Visiting the West Bank in 2003, one young Palestinian girl, above all others, touched my heart. This was Hiba, in the Aida refugee camp, who dreamed an impossible dream: she wanted to be a nurse. No income was coming into her home, so college fees were totally out of the question.
When I came back to Glasgow, I helped to found the Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign (GPHRC), a grass roots solidarity campaign to support Palestinian students.
As a result of the GPHRC’s…
Edinburgh’s refuse workers are currently in dispute with City of Edinburgh Council over “modernisation” plans that would see them lose £300 a month in wages. They are conducting a work-to-rule, which means no overtime. There have been reports of bully-boy tactics by the council, including the suspension of workers who have spoken out.
Council tax payers will be footing the bill for an estimated £40,000-£50,000 spent to date on importing untrained “bin men”, recruited and managed by…
This year, the number of school leavers applying for university places rose by almost 10%. But what of those who don’t have the qualifications needed to ride out the recession at college? In July, it was reported that there has been an increase of 366% in Scottish military recruitment with the number of Scots joining the army rising from 27 in the first quarter of 2008, to 97 in the first quarter in 2009. You don’t need to pass exams to join the army as no formal qualifications are required…
Since Climate Action Scotland (see PN 2513), the camp at Mainshill Wood, site of a proposed opencast mine in Lanarkshire, has continued into its third month with the support of the local Community Council.
At the camp, Beth told me how the local community is particularly concerned about the cost of opencast coal mining to public health, in an area that already has three mines. There is evidence of strong linkage between opencast mining and asthma, as well as increased cancer rates…
Edinburgh, Glasgow and Strathclyde students ended occupations, after winning demands to fund scholarships, disinvest from military industries and boycott Israeli companies including Eden Springs water. These actions were part of a wave of over 20 student occupations across Britain.
Edinburgh students started their action on 10 February, just as the Glasgow occupation finished, and were able to end their occupation of the University’s George Square Theatre on 16 February.
On…
Scottish CND has succeeded in obtaining copies of two risk assessments on the dangers incurred if there should be a major accident involving a Trident submarine in the shiplift at the submarine base at Faslane.
The reports, undertaken by the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), date from 2000 and were requested by CND in 2007. Figures have probably been “redacted” (removed) from the documents. One of the reports contains diagrams illustrating sequences of events which could lead to…
On 29-30 November 2008, Edinburgh Anti-Militarists hosted a gathering to build momentum against the NATO Parliamentary Assembly taking place in 2009.
What came out of this was a UK-wide network of anti-militarists, committed to mutual aid and a joint effort to shut down the NATO assembly with direct action.
Bringing together
When we started putting together an agenda for a gathering for opposing NATO in the coming year, a larger purpose became obvious.
We…
The Unity Centre is tiny – the opposite of a Tardis – a corner shop space crammed with people, computers, filing systems, sofas, chocolates and a whole lot more. It is unique because of how it is organised, what it does and how it came into being. Unity Centre volunteers Jane and Phill helped me to understand more.
The Centre’s origins can be traced back to the 2005 anti-G8 mobilisation in Scotland, where one of the focuses was the Dungavel detention centre and the No Borders campaign…
On July 15th, Zimbabwean trade unionist Mike Sozinyu spoke to a meeting hosted by Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees, at the Scottish TUC offices in the city.
Mike is part of the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions and is active in building a trade union movement independent of the Zimbabwean government. He stressed the importance of hearing voices of solidarity from British workers, as these could not be ignored by Mugabe, who dismisses criticism from the UK government as mere…
The Scotland Zimbabwe Group was founded in 1996: the group seeks to develop social, cultural and human rights awareness between Scotland and Zimbabwe. This is identified in its constitution as being done through education, networking and raising funds for particular projects (currently a Murambinda Hospital outreach programme in Buhera, and Nhimbe Trust, a Theatre for Development organisation in Bulawayo).
The SZG is independent of any government or political party and is keen to…
Faslane 365 – the year-long blockade of the Faslane nuclear weapons base finished on 1 Oct last year. However as the wheels of justice turn so exceedingly slowly, the resulting court cases are still trundling through the district court in Helensburgh.
It’s a good job that of the 1,150 arrests the Procurator Fiscal (PF) chose to take only 75 prosecutions.
Initially the PF, Andrew Miller, instructed the police to hold people overnight so that he could decide whether to bring…
On 7 May, I represented myself at Helensburgh District Court, facing a charge of “breach of the peace” at the Faslane 365 Big Blockade, 1 October 2007.
The Procurator Fiscal (PF) said, wrongly, that I was on the road, blocking traffic. Surprisingly, the two police witnesses confirmed I wasn’t on the road.
But the PF (equivalent to Crown Prosecution Service in England/Wales and the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland) was allowed to change the charge half-way through…
Our demonstration in November 07 was able to use the slogan: People and Parliament Against Trident.
We are operating in a new dimension. In the past we have had local authority support (and still do) but now we have the support of a legislature and can work cooperatively with it. Scotland's For Peace brings together peace movement organisations with the main churches, trade unions and other groups in Scotland. Substantial working coalitions have been built and this has strengthened…
This was the key message from a conference on "Trident, Trade Unions & Scotland's Economy" jointly held by the Scottish Trades Unions Congress and Scottish CND.
The cost of the Trident replacement won't come from existing Ministry of Defence budgets. Funds will be redirected from elsewhere, which means cutbacks in essential services. UK-wide, up to 30,000 public sector jobs are expected to be lost.
Of these, 2,500 will be lost in Scotland  more than the number of jobs…
Two graffiti protestors were overwhelmed by a crowd of well-wishers when they arrived for their trial at Edinburgh sheriff court on 9 January. Appalling weather conditions failed to prevent more than a hundred supporters from turning up give their support.
Helen John and Georgia Smith were found guilty of defacing the High Court building in Edinburgh. They used black paint to write “ban cluster bombs” and “£76 billion for genocide” on Remembrance Day 2006.
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