The Shrewsbury Pickets, Arthur Scargill and Berlin 1913.
The video above is part of the speech given by Arthur Scargill at the Welsh Centre on 27 10 2008.
This speech was about the Shrewsbury Pickets, Des Warren and Ricky Tomlinson being the most famous. When Human Rights TV was approached to record this event we had to consider if this is a Human Rights matter or simply an old political wound.
This is a problem for us because we do not want to be high-jacked by political movements or become a mouth piece for someone’s general grievance. Human Rights TV is genuinely here to serve the voice seldom heard and to build an educational archive of material recording human rights activities.
In the end we decided that when trades unionists are imprisoned for striking that has to be a clear issue regarding freedom of speech, freedom of association and the right to represent grievance through a withdrawal of labour. If you look at this video, and maybe carry on to the series at The Shrewsbury Pickets, then maybe you will have a different opinion. The point is that with Human Rights TV you have the chance to listen for yourself to what individuals have to say not only about today but also about the histories they have been involved in.
We are all involved in history, our lives are stories that contribute to the histories of our communities, cultures, nations and world. But when we are gone what is left of our voice? If you are a president or prime minister, a criminal, a saint or a nation state, then you will have your page in history but there ar over 6 billion people breathing the same air as us every day. Everyone of those people have a story and even if they die in famine, are killed by wars or live quietly on a desert island their lives are part of our story, part of our history.
I remember watching a black and white film of a history of a day in the lives of some 200,000 German people in summer 1913. They had taken to the streets to protest and demonstrate against war. There on a dark screen, filmed with a hand cranked camera that made their actions jerky and irregular, they silently thronged the Berlin streets. One year later Germany and Britain took their people to the trenches and the slaughter of Ypres, The Somme and Passchendaele. Who were those protesters? Why had I never heard of the peace protests in Berlin before the First World War? All those lives lost and yes we know that the Arch Duke Ferdinand was assasinated, we know the Kaiser invaded Belguim but what do we know of the lives of our great grandparents and of their parents?
Human Rights TV is established to “empower the voice seldom heard”.
We recognise that those who have suffered abuse often suffer further indignity by remaining unheard. In making the individual story, told by the individual in their own words and their own way, visible, accessible and freely available we can offer some support to those who need it most.
Human Rights TV guarantees to the individuals who provide their testimony that it will not be edited into other progamming unless they specifically request that. The testimony remains the copyright of the person supplying it and we never appropriate the voice we serve.
Human Rights TV provides a free service to individuals, free at the point of entry, free at the point of viewing. We do not believe that those who have suffered should have to pay to be heard.
Human Rights TV maintains a sacred space on the web where all who are present share the values enshrined in the Human Rights Declaration at the United Nations in 1948 and the subsequent developments in the ideal of human rights. We promise to protect this space from inappropriate activities, marketing or promotions.
Human Rights TV does not support, represent or promote any political or religious stance and acts purely as a video resource cataloging the history of the progression and activity of human rights in the 21st century. We do not guarantee the authenticity or veracity of any of the content we archive but offer it as prime source material that gives the viewer the chance to make their own judgment.
Category: Student News
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I am Italian, from Florence. I am doing a MA at Soas, but on part time basis. At the moment I'm looking for a job...Subscribe
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