Each April, more than a thousand people, many of them high school and college students, descend on New York City to demonstrate in front of foreign consulates in the name of human rights. This massive coalescence of people, part of a daylong event called Get on the Bus (GOTB), is orchestrated by one small Amnesty International chapter in Somerville, Group 133.
Anna Phelan, a staff assistant in the HMS IT Department, has helped organize GOTB since 2007. More than a rally, GOTB brings together activists from all over the Northeast, and sometimes beyond, to participate in a day of education and action focused on several core issues. The name refers to the preferred mode of travel to New York for many of the participants. In the morning, GOTB participants listen to a speaker’s panel, and in the afternoon, the entire contingent visits embassies, consulate offices and corporate headquarters to rally on behalf of the issues discussed in the morning panel. Often, a small group of Amnesty International members who are well-versed in the day’s core issues is able to meet with diplomatic and corporate representatives face to face.
An event of this size and complexity requires a lot of work behind the scenes, which is where Phelan and her fellow Group 133 members come in. In addition to securing the speakers for the panels, scouting locations for the rallies and organizing transportation to New York, Group 133 is responsible for ensuring that the permitting and other legal requirements for an event of this size are in place.
For the 2009 GOTB, Phelan served as lead coordinator overseeing all aspects of the event, a role she is reprising for 2010, which includes everything from facilitating strategic planning to recruiting and advising an army of volunteers. In recognition of her work, Phelan received the 2009 Dean’s Community Service Award, sponsored by the HMS Office for Diversity and Community Partnership.
GOTB does more than raise awareness of important issues. It also creates openings for dialog between the activists and the governmental and business organizations involved in the issues. In 2007, Amnesty International asked TIAA-CREF and JP Morgan Chase, as stockholders in Dow Chemical, to vote in favor of a shareholder resolution that would benefit the victims of the Bhopal, India, gas disaster of 1984. In part due to the prospect of a rally on their doorstep, TIAA-CREF agreed to endorse the resolution, but JP Morgan remained unresponsive.
“An hour before [the GOTB rally], we were in New York City, listening to the speakers, and JP Morgan Chase contacted Amnesty International’s headquarters to set up a meeting, so we were able to meet with them that day,” said Phelan. That initial meeting resulted in further talks between Amnesty and the company.
Two years ago, in a meeting with a GOTB delegation about the plight of jailed journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, a Sri Lankan ambassador promised to look into the group’s concerns about poor medical care for the prisoner, who had been convicted of having financial ties to the Tamil Tigers.
“The following Monday, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense posted on their website that Amnesty International had been infiltrated by the Tamil Tigers at their demonstration in New York City the Friday before,” said Phelan. “You know your concerns have reached the highest of levels when there is media spin on what actually happened.”
GOTB can also foster a lifetime interest in the core mission of Amnesty International among the student participants. “It becomes a springboard for them to become lifelong human rights advocates,” said Phelan.
Phelan has also received recognition within Amnesty International. A particular interest of hers is the intersection of corporate responsibility and human rights issues, and in 2009, partly due to her dedication to GOTB, she was asked to join the organization’s USA Business and Economic Relations Group, a national advisory board on business and human rights.
