Living on the edge

It is organised by the Churches Committee of the World Development movement as a way of promoting a positive vision of international justice, peace, environment and development.

The theme of One World Week 1996 is "Living on the Edge", and this five-day series of articles looks at some of the problems of people who, in different ways, both here and in other parts of the world, live on the edge of society, of disaster, of life itself.

The organisers of One World Week in Bolton are grateful to the Bolton Evening News for giving the opportunity to bring these issues to readers' attention. THIS final selection of articles on the One World Week theme of "Living on the Edge" looks at further examples of some of the issues which have been raised during the week.

Torture takes place in some parts of the world against those living on the edge of a political system - and Bolton members of an organisation campaign against it.

There are Bolton groups which try to influence governments and ordinary members of the public to oppose war and the use and export of armaments.

A sufferer from depression in Bolton feels she is living on the edge of a chasm, but there is in Bolton a group to which she can turn for a sympathetic ear.

Boltonians are conscious of those throughout the world who are "living on the edge" and see it as their duty and privilege to take action to change this. Protest means torture MOST of us remember the massacre of peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, and the picture of the lone protester confronting a column of tanks.

But China has not improved its human rights record since then and the use of torture and "re-education through labour" are still widespread.

One case is that of Tang Yuanjuan, a car worker sentenced to 20 years in prison for organising two peaceful demonstrations in 1989.

Tang Yuanjuan was savagely beaten for refusing to admit to being a criminal. He was stripped naked and repeatedly given electric shocks to head, neck, armpits, stomach and the insides of his legs. When the shock baton ran out of power, a guard kicked him until two of his ribs broke. Amnesty International is asking the Chinese government to meet the minimum standards for fair trials, outlaw torture, and allow freedom of belief and expression.

For many people in the world the risk of being tortured is a reality. We don't hear a lot about torture today but, as that Chinese example shows, it does take place.

Figures from Amnesty International reveal that today over 40 countries practise torture to a severe level. But despite this gloomy picture, there is plenty that we can do to try to stop torture.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize winning organisation one of whose aims is to stop all forms of degrading and inhuman treatment of prisoners. Amnesty now have over one million committed members worldwide working to help protect human rights.

John Allbutt, Bolton and Bury Group, Amnesty International. Huge cloud has descended I DON'T know from where it comes or why. Life can be going along quite happily, and then a day comes when I suddenly begin to feel tired.

Everything is too much effort, nothing is worthwhile. Everywhere I look, difficulties appear. The smallest of tasks seem impossible. It is as though a huge cloud has descended.

My whole body feels heavy. I have a physical sinking feeling, as though an enormous weight is pressing down upon me. And I am falling - falling down into a huge black hole.

There is no way out. I am utterly alone in my despair and I pray to God to take this from me, and show me a way that I can die. I am convinced that the world would be a better place without me in it. All is guilt and self-hatred, and I am pre-occupied by thoughts of self-destruction and death. I try to pretend for a while, but soon it's too hard - and I hide in the house, or under the blankets in my bed. I cannot answer the telephone. It's too difficult to speak.

If you know someone who suffers from depression, all I can say is, try to keep regular contact, perhaps send the occasional card. Try to listen when they are able to speak.

Sometimes a hug helps: it makes me feel as though I'm more real and a little less alone. If I could "pull myself together", I would.

Try to understand, and try to see that, inside this "zombie" who can hardly find the energy to wash or change my clothes, I am still the same - I need you to be there, and to care.

Mary, an ex-patient at Bolton General Hospital Samaritans there to help I WAKE with a start. Why is the alarm going? I don't have to work today. Then I remember. I'm on duty first shift this morning. Just time for coffee before rushing to relieve the overnight shift.

My co-volunteer chats. The phone rings. "Hello. Samaritans. Can I help you?"

The voice is quiet, hesitant. As their story unfolds, the caller sobs and is sometimes silent. I listen, increasingly concerned. They see no future. They feel so bad they just want everything to end.

What can I do? Of course, I can do nothing - I am there to listen, to be with them while they go through their personal crisis.

People contact us and tell us things they can't reveal to anybody else. It is enough to hear somebody day "Thanks for listening."

Pam, Samaritans of Bolton. Quakers fight for peace FOR the last year, an office high above Knowsley Street in Bolton town centre, on the top floor of the Victoria Hall, has housed a Quaker organisation which seeks to encourage "the active promotion of peace in all its height and breadth".

The Northern Friends Peace Board was founded with the aim in 1913, and has membership and funding from Quakers throughout the North. Quakers have a long-standing commitment to promoting peace.

One of the NFPB's leaflets stated that "we always have the choice to work for war or work for peace; to add to the distrust and hostility in the world or try patiently to undo and lessen it. The responsibility lies with each one of us".

Philip Austin, Northern Friends Peace Board Killing the poor "THEY'RE killing the poor with your money" is the slogan of a recent hard-hitting leaflet produced by the World Development Movement.

It represents a contribution by WDM to the great debate about the arms trade, which is to show how you and I, ordinary members of the British public, are involved in the arms trade whether we know it or not.

Our government gives more support to arms sales than to any other export from Britain, using its Defence Export Sales Organisation to push the sales of weapons all over the world.

Eight out of 10 British arms sales are to developing countries, including ones which are abusing human rights (such as Nigeria), are already in conflict with others, or have excessive military spending.

Not only may these weapons be used against the poor, but this expenditure on arms may swallow up money which could be used to improve the lives of the poor in those countries.

WDM has exposed how taxpayers' and bank-customers' money is being used to back these arms sales.

Sam Cummings, an international arms dealer, says: "You elect the government and you support it with your taxes, a large percentage of which goes for weapons. Is there any basic difference between me and each of you?"

In the run-up to the general election, Bolton members of WDM are joining in a nationwide campaign demanding: An end to secrecy, so that MPs and the public are fully informed about the countries to which we sell arms;

Tougher controls on arms exports, at a national, European and international level;

A shift in Britain's manufacturing base away from the arms trade to the production of more useful goods.

Do you support these aims?

Chris Cresswell, Bolton Group of the World Development Movement Bertie remembers EVERY Remembrance Sunday, Bertie Lewis, an American citizen who was a crew member of Bomber Command during the war, with the support of CND, joins in the commemoration of those who gave their lives and lays a wreath of white flowers on the cenotaph in memory of all the dead.

It always arouses controversy and even hostility. What is his aim and that of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament?

Bolton CND has as its aim to campaign for nuclear disarmament and to keep all nuclear issues in the public eye.

Events during the past year have included obtaining signatures for a petition against the resumption of French nuclear testing, publicising the plight of the children of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and commemorating the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Malcolm Pittock, Bolton Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament CONTACTS FOR more information about the work of the organisations referred to in these articles, contact:

Chris Cresswell of One World Week and World Development Movement on 01204 301324.

John Allbutt of Amnesty International on 012-4 528851, Extension 3678.

Samaritans on 01204 521200.

Malcolm Pittock of Bolton Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament on 01204 522839.

Philip Austin of Northern Friends Peace Board on 01204 382330. WHAT DO YOU THINK? DO you have strong feelings about the issues raised in these articles?

Can we prevent people from becoming depressed?

Should the British government take action against foreign governments which torture people?

Write to the Editor and tell him what you think.

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