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…
In November we are all reminded of past wars. I think that, in the midst of this remembrance, we also need to think of those who suffer now for opposing present and future wars.
Many years ago, I was acquitted, along with 13 other people, after a trial under a silly law called the Incitement to Disaffection Act.
The acquittal came on 10 December, and ever since then I've celebrated with a party on or near Human Rights Day (10 December).
One year a couple came to the…
Aberystwyth Town Council, a town with a strong history of peace activism, particularly from Greens, Plaid Cymru and the Quakers, is in its fourth year of holding a white poppy ceremony recognising the non-combatants who die in wars.
The white poppy ceremony will be held at 11am on 10 November at the castle war memorial.
Relations with the British Legion, who the Town Council also supports, are thawing now our sincerity is being recognized, though they will not countenance a…
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 “…
If the phrase “war comics” conjures up for you images of magazines with names like “Warlord” and “Commando”, and simple-minded celebrations of militarism and empire, then, please, just ignore the title.
Indeed, the first two selections in this wonderful collection - Keiji Nakazawa's “I Saw It!” (precursor to his epic account of the bombing of Hiroshima and its aftermath, Barefoot Gen) and Raymond Briggs' “The Tin Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman” - are as anti-war a pair of…
I refuse to be conscripted because it is a denial of human liberty.
I claim, as an individual, the right to act towards my fellow individuals, and no less to all creation, in the manner that my intelligence and my convictions guide me through the medium of my conscience.
Whatever may be the reason for the Universe, I see it as a whole - composed of subsidiary parts and each part is again made of smaller units.
The perfection of the whole is dependent on the…
Let's start with the good news: currently, the British armed forces are under-staffed. They are 5,170 soldiers short, which is equivalent to 2.7%. However, this isn't much of a shortfall, and does not endanger the military's ability to wage war. My question is: why is this so, and what can we do to change that?
An understanding of the way the armed forces recruit is crucial to the development of a successful counter-recruitment strategy. There are several key factors in armed forces…
Peace campaigners are gearing up for the annual international “Keep Space for Peace” week events - calling for an end to the US Missile Defence or “Star Wars” programmes.
This year's themes include “Stop Star Wars Research and Development”, “Convert the Military Industrial Complex” and “Fund Human Needs”. Actions are due to take place worldwide between 1 and 8 October and, here in Britain events are planned for USAF Croughton in Oxforshire, RAF Fylingdales and NSA Menwith Hill, both…
I couldn't quite believe it. Here I was at the army recruitment fair, having a discussion with one of the organisers about the punitive measures in the Armed Forces Bill currently going through parliament, measures which could mean conscientious objectors in the forces being sent to prison for life, and he was trying to sell it to me on the grounds that it's “better than the death penalty”.
What sort of an argument is that? It's like defending the maiming of children in Iraq on the…
Antimilitarists in Paraguay have expressed concern at recent military operations targeting predominantly poor, civilian populations and campesina organisations in rural areas.
On 25 March the Moviemiento de Objecion de Conciencia (MoC), Paraguay, issued a statement in which they called for the punishment of the soldiers responsible for these abuses, adding “We demand that the government stops wasting resources in these [military] institutions, and instead invest in…
On Sunday 12 February, peace activists with the Irish Network for Nonviolent Action Training and Education Network (INNATE) lobbied a British Army recruitment fair at the Kinnegar base, in Co Down, N Ireland.
Flyers were distributed to potential new recruits and others attending the event, outlining both the negative consequences of army enlisting and the alternatives available to potential recruits. They also promoted the confidential advice service At Ease for those who do join…
Since October 2003, the bank-watch organisation Netwerk Vlaanderen, and the peace organisations Vrede, Forum voor Vredesactue and For Mother Earth, have been running a campaign against Belgian bank groups' investments in weapons. Under pressure from the campaign “My Money. Clear Conscience” (see PN2458), four large bank groups have since scaled down their investments in weapon producers.
At a political level, Belgium is also the first country to forbid investment funds…
Five hundred people - a mixture of anti-militarists, anarchists and nationalists - demonstrated in Sofia on 12 November in protest at plans to build US military bases in Bulgaria. They called for a national referendum on whether Bulgaria should compromise its sovereignty and host the bases.
Following an initial agreement by the government - as long ago as 1999 - to host US forces, there have been recent reports that the US wants to send several thousand troops to the country, and is…
They may have been in circulation since the 1930s (hmm.. sounds familiar...), but the power of the white poppy to provoke remains as pronounced as ever.
In the run up to Remembrance Sunday, the Movement for the Abolition of War and Royal British Legion were widely reported as having reached some kind of “truce”, with the Legion agreeing to remove their contentious “wars are inevitable” statement from their website and to include MAW information in their schools pack. MAW invited the…
Here are two short reports from participants which, it is hoped, might enthuse you enough to join in with protests during October's "Keep Space for Peace" week (see box below).
Close it down!Chris Brennan writes...
On a sunny Saturday, 24 September, about 60 protesters marched around the old RAF Croughton site on the NorthantsOxon border which is acknowledged to house the infrastructure for US military and governmental communications between North America and Europe…
