Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
May 2025
We were in Salisbury market square on Saturday 3rd, with our market stall. Thanks to group members Tony, Fiona, Rose, Eddie, Andrew, Val, Lesley and Peter for turning out to help. New photo added (5.v)
Recent posts:
April 2025
We are pleased to attach our minutes of the group’s meeting in April thanks to group member Lesley for preparing them and for various group members submitting reports for inclusion. They are a kind of ‘hybrid’ style of minutes as they contain narrative material which we hope readers will find of interest. At the end you will find a short list of upcoming events the group will be running or participating in.
This is the link to our Bluesky page:
https://bsky.app/profile/salisburyai.bsky.social
Latest posts:
April 2025
This is a list of forthcoming events the Salisbury group will be engaged in over the coming months. Each of them would be a good opportunity to approach us if you were thinking of joining. To join us is free but to become a member of Amnesty International UK there is a membership fee. The group, as well as campaigning for prisoners of conscience, is increasingly concerned with the erosion of rights in the UK. Britain has a proud history of protest and such activity has led to a number of reforms: a look at this list will give you a taste of the numbers that have taken place over the centuries. The essential truth is that those who have power do not like relinquishing it. Recent governments have introduced legislation making it harder to protest and have given the Police even more powers to arrest or interrupt demonstrations. It is more than ever important to be part of organisations like ours to stand firm against governments and their paymasters who want to clamp down on opposition.
Several of our local MPs are reported in They Work for You website as ‘generally voting against’ human rights matters. Danny Kruger, the MP for the newly created East Wiltshire constituency (which starts about a mile north of Salisbury), would like to see the Human Right Act abolished. Protecting our rights is therefore truly important as we cannot rely on our elected representatives to do it for us.
Events
Later in the year we will be holding:
Other events which are not yet settled are:
*If by chance you are a teacher reading this at a school in South Wiltshire and would like to discuss a visit as part of your school’s citizenship programme, please get in touch.
March 2025
We are pleased to attach our minutes (and almost a newsletter) from the March meeting of the group thanks to group member Lesley for compiling them. They contain details of future events (towards the end) as well as items on the death penalty, refugees and other items of interest. The meeting took place on 12 March.
March 2025
Last year (2024) marked the fifty years since the group was founded and here we are, still going strong if sadly the only group left in Wiltshire. We had the opportunity for a tree to be planted in honour of this anniversary and today (4 March) some of the local group assembled for a photograph in Victoria Park. We were delighted to welcome two surviving members who formed the group half a century ago.
The need to keep human rights issues on the agenda is needed now more than ever. It was perhaps the belief all those years ago that the need for a human rights group would slowly melt away in the wake of the post war ideal of the new world order following WWII. This has not been the case. Rights are being slowly chipped away at home as governments have not liked protest groups drawing attention to their climate and environment failings and continued arming of Israel for example. The previous government introduced several pieces of legislation reducing rights, increasing police powers and limiting access to justice. The new government shows little inclination to repeal them. Some MPs – including both our local ones – generally vote against human rights matters according to the They Work for You website.
Overseas – well, where to start. China continues to persecute the Uyghurs and western firms continue to buy cotton produced by effectively slave labour. War and destruction continues in Sudan and other parts of sub Sahara Africa. The situation in Burma continues with the military attacking people and villages of minority groups. We continue to sell them jet fuel to enable them to carry on. The terrible death toll continues in Gaza.
So the need to keep the spotlight on human rights is needed today as it was 50 years ago. Power, in whatever form, does not like giving it up and will go to great lengths to keep it for themselves and their supporters.
If you would like to join us you would be welcome. See a list of current and future events where you can come and make yourself known. We welcome people who want to pursue a particular human rights theme – more rights for women for example.
Photo: Salisbury Amnesty
Latest posts:
March 2025
Past event
It was the tree ceremony on Tuesday, at Victoria Park. Photos and a post later.
February 2025
NOTE CHANGE OF TIME FOR THE TREE CEREMONY
Although our minutes contain a list, it is still useful to highlight them in a specific post. Any of these are a useful opportunity to make yourself known if you would like to join us. Most join because they care about human rights both around the world and here in Britain. Indeed, we have become more concerned about our rights here with a number of pieces of legislation passed to inhibit protests and demonstrations. There seems to be no hurry by the Labour Government to repeal this legislation.
These details will be updated in due course. Hope you can make one of them!
February 2025
We have pleasure in attaching the minutes and newsletter of our last meeting thanks to group member Lesley for the work in preparing them. We say ‘newsletter’ because they are more than just minutes of the meeting as they contain reports on the refugee and immigration system, a report on the death penalty and a list of future activities.
Recent posts:
January 2025
Minutes of the group’s meeting this month are attached thanks to group member Lesley for preparing them. There are brief reports on the death penalty (full report in another post on this site) and refugees (ditto). Some our future activities are listed. If you are thinking of joining us the best way is to come along to one of our events and make yourself known. We are at the Saturday Vigils for example in the Market Square at 5pm. You would be very welcome.
Happy New Year to our readers and followers.
December 2024
We have pleasure in attaching the minutes of our December meeting thanks to group member Lesley for preparing them. They contain details of the group’s recent activities including a schools talk, carol singing and Write for Rights. Future activities are also listed and if you are thinking of joining us, coming along to one of those would be a good place to start. Seasons greetings to our readers!
Recent posts:
Correction: school visits date should be 21st January not 23rd as shown.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 