With the help of their Glasgow Kiss friends in arms, the ever-wonderful Faslane Peace Camp people and friends, the newly-expanded Lampeter gaggle of Byddin Boncars Clowniad, the Welsh Rebel Clown Army, closed Faslane nuclear submarine base for five hours on 7 July as part of the Faslane 30 campaign to blockade the base for 30 days to mark the 30-year anniversary of the Faslane Peace Camp.
The action followed hot on the heels of the previous day’s academic blockade, where academics…
Some say the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA) is dead but, luckily, we don’t know it! Ever dutifool and never ones to shirk responsibility, we rose from our tombs to conduct another Big Shoe training camp for new recruits in Lampeter on the weekend of 16-17 June. What a feast of foolery, flashes of brilliance, fierce determination and fearless perseverance!
Lampeter hospitality and organising skills never fail and neither does their penchant (and stamina!) for having fun…
‘Not again, not ever!’
In Rhymni (Rhymney), the United Valleys Action Group are bracing themselves for another environmental campaign on behalf of local communities.
UVAG who, with the support of Friends of the Earth Cymru, have just defeated plans for a ‘monster incinerator’ in the area, expect the Miller Argent consortium to apply for planning permission for an open-cast coal mine at Nant Llesg on Merthyr Common.
Nant Llesg is very close to Miller Argent’s infamous Ffos-y-…
WISE Up for Bradley Manning is a grassroots network in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England (WISE) taking action for the young US military intelligence analyst who has been held by the US government for two years without trial.
Accused of blowing the whistle on US war crimes and revealing other truths the US would have preferred to keep buried, Bradley Manning has been tortured and denied his constitutional rights.
When US president Barack Obama, commander-in-chief of the…
Following showings in Cardiff and Swansea, the internationally-acclaimed film Robert Mugabe... What Happened? was screened at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on
20 May.
Prior to the film, Côr Gobaith, the local activist choir, sang a selection of African freedom songs for the gathering audience.
The film is complex and compelling, interweaving the story of Zimbabwe’s first 30 years with the personal journey of Robert Mugabe.
From much-admired, bright young Turk of the…
On 21 April, the first peace fair to be held in Tregaron in recent times celebrated the bicentenary of the birth of peace campaigner Henry Richard MP, whose statue stands in the town square.
Bruce Kent, the well-known CND campaigner, spoke about the importance of having peace movements all over the world and suggested that the existence of the European Union makes another war in Europe an impossibility.
Noted Welsh poet Mererid Hopwood reminded us that in Wales we host ‘the…
The White Book, which can be signed by anyone, contains a simple declaration: ‘Yr wyf i, drwy dorry fy enw yn y Llyfr Gwyn, yn ymrwymo i weithio dros heddwch yn y byd.’
‘By signing my name in the Llyfr Gwyn, I commit myself to work for peace in the world.’
PN spoke to renowned poet Mererid Hopwood, the first woman ever to win the bardic Chair at the National Eisteddfod of Wales (in…
On 11 March, anti-nuclear activists around the world mobilised against nuclear new-build and uranium-mining, marking the first anniversary of the start of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Many people surrounded the Hinkley Point site in England, while in Wales these protesters gathered on the Menai Suspension Bridge, making the point that in the event of a major disaster at Wylfa, on the north coast of Anglesey, it would be virtually impossible to evacuate the island.
…
On 17 March, a north Wales village, Y Parc, near Bala, whose local school is under threat became the first area to join a new alliance to lobby for the future of Welsh language communities, Cynghrair Cymunedau Cymru (the Alliance of Welsh Communities).
The launch was held during a day of protest in the village against Gwynedd council’s decision to seek to close Ysgol Y Parc.
The alliance is an initiative of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society),…
Jeju was named an ‘Island of World Peace’ by the South Korean government in 2005. Opponents have raised concerns over the environmental destruction of Jeju, which contains several UNESCO World Heritage sites, and its potential to escalate military tensions in the region.
Gangjeong villagers have been engaged in a five-year struggle, and 94% of Jeju islanders voted against construction of the base.
A popular protest slogan is: ‘Touch not one stone, not one flower’.…
The festival will involve music, comedy, poetry, performance, benefit gigs, presentations, visual arts, talks, discussions, debates, workshops, vigils and social events throughout Wales.
The festival takes place alongside the National Theatre of Wales production The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning by Tim Price which will be performed in three locations: Pembrokeshire, 12-14 April; Cardiff, 17-21 April; Flintshire, 25-28 April.
All performances will take place in schools,…
A group of 15 or so people who set up the Cwtch Community Centre in the empty Dolphin Hotel in Swansea city centre have vowed to carry on their work after being been evicted. In a story carried by the South Wales Evening Post, Rev, a member of Cwtch, said the group would carry on their work: ‘Cwtch has been providing a brilliant service to the community. When we open, people without homes take shelter here and elderly ladies come for coffee.’
The Dolphin Hotel has been unoccupied for…
Cymdeithas y Cymod, the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales, will hold their 2012 Vigil at the Talbot hotel, Tregaron, on Friday and Saturday, 23-24 March. The theme of this year’s Vigil will be Henry Richard, the ‘Apostle of Peace’. Almost exactly 200 years since he was born on 3 April 1812, we will meet in his home town to celebrate his work for peace between the world’s nations.
The Vigil will begin with dinner at 6pm on the Friday night, which will be followed by a talk by Gwyn…
Photo: PAWB
About 300 demonstrators braved the rain and gloom of a January Saturday afternoon to march through the streets of the small market town of Llangefni, on the Isle of Anglesey, in order to express their support for the Jones family of Caerdegog. These determined farmers are refusing to allow their land, which has been in their family for about 300 years, to be grabbed by Horizon Nuclear.
The broadening of support shown in the march was significant. As well as local…
UK Uncut activists brought a bit of cheer to Aberystwyth streets at Christmas, singing very special carols outside a number of deserving businesses. Those graced with their very own seasonal songs included Lloyds TSB, who splashed the cash on a £1.45m bonus for former chief executive Eric Daniels in 2011 – despite having been bailed out to the tune of £19.9bn by taxpayers in 2008. Tax avoiders HSBC and Boots as well as big-bonus-paying loss-makers RBS/HSBC were all serenaded with adapted…
