Comment

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…

A number of groups offered training for G8 actions. This is the perspective of one trainer from one group: the Action Trainers Group - a loose collective of trainers from around the UK working since DSEi 2003 to provide training for mass actions and to develop direct action training in the long term in the UK.

b>In the old Resistance office in Washington DC, there used to be a sign on the door describing the politics found within. The Resistance is an organisation of young men who have returned their draft cards to the federal government and thus “non-cooperate

Possibly the best thing that can be said for travel as an educational experience is that it can give you added clarity about the state of your own corner when you return to it. Due to surface strangeness and increased alertness, things that go relatively u

Terrorist atrocities are a daily occurrence around the world. Bizarrely, a cutting from the 6 July Times was lying on the floor of the meeting room at Caledonian Road; found on 7 July, the headline read “The 28,000 victims of terrorism” and was a report o

Do you remember Mr Major's now infamous vision of British (English, surely) life? Spinsters on bicycles pedalling to evensong, warm beer and cricket matches. Claptrap of course; but if he'd gone the whole sentimental hog he'd surely have included county shows, annual carnivals and village fetes. He might even have mentioned their recruiting displays by pyramids of army dispatch riders on motorbikes or even fly-pasts by the Red Arrows. All indicators of a "nation at ease with itself".

…

There was a Parisian campaign to say “non” to the Olympics - which, surprisingly, got no coverage over here - as well as the (slightly reported) campaign by sensible people in London who oppose this corporate-promoting festival of nationalism and trib

April 29: It's less than a week before the General Election, the legality of the Iraq war is looking shakier than ever after the Attorney General's original advice to the Prime Minister has been leaked to the media, so what story does then lead on that

The leaders of the G8 countries (the eight most industrialised, wealthy and powerful countries) will meet at Gleneagles in Scotland on 6-9 July for discussion of international issues and to strengthen their relationships and appear for photo-shoots. These annual summits have become a focus for protests and actions, as activists try to unmask their hypocrisy and reclaim the agenda.

A number of actions and demos are already being organised about issues such as climate change, human…

It has been a month full of sharp reminders of how the military dominates our lives.

During the last week of April a group of activists peacefully blockaded the Defence Munitions Depot at Beith in Scotland (see PN2461). This huge depot has a workforce of 500, and its main work is to store, produce, test and issue a range of missiles (including Tomahawks) and torpedoes.

In an arcane twist, HMG contracts big arms companies like BAE Systems to do the manufacturing and these…

The Labour government may have received a good “telling off” at the polls last month but, even with their much-reduced parliamentary majority, they have wasted no time in setting out a controversial agenda for this term.

Through the Queen's Speech and the unseemly haste with which non-elected advisers - such as Andrew Adonis - were pushed through the back door into positions of influence, no-one can be in doubt about the authoritarian course this government has chosen.

The…

Hello my lovely ones, are you feeling full of vernal passion?

I hope so, cos this month's target for all your cupid's arrows is Dr John Reid. Bless `im. He's our beloved new defence secretary.

He knows a rogue elephant [shurely “element” ed?] when he sees one. They were in the intelligence services, briefing against Government in the “Iraq weapons row” apparently. As health secretary he was “a man on a mission”, although he is said to have greeted news of that appointment with…

The Mole has another tale to tell of the exploits of indefatigable peace campaigner Gwyn Gwyntopher.

If you've forgotten the last time Gwyn's name featured in this column, just think back: army tanks at Heathrow Airport in an officially convenient “security scare”; buckets of wallpaper paste hastily transported on the Piccadilly Line tube. Remember now?

The latest tale relates to a group called East London Against the Arms Fair, of which Gwyn is a key member. The…

Ceremonies to mark International COs' Day on 15 May are becoming more widespread in Britain, having taken place in at least seven cities this year. The day was established by War Resisters' International in 1982, and has since been a focus of anti-militarist events worldwide each year.

In Edinburgh, a ceremony involving both Green and Scottish Socialist MSPs included reading a list of Scottish COs who had suffered for their principles in the last two World Wars.

In the…

On 15 May -- International Conscientious Objectors' Day -- activists from more than 10 countries (Bosnia-Hercegovina, Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Israel,Macedonia, Spain, Serbia, Montenegro, USA) demonstrated in Thessaloniki against the treatment of conscientious objectors in Greece.

The demonstration started atthe monument of Grigoris Lambrakis -- a Greek anti-nuclear campaigner who was murdered by fascists linked tothe military at that precise location in 1963 (…

Sandwiched between International Conscientious Objectors' Day (15 May), and International Day for Children as Victims of War (4 June), is another opportunity for action: 24 May, International Women's Day for Peace and Disarmament (IWDPD).

This day began in Europe in the early 1980s, when hundreds of thousands of women organised against nuclear weapons and the arms race. Activists in the then-numerous women's peace groups declared the day in order to stimulate even more women's…

In Greece today, militarism manifests itself most visibly in the tens of thousands of young men who every year are obliged to perform compulsory military service.

Unlike most other EU member states, Greece still practises conscription, with the authorities demanding that all Greek males between the ages of 19 and 45 join the armed forces.

Greek men have declared their objection to compulsory military service since long before the right to conscientious objection was…

New moral conundrums (conundra?) for peace campaigners arrive for The Mole's attention. After last month's worries about the ethical (or not) sourcing of the material for military uniforms comes a sneaky suggestion from the Countryside Alliance.

The pro-hunting lobby are apparently talking with some of their rich land-owning supporters about ways of taking revenge on the government for its ban on hunting. They reckon that they could bring military training to a halt in many parts of…

“It's not racist to impose limits on immigration.” This catch-all election slogan from the Conservative party can, conveniently, be interpreted in several ways. As can Labour's rather ambiguous “our country's borders protected”. What are they talking about?

Apart from being grammatically challenged, both manage to say everything and nothing in one vague non-sentence. So ask the questions: why do we need to impose limits on immigration and who do our borders need protecting from…

The Blackaby Papers are a series of occasional papers on defence and disarmament issues in memory of Frank Blackaby, sometime president of Abolition2000UK. The sixth paper -- available now -- is entitled “The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: Rebuilding Confidence” and was written by Ernie Regehr, Director and CoFounder of Project Ploughshares. It is available free from http://www.abolition2000uk. gn.apc.org or for #2.50 by calling…