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MAGNA CARTA PROGRESS 2
Our Beautiful Protest Tour

Winter 2022/23

During the darkest weeks of the year, a new generation of David Maxwell Fyfe’s family set off to perform Sue Casson’s dramatic song cycle, Dreams of Peace & Freedom, to shine the light of the past on our fractured present and spark discussion about why it is still relevant today. 

 

It tells the story of the creation of the ECHR through the eyes of Maxwell Fyfe, a leading prosecutor at IMT Nuremberg who went on to draft the Convention.

 

The protest was against the Conservative party in government undermining the freedoms of all people threatening to withdraw from the Convention in the wake of the ‘small boat’ crisis. 

Human Rights Day - Lily Casson & Robert Blackmore pictured with David Maxwell Fyfe and Ele

OXFORD

10th December 

On International Human Rights Day, we announced our beautiful protest, where David Maxwell Fyfe studied Classics at Balliol College, Oxford. His work for human rights is remembered here at the Bonavero Institute in the grounds of Mansfield College. 

How to deepen the understanding of
the ECHR is an important project 

Kate O'Regan, Director of the Bonavero Institute and supporter

DORNOCH

13th January 

We began our protest at the source of David Maxwell Fyfe's mythical stream of natural law, that carried him to exact natural justice at Nuremberg and champion the ECHR at Strasbourg.

 

Here amidst the wild beauty of the Scottish Highlands, he spent happy holidays with his mother's parents hearing tales of family injustice during the late Highland Clearances that shaped his life-long commitment to human rights. 

What you are doing is wonderful

Philippe Sands, author of 'East West Street' and supporter

EDINBURGH

17th January 

We returned to Edinburgh where Maxwell Fyfe was born and educated. It was here that he first discerned the reason of the Scottish Enlightenment that is the foundation of modern human rights. 

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Our protest took place outside the Scottish Parliament and we were welcomed back by St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral. 

Your work and commitment are so inspiring

Jamie Stewart on Twitter

LIVERPOOL

26th January 

We returned to Liverpool in Holocaust Memorial Week to stand with Holocaust survivor, Joan Salter, who called out the Home Secretary for using the 'language of hate and division' in a manner resembling the Nazis in the 1930s.

 

David Maxwell Fyfe honed his skills as a barrister in the city on the Northern Circuit before he becoming an MP for its West Derby Constituency. 

Frank Cottrell Boyce, screenwriter, author and supporter

Go and see these guys. They mean it!!!!

LONDON

8th February

Our protest in London coincided with President Zelenskyy's historic visit to Parliament.

 

David Maxwell Fyfe's parliamentary career spanned nearly 3 decades and he continued his legal practice at Temple Gardens where he drafted ECHR. 

The ECHR was drafted by David Maxwell Fyfe, the UK's chief prosecutor at Nuremberg. Join his family in keeping that legacy alive

Rene Cassin, the Jewish voice for Human Rights, on Twitter

Watch the video of our tour below...

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