International Conscientious Objectors’ Day, 15 May, was marked by four events in Britain. At the CO Commemorative Stone in Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, London, Norman Kember, post-WW2 CO and more recently a hostage in Iraq, spoke, before white carnations were laid to symbolise 70 named COs from countries around the world and over the past century.
Similar commemorations were held in Peace Gardens, Bath Row, Birmingham, on 11 May, and in the Peace Garden, St Peter’s Square, Manchester, on 18 May.
On 17 May, the Peace Pledge Union held an Open Day for its CO Project at its offices in north London. Material on display ranged from an illustrated autograph book of WW1 COs housed in the Dartmoor Prison building to an Oxford Prison Diary on paper marked “Government Property” and intended for posterior rather than cerebral purposes.
The PPU is recording the names of British COs (6600 so far). New names are welcome: 020 7424 9444; archives@ppu.org.uk