Like Water on Stone - Hardcover

"Power"

3.59

41 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1555534872 ISBN 13: 9781555534875

Publisher: Northeastern University Press, 2001

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When British attorney Peter Beneson founded Amnesty International in 1961 to campaign for the release of political prisoners, his idea of bombarding offending governments with letters, postcards, and telegrams was sharply criticized as "one of the larger lunacies of our time." Forty years later, with more than one million members and supporters in over 160 countries and territories, London-based Amnesty has impacted individual lives and played a significant role in shaping public policy, if not always practice, of governments around the globe. Amnesty's extraordinary strategies to reduce human rights abuses are critically examined in this objective look at the successes and failures of the organization over the last four decades. In Like Water on Stone, author Jonathan Power recognizes Amnesty's considerable achievements-the difficult struggles in Guatemala to help those facing death squads, discusses the case in the Central African Republic where Amnesty's masterful detective work exposed the massacre of defenseless children, and investigates attempts to bring former Chilean strongman Augustine Pinochet to justice. But Power does not shy away from raising the difficult questions about Amnesty's strategies. Do Amnesty's campaigns lead repressive governments to murder rather than jail political prisoners? Is the organization's research and reports always accurate? Was Amnesty right to label British methods of interrogation in Northern Ireland as "torture?" Was Amnesty right to lobby for better prison conditions for the notorious Baader-Meinhoff gang in Germany? Like Water on Stone also explores Amnesty's efforts in China, Morocco, Sri Lanka, and Colombia. A sobering review of Amnesty's work in the United States considers the hypocrisies of a nation that champions human rights abroad but tolerates police brutality, racial profiling, and capital punishment within its own borders. One of Amnesty's best known adopted political prisoners, Olusegun Obasanjo, now the democratically elected president of Nigeria and a personal friend of author Power, once described Amnesty International as operating "like water on stone." According to Jonathan Power, the world is indeed a better place because of the organization's slow yet steady strides in the fight for human rights.

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Unusual book

Review:

Turning 40 can be awkward, but, as journalist Jonathan Power demonstrates in his passionate appraisal of Amnesty International, Like Water on Stone, sometimes it can be a time for quiet celebration. Formed in 1961 after British lawyer Peter Berenson read of two Portuguese students imprisoned for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom, Amnesty took its symbol from an ancient proverb, "better to light a candle than curse the darkness". From humble beginnings, Amnesty International now has over a million supporters worldwide, and while remaining one of the smaller NGOs, has one of the highest profiles through its campaigns against torture, capital punishment, and political crimes against humanity. It may often be a case of two steps forward and one step back, but that odd waltz has changed international thinking, and as importantly, saved individual lives. Its impact may often be intangible, but as Power's title suggests, it's quietly effective.

Power, former foreign affairs columnist for the International Herald Tribune and editor of the official history of the UN, A Vision of Hope, purposefully charts the organisation's success stories and cautionary tales. The first chapter, which focuses on former Amnesty adopted prisoner and now Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who gives the book its title, is the most personal in the book, as Obasanjo is an old acquaintance of Power's. What follows are more precise histories of campaigns waged, often alone, by Amnesty, in countries such as Guatemala, where there are no political prisoners, only political killings, and the Central African Republic. The Pinochet affair is usefully sketched, drawing heavily on Geoffrey Robertson's Crimes Against Humanity, and there are lively chapters on British human rights abuses in Northern Ireland, and the interesting dynamics of the organisation's involvement in the Baader-Meinhof campaign of the 1970s, when it perhaps became involved beyond its mandate. The future, Power believes, lies in international law and courting the business community, not glamorous, but fundamental to maintaining momentum. The other massive hurdle remains the USA, which 225 years on from the Declaration of Independence, continues to embrace double standards that render its human rights record grim reading. Conclusion? Good work, but it's not yet time to put down your pen.--David Vincent

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