3/5/08 THE HISTORIC DAY THE UN CONVENTION COMES INTO LEGAL FORCE!!! Petet Tatchell 2002 lectures is a perfect reminder on this historic day for all humanity and what volunteering means to 'Disabled People', 'People who are 'Different' and all 'Survivors' of 'abuse and oppression', especially 'institutionalised/system(s)' abuse.... Read below... DIRECT ACTION FOR DEMOCRACY, by PETER TATCHELL Geraldine Aves Memorial Lecture 2002, Royal Society of Arts, London, 16 January 2002. I want to take this opportunity to challenge and expand traditional notions of what volunteering involves and of what it means to be a volunteer. Let me start by posing a question. What do Mahatma Gandhi, Sylvia Pankhurst and Martin Luther King have in common? The answer? They were all volunteers. They volunteered their time and commitment to struggles for social justice and human rights. Their kind of volunteering is, however, a far cry from the public perception of volunteer endeavour. The common view is that volunteering involves worthy, compassionate causes like caring for the sick and elderly, and doing good works in the community such as organising day nurseries, tree-planting schemes and junior football clubs. Volunteering has a cuddly, kindly image. It is not normally associated with the controversies and confrontations that often characterise political campaigns against oppression and injustice. The cosy, Florence Nightingale image is only part of the picture. We should also recognise and appreciate the hugely important role volunteering has played in advancing civil and social rights. Without the voluntary efforts of millions of people in this country, and around the world, the evils of slavery, colonialism and many other barbarisms would still persist today. Volunteer effort has been the motor of every movement for human liberation. None of the social gains that we now take for granted would have been possible without volunteer political activism. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press, for example, were only won thanks to tireless voluntary initiatives and campaigns, frequently pursued at great personal cost. Reliance on volunteers is not confined to past struggles for social justice. Immensely effective contemporary human rights groups like Amnesty International are almost entirely volunteer based. Hundreds of thousands of individuals world-wide give up their leisure time to participate in Amnesty’s letter-writing campaigns. Through their dedicated persistence, many political prisoners have been spared torture and execution, and many others have been released from detention. Read rest of this empowering article by Peter Tatchell in 'Direct-Action' index within his website at:- http://www.petertatchell.net 'Nothing About Us, Without Us' A Historic day in making for all Disabled People and our Organisations and Allies!! FREEOURPEOPLE Colin Revell
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