Written by three British-based scholars – a political scientist, a human geographer and a sociologist – Anti-War Activism is the first book-length academic analysis of the post 9/11 anti-war movement in the UK.
Focusing on six organisations – Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Faslane 365, Muslim networks, the Quakers and Justice Not Vengeance – the study is based on 60 interviews with activists, including Peace News editor Milan Rai and columnist Maya Evans.…
Though some of us may not fully appreciate it, media and communication systems (and the policies and subsidies that helped create them) should be a central concern for all activists. For example, without docile and generally compliant media it is difficult to see how the British government could have taken part in the disastrous and illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq – or survived the aftermath of having done so – or how it could continue to drive us at full pelt towards the cliff-edge of…
On 18 February, I represented the ethical internet service provider (ISP) GreenNet at an industry meeting on data retention. From 6 April, the government will be able to require ISPs to retain records for 12 months of every email sent and every website visited by their users. (Phone companies have been required to retain data about calls since October 2007.)
Explaining the justification for retaining internet data, a Home Office representative referred to the desecration of a grave…
The purpose of writing a letter is that it should be read. This may sound obvious but it’s important to consider your letter from the point of view of the recipient. Someone once rang the West Midlands CND office asking us to complain to the Birmingham Post because his letter hadn’t been printed. When he told us how long it was, we knew exactly why! Start positively, by thanking or praising, if you can (not always possible). Keep letters short, clear and concise – you want them to be read. Be…
From Afghanistan to Palestine to Minnesota, video activism has been proving its value over the past few months.
It was video shot on a local doctor’s mobile phone that forced the Pentagon to drop its claim that only seven civilians died in Nawabad.
The footage, viewable on the web (see p2), shows dozens of bodies lying in the local mosque the morning after the massacre.
Point-blank
In July, in Palestine, video recorded by Salam Kanaan, 17, showed the world a…
There are different ways of criticising the media. One method has just been demonstrated by Nick Davies, Guardian journalist, in his recent book Flat Earth News, which has received a mostly favourable reception in the industry that he excoriates.
There are three broad approaches to media criticism: conspiracy theory, internal debate and institutional critique.
The conspiracy theory accuses certain powerful individuals of acting outside their institutional…
In Britain and especially in Glas- gow there are fewer and fewer outlets for independent and radi- cal materials.
Corporate bookshops rule the roost and offer little in the way of counter culture, radical voices or local independent materials. The Radical Independent Book fair project (RIB) has come about to help redress this imbalance.
Launched in October 2006, RIB has been an attempt to make available not just books, but jour- nals, DVDs, CDs, T-shirts and a plethora of…
Suspicion of the media is widespread, not only in Britain. But is it really true that the mass media put out “propaganda”? If so, exactly how is this achieved in an open society like Britain?
How can we end up with distorted reporting when there is no government censorship to keep reporters in line? How could there possibly be “brainwashing under freedom” as some have suggested? In this series of columns, we will be exploring questions like these, trying to shine some light on the…
Hope for journalism.
While the purpose of the “First Casualty? War, Truth and the Media today” conference, held by Media Workers Against the War on 17 November, was to expose media's self-censorship and ponder its origins, the overwhelming theme of the gathering was hope.
I went to the conference seeking to understand the media's treatment of the finding by polling agency ORB that 1.2m Iraqis have died violently in the invasion and occupation of Iraq (reported in the last two…
When the polling agency ORB's findings came out [see last issue], I was sure that The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Times and other major papers would cry out in outrage and pronounce in thick, black ink across their respective front pages that 1.2 million Iraqis had died because of the Iraq war: a genocide revealed.
I expected fervent discussion, indignation and controversy across the entire world.
I was wrong: the poll was ignored.
Although it…
UKwatch.net has revamped its site, which brings together radical analysis of different aspects of British society, and relaunched their blogs, featuring Mike Marqusee, and PN editor Milan Rai. The US radical mega-site ZNet (http://www.zmag.org) is about to set a new benchmark for radical websites - including ZSpace! If you're online, don't miss it.
The enemy, this time, is the Beeb. Known worldwide for its fairness, its accuracy, its high standards of journalism; known at home for its current willingness to follow the government's lead on any significant story, its post-Hutton flaccidity, and for its paternalistic tone of voice.
Its intellectual conservatism can be ascribed to its status as one of Britain's leading institutions, after the city banks and the FCO. To a large extent it is staffed by people who will never see any…
Peace Journalism should give a fair and balanced report on conflict without forgetting to set the context in which the fighting takes place.
This is what News from the Holy Land, an educational video for media students, civil society groups and NGOs, tells us. Using the example of the Israel-Palestine conflict, Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick seek to show that in focusing on bloodshed and violence, standard news reports give British audiences the impression that the two…
“No Nuclear Hypocrisy - Report on UK Nukes,” read dozens of placards outside the BBC's Portland Place HQ on Thursday 9 February. CND called the midday protest to draw attention to the BBC's failure to report fairly on the nuclear non-proliferation obligations of all nations.
Speaking about BBC Radio 4's Today programme of 31 January, Bruce Kent, CND Vice-President, said, “Once again the BBC has run an item on Iran without any mention of the major breach by the `declared' nuclear…
Well darlings, the object of our desire this month is not a person, it's a concept. Oooh. An advertising concept. Aaaaah. It is - wait for it - “Beyond Petroleum”.
We've all seen it on billboards, we've seen it in magazines. It's the ever so post postmodern advertising solution that BP is using to convince us all that, oh no, they don't do oil any more. Oil is ever so last century darling. What use would the company formerly known as “Anglo Iranian” have for fossil fuels? It's all…
