Tag Archives: 2024

Join us at our July meeting

7 Jul

Our next meeting before our usual break in August is on Tuesday 9 July at 7.30pm in the Quaker Meeting House, Bath Place, Taunton. If you would like to join remotely via Teams, please email amnestytaunton@gmail.com

We hope to see you there! In the meantime, below are minutes from our June meeting:

AIUK’s AGM was on the 22 June, and a major part of our June meeting was devoted to a discussion of how our Group should vote on the resolutions put forward. We supported some by the Amnesty Futures Group and their spokesman Chris Ramsay. Among other things, these  laid emphasis on encouragement for local Groups, supporting the work of Country Co-ordinators and of the Individuals at Risk campaigns.

The General Election featured in the May Groups Newsletter; AIUK is calling for all parties to put human rights at the centre of the agenda – ‘to understand, value and defend human rights’.

The reports of Group activities were dominated by actions in support of Palestinians in Gaza. We signed the petition sent by the Reading Group asking the UK Prime Minister to urge the authorities in Hong Kong to release political prisoners.

Within our own Group, Alun updated us on Indian politics and the BK16 case file; eight are still in prison. Alun had prepared cards of support which we signed, and also gave us the link to an online action ‘respect freedom of expression in Jammu and Kashmir’ .

Ben updated us on the death penalty – there’s an online petition appealing for Iranian rapper, Toomaj Salehi, sentenced to death for ‘singing for freedom and posting for justice’.  Latest update on this: a re-trial has been ordered.

Book of the Month: one of our group recommended Rory Stewart’s Politics on the Edge – a Memoir from within  – ‘uncompromising, candid and darkly humorous’.

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Report from our February meeting

1 Mar

The February meeting began with our AGM, all officers being re-elected unopposed. 

The Chair gave an overview of the year’s activities, speakers and campaigns. North Africa and India have been prominent, with a new initiative on Zimbabwe and ongoing support of the Middle East & North Africa, Football Welcomes and the Death Penalty. We had speakers on Kashmir and Zimbabwe, and a talk on a fund-raising climb of  Kilimanjaro for AI by a student whom we sponsored.   We held three Write for Rights events in December.

The Secretary reported the perennial problem of access to the local press: the County Gazette has discontinued reports from local societies, and AIUK no longer presents Actions in a readily publicisable form. Suggestions for using other outlets, and our own experience of the Letters page may point a way forward.

Suggestions were made for broadening our appeal, perhaps using email to circulate those on AIUK’s local lists, and promoting hybrid meetings using Teams if this can be done without jeopardising our successful monthly meetings.

Our regular monthly meeting followed.  The Groups’ Newsletter urged us to sign a number of AI petitions: for human rights defender Rita Karasartova of Kyrgyzstan;  for freedom of expression in Jammu Kashmir; for justice and reparation in Peru after brutal repression of protests; for freedom of expression in Bangladesh before recent elections, and for charges against our adopted Zimbabwean prodemocracy activist Makomborero Haruzivishe to be dropped.

We were reminded of priority campaigns for AIUK:  Ending Israeli Apartheid, and Protect the Protest – a call on the Home Secretary to scrap anti-protest laws.

We discussed a letter from Chris Ramsey, ex-SW regional rep,  about Amnesty Futures, a group anxious to get back to campaigning on worldwide Individuals at Risk rather than disproportionately increasing the scale of work and deployment of resources on thematic UK-focused human rights issues. He will be addressing our March meeting to further clarify concerns about and hopes for AIUK.

Our Middle East lead had written to President al-Sisi about the detention and torture of Anas al-Beltagy, the son of an Opposition politician.  Our India lead will be writing to the Indian High Commissioner about two members of the BK16 who are bailed but still in goal.  Meantime another member is hoping to organise a speaker on Russia.

There is an Eat Festival in Taunton on 11 May – we are hoping to have a publicity stall at this.

Our recommended Media of the Month is Jon Ronson’s BBC podcast series ‘Things Fell Apart’ – human stories from the history of the culture wars.

Our next meeting is at 7.30pm on Tuesday 12 March at the Quaker Meeting House, Bath Place, Taunton. Newcomers are always welcome!

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