Interview with 133 Member Kathleen Gillespie

When did you join AI, and why?

November 1997. I live near Davis Square, and for the past couple of years I've been walking by the Northeast Regional office and saying to myself, "Amnesty -- that's such a great group. I should really go check that place out sometime..." Then the day before my 34th birthday, as I was surfing the Web for activism links, I found the Amnesty USA site. So I Iinked to the Group 133 page, and sent email to someone who turned out to be Chris Williams, asking to be put on the newsletter mailing list. He replied suggesting I come to the next Open House. When I showed up the following Monday, there was just about enough time for Chris and Carl to run through the AI mandate with me before I got recruited to write the press release for the December Write-a-thon!

I joined AI because I wanted to do something useful to promote human rights, both in the U.S. and abroad, and AI has always been the group that I've associated most closely with that goal. I specifically wanted to do something with a global perspective, because my own intellectual interests have gotten more and more international as I've gotten older. I also wanted to learn more about human rights issues, and there's nothing like learning from other committed people working at a grassroots level. And I did it, completely selfishly, because I was in search of some of that "juice" that only comes from working with like-minded others on something that feels really worthwhile. And certainly have to say that I found it!

BTW, I actually almost joined my college AI group in 1981, back when someone I knew from the school radio station, Charlie Wilton, was in charge of the Colby College campus group. But back then, I wasn't quite sure what I thought about the death penalty (I've since become VERY clear how I feel about that),

so I decided not to join at that time. Then more than 16 years later, Charlie moved back to the East Coast and joined Group 133! So I feel like I've come full circle, in a way.

What was your first meeting like?

Confusing! There were so many new faces, and I didn't really know much about any of the case files or the group's work yet. And it was a really, really long meeting -- we were doing planning for the UDHR campaign and the March concert that night, among other things, and by the time "free food for new members" finally arrived, I was famished!

But everyone was so nice to me, and very welcoming. And the group seemed so full of energy and the desire to do good work, and people were expressing respectfully differing points of view with real passion -- I just liked the vibe, you know? I know I felt much more at home than I usually do in new situations (you'd probably never know it from my bossy ways, but I'm actually kind of shy).

Can you tell us about your roles in Amnesty?

Well, I was the coordinator of Get on the Bus III in April 1998, which was a really great way to get my feet wet in AI event organizing. Actually, it felt a little more like being immersed up to my neck with all my clothes still on, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world! Currently I'm working on the Group 133 History with Linda McMaster, and I'm on the media team (with Effie). And I'm on the Tibet and Burundi action teams, and hope to work on the North Andean RAN team when that gets off the ground.

What is the most important part of your work (with AI)?

I guess I'd say outreach and education, helping ourselves and others learn more about human rights and what they mean to real human beings in the real world.

What was your best/most successful AI experience?

Well of course the best is yet to be -- here's hoping that someday soon I'll be able to say "the release of Gyaltsen Drolkar!" But so far, I'd have to say Get on the Bus III. I was just so impressed by the way everyone in the group worked together, and the can-do attitude of all the organizers and participants. We got some good press, and the attention of lots of New Yorkers. We got to meet the folks from the Tibetan Youth Congress who were sitting vigil for the hunger strikers in India across the street from the UN, which was very inspiring. We had a lot of fun together on the bus. And we REALLY annoyed the folk sat the

Nigerian embassy, which I have to admit made my heart glad!

Your worst?

I really haven't had any bad AI experiences yet.

Who are your role models?

Eleanor Roosevelt, Raoul Wallenberg, Nelson Mandela, and Mahatma Gandhi are my human rights heroes.