Recent articles

12 November was a Global Day of Action called by Egyptian climate justice groups to mark the COP27 negotiations. There were dozens of demonstrations in Wales, Scotland and England.

In London, the Climate Justice Coalition (CJC) had the bright idea of organising the mass painting (in Embankment Gardens) of large colourful banners to be carried on the local march.

On 12 November, the London march set off from behind the Shell building on the South Bank, Shell and other oil companies’ products being major contributors to global heating.

On 3 December, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) organised a day of action in solidarity with the people in Yemen and against the companies fuelling the war there, in the run-up to their legal challenge to British arms sales to Saudi Arabia, due to be heard in the High Court on 31 January.

Some events took place before the official day of action. On 2 December, there was a demo outside BAE Systems in Holyhead, on Anglesey, and, in Lancaster, Demilitarise Lancaster, Solidarity with Yemen and CAAT disrupted an arms company talk.

Palestine Action (PA) has claimed more successes (including eight acquittals) in its direct action campaign against the British subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, which supplies military drones to the Israeli Defence Force for use against Palestinians.

Defence procurement minister Alex Chalk confirmed on 24 November that Elbit Systems UK had been removed from a £160mn contract to deliver crew training for the new Dreadnought-class submarine that is scheduled to replace Britain’s Trident nuclear missile submarine force.

The British embassy in Israel will not be moving to Jerusalem.

During the Conservative party leadership contest in the summer, both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak expressed support for the move.

While prime minister, Truss ordered a review, but, on 2 November, a spokesperson for Rishi Sunak told the London-based New Arab news site: ‘There are no plans to move the UK embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv.’

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians had warned in October that it would seek a judicial review if the plan went ahead.

Thousands of people came to London from across the UK and around the world on 8 October to create a human chain around the Houses of Parliament, calling for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be freed.

The demonstration was called by Don’t Extradite Assange (DEA), which campaigns for freedom for Julian Assange, currently in Belmarsh Prison awaiting extradition to the US to face conspiracy charges for publishing secret documents revealing US war crimes in Afganistan and Iraq.

In November, there was a surprising development in relation to the Ukraine War, with pressure for a diplomatic solution coming from the US military (pressure that has been resisted fiercely by the civilian political leadership).

The New York Times reported on 10 November that the chair of the US joint chiefs of staff, general Mark Milley, argued in private top-level meetings for Ukraine to enter peace negotiations with Russia to end the war.