Apart from a bright spark of hope in the victory of the Gaza motion, this year’s conference lacked vision and purpose — we need to urgently reconnect Labour with its roots rather than weakly aping the flag-waving right, argues KIM JOHNSON MP

THE 1991 annual report from Amnesty International should be required reading for all media studies and journalism students.
“The Iraqi government headed by Saddam Hussein had been committing gross and widespread human rights abuses” in the 1980s, including using chemical weapons, the human rights organisation explained.
The report goes on to note that Amnesty International publicised gruesome evidence of the atrocities and appealed directly to the UN security council in 1988 to take urgent action. “However, the world’s governments and media took only token interest, and none of the UN bodies took action.”

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