Action

We were appalled and outraged by the recent violence in Guinea. The indiscriminate killing and raping that took place under government control by government troops was a vile violation of the rights of the people of that country . . . The leadership of Guinea owe a profound apology to the people, who had gathered in peaceful protest against the military takeover . . . They owe not only that apology in words, but in a recognition that they cannot remain in power, that they must turn back to the people the right to choose their own leaders.

– Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, October 6, 2009

Over the past two years, Alliance Guinea has undertaken a number of critical actions:

In response to the massacre of September 28:

1. Release of protesters, activists and journalists arrested by the Guinean military and security forces;
2. Health care, pyscho-social and economic support to the victims of September 28, in particular the dozens of rape survivors;
3. Complete census of all persons reported missing since September 28, 2009;
4. Restitution to family members of all mortal remains of protesters killed;
5. Return to the freedom of press, allowing private radio stations free speech to discuss current events and allow opposition parties access to the air waves;
6. Pursuit of a judicial process to prosecute the crimes against humanity committed on and after September 28;
7. Institution of an embargo of arms sales to Guinea until the military is restructured and civilian rule established.

Guinea Vote 2010 Witness Ushahidi System

Alliance Guinea established the electoral communication system called “Guinea Vote 2010 Witness” or “Guinée Vote 2010 Témoin” in French, using technologies including text messaging to monitor events before, during, and after the two rounds of the 2010 presidential elections in Guinea.  This project was made possible in part by support from the U.S. Department of State, administered by the U.S. Embassy in Conakry, and the partnership with the Embassy’s Public Affairs office, which contributed additional resources for other technical and promotional aspects of the project.

Together in collaboration with the Embassy and other partners including the National Council for Civil Society Organizations in Guinea (CNOSCG) and the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), Alliance was able to make a significant contribution to the elections with very modest financial resources, limited time and an all-volunteer staff. Among the highlights of Alliance Guinea’s efforts:

• Alliance Guinea was able to set up a large volunteer group that carried out in country and external advocacy activities and managed to set up a complex electoral communication system within a few weeks
  23,000 SMS text messages were received.
• Over 2,000 messages were subsequently verified and mapped to GV10Witness.org
• SMS messages were used to report irregularities to the CENI and mitigate cases of voter fraud and irregularities
• GV10Witness monitored post-election violence and anecdotal evidence suggests that the reporting of incidents directly to the FOSSEPEL likely detoured further cases of violence

To ensure a peaceful, democratic transition to civilian rule:

1. Provide all necessary financial and technical assistance to the National Independent Election Commission responsible for the legislative elections;
2. Provide technical and financial support to ECOWAS civil-political observers to monitor the situation closely and help keep the peace;
3. Facilitate the efficient sharing of information within Guinea, across the Guinean diaspora and to the outside media to increase understanding of the electoral process and increase issue-based voting.

In the run-up to the legislative elections, Alliance Guinea is focusing on the following activities – contact the people listed to get involved!

1. Congressional outreach: Join forces with other Alliance members in your state/region to make sure that your Congressional representatives know about this critical moment in Guinea and what it means for America to “always stand on the side of freedom and human dignity” as President Obama said in his State of the Union address. We’ll be asking our Members of Congress to sign a letter addressed to Secretary of State Clinton saying that they are monitoring events closely, asking that the US do all it can to help Guinea with this transition, and that we also do everyhing possible to ensure that the perpetrators of the September 28 crimes against humanity are brought to justice. To take part in this critical pre-election effort contact Steve Wood at stephenawood at gmail.com.
2. Ushahidi for Guinea: Get involved with the 2011 legislative elections and the new platform for monitoring the elections to build on the GV10Witness Platform.
3. Blog: Follow the Guinean news closely and feel like you have an important perspective to share? Want to reach a diverse audience around the world of Guineans, other friends of Guinea, international media and international players with your analyses? Become a blogger for www.allianceguinea.org! Write in either French or English and the Alliance translation team will translate. To help our diverse following keep up and better understand the most important developments around democracy and justice in Guinea – especially in the run-up to these historic elections – by blogging on regular basis, contact Raul Rothblatt at rrothblatt at gmail.com.
4. The Next Greatest Initiative: Have an idea about something else that we can do to make a difference? Want to take the initiative and make that idea happen? We’re all about letting a thousand democratic and justice flowers bloom – let us know how the rest of us at Alliance can help by contacting Jen Swift-Morgan at jbsfela at yahoo.com. Or just do it and post something on the Alliance wall to let the rest of us know!

And, if you do not have a lot of time but do have the desire to help, please consider donating here.  We’re still 100% volunteer-run and have an ambitious agenda – every contribution counts tremendously. Thank you for your support.

Finally, here are things you can do anytime on your own to raise awareness about what is happening in Guinea and build international support for justice and democracy:

1. WRITE TO YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER AND/OR REPRESENTATIVE

If you are in the US and wish to contact your elected representatives, find your Congresspeople at these links for the House of Representatives and for the Senate.

Recommended things to include in a letter, which doesn’t have to be long:

a. A personal connection to Guinea, to democracy: if you are Guinean, talk about the country you knew before these atrocities happened. If you are a returned Peace Corps volunteer, talk about your village, your family, what Guinea means to you. If you’ve been to Guinea, talk about what it was like.  If you are another kind of friend of Guinea or of human rights and democracy in general, talk about why what is happening caught your attention, what it means to you to live in freedom and democracy.

b. Some basic background into the situation

c. A few words about why people outside of Guinea should care, such as:

• we need to act now before the situation turns into war, ie another Liberia, another Sierra Leone, etc
• how many times after Rwanda and Darfour have we pledged that next time we will not to sit idly by when countries are on the edge of mass violence?
• America/France/Poland, etc. (your country) fought for its own democracy and freedom, and people continue this fight for equal rights for all people in our countries. Guineans are no different in their desire for peace and democracy, and we must stand with them.

d. A call for the international community to not let the junta get away with the crimes they have committed or delay elections any further. You can say that you a heartened by the statements already made by the UN Security Council; African Union; European Union; the governments of the US, France, Canada; and the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) among others strongly condemning the action and in some cases calling for immediate international investigation into the events. Can say that you expect that these statements will be followed up by real action with regard to the investigation into crimes against humanity, with real pressure on the junta and with assistance in finding a path towards democratic elections.

e. Tell people to visit www.allianceguinea.org to be a part of the cause, sign an online petition in support of the Guinean people,  and to learn more about what they can do.

2. EMAIL CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, CANAL + & ANY JOURNALIST YOU KNOW

Tell them what is happening i Guinea and that they should be covering this story. CNN, for instance, has an “exchange” page for feedback on coverage, etc.: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form.sound.off.html.

3. WRITE ABOUT GUINEA IN YOUR OWN BLOG, MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER

Many of you have your own blogs, are part of organizations that have blogs or newsletters, or are journalists yourself. Write about what is happening, and tell people to join us here at www.allianceguinea.org. Link your blog to ours.

4. HOLD AN AWARENESS & ORGANIZING MEETING

Meet with your community group, church/synagogue/mosque, student organization, book group, whatever - and tell them about Guinea. Get them to join our letter writing campaign and meet up with us here at www.allianceguinea.org.

5. JOIN ONE OF ALLIANCE GUINEA’S SUB-COMMITTEES

• Are you a lawyer, law student, human rights activist? Join our law & human rights group. (See Human Rights page).
• Are you an educator or student leader? Join our education group for universities and for highschools. (See Education page.)
• Are you an elected leader or political activist? Join our advocacy action group. (Tell us on this Advocacy page.)

Email allianceguinea@gmail.com to get involved in any of these sub-committees.

WHAT OTHER IDEAS DO *YOU* HAVE?

Respond to this post with your own ideas for action we can take now.