Act Together: Women's Action for Iraq, together with several other Iraqi and British women's organisations, artists and activists, organised a vigil on International Widows Day - 23 June - to draw attention to the plight of Iraqi widows. More than 60 women and men, representing 13 organisations, gathered the steps of St Martin-inthe-Fields in central London.
Leaflets, banner's and placards drew attention to the fact that, according to official and NGO sources, more than 90 Iraqi…
The soldiers
“Before I went to Iraq I was concerned about the legality of the invasion and the occupation. But whilst I was there, what I saw - the conduct of the war - was wrong, a lot of things were going wrong ... and my views became clearer and stronger, until it reached a point where I couldn't separate them from my job and I could no longer serve in Iraq.” - Former SAS trooper Ben Griffin speaking in mid-March about his decision to leave the military for reasons of…
On the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, protesters coordinated events around the globe to demonstrate their continued opposition.
In London, anti-war demonstrators, estimated at between 15 000 and 100,000 (Met and STWC numbers, respectively), marched from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square to condemn the war and Britain's continued involvement, and to call for the withdrawal of British troops. Activists in Glasgow, Newcastle and Dublin also held events raising awareness…
Timing and space dictate that this second offering from Verso - a slim volume of anti-Iraq war essays - gets a rather slim space in this issue of PN.
This collection of six short articles, written over the past three years by contributors Brian Eno, John Le Carre, Harold Pinter, Richard Dawkins, Michel Faber and Haifa Zangana, was published in March to mark the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
To a large degree this book is essentially “recycled material”: I…
On 7 July 2005 four young British men detonated bombs on London's public transport system, killing 52 people as well as themselves. Why they did it and how we can prevent future such attacks are the two central themes of Milan Rai's latest book, which combines a deeply moving tribute to the bombers' victims with the gripping, page-turning qualities of a good detective novel.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks - and before the Government shrewdly re-focused the public debate…
Candle-lit vigils for the four peace activists abducted in Iraq were held around the country on the evening of Friday 2 December - including ones in Oxford, Bradford, Evesham, Derby and on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, London.
The four - including Briton Norman Kember - are all genuinely long-time peace campaigners, who were in Iraq in connection with the work of Christian Peacemaker Teams, an international religious peace network active in anti-war…
In October, the US marked the return of the remains of the 2,000th soldier killed in Iraq (a further 16,000 are reported wounded). Later in the month, and during November, campaigners marked the deaths of the Lancet-estimated 100,000 Iraqis; and at the end of November the British forces bodycount reached 98.
Almost three years after the invasion of Iraq began, homes and infrastructure continue to be damaged and vital services such as basic healthcare remain woefully…
The second trial of the “`Pitstop Ploughshares Five” dramatically collapsed in Dublin's Four courts last month after counsel for the Defence alleged the presiding judge had met George Bush in Texas in 1995, attended his presidential inauguration in 2001, and was invited by disgraced Senator Tom DeLay to attend the 2005 “coronation”.
The jury were dismissed by the judge after 10 days of evidence that included expert testimony from former UN Assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday…
On 24 November, six members of Military Families Against the War applied at the High Court in London for permission for a full judicial review of the government's refusal, last May, to order an investigation into the legality of the 2003 attack on Iraq and the subsequent UK military action there.
At the hearing - for which they had had to appeal for donations because they were refused legal aid (see the front page story in the November PN) - Judge Collins reserved judgement…
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…
There was no way I wanted to miss Robert Fisk's lecture in Stirling, so I was not critically put off by the irritating call notice which referred to him as the “revered foreign correspondent”.
“Sound”, “respected”, “influential” would have been fine but “revered” does rather take us into that stratosphere of adulation in which we kneel down and cast aside, like Pilgrim's bundle of sin, all our unworthy critical thoughts. The worry of course was not about Fisk himself, who I imagine…
On 8 Nov 2004, after more than two months of aerial attacks, the US began its second major assault on Fallujah, devastating the city and killing hundreds of civilians. Serious war crimes were committed, including the bombing of a health centre and a shoot-to-kill curfew. UK forces played an active support role, with hundreds of troops redeployed from Southern Iraq to form part of a "ring of steel" around the city.
Today, an estimated 100,000 Iraqis who fled the attack have yet to…
On 24 September tens of thousands took to the streets in London and Washington DC to protest at the ongoing occupation of Iraq.
In the US the turnout was unexpectedly high, as many used the opportunity to vent their anger and frustration at a catalogue of disasters foisted upon the people by the Bush administration.
Speaking after the event, US War Resister David McReynolds commented: "24 September will go down in history as a genuine victory. It was a moment when people all…
April 29: It's less than a week before the General Election, the legality of the Iraq war is looking shakier than ever after the Attorney General's original advice to the Prime Minister has been leaked to the media, so what story does then lead on that
