Anti-war action

1 June 2018News

Wales protests British role in Syria air strikes

‘Not in Our Name!’ Ceredigion says bombing Syria is not the answer. Photo: Marian Delyth

People from across Ceredigion and beyond gathered in Aberystwyth on 16 April to protest against the UK government’s decision to bomb Syria. Organised by Stop the War Ceredigion and Aberystwyth Peace and Justice Network, the protest attracted more than 70 people.

It was part of a UK-wide series of protests organised by the Stop the War Coalition against the UK government, referring to the…

1 June 2018Feature

Reflections from inside Camden County detention centre by three of the Kings Bay Ploughshares prisoners

Kings Bay Ploughshares activist Clare Grady at the admin building on 5 April, with blood and banner. Photo: Kings Bay Ploughshares


Elizabeth McAlister:

Absurd Convictions, Modest Hopes is the title of one of the more than 50 books by my late brother-in-law Daniel Berrigan (RIP and Presente!). It might be fair to say that we came to Kings Bay submarine base animated by the absurd conviction that we could make some impact on slowing, if not ending, the mad…

1 February 2018News

Coulport blockaders found guilty

On 24 January, Peter Anderson and Jamie Watson were both found guilty of ‘breach of the peace’ at Dumbarton justice of the peace court for blockading the Coulport nuclear weapons store during the Trident Ploughshares summer disarmament camp last July.

Two Finns who were arrested and charged with them, Esa Noresvuo and Kaj Raninen, did not turn up. Peter and Jamie accepted prosecution evidence that none of the four who locked-on across an access road to Coulport had moved when asked to…

1 February 2018News

Trials to continue through May

Quaker abseilers, Louis Dorton and Nicholas Cooper, blocking the road to the DSEI arms fair set-up, 5 September 2017. Photo: Diana More/CAAT

In January and early February, there were acquittals for 12 of the 102 people arrested during the set-up of the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair last September (PN 2610–2611).

Most of the 102 were charged with obstruction of the highway, some with aggravated trespass, and a few were released without…

1 October 2017News

Four-day fast marks anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings

As part of an international event, a four-day fast was held in central London between Hiroshima Day, 6 August, and Nagasaki Day, 9 August, to commemorate the 300,000 deaths caused by the atomic bombings of Japan in 1945.

At 8.15am on Hiroshima Day, three fasters set out banners on railings on the Thames side of the ministry of defence, where they camped throughout the fast. By 8 August, numbers had grown to seven, and they held a one-hour protest in front of Downing Street. They…

1 August 2017News in Brief

On 12 July, two Trident Ploughshares (TP) campaigners were put in prison after refusing bail conditions. Brian Quail (79), a retired teacher from Glasgow; and Angie Zelter (66), a peace and environmental campaigner from Knighton in Wales, were both remanded in custody by Dumbarton sheriff court until 3 August.

Brian and Angie had both refused to accept a bail condition barring them from going within 100m of the Coulport nuclear weapon store and the Faslane nuclear submarine base.…

1 August 2017News

Independence day protests @ Menwith Hill

Every year on 4 July, US Independence Day, there is an ‘Independence from America’ protest at the Menwith Hill US spy base on the North Yorkshire Moors. The base is run by the US national security agency and is linked to circling satellites gathering political, military and economic information that is fed to the Pentagon in the USA.

This year began with a public reading of ‘The People’s Declaration for Independence FROM America’ and the handing over of a letter to the RAF…

1 April 2017News in Brief

On 7 March, 13 members of the Pacific Life Community were arrested amid snow and rain as they blockaded the Pacific home port of the US Trident nuclear ballistic missile submarine fleet, during the community’s annual gathering.

Seven people were in the road on the state side of the line, blocking the main gate into the Kitsap-Bangor naval base, Washington state. They were arrested for ‘leaving the kerb’. Six others were arrested for trespass after they crossed the marked property…

1 April 2017News in Brief

On 16 March, James Dowling of the Brisbane Catholic Workers pleaded not guilty at Brisbane magistrates court. He said that he had not ‘wilfully damaged’ a metal sword attached to a large stone crucifix known as the ‘Cross of Sacrifice’, a war memorial which has stood since 1924 by the gates of Brisbane’s Toowong cemetery.

Dowling told reporters after the hearing: ‘The damage was done when the sword was put on a cross, that is wilful damage. We tried to repair that damage. We took…

1 April 2017News in Brief

With the trial that concluded just after last issue went to press, all 13 people charged during the Trident Ploughshares June month of action at the Burghfield nuclear bomb factory in Berkshire have now had their cases resolved (all at Reading magistrates court).

On 19 October, Helen Swanston was found guilty of obstructing the highway and was given 12 months conditional discharge plus costs of £215. She had locked onto a vehicle parked across the northern end of ‘The Mearings’, a…

1 April 2017Feature

On 29 January, a Methodist minister and a Quaker activist entered BAE Systems’ Warton site in order to disarm warplanes bound for Saudi Arabia.

Sam Walton (left) and Daniel Woodhouse, holding a replica Seeds of Hope Ploughshares hammer, before their Ploughshares action on 29 January 2017. Photo: Warton Ploughshares

This is a statement carried by the pair when they were arrested inside BAE Warton on 29 January.

Today we intend to enter BAE Warton, to locate warplanes bound for Saudi Arabia, and disarm them. We take this action in order to prevent the export of weaponry that will almost certainly be used in…

1 December 2016News

Peace activists walk free after actions in Australia and the US.

In Australia, five Christian peace pilgrims had charges against them dismissed after entering one of the country’s most sensitive locations.

On 29 September, Jim Dowling, Margaret Pestorius, Andy Paine, Tim Webb and Franz Dowling walked onto the Pine Gap US spy base at Alice Springs, in Arrernte country, ‘to lament the death caused by the base and to resist the violence that is perpetrated there’.

The Pine Gap Five, aged 19 – 72, were charged with trespass under the…

1 December 2016News in Brief

Here is some cheery news of recent direct action in the US collected by the very wonderful Nuclear Resister.

On 26 September, 21 activists associated with the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance were arrested in Washington DC. They had refused to leave the Pentagon until they had spoken to an official in a position of authority about US war crimes. The 21, who declared that they were fulfilling their Nuremburg obligations, were charged with ‘violation of a…

1 August 2016News in Brief

On the 100th anniversary of the battle of the Somme, a French choir was banned from singing Song of Craonne at the 1 July ceremony at a German cemetery. It was too anti-war (sample lyrics: ‘... we are all doomed / We are sacrificed’).

The song was banned by the French military from 1917 – 1974.


2 December 2015Blog

Pictures from 3 demos against UK airstrikes on Syria and further information and actions you can take.

2 December Syria Vote: die-in outside Parliament

All images © indyrikki

For here more images and a full report

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A die-in

 

 

 

 

A minute's silence…