Like Water on Stone: The Story of Amnesty International [ハードカバー]

This is an uneven book on an extremely important organization and topic. The role of Amnesty International, a private citizen's organization created to hold governments accountable for their actions, has been critical to bringing human rights issues to the forefront of global foreign policy concerns. The simple approach of having citizens write letters to government officials expressing their interest in and concern over political prisoners has resulted in the release of thousands, and has brought hope to many. Amnesty International's efforts have demonstrated that individual citizen action does make a difference; it has become a model for other organizations around the globe.

Unfortunately, the author does not successfully capture the importance and significance of Amnesty. There are a number of factual errors which, while not significant in their own right, are jarring and do raise questions regarding other statements. As one example, he states that both Nigeria and Rhodesia were British colonies in 1966; both were former colonies but by 1966 were both independent nations. His analysis is not always strong; in other instances it is virtually non-existent. On more than one occasion his writing meanders and concludes without making any point; this is particularly the case with the chapter on the history of Amnesty, and on the Baader-Meinhoff gang. On the other hand, his discussion of Amnesty's role in China is well-written, and the chapter on human rights violations is well-written, well-documented, and provides important commentary and analysis concerning the human rights record of a nation that has high standards but that does not always live up to them.

Literary and analytical weaknesses aside, the importance of Amnesty's mission, and its success (and failures) over the years, make this an important book to read. One only hopes that someone will be motivated to write a more thorough treatise on the subject.

Amnesty International was started in 1961 by Peter Benenson, a british lwayer who read about students in Portugal (at that time under a military dictatorship) who received long prison terms for toasting freedom. His idea of flooding the offending government with letters, telegrams and unpleasant publicity was derided at the time as silly. Over the years, AI has kept its emphasis on those prisoners who do not use or advocate violence, and has stayed as non-partisan as possible in various international disputes while double and triple-checking all information it receives. Today, with members in over 160 countries, Amnesty International is the world's most influential private organization dealing with human rights.

This book looks at the difficulties faced by AI in its work around the world. Nigeria is the home of AI's most famous political prisoner, Olusegun Obasanjo (now President of Nigeria). Amnesty's attention to detail and fine detective work exposed the massacre of more than 100 children in the Central African Republic. Political freedom in China seems to go through phases of openness, only to be slammed shut by the government. The book also deals with death squads in Guatemala and attempts to bring former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to justice.

The author also explores human rights in America. Around the world, America is the first one to say something to other countries whose human rights records are less-than-perfect. But, looking at America's domestic record of police brutality, racial profiling and inability to ratify various human rights conventions and treaties, the word "hypocrisy" comes to mind.

This is a fine piece of writing. Those who are already active in the human rights field, and those who just want to know something about AI (before becoming members) will learn a lot from this book. Highly recommended.

This book is rather difficult to figure out, and ultimately it doesn't do justice to its titular organization. Despite the title, this is not really a history of Amnesty International. Instead, it is more of a compendium of investigative journalism towards the subject of human rights in the second half of the twentieth century, using examples of problem areas in which Amnesty made some impact. In fact, it becomes apparent that Jonathan Power is merely reporting on human rights episodes that he happens to be familiar with as a long-standing foreign affairs correspondent. Thus, the supposed focus on Amnesty International as a social movement and non-governmental organization, and the effectiveness of its efforts, mostly falls apart as the book progresses.

The actual history of the organization appears awkwardly in one chapter in the middle of the book, with most of the remainder consisting of rather standard political coverage of a very selective collection of human rights stories that seem to have been chosen arbitrarily by the author. At certain times, this does lead to very informative examinations of political and historical episodes that may be unfamiliar to the knowledgeable reader, such as a brutal dictatorship in the Central African Republic, or the inconsistent human rights record of the supposedly enlightened South Korea. Also, the chapter on Amnesty's concerns about rampant abuse in the American prison system offers a pretty balanced, if sometimes inflammatory, outside perspective.

Unfortunately, other sections are marred by Jonathan Power's soapbox sermonizing. For example, he wraps up examinations of trouble spots like Colombia, China, and North Korea with one-paragraph pronouncements on how these nations' myriad problems can be immediately solved. Also, there are a fair number of factual errors throughout the book (especially with the dates and locations of major geopolitical and colonialist developments), and I agree with the previous reviewer on how such minor missteps can add up to major reservations about Power's coverage. And finally, the reader may want to skip the interminable final chapter in which Power unleashes a windy and inconclusive lecture on the current state of human rights around the world, with only occasional non-sequiturs to remind the reader that this is still a book about Amnesty International. Overall, this book that claims to be about that great and committed organization is often just tangentially influenced by it. [~doomsdayer520~]