The internationally known James Joyce Ramble is a unique blending of sports and culture. The 10K loop course features a historic and pretty landscape that is punctuated with actors performing from the literary works of the race’s namesake. It is also noted for a rather nice party with live music on the the vast lawn of the Endicott Estate. The 10k competitive running event on a closed-to-traffic course is partnered with a kid’s event and a 3.5 mile fitness walk.
We at the Ramble believe that our event has consequence in the areas of fitness, athletic competition, cancer research, literacy, the arts, human rights and community-all values of a vibrant democracy. The James Joyce Ramble takes the position that human rights are central to the sustenance of these democratic values.
Since 1989 the James Joyce Ramble added to its mission the effort to make people aware of the sanctity of human rights. We have petitioned on behalf of such writers as Vaclav Havel, Xu Wenli, Burma’s Aung San Suu Ky, and many others. In 1999 we urged the International Olympic Committee to reconsider China’s application for the sponsorship of Y2K Olympics because of its longstanding human rights abuses.
Since the beginning of the Iraq War, we have refined our focus to journalists, previously dedicating our efforts to the late Wall Street Journal writer Daniel Pearl and Christian Science Monitorfreelance journalist Jill Carroll. We sponsored Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist who was shot dead in October of 2006 in Moscow, and Mesfin Woldemariam, one of many journalists being tried for “treason” in Ethiopia. Our focus remains on journalists, whose safety all over the world has become a great concern for those who believe in and practice democracy. The killing, torturing and imprisoning of journalists contribute to the inevitable erosion of freedom of speech and expression, which are protected in the USA by the First Amendment, and internationally, by Article 19 of The Declaration of Human Rights. Unfortunately these are violated regularly throughout many parts of the globe and even right here in the United States.