They cover the original address, and fold over to the back. I bought 200 of them for about £2 when I was a student in the early 1970s. I wrote and received lots of letters then, and I liked the idea of recycling, and also of supporting Amnesty, which is a brilliant charity. Only a few labels remain.
Amnesty has been around since the 1960s defending human rights, speaking out for those imprisoned without a fair trial. I fully support their aims. As the OT prophet Micah says, we are called to
"Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly"
Right now, Amnesty are working especially hard to bring two parents home for Christmas - Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, and Anoosheh Ashoori, British Iranians, currently imprisoned in Iran.
Our government has let these people down terribly. It is four years since Boris Johnson promised Gabriella, Nazanin's daughter, that he would "leave no stone unturned" in efforts to bring that little girl's Mum back to her.
I was cheering at Victoria Coren-Mitchell on HIGNFY on Friday night, as she spoke out about this hypocrisy. She too has a young daughter, and I'm sure she feels as strongly about this as I do. Her husband, David Mitchell had an excellent piece in the Guardian, pointing out that Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, met Richard, Nazinin's husband last week... She
expressed her sympathies but didn’t resolve to do much else. A few hours later,
she tweeted merrily, amid a flurry of emoticons, on the subject of
international travel opening up, that “family and friends can reunite”, which,
as well as being staggeringly insensitive, doesn’t suggest that the Ratcliffes’
horrendous situation had particularly touched her.
The prophet Isaiah tells us to "learn to do right, seek justice, and defend the oppressed" The Queen has declared her irritation with people who "talk but don't do"
I am praying for Nazanin, Anoosheh and their families - and supporting Amnesty in their efforts to bring them home. Praying too that Prime Minister and the rest of the Government will learn the virtues of Justice, Mercy and Humility.
[HIGNFY = Have I Got News For You. BBC programme shown on Friday Nights]
My heart breaks for the families. We have let them down badly, promises etc....
ReplyDelete"Praying too that Prime Minister and the rest of the Government will learn the virtues of Justice, Mercy and Humility." There is no sign that this will ever happen, quite the opposite with the PM taking measures to ensure he gets away with everything that he can. Sadly the politicians who don't always back the PM are not the ones with the power.
ReplyDeleteAllowing the two Iranian prisoners to rot in jail will be one of the many things that historians will not look back on kindly when writing about the current incumbent of number 10.
We, too, have supported Amnesty for ages and I hope and pray these parents are home before Christmas. May it be so.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
So heartbreaking, you could see the grief in his face, how could Liz Truss disregard that? Utterly heartless and cruel. Well done Victoria
ReplyDeleteIt is so frustrating when those who might have some real influence drag their heels and even do nothing. We had two Canadian men in a Chinese jail for over 1000 days, incarcerated out of sheer spite, and no politician made any real effort to get them released, then it happened instantly when Meng Wanzhou was flown back to China.
ReplyDelete