News

No review could ignore the success of the Save Crichton Cam- paign in September, where united action by the University and College Union (UCU), International Workers of the World (IWW) and others stopped the closure of the Dumfries Campus of Glasgow University.

Ben Franks, UCU Dumfries: "The most successful actions embarrassed the Principal and his officials at prestigious events. As a result, the new Scottish government made the Crichton campus a top priority.…

The Chagos Islanders

The right of Chagos islanders to return to their homeland has been once again thwarted by the British government. On November 6th the government declared that it was going ahead with its decision to appeal to the House of Lords to seek clarification about the status of its overseas territories. The appeal will be heard in 2008.

Darfur

The conflict in Darfur has escalated in recent months with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence.

The…

After 22 years of debate, negotiation and hard work by campaigning groups, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has finally been approved by the UN General Assembly, by an overwhelming majority of 143 to 4, with 11 abstentions. The declaration recognises indigenous peoples' ownership of their lands, and affirms that they should not be moved without their free and informed consent.

In another long-awaited ruling - this time by the Supreme Court in the Philippines -…

Aberystwyth Town Council, a town with a strong history of peace activism, particularly from Greens, Plaid Cymru and the Quakers, is in its fourth year of holding a white poppy ceremony recognising the non-combatants who die in wars.

The white poppy ceremony will be held at 11am on 10 November at the castle war memorial.

Relations with the British Legion, who the Town Council also supports, are thawing now our sincerity is being recognized, though they will not countenance a…

St Athan is an English mistranslation of the Welsh female saint Tathan. The Defence Training Academy to be built at St Athan will be a further corruption of a Welsh culture of peace.

Wales' First Minister Rhodri Morgan famously promised “clear red water between Cardiff and London”. This water it turns out isn't to be a political moat but rather a cultural river of blood that will flow courtesy of a warmongering New Labour brotherhood.

St Athan will be a privately operated “…

"If this is allowed to happen

Taken singly, each presentation at the Peace Festival in Caernarfon was very good. Taken together, they were truly remarkable.

Mabon Ap Gwynfor spoke from the heart, recalling a tradition of peace in Wales that has a real political and cultural impact and which we must remake everyday; invoking famous names like Henri Richard but also ordinary people and processes - “meetings, writing letters, conferences...”

Nicholas Wheeler from the David Davies Memorial Institute of…

Up at Menwith Hill the US spy base, Yorkshire Police tried to use the Public Order Act (1986) to forbid demonstrators at the annual “Keep Space for Peace” demo from walking round the base (as usual) because it was “too dangerous and would cause serious disruption to the local community”.

On 8 October, about 100 people assembled in the presence of police on horses, cycles and motorcycles, but were prevented from walking by a police cordon.

Organisers, the Campaign for the…

`Tara is, because of its associations, probably the most consecrated spot in Ireland, and its destruction will leave many bitter memories behind it'. Those were the words of WB Yeats and others in a protest letter to The Times in 1902, when the Hill of Tara was last threatened. Over a century on, it seems little has changed as the Irish government pursues its plans to build a motorway though one of the most important archaeological sites in Europe.

There are already forty known…

Hopes for a peaceful resolution of the Iran crisis rest on the success of a “work plan” devised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve concerns about Iran's nuclear past.

Iran's new chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, closer to confrontational president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than his predecessor Ari Larijani, stated on 26 October that Tehran's nuclear policy remained “totally unchanged”.

On 28 October, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei…

Three British women were arrested and jailed for over 30 hours in Al Masra'a al Qibliya on 26 October for attending an “illegal demonstration” against the seizure of Palestinian land.

Sarah Cobham, Caroline Bailey, Kate Harrison and seven other members of the Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group marched with some 40 villagers to the recently confiscated land to remove the grape vines that were planted by the villagers before it was seized.

Settlers and soldiers…

Delegates from across the country flocked to London's City Hall from 13-14 October for this year's CND AGM, to update the campaign's objectives and learn something new whilst at it.

The usual policy debates - with very little debate - took their course in the mornings. (There were major debates over two amendments relating to nuclear power and peace education.)

Dr Alan Mackinnon, Scottish CND chair, spoke just after noon, describing the year's successes in Scotland…

To play this game the following are required:
Coloured chalk
Stones (more than one in case of confiscation!)
Paving stones
Players
Venue:
Anywhere where there are paving stones but, ideally, at a location where games are permitted but demonstration forbidden by law!

A circle divided into six equal segments is drawn with chalk on paving stones. At its centre is traced an inner circle named Utopia. Each of the six segments is…

Residents of the Palestinian village of Bil'in were celebrating last month after the Israeli High Court decided in favour of their petition calling for a change in the route of the illegal separation wall which encircles their village. The victory comes after 30 months of weekly nonviolent resistance actions by locals as well as Israeli and overseas activists. X At the beginning of September, two intrepid activists set off on an ambitious six-month journey through Europe in search of small-…

This summer, Edinburgh-based Protest in Harmony and Glasgow socialist women's choir Eurydice combined with other political choirs for the “Rise up Singing” Faslane 365 blockade.

One of Faslane 365's aims was to bring people together to impede the nuclear base where Britain's nuclear weapons are deployed. The choirs' blockade achieved this by assembling many singers who were new to the peace movement and witnessing nonviolent direct action for the first time.

They will be…

In July, twenty European young people met to represent their nations at Faslane 365. Joining them at the blockade were twenty Japanese students from the Global University, a programme organised by the Japanese NGO Peace Boat.

Following the blockade, five of the young women from Europe joined the Global University on board Peace Boat, which makes four voyages each year. Naomi Proszynska (15) from Narberth, told her new-found Japanese friends, “The reason young people don't get…

Fresh from a speaking tour that included a warm welcome in Wales, US peace activist Bruce Gagnon was extended the full hospitality of the British state at Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland. Joining the year-round blockade for a day, he was arrested.

Bruce is Coordinator of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. His speaking tour highlighted the hypocrisy of the US as it lectures the rest of the world about the evils of WMD while at the same time…

The biennial Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi), one of the largest arms fairs in the world, has once again been met with protests in East London, where it has been held since 1999.

The recently announced decision by publishing company Reed Elsevier to pull out of organising the event has rightly given anti-arms trade activists cause to celebrate. But judging by the unusually low turnout at this year's “Day of Action Against DSEi” on 11 September, it would seem…

In a ruling that surprised and thrilled defendants and supporters, after a day-long trial on 14 September, a Horseferry Road magistrate dismissed charges against five protesters under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) arising from the 2006 “No More Fallujahs” Parliament Square peace camp (see PN 2480-81).

The charges against Genny Bove, Rob Clohensy, Steve Barnes and Brian Barlow were not supported by the evidence, the magistrate found. David King's charges were…

There was a lot of good news to do with the Climate Camp, including the fact that BAA tried to get an injunction which could have applied to five million people anywhere near Heathrow, and instead got an order against three individuals - who were legally entitled to go to Climate Camp because it was outside the area described in the order!