Category: Group news

Magna Carta Now – panel discusssion with readings by Edward Fox OBE


A PANEL DISCUSSION WITH READINGS BY EDWARD FOX, OBE

MAIN HOUSE

Monday 15 June at 2pm

MAGNA CARTA

Magna Carta’s importance meant that it was traditionally read out at the opening sessions of Parliament and in English cathedrals. This panel discussion about its relevance today will include Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty International UK, Professor Guy Standing, author of The Precariat: The Dangerous New Class and Ben Rawlence, formerly of Human Rights Watch. Excerpts from the charter will be read by one of our most celebrated actors, Edward Fox OBE.

Chaired by Peter Curbishley.

Presented in partnership with the Playhouse and Amnesty International.  Tickets from Salisbury Playhouse http://www.salisburyplayhouse.com or 01722 320333

 
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Success for Amnesty campaigning in Nigeria


Moses Akatugba
Moses Akatugba

Success for local group

The Salisbury group, along with other groups around the world, has been campaigning on behalf of Moses Akatugba in Nigeria.  He was accused of stealing three mobile phones and then subjected to torture and sentenced to death.  Regrettably, torture has become endemic in Nigeria and police stations even appoint ‘torture officers’ to carry it out.

We have held many signings in Salisbury and a large number of cards were sent off to the Nigerian authorities.  We are pleased to report that this campaigning effort has been a success and he has been granted a total pardon.  Unusually, the Governor of Delta State mentioned the Amnesty campaign in his Facebook page.

Moses himself made a statement:

I am overwhelmed, I thank Amnesty International and their activists for the great support that made me a conqueror in this situation.  Amnesty International and activists are my heroes.

I want to assure them that this great effort they have shown to me will not be in vain by the special grace of God I will live up to their expectation.

I promise to be a human rights activist, to fight for others.  I am thanking the Governor for his kind gesture and for keeping to his words.

Further details of our campaign can be read on the fact sheet below;

Nigeria fact sheet

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Magna Carta event at the #playhouse with #EdwardFox reading


Playhouse event

UPDATE: Piece in the Salisbury Journal

On Monday, June 15, celebrated actor Edward Fox will read extracts from Magna Carta at Salisbury Playhouse as part of a panel discussion investigating the relevance of the historic document today.

We are pleased to announce an event at Salisbury Playhouse called Magna Carta Now on 15 June at

Edward Fox
Edward Fox

2pm.  It will involve Edward Fox OBE who will read parts of the Magna Carta and there will be a panel discussion on the relevance of these readings in the politics today.

The event is particularly relevant in view of the announcement by the new government of their plans to scrap the Human Rights Act (or the ‘hated’ Human Rights Act as some would say), details of which are expected in the forthcoming Queen’s Speech on 27th.  We have waited several years now for the promised British Bill of Rights which we understand from press comment has gone through at least 8 drafts but has still not been published.

The panel is a distinguished one:

  • Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty UK
  • Prof Guy Standing, author of among other writings The Precariat and A Precariat Charter
  • Ben Rawlence, from Salisbury, who has been a country representative for Human Rights Watch and is author of Radio Congo

Tickets are available from Salisbury Playhouse www.salisburyplayhouse.com (24 hours) or phone 01722 320333 or at the Playhouse itself.

We hope local Amnesty supporters and others will come along to what promises to be an interesting event.  We should add that there will be an opportunity for audience participation at the end of the event.

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April minutes of the Salisbury group available


The April meeting minutes are here thanks to Karen.  They contain a lot of useful information about the death penalty and North Korea in particular.  There is a group meeting this Thursday 14th

April minutes

Display in the cloister

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Display goes up today in the Cathedral


We today erected the display in the cloister at Salisbury Cathedral to celebrate the signing of Magna Carta and to illustrate the #StopTorture campaign.

Display in the cloister

It will remain in place for many weeks.  There is also a panel on the Human Rights Act.

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#Morocco film


UPDATE 25TH MARCH

The film Bastards (12A) was shown this Wednesday 25 March starting at 7.30 and the audience reaction was very positive indeed.  There were many questions to the producer Deborah Perkin.

This is a fascinating and highly-acclaimed documentary about one Moroccan woman’s struggle to legitimise her daughter and the director, Deborah Perkin will be there to answer questions.  The film follows an illiterate young woman who took on her own family and the Moroccan justice system for the sake of her illegitimate child.   It is a gripping, moving and uplifting documentary from the cutting edge of Islam.
Deborah Perkin is the first person to film in a court in Morocco, a country which leads the world in its legal efforts to give women and children more rights under Sharia law.

In Morocco, as in all Muslim countries, sex outside marriage is illegal and women bear the brunt of society’s disapproval.  But what is the fate of the children of those single mothers?  They cannot attend the better schools, are turned away from infant immunisation clinics and refused government posts.  Jobs, housing and a huge range of social advantages are denied them.  They are despised outcasts, condemned to a life of discrimination.  Bastards is the first film to tell this story from a mother’s point of view.

stop_tortureWe shall have a petition to sign about torture in Morocco.  Morocco is one of the five countries highlighted by Amnesty International in its #StopTorture campaign.  We are pleased to say many people signed our petitions at the end of the showing.  Thanks to the Arts Centre.
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February minutes


The February minutes are below thanks to Karen.  A full agenda as you see with a lot going on.

February minutes

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Meeting


The monthly group meeting took place tonight at 7.30 in Victoria Road as usual.  There was a discussion on the Magna Carta arrangements among other things.  Agenda is below (Word).

Agenda

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#MagnaCarta


UPDATE:  Where to obtain tickets for 12 March now at the end of that item.

Our group is planning a number of events to mark the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta.  We have been working with the Cathedral in Salisbury which has one of the surviving copies of the document.  Our focus will be on its relevance to the present day and in particular, the Human Rights Act #HRA and its place in modern politics.

We have several projects planned and we will update these pages as time goes on.  But for the moment, this is a brief introduction to what we have planned:

  • A standing display in the cloisters of the Cathedral outside the Chapter House where the Magna Carta is kept.  This will
    Torture wheel
    Torture wheel

    feature images to illustrate the #StopTorture campaign and will have the torture wheel, based on the one used by the Philippine police.  In case you have not come across this, it is a wheel on which the various methods to torture their victims are displayed.  They then spin the wheel to decide on which one to use.  This display will be set up in March and will run for at least a month.  To read more about the torture wheel follow this link.

  • On 12th March at 7pm we will be delighted to welcome Dominic Grieve QC MP who will speak on the relevance of the Human Rights Act today.  In June 1999 he was appointed Conservative spokesman for Scotland and in September 2001 the Conservative spokesman for criminal justice and community cohesion as part of the Shadow Home Affairs team.  From 2003 to 2009 he was Shadow Attorney General.
    Dominic Grieve QC MP
    Dominic Grieve QC MP

    Under the coalition Government Dominic Grieve became a Privy Counsellor and appointed the Attorney General for England and Wales and the Advocate General for Northern Ireland and he held that post until July 2014.

    He has spoken often on human rights matters arguing that despite the Conservative leadership’s recent announcement of fundamental change to both the HRA and the national relationship with the ECHR, there is much that remains undebated and misunderstood about both. 

    He will try therefore tonight try to lay out reasons why – while not free of imperfections – the ECHR and its direct application in our law through the HRA is of enormous benefit to our country and our collective wellbeing.  He is determined that this argument can and must be made with some passion because he believes that it goes to the heart of our identity as a nation and of our national interest.

    It will be an interesting talk and will follow the annual Choral Evensong in aid of Amnesty in the Cathedral.  Tickets: apply to magnacartaevents@salcath.co.uk.

    In the summer on 15 June, we are planning, with the Playhouse, an event where an actor will read selected passages from the Charter and then a panel of guests to discuss their significance.  The guests are likely to be Kate Allen, the Director of Amnesty UK, Prof Guy Standing author of The Precariat and writer and researcher, Ben Rawlence.  This will be in the afternoon so it’s a date for the diary at present.  Details will be both here and at http://www.salisburyplayhouse.com.

    On the morning of the 15th, there will be a 6th form conference involving local schools and Kate Allen has been invited to that.

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