PHOTO: Alan Wilkinson (at the back, third from the right) with some of our PTF trustees, plus Peter and Pliny (staff) and two of our patrons, Ian McKellen and Michael Cashman, at our Equality Ball 2015.
London UK – 15 September 2016
Alan was a personal friend and human rights comrade.
Born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, he was a passionate defender of human rights in his homeland, against the white minority regime of Ian Smith and later against the corruption and tyranny of the Mugabe regime.
We fondly recall Alan joining Peter Tatchell and Zimbabwean activists to occupy the English Cricket Board HQ in protest at the planned England cricket tour to Zimbabwe in 2003, and being arrested by police in Paris in 2003 during Mugabe’s visit to France, for merely holding a placard protesting the dictator’s mass murder and torture.
After he moved to Britain, Alan worked as an architect in London and was a Director of the Zimbabwe Association.
Please consider a donation to the Zimbabwe Association in Alan’s memory.
Alan helped found the Zimbabwe Vigil in 2002.
This vigil has continued non-stop outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in The Strand, London, every Saturday from 2-5pm for an astonishing 14 years! It will continue until Zimbabwe is free.
Please visit the vigil to show your support for the heroic Zimbabweans who risk their lives and freedom for democracy, human rights and social justice. It is what Alan would want and appreciate.
As an out gay man most of his life, Alan was a champion of LGBT rights in the UK and internationally, especially back home in Zimbabwe where sexual minorities face harassment and persecution. He also stood with LGBT Muslims against their frequent victimisation by fellow Muslims and urged LGBT-Muslim dialogue and solidarity against all hate.
From 2002, Alan was a trustee of the Peter Tatchell Human Rights Fund and the Peter Tatchell Foundation – the latter being a small human rights organisation that does a mix of UK and international human rights work, including both LGBT and other human rights advocacy. He was a loyal and long-serving trustee, whose contribution was much valued and appreciated.
Alan was fit and apparently healthy but died suddenly of a heart attack in late August – a great shock to his family and many friends. His funeral is Thursday 15 September.
He will be missed but his spirit lives on in the organisations and causes with which he was associated.
Long live the memory and spirit of Alan Wilkinson!
Yours in remembrance, from the staff and trustees of the Peter Tatchell Foundation