PN Staff

After a year of near-continuous protests at the Faslane submarine base, the international nonviolent direct action network Faslane 365 ended its campaign triumphantly on 1 October with 1,000 people blockading the home of Britain's Trident nuclear weapons force.

Before the final “Big Blockade”, the rolling protest had notched up over 900 arrests. This number crashed through the 1,000 mark by mid-morning, and by the end of the day the arrest total for the year stood…

There have been several cases recently under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) mostly connected with last October's “No More Fallujahs” Parliament Square peace camp.

On 18 May, Milan Rai and I were convicted in the same trial of both organising and participating in unauthorised demonstrations near Parliament. We were fined #100 each, with no court costs. Ten other defendants from “No More Fallujahs” went to court on 23 May, just for “participating in an unauthorised…

Following the publication of the White Paper, The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent, in December 2006, the government promised a parliamentary debate and vote on their proposals for Trident replacement. That vote is likely to take place in the second or third week of March (date unconfirmed when PN went to press).

It is believed that MPs will only be presented with one set of proposals to vote on (the government's, naturally). Despite polls consistently…

“We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices ... As in past deliberations, we have examined other human-made threats to civilisation. We have concluded that the dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons.”

On 18 January, the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands on the Doomsday Clock from…

On 4 December the government published a White Paper outlining its preferred option for the continuation of Britain's nuclear weapons programme, committing the country to a new fleet of nuclear submarines and to a service life extension for the US-owned Trident D5 missiles. Buried on page 30 was the news that the future of Britain's nuclear warheads would be determined in the next parliament. For now, a reduction in existing warhead numbers, from the equivalent of approximately 1,600…

Stupid, repressive laws require creative and surreal responses. On 22 September, more than 100 “lone protesters” gathered simultaneously in London's Parliament Square in response to the ongoing criminalisation of protest within 1km of the Houses of Parliament - under provisions contained in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. In a bid to overwhelm the Metropolitan Police with paperwork, those involved had all applied - and received permission - for their individual protests. The…

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…

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…

Just before 3am on Tuesday 23 May, around 50 police swooped on Brian Haw and his supporters in Parliament Square. Their instructions were to remove most of the anti-war display.

They brought a lorry and freight container, and unceremoniously dumped placards, cuttings, models, religious items and donated artworks, in a crammed heap into it.
    Two supporters climbed on top of the container and held up the police until they were overpowered…

Winterbottom's gripping film charts the “incredible journey” of the Tipton Three - from a planned wedding in Pakistan to their imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay: at times surreal and constantly disturbing. Shown on Channel Four in March, this film can now be watched online (for a streaming/rental fee). Visit http://www.tiscali.co.uk/guantanamo

This new DVD offering from Undercurrents - released on 8 March to mark International Women's Day - compiles nine short films produced by women film-makers. Includes Helen Iles award winning Life Before Death, which reflects on women's experience of terminal illness and brief shorts taking a, sometimes humorous, look at topics such as ID cards, the mental health system, disability, the Clown Army and direct action against nuclear waste shipments in Germany. An eclectic mix and an ongoing…

The latest round of cases against people accused of defying London's “no-protest zone” began towards the end of January: eleven individuals were scheduled to appear in four separate trials. All had been charged originally under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) for being part of an “unauthorised demonstration”.

Under the new Act, anyone wishing to demonstrate within 1km of parliament must apply to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner at least six days in advance or,…

On Saturday 3 December, around 10,000 people marched through London to demand urgent action on climate change. This was part of a global protest taking place in more than 30 countries, demanding urgent action from world leaders at the Montreal Climate Talks - and specifically for the US and Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

Hundreds braved the rain to turn out for a march in Edinburgh, with participants reporting a very positive mood: one marcher commented, “I think we where all…

To mark the first anniversary of the Lancet report on war-related deaths in Iraq, and to raise awareness about the Iraq body count, Voices for Creative nonviolence (USA) teamed up with Justice not Vengeance (UK) for an international bell-ringing ceremony in late October. Bell ringings also took place at impromptu times and locations throughout November.

The aim was to get 100 groups involved and for each group to ring a bell 1000 times to make 100,000 rings: The figure is taken from…

Our rights and civil liberties face renewed attack.

Once again, the government has rolled out a set of proposals in a new Bill - and this time they've determined that the best way to prevent radicalisation is, as Liberty commented, to - effectively - reintroduce internment and to make "loose talk" a criminal offence.

New powers which would enable detention without charge for up to three months and a new and particularly vague offence of "glorifying terrorism" are on the…