51 min
Episode 9: Dissenters and Dissent in Politics: From the Quakers to Amnesty International International History Now
-
- History
In this episode we want to find out what the early creators of the term ”prisoners of conscience” had meant by it, and what motivated them to institutionalise this status legally. In 2021, Amnesty International celebrated its 60th anniversary. Since then, the organisation has played a key role in mobilising international support for political dissenters and dissidents. This protection often revolves around the act of assigning the status of a “prisoner of conscience” to a protected individual.
We also want to go all the way back to the early modern history of political Dissent, associated with such figures as the Quaker William Penn, who had been imprisoned several times in the Tower of London for his religious views but later in life founded a colony in America which was to become one of the United States - Pennsylvania. The term “Dissenter” describes the experience of religious oppression under different ‘old regimes’ in Europe. In more recent times, ‘dissent’ has been associated with the activism of political dissidents under different oppressive regimes, from the Soviet Union or modern Russia to Myanmar and China.
What is the relationship between the faith of dissenters and their political dissidence? At which point does the collision of dissenters with the cultural and legal system of their societies render them from powerless victims to powerful speakers and politicians?
With us to discuss the long history of Dissent in politics are
Tom Buchanan, Professor in British and European History at the Dept for Continuing Education at the University of Oxford and the author of Amnesty International and Human Rights Activism in Postwar Britain, 1945–1977 which came out in 2020 with Cambridge UP.
Andrew Murphy, Professor for Political Science at VIrginia Commonwealth University and just published, in 2021, the political writings of William Penn for the Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. He is also the author of a biography of William Penn. A Life. (Oxford UP, 2018).
The episode also features exclusive recordings by Cy Grant, with the kind permission from his family and the London Metropolitan Archives
Tracks featured:
Psalm 137, By the Rivers of Babylon
Untitled Calypso (recorded ca. 1976)
Fayo (a Haitian lullaby)
In this episode we want to find out what the early creators of the term ”prisoners of conscience” had meant by it, and what motivated them to institutionalise this status legally. In 2021, Amnesty International celebrated its 60th anniversary. Since then, the organisation has played a key role in mobilising international support for political dissenters and dissidents. This protection often revolves around the act of assigning the status of a “prisoner of conscience” to a protected individual.
We also want to go all the way back to the early modern history of political Dissent, associated with such figures as the Quaker William Penn, who had been imprisoned several times in the Tower of London for his religious views but later in life founded a colony in America which was to become one of the United States - Pennsylvania. The term “Dissenter” describes the experience of religious oppression under different ‘old regimes’ in Europe. In more recent times, ‘dissent’ has been associated with the activism of political dissidents under different oppressive regimes, from the Soviet Union or modern Russia to Myanmar and China.
What is the relationship between the faith of dissenters and their political dissidence? At which point does the collision of dissenters with the cultural and legal system of their societies render them from powerless victims to powerful speakers and politicians?
With us to discuss the long history of Dissent in politics are
Tom Buchanan, Professor in British and European History at the Dept for Continuing Education at the University of Oxford and the author of Amnesty International and Human Rights Activism in Postwar Britain, 1945–1977 which came out in 2020 with Cambridge UP.
Andrew Murphy, Professor for Political Science at VIrginia Commonwealth University and just published, in 2021, the political writings of William Penn for the Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. He is also the author of a biography of William Penn. A Life. (Oxford UP, 2018).
The episode also features exclusive recordings by Cy Grant, with the kind permission from his family and the London Metropolitan Archives
Tracks featured:
Psalm 137, By the Rivers of Babylon
Untitled Calypso (recorded ca. 1976)
Fayo (a Haitian lullaby)
51 min