Bringing Human Rights Back to the Country That Created Solidarity
Rock for Human Rights and United for Human Rights, with the Polish-American Society of Memphis, join forces to hold the “Memphis in Poland” concert.
Poland has for centuries stood as a gateway between East and West, between communism and democracy, between state-sponsored oppression and freedom.
Like so many European countries, Poland is struggling to find the balance between its national interests and respecting the rights and freedoms of all people regardless of language, ethnicity or religion. Widespread human rights education and awareness have never been more important.
A new opportunity to revive the Polish concept of solidarity and human rights was found with the “Memphis in Poland” concert organized by the Polish-American Society of Memphis. They teamed up with Rock for Human Rights (R4HR) Founder and United for Human Rights (UHR) partner, Wil Seabrook, who was asked to participate in the music festival which took place in Sopot in northern Poland.
Festival organizers aimed for the events to be educational, with an emphasis on human rights. Therefore, R4HR and UHR not only accepted the invitation but also translated The Story of Human Rights booklet into Polish, a first for the UHR materials.
In just six days, they reached over 3,000 with the human rights message and generated daily national media in the country.
A series of four concerts and human rights lectures were held in Gdansk and Sopot, Poland, by Wil Seabrook and the R4HR band. They brought human rights to the attention of a diverse public, distributed thousands of the newly translated booklets and showed the Youth for Human Rights International Public Service Announcements. In just six days, they reached over 3,000 with the human rights message and generated daily national media in the country.
During the tour, collaborations with R4HR and UHR were initiated with the historic European Solidarity Center, Sopot Museum, the City of Sopot and the City of Bielsko-Biala. These key organizations and government bodies are looking to incorporate the UHR materials into their activities, thus opening the door for widespread dissemination of the UHR materials for the first time in Poland’s history.
FACTS
THE UDHR STATES:
“We should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
We are changing these facts:
3.2
MILLION
students are victims of bullying each year
54%
SAID WITNESSING
abuse at home can lead to increased violence at school
1 in 3
U.S. STUDENTS
report experiencing bullying at school
75%
OF ADULTS
are affected by bullying in the workplace, whether as a target or a witness
160,000
STUDENTS
skip school for fear of being bullied every day
