Mason, Kelvin

Elements of a campaign by Frack Free Wales came together in January when Ceredigion council voted to become the first ‘frack-free’ local authority in Wales.

Fracking is shorthand for ‘hydraulic fracturing’ for oil or gas, underground coal gasification, and coal-bed methane, all of which threaten Wales.

None of these fuels exist in Ceredigion, however. The council’s decision reflected its commitment to moving away from all fossil fuels, which drive climate change.…

Eviction of Borras and Holt Community Protection Camp. Photo: Dave Ellison

In January 2014, Westminster prime minister David Cameron announced that his government was ‘going all out for fracking’. (Fracking is the high-pressure hydraulic fracturing of shale rock deep underground to extract natural gas or other fossil fuels.) As an inducement to local authorities, councils were allowed to keep 100% of business rates from shale gas sites.

Defying public opinion, the government also…

Aberystwyth Town councillor Jeff Smith lays the white poppy wreath for the second time. Photo: Kelvin Mason

As you read, imagine the contrast between the sea of red poppies gushing from the Tower of London and four fragile white poppy wreaths laid on a storm-lashed memorial in a small seaside town. On Remembrance Sunday, Aberystwyth town council, Aberystwyth Peace and Justice Network (AP&JN), Women in Black and Côr Gobaith laid white poppy wreaths at the war memorial in…

Co-ordinated by Friends of the Earth Cymru, 5 July was a ‘Wales Against Fracking’ day of action.

Across Wales, groups mounted events to gather signatures on a petition to the Welsh government for a moratorium on extreme energy. Many communities in Wales are threatened by fracking, underground coal-gasification or coal-bed methane extraction.

Extreme energy keeps us hooked on the fossil fuels that drive climate change, risks contaminating water, and diverts investment…

The consortium Miller Argent have submitted a planning application to Caerphilly council for the Nant Llesg open-cast coal mine. If Miller Argent obtain planning permission, Nant Llesg near Rhymney will mine up to nine million tonnes of coal and be responsible for approximately 20 million tonnes of CO2.

Local opposition the United Valleys Action Group (UVAG) say this will be a disaster in terms of climate change. UVAG also know the impact of the dust and noise from mining on…

In July, the management group decided to wind up Cynefin y Werin (CyW), the all-Wales network promoting international peace, social justice, human rights and equality. After a successful period initially, CyW’s level of activity has diminished substantially in recent years.

Up until Spring 2006, the network held regular dayschools for activists. In 2007, the network set its priority as ‘championing a vision for civil society in Wales, with a view to moving towards a Civic Forum for…

The ‘By the Waters’ performance in Chapter Gallery, Cardiff was conceived by Cardiff-based British-Iraqi artist Rabab Ghazoul to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the second Gulf War. Unsure how to mark the day, Ghazoul decided to create an event that would offer a contemplative space that addressed mourning and remembrance while allowing people to consider and experience in a different way.

Written specifically for the event, the text of Ghazoul’s six-part…

Wales in Scotland Photo: twitter user @ScrapTrident

At the Wales Peace Institute conference in Aberystwyth on 23 March, she said: ‘Wales has a close affinity with Flanders where so many young Welsh men were killed. The Flemish government has made the spreading of peace one of the most important aims of the 1914 remembrance project. The overwhelming majority considered it a government duty to inform people of the horrors and madness of the First World War,…

Street choirs Photo: Ieuan Ellis

The Institute

On 23 March in the Morlan Centre, Aberystwyth, there will be a conference of the ongoing campaign for setting up a Wales Peace Institute, ‘Academi Heddwch Cymru’. Speakers will include Jill Evans MEP, Dr Robin Gwyndaf (vice-president of the Fellowship of Reconciliation) and professor Jenny Pearce of the department of peace studies in Bradford University.

In October 2009, a…

In the Senedd on 19 June, Wales’ first minister, Labour’s Carwyn Jones, said he would welcome Britain’s Trident nuclear missile submarines if an SNP government kicks the fleet out of an independent Scotland. Come to Pembroke, Carwyn said, Milford Haven awaits. Oh boy, if he did....

The peace movement in Wales reacted in outrage across its diverse and formidable range. Peace activist Mabon ap Gwynfor instigated an online petition urging the national assembly to oppose the idea of…

‘Not again, not ever!’

In Rhymni (Rhymney), the United Valleys Action Group are bracing themselves for another environmental campaign on behalf of local communities.

UVAG who, with the support of Friends of the Earth Cymru, have just defeated plans for a ‘monster incinerator’ in the area, expect the Miller Argent consortium to apply for planning permission for an open-cast coal mine at Nant Llesg on Merthyr Common.

Nant Llesg is very close to Miller Argent’s infamous Ffos-y-…

A group of 15 or so people who set up the Cwtch Community Centre in the empty Dolphin Hotel in Swansea city centre have vowed to carry on their work after being been evicted. In a story carried by the South Wales Evening Post, Rev, a member of Cwtch, said the group would carry on their work: ‘Cwtch has been providing a brilliant service to the community. When we open, people without homes take shelter here and elderly ladies come for coffee.’

The Dolphin Hotel has been unoccupied for…

UK Uncut activists brought a bit of cheer to Aberystwyth streets at Christmas, singing very special carols outside a number of deserving businesses. Those graced with their very own seasonal songs included Lloyds TSB, who splashed the cash on a £1.45m bonus for former chief executive Eric Daniels in 2011 – despite having been bailed out to the tune of £19.9bn by taxpayers in 2008. Tax avoiders HSBC and Boots as well as big-bonus-paying loss-makers RBS/HSBC were all serenaded with adapted…

On 15 March, Plaid Cymru will elect a new leader. Known by environmentalists as ‘Ieuan Air’ on account of his practice of flying from his constituency in Ynys Mon (Anglesey) to Cardiff, Ieuan Wyn Jones is standing down.

Four candidates have declared their intention to stand in the election: Elin Jones, Lord Elis Thomas, Simon Thomas and Leanne Wood. Progressive MEP Jill Evans told PN: “This is a critical time in Welsh politics and a very exciting one. We have to have a real and honest…

This year’s campaign is expected to raise the most money ever, more than £40m. The furore caused by Fifa’s objection to the England and Wales football teams wearing the emblem on their shirts during games, neither of which was against a former Axis power, set soccer fan Mr Cyboli thinking.

“We’ve seen what sponsorship has done for soccer, the money that has flowed into the game and the amazing talent it has bought – I mean brought. Well, this year we’ve seen designer red poppies…