Portraits of the Resistance Vol.1 | Louise May Creffield
Activist and Political Campaigner - Louise May Creffield
Louise May Creffield, activist, political campaigner and founder of the UK based human rights organisation, Save Our Rights. Louise is one of, if not the most tireless campaigner for freedom that I have met. Louise’s passion for human rights extends far beyond the timeline of Covid, having worked on policy and campaigns for members of parliament for over 2 years. Perhaps the perfect training ground for the work she would go on to undertake during this time, and the legacy she has undoubtedly created in the months and years since March 2020.
I meet Louise at her home on Englands South Coast on a gorgeous late Summers day in September. Having just emerged (sort of) from the third national lockdown in England and still in the midst of vaccine fever, the rush to put a needle of who knows what into who cares who. Ever descending age groups have now been offered the jabs and the ominous ‘rule of six’ remains in place indoors, including private homes.
Louise and I have previously crossed paths, though I wouldn’t say we’d met properly. I’m invited inside immediately with Louise’s signature smile and a hug hello. Previously, it would have been hard to imagine not greeting someone in this way as a normal courtesy, a cultural norm, yet now, in a world scared of death by unsanitised grocery items, it becomes a luxury, to some still, a deadly risk.
The kettle is already on, despite me not noticing Louise having gone anywhere to do it and coffee arrives amidst Louises kids racing around to get ready for some activity or other. Sat in Louise’s front room I’m mindful that this is where so many discussions, not unlike ours, will have been had, leading to the first Save Our Rights U.K. lockdown protest in April 2020.
Louise couldn’t be more open about her work, ideas or thoughts on the current Covid situation as we talk through the history of Save Our Rights and the desire she had early on to expose government overreach and subversion of parliamentary process, to fight back against the removal of some of our basic and most fundamental rights. Lockdown was the key driver for Louises early work in resisting the Covid tyranny. It was clear that all normal parliamentary processes had been ignored under the ‘emergency’ banner to autocratically introduce the first of several lockdowns, both regional and national, which the citizens of the United Kingdom were forced to endure throughout 2020, enabled largely by the introduction of the Coronavirus Act 2020, which enshrined many of these handy bureaucratic sidesteps into legislation.
Despite facing ongoing and coordinated harassment from several UK police forces, attacks online and in legacy media, there’s no lack of enthusiasm, conviction, or (perhaps most surprisingly) optimism in Louise’s voice as we chat through what the future looks like, what kind of world our children will grow up in, how we educate them, how we protect them. It’s clear being a mother and a parent, is another force of momentum in everything Louise has done and is doing with the work of Save Our Rights.
It’s only when I turn on the camera that Louise becomes mildly self conscious and slightly giggly. Its a charming end to our conversation, laughing through a few photographs. It’s clear she’s much more comfortable on a stage talking to a crowd of 000’s than having her portrait taken in her own home, yet I didn’t need more than a few shots to get this image which, for me, captured the playful, optimistic and commited person I was fortunate enough to spend some time with. I leave feeling like an old friend, though I can’t claim exclusivity.
I’m convinced Louise has that effect on all she encounters.
For more about Louise and Save Our Rights UK, head to http://saveourrights.uk/
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Louise sounds like a lovely lady, someone who would be a great companion in the pub! I admire people with that much drive and enthusiasm for our freedom.