Kelvin Mason
On Saturday 21 June, a toddler in a child-seat and twenty cyclists from the Welsh Youth Forum on Sustainable Development, Gwerin Y Coed (Woodcraft Folk) and Grwp Beic Aberystwyth completed the 157 miles from Machynlleth to Cardiff to publicise the need for cycle-lanes and provision for bikes on public transport.
At the Senedd, where they delivered a petition, cyclists were welcomed by Leanne Wood AM and Gordon James of FoE Cymru. Although cyclists endured some hostile motorists, they…
As part of the international day of World Against War demonstrations, Aberystwyth Peace and Justice Network invited Wales to continue to protest. Five years on, the occupation of Iraq remains an unmitigated catastrophe.
In Aberystwyth, Cor Gobaith sang stirringly and a number of AP&JN supporters engaged with the public. Plaid Cymru president Dafydd Iwan sent a strong message of party support for the campaigns: Troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, Don't attack Iran, End the siege…
On 12 February, Rob Hopkinsm the “co-parent of the Transition Town movement”, spoke in Machynlleth about peak oil and climate change.
Although climate change gets press attention, if not meaningful political action, it's peak oil that will hit us soonest.
The age of plentiful oil and cheap transport is drawing to a close. Implications for our communities are enormous, especially with respect to food supply dependent on road haulage.
Rob noted that (west) “Wales is a…
Not needless to say, Wales was well represented at the Big Blockade on 1 October. It is, let's admit it, quite an effort to get up to Scotland and lock-on, superglue yourself to the tarmac, or sing your heart out all day.
Ray Davies was arrested and pictured in the newspapers before some of us got out of bed, as usual: “Four burly policemen grabbed hold of a leg and arm each and I was carted away.”
Phil Steele of Bangor and Ynys Môn Peace and Justice Group…
On 10 November, for the fourth year running, the Mayor of Aberystwyth, Lorrae Jones-Southgate, laid a white poppy wreath at the castle war memorial on behalf of the Town Council, in the presence of around 40 people.
Leading the ceremony, Pryderi Llwyd Jones said: “We have gathered here on the eve of Remembrance Sunday to remember, with those who will be here tomorrow, those who have lost their lives in two world wars and the families and communities that lost their loved ones. But we…
Taken singly, each presentation at the Peace Festival in Caernarfon was very good. Taken together, they were truly remarkable.
Mabon Ap Gwynfor spoke from the heart, recalling a tradition of peace in Wales that has a real political and cultural impact and which we must remake everyday; invoking famous names like Henri Richard but also ordinary people and processes - “meetings, writing letters, conferences...”
Nicholas Wheeler from the David Davies Memorial Institute of…
St Athan is an English mistranslation of the Welsh female saint Tathan. The Defence Training Academy to be built at St Athan will be a further corruption of a Welsh culture of peace.
Wales' First Minister Rhodri Morgan famously promised “clear red water between Cardiff and London”. This water it turns out isn't to be a political moat but rather a cultural river of blood that will flow courtesy of a warmongering New Labour brotherhood.
St Athan will be a privately operated “…
The Welsh International Sector Network, which works for peace, justice and global citizenship, funded 8 people to attend the anti-G8 demonstrations in Germany. WISeN Coordinator James Maiden ponders his experience:
“Some of the people we funded helped Oxfam International pull off a successful media stunt. This involved the now famous `Big Heads' - fantastic caricatures of the G8. At a specially constructed card table the Big Heads played with a campaigner from Ghana. “The message was…
At 25, Bethan Jenkins may be our youngest Assembly Member but she is a seasoned peace and justice activist. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, her activism began when she joined with her parents in the anti apartheid movement.
At university in Aberystwyth, Bethan was elected President of the Guild of Students and was energetic in the network of “town and gown” groups opposing the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Committed to citizen activism and sceptical of party politics, she was so…
One wonderful thing about Jill Gough is her passion for peace. Volunteer national secretary for CND Cymru since 1991, and editor of its bilingual magazine Heddwch since 1994, Jill is an inspiring constant in the tumult of activism in Wales. She is one of the people who make things happen, and in 2006 was pivotal in Social Forum Cymru.
In 1980 Jill resigned as a deputy head teacher to start a family. The same year Britain made the baleful decision to permit deployment of US…
