Climate campaigners won an important victory at the end of January when multinational oil company Shell was ditched as sponsor of the annual Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine `Wildlife Photographer of the Year' exhibition.
The campaign against Shell's sponsorship of the exhibition was co-ordinated by direct action group Rising Tide and was part of its Art Not Oil campaign which seeks to end oil industry sponsorship of arts and culture. Art Not Oil used creative direct…
Not only did the Nepali democracy movement manage to effectively de-throne the hated King Gyanendra (see p4), but an historic ruling in December saw the Supreme Court legitimise gay rights in the Kingdom. The landmark judgement came after four activists from the Blue Diamond Society - Nepal's only organisation fighting for the rights of sexual minorities - filed a public interest litigation back in May 2007.
Not only did judges order the enactment of new laws protecting the rights…
America's largest annual gathering of peace and human rights activists took place last month when over 20,000 people demonstrated at Fort Benning - the US Army's training school for Latin American military and security personnel. Formerly known as the School of the Americas (SOA), it has been renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) although its role remains the same: providing training for the military officers who have gone on to commit human rights abuses…
After 22 years of debate, negotiation and hard work by campaigning groups, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has finally been approved by the UN General Assembly, by an overwhelming majority of 143 to 4, with 11 abstentions. The declaration recognises indigenous peoples' ownership of their lands, and affirms that they should not be moved without their free and informed consent.
In another long-awaited ruling - this time by the Supreme Court in the Philippines -…
Residents of the Palestinian village of Bil'in were celebrating last month after the Israeli High Court decided in favour of their petition calling for a change in the route of the illegal separation wall which encircles their village. The victory comes after 30 months of weekly nonviolent resistance actions by locals as well as Israeli and overseas activists. X At the beginning of September, two intrepid activists set off on an ambitious six-month journey through Europe in search of small-…
Despite gaining government consent to go ahead, the German-based chemical company, BASF, has abandoned its plans to carry out GM potato trials in Yorkshire. The decision comes just weeks after protesters staged an organic potato planting action on a site near Hull which was believed to be earmarked for GM.
Following recent media attention over the BAE affair and a significant campaign success when global publishing company, Reed Elsevier, announced it will no longer be organising…
The Bush Administration was dealt another blow over Iraq in April after three of its top generals turned down a new high-profile post tasked with overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The retired generals were approached by the White House but rejected the job, with one citing the chaotic way the war was being run as the reason for his decision.
Climate activists have once again been busy in the East Midlands area -- this time disrupting work at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-…
In Denmark, a group of citizens are preparing to challenge the legality of their country's participation in the invasion of Iraq.
In a historic case to be heard by the High Court of Eastern Denmark on 29 January,a group will argue that Denmark's decision to join the war was in breach of the constitution. Mean-while, in the US, where a recent poll found that only 54% of serving army personnel support the Iraq war, 1,000 active duty soldiers and sailors have joined peace activists in…
As the crisis in Palestine deepens, civil society groups in the UK have been drawing attention to the plight of the Palestinian people...using somewhat differing methods. As well as the 24 June boycott day, in which pickets and demos took place in 18 locations including Liverpool, Brighton, London and Manchester, the Pales-tine Fair Trade Association and Zaytoun - an ethical business selling Palestinian olive oil - and the Olive Co-operative, has launched “Trees For Life - Planting Peace in…
