human rights | >Re-PHOTO

Ahwazi Crash Secret UK-Iran Business Meeting – 2015

Ahwazi Crash Secret UK-Iran Business Meeting: On Friday 3rd July 2015 I went into the offices of the British Iranian Chambers of Commerce (BICC) with a group of British-Iranian Ahwazi Arabs and human rights activist Peter Tatchell to gatecrash a secret meeting promoting UK-Iran trade and investment in NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company) House in Westminster.

Iran of course is very much back in the news now, following the attacks on its nuclear installions by Israel and the USA, concerned that Iran might be developing nuclear weapons. At the moment Israel is the only state in the Middle East with nuclear weapons and they and their US partners are very much concerned to keep it that way. But this protest was against the continuing savage oppression of the Awazi in Iran.

Iran is of course a state with a highly oppresive authoritarian religious regime – as Amnesty International report they surpress “the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly” with “Women and girls, LGBTI people, and ethnic and religious minorities” experiencing “systemic discrimination and violence.”

The Awazi Arabs are Iran’s largest Arab speaking community and their largely autonomous state of Al-Ahwaz was forcibly taken over by Persia in 1925. And they suffer more than any other ethnic group from Iranian oppression.

Oil was first discovered in Al-Ahwaz in 1908, and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company formed to exploit it (in was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1935) was directly controlled by the British government from 1914 to 1951 when oil was nationalised under the the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC.) Almost all of Iran’s oil is in the Ahwazi regions. Anglo-Iranian is now rather better known as BP.

Iranian violent persecution, forced displacement and the suppression of Ahwazi Arabs and their culture has continued since 1925, turning their homeland, thought to have been the inspiration of the Biblical ‘Garden of Eden’ into a a desolate wasteland, the poorest area of the Middle East.

*Peter Tatchell talks with some of those taking part in the secret meeting*

A recent Facebook post gives a short clear summary of Iran’s history – here’s the text:

“IRAN ONCE HAD DEMOCRACY – THE WEST DESTROYED IT.
Every time Western leaders talk about “freedom and democracy” in Iran – they either don’t know history – or they’re hoping you don’t.

IRAN HAD DEMOCRACY – Until the CIA and MI6 overthrew it. Why? Because Iran dared to nationalize its own oil. That was 1953. The elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, was toppled by Operation Ajax. Why? Because British Petroleum (yes, that BP) didn’t want to lose control.

So let’s stop pretending the West ever cared about the Iranian people.
It was always about oil and imperial control. And those parroting “freedom” today – without this context – are sadly, useful idiots for empire.”

The post goes on to promote the book “The Devil’s Chessboard” by David Talbot, founding editor of Salon, which apparently “tells the full story” of how the “Dulles brothers weaponized the CIA to crush democracy abroad – from Iran to Congo to Guatemala” though I’ve not read it.

*‘We demand Dignity and Justice for Ahwazis’*

You can read more about what happened inside NIOC House on My London Diary, though I think the pictures and captions give a good idea there are many more there. I had some difficult in working in the low lighting in the corridor and from some trying to stop me taking pictures, but was not seriously harrassed, though I was stopped and wasn’t able to get a picture of Lord Lamont as he was confronted by some of the protesters, although the other photographers did.

One man – recognised by the protesters as an Iranian Embassy official – began to assault one of the photographers but was restrained by others from the meeting. After ten minutes the protesters decided they had make their point and we all made our way down to the foyer. Here we were met by police who stopped us leaving.

While we were not arrested we were prevented from leaving for over 45 minutes, although I and the other journalists all showed our press cards. It was hot and I was pleased to drink some of the cold fruit juice the building manager hospitably offered. The photographer who had been assaulted complained to the police before went up to the sixth floor – when they came down he was told his assailant might have diplomatic immunity and the photographer decided not to press charges.

Eventually all of us were released, presumably as the BICC wished to avoid publicity about their meeting. The protesters including some who had stayed outside the building then posed on the steps for photographs.

More on My London Diary at Ahwazi crash secret UK-Iran business meeting.

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Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright – 2009

Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright: on Sunday 31 May 2009 I photographed a march by Hizb ut-Tahrir against attacks by Pakistan army on Taliban militants in Swat and then went to the ‘Taste of Spain’ festival in Regent Street, which led me to think and write about the copyright position over reproductions of works of art.

As I pointed out then, if works of art are out of copyright because of their age – now because the artist died over 70 years ago – then any reproduction of them “intended to be a faithful 2D representation” lack “the the artistic intent necessary for copyright to exist and so is also in the public domain.“

Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright - 2009 — *Picasso died in 1973 so his work will remain copyright until 2043*

I wrote in 2009:

However copyright lawyers in the employ of many museums and photographic agencies who make money selling or licencing art reproductions take a rather different view of intellectual property law.

A judgement in the UK Court of Appeal in 2023 clarified the situation as far as the UK is concerned, confirming that photographs of two dimensional artworks which are out of copyright are indeed also in the public domain, and that museums and collections etc can no longer use copyright to restrict the circulation of images or make any charge for doing so.

We are now free to ignore any © symbols on images made by artists (including photographers) who died more than 70 years ago. Of course museums and others can still make a charge for supplying high resolution images, but if you can find large enough files on the web or by scanning reproductions in books they are yours to use, free of charge, thanks to THJ v Sheridan, 2023.

Hizb ut-Tahrir protest US War in Pakistan – US Embassy – Pakistan High Commission

Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK in January 2024 after it organised protests which supported Hamas following their October 7th attack on Israel. I had been concerned about their activities since I first photographed them over 20 years earlier.

They marched from the US Embassy to the Pakistan High Commission in protest against the attacks by the Pakistan army on Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants who had taken control of parts of the Swat Valley. They called this an “American War”, blaming them on American pressure on the Pakistan government and called for an immediate end to attacks by Muslims on Muslims.

I ended my report on the protest with a long criticism of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain calling on them to “have a proper respect for human rights, including the rights of women, although an Islamic interpretation of this may well differ in some respects from a Western one. It’s very hard not to agree with Hizb ut-Tahrir when it talks about the corrupt regimes currently leading Muslim countries, but it would also be welcome to see them standing against repression – and in particular the repression of women – that is currently practised in places including Swat and states such as Iran.”

More on My London Diary at Hizb ut-Tahrir protest War in Pakistan.

Spanish Practices in Regent St

The most impressive part of the ‘Taste of Spain’ festival in Regent Street was the display of large photographs of pictures from the Prado in Madrid which largely attracted attention because of the female nudity in some of the works (and it’s a shame that Ruskin had apparently not studied this work in detail before his wedding night, which might then have been less of a shock to his system.)

Quite a few people posed in front of it to have their picture taken – but by their friends rather than by me, but I and other photographers took advantage of this.

More pictures at Spanish Practices in Regent St.

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Filipino Health Workers, Coal Line, Tax Dodgers, Biafra & National Gallery – 2015

Filipino Health Workers, Coal Line, Tax Dodgers, Biafra & National Gallery: Ten years ago today, Saturday 30th May 2015, I began at the Daily Mail offices in Kensington where Filipino NHS workers were protesting about scandalous insults the rag had made, then went to Peckham to view the proposals for a linear park confusingly named and promoted as the ‘Coal Line’. From there I came back to central London for a UK Uncut banner drop on Westminster Bridge against tax dodgers, a Trafalgar Square protest by Biafrans and finally a rally there by staff on strike at the National Gallery.

Filipino Nurses tell Daily Mail to apologise – Kensington

Filipino health workers came to protest atthe Daily Mail over its reporting of the Victoriano Chua case which insulted Filipino NHS workers as a whole despite the vital contribution they make to the NHS. The demand the Daily Mail apologise for its racist comments and recognise the contribution that they make.

As a patient in intensive care in 2003 I had been very impressed by the care and attention I received from a Filipino nurse, and others when I was on the general ward had all been “competent, committed and caring” – along with those of other nationalities. We should be training more British nurses and improving conditions to keep them working for the NHS, but without staff from abroad at all levels the NHS would have collapsed long ago.

More pictures at Filipino Nurses tell Daily Mail apologise.

Walking the Coal Line – Peckham

The Chelsea Fringe festival began in 2012 as an unofficial fringe, an alternative gardens festival to the annual Chelsea Flower Show and has since become an international event. Anyone can take part so long as “it’s on topic, legal and interesting, it can go in the Fringe, no matter how outlandish or odd it may seem.” It is “unsponsored, unfunded, unbranded and wholly independent, with no medals or judging committees. It relies entirely on volunteer efforts and survives on its registration fees.“

*Rye Lane – the walk would start here opposite ZA Afro Foods and Peckham Rye Station*

The Coal Line project began in 2014 and became a registered charity backed by many local people as well as TfL, Southwark Council, The Peckham Settlement, Sustrans and the Mayor of London for a 900 metre linear park linking Peckham Rye Station on Rye Land with Queens Road Peckham station.

It seemed a good idea and would provide useful local short cuts for walkers and cyclists as well as a link in longer leisure walks at a relatively low cost. But its advocates over-hyped it tremendously, comparing it to the ‘High Line’ in New York.

I wrote in 2015:

“More interesting than the Coal Line are both the Bussey Building in the former industrial estate Copeland Park and the multistorey car park. Saved from demolition by a locals, the Bussey Building, reached by an alley between shops in Rye Lane, houses small businesses, artists, faith groups, art spces and a rooftop bar.The multi-storey car park on its upper floors now has a cafe, a local radio performance space and another rooftop bar, next to the Derek Jarman memorial garden, as well as better views than the Bussey across Peckham and to central London.

Part of the Coal Line is already open to the public as a small nature reserve, left by the railway line after a scheme for a massive inner-ring road was fortunately abandoned. Its legacy is a hefty wall along part of the edge of the service road by the Cossall Walk line of flats.”

More from along the Coal Line and other parts of Peckham at Walking the Coal Line.

UK Uncut Art Protest – Westminster Bridge

*Protesters at Waterloo – Rich get Richer, Poor Get Poor – Osborne and Cameron*

UK Uncut supporters marched from Waterloo to Westminster Bridge where they spread a large piece of cloth on the roadway and painted a banner telling Parliament that collecting dodged taxes would bring in more than cutting public services.

*Painting the banner on Westminster Bridge*

*The message on the banner was £12 bn more cuts £120 bn tax dodged – AUSTERITY IS A LIE’.*

I had to run to the southern end of the bridge and then rush down the Albert Embankment to photograph the banner hanging from the bridge along with the smoke from flares. It was perhaps the least interesting photograph of the event and it would have been rather better had they put it over the opposite side of the bridge to have the Houses of Parliament as a background.

While this was happening on Westminster Bridge, there was another protest against Tory plans to repeal the Human Rights Act closer to Parliament which I was sorry to have missed, with just a few people still standing on the roadway.

More pictures at UK Uncut Art Protest.

Biafrans demand independence – Trafalgar Square

Biafrans had come to Trafalgar Square on the anniversary of their declaration of independence in 1967 which began a long and bloody civil war in which as well as those killed in fighting many Biafran civilians died of starvation.

Biafrans say that the Igbo Kingdom of Nri lasted from the 10th century until 1911, although it was incorporated into Southern Nigeria by the 1884 Berlin Conference. Britain decided to unite Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1914 as the North was in financial difficulties.

Many at the protest wore t-shirts with Biafran flag and coat of arms and waved Biafran flags, still demanding independence for their country, as well as remembering those who died in the Ngerian-Biafran War.

More pictures at Biafrans demand independence.

Mass rally Supports National Gallery Strikers – Trafalgar Square

Workers at the National Gallery were on strike against plans to privatise staffing at the gallery and were supported at a rally with many trade unionists including speakers and in the body of the square.

They were also demanding the reinstatement of Candy Udwin, a PCS rep at the National Gallery, who had been sacked for her trade union activities over the privatisation. Speakers included PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka and comedian and activist Kate Smurthwaite.

Exhibitions in the Sainsbury wing have already been guarded by privatised staff, and the security there is also run by the private company. At the end of the rally the crowd moved to protest at the Sainsbury Wing. Police stopped them entering the gallery and the doors were locked.

Many more pictures at Mass rally Supports National Gallery strikers.

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Circle The City – 2014

Circle The City: On Sunday 18th May 2014 I accompanied my wife who was taking part in a sponsored walk around churches in the City of London to raise money for Christian Aid, part of the activities in Christian Aid Week. The 2025 Christian Aid Week ended yesterday (17 May 2025) but it isn’t too late to donate towards their work with local partners and communities in countries around the world “to fight injustice, respond to humanitarian emergencies, campaign for change, and help people claim the services and rights they are entitled to.”

Christian Aid is one of the better aid charities, currently working through local grass roots organisations in some of most vulnerable communities in 29 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. They don’t give money to governments and the projects they support are organised and managed by local people – with robust procedures to ensure the money is spent effectively. Some of those they support are Christian but many are not – something which has led to some churches failing to support their work.

Other churches have decided against supporting Christian Aid because of their political campaigning, “pressing for policies that can best help the poor…. All we care about is eradicating poverty and injustice and the causes of these.” Compared to some other large charities they are more efficient, with 84p in every pound donated “working for long-term change, responding to humanitarian emergencies and using our voice to call for global change“.

The event was extremely well organised, with those taking part getting maps and directions at St Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside where there was a service before the walk. People also collected red helium-filled balloons to carry on the walk, and some of these were tied to mark the route and the various points – mainly churches where marchers could get their sponsorship forms signed as they walked around which also had Christian Aid bunting.

*Bevis Marks Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in Great Britain, built in 1701*

Most of the churches were open for people to walk around and some had refreshments and toilets. It would have been hard to get lost, but some people have zero sense of direction and find it difficult to hold a map the right way up and my presence was helpful. But I had really gone along to keep my wife company – and of course to take some pictures, some of which appeared in her church magazine.

*A yurt at the rear of St Ethelburga-the-Virgin within Bishopsgate*

I’d visited most of the City churches before and photographed inside them, but there are a few that are seldom open to the public but opened up for the occasion, and I also took other pictures as we walked around. Most of them, even those of other buildings include other marchers and some of the churches were crowded with them. Those red balloons didn’t always improve my pictures, but I also ate more cake than on my other city walks.

There are many more pictures in the post on My London Diary at Christian Aid Circle the City.

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Free Syria & Keep the NHS Public – 2011

Free Syria & Keep the NHS Public: On Tuesday May 17th 2011 I photographed two protests, a march against the continuing privatisation of parts of our NHS and the Health & Social Care Bill then going through parliament, and a protest at Downing Street calling for the government to support the revolution against the Assad regime in Syria and work to end the bloodshed taking place there.

Fourteen years later the NHS is still under threat with more and more of its services being taken over by private healthcare companies, and although some changes have been made to the disastrous ‘reforms’ introduced under Andrew Lansley but implemented by Jeremy Hunt who later called the fragmentation that it caused ‘frankly, completely ridiculous’ and tried hard to ignore much of it.

What Hunt thought was the only successful part of the Act was that it established the independence of NHS England from the government. On 13th March 2025 the Labour government announced they were scropping NHS England, putting the NHS firmly under the control of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, two men who one of my Facebook friends posted should not be in charge of a first aid kit let alone the NHS. If only, many of us think, had Leanne Mohamad got another 529 votes in Ilforn North in 2024 and she had become the MP for Ilford North rather than Streeting. It was perhaps the greatest disappointment of that General Election.

Both Britain and the USA failed to support the Arab Spring in Syria with much more than weak words and when Russian put the forces behind Assad his survival was ensured until finally ousted by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and others after 13 years of brutal civil war in December 2024.

The US gave some support to the Kurds to enable them to defeat ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) despite the support ISIS received from our NATO ally Turkey. But by 2024 lamost half a million Syrians had been killed and around 6.7 million refugees had fled Syria with another 5 million internally displaced. And Turkey had taken advantage of the situation to invade and occupy some largely Kurdish areas.

In deference to Turkey, the UK government proscribed the Partiya Karkeren Kurdistani (PKK) or Kurdish Workers Party in 2001, later adding a whole list of other names it used, KADEK, Kongra Gele Kurdistan, Teyre Azadiye Kurdistan (TAK) and Hezen Parastina Gel (HPG). For some years the PKK had moved from fighting for an independent state of Kurdistan to calling for greater autonomy and civil rights for Kurds in Turkey and a few days ago at a PKK conference it announced it was to disband and disarm.

Keep The NHS Public – UCH Euston Road to Whitehall

Over a thousand people, including many medical professionals and medical students, marched through London to show their opposition to government reforms which threatens jobs and many feel would destroy the NHS.

After a rally at University College Hospital on Euston Road the march, the second large march in London aimed at saving the NHS and killing Andrew Lansley’s Health & Social Care Bill, set off for Westminster.

There was a brief ‘die-in’ at Cambridge Circus and a small ‘sit-in’ outside Downing Street before the marchers held a final rally in front of the Department of Health at Richmond House before dispersing.

You can read a fuller account of the protest and see many more pictures on My London Diary at Keep The NHS Public.

Syrians Ask For Support at Downing St

Syrians supporting the ‘People’s Revolution’ in their country called for support from the British people and government to support their demands for reform and to stop the bloodshed in Syria.

A large group of Syrians including Kurds from Northern Syria called for support from David Cameron and the British people for the Syrian people.

Since demonstrations for political and economic freedom and an end to the tyranny and bloodshed of the Assad regime started in Syria on March 15th 2011, more than 800 innocent protesters have been killed, over 2000 injured and many more detained.

Assad’s father Hafez al-Assad was president of Syria from 1971 until he died in 2000, and was responsible for many deaths and disappearances, including a massacre of 40,000 people at Hama in 1982. His son Bashar Al-Assad, nicknamed as ‘The Butcher’ continued the “arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, rape, and mass surveillance.”

More about the protest and many more pictures at Syrians Ask For Support.

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The Wall Must Fall & Kyoto – 2004

The Wall Must Fall & Kyoto: There were two protests on May 15th 2004 over major issues still very relevant now. The first was against the separation wall being built by Israel which was breaking up many Palestinian urban settlements and dividing some farmers from their lands. Designed for the convenience of IsraelI Security forces it reconfigures many boundaries and paved the way for further IsralI settlements on Palestinian land, in complete disregard of the needs and civil rights of Palestinians.

Later I joined the march from Leatherhead to the US Embassy for the final few hundred yards of their march in protest against the failure of the US to ratify the Kyoto climate accord. US policies on climate change were and now are largely driven by the fossil fuel companies and have led to our current position with global temperatures continuing to rise towards levels the science tells us endangers human life on our planet. Though warming in the oceans may lead before long to a loss of the Gulf Stream which makes life in the UK tolerable and bring in a new Ice Age in the UK!

As with other events in the early years of My London Diary, the page design separated text and images, and the text was made less legible by eschewing capitals, a victory of style over sense which made no sense when I had begun to post more events on the pages with longer stories – but which it took me until 2008 to redesign. Below I’ll reunite some of the pictures with the text I wrote and links to the many more pictures still on their own pages on My London Diary.

The Wall Must Fall – Free Palestine Rally, Trafalgar Square

The Wall Must Fall rally in Trafalgar Square on 15 May started with an an ugly scene, when stewards stopped Peter Tatchell and a group from Outrage from being photographed in front of the banners around Nelson’s Column. The rally organisers argued that raising the question of the persecution of gays in Palestine distracted attention from the Palestinian cause. Their childish attempts to distract the attention of photographers by jumping in front of the Outrage protesters, holding placards in front of theirs and shouting over them simply increased the force of Tatchell’s arguments and coverage they gained.

Fortunately the rally soon got under way. The main speaker was Jamal Jumaa – Director of the Stop The Wall Campaign In Palestine, although there were many others, including Sophie Hurndall, the mother of murdered peace activist Tom, Green MEP Caroline Lucas, Afif Safieh the Palestinian General Delegate to the UK, George Galloway and more. Too many more for most of us.

War On Want activists came with a wall to dramatise the effect of the wall in Palestine. When the march moved off down Whitehall, the wall walked with them, and it was erected again opposite Downing Street. Here there was a short sit-down on the road before the event dissolved.

Many more pictures on My London Diary including of the main speakers.

Kyoto march to US embassy, Grosvenor Square

*Bristol Radical Cheerleaders in the Kyoto march to the US embassy*

I caught up with the Kyoto march, organised by the Campaign Against Climate Change, as it reached Berkeley Square on the last quarter-mile or so of its long trek [around 19 miles] from the Esso British HQ in Leatherhead. Esso are seen as being one of the main influences behind the refusal by President George Bush and the US administration to ratify the Kyoto Accord.

*Pedal-powered Rinky Dink sound system supports the Campaign against Climate Change*

The campaign had previously organised a number of marches in london, and this was an annual event.

*Marchers ready for the ‘Dinosaur Party’ at the US Embassy*

*CodePink campaigners with a coffin carrying planet Earth: TAKE ACTION NOW TO STOP CLIMATE CHANGE*

Among the marchers it was good to find a number dressed ready for the promised ‘Dinosaur Party’ at the US Embassy, as well as the fantastic Rinky Dink cycle-powered sound system. It was also good to meet a few of the Bristol Radical Cheerleaders again, bouncing with energy as ever. A little colour was also added by a small group of of Codepink activists forming a funeral cortège, carrying the globe on their coffin.

*Even the Statue of Liberty implores Bush to sign Kyoto*

*E$$o campaigners in front of the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square*

The police in Grosvenor Square were not helpful, but eventually the speeches got under way in a corner of the square.

More pictures on My London Diary.

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VE Day 60 Years On – 2005

VE Day 60 Years On: Twenty Years ago Britain had a two day major celebration of the end of the war in Europe on 8th May 1945, and I wrote about this both at the time on My London Diary and last year here on >Re:PHOTO at VE Day 60 Years On – 2005.

Of course it wasn’t the end of the war, which continued against Japan for another 3 months, only brought to an end following the dreadful revelation of the power of nuclear weapons to destroy whole cities at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The huge civilian deaths these caused may have shortened the war by a few days, but probably a USA determined to bring it to an end might have achieved a settlement earlier had some not wanted this more spectacular and deadly finale.

I grew up among many who had fought in WW2 and some who had lost fathers, uncles, cousins and brothers. There was a strong feeling that while the First World War which had been known as ‘The War to end all Wars’ had not proved to do so, this one should lead to an era of peace on the world.

It was this spirit that led to the foundation of the United Nations, and to developments such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, both of which are now very much under threat. And of course the war led to a Labour government which brought in reforms including the setting up of the NHS.

Peace did not last long, at least in part because it was not good for business. In part it was replaced by the ‘Cold War’ but there have been plenty of hot wars too. The world has seen war after war since VE day, many of which have involved either the USA or the UK, either actively with “boots on the ground”, or supporting one or sometimes both sides in the conflict openly or clandestinely and selling them the weapons with which to fight. There is a long list of wars the UK has been actively involved in on Wikipedia, since 1946 as well as a longer list for the USA which includes some others the UK was involved in.

The Cold War should have come to an end with the end of the Soviet Union in August 1991, but the ‘hawks’ were determined to keep it going rather than work with Russia. Had they not done so things might have been very different and Russia would not have felt the need for a strong president which led to the appointment of Putin.

Recently British jets have bombed the Houthis in Yemen, and the UK has sold arms to Saudi Arabia to be used against them in the war there. And the UK has given diplomatic support and supplied arms for the Israeli government for the genocide in Gaza, as well as carrying out reconnaissance flights for Israel over Gaza from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to enable them to locate targets.

There are now relatively few survivors who actually fought in World War 2, although it was estimated that “under 70,000” British WW2 veterans were still alive, aged between 95 and 112.

My London Diary 2005
VE Day 60 Years On – 2005

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Trade Justice Not Free Trade Overnight Vigil – 2005

Trade Justice Not Free Trade Overnight Vigil – 2005: Twenty years ago on the night of 15th April 2005 and the following morning I was one of around 25,000 people protesting in Westminster for Trade Justice rather than Free Trade. The week of action was a part of the Make Poverty History campaign and it was a long cold night for me.

Trump has put world trade very much into the headlines in recent weeks with his assault on free trade, raising tariffs to silly levels and creating chaos in international trading systems that were largely set up to favour the United States and to a lesser extent the industrial west through organisations including the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) at the cost of the poorer countries of the world.

The Trade Justice Movement calls for policies “designed to deliver a sustainable economic system that tackles poverty and protects the environment.” It calls on the UK Government to:

“Ensure trade rules allow governments, particularly in poor countries, to choose the best solutions to end poverty and protect the environment;
Prevent trade rules that allow big businesses to profit at the expense of people and the environment;
Ensure decisions about trade rules are made transparently and democratically.”

Free Trade which simply relies on market forces ignores human rights, environmental considerations and democratic decision-making and leads to exploitation, environmental degradation and inequality – we need a more just system.

Here with some of the pictures (and the usual minor corrections) is what I wrote about the overnight vigil in which a surprisingly large number of people – probably around 25,000 took part, overwhelming the expectations of the organisers.

Wake Up to Trade Justice – Westminster

15-16 April, 2005

The UK climax of the global Week of Action on Trade Justice was an overnight vigil in Westminster on Friday-Saturday 15-16th April. Along with many thousands of others I travelled to the opening event at Westminster Abbey, only to find it was already full. Fortunately we were able to hear the relay sitting in the seats marked ‘Members of Parliament’ in St Margaret’s Church next to the abbey, but there were many more people in Parliament Square and around the area.

At 11pm we moved off into whitehall, where it soon became obvious there were far too many to fit behind the crush barriers and we took over the road, leaving just a single lane for northbound traffic. People lit their candles and made a fair bit of noise, before leaving either for home or to try to attend one of the various events that had been organised through the night. I went to the Vue cinema in Leicester Square to see a preview of ‘The Fever’ starring Vanessa Redgrave (she had talked earlier in Westminster Abbey.)

When that finished I’d hoped to do something else, but all the venues were full, with long queues, so I went for a walk by the Thames. The organisers had expected a couple of thousand people, hoped and planned for five thousand but altogether estimate that some twentyfive thousand turned up for all or part of the event.

From 4am to 4.30am we crushed into Whitehall again for a mass vigil opposite Downing St. Millions of people around the world suffer from unjust trade, and this was chosen as the time when the largest number of them are awake. I was rather less so, but still managed to blow my whistle and take a few pictures, though I messed things up rather more than usual.

I’d dressed up in warm clothes (the forecast had told me 4 degrees at 6 am), but even so, sitting on a bench in Parliament Square after this was a mistake. I fell asleep and was woken up shivering at around half-past five by a smell of burning. Someone sleeping on the ground nearby had set some of their clothing on fire with their candle. Fortunately it was quickly extinguished, with a bottle of Lucozade serving as a fire extinguisher.

Soon after the dawn procession began to assemble and I managed to drag myself up to photograph it.

People were remarkably wide-awake and cheerful as the ten thousand or so who had stayed the night over made a short walk through Westminster as the sun rose over the buildings. By half past seven it was all over, and I walked back to Waterloo Station taking a few more pictures in the morning light.

Many more pictures on My London Diary.

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Pension Justice, Ethiopian Tyrant & Rioters United – 2010

Pension Justice, Ethiopian Tyrant & Rioters United: Three very different protests on Wednesday 31st March 2010.

Ford/Visteon Workers March For Pension Justice

Pension Justice, Ethiopian Tyrant & Rioters United - 2010

Former Ford workers who had been transferred to parts manufactuer Visteon, ‘An Enterprise of Ford Motor Company‘, in 2000 and had lost up to half of their pensions when Visteon went into administration and its UK plants were closed in 2009 marched through London from the Unite offices in Holborn to a rally outside Parliament.

Many who came had worked at Swansea and there were others from the Belfast plant as well as from the North London factory in Enfield where I had gone in April 2009 to photograph the factory occupation and its end following a court order.

The occupation by the workers had failed in their efforts to keep the factory open and prevent administrators KPMG from gutting the factory and selling its high-tech machinery to China. But the fight to get back their stolen pensions continued,

*A speaker holds up the Ford & Visteon rule books – identical except for the covers*

When the workers were transferred from Ford to Visteon they were given a ‘cast-iron’ guarantee by Ford and Visteon that their working conditions and pensions would be protected – and the only change in the book governing these was in the colour and logo of the cover – from blue to tangerine.

But when Visteon went into administration the factories and the 3,000 employees lost their jobs, adminstrators KPMG had no interest in the workers and Ford reneged on their promises. The former employees had to rely on the much less generous terms of the government Pensions Protection Fund. Their union, Unite, supported them in the long fight for justice that ensued – including this rally – as did others from the trade union movement and a long list of MPs. They demanded Ford meet its pension obligations of £350 millions to its former employees.

The fight by Unite continued and even got some support from the coalition governments Minister for Pensions Steve Webb (Lib-Dem). It took until April 2014 before Ford eventually came to a settlement with Unite covering around 1,200 ex-Ford workers. Even PM David Cameron praised “all those who played a role” in the fight.

Much more about the event and more pictures on My London Diary
Ford/Visteon March For Pension Justice

Ethiopians Protest Bloodthirsty Tyrant

Ethiopians protested opposite Downing Street where Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was co-chairing the UN climate finance group.

He was the leader of the coalition of rebel groups, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) which it took power in 1991, and has been Prime Minister since 1995, imposing what has become a one-party state, with many opposition politicians being imprisoned and press freedom being highly restricted with leading journalists being jailed for criticising Zenawi.

*Somalis came to demonstrate with the Ethiopians against the “Butcher of the Horn of Africa.”*

Human rights violations and corruption are rife in Ethiopia, and food aid, education and jobs all depend on membership of the ruling party. His opponents regard Zenawi as a bloodthirsty tyrant and call for him to be brought to trial at the ICC at The Hague on charges of genocide.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) have accused his regime of war crimes in the Somali regions of Ethiopia and against the Anauk communities in Gambella in 2003-4. Despite this, the Ethiopian government was the largest recipient of UK budget support in Africa, and the protesters called on the government to think again and withdraw support from the regime.

Ethiopians Protest Bloodthirsty Tyrant

Rioters United! 20 Years Since the Poll Tax Riots

‘Rioters Re-United!’ returned to Trafalgar Square on the 20th anniversary of the Poll Tax Riots saying it was the London mob who brought Thatcher down and announcing an Anti-Election campaign to keep the mob in business and pronounce sentence on politicians.

Chris Knight, one of the leading figures behind last year’s April 1 demonstrations at Bank announced that the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse who led the marches there would this year on May Day be dragging our political leaders (in effigy at least) from their various HQs to stand trial at a people’s assembly in Parliament Square. Since the event is called ‘Carnival of Death’ I think we can take it that the sentence has already been passed, and as Knight reminded us, the only good politician, the only honest politician is a dead politician.

As I commented “no party leader will actually be hanged, and the police should not make the mistake they made last year at Bank of confusing the rhetoric with reality, which led to their ridiculous over-reaction, with squads of riot police psyched up to batter largely innocent and joyful protesters – and the death of a bystander. “

A PSCO was called on by the Heritage Wardens to tell the 30 or so former rioters that they were not allowed to hold protests or other events in Trafalgar Square without permission. Of course they simply laughed at him, and continued even after a dozen police officers he had phoned for support arrived and stood around watching. “Fortunately they had enough sense not to try and stop the commemoration, which ended after around 30 minutes when the organisers decided it was time to go down the pub.”

Of course politics and parliament carried on regardless. The turnout at our general elections is low, with the Institute for Public Policy Research finding that only 52% of the UK adult population bothered to vote in 2024, considerably less than the official turnout of 60% which only counts those who have registered as voters. Starmer was brought to power in a landslide by roughly a third of a half of us – if the PPR is correct, around 17%. The real winners in the 2024 vote were those who didn’t bother at 48%,

*The lion thinks about May Day. Parliament still to do.*

The Tories had brought in the voter ID law in the hope that this would result in more Labour voters being unable to register their votes. It probably did – but this was not enough to save them after their obvious and dramatic failures in government under May, Johnson, the brief but disatrous Truss and Sunak. Labour have failed to repeal this law, and are currently emulating the Tories in losing support. If they continue their current policies it seems likely that even fewer will bother to vote at the next general election – and the next election will see the landslide continue to put Labour on the sidelines with the Tories.

Rioters United! celebrate Poll Tax Riots

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Violence Against Women, Charlie X & MI6 – 2014

Violence Against Women, Charlie X & MI6 – Friday 14th February 2014 was the second One Billion Rising event with an event in Trafalgar Square. I walked away down Whitehall to photograph Charlie X protesting over climate chaos and then went to MI6 at Vauxhall Cross for a protest on the 12 anniversary of the illegal transfer of Shaker Aamer from torture at a US airbase in Afghanistan to Guantanamo before returning home.

One Billion Rising – End Violence Against Women – Trafalgar Square

People had come to strike, dance and rise in defiance against the injustices suffered by women at the second One Billion Rising event, begun as a call to action against the UN figure that 1 in 3 women in the world will be beaten or raped.

This was an initiative by playwright and activist Eve Ensler (known for her play The Vagina Monologues), and her organisation V-Day, and the first event in 2013 had involved over 10,000 events worldwide. In 2014 things were happening in 168 countries.

The Home Office say there are an average of 85,000 women raped each year in England and Wales, along with 400,000 sexually assaulted and that 1 in 5 women experience some form of sexual violence in their adult life.

“The event started with a brief photo-op which was just lots of people posing behind a banner. I almost missed it, but I wouldn’t have really missed much. I didn’t recognise many of them, though they may well have been celebreties.

One I did know was Bianca Jagger, who I’ve photographed on various occasions. But you many well spot others you know.”

Afterwards there was some dancing on the stage and I photographed some of those who had come to the event. I left before the speeches.

More pictures at One Billion Rising – End Violence Against Women

Charlie Chaplin Climate Chaos – Downing St,

At the gates to Downing Street I met Charlie Chaplin mime Charlie X holding the head of PM David Cameron protesting against climate chaos and in solidarity with those who are flooded out and with those fighting fracking around the UK. His message was ‘Frack This for a Larf!

It was as his e-mail earlier had indicated, “crap weather“, cold and wet with the latest in a series of storms hitting London, and that this was the perfect context for a protest drawing attention to a protest over climate chaos and in solidarity with those people being flooded out across the country.

I had come up to London not knowing if my home would be flooded by the time I returned. Parts of the streets outside had been under a few inches of dirty water as I walked to the station and the ditch at the back of our garden had overflowed a couple of hundred yards downstream.

The local drains were all flooded and we were having to go to friends in the next street to wash etc – or rely on public services further afield. I was pleased to find the situation no worse when I finally arrived home but it was another week before Thames Water managed to get our sewage flowing again.

Charlie Chaplin Climate Chaos

‘Justice Demands the Truth’ Vigil – MI6, Vauxhall Cross

“On the 12th anniversary of Shaker Aamer’s illegal rendition to Guantanamo, a protest called on MI6 to tell the truth and stop working to stop him being returned to his family in London, and handed in a Valentine card to MI6 head Sir John Sawer.”

It was on St Valentine’s Day 2002 that Shaker Aamer “was illegally and forcibly transferred from Bagram Airbase, where he had been tortured as MI6 agents looked on and helped with his interrogation to Guantanamo, where his imprisonment without trial and with frequent and regular ill-treatment and torture continues to this day.”

Aamer’s home and family were a short distance away in Battersea but he had been captured by bandits when working for a charity in Afghanistan and sold the the US authorities there.

On the same day in 2002, his youngest son was born in London, a son living with his family in Battersea who has never seen his father. In 2014 Aamer was still being held in chains in solitary confinement and his health was in danger after a lengthy hunger strike.

The US could find no evidence of his involvement in terrorism and he was cleared for release in 2007 – but they wanted to send him back to Saudi Arabia where he would have conceniently disappeared without trace.

Aamer had married a British woman and been granted residency to live in the UK and was applying for citizenship before his capture. His supporters were convinced that he was only still being held in prison “because of various lies told by British security agencies MI5 and MI6 to our government, which Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary from 2001-6 and later Secretary of State for Justice apparently believed.”

Those lies were told because both US and UK intellegence agencies would be highly embarassed by the evidence he would give about his continued torture in Guantanamo and his torture at Bagram.

Security at the MI6 building refused to accept the Valentines card they tried to present, but eventually they pushed it through a gap in the gate. But Shaker was only finally released and able to return to the UK on 30th October 2015.

You can read more about the protest and see many more pictures on My London Diary at ‘Justice Demands the Truth’ Vigil.

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