Month: June 2019

Market Stall


We held our annual market stall in Salisbury yesterday and managed to sell over £200 of stuff.  We had plenty to sell, including lots of CDs, good quality clothes and a lot of nice jewellery.  We couldn’t help but notice however that spending was subdued despite the low prices.  Perhaps the effects of austerity really are being felt.

Many thanks to all those who gave us things to sell and also to those who spent the morning on the stall.  It was enjoyable.  The promised rain held off although it threatened at various times.

 

 

Pic: Peter
Pic: Eddie

 

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President Trump and human rights


June 2019

President Trump is due to leave the UK after a controversial visit in which all the normal diplomatic niceties seem to have been ignored.  Our concern naturally is with human rights and his tenure as president has shown a wilful disregard for the rights of women, minorities and immigrants.  Kate Allen, the Director of Amnesty, has written to the government arguing for a more vigorous line from them.  She said;

Trump has presided over two-and-a-half years of utterly shameful policies.  Locking up child migrants, imposing a discriminatory travel ban, decimating global funding for women’s rights and withdrawing from global human rights bodies – it’s been a roll call of shame under Donald Trump’s presidency.

We need to resist Trump’s trashing of human rights.  Within the Anglo-American relationship, we’d like to see the UK Government being far more vocal about human rights.  Our fear is that the Government’s desperate hunger for post-Brexit trade deals with the USA could mean we end up giving a free pass to the White House as this onslaught against human rights continues.

The full press release can be accessed from this link.

If you have come to this page seeking information about Paul Mason’s talk on 24th, details can be found here.

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Talk by Paul Mason


UPDATE: PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.  We have been informed today that Paul will be indisposed on this day and regretfully and unavoidably, he has had to cancel

Leading author and journalist coming to Salisburyclear bright future

We are delighted to announce that the famous journalist and author Paul Mason (pictured) will be speaking in Salisbury on 24 June at 7:30.  This is a free event but we do ask people to contribute to a parting collection to help with our costs.

Paul will be speaking about his new book Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being.  The book is about the triple threat we face: the rise of authoritarian politicians and the destruction of verifiable truth; the rise of intelligent machines which will threaten the human claim to agency, and a rising sense of fatalism and irrationality which has led many to become susceptible to the mythologies of the new right.

The book is an argument for a defence of the human being against the creation of the ‘neoliberal self’ in the past three decades or so.  To resist this Mason argues, means fighting for universal rights and for human centric institutions.

Paul Mason
Picture: C Juergen-Bauer

Paul will be speaking at the Salisbury Methodist Church starting at 7:30 pm and the event is free.  We are asking for a parting contribution please.

The evening will be a good opportunity for you to join us if you wish.  The issue of the power of the tech giants and the effect this has on our freedoms is an issue we are likely as a group to pay more attention to in the future.  This may be a topic of interest to you in which case we would like to hear from you.  It is free to join us locally.

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Israel/Palestine concert


A concert is being organised by Sarum Concern for Israel/Palestine on 27 June at Salisbury Methodist Church.  Tickets are £12 on the door or £10 in advance with students £5.  http://www.thelittleboxoffice.com/palmusic.  Also 01722 349740.

The performers are the Palmusic Ensemble and the aim is to raise money for Palmusic UK scholarships. Three out of four of these four talented young musicians are making a return visit to Salisbury at the end of June when they again will play a mix of Western classical and Palestinian music.

For those who were at Salisbury Methodist Church in February 2018, it was a very memorable evening.  Omar and Tibah are brother and sister
studying viola and cello respectively at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. They are Druze from The Galilee. In the past Omar was conscripted to serve time in the Israeli Army but as an Arab Palestinian refused, serving time in prison.  On this occasion they
are joined by Lourdina – another violinist – who has studied in Bethlehem (her home town), Paris and now at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory.

All three have been awarded scholarships through Palmusic, which is short for The Friends of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, a UK charity, which  supports them financially, so this is a fund-raising evening for them. Iyad who works with them is a Jordanian-Palestinian and already a professional pianist who has recently made a recording of Khachaturian’s piano music.  The concert will include Mahler Piano Quartet in A minor, Mozart Piano Quartet in G minor K.478 and Arabic folk songs.

Further details from http://www.sarumconcern.org or http://www.palmusic.org.uk

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