‘We have little mini-successes and we celebrate them because we need to; otherwise we’ll go stark raving mad,’ New York activist Maura Stephens said during a Peace News round-table discussion via video chat on 17 April.
During the conversation, two US and two British anti-fracking activists compared how their movements have organised, and brainstormed tactics for fighting ‘hydraulic fracturing’ for oil and gas in the future.
Stephens thinks organisers need to reflect on what is…
An industrial truck creeps down the road towards the gate, held up by 35 slowly-walking individuals. It could take up to two hours for the driver to arrive with equipment necessary to keep operations moving at IGas Energy’s Barton Moss fracking site just to the west of Manchester.
‘That happens every day. That’s happening right now, as we speak,’ Robbie Gillet of Frack Free Greater Manchester said in an interview, with sounds of a…
‘I think we may be about to get steamrollered.’
Fellow activist Emily Johns and I had just returned from a packed public meeting in Crowhurst, the small village northwest of Hastings that would be severely affected by the planned Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR). In the final evaluation the participants had been near-unanimous in saying how energised they felt by the meeting. One man even said that he’d never felt more optimistic about our prospects for stopping the road.
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For those who know the valley – and the smaller valleys that feed into it – you will already appreciate the peacefulness of the places, and a sense of remoteness that is utterly amazing considering that just over the hill is a population of 140,000 people.
You'll also know that the valley contains records of human habitation going back 4,000 years, with evidence of bronze age settlements, Roman pottery and Saxon trackways. The valley was certainly part of the theatre of…
At the end of September, a new local campaigning group calling itself 'Combe Haven Defenders' staged a weekend camp on the site of the proposed Bexhill-Hastings Link Road on England's South Coast. The temporary camp brought together 200 people with a shared concern for saving the valley and a willingness to explore the possibilities for action.
It also attracted a lot of media attention, including the Sunday…
In Ireland, the Rossport Solidarity Camp has had a busy summer, with regular blockades of Shell’s efforts to complete the next section of their Corrib Gas Project. During a week of action in July, Shell managed to complete just 40 truck movements – as opposed to the expected 159 every day. The project is already a decade late and three times over budget.
The recent Israeli onslaught on Gaza and Lebanon has been conducted with the help of weaponry made in Brighton. In the last months, Israel has engaged in an illegal assault on the civilian population of Gaza, and has invaded Lebanon killing hundreds of Lebanese civilians. These are war crimes under international and English Law. Israel could not carry out these acts without the support of foreign corporations. We aim to “bring the war back to the factory floor”.
Smash EDO regularly…
About 200 local trade unionists and anti-fascist campaigners marched behind the Cambria Drum Band through Wrexham town centre on 12 April in a lively and good-natured protest against the presence of the British National Party (BNP).
The BNP has targeted the town, which has seen an influx of migrant workers in recent years. The far-right party has seven candidates in the 1 May local elections.
After the march, which was well received through the town, the Miners’ Institute was…
The ‘Wales Peace Festival 08’ took place in Bangor over the weekend 18 – 19 October. Organised by Bangor and Ynys Môn Peace and Justice Group, the event produced inspiring proposals for an enhanced culture of peace. Speakers included former Guantanamo kidnap victim Moazzam Begg, MEP Jill Evans, Peace News editor Milan Rai, Greg Muttitt from the Hands off Iraqi Oil Campaign, and Dr Ambrose-Oji discussing the effects of climate change on Africa. Stephen Thomas of the Welsh Centre for…
Supporters of the People Before Profit Charter (PBPC) held a protest on Queen Street in Cardiff on Halloween. Protesters called on the government to bail-out people, not just banks.
“The protest aimed to shine at least a lantern of light on what the banks have been doing with our money!” said Adam Johannes, one of organisers.
“Since the start of the credit crunch,” he continued, “British banks have been given or loaned almost £500 billion pounds of our money. We are told this…
On 8 September, the Fellowship of Reconciliation commemorated “the burning of the bombing school” with a protest against the proposed St Athan military training academy.
The burning of the bombing school took place at Penyberth near Pwllheli in 1936. Ignoring the objections of the people of Wales, the British government developed an RAF bombing school on a site of particular importance in Welsh literary culture.
When the bombing school was set on fire, Plaid Cymru members…
On 25 April, campaigners from all over Wales took part in a demonstration against plans to build a military academy at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan. Courses at the proposed academy will train any military or security personnel who can pay. St Athan will be an institution whose purpose is to profit from violence and war.
CND Cymru is particularly concerned that those training for nuclear warfare will do so in our nuclear-free nation.
Chair of CND Cymru, Jill Evans, said…
Anxieties and demands in connection to the financial crisis and the government’s so-called “recapitalisation” of the banks were voiced in Edinburgh on 24 October.
A small crowd gathered in the gloaming outside the headquarters of HBOS, formerly the home of the Bank of Scotland. The building features prominently on the Edinburgh skyline, topped with a golden female figure that appears to be juggling a pair of doughnuts.
The gathering included Scottish Socialist Youth, Praxis…
Morning vigils are being planned to take place during parliamentary sittings up ’til the end of 2008. The aim is to maintain awareness amongst MSPs about Trident replacement by creating a presence at the entrance to the Scottish Parliament.
Following the decision of the Scottish Parliament in June 2007 not to replace Trident, a Scottish Parliament working group on Trident replacement was set up to take this further.
The group, chaired by Bruce Crawford MSP, (see photo)…
