Protest by Siegfried Sassoon. England, 20th Century.
Siegfried Sassoon was an English officer during the Great War. In April 1917, he was wounded and evacuated back to England. While he recovered, his disquiet with the conduct of the war became more pronounced, and in July, he issued this public statement. He was publicly reviled, threatened with a court martial, and put into a psychiatric institution, the authorities having decided it was expedient to ascribe his protest to shell-shock. Realising that his rebellion had not achieved his aim, and not wishing to abandon his men, Sassoon returned to the front. The protest is a powerful document, the more so because of its restraint.
10th July 1985, Auckland Harbour by Steve Sawyer. USA, 20th Century.
Steve Sawyer, director of the Greenpeace South Pacific anti-nuclear project, was celebrating his birthday in an Auckland hotel when two explosions sank their ship, the Rainbow Warrior, killing photographer Fernando Pereira. A couple of sentences in this gave me the chills.
Excerpt from the Declaration of Arbroath. Scotland, 14th Century.
Following protracted wars for independence, Scotland had won its freedom, but was still subject to incursions from England. A group of leading nobles gathered at Arbroath Abbey in 1320 to write the letter to the Pope from which this is an extract, in support of their chosen king, Robert the Bruce, and in defiance of the invading power. Stirring stuff that sums up the pride of the Scottish people.
Consider The Evidence. USA, 20th Century.
The award-winning movie Boys Don't Cry was a thought-provoking piece of cinema, dealing with events leading up to the murder of a young female-to-male transexual. Unfortunately, it was based on a true story. This piece is an excerpt from the transcript of the trial of one of the murderers, and as such reconstructs the mindset of the criminals involved. It's hard to know whether to be more horrified at their evil or their stupidity. Included because it's interesting to see justice at work.