28 May: Amnesty International

Today is Amnesty International Day. 10 things you might not know about Amnesty International:

1. It was founded in 1961 by the British lawyer Peter Benenson, who had previously been a founding member of the UK law reform organisation JUSTICE.

2. By his own account, he was inspired to do so when he read a report about two Portuguese students who’d been sentenced to seven years of imprisonment in Portugal for "having drunk a toast to liberty". There’s no concrete proof that happened, however, and nobody has been able to track down the article he was reading. That said, it’s probably true someone had been imprisoned and that Benenson believed it was unjust, even if the finer details got altered through repeated re-tellings.

3. The logo is a lit Candle surrounded by Barbed Wire. This was inspired by a Chinese proverb, “It is better to light a Light than to curse the Darkness”. The logo was designed by Diana Redhouse in 1963 as Amnesty's first Christmas card.

4. The six key areas that Amnesty works in are: The rights of women, children, indigenous peoples and minorities; Ending torture; Abolition of the death penalty; Rights of refugees; Rights of prisoners of conscience and Protection of human dignity.

5. In 1977, it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

6. It is independent of all governments, political interests, religions and financial interests. On its website, Amnesty states, “We neither seek nor accept any funds for human rights research from governments or political parties and we accept support only from businesses that have been carefully vetted.”

7. It is funded by donations and has also organised benefit concerts and comedy shows to raise funds and awareness. These include: A Conspiracy of Hope, a short tour of six concerts which took place in the USA in June 1986; and The Secret Policeman’s Ball which was organised by Monty Python’s John Cleese in 1976. People who have participated include: U2, Sting, Bryan Adams, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Joan Baez, Rowan Atkinson, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Duran Duran, Phil Collins and Kate Bush.

8. Amnesty maintains a list of “Films That Open Eyes”, both fictional and documentaries which highlight human rights and oppression. These include: 12 Years a Slave, Apocalypse Now, Billy Elliot, Brokeback Mountain, Dead Man Walking, Gandhi, The Help, Milk, Osama, The Pianist and Schindler’s List.

9. At time of writing the Secretary-General is Agnès Callamard and the organisation is based in the UK.

10. I’ll end with a quote from Peter Benenson: “Only when the last prisoner of conscience has been freed, when the last torture chamber has been closed, when the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a reality for the world’s people, will our work be done.”

Character birthday

Thundercloud, a 19^th century Native American who was accidentally transported to our time when the Galactic Force the Constellations were experimenting with the creation of wormholes so that people stranded here from the Infinitus dimension could go home. On Constellation Station Thundercloud met McGregor, a Scottish nationalist from the 18th century. They bonded over hatred for their respective enemies. Thundercloud had no interest on remaining with the Constellations as they had also rescued Indrus, a member of a tribe which were Thundercloud’s sworn enemies. Thundercloud and McGregor demanded to be returned to Earth. It had not proved possible to create a wormhole back to their own times, so they were relocated into present day England. As McGregor still had his sword, Thundercloud demanded he be given a weapon to defend himself with. He was offered a choice and selected the lightning ball. On Earth, the two met and joined forces with the Desperadoes. See Over the Rainbow.

Over the Rainbow

'We're not in Trinity anymore,' says Leonard Marx, quoting a line from an old Innovian  movie. The moon is different; the planes flying overhead are different. Nobody has any idea where they are or if it's possible to get home. 

In this strange new world, people from the highly technical Innovia and the less advanced Classica must co-operate in order to survive. In addition, travel through the inter-dimensional wormhole has given some people unusual and unexpected powers.

Innovia mourns the loss of its superhero, Power Blaster, last seen carrying a nuclear bomb to the upper atmosphere away from the inhabited Bird Island. They don't believe he could possibly have survived.  Power Blaster has survived, but is close to death and stranded in the new dimension. He is nursed back to health by a Classican woman, Elena. She has no idea who he is, only that she is falling in love with the handsome stranger.  

Shanna sets out to discover what happened to Nathan Tate, who didn't return from his hiking holiday, not knowing her life is about to be turned inside out and upside down. 

Meanwhile, Desi Troyes, the man responsible for the catastrophe, is at large on the new world, plotting how he can transfer his plans for world domination to the planet he now finds himself on - Earth. 

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