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AWPC is a women-only anti-nuclear, anti-war group based around a monthly peace camp at the Atomic Weapons Establishment(AWE) Aldermaston, the UK's nuclear weapons factory. Women of all ages are involved, from 18 to 80, who oppose nuclear weapons in particular, and war and militarism in general. The camp(aign) is nonviolent, and likes to take direct action. Camp women are also involved in Nukewatch, which tracks nuclear weapons convoys deployed to Coulport in Scotland, and other military…

In October, the US marked the return of the remains of the 2,000th soldier killed in Iraq (a further 16,000 are reported wounded). Later in the month, and during November, campaigners marked the deaths of the Lancet-estimated 100,000 Iraqis; and at the end of November the British forces bodycount reached 98.

Almost three years after the invasion of Iraq began, homes and infrastructure continue to be damaged and vital services such as basic healthcare remain woefully…

On 5 December, ten anti-Trident activists were each fined a total of £300 by a Scottish Sheriff who takes a dim view of people not doing exactly what the police tell them on every occasion. The activists were in bother for being the crew of a large model nuclear weapons submarine which blocked the street outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on 10 March.

The ten were accused under the Roads (Scotland) Act with placing an obstruction in the roadway without reasonable…

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Smash EDO!

The campaign against weapons makers EDO MBM, based in Home Farm Road, Brighton, began in spring 2004.

Its objective is to nonviolently close down EDO's arms factory or, alternatively, convert its premises to civilian use. Despite having an arms company in the area Brighton Council receives funds as a “UN Peace Messenger city”.

There have been regular noise protests outside EDO since the campaign began, and several…

There was no way I wanted to miss Robert Fisk's lecture in Stirling, so I was not critically put off by the irritating call notice which referred to him as the “revered foreign correspondent”.

“Sound”, “respected”, “influential” would have been fine but “revered” does rather take us into that stratosphere of adulation in which we kneel down and cast aside, like Pilgrim's bundle of sin, all our unworthy critical thoughts. The worry of course was not about Fisk himself, who I imagine…

This year's CND conference took place close to the heart of London's poshistani shopping district -- the West End. Within two minutes of arriving, we had discovered the first two rules of the venue we had managed to break (no bicycles,no gaffa tape, blimey, good job we ditched the dog!). You can't take some people anywhere.

However, the morning quickly moved into the usual round of resolutions and voting, with very little to report. The resolution opposing Trident replacement was…

The Mole spotted something strange on the NATO website recently. Under “What's New?” were several childishly ill-drawn, but quite recognisable, versions of the famous Nuclear Disarmament symbol.

No, there hasn't been a revolution in Brussels which no-one noticed (can you name any famous Belgian revolutionaries?). It's just NATO up to its normal Orwellian tricks - celebrating this year's UN International Day of Peace. It ran a design-a-greeting-card competition at its international…

The issue of repressive legislation is becoming a regular feature in PN's editorial and comment section. However, we make no apology for banging on about it, when current and proposed measures have such a profound impact, not just on how protest is viewed and policed, but also on how the wider public - and we ourselves - perceive our identity, power and actions in opposition to the inherent violence of government and corporations.

October saw the government…

Education for peace is being talked about in Scotland again. There has been a debate in the parliament on the topic and there is now a cross-party group on a Culture of Peace.

Shortly a study done by Arthur Romano of Bradford University will map what is being done around the country . In respect of mediation and conflict resolution there has been a lot of activity for some years now, both in schools and communities. Among many examples there is an established project in Inver-clyde…

Obscured by the sheer number of stories of personal and community tragedy and the recriminations against the Bush administration and federal agencies, there is an important story of grassroots organising, human solidarity and direct action in response to the hurricanes which battered the US Gulf states in recent weeks.

While law enforcement agencies and the military concentrated on wielding their hardware against their own citizens, small groups of ordinary people were gathering and…

I've always liked Shelley's life: its passion, poetry and politics.

When he went to Oxford he and his friend Hogg immediately set about writing a pamphlet titled The Necessity of Atheism. Shelley noted that "my mother fancies me on the High Road to Pandemonium" and she was proved right. Their pamphlet duly set the Master of their university college by his devout ears and he summarily expelled the pair of them. Thus, at age 19,Percy Bysshe Shelley's life was launched upon the…

Tell Me Why? Yes my darlings, today we're looking at Bob. Not Bob the Builder, not Bob Mugabe, but that tousle-haired wee sprite of a man, Bob Geldof.

Remember when, as a young man, he told ol' Thatch a thing or two about grain surpluses? My, how he's changed. More recently he's been seen hanging out with some dodgy characters, David Frost, Tony Blair.

In with a bad crowd, his radical roots aren't showing a bit as he schmoozes his way from the White House to Downing Street. He'…

Many people know how the actor Kevin Bacon has, on account of having been in such a range of films, given birth to the Bacon Number. This measures the degree of separation of different actors, in terms of who has appeared in a film with someone who's appeared in a film with someone who's ... etc. The reference point for these measurements is how many links it takes to connect an actor with Kevin Bacon.

What is less well-known is the Erdo"s number. The late Paul Erdo"s - unfortunately…

Founded in 2004 in response to the Government's intended introduction of compulsory registration, fingerprinting and lifelong tracking of all UK residents by means of a centralised biometric database, NO2ID brings together individuals and organisations from all sections of the community and seeks to ensure that an informed case against state identity control is put forward in the media, in the corridors of power and at grassroots level.

NO2ID is supported by a growing number of…

“The sand of the desert is sodden red The gatling' s jammed and the colonel dead The river of death has brimmed its banks...This they all with a joyful mind Bear through life like a torch in flame And, falling, fling to the hosts behind `Play up! play up! and play the game!'"
Henry Newbolt (1862-1938) Vitai Lampada.

"Sport is an unfailing cause ofill-will [and] international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred"
George Orwell (1945) The…

I must love the questions themselves, as Rilke said, like locked rooms full of treasure, to which my blind, and groping key, does not yet fit. (Alice Walker from "Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful")

Some years ago former UK government minister Chris Smith wrote in the New Statesman about the joys of hill-walking in Scotland as an escape from politics. My first reaction to the article was to share in his pleasure -- but soon enough the question hit me: How in the…

Having worked as Editorial Assistant at Peace News for a year now, I've witnessed the hard work and dedication that goes into every issue. I've also observed the quiet way in which one or two ideas for stories will transform into a whole paper full of news. With Ippy taking a well deserved break this month, I fretted over where I would find stories to fill the pages of PN. Like others, I had underestimated the peace movement. Every week, groups of concerned citizens are taking…

Many of us at 5 Caledonian Road - and many other groups working for a better and war-free world - enjoyed the real privilege, comradeship - and challenge - of working with our good friend Howard for the past forty years.

Not for him the public status and esteem that many lesser people sought. For all his experience, knowledge and wisdom, he was always self-effacing and unassuming.

Yet in his loyalty, commitment and caring for the world he was a truly great man. He was great in…

Robin Cook's death has brought forth many tales, and the peace movement has some to tell about him too. For instance, he first entered parliament at the time the Campaign Against Arms Trade was founded in 1974, and showed that he was clearly starting out with a properly disrespectful attitude to the place. When the then CAAT staffer tried to contact likely MPs to generate some interest in the new campaign, the first response was Robin Cook's - maybe the CAAT archives still have the…

It is one of the ironies ofmodern history that some one looking for a safe place to live in the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" might today choose the capital of Northern Ireland over the capital of England (and perhaps even more ironic that the British government looks set to make some of the same mistakes it made in Northern Ireland thirty-odd years ago). However a quick glimpse at recent newspapers in Northern Ireland will show you that life has not been transformed…