‘Truth versus Power’ was the theme of a public meeting in Aberystwyth organised by CND Cymru on 16 February.
A packed room was inspired by Linda Pentz Gunter talking about the work of Beyond Nuclear, a US peace group she founded, particularly on a Green New Deal.
She explained how not even the smallest of nuclear reactors is safe or efficient and…
Karen Bradley, the British government minister in charge of…
On 14 March, charity Medical Justice persuaded the high court to order a halt to ‘no warning’ deportations.
The home office has a policy of giving targets just three days’ notice that they will be deported – and that the removal could happen at any time after that. This denies people the chance to prepare evidence or appeals.
The Medical Justice victory followed courtroom success for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) on 1 March.
The high…
On 6 February, the 15 anti-deportation activists known as the ‘Stansted 15’ were sentenced for nonviolently stopping a deportation flight carrying 60 people to West Africa in March 2017. They had already launched an appeal against their convictions on 7 January, but this has yet to be heard. Their sentencing sparked a counter-trial and direct action in London.
Melanie Strickland (35), Ali Tamlit (30) and Eddie Thacker (29) were given nine-month prison sentences, suspended for 18…
The first trials for people arrested on Extinction Rebellion (XR) actions were discontinued at the beginning of March. Christian Climate Action members Ruth Jarman (55) and Margriet were due to appear at Hendon magistrates’ court on 1 and 4 March after having been arrested many times during XR protests in London last autumn. (PN 2624–2625)
XR has held dozens of events in the last two months, and spread internationally, claiming more than 200 XR chapters worldwide.
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On 7 March, four Palestine solidarity activists were arrested at JCB’s world logistics headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent while lying on the road outside the depot. They had locked-on at 6.30am, joining their arms together in reinforced concrete arm-tubes. (They protected themselves from the rain with waterproof covers.)
The blockade lasted several hours while the company was unable to get deliveries in and out of…
On 20 February, seven peace activists climbed over the fence of the US military base of Kleine Brogel in the north-east of Belgium. Four were activists from Belgium’s Agir Pour La Paix (Act for Peace). Three were Green MEPs (Michèle Rivasi from France, Molly Scott Cato from the UK, and Tilly Metz from Luxembourg).
The seven symbolically blocked the F-16 runway to demand the withdrawal of around 20 US…
On 16 February, more than 300 activists (using 200 metres of black cloth) took over the British Museum in London in a performance protest against the sponsorship of an exhibition by BP, the oil and gas company. Protestors drew attention to BP’s role in the 2003 Iraq war and its contribution to climate change, holding a banner: ‘The British Museum – proudly sponsored by climate change.’
Imagine a network of schools across Wales actively embedding a peaceful ethos and applying peace-related learning activities to their everyday lives.
This is what the Wales Peace Schools Scheme is aiming to achieve. The project is a legacy of the Heritage Lottery-funded ‘Wales for Peace’ project which ran during the period of the centenary of the First World War.
The Peace Schools scheme has now been integrated into the global learning programme of the Welsh Centre for…
There is mixed news on one of Europe’s climate front lines, as activists have forced a German government commission to effectively rule out further coal-mining in the ancient Hambach forest near Cologne, while setting an inadequate (‘disastrous’) date for ending the use of coal in Germany.
Coal currently accounts for 40 percent of energy in Germany. In Britain, it’s around 10…
PAWB (People Against Wylfa B) have welcomed the news that the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi have suspended their project to build a nuclear power station at Wylfa, on the north coast of Anglesey.
PAWB say in a press release: ‘it will be a relief for all of us who worry about the future of our island, our country, our language, our environment and indeed renewable energy.’
Citing huge resources of renewable energy in Wales such as wind, tidal and solar, and great…
The world remains as dangerous as it’s ever been. On 24 January, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board revealed that its famous Doomsday Clock remained set at two minutes to midnight, ‘the closest it has ever been to apocalypse’.
The clock setting was designed to highlight ‘an unacceptable reality that remains largely unrecognized by the public at large: The future of the world is now in extreme danger from multiple intersecting and potentially…
On 23 January, there was a noisy ‘Stop arming Saudi’ protest outside an arms dealers’ dinner at the Grosvenor House hotel in central London.
There was a sit-down blockade of the hotel, as guests filed into the aerospace, defence & security group’s annual dinner. The guest of honour was former home secretary, Labour MP Alan Johnson.
Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said: ‘Many of…
The Stansted 15, who nonviolently stopped a deportation flight from taking off in March 2017, were found guilty on 10 December of breaching an anti-terror law. After nine weeks of trial (see PN 2624–2625), the jury found all 15 defendants guilty of intentional disruption of services and endangerment at an aerodrome under the 1990 Aviation and…
On 22 January, the high court ruled that four Christian peace activists who took action against the DSEI arms fair in September 2017 were actually guilty of highway obstruction at the ExCeL centre in East London.
Chris Cole, Henrietta Cullinan, Jo Frew and Nora Ziegler were all arrested (while locked-on to each other in pairs) on the ‘No Faith in War’ day of action during the run-up to the arms fair. On 7 February 2018, they were found ‘not guilty’ at Stratford magistrates’ court…
Genny Bove was born in London. Her father was of Italian heritage, her mother from Hull. She was 16 when she met Alan, forming a relationship that was to be an enduring one of 40 years. They moved to Wrexham where their daughter Libby was born in 1991. Libby shared with me her memories of being home-educated by Genny and of a fabulous travelling trip through Europe.
It is apt to let Jill Gough of CND Cymru sum up Genny’s enormous contribution to peace and justice:
‘…
Four Welsh Trident Ploughshares members who took part in a blockade of the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Burghfield appeared in court on 22 November (above). The three entrances to the Burghfield nuclear warhead factory were closed down at 6.30am on 24 October, preventing workers from entering. The four are part of a group of eight who will appear before Reading magistrates’ court on 23–24 April charged with ‘willfully obstructing the highway’.
Let’s be aware that our international friends might need our support in all sorts of ways during Brexit chaos.
Being convicted for peace actions may stop activists from the remaining 27 EU countries from continuing to live in the UK.
If they want to have ‘settled’ status and remain in the UK after Brexit, EU27 citizens will have to answer three ‘simple’ questions online, according to the home office.
People will be asked to: show who they are; prove that they…
On 24 October, Aberystwyth peace activist Mary Millington travelled to Shrewsbury with messages for Theresa May, Jeremy Hunt and other MPs, writes Lotte Reimer. The locally-collected letters and petitions demanded that Britain sign up to the UN’s Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Having picked up more signatures at stations along the way, handed over by local activists, Mary (pictured with her placard at Shrewsbury railway station) got on the ‘…
The campaign against two new nuclear reactors at Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey is gathering force on several fronts. In the immediate vicinity of the site, local people are beginning to appreciate the vast scale of the development (about the size of Holyhead, the biggest town on Anglesey), the extent of environmental damage involved, the social and cultural impact of the invasion. They’re also beginning to realise that few of the promised flood of jobs will actually be local.
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