ACTSA: Rally for Dignity & Tibet: On Saturday 10 March 2007 I photographed the ACTSA rally in Trafalgar Square and earlier in the day the annual march calling for an end to to Chinese occupation of Tibet.
Rally for Dignity
Trafalgar Square & Zimbabwe Embassy
Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) organised a rally in Trafalgar Square calling for an end to the crimes of the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. They called for peace, justice and solidarity with the people and an end to murder, rape and torture there and supported the DIGNITY!PERIOD campaign to provide essential sanitary protection for women backed by Amicus and Unison unions as well as ACTSA.
Many carried and gave out red carnations as symbols of the campaign and marched to lay them with placards at the door of the Zimbabwe Embassy in Strand.
Here is what I wrote in 2007:
For many years I've been a supporter of ACTSA, although I think my membership may have lapsed recently (its hard to keep up with my post.) They were the organisers of a 'Rally For Dignity' which celebrated the role of women in the worldwide struggle for justice.
Held two days after International Women's Day (8 March) it focused particularly on the struggle for freedom in Zimbabwe and on the efforts of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
Zimbabwe is currently in a mess, and the cause of that mess is Robert Mugabe. It is a beautiful country with some wonderful people, but so sadly crippled by a cruel, corrupt and senseless dictator who has seized land and persecuted any who dare oppose him.
The economy is in ruins, and men, women and children suffer as he rewards and lines the pockets of his supporters.
One product of many in short supply is sanitary towels, and ZCTU [Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions] organised the donation of these necessities by overseas friends, only to have the government demand duty on their import.
Mugabe resigned to avoid impeachment in 2017, and died in 2019 but the human rights situation in Zimbabwe remains dire.
More pictures from ACTSA: Rally for Dignity.
Free Tibet: 48th Anniversary of the Tibetan Rising
Westminster
Earlier in the day I had once again photographed the annual march on the anniversary of the Tibetan Rising. I’ve written about this annual event in several posts recently so won’t write more about the 2007 march here.
You can find what I wrote in 2007 if you scroll down the March 2007 page on My London Diary, where there is also a picture of London’s second longest running protest, by Falun Gong opposite the Chinese Embassy against torture of religious prisoners in China.
Pictures of the Tibetan march continue here.
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