Features

With the highest rate of inflation anywhere in the world - currently 100,000% - the Zimbabwean economy has been in free-fall for several years, creating massive social unrest and chronic food shortages.

With elections due this month, and both the opposition MDC (Move- ment for Democratic Change) Party and the ruling ZANU-PF now split into two camps, the danger of escalating political violence is imminent.

At the heart of this conflict, the Fellowship of Reconciliation Zimbab-…

East Midlands climate change activists who managed to shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant for several hours in early 2007 won two significant legal victories in a Nottingham court in January.

In a trial which began at the magistrate's court on 14 January, the 11 activists (some defending themselves) were allowed to put forward an unprecedented legal defence, and to call as a defence witness an earth systems scientist who said the defendants' taking action attempting to make large…

If there is power in nonviolence, what are its effects? How are we to assess the impact of nonviolent direct action (NVDA)? After many hard-fought CIRCA campaigns, am I, my comrades and allies in any sense empowered?

Personally, I don't feel any significant political power has come my way: I don't feel any more in control; I don't feel any relaxation in the throttling grip of authority.

There have been moments of feeling psychologically empowered, of course.

This Easter Monday 24 March the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is holding a massive “surround the base” event at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston.

It will be a celebration of 50 years of campaigning for nuclear disarmament and a clear demand for an end to Aldermaston's continuing role as the beating heart of Britain's nuclear warhead production.

Each of Aldermaston's seven gates will have a theme of one of the decades, the '50s, '60s, all…

Recently, reading about Ukraine’s 2004 “Orange Revolution” – with its iconic tent-city occupation of Kiev’s Independence Square, the Maidan – my memory was sent hurtling back to the 2003 “Day X” protests in London on the day that Britain invaded Iraq.

Then, in what was probably the most dramatic UK protest against the war, thousands of schoolchildren left their classes to occupy the roads around Parliament as part of a national school strike involving scores, if not hundreds, of…

School Students Against War (SSAW) has been campaigning against the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan since the inspiring two-million strong demonstrations and student walkouts in 2003.

In that time we, young people all under the age of 19, have organised many successful anti- war actions, public meetings, demonstrations and events, as well as ensuring a vibrant, strong school student presence at every major demonstration.

SSAW's recent campaign against…

While UN nuclear inspectors report “good progress” on their “work plan” to clear up suspicions about Iran's past nuclear activities, the United States has been deliberately undermining Russian diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.

Meanwhile, urged on by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian government seems to be edging closer to a climbdown over its nuclear programme.

On 18 November, Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer who won the Nobel…

A new estimate by the US Congress's Joint Economic Committee puts the US cost of Iraq and Afghanistan wars at $1.7 trillion, almost double the sum the Bush administration has asked or received to finance the two wars through 2008.

Released by Democrats on 13 November, the report incorporates such expenses as medical care for wounded soldiers, interest on borrowed money and the impact on oil prices since the invasion, in addition to the funds necessary to sustain the occupation.…

In 2005, US Space Command published Strategic Master Plan: FY06 and Beyond, which boldly stated: “Air Force doctrine views air, space, and information as key ingredients for dominating the battle space and ensuring superiority. While our ultimate goals are truly to `exploit' space, we cannot fully `exploit' that medium until we first `control' it.” [Full document at www.space4peace.org ]

Space satellites were vital in the invasion of Iraq.…

Merida is built on ruins. One of the Roman Empire's most important cities, it sits in the dry south-west edge of Spain. For 29 years this city has hosted what must be one of the world's longest running anarchist schools Paideia. If Utopias are places which challenge us to close the gap between what is done and the impossible, then our visit to Paideia certainly did this. This world turned upside down, a school without bells or grades, where the children are in charge and where the…

Are the US, UK and others that are increasing the pressure on Iran genuinely concerned about nuclear proliferation? After all, the IAEA reports that there is no evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.

Many people feel that the US has another agenda. Cynicism about the stated concerns of the US is not surprising, given that the case for war against Iraq was based on lies about possession of WMD.

And if you look at the record of nuclear weapons states on…

Suspicion of the media is widespread, not only in Britain. But is it really true that the mass media put out “propaganda”? If so, exactly how is this achieved in an open society like Britain?

How can we end up with distorted reporting when there is no government censorship to keep reporters in line? How could there possibly be “brainwashing under freedom” as some have suggested? In this series of columns, we will be exploring questions like these, trying to shine some light on the…

International law does not ban uranium enrichment. In fact, countries which have signed the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) gain the `inalienable right' to develop nuclear power programmes for peaceful purposes.

The bargain made in 1968 was that non-nuclear weapon states would gain access to nuclear technology, so long as they did not use it to develop nuclear weapons (Article IV); and the nuclear weapon states would get rid of all their nuclear weapons (Article VI).…

Iran stands accused by the US of developing nuclear weapons, supporting global terrorism and insurgents and Afghanistan, and occasionally of suppressing democracy and human rights at home. How important are these in US policy do they genuinely drive Dick Cheney's manoeuvrings? What of Iran's new alliances with Russia and China, which have a significance far beyond Central Asia?
Iran's nuclear programme is a genuine source of concern, a potential threat to the aims of non-proliferation…

One of the most deeply educational books we've read is Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran by Roy Mottahedeh (Oneworld, reprinted 2000) which explores the texture of life in Iran as well as theology and history.

The best all-round book on the current crisis remains Andreas Malm and Shora Esmailian's Iran on the Brink (Pluto, 2007), reviewed in PN2485. Roger Howard's Iran in Crisis? Nuclear Ambitions and the American Response (Zed, 2004) and Iran Oil: The New Middle…

At the end of August, the Respect Unity Coalition MP, George Galloway, circulated a document to the party leadership, which seems to have precipitated the disintegration of the organisation.

Galloway's paper, entitled It was the best of times, it was the worst of times brought to a head long-simmering tensions within the party.

The document sharply criticised the Respect national office (largely staffed by SWP members) for the party's failure to fulfil its potential “in…

Hope for journalism.

While the purpose of the “First Casualty? War, Truth and the Media today” conference, held by Media Workers Against the War on 17 November, was to expose media's self-censorship and ponder its origins, the overwhelming theme of the gathering was hope.

I went to the conference seeking to understand the media's treatment of the finding by polling agency ORB that 1.2m Iraqis have died violently in the invasion and occupation of Iraq (reported in the last two…

A peace museum is a place where peace is given a space to grow, and visitors can learn about alternatives to the culture of war and violence.

Some people may think it would be unlikely that you would find a peace museum in Tehran, Iran, but they would be wrong.

Tehran is home to a thriving new peace museum with special exhibits on the evils of weapons of mass destruction, especially chemical weapons since Iranians know first hand the horror of their use. During the Iran -…

In a dramatic ruling, the High Court has given the go-ahead for a review of the Government's decision on BAE's Saudi arms deals.

The ruling came on 9th November, in response to a legal challenge brought by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House, an anti-corruption NGO. The judge, Justice Moses, insisted that the issue “cries out for a public hearing”.

He gave permission for a judicial review - a process by which a court considers if the Government has…

After a year of near-continuous protests at the Faslane submarine base, the international nonviolent direct action network Faslane 365 ended its campaign triumphantly on 1 October with 1,000 people blockading the home of Britain's Trident nuclear weapons force.

Before the final “Big Blockade”, the rolling protest had notched up over 900 arrests. This number crashed through the 1,000 mark by mid-morning, and by the end of the day the arrest total for the year stood…