On 8 November 2004, the US -- with British assistance -- launched a massive assault against the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Hundreds of civilians were killed, tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes, and white phosphorus -- a substance that burns down to the bone -- used as a weapon.
“I cannot forgive the American crimes when they bombed my town. An entire family made up of 18 members, which used to live nearby, was killed.” Fallujah teacher Ishraq Shakir…
In August 2002, the Atomic Weapons Establishment Aldermaston outlined a raft of new facilities it wanted to build over the coming years. Amongst more benign projects like greening the site and providing better facilities for its employees, the nuclear bomb factory's plans included a massive laser, and hydrodynamics and explosives facilities.
Fast-forward four years and, after a bitter struggle by anti-nuclear campaigners, work on the first of the most contentious facilities - the…
On 15 September, Margaret Jones and Paul Millings criminal damage trial at Bristol Crown Court came to an end after the jury failed to reach a verdict.
The two peace activists were in court following their March 2003 action at USAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, where they had broken into the supply depot and damaged more than 30 auxiliary vehicles. The pair say this was a bid to delay the departure of bombers destined for Baghdad and to thus give more people time to flee the city.…
Having been involved in anti-nuclear campaigns and actions for the past 20 years, it's with something of a heavy heart that I write this critique of Faslane365. I kind of got dragged in at the last minute because two possible contributors fled the country when they realised the deadline was approaching -- cowards!
There are two personal reasons for feeling a certain weight of treachery for writing this: firstly I really would like to see some genuine grassroots mass social movement…
In what has been suggested was a unanimous verdict from the jury at Dublin's Four Courts, five ploughshares activists walked free on 25 July - more than three years after they had visited Shannon airport and damaged a US navy supply plane. The Irish airport was used extensively by the US during the build-up to and war on Iraq, something which campaigners firmly believe violates Ireland's stated neutrality.
Trials and retrialsAfter two previous trials, which both collapsed due to…
As campaigners gathered at US military sites on 3 and 4 July to call for British “Independence from America”, others were digesting a Defence Select Committee report, released on 30 June, which called on the government to address - amongst other things - the independence of Britain's nuclear weapons programme, in any public debate on the replacement of Trident.
The fifty-page committee report is the result of the Defence Select Committee's inquiry, held earlier this year. The week of…
Faslane 365 is a grass -roots campaign to mobilise public opinion and action to oppose Trident and prevent any commitment to further nuclear weapons.
The strategy is to influence the future decision by raising the political and financial costs of deploying the current Trident system. As we did with cruise missiles in the 1980s, Faslane 365 plans to combine persistent,nonviolent opposition at the site of deployment with creative actions, political pressure and wide networking.
…
Around 25 citizen weapons inspectors, recruited by the Yeovil, Sherborne and Area Stop the War Coalition, converged on RNAS Yeovilton, the Fleet Air Arm's principal base, on 1 July.
They were looking for evidence that depleted uranium shells and bullets or cluster shells were stored there. They also wanted to find out whether the navy is still carrying out training exercises using freefall nuclear bombs, and if so, why they would carry out these exercises unless there are plans to…
On 20 June three US Plowshares activists entered the E-9 Minuteman silo in North Dakota.
A Roman Catholic priest and two war veterans used a sledgehammer and household hammers to disable the lock on the personnel entry hatch which provides access to the warhead. They also hammered on the silo lid, which covers the 300 kiloton nuclear warhead and painted “It's a sin to build a nuclear weapon” on the face of the 110-ton hardened silo. As has become a familiar element of Plowshares…
Between 18 and 21 May, the fifth annual Trident Ploughshares peace camp was set up in a public park directly opposite Devonport dockyard in Plymouth. Only the river Tamar came between the peace pirates and HMS Victorious, the Trident submarine which is currently in for a refit.
About 30 people were actively participating in the camp activities, and far more folk passed through as they walked their dogs and aired their kids. Local support for the camp was overwhelmingly positive from a…
Peace activists with the INNATE network held a picket of a British army recruitment day at the Kinnegar base, Holywood, County Down on 21 May. Information leaflets were distributed to potential army recruits and others attending the event.
“New recruits to the army are often unaware of the conditions they need to meet if they decide that army life isn't for them and they want to get out. The situation isn't helped by the lack of transparency in the army's rulebooks - the Queen's…
Block the Builders returned to AWE Aldermaston on 15 May for the now-monthly blockade in protest against the development of new nuclear weapons facilities at the warhead factory.
Despite a large police presence, the group managed to blockade the nearby Lafarge cement works, targeted because of their contracts to supply AWE with concrete for new building foundations. The Aldermaston Lafarge depot was closed for one hour. One woman locked on to the cement hopper and one man was…
On 16 April, tens of thousands of people marked the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising against British rule at a massive parade in Dublin.
Irish campaigners used the opportunity to communicate with the public about current struggles, including Shell to Sea and the Rossport camp, anti-racism campaigns, opposition to US “special renditions” taking place via Ireland and - a reminder that much remains unresolved on the island - the right of the Irish to the “ownership” of Ireland. An…
Those pesky horticultural pioneers were at it again when they visited the Ericsson Microwave arms factory in Mo”lndal, near Gothenburg in Sweden, on 14 April. Best known for their mobile phones, the Swedish company also produces components and systems for military and border control purposes.
Continuing with their professed “non-protest” approach, six of the group were arrested inside the factory, after using ladders to hop the fence and proceeding to “planting an orchard” in its…
As Peace News goes to press, Military Families Against the War (MFAW) are preparing to descend on parliament to lobby their MPs. They are demanding an end to the war in Iraq and that the troops be withdrawn.
More than fifty family members will come to London and, for the first time, families of those servicemen killed in Iraq will be joined by families of soldiers serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Former MP and journalist Martin Bell will accompany them.
After the…
