8 June 1949 Secker & Warburg publishes George Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

 

8 June 1949 Secker & Warburg publishes George Orwell's dystopian speculative fiction novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four". The title is the year he wrote it with the last two digits swapped. 

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” 

"War is peace. 

Freedom is slavery. 

Ignorance is strength."

Few novels have entered the political bloodstream like this one. Written as a warning against totalitarianism, the novel imagined a world of constant surveillance, rewritten history, controlled language, and enforced loyalty to “Big Brother.”  

Many of the themes in Nineteen Eighty-Four are compelling and contemporary, foreshadowing the state of our world today and contain remarkable foresight  given that it was first published in 1949. 

The novel is set in 1984 in Great Britain, known as Airstrip One.The world has suffered through a global atomic war, and there are 3 superpowers called Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. 

The standard of living is relatively low.The media is run by the government, which is known as Big Brother and the written word is perpetually changed to suit what the government requires. 

People are controlled into what to think, how to act and how to live .It uses telescreens, fearmongering, media control and corruption to control the masses

One of the Party pillars in 1984 is endless war on a global scale. The war, however, is a fabrication accepted and treated as fact. For, unreal as it is, it is not meaningless. World powers become enemies and allies interchangeably simply to keep the masses in perpetual fear, perpetual industry, and perpetual order. 

War provides outlet for unwanted emotions such as hate, patriotism, and discontent, keeping the structure of society intact and productive without raising the standard of living. The state of perpetual war described by Orwell is also reflected in the wars  that have raged since 1945, across the globe from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen etc etc.   

Winston Smith the main protagonist is  an editor employed by the government and is one of many citizens responsible for rewriting history.In Nineteen Eighty-Four, government surveillance is constant and at the forefront. The state knows every move its citizens make, including their habits, whom they talk to, and what they are doing at any given time. Big Brother is watching and running the show. The people are sheep who are herded and controlled. 

Throughout the book, Winston Smith, Orwell’s everyman, represents how “normal people” are forced under the guide of indistinct manipulation to conform to every wish and desire Big Brother can generate. The masses cannot know otherwise, only goodthink–which in Newspeak (the official language of Oceania), roughly translates to orthodoxy–is permissible. Notice the subtlety. Orthodoxy doesn’t necessarily imply goodness. 

Yet the whole point of Newspeak is to constrict speech so as to make it impossible for heretical thoughts to be produced – after all, if you do not have maximum access to language, how can you mount a defense for yourself? How can you challenge external things when you have no way to articulate it? To think a “wrong” thought is thoughtcrime and to survive you must cancel it out (crimestop) and convince yourself that you believe something different and often contradictory (doublethink). Any thought, even one born of instinctive curiosity, is to be totally and completely suppressed forever.   

How does Big Brother maintain this system of control? Do the masses not attempt to revolt? The low-class citizenry in “1984” are referred to as the “Proles,” and Big Brother keeps these people in line (the majority population) by loosening their control over them. Instead of being distracted with oppression, the Proles work tirelessly and are distracted with endless entertainment.Thus, they are effectively a non-issue.

Party members, on the contrary, are hermetically sealed within the confines of Party control. Every move and utterance they make is under close scrutiny, even in the most private parts of their home. The goal is to enforce goodthink and, over time, to contort one’s mind to the extent they trust Big Brother’s instincts over their own. It is not simply maintaining an allegiance; it’s about believing in Big Brother’s omnipotence with every fiber of your being.  

Winston Smith embarks on a clandestine love affair with Julia, a party member, and joins The Brotherhood, an illegal organisation dedicated to the overthrow of Big Brother. He is caught,and taken to Room 101, alongside everyone else who offended is taken and subjected to torture and brainwashed and he along with everyone ends up loving Big Brother. 

One might wait for a silver-lining, a breakthrough where Big Brother’s control is challenged and overturned to the masses; however, this time never comes. This bottled anxiety that buries itself in your shoulders while you read is what I believe Orwell intended for. It represents the pervasiveness of totalitarianism. 

Orwell did not just write a dystopian novel. He gave us a vocabulary for recognising power when it lies, watches, rewrites, manipulates and demands obedience.  

Published in post-war Britain, Nineteen Eighty-Four became one of the most chilling warnings ever written about authoritarianism, surveillance, propaganda and the destruction of truth.  

Its genius is that it does not only imagine a state that controls what people do. It imagines a state that wants to control what people can say, what they can remember, what they are allowed to believe, and eventually what they are capable of thinking.  

That is why it still feels so uncomfortable. Every generation finds its own version of 1984: mass surveillance, media manipulation, censorship, culture wars, disinformation, rewritten history, online monitoring and powerful people telling the public not to believe what is right in front of them. 

Orwell understood that freedom does not always disappear in one dramatic moment. Sometimes it is chipped away quietly - word by word, lie by lie, fear by fear - until people begin censoring themselves.  1984 remains terrifying because it is not just about one nightmare future. It is about how easily truth can be broken when power decides reality belongs to them.  

More than 75 years later, its vocabulary continues to spark intrigue and debate about its themes of censorship, totalitarianism, and historical revisionism —Big Brother, Thought Police, Newspeak, doublethink, Room 101—  and still shapes how we talk about power, propaganda, and the loss of truth.

Today across the world there are a lock-up concentration camp style jails where unconvicted, ostensibly innocent individuals are held and openly abused. Electronic surveillance is now a common and accepted government practice: cell phone listening, cameras on corners and traffic lights, and electronic toll payment system tracking are all everyday occurrences.

 By using our credit cards, shopping rewards cards, and even our driver's licenses, data are collected on all of us and sold and used daily, each of us daily profiled. 

Orwell’s book  was supposed to be a warning, not a guidebook on how to create a surveillance state. It really is remarkable how the many tools that were used to suppress in Nineteen Eighty–Four  are now part of our  everyday lives in 2020. Newspeak is the fictional language spoken in Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is a controlled and abbreviated version of English.  Also  known as “doublespeak!”. As George himself said " Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.. "  

Politicians continue to  use language to deceive and manipulate, through concealment or misrepresentation of the truth, desperately and deliberately using euphemistic or ambiguous language as they have been doing ad infinitum. One of the objectives of Newspeak is also to decrease self-expression. With the  popularity of texting, it would be fair to say that there are similarities. A

nd today we are so busy Facebooking, tweeting, etc,  the following line  from one of the characters that works for  Big Brother.  “The people will not revolt. They will not look up from their screens long enough to notice what’s happening.” is  still amazingly uncanny.

Orwell may not have had a crystal ball, but  he did have was an understanding of the human condition and its weakness. Orwell began writing the novel in 1944, and wrote the bulk of it while residing on the Scottish island Jura with no electricity and no running water.  

Orwell  was recently widowed, his wife having died during a surgical procedure. He was left with his young son, and he was seriously ill with tuberculosis. There was not a known cure for TB in 1947, and physicians typically prescribed fresh air and rest. Orwell was given streptomycin, which was an experimental drug in the US. He raced to finish his novel, and finished the manuscript in December 1948 and upon publication it became an instant success. Orwell died shortly after of a brain  He died fourteen months later at the age of 46. 

To write a book and not live long enough to see it gradually leave literature and enter the dictionary. Most novels grow old. Some even die. "1984" did something far more disturbing. It stayed. And continued waiting for each new generation with the patience of an old professor who knows perfectly well that his students will eventually arrive at exactly the same mistaken conclusions as their predecessors. 

Eric Arthur Blair lived only forty-six years. Yet sometimes I think Orwell's real life began only after his death. Because there are writers who create books. And there are writers who create concepts.That is an entirely different category of literary immortality. The greatest irony is that today almost everyone knows who Big Brother is. Far fewer remember the name of the man who invented him. Which, quite honestly, is so Orwellian that Orwell himself would probably have laughed.

Nineteen Eighty-Four has been in publication ever since, has been translated into multiple languages, and is often heralded as one of the best novels of the 20th century. Still resonating in the times we live today, still worryingly reliable. Commenting on 1984, Orwell wrote, “I do not believe that the kind of society I describe necessarily will arrive, but I believe that something resembling it could arrive.”

In some cases, what is happening in the world today is more draconian and invasive than anything Orwell conceived. Despite Orwell's influence political journalism is as corrupt as ever. The corruption of language described in 1984 is widespread in the media today, with "Newspeak" terms such as democratic, socialist, fascist, war criminal, freedom fighter, racist and many other expressions being used in a deliberately deceptive, propagandistic way to whip up mass hysteria or simply to ensure that people can never achieve even an approximation of the truth. 

We are today all living in a massive prison and George Orwell predicted it. The ability of Big Brother government to observe our every activity is increasing week by week and soon each and every car journey we make, every financial transaction we undertake, everywhere we go will be fed into a computer and if there is a slight variance from what they decide is the norm then we will be taken in and questioned. 

Give the wrong answers and you could well end up in room like 101, or Belmarsh Jail, Guantanamo Bay etc.If this does not bother you, then carry on, you might be  comfortable that 'Big Brother' is watching you, but I ask you who is watching Big Brother. Could someone tell the government and the opposition, because they don't seem to have been kicking up much of a fuss, that the George Orwell's book 1984 was a warning not an instruction manual. We should continue to be on guard, raise alarms, be objective, keep questioning and hold our individual Governments to account. 

In 2003 a docudrama was released by the BBC, detailing the life and works of George Orwell. The documentary contains footage from his deathbed, and his final words are certainly chilling. You can here them in the following video. We can't say that we were never warned. 1984 has had a lasting impact on literature and culture, with its concepts and terminology widely adopted in popular culture. Is Nineteen Eighty-Four still the most important political novel ever written?

“There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”

Citizens  today should support bona fide civil liberties groups and actively oppose government measures restricting basic freedoms. Freedom of speech is a basic civil liberty and people should fight to retain it. They should defy group pressure, think for themselves and speak out. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.We should continue to be on guard, raise alarms, be objective, keep questioning and hold our individual Governments to account.  

“We  are the dead. Our only true life is in the future. We shall take part in it as handfuls of dust and splinters of bone. But how far away that future may be, there is no knowing. It might be a thousand years. At present nothing is possible except to extend the area of sanity little by little. We cannot act collectively. We can only spread our knowledge outwards from individual to individual, generation after generation. In the face of the Thought Police there is no other way.”   - George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty- Four

Defying the Universe — Samah Sabawi

 

 Art "Behind the Wall" (2026) by Sara Khayat 

Defying the Universe- Samah Sabawi  

Are your loved ones trapped behind the wall 

Do they need the army’s permission

For their prayers to reach the sky 

For their love to cross the ocean 

And touch your thirsty heart 

Are your loved ones trapped  

Do you yearn to be in your family home 

And when you call them 

Do they always say  

“we are well, alhamdollelah” 

Does it surprise you  

That they are whole  

But you… you are broken 

Must they always worry about you 

Urge you to have faith in your exile 

Must they pity you 

For not breathing the air 

Of your ancestors’ land 

Must they always comfort you 

Even when the bombs are falling 

Do you ever wonder who is walled in 

Is it you, or is it them 

And when it finally dawns upon you 

That their dignity sets them free 

Do you feel ashamed of your liberty  

Are your loved ones trapped behind the wall 

Do they tell you stories 

Of how they survive 

The trees they’ve replanted 

The homes they’ve rebuilt 

Do they assure you life goes on 

Old men still fiddle with their prayer beads 

Mothers still bake mamoul on Eid 

Families still gather under the canopies 

With loaded bunches of grapes 

Dangling above their heads T

hey nibble on watermelon seeds 

They drink meramiah tea 

Women perfect the art of match-making 

Men talk of freedom and democracy 

Children climb on a sycamore tree 

Lovers woe in secrecy 

And no matter how the conditions are adverse 

Do your loved ones defy this universe 

Your loved ones defy this universe

Dr Samah Sabawi is an award-winning  Palestinian author, playwright, poet..scholar, and political commentator   born in Gaza whose work weaves art and resistance into powerful expressions of identity, memory, and hope .Samah  wrote Defying the Universe during the aftermath of Israel’s assault on Gaza in 2008-2009. 

Her memoir Cactus Pear for My Beloved has been shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize, The Age Book of the Year and the NSW Literary Awards Douglas Stewart Prize, the book was also highly commended by the Victoria Premier’s Literary Awards. Sabawi’s theatre credits include the award-winning plays Tales of a City by the Sea (2016) and THEM (2019). In 2020 Samah received the prestigious Green Room Award for Best Writing in the independent theatre category and was shortlisted for both the NSW and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.She is currently residing in Melbourne Australia. https://samahsabawi.com/about-samah-sabawi/

While Sabawi’s poem expresses the guilt Palestinians in diaspora feel when thinking of loved ones back home, Jelec’s animation video tries to take the message further so it can resonate with a larger audience.

Video animation by Marta Jelec  

Music: Bonobo- Recurring  

Marta Jelec made this stop motion animation for a project she’s did for a Digital and Cyberculture Studies module. She explains “Sabawi’s poem, originally written in English and published online, describes the internal struggles her husband faces when confronting the guilt of leaving his family behind in Palestine, while he lives his life of ‘liberty’. By creating an animation of the poem, I aim to make the poetry more accessible to an English speaking, non Palestinian audience, by using non-ethnicised characters and simple and symbolic imagery. I aim to increase the possibility of empathy within digital audiences outside of Palestine”.

Sara Khayat is a feminist graphic designer, illustrator, and visual artist from Syria. She was born in Damascus and studied graphic design at the International University for Science and Technology (IUST Syria), located in the city of Ghabagheb.  

Khayat’s work is focused on women’s, LGBTQI+, and refugee rights, using illustration and graphic design to support a wide range of social justice causes, including challenging gender stereotypes and gender-based violence. 

Sara has worked for and with a variety of organisations across Turkey, Lebanon, and Europe. Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Khayat has worked on documenting human rights violations by all parties involved in the conflict and the oral histories of women detained by the Syrian regime.

Sara Khayat has been involved in campaigns and advocacy missions through organisations such as Right to Remain UK, and Liberated T, sponsored by the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, amongst others. 

As a freelance designer, Sara has worked with several civil society organisations, including the Syrian Child Protection Network, The A Project, and Dammeh, focused on the rights of children, women, and LGBTQI+ people. 

Due to the focus and the nature of her work, Sara Khayat fled Syria for Turkey in 2015. 

At the beginning of 2023, Sara arrived in Sweden and took up the ICORN residency in Gävle City of Refuge.  In Sweden, Sara continues her work, including an art project exploring the connection between the human body and its surrounding, and plans to collaborate with local artists working on mutual topics of interest.  

You can find more about   Sara Khayat’s art  here   at her portfolio https://sarakhayat.com/about-me/ and  at Behance https://www.behance.net/sarakhayat

Shame on Nigel Farage. Shame on Reform UK.

 

 

Nigel Farage has decided to abandon attempts to shed his far-right image and decided instead to move even further to the right, echoing the language of the racist BNP during a ‘national address’, in a naked attempt to exploit a horrific murder in order to whip up hatred and division.  

Just when many of you thought Farage couldn’t sink any lower, he has done so. Following the horrific murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, Farage has been widely condemned for exploiting the murder to create ‘grievance and division’. 

Fearing being outflanked by the likes of Rupert Lowe and Restore, Farage chose to go full-throttle far-right himself, dismissing the concerns of Henry’s family who specifically said they did not want his murder to be used to “create further hatred, division or tension.”  That he has done so, shows in the words of Keir Starmer, ‘exactly who he is’. 

Henry was brutally murdered last year in a terrible attack. But newly released footage of how the police reacted at the scene have caused shockwaves across the UK, leading to Henry's family speaking out.  

In stark contrast, Nigel Farage - leader of the Reform UK Party - has said we should react to Henry Nowak’s appalling murder with ‘pure cold rage’and proclaiming 'white lives matter'in response to the murder and its surrounding circumstances.

And with 11 officers and a police dog injured at protests last night, politicians need to remember what they say actually matters.The violence that broke out in Southampton yesterday is a stark reminder of the real-world consequences when fear and division are deliberately stoked.  

We saw it after Southport. We saw where it led. Violence followed. Communities were targeted. Fear spread. And now we are seeing the same forces attempting to use Henry’s death to tell a story about white victimhood and racial conflict.  

Yet Farage says that last night's terrifying violent disorder in Southampton is 'just the beginning' He tells us that 'the division will get far worse because 'large numbers of young white males think the police are prejudiced against them  'The division will get far worse. What you saw in Southampton last night is the beginning  'If we get large numbers of young white males who think the police are prejudiced against them, goodness knows where we go. This has to end'"  

Over the last 36 hours, we have witnessed the very soul of Nigel Farage, his essence. It has been over a month since he went into hiding, since serious questions began to be raised over his undeclared £5M donation.  

A month since he appeared in front of TV cameras or underwent any questioning at all. At 8am yesterday morning, Farage released a video, from a field somewhere, calling for rage. Calling for an end to the mythical two-tier policing.  

Make no mistake, those were very carefully chosen words — he understood what he was unleashing, and his wish was granted last night in Southampton.  

On Tuesday, the Home Secretary made a statement to the House regarding the murder of Henry Nowack. There was, as always, an opportunity to question Shabana Mahmood. Was Nigel Farage in attendance? No, of course not.  

Today, Farage was granted a question at PMQs, the showpiece spectacle of the political week in which the country's news and politics fanatics tune in to watch. Was Nigel Farage in attendance? Yes, of course he   bloody  was. He had somehow found his way into work after missing 77 separate votes in Parliament because  he would, at least for three minutes, be the centre of the country's political attention.  

His question was about the murder of Henry Nowack and the violence that erupted on his command last night, but he would not condemn it or call for calm. Instead, he 'suggested' that this rioting might escalate.  

The overwhelming majority of people find Farage's words abhorrent. He has stoked division and incited violence to gain political points against the wishes of Henry Nowak's family. He has badly misjudged the mood  of  the  country and will lose a lot of support over this. and is now fully aligned in people's minds alongside Tommy Robinson and the rest of the far right who were there in  Southampton.

This afternoon, he has performatively written to the BBC because someone on Newsnight dared to accuse him of inciting the violence. playing his perpetual victim card. Again.  

And there we see the soul of Nigel Farage a craven, hate filled, narcissistic. grubby little opportunist of  the lowest  order, desperate for attention, an  evil, petty and pointless pure scum of a  man. 

Farage is a Grifter not a politician who has made an entire career about hating people, about division, about “them” being bad for “us”  and  the  exploitation of the under educated . He is doing it again, against the wishes of a father of a murdered son, because that is all he has and all he is. Hate. Rage. Culture war. 

His language is very dangerous in these times,He doesn’t want to improve this nation he wants to divide it, he wants to profit from it  and laugh in the faces of all those daft enough to believe in him.  and it is more than  time to hold Farage to account. 

The violent clashes with police in Southampton are the clearest warning of where Nigel Farage’s politics of hate leads. Officers were injured, communities were frightened, and public anger was pushed into the streets. This followed the tragic killing of Henry Nowak and the grave police mistake of handcuffing him as he lay dying:There is a real scandal here. Henry Nowak was telling officers he couldn’t breathe, while the man who stabbed him was initially treated as the victim because he lied. That is horrifying. Hampshire Police have apologised. The IOPC is investigating. One officer has resigned. The Attorney General is reviewing the sentence. Grant all of that. Henry was failed and the case  demands truth, justice and accountability. 

But Farage chose not to calm tensions. He chose to exploit grief, turn it into racial anger and use a tragedy as a political weapon. The UK deserves justice, not hatred.Whatever terrible failures occurred in Henry’s case, and however serious they may prove to be, the attempt to turn this tragedy into evidence that white people are now the primary victims of racial prejudice turns reality on its head.  

The reality is that racial inequality has not disappeared from Britain. For people from ethnic minority backgrounds being treated with suspicion remains an ordinary part of life. According to the latest Home Office figures, for example, Black people are stopped and searched by police at nearly four times the rate of white people. For searches linked to suspected weapons, the disparity is even higher. Racial abuse remains commonplace. Discrimination in housing, employment and public life remains. 

Yet the far right wants to persuade people that anti-racism itself is now the real injustice. 

Make no mistake, Reform are pushing us down a very dark and dangerous place.The contrast between Nigel Farage's opportunistic hate to divide people, his inability to serve anyone but himself, and the Sikhs' selfless service could not be more stark. 

Farage is an absolute disgrace of a human being. Would love to see him deported for this sort of baiting of violence. Never thought a human being could be so morally inept to bring the tragic death of a boy into politics like this to create such division.Farages "pure cold rage" means violent racists giving Nazi salutes. Farage and Reform are a danger to the whole UK. Shame  on  them. 

Am  not a  huge  admirer  but  have  to give credit to Keir Starmer for the way he handled Farage  in PMQs today, "This is a time for serious work, not rage," Keir Starmer told MPs, “Henry Nowak’s family have shown extraordinary dignity after their son’s life. There are serious questions to answer - like how accusations of racism impacted police thinking.  But there is no justification for violence," he said.

The terrified people of Southampton did not want a gang of racist thugs carrying out mayhem on their streets with the  support of Reform MPs who seem to think being racist is a vote winner.

Farage should be arrested and  removed from Parliament, his racist dreadful views may attract support but I am sure the majority would hate to see a repeat of what happened in Southampton on their doorstep. There was nothing to be gained. 

Farage and Reform have made themselves look foolish and insensitive. All because they’ve done what the family of Henry Nowak asked Parliamentarians not  to  do. 

It is up to each of us to stop this hatred and stop reform  from defining our country. There is another way. The politics of division depends on people feeling frightened, isolated and resentful. It depends on us seeing one another as enemies. 

At a time when the politics of extremist hatred becomes  louder in a bid to fuel division and hatred, it  must be opposed more than ever. Enough of Reform UK and Farage's  sowing of malcontent and hate and division and the blatants  opportunism over the  tragic murder of a young man.

Sign the open letter to demand Nigel Farage - as leader of the Reform UK Party - stops this shameful behaviour?

https://act.38degrees.org.uk/act/stop-hatred-and-division?

Celebrating Pride Month

June is Pride Month across much of the world, a hugely important 30 days to celebrate, uplift and champion the LGBT+  people, cultures, communities and resistance in its fullness.Pride Month is more than just parades and rainbow flags. It’s a powerful reminder of the struggles and triumphs that have paved the way for LGBTQ+ acceptance and visibility, and a celebration of LGBTQ+ culture and self-worth.

With worldwide events throughout the years, equality has taken massive steps forward. Gay marriage is legal in many countries now, people are more comfortable being out, and violence against the LGBTQ+ community has declined. 

But the freedoms aren’t universal, and there is still persecution in many places.This Pride month comes at a time when it all too often feels like things are moving backwards rather than forwards for the LGBT+ community – and particularly for our trans community.

Across the world, LGBTQ+ communities continue to face persecution, criminalisation and political attack. In the UK, the impact of recent legal and political developments has intensified hostility towards trans people and threatens hard-won rights, dignity and access to public life. Globally, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and rhetoric continue to put lives at risk. Remember Pride has always been political. It began as a protest and a riot.

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, the New York City  police department carried out a raid on the Stonewall Inn, a  popular Gay Bar in the Greenwich Village .

The move was a clear condemnation by law enforcement officials of the city's underground gay population .Yes it was a dive bar, but even that characterisation was optimistic, since it couldn't get a ligour license. It's drinks were bootlegged and heavily watered down. The contents of no bottle ever matched its label. There were no fire exits and there was no running water. 

But in that Greenwich Village Tavern, there was music, there was dancing, and there was freedom. It was a place of sanctuary, and one of the only places for New York's gay community to socialise and truly be themselves. 

Pror to 1962, same sex relationships were a felony in every state, making it illegal for people of the same sex to show affection towards one another, dance with each other or even just be together. often punished by lengthy prison sentences. 

Same-sex loving men and women met in secret, fearing the long-term consequences of exposure. Gender nonconforming indiiduals and cross-dressers might find themselves shunned to the fringes of society. Early efforts at LGBTQ+ activism had smoldered for years before Stonewall. 

There had been riots in other gay spaces before. And there had certainly been plenty of police raids at the Stonewall in the past. But the anger that erupted on this day when police attempted to arrest patrons of the Stonewall Inn, sparked a uprising that galvanised the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement as we know it today. 

It was a raid like so many others, but this time after some patrons and local residents witnessed  police barging into the bar, slamming people against the walls, calling them derogatory names, and then taking money from their wallets. 

When police finally let patrons out of the bar and ordered them to disperse they refused, and after an officer struck a prisoner on the head, they spontaneously fought back against years of oppression by hurling rocks and bottles at the police, anything in fact within arm's reach.

A number of people even wrestled a parking meter from the ground and tried to use it as a battering ram. The police, fearing for their safety, locked themseles inside the Stonewall Inn as the angry mob outside grew into the thousands. 

Some were attempting to set the property on fire.Following media coverage of the event, thousands protested and clashed with riot police over the next six days.Reinforcements were eventually able to get the crowd under control, well for one night at least. But people had discovered a power that they were not even aware they had, releasing a sense of pride and liberation.    

Shouts of 'gay power' and 'we shall overcome' could be heard down the street as support spread.It was a watershed for the worldwide gay rights movement, because it was the first time LGBTQ+ people had forcibly resisted the police. On Saturday, the windows of the Stonewall were boarded up and painted with gueer liberation slogans like 'We are Open,' 'Support Gay Power- C'mon in girls.' Hostile press coverage was also pinned to the boards, That night the crowd of protestors returned and were led in gay power cheers by a group of gay cheerleaders. 

There was sustained handholding, kissing, and posing which had appeared only fleetingly on the street before. Soon the crowd got restless "Let's go down the street and see what's happening girls," someone yelled. They did and were confronted by the Tactical Patrol Force, (originally set up to stop anti-vietnam war protests) Howeer, the TPF failed to break up the crowd, who in defiance sprayed them with rocks and other projectiles. 

The third day of rioting fell five days after the raid on the Stonewall Inn. On that day 1,000 people congregated at the bar and again took the cops on in the streets. Once the riots had subsided, protestors were filled with motivation to organise for their rights, the aftermath saw an explosion in gay movement organisation, pride and political activism. A year after the  riots, residents began marching on Christopher Street and Sixth Avenue. The date, June 28 was dubbed Christopher Street Liberation Day. Thousands of people marched the street while thousands of other people lined up alongside them to protest the treatment of theLGBTQ+ community at the hands of the law. With Stonewall, the spirit of 60's rebellion spread to LGBTQ+ people in New York and beyond, who found themseles liberated and part of a community, sparking a new sense of urgency about demanding tolerance for persecuted communities.

Inspired by New Yor's example, actiists in other cities including Los Angeles, San Fracisco, Boston and Chicago, organised gay pride celebrations that same year. The Stonewall uprising changed the state of play, and sent out a clear message that enough was enough and that it was time for the harassment and discrimination to end. 

It is important to recognise the fact the gay rights movement did not begin at Stonewall, there were gay activists  and calls for "gay power"well before tht early morning of June 28, 1969. What was different about Stonewall was that gay activists around the country and the world were prepared to commemorate it publicly. 

It was not the first rebellion, but it was the first to be called "the first" and that act of naming mattered, the uprising did mark a turning point, igniting a new atmosphere of militant gay liberation. Radical groups like the libertarian left wing Gay Liberation Front (GLF)  and the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), were formed  in New York and beyond who sought links with the Black Panthers, the Womens Liberation movement and anti-war organisations. 

Similar organisations were soon created around the world including Canada, France, Brtain, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, becoming a lasting force that would carry on for the next half-century and beyond.      

The Stonewall Inn made headlines again in 2015, when its story came to the silver screen,  but critics at the time said that Stonewall depicted brave, cisgender white males as the unsung heroes of the movement, but in reality it was trans women of color, homeless queer people, sex workers, gay bi and pansexual people who were the riots heart and soul.    

The resisters who stood up to the police on this day could hardly have imagined that within 50 years, the United States and other Western countries would go from criminalising homosexuality to guranteering the equal right of same sex couples to marry. 

Despite the gains made since and why we celebrate Pride in June, ( beyond the sequins and the glitter, it remains a protest, not just an excuse to party) half a century on from the Stonewall Riots, the global LGBTQ+ community still faces significent problems. 

It was only as recently as 2017 that the UK Government finally issued a posthumous pardon to all gay or bi men who were convicted under pernicious sexual offences laws in the last century which enabled police to criminalise people for being gay or bi. 

In many South Asian and Middle Eastern, in fact around 70 counties  homosexuality is still illegal and in around 70 countries ,as far as the law goes punishable by death.Anti-gay bullying is still prevalent in schools and workplaces and anti LGBTQ+ sentiment is still being combatted across the world, Sadly there is still to much stigma attached for being who we are. 

But for many that fight has its roots in those dramatic riots in Greenwich all those years ago. The LGBTQ+  movement is still a work in progress, so any single acronym is just a working title. Many other groups could be added to the acronym, including queer, intersex, and loving people of all kinds who just don't fit in the conventional pink and blue boxes of gender. This movement is a rainbow coalition of communities.

The struggle will continue as long as governments do not fully respect and protect the "inherent dignity" and "egual and inalienable rights of all members of the human family" , as the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so eloquently pronounces, regardless of their gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. 

When we remember the Stonewall Rebellion, we should aso commit to common memory, think of the many rebels who thought they might be alone but found common ground in movements of popular resistance.We still have so much further to go in the fight for equality. With on going solidarity with other oppressed people across the world, with rage and love we can firmly find  our pride. The legacy of Stonewall remains as important as ever.

Pride marches and events honour this legacy, fostering a space for advocacy, celebration, and community support. It was only a few years later, back on July 1st 1972, when UK's first official Pride march historically took place in London, where an estimated 2,000 people attended as a courageous display of solidarity and defiance in the face of widespread discrimination.

It marked the beginning of a movement that would grow in strength and visibility over the following decades.Early Pride events in the UK served as demonstrations advocating for equal rights and the decriminalisation of homosexual acts, transforming over the years into vibrant festivals occurring across major cities like Manchester, Brighton, and London.  

The 1967 Sexual Offences Act partially decriminalised homosexuality, yet many LGBTQ+ individuals continued facing legal challenges, prompting further protests.Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Pride events proliferated across the UK, reflecting the community’s resilience and the increasing public support for LGBTQ+ rights.  

Pride in the UK has seen significant milestones over the years. The decriminalization of homosexuality in England and Wales in 1967, Scotland in 1980, and Northern Ireland in 1982 laid the groundwork for further legal advancements. 

The introduction of Section 28, often known as ‘don’t say gay’, in 1988, which prohibited the “promotion” of homosexuality by local authorities, was met with fierce opposition and protest, further galvanizing the LGBTQ+ movement. The repeal of Section 28 in 2003 marked a significant victory for LGBTQ+ rights.  

The 21st century has witnessed landmark achievements such as the legalization of same-sex marriage in England, Wales, and Scotland in 2014 and in Northern Ireland in 2020. These legal advancements have been celebrated at Pride events, underscoring the progress made and the ongoing fight for equality.  Today Pride remains a crucial celebration for several reasons. Firstly, it serves as a powerful reminder of the struggles and sacrifices of those who fought for LGBTQ+ rights. Recognising this history is essential in understanding the progress made and the work still to be done.  

Secondly, Pride events provide a platform for visibility and representation. For many LGBTQ+ individuals, especially those in areas where acceptance may be lacking, Pride offers a sense of community and belonging. It is an opportunity to celebrate their identities openly and without fear.  Moreover, Pride fosters education and awareness. It challenges prejudices and misconceptions, promoting a culture of acceptance and understanding. Through Pride, allies can show their support, and broader society can learn about the diverse experiences and challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community.  

Pride is more than a celebration; it is a powerful movement grounded in history and driven by the unwavering quest for equality. As we march forward, let us remember the past, celebrate the present, and strive for a future where diversity is not just acknowledged but embraced wholeheartedly. 

It’s important to note that the level of acceptance and the ability to hold public Pride events can vary greatly in many countries around the world. Many LGBTQ+ individuals face significant legal and social challenges, which can impact the visibility and safety of Pride celebrations.

I hope this pride month is one of continued celebration and solidarity. While I reflect on the history of pride and recognise that the struggles of the past have seen tremendous progress on LGBT+ issues, that progress is only won through continued effort, the maintenance and struggles of the future are still ongoing, and in places around the world there are still too few safe spaces for people to live as their authentic selves and find their communities.  As I reflect on the history and importance of Pride, the journey towards full equality is ongoing. Discrimination and inequality persist, making it vital for us to continue advocating for the rights of all LGBTQ+ individuals. By supporting Pride and other initiatives, we contribute to a future where everyone is respected and valued for who they are. 

Whether you are a part of the pride community or not, raising awareness this month is something that can help everyone to have a more free, equal and inclusive society. Everyone deserves to be loved, to be free, and to be happy. Relationships are such a central part of our lives that being able to be open about who we love helps people to be happier.  

When it comes to acceptance, accepting yourself first is key. Knowing that no matter who you are, you are a good person. Your identity is valid. You deserve to be yourself authentically and unapologetically. No one should have to live in fear because they have an LGBTQ+ identity.  

Until we can make this a reality, Pride is still needed. Advocacy is still needed. We need to tell our stories, make our voices heard, and show the next generation that they don’t need to live in fear.

While often associated with gay pride, Pride Month is a celebration of the entire LGBTQ+ community. It includes everyone who identifies outside the cisgender and heterosexual spheres, including those who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, non-binary, asexual, intersex, and all identities across the spectrum.  

Each identity within the LGBTQ+ community faces unique challenges. More recently, transgender and non-binary individuals have stepped up their fight for visibility and rights, while bisexual people combat erasure and asexual individuals work to gain broader recognition. Pride Month is a time to amplify all voices, ensuring no one feels overlooked or excluded.I love how bigots say there shouldn’t be a pride month and then spend the entire month proving why we need a pride month.

Happy pride month. Sending love and solidarity to everyone in the LGBTQIA+ community. We must never forget that Pride started as a protest against oppression, and it was trailblazing trans women of colour who led this protest. Pride is a time for celebration, but it is also a call to continue the fight for equity , justice and human rights for all. I am always so proud to stand in solidarity and love alongside the LGBTQIA+ community in their fight for these aims.

Remembering the life of French anarchist and writer Clémence-Louise Michel (29 May 1830 – 9 January 1905)

 

French anarchist,  and writer ,whose heroism during the Paris Commune insurrection and subsequent imprisonments, and example of selfless devotion to her ideals, made her one of the most celebrated female revolutionaries of her time  Clémence-Louise Michel  also known by her nickname of Enjolras,  was  born  on May 29, 1830, in Vroncourt (Haute-Marne), at the Château de Vroncourt in Northeast France, the illegitimate daughter of a serving-maid, Marianne Michel, and the son of the house, Laurent Demahis.

Raised by her paternal grandparents, Michel received a liberal education at home and began corresponding with Victor Hugo as a young girl. Supported by her paternal grandparents until her thirties, 

Some  traits from her childhood stand out. She loved animals of every kind and always kept numerous pets. The unthinking cruelty of the peasants toward animals sickened her. She later declared that "the origin of my revolt against the powerful was my horror at the tortures inflicted on animals." The other trait was her habit of giving away to the needy whatever might be at hand, whether hers or not. She seemed devoid of any proprietary sense and as a child would steal food or money from her grandparents (who were in narrow straits) to give away, even after warnings. Her sympathy for any sufferers, human or animal, simply overrode ordinary prudence or even regard for the generally accepted rights of others.

Between 1844 and 1850, Louise Michel witnessed the deaths of her grandfather, Étienne-Charles Demahis, her father, Laurent Demahis, and then her grandmother, Louise-Charlotte Demahis. The need to work for a living then arose. 

She spent three months at a boarding school in Lagny-sur-Marne to prepare for the teaching certificate, a rare profession accessible to the poor if they wished to escape their social condition.

She failed the exam, but met the man she admired most: Victor Hugo. She passed the exam on her second attempt in Chaumont in 1852. Once in a position in Audeloncourt (Haute-Marne), where she opened a private school, she distinguished herself through her thoroughly modern pedagogy. 

She rejected punishments inflicted on students in favor of instilling a sense of duty and a love of learning. Her method seemed to work. She wrote plays that the schoolgirls performed. Ahead of her time, she introduced nature classes  teaching about plants and animals. She didn't hesitate to bring in plant specimens and even snakes or birds. Some animals lived at the school; the students were responsible for taking good care of them.

Already rebellious, she refused to swear allegiance to the Empire and instead opened a private school in Audeloncourt (in 1853) and then in Millières (in 1855). She always wore a black dress with a red rose as the only embellishment. Black and red, not coincidentally the colors of anarchism . And Louise Michel was a comitted anarchist . Louise Michel adopted the black dress with the wide crinoline skirt around 1852, when Napoleon III seized power to proclaim the Second French Empire. In mourning for lost freedom, the headstrong Louise henceforth dressed exclusively in black.

Michel moved to Paris in 1865 and opened a school for working class children in Montmartre, where she taught and demonstrated liberal and revolutionary ideas to her pupils. It was there that she developed mutual aid programs in her community, teaching underprivileged women to read and write, connecting them with resources and representing women in legal and administrative matters.  

It was also during this time that she became more closely involved in the radical political movements which developed in the tumultuous 1860s in Paris. She was actively involved with André Léo’s Société pour la Revendication des Droits Civils de la Femme where she advocated for girls’ education on a national level. 

It  was in  Paris that   she met Jules Vallès, Eugène Varlin, and especially Théophile Ferré, with whom she formed a close bond. She contributed to opposition newspapers and wrote poetry. Through her political activism as well as through her poetry and plays, Michel imagined a radical society where women and girls were afforded the same opportunities as men.

On January 22, 1871 , dressed as a National Guardsman, she participated in the shooting at the Hôtel de Ville against the government, which she accused of cowardice. She was an enthusiastic participant in the Commune of 1871, which she saw as an opportunity to live out her ideals of liberal education for young women. 

The Paris Commune https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2023/03/vive-la-commune-marking-anniversary-of.html was a radical socialist government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It emerged after France’s humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the collapse of Napoleon III’s Second Empire. The Commune tried to establish a more democratic and egalitarian society, but it was brutally crushed by the French army in what became known as the Bloody Week.

Michel was the outstanding female soldier of the Commune: "I love the smell of powder," she confessed. In the uniform of the 61st Battalion of the National Guard, she fought with utter disregard for her life, earning the affection of the soldiers though not of most officers, who disliked having women on battlefields. 

Michel  in  uniform 

Tireless, she also organized ambulance nurses to remove the wounded from the field, nursed soldiers herself, continued with the Montmartre Vigilance Committee, presided over a "Club de la Révolution" which passed all manner of radical proposals (including a total revamping of all laws and the judiciary), sent in ideas for educational reform, continued her school and refuge, and once even slipped through the lines to Versailles and back to prove that her (rather harebrained) proposal to assassinate French president Louis Thiers was feasible. 

She was not, however, a high-level leader, e.g., on the Central Committee of the "Union of Women for the Defense of Paris and the Care of the Wounded" led by the Marxist Elizabeth Dmitrieff , or a "captain of guerrillas" as the government later charged.   

Michel fought to the last when Montmartre fell early in "Bloody Week" (May 21–28), barely escaped death or capture, but gave herself up (May 23) to release her mother, who was being held hostage for her capture. 

 

Arrest of Louise Michel after the Paris Commune, May 1871 – Jules Girardet 

She endured the horrors of the march to Versailles and the encampment on the Sartory plain, was singled out with some other "ringleaders" and twice examined by a court-martial, and finally was tried (December 16), convicted of armed rebellion (after more serious charges were dropped), and condemned to life under guard in a prison colony. She had admitted only the minimum at first, but especially after her pleas failed to save one of the Commune's leaders, Théophile Ferré, she defiantly confessed everything and even claimed responsibility for acts she had not committed. 

She probably had fallen in love with Ferré (though he did not reciprocate), and his execution (November 28) left a permanent wound in her heart. 

Louise Michel wrote the following poem in honor and memory of Théophile Ferré,  who refused to recognize a military court’s right to judge him after the defeat of the Commune, and was sentenced to death and executed.  

Red Carnation – A Poem for Théophile Ferré

If one day to the cold cemetery I were to go, 

brothers, cast on your sister, 

like a final hope, 

some red carnations in bloom.  

In the final days of the empire, 

as the people awoke, 

red carnation, it was your smile 

that told us all was reborn.  

And now, go blossom in the shade 

of dark and drear prisons, 

go blossom near the somber captive,

and tell him we love him.  

Tell him that in these changing times 

everything belongs to the future; 

that the victor with his pallid brow 

can die as easily as the vanquished.   

At her trial, she made a sensational appearance garbed and veiled in black, a spectral symbol of 25,000 dead Communards, accepted no attorney, challenged the judges to put her to death, and refused to appeal her conviction.

Poem by Louise Michel to the Commission of Pardons, 1871 

To the Commission of Pardons  

Auberive prison, November 28, 1872, 7 a.m  

Murderers, can you hear time’s bell? 

In any event, I’m content with this. 

We suffered but we saved our cause. 

So many cynically accumulated crimes, coldly done, so much 

cowardice and inability widely expose you. 

Bravo, Gentlemen! The white orgy is complete! 

Can you take your good name away from here, no! 

In history you will always be the commission for the “coup de grâce,”

executioner’s valet! Gentlemen, you must remember that we will be afraid, and we will laugh at you because you are such horrible, grotesque people.  

Original French transcript A

la Commission des Grâces  

Centrale d’Auberive, 28 novembre 1872, 7 heures du matin  

Assassins, Entendez-vous l’heure qui sonne ? 

Eh bien, je me félicite de ce qui s’est passé. 

Nous avons souffert mais la cause est sauvée. 

Tant de crimes cyniquement entassés, froidement accomplis ; tant 

de lâchetés et d’incapacités vous démasquent largement. 

Bravo, Messieurs ! l’orgie blanche est complète ! 

Otez maintenant vos noms de là ! impossible ! 

Vous serez à jamais pour l’histoire de la commission du coup de grâce, les valets du bourreau ! Souvenez-vous bien Messieurs, on aura horreur et on rira, 

car vous êtes horribles et vous êtes grotesques.

Charged with attempting to overthrow the government, at her trial she dared the judges to execute her, saying ‘Since it seems that every heart that beats for freedom has no right to anything but a little lump of lead, I demand my share. If you let me live, I shall never cease to cry for vengeance and l shall avenge my brothers. If you are not cowards, kill me!’. 

The authorities declined and while some 20,000 Communards were executed, Michel was among the 10,000 who were deported, in her case to New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. 

Louise Michel in exile in New Caledonia.

Even in exile in New Caledonia, where she lived for eight years, Michel found ways to advocate for marginalized groups. Befriending the Kanak indigenous people she met, she encouraged them to revolt against the French colonial power and contributed to the first French-Kanak dictionary. 

On her return to France 7,000 Parisians turned out to welcome her home.Her nickname, the “Red Virgin,” played an important role in the dynamics of disqualification of women’s speech and ideas. Louise Michel’s opponents referenced her alleged virginity as soon as she got back to Paris: she was variously called “the virgin of the Commune,” “the Maid of Belleville” and “the petroleum virgin.”  

That virginity became the proof of her deviance. In the novel Gil Blas, one finds the following lines about Louise Michel: “She’s not pretty, and they say she’s a virgin. That’s bad for sanity! Virginity is the mother of dementia.” 

As their reasoning went, being ugly, Louise Michel couldn’t entice a man; without marriage or motherhood, she trained her affection on the struggle for civil rights. In 1886, a contributor to La Petite Gazette defended that hypothesis of frustration in these terms: “You see, that ardent and perverted soul doesn’t know what to do with its immense need for affection, it would have required a husband to occupy her heart, and children, who are women’s great consolation. A married Louise Michel would have meant one less ‘great female citizen’ and one more happy homemaker; and we would not have been worse off.” 

Originally used by her critics, the Red Virgin nickname offered a two-fold justification for Louise Michel’s deviance: her ugliness and her virginity. Between the lines, the goal was always to discredit feminist demands and revolutionary struggle in general by discrediting her, an icon of those struggles. 

Louise also draws, writes poems and ( political ) essays. She uses the pseudonym Enjolras . That fictional character, 'a soldier of democracy, the marble beloved of Liberty', comes from the epic Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, with whom she corresponds and who 'glorifies' her in his poem Viro Major . There are even rumors that they had an amorous liaison.

Her poetry follows the dramas, joys, and adventures of her extraordinary life: poems-cries uttered from the prisons of Versailles in an attempt to save the man she loved; expansive and exalted poems written during the cyclones of New Caledonia, and more directly social and political pieces written during the years of feverish propaganda throughout France and abroad. 

Anarchist comrades and/or friends often asked her for occasional poems, which she composed with pleasure: for weddings (Verlaine's, for example), births, and deaths (Blanqui's, for example). Absorbed by her commitment to political groups, she had little involvement in literary movements (she was simply a member of the Union of Poets in 1862 and, on October 20, 1886, she participated in a literary conference for the benefit of the Decadents). 

But we must acknowledge the abundance and originality of the poetry of the woman whom Verlaine hailed as "the hoarse and fragile Muse/Of the Poor" and whose verses Hugo described as "mysterious and sweet." 

Her poems served an effective function for her, like songs (which she also composed in great numbers), like "La Marseillaise," of which she wrote several versions, and "The Internationale": the poems had to provoke the emotion that led to action or strike the enemy like a rifle bullet.

 In 1890 she was arrested again and after an attempt to commit her to a mental asylum she moved to London with her friend Charlotte Vauvelle.

She continued to give speeches and conduct revolutionary activity in London, France and across Europe, attending anarchist meetings, leading demonstrations and speaking to huge crowds. 

She was friends with the Pankhurst family and made a particular impression on a young Sylvia Pankhurst.   

At first Michel lived in ‘Petite France’, just north of Soho and the traditional quarter of French political refugees but in 1893 she moved to 15 Ardsley Terrace, Placquett Rd, now Copleston Road East Dulwich. Her house was at the Grove Vale end, though it no longer exists. 

The houses cost £50 pa to rent, contained six rooms, a washhouse, and gardens front and back. The residents at the time were ‘comfortably off with good average earnings’ and were mostly clerks. Michel was said to be on the brink of poverty most of the time but while about half the houses in the road were in multiple occupation, she was able to rent the whole house. 

Placquett Road was probably fairly cheap at the time because it backed on to Camberwell council’s depot; the depot particularly impacted nos 11 and 13 - the Council bought both houses themselves. 

A journalist describes visiting her ‘small house near the station’ where the parlour had a piano, a few chairs, some photographs and a table on which stood several volumes by ‘prominent Anarchists’.  Michel quickly became a central figure in London’s international anarchist circles. Her time was spent in writing and protest and her speeches and articles were reprinted across the world. She also wrote her memoirs and a history of the Paris Commune while she lived here. 

She started the International Anarchist School in Fitzroy Square employing both exiled anarchists and pioneering educationalists as teachers, but the school closed when explosives were found in the basement. There is no evidence they were placed there by Michel and they may have been planted by an employee, Auguste Coulon, who was suspected of being a police spy. Louise was upset and felt herself surrounded by enemies: ‘I went back to East Dulwich in a most troubled frame of mind’.  

She joined the Peckham International Anarchist Group, marched in the London May Day parades, spoke at revolutionary meetings and may have spoken at the Peckham and Dulwich Radical Club on Rye Lane. She often contrasted Britain’s liberal atmosphere with France’s repressive stance saying, ‘in England the destitute can assemble and say openly what they think; or at least they can tell one another about their miseries unreservedly’.

 She also remarked that ‘the working classes find in England, under a monarchist regime, far more freedom than in Republican France’. 

Edith Thomas, Michel’s biographer, mentions that Michel was visited in East Dulwich by journalists who found Michel, now in her sixties, surrounded by cats, dogs and a parrot called Coco that used to cry ‘Vive l’anarchie!'.

 In December 1893 a New York Times journalist interviewed 'the notorious woman Anarchist, who occupies a little house at East Dulwich, a suburb of London'. 

In 1895 the papers reported that she was hard at work on a novel in her ‘quiet house in Dulwich’ and also preparing a lecture tour of America.   

Michel lived at Placquett Road until she moved to 25 Chesterfield Grove in 1899 where her neighbours were typically grocers, bakers, tobacconists and drapers, though unlike Placquett Rd the houses were mostly in single family occupation. 

By 1900 she was boarding at 8 Albion Villas Road in Sydenham and appears in the 1901 Census there as an ‘authoress’. She was living there with her long-time friend and nurse Charlotte Vauvelle, Charlotte’s father, Auguste, and Charlotte’s brother, Achille, a lithographic printer. Again, their neighbours were typically shopkeepers and clerks. By 1903 she was living in Dahomey St (now Rd) in Streatham.  

In 1904 Michel visited Algeria to advocate for an uprising against the French government. While there she became ill, returned to France and the following  yearin in the Hôtel Oasis in Marseille,tLouise Michel passed away on January 9, 1905. By this time, she was one of the most prominent figures of contemporary anarchism and was often mentioned in the same breath as Peter Kropotkin and Errico Malatesta. 

Shortly before her death, when returning from her exile in London, Michel had been dubbed "the angel of petrol", "the virago of the rabble" and "queen of the scum" by the conservative French press. In turn, Charles Ferdinand Gambon compared her to Jeanne d'Arc in reference to her role in the Paris Commune. This imagery was further propagandized by Edmond Lepelletier in 1911. 

Her funeral in Paris was attended by more than 100,000 people and memorial services were held all over France and in London. 

Louise Michel’s legacy lived on. She is remembered in Paris through a metro station, a square near Sacré-Cœur, and a stamp issued in her honor. Today, a commemorative plaque at the hotel honours her memory, and her grave in the cemetery of Levallois-Perret—a wealthy suburb of Paris—has become a pilgrimage site. 

At the time of her funeral, this suburb was still considered revolutionary ground.But her influence extends far beyond France. She is commemorated in the Louise Michel Sports Club in London, a radical sports club for people involved in the workers’ movement. The London-based Strawberry Thieves Socialist Choir sing ‘Danse de Bombe’, which Michel composed at the time of the Paris Commune. 

 Throughout her life, she fought for social equality, for education, for freedom, and for better living conditions for everyone. It is therefore no coincidence that the boat paid for by the British street artist Banksy to rescue refugees in the Mediterranean is named 'Louise Michel' .

She inspired feminist and anarchist movements worldwide, in the collective imagination.  proving that one woman’s courage could spark global change, .her commitment to social justice, her caring for all life, her passion for learning and teaching, her striving for women’s rights and democracy in general, her unselfish work on behalf of others, her strong moral stance, and her unfailing courage set a mark to inspire anyone.

Here  iis  a link  to  the  full text of "The Red Virgin: Memoirs Of Louise Michel" https://archive.org/stream/MichelRedVirginMemoirsOfLouiseMichel/Michel%20-%20Red%20Virgin%3A%20Memoirs%20Of%20Louise%20Michel_djvu.txt

Amnesty International Day

 

May 28th, 1961, marks a genuine milestone in post-war human rights activism born from outrage at political imprisonment. On this day  65  years ago in London Amnesty International was born. It began with an article by British lawyer Peter Benenson who had defended political prisoners in Hungary, South Africa, and Spain and who sought to establish a collective agency for the advancement of human rights.

The  article called The Forgotten Prisoners in The Observer, was inspired by the story of two Portuguese students reportedly jailed for raising a toast to liberty. 

This appeal, reprinted widely, launched what became Amnesty International. Benenson, with help from figures like Eric Baker, of the Religious Society of Friends and began assembling a coalition of writers, academics, and legal professionals. 

The response to that article exceeded anything the authors had expected, with letters and offers of support arriving from across Europe and beyond. What began as a one-year appeal rapidly transformed into a permanent organization with a clear mandate: research the facts, document the abuses, and bring public and political pressure to bear on governments that violated their citizens' basic rights. 

Amnesty International Day was formally established to mark the founding moment and keep public attention on the organization's ongoing mission. Unlike internationally codified observances (e.g., UN-declared days), Amnesty International Day functions primarily as: A mobilization mechanism A fundraising opportunity. A symbolic reaffirmation of normative commitments A transnational identity marker It is often linked to public campaigns, reports on human rights violations, and grassroots activism.  

The early years of  Amnesty were defined by letter-writing campaigns on behalf of individual prisoners, a tactic that proved surprisingly effective at drawing international attention to cases that governments would have preferred to keep quiet.  

The group would campaign equally across East, West, and the developing world, independent of any government or ideology.   Benenson explicitly warned that falling under the control of “one country, ideology or creed” would mean failure.   

By the end of 1961, the organization had formalized its mission to advocate for human rights, focusing on freeing prisoners of conscience, ensuring fair trials for  political  prisoners, and opposing torture and the death penalty.  

From 1961 to 1975 the chairman of AI was Seán MacBride, who was a corecipient of the 1974 Nobel Prize for Peace.  

Over the decades, Amnesty grew into a global movement.  By the 1970s, it had groups in dozens of countries and was instrumental in campaigns like the 1973 push against torture, leading to the UN’s 1984 Convention Against Torture. In 1977, Amnesty won the Nobel Peace Prize for its "defense of human dignity against torture and oppression." Its work expanded to include issues like women’s rights, refugee rights, and economic, social, and cultural rights, while maintaining a focus on impartiality and independence from governments or corporate interests.  

The organisation’s logo idea (the candle surrounded by barbed wire to represent a beacon of hope shining for prisoners of conscience trapped in oppressive conditions) stemmed from a Chinese proverb “It  is better to light a light than to curse the darkness.” 

Amnesty International remains one of the world’s largest human rights NGOs, with millions of supporters and a record of documenting abuses globally. However, it has faced substantial criticism for drifting from its founding emphasis on impartial, universal defence of basic rights toward more ideological positions.   

Critics, including NGO Monitor, Women's Rights Groups across the world, officials, and others, argue it applies disproportionate focus and harsher language towards (for example):  Women’s rights and sex-based protections, Amnesty has aligned with expansive gender identity frameworks, treating “trans rights” as integral to women’s rights and rejecting notions of conflict between them (e.g., on single-sex spaces or sports). 

Benenson largely withdrew from active leadership but later reconciled with Amnesty and occasionally supported its work; though he publicly disagreed with some later decisions. He continued human rights and other charitable efforts until his death in 2005.   

Amnesty itself "professionalised", and grew into the global monster it is today. Today,  Amnesty operates in over 150 countries, with millions of supporters. Its methods include research, advocacy, and mobilizing public pressure through campaigns, reports, and urgent actions to address human rights abuses worldwide. 

Its impact has been significant, with thousands of individuals freed due to its efforts, underscoring the organization's vital role in the ongoing fight against human rights abuses worldwide.  

The organization remains headquartered in London and continues to rely on its original tactic of letter-writing, now amplified by digital campaigns.

AI exposes human rights violations by governments, armed political groups, companies, and other nonstate actors in newsletters, annual reports, and background papers. It relies strongly on the worldwide distribution of “adoption groups,” each of which, staffed by three to eight persons, takes on a limited number of cases of prisoners of conscience and barrages the offending government with letters of protest until the prisoners are released. Other activities include organizing demonstrations and vigils, sponsoring human rights education, and circulating online petitions and alerts. 

The research department at AI’s London headquarters is in contact with human rights activists and other interested parties around the world and provides a network of information for all the organization’s publications and activities.   

The 2026 edition of Amnesty International’s annual report, The State of the World’s Human Rights, assesses national, regional and global developments across a wide range of human rights themes. It highlights how states have undermined the international rules-based system, hindering the resolution of problems that affect the lives of millions. It also identifies trends regarding armed conflicts, repression of dissent, discrimination, economic and climate injustice, the abrupt halt of humanitarian aid, and the misuse of technology. The report documents human rights concerns during 2025 in 144 countries, connecting global and regional issues and looking to the future. 

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/0320/2026/en/

The organisation called on governments, to reject the politics of appeasement and collectively resist attacks on multilateralism, international law and civil society, before this emerging order takes hold.   pressure. 

 “We are confronting the most challenging moment of our age. Humanity is under attack from transnational anti-rights movements and predatory governments determined to assert their dominance through unlawful wars and brazen economic blackmail,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.   

“World leaders have been far too submissive in the face of attacks on international law and the multilateral system. Their silence and inaction are inexcusable.”  Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International “The vast majority of states have been unwilling or unable to consistently denounce predatory acts by the USA, Russia, Israel or China, or to chisel out diplomatic solutions.  “World leaders have been far too submissive in the face of attacks on international law and the multilateral system. Their silence and inaction are inexcusable. It is morally bankrupt and will bring nothing but retreat, defeat and the erasure of decades of hard-fought human rights gains.  “To appease aggressors is to pour fuel on a fire that will burn us all and scorch the future for generations to come,” said Agnès Callamard.   

Predatory attacks are accelerating the destruction of international law The State of the World’s Human Rights, and Amnesty International’s documentation so far this year, detail pervasive crimes under international law and mounting attacks on the international justice system, which are gravely harming the foundations that underpin human rights globally.  

Israel has maintained its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, despite the October 2025 ceasefire agreement, and its system of apartheid over Palestinians, while accelerating the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and taking steps toward annexation.  Israeli authorities have increasingly allowed or encouraged settlers to attack and terrorize Palestinians with impunity, and prominent officials have praised and glorified violence against Palestinians, including arbitrary arrests and the torture of detainees. 

The United States of America has committed over 150 extrajudicial executions by bombing boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and carried out an act of aggression against Venezuela in January 2026. Russia has intensified its aerial attacks on critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, while Myanmar’s military used motorized paragliders to drop explosive munitions on villages last year, killing dozens of civilians, including children.  

In early 2026, the USA and Israel’s unlawful use of force against Iran, in violation of the UN Charter, has triggered retaliatory Iranian strikes on Israel and Gulf Cooperation Council countries, while Israel has escalated its attacks on Lebanon.  

From the killing of over 100 children in an unlawful US strike on a school in Iran, to the devastating attacks by all parties on energy infrastructure, the conflict has endangered the lives and health of millions of civilians and threatens to inflict vast, predictable and long-term civilian and environmental harm, impacting access to energy, healthcare, food and water across an already turbulent region and beyond.  

In Afghanistan, the Taliban escalated its predatory policies against the female population, with further bans prohibiting them from education, work and freedom of movement, while in Iran, the authorities massacred protesters in January 2026, in what was likely the most lethal such repression for decades.  Ramped-up assaults on civil society continue to spread around the world The proliferation of attacks on civil society and social movements deepened in 2025, with sustained efforts to silence and disempower human rights defenders, organizations and dissenters spreading to almost every part of the world.  Authorities in Nepal and Tanzania were particularly brazen in their unlawful use of lethal force to repress protests expressing political and socio-economic grievances. The governments of Afghanistan, China, Egypt, India, Kenya, the USA and Venezuela, among others, also violently repressed protests, criminalized dissent through counterterrorism and security laws, or used abusive policing tactics, enforced disappearances or extrajudicial executions. 

 US authorities launched an unlawful clampdown on migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, committing unnecessary and excessive use of force, racial profiling, arbitrary detention, and practices that amounted to torture and enforced disappearance. 

In Latin America, states such as Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela adopted or reformed legal frameworks that impose disproportionate controls on civil society organizations directly impacting their ability to operate, access resources, support communities and defend human rights.  

In a context dominated by the US president describing climate change as a “scam”, governments did nowhere near enough to address climate displacement, equitably transition away from fossil fuels, or adequately ramp up finance for climate action – even as the UN Environment Programme warned that the world is on track to reach 3°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100.  Protesters, civil society and international bodies lead efforts to resist, disrupt and transform Undeterred by adversity, millions aound the world are resisting injustice and authoritarian practices.  

Throughout early 2026, demonstrators from Los Angeles to Minneapolis have organized street by street and block by block against violent and highly militarized US immigration enforcement raids.  

Mass demonstrations against Israel’s genocide spread around the world last year and humanitarians from over 40 countries launched flotillas to show solidarity with Palestinians. Global activism against the flow of arms to Israel expanded, with dockworkers in France, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Spain and Sweden seeking to disrupt arms shipment routes. Activism and legal pressure also led several states to restrict or ban arms exports to Israel. 

Hundreds of mostly young protesters faced off against security forces in Madagascar's capital on September 27, 2025 days after an anti-government demonstration erupted into clashes and looting. Police used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse crowds at Thursday's protest, which was called to condemn persistent water and power cuts in the impoverished nation but descended into violence as stores were looted and buildings and cars set alight. 

 “From city streets to multilateral forums, 2025 brought powerful displays of resistance and solidarity from protesters, diplomats, political leaders and many others around the world. We must build on their example and courage and forge bold coalitions to reimagine, rebuild and re-centre the global order around human rights, the rule of law and universal values,” said Agnès Callamard.  “For the sake of humanity, the time to make history is now.”  Agnès Callamard “Let 2026 be the year we assert our agency and demonstrate that history is not merely something imposed upon us; it is ours to make. And for the sake of humanity, the time to make history is now.”

Amnesty International Day is less a fixed holiday than a strategic commemorative practice. It consolidates collective identity, mobilizes normative discourse, and reinforces the symbolic authority of human rights within global civil society. It illustrates how non-governmental organizations use ritualized temporality to sustain moral legitimacy in a fragmented international system.

 For 65 years, Amnesty International' have  been  documenting and exposing abuses, bringing violators to justice, freeing human rights defenders in prison.  Families caught in armed conflict. Refugees forced from their homes, tortured in prisons. Journalists jailed—or even killed—for doing their jobs. Children and parents wondering if they will survive another night.  There work is not just about exposing human rights abuses. It is about doing something about it. 

As we mark this  important anniversary, lets celebrate the courage of activists, supporters, staff, volunteers, and communities across the world who continue to defend dignity, freedom, equality, and justice. 

Amnesty’s central argument has always been brutally simple:  Human rights are not optional.  They belong to everyone. At a time when protest rights, refugee rights and civil liberties are still being fought over, Amnesty’s original message  is more relevant than ever. We shold  not back down until every single person enjoys their full rights.Here’s to many more years of people power and human rights impact. 

 Amnesty International History Video