This, eighth in the series of SchNEWS annuals, follows a predictable formula laid down in its predecessors, and is predictably fantastic.
The standard compilation (of approximately 50 issues of the weekly Brighton-based SchNEWS newsletter, alongside longer features, interviews, cartoons, photos, and material from around the world largely ignored by the mainstream media) covering April 2002 to April 2003 is distinct from previous annuals in the coverage it gives to the anti-war movement. And inevitably so - as the annual's foreword points out: “This year something unique happened for SchNEWS - we covered the same story every week for over six months. That story, of course, was the war in Iraq.”
This theme makes the annual an invaluable resource in illustrating the size and global reach of the international anti-war movement.
More than simply showing what had been going on, SchNEWS wanted “to look at the range of tactics that were used and give people a chance to think about what was effective and what wasn't.”
They've certainly done a good job of getting the material together to facilitate this, including information on the history of Iraq, views from some of the school age people that organised massive protests against the war, pictures and updates of anti-war actions from around the globe and efforts to sabotage the military machine, and analysis of the issues behind the war.
With a list of hundreds of groups and resources at the back of the book to assist the armchair activist into getting up and getting on, the Annual is once again useful, entertaining and most of all, massively inspiring.
Buy Peace de Resistance at the PeaceNews online webshop, http://peacenews.info/webshop/ .