is willing and able to protect civilians from genocide and mass atrocities. Our mission is to empower individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide.”

DREAM FOR DARFUR
This campaign is directing their effort to the run-up to the Olympics in China.

“Our goal is to protect civilians on the ground in Darfur. To achieve this, the government of Sudan must allow a robust civilian protection force into Darfur. Because of China’s extensive economic interests in Sudan, leaders in Beijing are in a unique - indeed unrivaled - position to persuade Sudan to consent immediately to a true and robust U.N. operation in Darfur. Beijing is also the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics, an event that stands for peace and brotherhood. As the Games approach, advocates for security in Darfur have an extraordinary opportunity to reach out to the Chinese government, in its role as host, to urge Beijing’s leaders to use their considerable influence with Sudan. We will know when we have succeeded when a robust peacekeeping force is in Darfur and there is security for civilians and humanitarian workers.” www.dreamfordarfur.org

US CONGRESS – TAKE ACTION!
Over 200 Congressman support passage of the HR 106, the Armenian Genocide Resolution. As this number changes, go onto the Thomas web-site to find out the current status. If you believe your Congressman should be on the list, take action.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HE00106:@@@P

If you believe your Congressman or Senator should support recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the resolution we featured in Screamers, go onto the ANCA web-site (www.anca.org) right now to call or fax immediately.

ANCA
www.anca.org
For more information on the Armenian Genocide Resolution and other actions to stop genocide now in Darfur, check out the Armenian National Committee of America web-site.

THEIR GOAL:
"The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues."

Alternatively, call your Congressman’s office directly to voice your opinion. They expect to hear from you – that’s their job. So make your voice heard. It’s easy!
Go onto the Library of Congress’ Thomas web-site to get the telephone number of your representative.

http://thomas.gov

http://thomas.loc.gov

ARTICLE 301 IN TURKEY – TAKE ACTION!
Here is a link to Serj's campaign with Amnesty International/Music for Human Rights to change Article 301
www.amnestyusa.org/musicforhumanrights/serjfeature.html

Serj Tankian and “Screamers” both support Amnesty’s campaign to change Article 301 of the Penal Code in Turkey – the same code that was used to prosecute Hrant Dink, Orhan Pamuk, Ragip Zaracolou, Taner Akcam and other writers, journalists and scholars who want the freedom to speak openly about their past, without fear of retribution or prosecution.

Amnesty International US has an Online Action Center to Urge Turkey to Abolish Article 301. It’s easy to take a stand. Go to their web-site for more information

Here is Amnesty’s statement:
“Amnesty International is extremely concerned with the frequent use of Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TPC) to prosecute human rights defenders, journalists and other members of civil society peacefully expressing their dissenting opinion. Article 301, on the denigration of Turkishness, the Republic, and the foundation and institutions of the State, was introduced with the legislative reforms of 1 June 2005 and replaced Article 159 of the old penal code. Amnesty International repeatedly opposed the use of Article 159 to prosecute non-violent critical opinion and called on the Turkish authorities to abolish the article.

The organization is now concerned that the wide and vague terms of Article 301 mean that it too can be applied arbitrarily to criminalize a huge range of critical opinions. It states that:

1. Public denigration of Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and three years.
2. Public denigration of the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial institutions of the State, the military or security structures shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and two years.
3. In cases where denigration of Turkishness is committed by a Turkish citizen in another country the punishment shall be increased by one third.
4. Expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime.”
Article 301 achieved international notoriety when it was invoked against novelist Orhan Pamuk for comments made during an interview with a Swiss newspaper in February 2005. “Thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were murdered,” he stated at the interview. “Hardly anyone dares mention it, so I do. And that’s why I’m hated.” The case made headlines across the world. It was thrown out of court last January on a legal technicality.

But the failure of Orhan Pamuk’s case is small consolation for the many individuals who currently face similar charges. Article 301 has been used to prosecute anyone—journalist, artist, student or lawyer—who expresses a view that can be construed as “denigrating Turkishness,” including criticism of state institutions or public officials. In 2006, Elif Shafak, an internationally known Turkish writer, was brought to trial simply because of a statement made by a character in her novel, The Bastard of Istanbul. Hrant Dink, founder of the Armenian newspaper, Agos, was repeatedly put on trial under this statute and, consequently, was branded “an enemy of Turkishness” in many sections of the Turkish media, helping to create the atmosphere which led to his assassination in January, 2007.

Prosecutions under 301 have continued as well. Most recently, journalists associated with the Agos newspaper, including Dink’s own son, Arat Dink, have been subject to prosecution under this law because they republished an interview that Hrant Dink gave to Reuters in 2006. On October 11, 2007, Arat Dink and another journalist, Serkis Seropyan, were convicted under this statute and sentenced to a year in prison.
Amnesty International believes that the frequency with which Article 301 is being used and the arbitrary nature of its application represent a real threat to freedom of speech in Turkey. The organization reiterates its call for Article 301 to be abolished in its entirety, thereby putting an end to arbitrary implementation of this ill-defined law.