Across the UK, companies are planning to cash in on a subsidy bonanza for electricity from burning biofuels. Producing one megawatt from biofuels such as palm oil attracts up to twice as many “green energy” subsidies (Renewable Obligation Certificates or ROCs) as gaining the same energy from onshore wind.
One company, Vogen Energy, applied for permission to build a vegetable oil power station in Newport, Pembrokeshire. Some 10,000 hectares of oil palm plantations would be required…
Wales is now investigating setting up a Peace Institute, along the lines of the Belgian Peace Institute first proposed in 1973, set in motion by the Flemish parliament in 2004, and operational since 2006.
The idea was to provide MPs with information about the arms trade, violence in society, and international peace.
The board of the Belgian institute comprises nineteen members. Each political party can nominate members and peace organisations can nominate six, while the…
In an interview with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, Lord Bingham compared drones with cluster bombs and landmines.
Yet here in Wales the taxpayer is supporting research into the use of drones for military purposes. An “unmanned aerial vehicle” (UAV) consultation has been carried out by the Welsh Assembly government (WAG) in preparation for setting up a testing zone above 500 square miles of west Wales. Although the emphasis is laid on future civilian…
On 18 February, I represented the ethical internet service provider (ISP) GreenNet at an industry meeting on data retention. From 6 April, the government will be able to require ISPs to retain records for 12 months of every email sent and every website visited by their users. (Phone companies have been required to retain data about calls since October 2007.)
Explaining the justification for retaining internet data, a Home Office representative referred to the desecration of a grave…
The Drax 29, who in June had obstructed a train carrying 1,000 tonnes of coal to be burnt at Europe’s largest coal-fired power station, were sentenced on 4 September. Five activists who had previous convictions were given 60 hours’ community service each, and three were ordered to pay £1,000 in court costs. However, the remainder were all given conditional discharges.
Beth Stratford said she was “really relieved” at the verdict, “but Drax costs £3m [in damage to environment and…
On 5 February, the Court of Appeal quashed Ministry of Defence bye-laws banning “camping in tents, caravans, trees or otherwise” near the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire.
The case, brought by the Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp (AWPC), hinged on whether the ban on camping violated rights to freedom of expression and assembly as guaranteed by articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, now part of English law.
In delivering the court’…
Confronted with evidence of wide-ranging fraud on his behalf in Afghanistan’s recent presidential election, Hamid Karzai told Le Figaro: “There was fraud in 2004, and there is today, and there will be tomorrow.”
He had a point. While Tony Blair praised the 2004 presidential elections as a “magnificent tribute … to the power of democracy”, the reality was very different.
Vote early, vote often
Then, as now, “Voters in many rural areas [were] told by warlords and…
In Peter Davis’s documentary Hearts and Minds, Walt Rostow – a man with ample blood on his hands – famously lost his cool when asked to explain how the US got involved in Vietnam, demanding that the clip be dropped from the film… while on film. Rostow’s fulminations are a high point of the movie, and his eventual answer (“The problem began in its present phase after the Sputnik…”) incredible in the literal sense of the word. It was a good question, and I’ve yet to give a talk on Afghanistan…
A recent poll in Afghanistan has found a majority condemning Western airstrikes in the country, and calling for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban.
Escalation
Meanwhile US president Barack Obama continues with his escalation of the Afghan conflict. On 17 February, it was reported that Obama had authorised the deployment of up to 17,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan. According to the BBC poll (see below for more details), this is a highly unpopular move.
73%…
The US’s top commander in Iraq, general Raymond Odierno, has appeared to claim that all US forces will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011 (as required by the agreement signed by the US and Iraqi governments at the end of last year): “By 2011 we’ll be zero.” (New York Times)
However, when the Washington Post asked Odierno what sort of US military presence he expected in Iraq in 2014, he foresaw a force of “probably around 30,000 or so, 35,000”, with many troops training Iraqi forces and…
While US soldiers continue to resist deportation from Canada, the mother of two British soldiers serving in Afghanistan has spoken out against the war.
Two more US war resisters (Cliff Cornell and Chris Taske) have been forced out of Canada and back to the US. Cornell surrendered himself to US border police on 4 February after being ordered to leave Canada.
Taske also returned to the US, but was not arrested at the border. A further three war res
On 12 February…
I went to the UN Climate Negotiations in Poznan in December as an International Youth Delegate, hoping to help sway the negotiators from their positions of bad science and inaction to build our future in consultation with young people.
But, day by day, bad news filtered through to the IYD: the US, Canada and New Zealand voted against keeping the clause protecting indigenous peoples’ rights in the policy on deforestation; Australia decided not to announce their emissions reductions…
Parliament Square peace protestor Maria Gallastegui fasted for 30 days to protest against the escalating military assault and in solidarity with the people of Gaza .
Her liquid-only hunger strike, which began on 12 January, ended after 30 days when friends and family became concerned about Maria’s health. She has had no lasting health effects.
How do you make yourself heard in the political climate we are in? “People just don’t take any notice,” Gallastegui said. “You want to…
Joe Glenton – the British lance corporal who refuses to return to Afghanistan on grounds of conscience (see PN 2513) – has had two charges of disobeying a lawful command dropped. Glenton, who handed himself in after two years absent without official leave, still faces one charge of desertion, and will face a court martial on 2 November.
US resisters
At least three US soldiers are currently in jail for war resistance.
Cliff Cornell travelled to Canada in 2005 to resist…
On 12 February, after a surprisingly brief trial (the judge cut the presentation of complex evidence down to one day), peace activist and former Nottingham University student Hicham Yezza came closer to being deported from Britain after a jury found him guilty of lying to immigration officials about the expiry of his visa – “securing avoidance of enforcement action by deceptive means”.
Sentencing is due on 6 March, at which point the government is likely to resume its campaign to…
Over 700 people from around the UK have now signed up to support the Gaza Freedom March. Timed to coincide with the first anniversary of Israel’s brutal 22-day assault, this will involve hundreds of internationals marching nonviolently alongside the people of Gaza on 1 January 2010, breaching the illegal Israeli blockade (see PN 2513).
PN is organising a training for people intending to go on the march. Assuming sufficient demand, this will take place in London on the weekend of 31…
Low Impact Development (LID) is an approach to creating homes and livelihoods that works with nature, using natural construction materials, renewable energy, and Permaculture design principles. Since its formation in August 2005, Lammas has sought to create an exemplary LID in Wales to demonstrate what the approach has to offer: building affordable homes, boosting rural economies and increasing biodiversity. As well as nine smallholdings and a community hub building, the Lammas Eco-hamlet…
On 29-30 November 2008, Edinburgh Anti-Militarists hosted a gathering to build momentum against the NATO Parliamentary Assembly taking place in 2009.
What came out of this was a UK-wide network of anti-militarists, committed to mutual aid and a joint effort to shut down the NATO assembly with direct action.
Bringing together
When we started putting together an agenda for a gathering for opposing NATO in the coming year, a larger purpose became obvious.
We…
According to the Washington Post, “the incoming [Obama] administration does not anticipate that the Iraq-like ‘surge’ of forces will significantly change the direction of a conflict that has steadily deteriorated over the past seven years” but instead “expects that the new deployments… will help buy enough time for the new administration to reappraise the entire Afghanistan war effort and develop a comprehensive new strategy for what Obama has called ‘the central front on terror’” (13…
The much-heralded US withdrawal from Iraq is turning out to be nothing of the kind. The US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA - see PN 2504) – which commits the US to withdrawing its combat forces “from Iraqi cities, villages and localities… no later than June 30, 2009”, and to withdrawing all US forces “from all Iraqi territory no later than December 31, 2011” (article 24) – was ratified by the Iraqi Parliament on 27 November, and approved by Iraq’s presidential council on 4 December.…
