| right 2 love : FREE STEVEN AND TIWONGE! |
 |
 |
 |
|
LondonHumanistGroup — May 29, 2010 — London 29th May 2010
The Central London Humanist Group supported the protest "right 2 love", organized by activist Michael Nastari, asking the Malawian Government to release Steven and Tiwonge, outrageously sentenced to 14 years of jail with hard labour just for loving each other. The demonstration was followed by the great news that Steven and Tiwonge have been pardoned!! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/afri... A few hundred people gathered in the rain outside the Malawi High Commission in a leafy street some way from the city centre. The crowd was enthusiastic and determined, high spirits could not be dampened. These people knew that they were surfing on a wave of historical necessity. Steven and Tiwonge, individuals for whom everyone expressed love and compassion, had also become symbols, in their incarceration and treatment, of the effects of a ruthless and repressive anti-human mindset which unfortunately can still be found in many countries. There was a determination here that this cruelty must be set aside. Little did we imagine that the news would follow on so swiftly, but surely most people will feel the need to press home the advantage, to champion, ever more strongly, the UN goal of decriminalising homosexuality and reinforcing LGBTi rights as part of, and in no way separate from, support for Universal Human Rights. The time is now. At the Rally there were speeches from religious people and from Marco Tranchino who spoke passionately and movingly on behalf of the Central London Humanists and the Humanist community worldwide. Josh Kutchinsky, Secretary of the Central London Humanists, passed on to the gathered demonstrators a message of goodwill and appreciation from George Thindwa, Executive Director of the Association of Secular Humanism in Malawi, mentioning how much he had been doing to support Steven and Tiwonge in Malawi. Alice Fuller, committee member of the Central London Humanists, interviewed after the protest, explained why humanists are always in the front line in defence of human rights and received the great news, by phone, of the couple being pardoned. Solidarity was expressed with Peter Tatchell and his efforts to defend human rights in Moscow, with some good news from there also! http://www.petertatchell.net/internat... ( Most of the photographs in this video are by Nicolas Chinardet http://www.flickr.com/photos/zefrog/s... ) |
