Blog posts

    27 May 2017

    PN staff

    On 17 May 2017, Peace News and Housmans Bookshop celebrated the release of Chelsea Manning, along with dozens of her supporters.

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    Chelsea Manning is a whistleblower who was working for the US military as a data analyst during the US-led coalition war in Afghanistan. She was sentences to serving 35 years in military prison for leaking classified US government documents to the…

    19 Apr 2017

    Jon Lockwood

    Jon Lockwood reviews Leon Fleming's recent play

    Leon Fleming's new play concerns a brother and sister growing-up and living in Birmingham trapped in the clutches of an uncaring welfare system. The story is told with flasback scences from their childhood, mixed with the contemporary tale of two people being processed by The System TM and trying to survive. It is a grim tale, but not without moments of comedy, but those bittersweet moments come from the past rather than the relentlessly grim present of our protagonists. Their lives now…

    15 Mar 2017

    Leon Fleming

    Playwright Leon Fleming on the biographical inspiration behind his new play 'Kicked in the Sh*tter' and why he believes that theatre is the greatest medium we have created for dragging thoughts out of a society.

    ImageI’ve written a play, Kicked in the Sh*tter. Sounds a bit grim, but it's pretty funny.

    It is.

    That’s the plug over.

    When I first wrote this play, I had no idea what I was writing. Or why.

    But I soon realised I’d been writing about a world I know…

    13 Mar 2017

    Ian Sinclair, Robert Jensen

    Ian Sinclair interviews activist and author Robert Jensen about his latest book The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men (Spinifex Press, 2017)

    Ian Sinclair: How does radical feminism differ from other forms of feminism?

    Robert Jensen: First, by radical feminism I mean the understanding that men’s subordination of women is a product of patriarchy and that the ultimate goal of feminism is the end of patriarchy’s gender system, not merely liberal accommodation with the system. Second, radical feminism is central to the larger problem of hierarchy and the domination/subordination dynamics…

    08 Mar 2017

    Mads Ryle

    Countries in the Global South have been forced into the large-scale extraction of natural resources (coal, oil, minerals, land) in order to export raw materials. It is corporations based in Europe and North America who generally profit. This 'extractivism' is happening even in Bolivia, where the government once presented itself as the protector of Mother Earth.

    SALT, Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.
    At this time of year I am always in Cochabamba, in the middle of Bolivia, in the heart of South America. The first book anyone wanting to understand the structural dynamics of this region's history reads…

    23 Dec 2016

    PN staff

    A call for banner drops on 20 January, the date of Donald Trump's inauguration (as sent to PN)

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    Photo: Fibonacci Blue

    Donald Trump is being sworn in on 20th Jan. Does that make YOU nervous?

    If so - don't just sit on your backside...gather together with like minded people all over the UK!

    Colourful banners baring positive slogans will be…

    09 Dec 2016

    Maddy Ridgley

    A report from the Movement Against War youth delegation to the International Peace Bureau Congress on demilitarisation.

     

    IPB Congress 2016

    Young delegates stop nuclear missile launch at the IPB Congress!

    From the 30 September – 3 October, MAW Youth (Jen Harrison, Becky Garnault, Maddy Ridgley) plus 2 competition winners (Ella Johnson and Khem Rogaly) attended the International Peace…

    20 Oct 2016

    Elizabeth Ingrams

    An interview with Daniele Santi – secretary general of the Buddhist peace group, Senzatomica.

    PN: What is Senzatomica?

    Daniele Santi: Our aim is to raise public awareness about the threats of nuclear weapons and to empower each individual to speak out for a world free of nuclear weapons. In order to create an unstoppable force for peace, we launched a touring exhibition, believing that it is people’s right and duty to speak out.…

    21 Jul 2016

    Tim Gee

    A member of the 'Jilted Generation' sees five factors re-shaping young people's sense of national identity....

    In the wake of the June referendum result, newspapers of right and left are reporting that Britain has an identity crisis. As the demographic breakdowns of who voted what show, we are deeply divided in our attitudes, by class, by region, by nation, by colour, and by age. While it's possible that some of these differences can be explained by people's varying assessments of the pros and cons of alternative constitutional frameworks,…

    14 Jul 2016

    Reverend Billy

    A comic preacher from New York responds to the Brexit debate and vote - Earthalujah!

    It sure is strong. Brexit pulls us in. My first response to the vote was to be glad – because we have been fighting for local power for decades here in New York. But Washington is not the same as Brussels. I got my localism confused with the complex struggle of the people the EU left out long ago. And I was (and am) moved by the UK youth who voted three to one to stay in, which has its parallel con-job here in the states. And then from there I exploded into 50 positions. Brexit is a potent…

    14 Jul 2016

    PN staff

    A call from a Center for Citizen Initiatives delegation as it visited Russia

    On June 16, the New York Times reported :

    'More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administration’s policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire…

    14 Jul 2016

    Elizabeth Ingrams

    A thoughtful review of The Truth About Trident: Disarming the Nuclear Argument by Tim Wallis

    The Truth About Trident sets out a blow-by-blow detailed analysis in advance of the forthcoming parliamentary debate about the renewal of Britain’s nuclear weapons’ system known as the ‘main gate’ decision later this year.

    Despite the slightly disingenuous claim of the book that it will act as an objective ‘trial’ of the 30-year-old weapons system, Tim Wallis’s credentials as a leading peace activist reverses this expectation. As he states his intention is that ‘the moral…

    05 Jul 2016

    PN staff

    With the publication of the Chilcot report, watch the trailer for "A Letter to the Prime Minister", made during the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, and sign up on the website to see the entire feature length film.

    A Letter to the Prime Minister, Jo Wilding's Diary from Iraq - trailer from Julia Guest on Vimeo.

    Jo Wilding’s Eye Witness account of the war and occupation of Iraq between 2002- 2004.

    The…

    30 May 2016

    Chris Bluemel

    Come to protest in the heart of the development of the UK's nuclear weapons system.

    June 2016 will see a month of disarmament action against Trident at AWE Burghfield. Situated a few miles south-west of Reading, this is at the heart of the UK's nuclear weapons system. It is the final assembly line for the UK's nuclear warheads, and they return here for major maintenance work.

    Opposition to Trident…

    19 Feb 2016

    PN

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