The Turtle has always admired those who attempt to bring tyrants to justice.

In the early days of our online incarnation, we were gripped by the unfolding saga of General Pinochet's detention in London, and we were glad to have the friendship of Hugh O'Shaughnessy, author of Pinochet: The Politics of Torture, who had called for the General's arrest in a splendidly prophetic Guardian article of 15 October 1998. Now we turn to heap praise on a man who has made both physical and legal interventions in the cases of not one, but two enemies of the people.

On more than one occasion he has attempted to place Robert Mugabe, enemy of the people of Zimbabwe, under a citizen's arrest for torture, armed only with the 1984 international convention against torture and Section 134 of the UK's 1988 Criminal Justice Act. He gave it a go for the first time in London in 1999 (which earned him prosecution on public order charges), and this was followed up with a trip to Brussels in 2001 (which resulted in him being beaten up by Mugabe's bodyguards), and an abortive plan to try again in Australia at a Commonwealth summit (which led to the Australian government refusing him entry to the country of his birth).

Most recently, in April, he has gone to court in London to seek a warrant for the arrest of Henry Kissinger, enemy of the peoples of East Timor, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Cyprus, Greece, Chile -- the list goes on and on, and on -- for various war crimes and misdemeanours. And although the court turned down his request, the judge acknowledged the moral seriousness of the case being made and noted that he felt "presently" unable to draft a "suitably precise charge" based on the evidence "of generalised allegations" that had been submitted. Consultations are now underway with an eye to more precise allegations being tabled next time Mr K attempts to visit these shores to share his "wisdom" with business and political leaders.

He has been an indefeatigable campaigner on behalf of the wretched of the earth -- living and dead, queer and not-quite-so-queer --; he has taken a phenomenal amount of undeserved shit from the British press, and he is the worthy recipient of this month's Salute of the Turtle.

Step forward, Peter Tatchell.

Born in Melbourne in 1952 Peter Tatchell came to England in order to avoid serving in an Australian regiment in Vietnam, and he first made his name as an activist in London in the 1970s with the Gay Liberation Front. A central figure in the radical activism of the queer community in the 1980s and 1990s, Tatchell became a tireless campaigner for the civil and medical rights of people with AIDS, being both a founding member of ACT-UP London -- the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power -- and of the queer rights collective OutRage!, with which he has been identified since 1990. He wrote two definitive manuals for living in (and through) the AIDS era, AIDS: a guide to survival in 1986 and, in 1994, Safer Sexy, a guide to safer sex for gay and bi men that was very sexy indeed and not a little controversial. His confrontational political style came to public attention yet again in the mid-nineties with OutRage!'s outing of ten C of E Bishops for gross hypocrisy and homophobia -- an intervention which earned him (once again) the opprobrium of the Right-wing press in the UK.

But despite putting in more work on AIDS and queer issues in Britain every year than most people could fit into an entire lifetime, Tatch has always been an internationalist and a class warrior as well, linking queer liberation to broader political goals. He's been interrogated by the Stasi, he has forced the ANC to make a public commitment to equal rights for gays and lesbians, he made the EU tackle homophobia in the workplace, and he been involved in broader political and human rights campaigns.

He stood as Labour candidate in the Bermondsey by-election in 1983, and after suffering horrendous personal and political abuse for his sexuality and his left-wing views, was defeated by Simon Hughes -- a different kind of specimin of the wretched of the earth -- and a homophobic campaign run by the Liberals. His book on the experience, The Battle for Bermondsey, has become a classic of contemporary political history, and is one of the very few books by politicians written in that sorry decade which is still worth reading through today. Class has always been a central axis in his political philosophy and -- unlike many campaigners -- he famously walks the talk, having lived for decades on the breadline in his small flat on a Bermondsey estate. Despite suffering constant threats and attacks, he continues to inspire generations of radical campaigners with his committment, generosity and extraordinary honesty. And he's a very nice man.

And so, for everything, the Turtle Salutes Peter Tatchell!