Two peace activists serving prison sentences in Koblenz, western Germany are allowed to leave the prison for an hour a day. On 6 August, Susan Crane (79) from the US and Susan van de Hijden (54) of the Netherlands spent half of their hour outside the local train station with a poster saying: ‘Hiroshima warns: abolish nuclear weapons now in the East and the West’.
The two Susans are in prison for refusing to pay fines resulting from protests at Büchel air base in Germany, which houses…
While the government response to far-right street violence around the country in August has been to promise more resources for public order policing, it is impossible to characterise the shocking wave of racist and anti-migrant attacks as ‘protests’.
Instead, what we have seen is terrorised communities and numerous anti-fascist counter-demonstrations called to defend them. Community and anti-fascist groups have come together to defend homes, businesses and places of worship, sometimes…
Just after our last issue went to press, five members of the climate direct action group Just Stop Oil (JSO) received long prison sentences for attending an online meeting to discuss nonviolent disruptive protest. Their 2022 Zoom call had been recorded by a Sun reporter and passed to the police.
Greenpeace UK’s programme director Amy Cameron condemned the sentences, saying: ‘What sort of country locks people away for years for planning a peaceful demonstration, let alone for talking…
On 20 July, two women were arrested at USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, protesting against plans to bring new US nuclear weapons to the base. Ginnie Herbert and Angie Zelter sat down and refused to move when police told them that they would not be able to deliver a letter to the base commanders. They were arrested for aggravated trespass at a ‘protected site’ under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (2005); the maximum penalty is six months in prison.
Angie and Ginnie were taken to…
The Israeli government has no desire to reach a ceasefire/hostage-release agreement with Hamas and is leading the Middle East into ‘a comprehensive, multi-front confrontation with no reasonable timetable for ending it’. That’s not some Western peace activist’s view; that’s the opinion of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, writing in an Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, on 25 August.
Olmert wrote: ‘Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want the hostages back. There is no chance…
On 15 August, the new solicitor general, Sarah Sackman, told the court of appeal in London that she would not be pursuing a case of contempt of court against Trudi Warner.
In March 2023, the 69-year-old retired social worker and Insulate Britain climate campaigner had held up a sign outside Inner London Crown Court saying: ‘Jurors, you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience.’
This April, the high court in London had thrown out an attempt by…
On 26 June, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange walked free from a US court on the Western Pacific island of Saipan, halfway between Japan to the north and Papua New Guinea to the south.
He had been released on bail from Belmarsh prison in London two days earlier as part of complicated plea deal negotiated by Australia, the US and Britain.
In Saipan, Assange pleaded guilty to one count of espionage and was given a sentence of ‘time served’, given his five years’ imprisonment in…
Since our last issue, Just Stop Oil has racked up five acquittals and seven convictions – and also claimed victory in their campaign to get the government to stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects. That is the policy of the new Labour government. Extinction Rebellion have a new prisoner, Amy Pritchard, as well as big plans for the end of August.
There seems to have been a large-scale pre-emptive police swoop, detaining 27 JSO activists on 28 June, as well as three high-…
In mid-June, there were false reports that US linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky had died.
In fact, Chomsky had been discharged from a Brazilian hospital to be cared for at home.
Chomsky, 95, suffered a massive stroke in June 2023. He was later transported by ambulance jet, to receive specialist care in São Paulo. This care enabled him to move out of intensive care, first to a regular hospital bed and then home.
Valeria Wasserman Chomsky told the Associated…
The British public want to ban arms sales to Israel by a majority of three to one, of those who have an opinion. That’s according to a Deltapoll survey carried out at the end of June for the online UAE news site, the National.
Worryingly, the poll also found that 36 percent of Britons thought Gaza ceasefire protests should not be allowed to go ahead in future, compared to only 41 percent who think they should be allowed. Freedom to protest does not have majority support, at…
As we go to press, we’re in the middle of a Youth Demand week of action, which they started by blocking the roads around Marble Arch in Central London on 13 July. This followed four eye-catching actions in June.
Youth Demand (YD) is a cross between Palestine Action and Just Stop Oil, calling for ‘an immediate two-way arms embargo on Israel and an end to all new oil and gas licences in the UK.’
YD says: ‘Until these demands are met, we will be in nonviolent resistance against…
Since last October, political speech and protest criticising the state of Israel has been policed ‘almost entirely as a potential “hate crime”’, according to a report published by Netpol at the end of May.
The testimony, evidence, statistics and media coverage gathered and analysed in In Our Millions reveals several other ‘worrying trends’ in the police response to recent Palestine solidarity protests in England and Wales, including evidence of racist and Islamophobic…
It is hard to keep up with Palestine Action, who have carried out over 35 actions since our last issue. The following is an incomplete list of their actions, mostly targeted at the British subsidiary of the giant Israeli weapons maker Elbit Systems.
On 9 June, around 20 branches of Barclays bank across England and Scotland had their windows shattered or painted with red paint in a joint campaign between Palestine Action and Shut the System, a new climate direct action group.
…
‘Israeli soldiers routinely executed Palestinian civilians simply because they entered an area that the military defined as a “no-go zone”.’ This was some of the horrifying testimony six Israeli soldiers gave to an Israeli magazine, +972, in July.
The six ‘paint[ed] a picture of a landscape littered with civilian corpses, which are left to rot or be eaten by stray animals; the army only hides them from view ahead of the arrival of international aid convoys, so that “images of people…
Unfortunately, the ‘Break the Siege’ effort by the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition was scuppered – probably by Israeli pressure.
As we reported last issue, the flotilla’s large cargo ship, the Anadolu (Anatolia), and its passenger ferry, the Akdeniz (the Mediterranean) were unable to sail to Gaza because Guinea Bissau removed its flag from them on 27 April.
No solution could be found to this problem. Hundreds of volunteers were sent home. The 5,000 tons of humanitarian aid the…
On 20 June, the supreme court in London set a powerful precedent affecting all future fossil fuel projects in the UK: it quashed Surrey county council’s decision to grant planning permission for 20 years of oil drilling at Horse Hill in Surrey, England.
The court ruled that the council had breached environmental law because it had not taken into consideration the greenhouse gas emissions that would come from burning the oil (probably for transport).
Up till now, only the carbon…
On 21 June, Fossil Free London dropped this large banner across a tower at Bodiam Castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, demanding that the National Trust, which owns Bodiam Castle, stop banking with Barclays, Europe’s biggest fossil-fuel funder since 2016. One of the National Trust’s core aims is to protect nature and climate.
On 9 July, climate activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) climbed on the roof of the county hall in Lewes to hold a banner saying: ‘ESCC: Which side are you on? Fossil fuels or climate action?’
On the ground, in front of the building, was a colourful and noisy Divest East Sussex (DES) protest featuring an ‘oil monster’ and a giant pair of cardboard scissors.
XR South East and DES, who had co-ordinated their actions, called on East Sussex county council (ESCC) to cut its ties…
On 26 June, a group of peace activists in Southampton blockaded the entrance to the Leonardo factory in the Millbrook Industrial Park, near the docks. The entrance was closed for an hour before police arrived and forced an end to the protest. Campaigners say the factory ‘produces parts for missiles very likely being used by the IDF to commit atrocities in Gaza, Palestine and the wider region’. Leonardo UK is a subsidiary of a major Italian arms manufacturer.
With the help of a small, dedicated team of volunteers, PN has raised £15,500 for Medical Aid for Palestinians, by giving away badges for a donation, mostly at the national Gaza marches in London – including on 8 June and 6 July.
All three badges are available on the PN website.
