ACTIVITIES
Supporting and helping death row inmates
The Paul Rougeau Committee follows the case of one or more U.S. death row inmates concerning their affective, legal and material needs: The Committee keeps a regular correspondence with these inmates, publicizes their cases in the most wide possible way, it solicits, organizes and conveys towards them any kind of possible help and support. The Committee promotes fund raisings in favor of these inmates and it uses the collected money in the most rational and efficient way to help inmates and to avoid their execution.
Supporting death row inmates' pan-pals
The Committee:
1. forwards the death row inmates' requests of corresponding with pen-pals;
2. gives information, suggestions and assistance to small committees and to single correspondents of U.S. death row inmates;
3. cooperates with the respective committees in publicizing inmates' cases, appeals and requests of help;
4. helps in the crediting of money amounts into prisoners' personal accounts;
5. takes part to enterprises aiming to save death row inmates from execution.
Organizing abolitionist events
The Committee promotes a number of activities, often in co-operation with other associations working for human rights.
From time to time public enterprises aiming to sensitize are taken over: concerts, debates, photo and film shows on capital punishment, broadcasting, telecasts, press campaigns in daily newspapers and magazines, production of informative material... Up to now, the main activities have taken place in Trieste, Udine, Venice, Turin, Milan, Ancona, Rome, Florence and Naples. Every year in May, on the anniversary of Paul Rougeau’s execution, a members assembly and an abolitionist demonstration take place in Florence. Long lasting campaigns
In the last five years the Paul Rougeau Committee has organized and developed two campaigns aiming to weigh on public opinion in Texas and to modify the attitude of the authorities in that state towards capital punishment.
The first campaign consists in the “chain-fast” accompanied by the sending of protest messages both to U.S. authorities and press. The second campaign is the “Rebound Campaign”: the Committee sends thousands of letters to Texas citizens; these letters try, in a very kind way, to question people about the death penalty.
The final aim is to induce Texas inhabitants to put pressure on their own authorities, asking for the abolition of capital punishment. Being potential voters, they have more chances of being listened to by U.S. politicians.
Editorial activities
After the publishing, in April 1994, of the book "Mi uccideranno in maggio", containing some of the most meaningful writings by Paul Rougeau, the Committee has started the draft of other books concerning Texas death row inmates' conditions.
The most important work, published in 2004, is a book about Gary Graham's life and judicial events: "Muoio assassinato questa notte".
A "linking paper", reporting the last news, the comments about the events concerning capital punishment and the essential operative information, is sent monthly to hundreds of Committee members and sympathizers.
Presence on the Web
In the last two years the Committee's presence in the Web has greatly increased, above all through the daily exchange of e-mails concerning a huge amount of information among Italian and foreign abolitionists, and also through the continuous updating of a Website rich of information.
New helpers
Everybody is invited to contact the Committee datum-points, either to forward new enterprises, or to co-operate with the already existing ones. We need persons who can work for our Website, for the translations, who can keep relationship among the members, co-operate to the writing of the books, produce propagandistic material, organize public events. Videos, T-shirts, stickers, booklets, a photo show about death penalty and other various material are available for all those who want to organize campaigning and fund collecting activities.