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The Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow has been hailed, rightly, as one of the most important protests of our time.

Climate change is not simply one of the greatest threats facing future generations of humanity, it is one of the greatest threats facing the people of the Global South, whose homes and livelihoods are being destroyed today - as a consequence of the power and greed of Western corporations and states, and the apathy and irresponsibility of Western consumers.

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My name is Sonia, I am 12 years old and I am a Muslim. 5 years ago I formed a group called children against the war. When I was eight years old, I wrote a letter to Mr Bush and Mr Blair pleading for them not to start a war in Iraq because it would destroy Children's lives.

Today I feel angry and sad because the war has caused nothing but misery for Iraqi children. Thousands and thousands of children have lost their lives; Thousands have fled to neighbouring countries with their…

In this column we share readers' experiences of juggling the washing up, saving the world, childcare, studies, earning a living, creative expression and relationships. The rigours of activism place stresses on relationships of all kinds. It's fine to be aware that the personal really is the political, but how to act on that insight is seldom clear - to me at least.

My assessment of my own path is that I've been through a few stages (some of them running concurrently): I had a couple…

All morning my mind was flowing with thoughts about the Westminster Interfaith Pilgrimage my parents had told me about. Thoughts such as; `What will I learn out of it? What was going to happen? Why were people doing this?' I managed to answer these questions with not too much difficulty! I learnt about different religions. We walked four miles from church to church. People did it to find out about other religions. My favourite part of the pilgrimage was the train journey back home, not only…

Over 20 years ago I came down from St Albans by hired coach to take part in a demonstration at the US bomber base at Fairford. Now we live 15 miles from the base which became the focus of concerted anti-war protests after Iraq was attacked by “the allies” in 2003. Plus ca change eh?

Stroud lay/lies under the flight path of the US bombers bound for Iraq and local protesters were quick off the mark to set up camp at Fairford and The Powers That Be equally quick to bring the full force…

Since Wrexham Against War(now Wrexham Peace & Justice Forum) came into being in 2002, we've made a conscious effort to document what we do - through photographs, saved press releases, a website and our newsletter. Wrexham Peace and Justice News has now been going for four years, and the next issue will be our 21st.

We haven't always succeeded in our documentation project; for instance, keeping the photos up to date on the website in the days before photo-sharing…

This was an interesting assignment as my local group Hastings Against War just found a volunteer website maker to update our web page and needed to clarify what we wanted changed. We felt that an easy-to-remember domain address, an uncluttered home page with up-to-date contact information and notes on how to join in our events would help recruit new supporters, especially young people. So how have some other local groups fared with web sites? Bangor Peace and Justice…

“Our aim is to support activists in educating themselves in the issues which confront those struggling for peace and justice”.

Based in Brighton, the site is a worldwide news compilation service with the latest breaking news, archives and information sheets. This is an invaluable time-saving service for activists. Let these people do the trawling for you! Admittedly you are relying on their choice, but it would be hard to fault them so far: for example follow the Haditha hearings…

I have been studying the prints of Paul Peter Piech as part of my art course at Yale College this year. This is an extract from an essay I wrote for the course. I hope it inspires you to visit a Piech exhibition or find out more about his work.

Paul Peter Piech was a printmaker of international note. His work deals with powerful political and human rights issues. Piech's prints are designed to grab your attention and make you think. Piech worked mainly in linocut and wood-cut prints…

The British legal system has begun finally to re-consider the conviction of the two Libyans jailed for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which came down over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, causing the deaths of 270 civilians in all.

The suspicion at the time of the bombing was that the Lockerbie bombing might have been retaliation for the destruction of an Iranian civilian airliner, a year earlier, on 3 July 1987, by US sea-to-air missiles, causing the deaths of 290 civilians…

Congratulations!

After fighting their case through almost every court in the land, the B52 Two are not guilty and they richly deserve it!

In this issue, we see that in all these cases, there have been real diplomatic alternatives available, which had a genuine prospect for radically reducing conflict and violence. And in all of these cases, those with power have avoided peace. They have crushed negotiations by force (Britain in the Falklands), they have…

Twenty-five years ago the Falklands/Malvinas War was controversial in Britain for three main reasons.

One was a widespread belief that the war was fought by Margaret Thatcher's government to cover up their failure to anticipate an Argentine invasion. They were prepared to fight a war that would cost the lives of nearly a thousand soldiers, not so much to safeguard the lifestyles of less than 2,000 islanders as to prevent an electoral disaster.

Related to this was the bitter…

One wonderful thing about Jill Gough is her passion for peace. Volunteer national secretary for CND Cymru since 1991, and editor of its bilingual magazine Heddwch since 1994, Jill is an inspiring constant in the tumult of activism in Wales. She is one of the people who make things happen, and in 2006 was pivotal in Social Forum Cymru.
In 1980 Jill resigned as a deputy head teacher to start a family. The same year Britain made the baleful decision to permit deployment of US…

I have a friend who's daughter became a peace activist. She was sending emails back from Palestine, and this focused my mind on what was happening there.

When she returned she start ed selling Zaytoun products with the Olive Coop in Manchester. They were distributing Palestinian olive oil, soap, knickknacks, and organising tours to visit the producers.
I started using their olive oil as a way of positively supporting communities under threat. The sales help to sustain the…

The Arab League Peace Plan of 2002 is what was called the “Saudi Plan” in the US. It has just been renewed.

In 2002, the US and Israel simply dismissed it, and I don't recall media commentary. It is pretty much a version of the international consensus that was articulated clearly for the first time in January 1976 at the Security Council, in a resolution brought by the major Arab states, vetoed by the US (again in 1980). International isolation With the Security Council eliminated by…

Oxford people campaigned on all fronts against a dangerous, unnecessary and horrifically expensive Trident replacement.
Hundreds of Oxfordshire people, some of them more than once, contributed to the 365 day blockade of Faslane, the nuclear base in Scotland. Oxford people joined the monthly Block the Builder blockades at Aldermaston, where they build Britain's bombs. The Oxford for Peace group leafleted on new nuclear weapons many times on the Friday leafleting sessions. Two coaches…

14 May - This is not a retrial

For the sake of the jury and due process, the event we're attending is not to be referred to as a retrial.
Things do seem oddly familiar though. Are you sure we haven't been here before? Is this a groundhog I see before me?
Things got under way with the prosecuting QC, Mr Blair, treating us to a brief summary of the case against Toby and Phil. He described what they did-- from agreeing (conspiring) to go to Fairford, to cutting the fence and…

May Day is workers' day

The struggle for the eight-hour day which began in the 19th century (and which goes on, even now) involved strikes and demonstrations throughout the world, and a coordinated day of action on 1 May 1886. In a related demonstration three days later, in the Haymarket in Chicago, a bomb was thrown at the police, killing eight. The anarchist organisers of the demonstration and the speakers were then arrested and prosecuted for the murders, on the grounds that the bomb…

One of the most influential nonviolent actions of twentieth-century European history was carried out by men committed to violence -- the ten men of the IRA and INLA who fasted to death in British prisons in 1981, causing an earthquake in Irish politics.
5 May is the 26th anniversary of the death of the first hunger striker, Bobby Sands MP. This exchange centres on a new book by Dennis O'Hearn - Bobby Sands: nothing but an unfinished song - which has a different attitude to…

A friend of The Mole's who is even more down under than The Mole -- in Australia in fact -- has been doing some sums which could provide surprising ammunition to support the US president's current troop “surge” in Iraq.
Up to March, during a period with a monthly average of 160,000 US troops in Iraq, nearly 2900 of those troops were killed, giving a firearm death rate of around 60 per 100,000. During the same period, the firearm death rate for the inhabitants of Washington DC was…