Hello and welcome to The Amnesty, a student-run press response to global events and infringements on human rights.
From unexpected political outcomes to a surge in polarised and divisive politics, this year has been a year like no other. It seems that the world is set to become more divided and divisive, election outcomes more unexpected, and Twitter politics to become the norm. How do we make sense of the factors driving this change? Well, that’s what The Amnesty attempts to do. As a student publication, we recognise the importance of reasoned thought and debate, conversation and – most importantly – willingness to change one’s mind. We are opinionated, interested, and passionate about writing quality pieces that communicate clearly.
We do not practise censorship: it is against everything we stand for! We want the content we publish to be challenging and investigative. This is demonstrated by the work of our wonderful team of permanent writers, occasional contributors and editorial team. The Amnesty is the journalistic division of UCL’s Amnesty International society – but our team is scattered beyond London, with writers based everywhere from Germany to Syria to the US and with a plethora of different backgrounds.
This gives us the ability and drive to focus not only on violations of human rights from all over the world, but also on the subtle injustices that occur in every social sphere and affect us all, regardless of address or background – injustices that must be scrutinised and challenged.
The Amnesty seeks to explore the forces driving controversial views and extreme opinions, their repercussions, and why those that are damaging and set us against each other are becoming more tolerated – even expected. We believe that an inability (or unwillingness?) to examine and reflect on these forces has contributed to the volatility and polarisation of world politics we face today.
The Amnesty 