On 1 April 2006, two peace campaigners from Yorkshire were arrested under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA). They face up to a year in prison, or a maximum #5,000 fine, after protesting against the law, sections of which criminalise trespass and remove the automatic right to peaceful demonstrations.
The two women, Helen John, 68, and Sylvia Boyes, 62, were arrested after walking 15 feet past the patrol line at Menwith Hill, a US military spy base in North Yorkshire…
Act Together: Women's Action for Iraq, together with several other Iraqi and British women's organisations, artists and activists, organised a vigil on International Widows Day - 23 June - to draw attention to the plight of Iraqi widows. More than 60 women and men, representing 13 organisations, gathered the steps of St Martin-inthe-Fields in central London.
Leaflets, banner's and placards drew attention to the fact that, according to official and NGO sources, more than 90 Iraqi…
Around 25 citizen weapons inspectors, recruited by the Yeovil, Sherborne and Area Stop the War Coalition, converged on RNAS Yeovilton, the Fleet Air Arm's principal base, on 1 July.
They were looking for evidence that depleted uranium shells and bullets or cluster shells were stored there. They also wanted to find out whether the navy is still carrying out training exercises using freefall nuclear bombs, and if so, why they would carry out these exercises unless there are plans to…
On 20 June three US Plowshares activists entered the E-9 Minuteman silo in North Dakota.
A Roman Catholic priest and two war veterans used a sledgehammer and household hammers to disable the lock on the personnel entry hatch which provides access to the warhead. They also hammered on the silo lid, which covers the 300 kiloton nuclear warhead and painted “It's a sin to build a nuclear weapon” on the face of the 110-ton hardened silo. As has become a familiar element of Plowshares…
Recent weeks have seen two victories that should roll back years of deteriorating standards and ensure a healthy food environment for children across the country.
On 19 May, Education Secretary Alan Johnson announced new minimum nutrition standards that will be effective from September 2006. The first unhealthy victims are meals high in low-quality meats, salt, fat and sugar. Vending machines and tuck shops are also being given the boot. Meanwhile, the Nottingham-based Veggies…
As reported in last month's PN, `twas the season for AGM-related protests. Here's a quick roundup of protest at three of the worst companies' annual junkets:
BAE SystemsAlbert Beale writes... The AGM of Britain's biggest purveyor of armaments - BAE Systems - was as usual a target for anti-arms trade activists, both inside and outside the meeting on 4 May.
The Campaign Against Arms Trade's street theatre outside, showing members of the government as poodles…
Between 18 and 21 May, the fifth annual Trident Ploughshares peace camp was set up in a public park directly opposite Devonport dockyard in Plymouth. Only the river Tamar came between the peace pirates and HMS Victorious, the Trident submarine which is currently in for a refit.
About 30 people were actively participating in the camp activities, and far more folk passed through as they walked their dogs and aired their kids. Local support for the camp was overwhelmingly positive from a…
It is now almost 40 years since the Chagos islanders were secretly thrown off their Britishowned* islands to make way for a US military base. On 11 May, they celebrated winning the right to return.
It is the second time the High Court has had to give them this right, and their experience shows just what the British Government is capable of when it is determined to trample on people's rights.
Secrets and liesThe depopulation of the Chagos islands is a story of secrets, lies…
Peace activists with the INNATE network held a picket of a British army recruitment day at the Kinnegar base, Holywood, County Down on 21 May. Information leaflets were distributed to potential army recruits and others attending the event.
“New recruits to the army are often unaware of the conditions they need to meet if they decide that army life isn't for them and they want to get out. The situation isn't helped by the lack of transparency in the army's rulebooks - the Queen's…
Block the Builders returned to AWE Aldermaston on 15 May for the now-monthly blockade in protest against the development of new nuclear weapons facilities at the warhead factory.
Despite a large police presence, the group managed to blockade the nearby Lafarge cement works, targeted because of their contracts to supply AWE with concrete for new building foundations. The Aldermaston Lafarge depot was closed for one hour. One woman locked on to the cement hopper and one man was…
It's spring - and a young activist's thoughts naturally turn towards... company AGMs. Yes, it's that time of year again, when most of the major corporations hold their shareholders' meetings, and when the most probing questions at these events always seem to come from the smallest shareholders.
Rio TintoThis year's Rio Tinto AGM, at the high-security Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster on 12 April, saw a group of nominal shareholders challenging the company about…
As Peace News goes to press, Military Families Against the War (MFAW) are preparing to descend on parliament to lobby their MPs. They are demanding an end to the war in Iraq and that the troops be withdrawn.
More than fifty family members will come to London and, for the first time, families of those servicemen killed in Iraq will be joined by families of soldiers serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Former MP and journalist Martin Bell will accompany them.
After the…
Between 7 and 21 April, cyclists rode from Faslane to London to protest at the continued persecution of nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu by the Israeli government.
Stops over the fifteen-day ride included Glasgow, Carlisle, Manchester, Stoke, Birmingham, Oxford, and London, with the riders covering over five hundred miles. Along the way, riders held events to raise awareness for Vanunu and the dangers of continued nuclear development. The cyclists also took donations to help to…
At April's blockade, in addition to the regular presence at the construction traffic's main entrance to AWE Aldermaston, Block the Builders decided to deploy their “away team” on a visit to John Stacey's yard in Tadley.
John Stacey is a contractor involved in providing building machinery and deliveries of sand and aggregate from a nearby quarry for the new developments at AWE, including the Orion laser facility. But not first thing on Monday 10 April, when their vehicles were locked…
This year the annual 4 July demonstration was on a Monday, it was pouring with rain, and lots of people were at the G8.
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Are you feeling the shadow of climate chaos breathing a little closer this spring? Even the government's own chief scientist has agreed it is the biggest challenge we face. The current trajectory of our fossil-fuel burning society is preparing a disaster on a scale which is pretty indescribable. Not only is it an ecological disaster, but the growing fight for resources is the major reason behind most of the world's current wars...
Given all this, one might wonder why there has been…
On 16 April, tens of thousands of people marked the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising against British rule at a massive parade in Dublin.
Irish campaigners used the opportunity to communicate with the public about current struggles, including Shell to Sea and the Rossport camp, anti-racism campaigns, opposition to US “special renditions” taking place via Ireland and - a reminder that much remains unresolved on the island - the right of the Irish to the “ownership” of Ireland. An…
Those pesky horticultural pioneers were at it again when they visited the Ericsson Microwave arms factory in Mo”lndal, near Gothenburg in Sweden, on 14 April. Best known for their mobile phones, the Swedish company also produces components and systems for military and border control purposes.
Continuing with their professed “non-protest” approach, six of the group were arrested inside the factory, after using ladders to hop the fence and proceeding to “planting an orchard” in its…
Antimilitarists in Paraguay have expressed concern at recent military operations targeting predominantly poor, civilian populations and campesina organisations in rural areas.
On 25 March the Moviemiento de Objecion de Conciencia (MoC), Paraguay, issued a statement in which they called for the punishment of the soldiers responsible for these abuses, adding “We demand that the government stops wasting resources in these [military] institutions, and instead invest in…
After months or torturous legal proceedings, harassment and imprisonment, good news from Brighton's SmashEDO as, in March, the legal cases brought against them began to crumble.
Two anti-war activists have had a temporary injunction against them lifted and indemnity costs awarded to them by a High Court judge who issued a damning indictment of EDO MBM's conduct of the trial. Mr Justice Walker accused arms manufacturer EDO of “woeful neglect” of the issues in its preparations towards…
