SIR,

As people start to put together the greetings card

list this year, I would like to ask readers of the Beacon to

add one or two extra names to their list, and send a

message of hope.

Amnesty International's annual Greetings Card

Campaign provides hope for people who are in danger or

unjustly imprisoned. Knowing someone's watching can

strengthen and empower people as they confront

injustice, and it also sends a powerful message to the

authorities.

In previous years many thousands of cards have

been sent from people in the UK, giving hope to those

who received them and even resulting in prisoners being

released.

Sudanese 'people's poet' Mahjoub Sharif, who has

been jailed many times, said about the cards he received:

"These cards came from people all over... They wrote the

cards, they went out and bought stamps... it was because

of these people that I became a braver person...It made a

big difference in prison. The guards saw that if anything

happened to me, the world would know."

This year's campaign includes appeals for a Burmese

man who was arrested after he led a peaceful protest in

August 2007 and has been in prison since, and a group of

brave Zimbabwean women who are facing constant

harassment and arrest for organising peaceful

demonstrations against the government. Amnesty also

wants people to send cards to a Russian man whose son

has 'disappeared' after being reportedly seized by armed

men in 2007, and to the residents of a Kenyan shanty

town whom the authorities keep trying to forcibly evict

from their homes.

In the words of Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK

Director: "During a season when so many of us send cards

to friends and family, we're asking people to add an extra

card to their list and really make a difference for people

under threat.

Sending these cards is a simple yet effective way of

offering a great sense of hope and solidarity to many

people at risk around the world."

Amnesty's Monmouth & District Group will be

holding a Greetings Card event in Monmouth Priory, Priory

Street, Monmouth on Saturday 6th December, from 10 am

to 3 pm.

Anyone can get involved by coming along to send a

message of hope. Amnesty will provide the cards and the

pens, so it only takes a moment to show your solidarity

and help challenge injustice – or why not write a couple of

cards while enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee and mince

pies?

Marian Fretter,

(Amnesty International, Monmouth & District Group)