The brother of famed anti-Taliban guerrilla leader Ahmed Shah Massoud – who was assassinated days before the 9/11 attacks – told the Guardian: “This absolutely shows that peace with the Taliban is dead ... It doesn’t work. It can’t work.”
Others were less hasty to rush to judgement. For example, former EU envoy to Afghanistan Michael Semple – a world-renowned expert on the Taliban – noted that the assassination was “directly contrary” to the moderate tone recently adopted by the…
The Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) analysed 3,771 NATO press releases over nearly two years (1 December 2009–30 September 2011). They concluded: “violence and disruptive incidents [at the hands of NATO forces] remain a constant presence in the lives of many [Afghans], particularly in provinces or districts with largely rural populations.”
Moreover, “[g]iven the tendency towards non-specificity of numbers, the actual total of those killed or captured is likely to be higher” than…
The UN assistance mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) interviewed 379 randomly-chosen detainees in 47 facilities around the country between October 2010 and August 2011. Of these 324 were being held regarding offences related to the war. UNAMA found compelling evidence that:
46% of interviewees being held at NDS facilities had been tortured during interrogation; officials at the provincial NDS facilities in Herat, Kandahar, Khost, and Laghman, as well as at the national facility of NDS…The 1 October Glasgow march and rally against the cuts began and ended in rain of biblical proportions. None escaped the deluge as banners sagged, soaked within minutes of being raised, and placards (many hand- drawn) disintegrated in the hands of their creators. And, annoyingly, all this at the end of a week of remarkable warmth and sunshine!
The mobilisation was a notably diverse one. Besides the Scottish TUC, civic society was represented by a range of groups from the leftist…
The continued resistance to cuts and a wider protest against global economic injustice and the financial system has been expressed through occupations in Scotland’s main cities.
The occupations were initiated on 15 October, International Day of Action against Austerity and War. In Edinburgh, the St Andrew’s Square occupation is situated at the heart of Scotland’s financial centre, right next to the Bank of Scotland.
Meanwhile, Occupy Glasgow is sited in George Square.…
The weekend of 14-17 October saw the delectable women of Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp descend on Faslane, home of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system. The theme of the invasion was “Domestic Extremists At Large” and they did her majesty’s Royal Navy a service by closing off the North Gate of Faslane naval base for a few hours on Saturday 16 October and giving the Ministry of Defence a much needed lesson in domesticity!
A few of us from the Faslane Peace Camp joined our sisters…
Peace parliamentarian
Jill Evans MEP has been typically busy in the European Parliament, campaigning for peace. On 27 September, the parliament voted on rules governing the export of dual-use items – goods and technology with both civilian and military uses.
Jill criticised the outcome: “The rules won’t provide necessary safeguards to prevent the misuse of exports with a potential military use.”
On 28 September, Jill called on the EU member states to support international…
You wouldn’t think a demo against nuclear new-build would have a problem with solar radiation. But that’s what happened for members of Côr Gobaith (Aberystwyth) who went to the Hinkley Point blockade on 3 October. We spent much of the day flattened against the hedge in a thin shade zone, too hot to protest. However, this unseasonal heat-wave demonstrated both the availability of renewable energy sources and the growing need to shift to their use in the face of climate chaos.
Wales…
He has been on hunger strike since 23 August in protest at his conviction in March for violating article 184 of the Egyptian penal code, which criminalises any criticism of the military.
Maikel had published an article exposing the role of the military during and after the revolution, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison in a trial in front of a military court and without a lawyer. His appeal was scheduled for 4 October, but then adjourned because a file was missing.…
The final plenary of the Rebellious Media Conference at Friends House
Panel left to right: Taesun Kwon, Becky Hogge, Nadje al-Ali (turning to) Noam Chomsky and Michael Albert. The banner in the background refers to legal threats by international PR and production company “Radical Media” that forced a change in the conferencThe RMC opened with a keynote speech by US media critic Noam Chomsky, who was introduced by his long-time friend and radical media pioneer Michael Albert, co-…
The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (PRSRA) which received royal assent on 15 September enshrines the latest attempt to try to prevent continuous protest in Parliament Square, in particular Brian Haw’s 10-year old peace camp, which continues after his death.
Part 3 of the PRSRA repeals the sections of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) that required police authorisation for political protest and banned the use of loudspeakers in an area including…
He had been convicted of “wilful disobedience” after he asked not to participate in the training as he had applied for conscientious objector status. He was given 7 months detention, stripped of his rank as leading medical assistant and dismissed from the service.
On 13 October three judges sitting at the court of appeal rejected the challenge to his conviction and also dismissed his appeal against his “manifestly excessive” sentence. Last December he applied for dismissal on the…
On 15 September, the house of commons repealed the provisions of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) restricting protest around parliament. Its replacement, the new Police and Social Responsibility Bill, which has not yet come into force, appears to prohibit 24-hour protests in Parliament Square. Tents, sleeping bags, structures and any items associated with maintaining an ongoing presence seem to be illegal the square.
Camp hit
On 31 August, police dismantled…
On 26 August, the metropolitan police in London obtained the home secretary’s consent to ban marches in Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Islington, Waltham Forest, and Newham for one month from 2 September. The police stated that the decision had been based on “specific intelligence and information which has led us to believe that serious public disorder, violence and damage could be caused by… marches in these areas.”
The implication was that the ban was a reaction to plans by the racist…
Pacifist blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad has been on hunger strike in an Egyptian prison since 23 August. Arrested on 28 March on charges of “insulting the military” for publishing an article exposing the role of the military during and after the revolution, he was sentenced to three years in prison on 10 April.
With his hunger strike, Maikel Nabil Sanad demands his release from prison. An appeal hearing has now been brought forward to 4 October, but his friends and supporters fear that he…
There were 1,252 arrests during a fortnight’s protests in Washington DC against a proposed 1,700-mile pipeline designed to ship more than 830,000 barrels a day of oil from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to Texas, USA.
Sit-ins were held outside the White House in Washington DC from 20 August to 3 September, leading to the arrest of top climate scientists, Texan and Nebraskan landowners, Canadian First Nation leaders, former White House official Gus Speth, NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen…
Along with, I’m sure, everyone in Wales and many people beyond our borders, I would like to pay tribute to the four miners who died in a flood at Gleision colliery near Pontardawe: Charles Breslin, Phillip Hill, Garry Jenkins and David Powell. My heart goes out to their families, friends and community.
Bethan Jenkins, Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales West, said: “The very real and cruel way in which the families were robbed of these men is something that I think it will take the local…
On 9 July, 17 enthusiastic young cyclists from Dyfodol (The Welsh Youth Forum for Sustainable Development) set off from Corris in Gwynedd on a five-day, 160-mile bike ride to Cardiff.
Funded by The Co-operative, this is the fourth consecutive year for the Carbon Cycle, and numbers continue to grow. The ride was to increase awareness and call for better cycling provisions in Wales and raise sponsorship money for Project Mongolia, a collaborative venture between young climate activists…
On 17 September, Glasgow’s George Square was the venue for the Make Peace Festival, organised by Scottish CND. Hundreds gathered for the event which included speakers, stalls and live music. A large selection of four hundred children’s pictures was also exhibited in the square, each inspired by the theme “Paint for Peace”.
Speakers included Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie and Bill Kidd, the Scottish Nationalist MSP. Those who came along combined to form a large CND symbol, in human…
On 17 September, students began an occupation of Edinburgh University’s George Square lecture theatre that lasted 36 hours. A hundred students were involved in the occupation, which followed the university’s announcement that tuition fees would be raised to £9,000 per annum for UK students from outwith Scotland, with Scottish students remaining exempt under Scottish law.
Standard Scottish degrees consist of four-year courses, taking the fee total to as much as £36,000. Students asked…
