Like Water on Stone: The Story of Amnesty International [Hardcover]

Jonathan Power (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2001

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1961, a news report about human rights violations in Portugal motivated a British lawyer named Peter Benenson to set up a group to push for the release of prisoners locked up solely for exercising their freedom of speech on political matters. Forty years later, as British journalist Power puts it in this sympathetic account, Amnesty International "has been the catalyst that has transformed, invigorated and even transfigured the debate" over human rights. A chapter in the middle of the book relates the history of Amnesty, but Power focuses more on specific countries Nigeria (where a former prisoner "adopted" by Amnesty is now the country's president), Guatemala, Northern Ireland, Chile, China and the U.S. (Amnesty opposes capital punishment). Power, an internationally syndicated columnist (and editor of A Vision of Hope: The Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations) strongly supports the increased attention that groups like Amnesty have brought to human rights, and he devotes a good deal of discussion to the group's "success stories" from released "prisoners of conscience" to an overall improvement in the human rights climate in countries like Morocco. To his credit, Power is willing to offer some criticisms of the group where its efforts have gone awry as in Germany, where the local branch became too close with the violent Baader-Meinhof gang in the 1970s but, even here, he includes some positive comments about Amnesty's activities. The organization "was right to intervene and insist on a decent prison regime" for members of the radical group. Some may wish that Power had more distance from his subject, but this book is a valuable addition to a growing library on the recent advances in human rights.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Where interest in human rights is strong, this overview of the 40-year history of Amnesty International by a syndicated foreign affairs columnist will circulate. Power opens with an Amnesty case he knows only too well: the long imprisonment of his friend Olusegun Obasanjo, now the elected president of Nigeria. Power devotes full chapters to Nigeria's troubled history; the effort to protect Guatemalans from death squads; the sleuthing that revealed massacred children in the Central African Republic; and Amnesty's efforts to hold Chilean general Pinochet accountable for his regime's crimes. One chapter discusses a selection of amnesty's success stories around the world; another considers its "black mark": its treatment of members of Germany's terrorist Baader-Meinhof Gang as political prisoners. Power analyzes the impact of human rights campaigners' critiques of China and devotes chapters to Amnesty's work in countries where many of its supporters live: one covers Britain's "dirty war" in Northern Ireland; the other, capital punishment, police brutality, and prison practices in the U.S. A valuable assessment of Amnesty International's challenging but essential work. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 332 pages
• Publisher: Northeastern (May 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555534872
• ISBN-13: 978-1555534875
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,793,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Important Subject, Uneven Treatment, February 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Like Water on Stone: The Story of Amnesty International (Hardcover)

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.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent look inside Amnesty International, December 4, 2001

By 

Paul Lappen (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Like Water on Stone: The Story of Amnesty International (Hardcover)

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.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Spotty Coverage of an Important Movement, July 19, 2005

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Like Water on Stone: The Story of Amnesty International (Hardcover)

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~]