TJ Riggs, who is the Amnesty International USA Alabama State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator, talks about the recent commutation of Rocky Myers' death sentence. Rocky Myers has spent more than 30 years on death row in Alabama after he was convicted of a crime he did not commit. Rocky Myers was one of the cases featured on the "Write for Rights" campaign last year. His legal team worked with several organization to plead his case. Together more than two million actions were generated. Myers continues to be in prison but is no longer on death row. His legal team is now working to get him pardoned. 
For more information visit: https://www.amnestyusa.org/campaigns/rocky-myers/


TJ Riggs on the Death Penalty in Alabama March 7_4upload

Sandra Babcock, Clinical Professor of Law at Cornell University, talks about President Trump's executive orders, many of which are focused on difference and dissent. The former includes attacks against DEI policies and efforts to erase the identity of Trans people in this country. Sending people to be imprisoned in El Salvador without due process is also an assault on human dignity. The administration's effort to crack down on dissent includes prosecuting peaceful protesters and using coercive tools, such as withholding federal funding to universities in order to control what can be taught in classrooms. Sandra also reflects on how many high profile law firms have caved to Trump's demands and agreed to provide pro bono services for cases Trump cares about. Lastly, we talk about the work students are doing at Cornell's International Human Rights Clinic.

Sandra Babcock April 18_4upload

Sue Perlgut, Joan Adler, and Cayanne Lacko-Cave talk about reproductive rights, the organization End Abortion Stigma, and the Reproductive Rights Film Festival. On Monday, April 28, 2025 the film "Connie Cook" will be screened at Ithaca College.

For more information visit: https://filmfreeway.com/ReproductiveRightsFilmFestival
https://www.facebook.com/endingabortionstigma/
https://www.instagram.com/endingabortionstigma/

Call for Short Film Submissions in The Finger Lakes

Ithaca, NY: NY State’s only Reproductive Rights Film Festival is pleased  to announce that the 2025 Reproductive Rights Film Festival will include a selection of short shorts by Finger Lakes region filmmakers. Short short films (up to 10 minutes)  can be submitted in three categories: pre-college, college and general. Deadline for entry is June 30, 2025.  Please see our FilmFreeway site for detailed submission guidelines. For more information contact reprorightsfilmfest@gmail.com 

The  festival, which convenes its third annual season in September 2025 is hosted at Cinemapolis in Ithaca, NY,  and offers a selection of films and virtual programs that highlight the need to advance rights and access to abortion in the United States and beyond. The festival is free and open to the public! 



Reproductive Rights_4upload

Shannon Gleeson gives an update on immigration policies in the United States after Trump's first 100 days in office in 2025. We examine actions from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, including the use of the Alien Enemies Act, increased funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and court rulings regarding the removal of people to El Salvador without due process. We also look at the problem from a federal, state, and local perspective. This includes the dismantling of the Refugee Program and the CBP One app for asylum seekers, and raids being conducted at schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Stripping international students of their visas because they participated in demonstrations is a clear violation of first amendment protections. All of these policies impact not only the targeted communities but everyone. The way they were implemented has created intentional chaos. At the same time members of our community continue to stand up and do what they can to educate, advocate, and resist current policies that violate human rights.

Shannon Gleeson May 1_4upload

On the show, we highlight projects in Uganda where clean cooking using renewable solar energy for industrial and residential-sized stoves is resulting in reducing reliance on scarce, expensive, and unhealthy firewood and charcoal biofuels by up to 95%.
The project advances many of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (sdgs.un.org), including good health and well-being, the right to education, gender equality, affordable energy, economic growth and decent work, sustainable cities and communities, taking urgent action on climate change, and building partnerships for peace and security.

Our guests are collaborating on a new build project at the Upper Nile Institute for Advanced Technology (UNIFAT) Primary School in Uganda. The project is funded by Philadelphia, PA based 501©3 Friends of UNIFAT and the Central New York International Rotary Club.
Ithaca, New York/Central New York Rotary District member Gertrude Noden and Ugandan Peter Odida Climate Change Educator are the Project Managers for this international collaboration.
Susan Kiuyi Rose is a physics and mathematics teacher, the Assistant Governor of Rotary Zone 6 Uganda and serves as the Education Officer for the Rotary Club of Soroti Central.
James Bwire is a Public Health Specialist and Researcher, a member of the Environmental Sustainable Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) Clean Cooking Task Force, and President Elect of the  Rotary Club of Busia District 9213.
Khalib Nyende is the Co-Founder and CEO of Vron Engineering with over a decade in the design, fabrication installation and user training of smoke free solar cooking stoves solutions. https://www.vronengineering.com/ 
The UNIFAT School community and youth educational workshops, tree planting and ribbon cutting is scheduled for May 20, 2025.  For more information contact www.wordsintodeeds.org

Uganda Solar Kitchens for Schools_4upload

Paul Ortiz, labor activist and professor, who teaches labor history at the ILR school at Cornell University, talks about the origins of International Workers' Day (aka Labour Day or May Day). Workers from diverse ethnic and ideological backgrounds came together in the 1880s to strike for the eight-hour workday across the country. Corporations and the government cracked down brutally on the labor movement, even executing some of its leaders. The international community established the International Workers' Day in solidarity with the labor movement in the United States.

Paul Ortiz on May Day_4upload

We talk about Trump's executive orders and efforts to change the narrative of who belongs to this country.

Joe Margulies May 23_4upload

Ian Lekus, who is the Policy and Communications Officer at the Council for Global Equality, and the LGBTQI+ Thematic Specialist at Amnesty International USA, talks about the current situation regarding the rights of LGBT+ people in the United States and around the world. We refer to the factsheet "Trapped in Danger" on the perils facing LGBTQ+ refugees recently published by several NGOs, and the report "Defunding Freedom: Impacts of U.S. Foreign Aid  Cuts on LGBTIQ People Worldwide" which was published by Outright International in February 2025. Members of the community are increasingly threatened by individuals as well as governments. Restricting the rights and freedoms of minority groups, for example, due process rights, or freedom of expression and assembly, ultimately undermines democracy in general for everyone. Currently, more than 60 countries worldwide criminalize LGBT+ individuals, their relationships, gender identity/expression, their access to health care, and/or to organize publicly.

For more information visit the following:

https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/trapped-in-danger-trump-administration-policies-endanger-persecuted-lgbtqi-people/

The press release:
https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/new-summary-report-details-how-trump-administration-policies-endanger-lgbtqi-people-at-risk-of-persecution/

Rainbow Railroad's community support teams:
https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/community-support-teams

The Outright report:
https://outrightinternational.org/our-work/human-rights-research/defunding-freedom-impacts-us-foreign-aid-cuts-lgbtiq-people

Pride 2025 with Ian Lekus_4upload

We talk about a range of issues, including Richard Dreyfus, who was posthumously promoted in the French army, after being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned. Upcoming local events are the "No Kings" rally in Ithaca (and around the country), and the local Juneteenth celebration.

Update with Wayles Browne June 13_4upload

Amy Fischer, who directs the Refugee and Migrant Rights campaign at Amnesty International USA talks about current state of affairs, Amnesty's "Human Rights Blueprint for the Border" and the research briefing "Lives in Limbo," based on a research trip to the border in February 2025 In the second half of the show Jim McDonald talks about the briefing "Dehumanized by Design" which is based on an immigrant detention center in El Paso, Texas. Meera Viruru talk about organizing efforts in Chicago for World Refugee Day, which is June 20th.

For more information visit:
https://www.amnestyusa.org/campaigns/human-rights-blueprint-for-the-border/
https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/lives-in-limbo-devastating-impacts-of-trumps-migration-and-asylum-policies/
https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/dehumanized-by-design-human-rights-violations-in-el-paso/


TJ Riggs on the Death Penalty in Alabama March 7_4upload

WRFIhumanrightsshow

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