Last September, when the biannual DSEi arms fair came to East London, I took part in a blockade of the ExCeL centre the day before the exhibition opened, hoping to stop the unloading of weaponry for display and sale.
Along with others in the blockade, I was arrested, and charged with obstruction of the highway. When my case came to court, I had to decide whether to plead guilty or not.
It might seem obvious that I would plead guilty. After all, I was lying…
On 15 January, 79-year old Margaretta D’Arcy, writer, member of Aosdána which honours outstanding contributors to the arts in Ireland, and widow of the late playwright John Arden, was arrested at her home and ferried by squad car to Limerick prison to serve a three-month sentence. Her crime: failure to sign a bond pledging to no longer trespass onto unauthorised areas of Shannon airport.
Margaretta D’Arcy has been arrested twice for sitting on the runway at Shannon…
On Saturday 25 January, Zoe Lawlor and John Lannon of Shannonwatch visited Margaretta D'Arcy in Limerick Prison. She has been there now for 10 days, as a result of her conscientious refusal to sign an undertaking that she would stay away from the restricted areas of Shannon Airport. She has made it clear that she has no problem signing a peace bond - after all, peace is what she is campaigning for.…
Emily Johns, Peace News co-editor and Hastings-based activist, was arrested last spring and sentenced last week after protesting for government transparency.
Her trial is part of a larger issue. With the Combe Haven Defenders, she is fighting against the Bexhill Hastings Link Road and the Department of Transports’ refusal to release crucial economic information. “It is a local way to…
Although the corporate world has long claimed the values of self-help, entrepreneurialism and innovation for itself, this book – based on the ideas of the Transition movement, of which Rob Hopkins is the founder and figurehead – proves that progressive activists have as strong a claim on these principles as anyone else.
Encouraging local action to combat global threats, the Transition movement is a grassroots network of communities…
The three people who have agreed to share their experiences in PN have all been heavily involved in the peace movement and are also recovering alcoholics (their drinking was out of control, but they’re now many years sober).
One of them is religious, two aren’t. One was drinking at her most intense period of activism; the other two were several years sober before they took part in high-risk activities. All three have been to prison for their…
A friend of mine posted on Facebook the other day that she was feeling a bit low. I know that a friend of hers is seriously ill, and I thought it might be because of that. But when I rang her a couple of days later, she said she had been down in Gloucester looking out for badgers at night, and that she always feels a bit blue for a couple of days when she gets home from being out on anti-badger cull duty. ‘I think it’s because I’ve been out in the dark and the cold, squinting through a night…
I was taken from the court to the cells below, waving goodbye to friends and supporters at the back of the court. My pocket were emptied and everything in a bag. After several hours, I, with some male and female prisoners from other cells, was taken to a bus lined both side with small cells each capable of holding one person. I was able to see our progress through the tunnel and the streets of Liverpool, just an ordinary bus to the public gaze. Eventually, we arrive at Walton prison....…
I am very unhappy that you have asked me this question. I used to believe that if you weren’t miserable, you weren’t politically conscious. So I used to make myself even more unhappy than I was in order to make myself more politically right-on.
Thankfully I can now just allow myself to be depressed.
Man
I don’t know. Perhaps activism is a way of keeping your unhappiness at bay. You can cultivate an image of being a great activist while actually being extremely…
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…
Do you give a damn about the future of democracy? Read this book.
Do you want tools to help our species to respond to climate change with the speed and breadth it needs? Read this book (although it barely mentions climate change at all).
Do you need to restore your faith in the ability of academics to have important ideas and insights and express them in real English? Read this book.
Kathleen Blee, an American sociologist, spent four years attending the meetings of new…
This accessible book – exploring what it means to make a commitment to peace in a violent world – could appeal equally to someone with an interest in peace who may be wishing to find ways of putting this into action, as to a seasoned activist. As much to an agnostic as a person of faith. Wherever you are internally, that is where it takes hold and shakes you.
I even lost my copy, preferring perhaps to drift in the ‘pale blue window’ dividing the ‘over there’ of violence from the ‘here…
I want to give a warning shot to anti-oppression trainers and activists. My bottom line is this: we need to stop applying theory onto people’s experiences, wielding it like a weapon to describe what we believe whether we actually see it in a room or not. It’s not smart organising, creates intense backlash, and shrinks – not grows – our movements.
An organiser recently shared with me an example of what I’m talking about.
He was working in a union that represents workers at a…
I don't like it when things get ascetic. Enjoying ourselves has potential for liberating us. My general philosophy is: pleasure is a good thing. In our affinity group we have made a commitment to enjoying ourselves. We realised that a lot of our motivational energy comes from guilt. That got us thinking what other motivations we could discover. Enjoying ourselves is a vehicle that will be more exciting and appeal to other people.
There is a lot about pleasure that is to with class…
