Jean Lambert | >Re-PHOTO

Pakistani Christians & a ‘Patriot’ March – 2010

Pakistani Christians & a ‘Patriot’ March: On Saturday 21 July 2010 I photographed a protest against the persecution of Christians in Pakistan and then a march by right wing extremists against Sharia Law and calling for a referendum on leaving the EU and an English Parliament.

Christians Protest Pakistan Persecution

Pakistan High Commission & Whitehall

Pakistani Christians & a 'Patriot' March - 2010

Only just over 1% of the population of Pakistan are Christians, a total of around two million, mainly members of lower castes, many working in sanitation and garbage collection. They were discriminated against at partition, when over 300,000 were made homeless and have been severely discriminated against ever since, including in the Pakistan Constitution.

Strict blasphemy laws have been used to persecute Christians (and other minorities) and many have been attacked by Muslim religious extremists, with some horrific cases of murders about many of which the authorities have refused to take action, even at times encouraging the mobs.

Christian schools and houses have been burnt and suicide bombers have attacked Christian gatherings.

The Wikipedia article Persecution of Christians in Pakistan details a few of these events. It also includes information about forced conversions and the abduction of “upwards of 1,000 Christian, Hindu, and Sikh girls” each year into forced marriages and forced conversions.

The situation of Christians in Pakistan has worsened since 2010 and regular reports of atrocities continue.

The protest in 2010 began outside the Pakistan High Commission in Kensington with a rally. A petition was handed in calling for the end of persecution. Officials received it politely and told them that that the Pakistani government supports the rights of minorities. But as the continuing persecution shows, it does little if anything in practice to protect these rights.

The protesters, led by a man carrying a heavy wooden cross then made their way along the pavements to Whitehall, stopping at three points on the way for prayers. Opposite Downing Strreet they joined others waiting for them in a further rally.

There were more prayers and some singing, and an address from Pakistani-born former Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir Ali. London Green MEP Jean Lambert also spoke and a delegation delivered a letter to 10 Downing St.

More on My London Diary: Christians Protest Pakistan Persecution.

ENA/EDL March in London Again

Tothill St – Duke of York Steps

In May 2010 a couple of hundred people from the English Defence League and others marched through London on what they described as a ‘Patriot March to Challenge Parliament’ organised by ‘British Citizens Against Muslim Extremists‘. Most were from the EDL and they delivered a letter to Downing Street.

They were dissatisfied with the reply they got to that letter and so the English Nationalist Alliance organised this further march. Like the earlier march in May it was largely peaceful and relatively restrained – except in some of the responses to a group of counter-protesters who accused them of being “racist scum”.

*Opposite Downing St were a group of around 20-30 counter protesters, chanting “racist scum off our streets”*

*One protester was held by stewards and police as he tries to cross the road to confront them*

*Counter-protesters are stopped by police as they try to follow the march*

At Downing Street they handed in a letter signed by the ENA and ten other groups, the EDL, Shieldwall, The British Society for Freedom of Speech, Christians for Democracy, England United (Weiran Ce Angelcynn), England St George, Acacia Freedom Fighters, Sikhs against Shariah, English Jewish League and Parents Against Shariah.

Another group on the march was March for England, and along with the St George’s flags and Union Jacks there were also a couple of Israeli flags and a placard from ‘One Law for All.’

At the rally at the Duke of York Steps I had a rather concerning moment when one of the speakers, Blackburn with Darwen English Democrats Party councillor Michael Johnson, pointed me out as an unwelcome guest and police stepped in as a number of people moved rather menacingly towards me.

As I posted:

“A couple of days earlier the ENA web site had published a feature which – among other things – wrongly accused me of publishing lies about the previous march, along with my picture and the statement “he must be confronted and chased away in all future events as a socialist collaborator who cannot tell the truth.”

Police stepped in front of me and requested me I move back a little to quieten the situation, and I complied.

The ENA feature had confused me with another photographer and earlier on the march I had received both a couple of apologies by the mistake and also several compliments from those on the previous march who had read my report.

Though I certainly don’t support the EDL I had tried to report the event and their demands objectively. The article on the ENA web site was an attack on press freedom,”suggesting that the ENA should attempt to impose censorship and limit reporting to those who support it.“

*Police persuade one of the protesters that he should moderate his language*

Like other photographers I have no control over how my work is used in the mainstream press, largely owned by billionaires with editors imposing right-wing views. It makes no sense to blame – as did the ENA – “socialist journalists” for the sins of a capitalist press.

And as I point out, the march was largely if not entirely ignored by the mainstream press and broadcasters. My account, published both on my own My London Diary and in shorter form on Demotix was one of only a few to appear.

Many more pictures and a longer text from 2010 on ENA/EDL March in London Again.

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End The Torture 2004

Pictures from the End The Torture – Bring The Troops Home Now protest 20 years ago today on 22nd May 2004.

Back in May 2004 I was still taking pictures using the Nikon D100, the DSLR camera that really first made professional quality digital imaging available outside of highly paid professional photographers. I’d bought this 6.1Mp camera in 2002, but for the first year or more used it in tandem with film cameras, not least because at first I only had one Nikon-fitting lens, a 24-85mm, equivalent on the camera’s DX-format sensor to 36-128mm on full frame.

With film cameras I’d been used to a much wider range of focal lengths, from 15mm to 200mm and while I could do without the longer end, I still needed film for wider images. But by May 2004 I had some new lenses, a Sigma 12-24mm (18-36mm eqiv) and a Nikon telephoto zoom that stretched out to 210mm, equivalent at the long end to 315mm.

Both were fairly large and fairly heavy lenses, but together with the 24-85mm gave me a full range of focal lengths. Though with only a single D100 body I probably spent almost as much time changing lenses as taking pictures. None of them would have impressed the kind of photographers who like to spend their time photographing test charts or pixel peeping, but they were certainly adequate for normal photographic work.

The pictures from the Bring The Troops Home protest on 22nd May 2004 show I was determined to use the entire range of my new lenses, perhaps not always entirely appropriately. I think sometimes I zoomed out too far with the telephoto and occasionally would have been advised to use a rather less wide view with the Sigma. But others work well.

The protest was called at short notice by the Stop the War Coalition, CND and the Muslim Association of Britain to respond to the atrocities being committed in Iraq, following the publication of pictures showing abuse and torture of Iraqis by US soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Some pictures were first published by CBS in April 2004 but more came out in May.

The march organisers stated “The whole world is horrified at the terrible pictures of torture of Iraqi prisoners now emerging. They are the tip of an iceberg of abuse – dozens of civilians have died in custody of British and American troops in occupied Iraq. We are demanding the withdrawal of all troops from Iraq and for the Iraqi people to be allowed to govern themselves.”

At the rally there was an impressive array of speakers including Tonny Benn, Ken Livingstone, George Galloway, Lindsay German, Bruce Kent, Jeremy Corbyn, Jean Lambert and others from peace and Muslim movements and I photographed most of them on the march and as they spoke.

In Trafalgar Square the speakers were as usual on the raised area at the base of the column with a press area in front of that, and we are always looking up at the speakers. The longer lens let me get tightly framed head shots, but a few are perhaps too tight.

As well as speakers there were also theatrical reenactments of prisoner abuse by the ‘Theatre of War’ group with the march pausing briefly at various points for the three military personnel to abuse their roped and hooded victims. The also stood and performed on the plinth at the rally in Trafalgar Square.

Looking back at these pictures now I feel that perhaps because I had that long lens I concentrated more on the celebrities taking part in the event, and rather less than I would now on the bulk of protesters and their placards and banners. But I’m still pleased with a number of the images I made. Some I think could be improved by going back to the RAW files and reprocessing them in our now improved software to give them a little more contrast and clarity.

My London Diary has a little more about the protest and a much larger selection of the images I made at this event beginning some way down the May 2004 page. You can go directly to the pictures at END THE TORTURE – BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW.

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Naked Vegans, Acid Attacks, Anonymous & Kobane

PETA World Vegan Day Naked Protest – Trafalgar Square, Sat 1 Nov 2014

Wikipedia tells me that World Vegan Day is an annual event celebrated by vegans around the world every 1 November and was established in 1994 to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UK Vegan Society and the coining of the terms “vegan” and “veganism”. The exact date of the founding wasn’t known and Nov 1st was chosen for its association with “Samhain/Halloween and the Day of the Dead”. November 1st has also been All Saints Day since AD 835.

I’m not a vegan. But I have no problems with eating vegan food or vegetarian food, but often prefer meat or fish in my meals. But clearly reducing the amount of meat that is eaten by people around the world would be a useful contribution to reducing carbon emissions, although some vegetable production does involve a considerable carbon footprint, as well as environmental problems.

I welcome that many people now choose not to eat animals and avoid animal products, whatever their reasons, but also think there are good reasons to keep farming animals though there are plenty of farming practices I think should be banned. But keeping livestock is very much a traditional part of life in this country, one that has produced the landscape we enjoy and the animals we like to see in it. It can be done in an ethical and humane manner, though this means paying a price that allows farmers to do so.

So although I was happy to photograph PETA’s World Vegan Day protest in Trafalgar Square when activists wearing little clothing and smeared with fake blood lay on a large tarpaulin, I was not in sympathy with some of the views expressed by PETA. But the posters held by those taking part in the protest (I think less than half the advertised 255, the number of animals killed for food in the UK every second) simply noted the “1 billion animals killed for flesh each year” and encouraged people to “Choose Life: Chose Vegan“.

PETA World Vegan Day Naked Protest

Against acid attacks on Iranian women – Trafalgar Square, Sat 1 Nov 2014

I think I had actually come to Trafalgar Square for this protest, organised by the 8th March Women’s Organisation (Iran – Afghanistan).

They were in the square protesting at the horrific attacks on women who go onto the streets of Iran not wearing a veil. Gangs encouraged by the Iranian regime have thrown acid in the faces of many women, causing intense pain and burning, leaving them scarred and blinded. As the protest also pointed out as well as the forced wearing of the veil, women in Iran have no right to divorce, can still be stoned to death for adultery and can be victims of so-called ‘honour killings’.

Against acid attacks on Iranian women

Revolution Banner Drop – Waterloo Bridge and Trafalgar Square, Sat 1 Nov 2014

‘Anonymous’ protesters in Guy Fawkes masks held up a large banner with the message ‘REVOLUTION’ on Waterloo Bridge to publicise their November 5th ‘March Against Government Corruption’ in London. I photographed it from Westminster Bridge, but the banner really wasn’t quite large enough to really stand out against the background of the City.

Later they took the banner to Trafalgar Square where a rally in support of Kobane was taking place (see pictures below) and it was rather more impressive there.

Revolution Banner Drop

Global Solidarity With Kobane – Trafalgar Square, Sat 1 Nov 2014

November 1st was also World Kobane Day, and thousands were in Trafalgar Square supporting the defenders of Kobane against ISIS and fighting for the remarkable democratic revolution of Rojava, calling for aid for the Kurdish fighters and refugees, legitimisation of the PKK and the release of Ocalan. The protest was part of a Global day of solidarity with the YPG (People’s Defense Units) and the women of the YPJ fighting against ISIS.

The protest was organised by the Kurdish People’s Assembly and Peace in Kurdistan Campaign in cooperation with Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), Roj Women Assembly and Free Youth Movement and community organisations, and was also supported by some left and human rights groups, but failed to attract some of the larger groups on the left.

Among the speakers were human rights lawyer Margaret Owen OBE, an adviser to Kurdish human rights groups in London, Jean Lambert, Green Party MEP for London, Mark Thomas, Peter Tatchell and Father Joe Ryan, a Catholic priest from Haringey as well as those from various Kurdish groups.

Many speakers criticised Turkey for supporting ISIS and allowing the smuggling of oil and other goods through Turkey which finance ISIS. They also supported the the model constitution adopted in Rojava, the de facto autonomous Kurdish majority region in northern and north-eastern Syria as an important democratic development, for its pluralism, democratic participation and protection of fundamental human rights and liberties.

Global Solidarity With Kobane