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Nelly Maes, president of the Flemish Peace Institute, spoke at the David Davies Memorial Institute (DDMI) in Aberystwyth on 24 February to an audience of students and local people.

Her talk was part of a visit to Wales in support of calls for a Wales Peace Institute. On 23 February, Maes and Tomas Baum, director of the Flemish Peace Institute, gave evidence to the national assembly in support of a 1,500 name petition urging the creation of such an institute.

In…

Official statistics of British forces fatalities in Afghanistan obscure the fact that it is younger people from poorer backgrounds who are suffering most from the increasing intensity of the fighting there.

Those facing the greatest risks in Afghanistan are in the infantry. In 2009, there were 107 British forces deaths, of which 71 (66%) were infantry personnel, despite the fact that the infantry account for only 13.3% of the armed forces as a whole. Infantry recruits tend to be…

On 5 March, to mark the International Week Against Racism, the weekly Friday march from the Palestinian village of Bil’in to Israel’s apartheid wall was led by demonstrators dressed as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela.

Israeli troops fired tear gas, rubber bullets and sound bombs.

The next day, in East Jerusalem, in another regular protest, 5,000 Israelis and Palestinians protested at the eviction of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah…

At 6.40am on 22 February, anti-nuclear power activists from the recently-formed “People Power not Nuclear Power Coalition” began a blockade of Sizewell nuclear power station. They said they were demonstrating against the flawed government consultation on nuclear new build, which ended that day, and the dumping of local democracy.

Under the 2008 Planning Act a new unelected quango, the Infrastructure Planning Commission, will make decisions on “nationally significant…

“Rubbish!” cried a man in the audience. The scene was a public meeting against the war in Afghanistan. What prompted his outburst was a reference to the results of an opinion poll conducted there last December.

According to the ABC News poll, 68% of Afghans “strongly” or “somewhat” support the presence of US military forces in Afghanistan. This was unpalatable to our heckler, and so it had to be wrong. A complex picture He is not alone. Last year, in the teeth of similar poll…

Events have moved rapidly since 5 February, when the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced a plea bargain with arms giant BAE Systems (see PN 2519).

As reported last issue, activist organisations Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House believe that the SFO decision is unlawful and have requested a judicial review of the plea bargain.

They contend that the SFO did not follow correct prosecution guidance (including its own guidance) on plea bargains. They also…

The attempt by the Scottish Defence League (SDL) to stage a rally in Edinburgh on 20 February was the mother of all damp squibs, as the “patriots” were confined to a couple of pubs in the vicinity of the Royal Mile. For those who had travelled up from England in solidarity, it was, at best, a poor introduction to Scotland’s boozers. Certainly the Scottish Defence League, the little brother of the English Defence League (EDL), must be getting the message that they really aren’t welcome on the…

On 13 March, Edinburgh appeared to host two manifestations of popular nationalist sentiment on the same Saturday, one considerably larger than the other. At Murrayfield, the Scottish rugby team met England in the Calcutta Cup (a 15-15 draw, by the way), while down in the Grassmarket, Scottish CND mobilised a relatively small gathering in opposition to the Trident nuclear weapons programme.

While the former was open about its flag-waving, kilt- and chain-mail-clad patriotism (yes,…

A vigil was held at Faslane Naval Base on 15 February in solidarity with the Aldermaston blockaders’ action that day. The vigil was called by Faslane Peace Camp and neighbouring Helensburgh CND. Renfrewshire CND also joined the protest, which marched with banners and flags from the peace camp down to the north gate of the naval base, which is home to all of the UK’s nuclear weapons. A presence was maintained during the shift change at the base.

Subcontractors

Being at…

At the 15 February Big Blockade of the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), the Welsh were assigned to Construction Gate, one of the most important gates for vehicle access in the coming months.

The Welsh started arriving around 6am. Around 6.30am, vans with internationals arrived, followed quickly by more Welsh groups and Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhists.

People with metal lock-on tubes and a very effective lock-on drum of four positioned themselves in the…

In February 2009, I went to Gaza as one of a European Parliament group to see the destruction caused by Israeli attacks. A year on, together with 60 members of parliament from 12 different countries, I returned.

As I expected, depressingly little had changed since Operation Cast Lead. Houses, factories, farms and schools are still in ruins. Water, sewage and electricity systems are wrecked.

In any other country, rebuilding would be well under way. But Gaza is…

The forced eviction of the Mainshill Solidarity Camp ended on 29 January, with over 70 people resisting the eviction, 45 arrests and a huge number of defences that kept the National Eviction Team busy for five days. At the same time digger-diving shut down the nearby Ravenstruther coal terminal for the third time in a year.

Mainshill Solidarity Camp was set up in June 2009, acting with local groups against proposed open-cast mining and its detrimental effects on public health. All…

On 27 January, activists interrupted representatives of the nuclear industry giving evidence to the energy and climate change parliamentary select committee. Two demonstrators unfurled a six-foot banner reading: “Local Democracy Dumped!” – decorated with radiation symbols and pyramids of radioactive waste drums – in the centre of the room, while a third handed out briefings explaining why nuclear power was not the appropriate technology for tackling climate change.

The three,…

This May, parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will meet for a full review conference. International youth will be represented there through “Ban All Nukes Generation” (BANg). The youth will make a speech calling for Obama to earn his Nobel peace prize, and asking other world leaders to have the courage to act so that young people will not be left the legacy of nuclear weapons, which they had no hand in creating.

Young people everywhere are encouraged to contribute to…

Despite “a growing recognition in Washington… that some form of power-sharing deal [between the Afghan government and the Taliban] may be the only way to end the war” (Financial Times, 22 January), the US and Britain remain committed to war-war rather than jaw-jaw for the foreseeable future.

Three years ago, Gordon Brown told the Commons that: “Our objective is to defeat the insurgency by isolating and eliminating its leadership. I make it clear that we will not enter into any…

Tony Blair may be sleeping a little less soundly in his bed following the launch of ArrestBlair.org. Brainchild of author and activist George Monbiot – who attempted his own citizen’s arrest of John Bolton at the 2008 Hay Literary Festival – the website has already raised over £13,000 for a “Justice for War Crimes” fund.

Anyone attempting a peaceful citizen’s arrest of the former prime minister can claim a quarter of the money in the fund, provided their actions are reported in…

On 5 February, a brief press release from the serious fraud office (SFO) announced that it had reached a settlement with BAE Systems, the UK’s largest arms company. Four months earlier, the SFO had made headlines announcing that it intended prosecute BAE for alleged bribery and corruption relating to arms deals in the Czech Republic, Romania, South Africa and Tanzania.

The settlement saw all charges dropped in regard to the first three countries, with BAE pleading guilty to…

The Green Party is focusing its attention on three constituencies where it has a reasonable chance of electing a Green MP in this year’s general election: Lewisham Deptford, Norwich South and Brighton Pavilion. Britain is the only sizeable European country never to have had any Green national legislative presence.

Brighton Pavilion represents the Greens’ best chance at achieving this milestone. With nine councillors, the Greens have more representation than the other parties in…

About 50 people braved the melting snows in mid-January to come to the first-ever Peace News Winter Gathering, at the Sumac Centre in Nottingham. The gathering was followed by street theatre focussed on Nottingham arms traders Heckler & Koch.

Gathering participants heard the legendary Keith McHenry, co-founder of Food Not Bombs; the equally legendary George Farebrother of NETLAP and World Court Project UK; as well as workshops on “Killer Drones” (by Chris Cole of FoR and Jim…

The chief constable of Kent, Mike Fuller, admitted in the High Court on 12 January that his police had conducted illegal “stop and searches” on 11-year-old twins, Dave Morris and other activists at the August 2008 week-long Climate Camp at the Kingsnorth power station. Police had already been heavily criticised for brutality towards protesters at the camp by officers who hid their badge numbers and for using loud music to stop activists sleeping.

The High Court was told that the…