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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/16/amnesty-international-poppy-political-network-rail-advert
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| An Amnesty billboard or a poppy – which was ‘too political’ for rail bosses? An Amnesty billboard or a poppy – which was ‘too political’ for rail bosses? | |
| (2 days later) | |
| Take a stroll down the traffic-clogged streets of any British city and your already overloaded senses are going to be bombarded by dozens of not-so-subtle entreaties for you to buy something. | Take a stroll down the traffic-clogged streets of any British city and your already overloaded senses are going to be bombarded by dozens of not-so-subtle entreaties for you to buy something. |
| This delicious beer comes with a wonderful dash of Italian style. Drink it and you too can have la dolce vita. Or what about the latest fragrance, which will probably make you slim, glamorous and quite possibly someone whom everyone desires? Who wouldn’t want a splash of that on their bodies of a morning? | This delicious beer comes with a wonderful dash of Italian style. Drink it and you too can have la dolce vita. Or what about the latest fragrance, which will probably make you slim, glamorous and quite possibly someone whom everyone desires? Who wouldn’t want a splash of that on their bodies of a morning? |
| On and on: new books, download-ready albums, lovely clothes worn by models with just a whisper of the hipster as they meet your gaze – lingeringly, defiantly. Come on! Give in. Start buying. After all, everyone’s a consumer now, aren’t they? | On and on: new books, download-ready albums, lovely clothes worn by models with just a whisper of the hipster as they meet your gaze – lingeringly, defiantly. Come on! Give in. Start buying. After all, everyone’s a consumer now, aren’t they? |
| Maybe so. But of course, we’re a lot more than that as well: citizens, family members, trade unionists, members of political parties, local historical society enthusiasts. That’s a lot of viewpoints, a lot opinions. | Maybe so. But of course, we’re a lot more than that as well: citizens, family members, trade unionists, members of political parties, local historical society enthusiasts. That’s a lot of viewpoints, a lot opinions. |
| Which brings me to the matter of our Human Rights Act campaign adverts. Yes, adverts – or public information posters – which we put up around the UK on Tuesday to tell people about that much maligned piece of legislation, the Human Rights Act. | Which brings me to the matter of our Human Rights Act campaign adverts. Yes, adverts – or public information posters – which we put up around the UK on Tuesday to tell people about that much maligned piece of legislation, the Human Rights Act. |
| If you’re travelling on the London Underground or waiting at a bus stop or just walking the dog, you may see one of these. They spell out a very simple, unperfumed, alcohol-free message about everyone’s basic human rights in the UK: that the Human Rights Act has helped the Hillsborough families, Peace in Northern Ireland, Gary McKinnon, Celia Peachey, Frank and Janet Robinson, Jan Sutton and many more ordinary people. | If you’re travelling on the London Underground or waiting at a bus stop or just walking the dog, you may see one of these. They spell out a very simple, unperfumed, alcohol-free message about everyone’s basic human rights in the UK: that the Human Rights Act has helped the Hillsborough families, Peace in Northern Ireland, Gary McKinnon, Celia Peachey, Frank and Janet Robinson, Jan Sutton and many more ordinary people. |
| It works. Our message was simple: save the act. Trade Gothic script in Amnesty’s usual livery, yellow on black. Whack the candle logo in the corner. Take or leave it. | It works. Our message was simple: save the act. Trade Gothic script in Amnesty’s usual livery, yellow on black. Whack the candle logo in the corner. Take or leave it. |
| We were trying to mount a little counter-offensive in the recent war of messaging around this legislation. After pundits and politicians have tried to rubbish the act, we’re pointing out that it’s a vital underpinning of basic rights – something that could help you or me or any of our families if we or they suffered an injustice at the hands of a hospital, a care home, a police force or indeed a government department. | We were trying to mount a little counter-offensive in the recent war of messaging around this legislation. After pundits and politicians have tried to rubbish the act, we’re pointing out that it’s a vital underpinning of basic rights – something that could help you or me or any of our families if we or they suffered an injustice at the hands of a hospital, a care home, a police force or indeed a government department. |
| OK, so maybe this isn’t quite as glamorous as that sparkly winter coat or dazzling 4x4 (with diamond-stitched leather seating as standard), but isn’t our message-drenched high street able to accommodate a few alternative ideas as well? | OK, so maybe this isn’t quite as glamorous as that sparkly winter coat or dazzling 4x4 (with diamond-stitched leather seating as standard), but isn’t our message-drenched high street able to accommodate a few alternative ideas as well? |
| Not according to Network Rail. Earlier this week it told us it wouldn’t allow our Human Rights Act billboards to be displayed in train stations in Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham or London Waterloo and Victoria. They apparently didn’t fit with Network Rail’s “rules on political advertising”. This despite the fact that they were booked and ready to go, and the ad agency JCDecaux was running them elsewhere in the country. | Not according to Network Rail. Earlier this week it told us it wouldn’t allow our Human Rights Act billboards to be displayed in train stations in Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham or London Waterloo and Victoria. They apparently didn’t fit with Network Rail’s “rules on political advertising”. This despite the fact that they were booked and ready to go, and the ad agency JCDecaux was running them elsewhere in the country. |
| It’s a shame that the custodians of our railway network should jam the brakes on in this way, and it throws an interesting spotlight on what is and isn’t “political” in our country. As we’ve seen recently, poppies can be held up as examples of “apolitical remembrance” while even a government decision to fly flags at half-mast after King Abdullah’s death in Saudi Arabia can be largely depoliticised, reconstrued as a pragmatic matter to do with showing respect for an ally country engaged in defeating terrorism. | It’s a shame that the custodians of our railway network should jam the brakes on in this way, and it throws an interesting spotlight on what is and isn’t “political” in our country. As we’ve seen recently, poppies can be held up as examples of “apolitical remembrance” while even a government decision to fly flags at half-mast after King Abdullah’s death in Saudi Arabia can be largely depoliticised, reconstrued as a pragmatic matter to do with showing respect for an ally country engaged in defeating terrorism. |
| Despite Network Rail’s late-in-the-day cancellation, our modest campaign is still on track. We’re assailing a few eyeballs with our message and you the citizen – the consumer – can read it, digest it, take action, contest it or simply glaze over. But one of the things the Human Rights Act does is remind us that things like free speech matter. | Despite Network Rail’s late-in-the-day cancellation, our modest campaign is still on track. We’re assailing a few eyeballs with our message and you the citizen – the consumer – can read it, digest it, take action, contest it or simply glaze over. But one of the things the Human Rights Act does is remind us that things like free speech matter. |
| Some of our billboards this week has been travelling around on those flat-bed trucks, ad vans with a difference. Perhaps they make a welcome change from aggressive Home Office messages about deporting migrants [or vans seeking to entice you to a “gentleman’s club”. | Some of our billboards this week has been travelling around on those flat-bed trucks, ad vans with a difference. Perhaps they make a welcome change from aggressive Home Office messages about deporting migrants [or vans seeking to entice you to a “gentleman’s club”. |
| So here, as the advertisers say, is the proposition: the Human Rights Act protects and enshrines our basic rights. We need it, and the politicians should stop threatening to scrap it. There. Are you buying? | So here, as the advertisers say, is the proposition: the Human Rights Act protects and enshrines our basic rights. We need it, and the politicians should stop threatening to scrap it. There. Are you buying? |