PNedit's blog

    14 Mar 2021

    PN staff

    Five ways you can take action

    The need for a #PeoplesVaccine is the front page story in the latest issue of Peace News: …

    05 Mar 2021

    PN staff

    It’s being processed by an arms company... again!

    This year, the contract for processing census forms has been put in the hands of Leidos, one of the world’s biggest military companies.

    So far, there hasn’t been much debate about this. We’d like to change that. We invite you to take action through the census form itself, to suggest to your friends they do the same – and, crucially, (a) tell your local paper about what you’re doing and (b) tell us what you’re doing!

    In 2011, the contract for processing the census in the UK was…

    01 Mar 2021

    PN staff

    Collecting the stories of people involved in positive social change  

    Peace News has recently launched a new survey of UK activists and campaigners, with the aim of encouraging them to share their stories of success in winning concrete gains for people targeted by racism – and in making their  groups, events, spaces and projects more racially-inclusive.

    By encouraging UK campaigners to share their stories of constructive anti-racist action we aim to create a peer-to-peer handbook, based on people’s lived experiences that celebrates our…

    15 Feb 2021

    PN

    PN launches new survey of UK campaigners

    Press release, 15 February 2021

    “HAVE YOU GOT A STORY OF SUCCESSFUL ANTI-RACIST ACTION?” NEW SURVEY ASKS

    15 February: A new survey of UK activists has been launched today (Monday 15 February), with the aim of encouraging campaigners from across a broad range of social movements to share their stories of success in winning concrete gains for people targeted by racism – and in making their groups, events, spaces and projects more racially-inclusive.

    Long-…

    21 Jan 2021

    Kathy Kelly

    The Biden administration must act swiftly to prevent a Trump-administration 'death sentence' for thousands of Yemenis, argues Kathy Kelly

    In 1565, Pieter Bruegel the Elder created The Massacre of the Innocents, a provocative masterpiece of religious art. The painting reworks a biblical narrative about King Herod’s order to slaughter all newborn boys in Bethlehem for…

    07 Jan 2021

    Milan Rai

    The coup mob in Congress has led to an outpouring of propaganda about the US love for democracy. Actually, the US has regularly opposed democracy, overthrowing democratically elected leaders it doesn't like.

    'To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today: you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins.' So said US vice-president Mike Pence. Incoming US president, Joe Biden, said: 'The scenes of chaos do not reflect the true America, do not…

    01 Dec 2020

    PN staff

    Write to people imprisoned because of their actions for peace

    1 December is Prisoners for Peace Day. For over 60 years, War Resisters’ International have publicised the names and stories – and prison addresses – of those imprisoned because of their actions for peace. This is a chance to write to someone whose freedom has been taken away because of their work for peace.

    We can find the prison address for Julian Assange here – please do write to him as he is waiting…

    01 Dec 2020

    Milan Rai

    You can be part of the new world of online campaigning even if you don’t have (reliable) broadband or a webcam. 

    Organisers, you should be circulating details of how people can phone into your online events (or at least your phone number).

    You can go to a Zoom Meeting by phone if 
(a) the organisers allow this in the settings of the Zoom call and (b) you have a telephone with these two keys: # and *

    You will need to get from the organisers the Meeting ID number and the Passcode (password).

    1) A few minutes before the meeting is meant to begin,…

    08 Nov 2020

    Ian Sinclair

    Ian Sinclair reports on a new feminist-driven initiative

    Coined by cartoonist Alison Bechdel in 1985, what has become known as The Bechdel Test – whether a movie includes at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man – is now widely discussed by consumers and creators of popular culture.

    But just as we have got our heads around one necessary and very welcome feminist-driven test, along comes a shiny new challenging feminist-driven test: the Clit Test.

    Dreamt up…

    08 Nov 2020

    Robin Holtom

    The politics of sound bites and Twitter  need to be replaced with a refreshed politics of sensibility, argues Robin Holtom

    'Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world' - Shelley

    Suppose that Shelley is right and poetic sensibility (and by extension) artistic sensibility really does create the underpinning of decisions by the legislature. If so, a country with a taste for good poetry and art will make good laws. It also follows that bad poets and bad artists lay the foundations for bad laws.

    The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross is a salutary lesson in this process.

    08 Nov 2020

    Nuclear weapons states applied enormous pressure to try and stop the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, recalls Janet Fenton.

    On 24 October, Honduras ratified the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), becoming the 50th state to signal its binding agreement with the treaty. Passing the 50-ratifications threshold means that the TPNW will now actually ‘enter into force’, 90 days from Honduras’s ratification.

    The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, WILPF, as its known to its friends, has a unique perspective on the TPNW that has been a significant driver in bringing it to this…

    28 Oct 2020

    Andrew Bolton

    Andrew Bolton reviews Clare Stober's book about the Bruderhof: 'Another Life is Possible – Insights from 100 years of life together' (Plough Books, 2020; 320pp; £21.50)

    There are activists seeking change nonviolently, protesting, getting in the way, being arrested. From Gandhi and Rosa Parks to Extinction Rebellion, we celebrate their courageous contributions. Then there are communal demonstrators, those whose lives together model a better world here and now. Both activists and communal demonstrators are important. This book is about the Bruderhof, a celebration of struggles and endurance over 100 years of a remarkable communal movement. Today…

    27 Oct 2020

    Milan Rai

    US president Donald Trump has been threatening for months to hang onto power by illegal means after the 3 November presidential election. Dozens of organisations are preparing to stop him, and to protect the fabric of US democracy.

    One week away from election day, thousands of activists across the United States are preparing to prevent any attempt by Donald Trump to hold onto the US presidency by illegal means if it looks like he is losing.

    Their efforts are in line with an elite investigation into a possible election crisis, which concluded that massive street action would be vital in defending a contested election result.

    The Transition Integrity Project…

    19 Oct 2020

    Milan Rai

    A review of Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Rivalry that Unravelled the Middle East by Kim Ghattas (Wildfire, 2020; 400pp; £10.99)

    I do find it shocking that Kim Ghattas uses the word ‘black’ in such a negative way in the title of her new book about the Middle East.

    Ghattas, a former BBC journalist, describes the upsurge of fundamentalism in the region since 1979 as a Black Wave. She takes this phrase from Egyptian film-maker, Youssef Chahine.

    For me, the title seems to reinforce the idea of blackness as evil and anti-human – which is how Ghattas, a mainstream Western liberal, sees Islamic…

    05 Aug 2020

    Online and in-person activist events in the UK from 6 August to November 2020

    The current issue of Peace News doesn't have an events page because most events in the time period it covers (10 August to the end of October) are online.

    So we've put the events listing online instead. Please do check before attending an in-person event as the changing COVID-19 restrictions mean in-person/face-to-face events change also.

    This is a list of the kinds of events below:

    1) Hiroshima & Nagasaki events (in-person/face-to-face)

    2) Hiroshima &…