On 4 February, in cities around the world, anti-war protesters, marching to the common message, ‘No war, no sanctions, no intervention, no assassinations,’ led a day of mass action against a possible war in Iran.
The wordwide protests were organised by over 60 anti-war, pacifist and human rights groups.
In the US, the largest protest took place in New York, as a group of 500 marched from Manhattan’s Times Square to the US mission to the United Nations and then to the Israeli…
On 19 January, Christian activist Chris Cole was sentenced to 30 days in prison by Westminster magistrates for non-payment of £1,545 in fines and £350 in court costs. The fine was imposed after Chris was found guilty of criminal damage: spraying ‘Build Peace Not War Machines’ and ‘Stop This Bloody Business’ on the Queen Elizabeth II centre in September 2009. At the time, the QEII was hosting a reception for arms dealers during the DSEi arms fair.
On 25 January, Barbara Dowling, 66,…
Faslane Peace Campers are announcing 30 Days of Nonviolent Direct Action against nuclear weapons at the Faslane naval base to mark the 30th birthday of the peace camp and the ongoing travesty of nuclear weapons. The actions will commence on Saturday 9 June 2012 and continue until 9 July.
Ready for action!
Over the last year a small group of us have been endeavouring to make the peace camp a healthy and happy place to facilitate direct action against Trident We are ready for…
Father Bill ‘Bix’ Bichsel, 83, recidivist peace activist, was imprisoned (for three months) for trespassing at the Y12 nuclear weapons complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Bix left prison on 9 February (having completed 19 days of fasting against ‘nuclear weapons, inhumane treatment at prisons and the separation of policy from conscience’). This picture by cartoonist and inventor RR Anderson (from Bix’s home town, Tacoma) is of a Tacoma Action Figure: ‘REAL ULTIMATE American Hero Bix…
Tents at Northwood gates. PHOTO: Maria Albrecht
On 29 December, the Christian Holy Innocents Day, a group of 16 Christian peace activists closed the main entrance to the Northwood military headquarters for two hours. After pitching their tents, some knelt to pray, while others held placards outside the north London base, which is the command centre for all British forces in Afghanistan. A banner reading “Occupy Northwood HQ not Afghanistan” was…
On 16 January, Chris Cole, 48, a peace activist from Oxford, appeared before Westminster magistrates’ court in Marylebone Road, London, to be tried for a protest at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEi) arms fair in September 2011. Chris was arrested for spraying “DSEi Kills” and “Stop the arms trade” at the entrance to the fair, as delegates queued to enter.
Chris, who has pleaded “not guilty” to charges of criminal damage, was prepared to argue that he was acting…
Today marks the 10th Anniversary of the war against Afghanistan. This morning peace activists gathered outside Downing Street in a protest organised by the London Catholic Worker. Red paint was poured on the pavement outside the gates to symbolise the blood of the 25,000 civilians and 2,500 soldiers who have been killed or wounded in the last decade. 6 people then blockaded the entrance to Downing Street for an hour before they were arrested. The 6 are John Lynes, Ciaron O’Reilly, Maya Evans…
The world’s largest arms bazaar returned to east London’s ExCeL exhibition centre from 13-16 September. The euphemistically-titled “Defence and Security Equipment International” (DSEi) exhibition opened its doors to dictators and merchants of death from around the world in the ultimate corporate celebration of killing.
Official invitations were, as usual, extended to such democratic and human-rights respecting nations as Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab…
On 26 June, about 100 people went on a pilgrimage to the military training ground on Epynt mountain in mid-Wales. On “Armed Forces Day” they showed their objection to the militarisation of Wales and in particular to the testing of unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs or drones.
A service was held in the remains of Babell chapel led by the reverend Guto Prys ap Gwynfor, chair of Cymdeithas y Cymod (the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales). He said that the authorities wanted us to remember…
On 26 July, 170 peace activists from 17 countries entered the “North European Aerospace Test Range” (NEAT) in north Sweden in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Some 28 activists were arrested or detained, among them activists from Venezuela, the UK, Spain, Germany and Finland. The action started at midday with a pink carnival which involved people marking the test range and the road leading to it with pink arrows and the slogan “War starts here, let’s stop it here!”. The airspace was…
In the spirit of the protests against Menwith Hill and against the “long arm” of US militarism, 35 Finnish and Swedish peace activists set up an action camp in Fauske, in northern Norway, between 17 and 20 June.
Fau
After several meetings, including one at the European Social Forum in Malmö, Sweden in September last year, the International Coordination Committee No-to-NATO 2009 (ICC) was officially formed at a conference in Stuttgart, Germany over the weekend of 4-5 October 2008. We agreed four main aspects: an international demonstration in Strasbourg on 4 April, a counter-conference, civil disobedience, and a camp (called a “village” by the French).
The French groups participating in the ICC…
The phone never stopped ringing. There were coaches to be booked, of course, but many callers simply wished to talk, to share their feelings and concerns and to discuss this rush to war in Iraq. Even ex-servicemen called in to express their support.
February 2003 was a remarkable period in British political history, when progressive public opinion was raw, even desperate, and contempt for UK and US government policies was at an unprecedented level.
Labour’s drive to an illegal…
On 4 July 2005, during the G8 summit, 2,000 people blockaded Faslane Naval Base, home of Britain's Trident submarines, armed with nuclear missiles, and closed it for the day. The police strategy was to leave the street party and not attempt to clear the gates. At 5pm folk got up and went home. And for Faslane, it was business as usual.
A few weeks later an email arrived with a “Proposal for year-long blockade”. The concept was simple: get 100 people to arrive each day and blockade…
These days the Faslane machine, as far as can be seen from the outside, goes on as normal. The hundreds of cars and coaches that form the work shifts, the supply vehicles in all their variety, drift in unhindered. However, if Faslane 365 lives up to its promise, from the first of October all this will change.
The British state is trampling on the basic laws of humanity by wielding Trident, a weapon of terror capable of killing millions. How do we respond? There are many equally…
