Category: Group news

#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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Signing


We held a signing on Saturday morning and invited people to sign cards on behalf of four prisoners of conscience.  It had been held over from Christmas because we had too many other things on so we were not confident of large numbers.  Our other concern was the events in Paris which has hardened some peoples’ attitudes to terrorism in all its forms.  Some people equate human rights with ‘supporting terrorists’ and there is the occasional remark along the lines that ‘they must have done something or they wouldn’t be arrested’.

We needn’t have been worried on either count and there was a steady stream of people to sign cards all morning.  The cards are generalised greetings fashioned from Christmas cards but with anything religious removed.  The only limiting factor in fact was that the table was too small to accommodate the numbers.  We secured around 150 signatures and the cards will be posted in batches.

Thanks to all those in the local group who helped.

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January meeting


Here are the minutes of the January meeting with thanks to Karen for producing them.  Notes that copies of this and previous minutes are also in ‘About us’.

Two extras links have been added to the list of organisations at the bottom of the page.

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Monthly meeting


UPDATE

The last meeting was on Thursday, 8th January.  An agenda is attached.  The minutes of the December meeting are also attached.  Note that you can see all recent minutes by going to the ‘About Us’ tab on the front page.

We discussed:

  • the results of the carol singing which had been very successful
  • there was the December Death Penalty report
  • we discussed North Korea and the increasing interest in that country, and in particular the human rights situation there, was noted
  • the website numbers were given and that we now have 60 followers
  • there was an update on the Magna Carta events and there is to be a meeting soon with the Cathedral to start doing more detailed planning
  • the complete lack of interest by any of the sixth forms in the area to submit an essay was noted.  This was extremely disappointing in view of the efforts made with leaflets and contacting the schools ahead of time to promote it.
  • details on the Cathedral service are awaited

Minutes will be posted here as soon as they are available.

Agenda January 8th

December minutes

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Carol singing


Last night the Salisbury group went carol singing around several streets in the city.  The singing was done by members of the

Farrant Singers in Park Street
Farrant Singers in Park Street

Farrant Singers which meant residents were treated to high quality singing from one of the finest choirs in Salisbury.  To fortify us, we started the evening with a glass of vin chaud kindly provided by Michael and Chantal and afterwards, we all repaired to their house for home made soup, cheese and mince pies.  A most successful evening and thanks to Michael and Chantal for their hospitality, Jonathan and Thomas for leafleting the houses the evening before and to the Farrant Singers themselves.  Also to other group members who played a supporting role.

A happy Christmas to all our readers and followers around the world.

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Korean speaker


Group welcomes speaker on #Korea.  On Thursday 13 November, the group was pleased to welcome a Korean speaker as part of our activities to keep the problems in North Korea in the limelight.  Bona Shin is a member of a large community of Koreans who live in London, the largest such community in Europe.  There are thought to be around 32,000 living in the UK and 691 of whom from North Korea.

Bona Shin
Bona Shin

Other speakers have mentioned the difference between Pyongyang and the rest of the country.  People who live in Pyongyang are the elite and they are reasonably well fed by North Korean standards.  It is the rural areas which are impoverished and where people struggle to survive.  She said there are no disabled people in the capital either: they are all moved out to the rural areas.

She mentioned the propaganda initiative recently where the North Korean embassy hosted an art exhibition.  Developments in the last week or so at the UN where there are attempts to get the regime and Kim Jong un indicted for crimes against humanity.

There are reports of the infamous Yodok camp being closed and prisoners being moved to Camp 14 or Camp 16 as part of the propaganda by the North but this cannot be confirmed at the time of writing.  Bilateral talks may begin with the EU on the question of human rights.

There are still survivors from the Korean war which Britain contributed large troop numbers second only to the USA.  There is a British Korean Veteran Association

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Landmark


This morning, 14 November, we had our 1000th hit since the site was launched earlier this year!

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