Regular readers will know that we have covered the suppression and restoration of the London Catholic Worker’s Instagram account. Our last report (PN 2668) ended with these words: ‘There hasn’t been a third LCW Insta post yet....’
On 10 October, LCW made its historic third Instagram post... a photo of our news item saying that they hadn’t put up a third post yet.
On 17 November, Global Justice Now handed in a 120,000-strong petition to Number 10 Downing Street, demanding the UK leave the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).
The treaty allows foreign fossil fuel companies to sue governments for taking climate action – using corporate courts outside their national legal systems. Firms can get massive payoffs or pressure governments to back down.
A Jersey-based oil-refining company is suing the EU, Germany and Denmark under the ECT for at least €95m over the imposition of a windfall tax, according to Global Justice Now.
The UK set a November deadline for the ECT to be ‘modernised’ – which has not happened. Therefore, Britain should leave the treaty, as the EU is apparently considering doing. More info: www.globaljustice.org.uk
On 9 November, a proposal for an advisory ministry of peace was presented to Colombia’s congress by the regional chapter of the Global Alliance for Ministries & Infrastructures for Peace.
The plan includes a ‘national peace development plan’ as part of the existing national development plan. The ministry would advise the president and help put into practice the recommendations of the Truth Commission established as a result of the 2016 Peace Accord between the government and FARC rebels.
In October, the Moroccan government unveiled plans for over £40bn of investments in green energy projects, most of it destined for Western Sahara, territory Morocco has illegally occupied since 1975.
‘Possibly as much as 81% of all the land that the Moroccan government has earmarked for renewable energy and green hydrogen or ammonia projects, is located in occupied Western Sahara,’ according to Western Sahara Resource Watch.
Spanish, German and US companies are involved in some of the projects. Many of the Moroccan companies involved are owned by the king of Morocco or by the prime minister, Aziz Akhannouch.
The government plans to export the energy produced into Morocco itself and to neighbouring countries, including the EU. More info:
www.wsrw.org
Green and Black Cross and Activist Court Aid Brigade have produced a very useful guide to restrictions on protest in the Public Order Act 2023.
They say they will update the guide as more sections actually come into force (when they have been ‘commenced’ in parliament):
www.tinyurl.com/peacenews4141
The government’s climate strategy for aviation will not work, but it is possible for the UK to stay on track for carbon reductions. That’s the conclusion of experts at Chatham House, the highly respected thinktank, who were commissioned to study the topic by the very wonderful climate action group Possible.
According to the report, if no one took more than one return flight a year, that would bring the aviation sector onto a trajectory that’s safe for the climate. That would mean reducing flying by 60 percent in 2030, compared to 2019 levels: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews4142
There was a major victory for rail unions, disabled people and other train passengers on 31 October when the government suddenly ordered train operators to scrap their plan to close railway ticket offices in England.
‘There is quiet fury in the rail industry about where we’ve got to. The plan was signed off by civil servants and ministers. They’ve U-turned,’ a train operator source told the PA Media news agency.
Katie Pennick, campaigns manager at disabled-led group Transport for All, told the Independent: ‘It took multiple legal challenges, public uproar, cross-party opposition, and ultimately a watchdog decision for the department for transport to finally withdraw its support for the closures.’
On 8 November, Choi Jungmin (pronounced ‘chwéh chong-min’) and seven others from South Korean peace group World Without War (see PN 2667) were found ‘not guilty’ of disrupting an arms fair.
On 22 September 2022, Jungmin and her colleagues, Ji Hyeseong, Joo Youngho, Kim Eunmi, Kim Han Minyeong, Lee Yongsuk, Park Jaeyoon and Yeo Jeewoo entered DX KOREA 2022, just outside Seoul, South Korea. They climbed on top of armoured vehicles, played a violin and a guitar, chanted slogans and held a banner.
The judge at the Goyang branch of Uijeongbu district court said the DX Eight had bought tickets to get in lawfully; the arms fair was already quite a noisy event; and the DX Eight had not used amplifiers or made threatening remarks or used physical force against anyone.
The DX Eight therefore won their appeal and did not have to pay the 17mn won ($15,000) fine.
The Peace Museum in Bradford is going through exciting changes. A £245,651 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, a £48,883 Art Fund ‘Reimagine’ grant and, most recently, a Bradford 2025 City of Culture large-scale capital grant are helping the museum to create a brand-new public exhibition space at Salts Mill in Saltaire – wheelchair accessible, unlike their old venue.
In June, the museum was given a Level One ‘Race in Heritage’ Award for working to improve the representation and progression of global majority staff and volunteers. The museum aims to reopen in summer 2024: www.peacemuseum.org.uk
The Coventry Peace Festival took place in the first half of November, with events such as the recording of a ‘Rap for Peace’, involving disadvantaged young people from the local community; a ‘Peace for All Festival’ for young people and children; and Coventry’s International Young People’s Peace Essay Prize presentation.
Walks included the Coventry Multifaith Annual Peace Walk, ‘Step into Peace’ around the city centre, and Coventry Peace Trail Guided Tours.
There were lots of creative and cultural events, including a women-only ‘Peace and Reconciliation Wall Hanging’ using photographs, letters and memorabilia from the Second World War. More info:
www.coventry.gov.uk/peace
In mid-November, around 30 folk from a range of direct action/civil resistance groups came together in Yorkshire to begin developing deeper collaboration for more effective and coordinated strategy for climate justice direct action.
Groups included Animal Rising, Christian Climate Action, Defend Our Juries, Earth First!, Fossil Free London, Greenham Women Everywhere, HS2 Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, Palestine Action, Quaker Roots, Reclaim the Power, Trident Ploughshares, XR Cymru, XR Scotland and XR UK as well as various trade unions.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is trying to block the planned deployment of new US nuclear weapons at USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, England.
CND is using planning law to challenge related development works at Lakenheath on the grounds that the ministry of defence (MoD) and West Suffolk council have not assessed the environmental impact of a planned 144-bed dormitory or the possible effects of stationing nuclear weapons at the airbase.
More info, plus resources for CND’s ‘No US Nukes in Britain’ campaign: www.cnduk.org
