Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
After an absence of 2 years, we are back with our popular stall in the centre of Salisbury. As you would expect, we have masses of stuff including quality books, clothes, CDs, china items and so forth. We look forward to seeing you there.
If, by chance you are thinking of joining the group, please make yourself known to one of us on the stand.
We are pleased to attach the minutes of our March meeting prepared by group member Andrew.
We are pleased to attach the group minutes of the last meeting held via Zoom. As well as the usual reports on the death penalty, refugees and progress with the various bills in parliament, we talked about possibly asking the group Ice and Fire to return to the Studio Theatre if they are happy.
Israel works hard to present itself as a modern, pluralist state and enjoys close links with its diaspora particularly in the USA. It enjoys favourable coverage in the UK with the majority of media who are either silent about these issues or are quick to condemn criticism of the state.
We have previously reported on two other reports by respected organisations which came to the same conclusions: one by Human Rights Watch and the other from within Israel by B’Tselem. Both reports go into great detail with many examples of how the apartheid system works in Israel.
The introduction to the Amnesty report says:
There is no possible justification for a system built around the institutionalized and prolonged racist oppression of millions of people. Apartheid has no place in our world, and states which choose to make allowances for Israel will find themselves on the wrong side of history. Governments who continue to supply Israel with arms and shield it from accountability at the UN are supporting a system of apartheid, undermining the international legal order, and exacerbating the suffering of the Palestinian people. The international community must face up to the reality of Israel’s apartheid, and pursue the many avenues to justice which remain shamefully unexplored.
From the Amnesty Report
The response by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was ‘[the report was a] collection of lies, biased claims, and recycled reports from other anti-Israel organisations’.
The report (pdf) details the bases of the apartheid claim:
Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights.
It is interesting to note the difference between how the treatment of Palestinians in Israel contrasts with things like the Berlin wall. There were regular features of the wall with film of people attempting to scale it and footage of border guards shooting at those seeking to escape East Germany. Film of the Israeli wall by contrast are rare. During the apartheid regime in South Africa, there was considerable coverage of civil disturbances and many companies decided to cease trading there. There is precious little sign of that in the UK media’s coverage of Israel. Indeed, in the Telegraph – a right wing newspaper in the UK – the coverage led, not on the report itself and a summary of some of the conclusions, but with the Israeli government’s response: Israel labels Amnesty International ‘anti-Semitic’ over ‘apartheid’ report leaving minimal coverage of what Amnesty said to a few short sentences at the end of the piece. They also featured a 6 minute video interview with the President of the Zionist Federation of Australia with no balancing footage [accessed 2 February]. Labelling any criticism of Israel as ‘anti-Semitic’ is an automatic response and is unjustified with any of the three reports mentioned.
Dr Agnès Callamard the secretary general of Amnesty said in response: “Amnesty International stands very strongly against antisemitism, against any form of racism, we have repeatedly denounced antisemitic acts and antisemitism by various leaders around the world.” Source: Times of Israel.
The report makes a large number of recommendations. With three detailed reports now published it is hard for Israel to ignore and deny the accusation of apartheid.
We have come across this video of a young girl who has made several videos and this one is worth watching. Janna Jihad video – Amnesty
We are pleased to attach the minutes of the group’s meeting help via Zoom thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling them. It’s perhaps worth mentioning that we do not produce a newsletter – partly because we were not able to secure an outlet for them in the printed form – so these minutes are much fuller than normal meeting minutes to enable a wider audience to review content.
May we wish all our supporters, readers and followers a happy Christmas and a happy New Year. We have had an increase in readership to this site this year which is very gratifying although sadly, we seldom get much in the way of interaction. Human rights are increasingly important and the local group will be focusing on the threat to the UK Human Rights Act which the government would like to see neutered in various ways. We are also concerned about the bills the government is pushing through to limit protest and to reduce the powers of the courts to hold the government to account.
We have welcomed several new members this year and it is a shame that we cannot meet in person more often because of Covid.
The group carried out its annual carol singing around a selection of streets in Salisbury on Monday. The actual carols were sung by the excellent Farrant Singers who split into two groups. Because of Covid we could not enter the host’s house for soup and cheese which in previous years has been an enjoyable end to the evening. We are grateful as ever for the support of the Farrants and the residents many of whom gave generously to Amnesty. We are also grateful to group member Chantal for providing the hospitality.
We are pleased to attach the minutes of the December 2021 meeting (via Zoom) thanks to group member Lesley for compiling them.
The minutes give details of our forthcoming events and these are an opportunity for people thinking of joining to make contact.
The second of our Write for Rights this year took place today, Saturday 11 December in St Thomas’s Church in Salisbury starting at 10 am for 2 hours. As before the cases were be:
Mikita Zalatarou of Belarus. He is a teenager who has been sent to a penal colony following protests at the recent elections.
Zhang Zhan of China. She is one of the journalists who tried to get the truth out about the Covid virus in Wuhan. She was sentenced to 4 years in prison.
Ciham ali Ahmed of Eritrea. She was arrested on the Sudan border and nine years later her family do not know her whereabouts. Many prisoners are held in underground containers.
Bernardo Caal Xol in Guatamala. He was caught up in the protests against the construction of hydroelectric dams which would have seriously harmed the indigenous peoples. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison with no evidence provided.
These of course are just a small selection of the thousands of people who are imprisoned for reasons of the beliefs they hold, opposition to the government or because they are human rights defenders, journalists or lawyers. If you can spare a moment or two to pop in we would be delighted to see you.
It would also be an opportunity to make yourself known if you wish to join the group.
Meeting tonight via Zoom, starting at 7pm.
Card signing for Write for Rights on Saturday 11th at St Thomas’s church starting at 10 am.
Carol singing on Monday 20 December in Victoria Road and environs.
Hope to see supporters at one or other of these events.
Seasons greetings!
