December 20, 1993

Dear Comrades and Colleagues,

Greetings. I hope that this letter finds you well. I wanted to extend my warm gratitude for your magnificent and highly successful Congress in Brussels and to extend congratulations to you from Amnesty International USA and abolitionists in the United States.

I am greatly honored to have an opportunity to play a role in the development of the worldwide parliamentary campaign. Not since I received my law degree have I felt such excitement and promise for what the future might hold. I only wish that more U.S. abolitionists could have witnessed this profound gathering of people from around the globe, all joined together by a common goal. You have given me hope and for that I can never truly convey my feelings of appreciation. I commit to do all that I humanly can to assist the Radical Party in this historical undertaking.

I am anxious to assume responsability for my position on the Management Council and urge you to not hesitate in calling on me if I can be of any assistance.

I have several ideas which I would like to share with you, but given time constraints I will only briefly touch on them now.

1) what is the plan to build membership in variuos countries?

I would like to begin to circulate membership material to key individuals in federale and state legislatures among others. Are a bulk of materials which you can forward to me to send out to these people?

2) there are two substantive projects which I belive would be valuable to our efforts. First, I belive that a U.S. conference on the campaign would greatly facilitate building a strong presence in the United States. Secondly, the Summer Olympics is scheduled to take place in Atalanta, Georgia, in the summer of 1996. Southern abolitionists perceive the Olympics as a tremendous opportunity to galvanize international attention around the question of the death penalty. It may be good for the campaign to explore this event as a target for major U.S./international action. There is abundant time to work with various countries and athletes and even the financial sponsors. The preparation and actual holding of the Olympics is a multimillion dollar endeavor and presents no better opportunity to consider the questions of economics as a possible preassure point.

I will begin to forward relevant documents to your attention. There are plans underway to establish and maintain an international death penalty clearinghouse for death penalty materials. I will keep you apprised of any developments which arise.

We will abolish the death penalty by the year 2000.

Toward that glorious day, I remain

Your Sister in Struggle,

Ashanti Chimurenga.

Director Amnesty International USA