A lively gathering was held at the Books for Amnesty shop on Saturday 4 June to kick-start a year-long initiative celebrating the 50th birthday of Amnesty International.
First Saturday aims to be a spirited social and literary space for broad ranging discussions on Human Rights interests among the staff, volunteers and customers of Books for Amnesty.
Kicking off the first meeting with a challenge, First Saturday was asked to contribute to a list of 50 Books for 50 Years of Revolution - Human Rights and revolutionary titles.
A first draft list of 20 titles, fiction and non-fiction alike was circulated and provoked much debate, including on how soon we should expect literature on the Arab Spring, whether that was the right wording for this pivotal revolutionary movement effecting radical change in the Middle East, and what we could be reading to provide good context to the issues in the news.
We also talked about the impact of social media on the Human Rights movement, where Amnesty should be going in the next 50 years and whether the methodology of Human Rights Activism was undergoing a sea change.
Hunger drove us from the shop to decamp over the road at the Lyric Roof Garden for more chat and drinks before moving inside to take refuge from the wind on the comfy sofas provided ;)
Do watch this space for details of our next First Saturday - 2nd July, 6pm at the Books for Amnesty shop, 139b King Street, Hammersmith, London W6 9JG.
Those seeking more activism and less talk may like to drop into the Hammersmith & Fulham Amnesty Group meeting on the second Monday of every month from 7.45pm at the book shop.
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