Nearly a year after Maya Evans became the first person to be criminalised under Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 for demonstrating without authorisation the “designated area” around Parliament, she and three others appealed against their convictions at the High Court on 16 November.
Lawyers for the four argued that the enforcement of SOCPA was disproportionate in the, very peaceful, circumstances in which they were demonstrating. If they lose their…
In what is perhaps the first academic survey of locally based anti-war groups in this country, a picture emerges of a movement which, whilst primarily concerned with international conflict, is very much rooted in local people, local politics, local activism and local media, to a possibly surprising degree.
Based on survey responses from 105 local groups and 27 follow-up interviews with activists, the municipal character of the movement shone through. Indeed this may even be one of…
In response to the continual, daily attacks, three pieces of nonviolent action by Palestinians have marked a tactical shift in resistance to the occupation.
On 3 November women surrounded a mosque in Beit Hanoun where men were sheltering from the Israeli military. To widespread international condemnation, the soldiers opened fire on the women, killing two and injuring at least 10. A couple of weeks later, hundreds of civilians surrounded two houses that were about to be destroyed by…
One of the outcomes from last month's anti-occupation strategy gathering in London, hosted by Iraq Occupation Focus, was the need for an Early Day Motion to enable MPs to demonstrate their support for withdrawal. Since then, Labour MPs John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn have tabled EDM 335, calling for the immediate withdrawal of UK troops.
Given the reluctance of all the major parties to come out unequivocally against the occupation, however, it is unlikely that the majority of even…
Activists throughout France and Germany staged a series of actions over a two-week period in November, in protest at the transportation of 12 containers of highly radioactive nuclear waste across their borders.
The Castor containers were transporting German waste from the La Hague plutonium factory in Northern France - where it is reprocessed - to Gorleben in northern Germany, where it is sent for so-called interim storage.
Active resistanceIn recent years, Castor…
Campaigners in more than 50 cities across Europe have taken part in a month-long action protesting against the nuclear capacity of NATO member states. Concerned citizens have been filing official complaints with relevant authorities on the grounds that NATO's nuclear capacity is contrary to international humanitarian law, as the weapons' indiscriminate nature is certain to cause unnecessary suffering.
The series of complaints, organised by Greenpeace and the Belgium peace…
On 2 December, hundreds of people from across the peace and anti-war movements descended on RAF Brize Norton.
The Oxfordshire base is used extensively as a transport hub for maintaining the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and, over the summer, campaigners established a peace camp outside after a US flight bound for Israel landed there. The base is also used to fly nuclear materials between AWE Aldermaston and US nuclear labs.
Naming the deadSpeakers at the event included…
On Saturday 7 October, a full sized replica Trident missile found its way onto the streets of Taunton. The event was part of an ongoing action staged by Somerset Campaign Against Trident Renewal (SCATR) and drew attention to the Faslane 365 Campaign. A number of activists from across the South West joined the protest in Scotland during the following week, overlapping with the Seize the Day group, many of whom also come from this area.
The banner was made by Taunton Peace Group, and…
As more observant readers will have noticed, parliament was not sacked on 9 October. However several hundred people did turn up to show their opposition to the war on Iraq and to challenge the ludicrous provisions of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA).
The day started slowly, with more journalists and bystanders than protesters. But by 1.30pm around 100 people had gathered in Parliament Square, all expectantly waiting to see if anything would happen... and sure…
With the Lancet report suggesting more than 600,000 invasion related Iraqi deaths since 2003, and with the British military publicly wavering, there's no time like the present for refocusing on the occupation. Helpfully, Iraq Occupation Focus is hosting a one-day gathering for anti-occupation campaigners on Saturday 18 November.
Activists from across the UK will be meeting in London to discuss ideas and strategies for taking the campaign forward in 2007. Venue details: 11am-5pm,…
On 11 October Phil Pritchard and Toby Olditch - the B52 Two - walked out of Bristol Crown Court after the jury failed to reach a conclusive verdict in their case for conspiracy to damage US warplanes.
This is the second Fairford disarmament case at Bristol to end inconclusively within the space of a few weeks. In September the jury in Margaret Jones and Paul Milling's case - for damage to USAF supply vehicles at the base - also ended with a hung jury. Both sets of defendants are…
On 1 October, 200 people descended on USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The airbase is believed to be home to around 110 US nuclear weapons of vital strategic importance to the US military. The following day eight activists broke into the base and locked on to the gates of the ammunition depot.
The demonstration on 1 October was called by CND and the Lakenheath Action group, and saw CND's Kate Hudson and Bruce Kent address the crowd along with Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn (who, apparently, had…
A quiet revolution took place at the Avery Hill campus of Greenwich University from 7 to 12 September, as the UK section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) hosted their International Meetings and seminars. There were more than one hundred women from 25 countries, covering all five continents.
Go Y-Wilpfers!One vital part of the gathering was the Gertrud Baer Seminar: “Peace, Power and Participation”, organised by the new dynamic, international network…
For several years campaigners have been working to protect the ancient Sussex woodland at Titnore, just outside Worthing, as a proposed 875 new homes and associated road-widening scheme threatens 265 old growth trees.
Despite the efforts of police and private security to intimidate and make life difficult, a camp has been sustained on the development site for the past four months in an attempt to defend the woodland through occupation. At the end of August however, campers lost…
On 15 September, Margaret Jones and Paul Millings criminal damage trial at Bristol Crown Court came to an end after the jury failed to reach a verdict.
The two peace activists were in court following their March 2003 action at USAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, where they had broken into the supply depot and damaged more than 30 auxiliary vehicles. The pair say this was a bid to delay the departure of bombers destined for Baghdad and to thus give more people time to flee the city.…
Once it was very clear that weapons of mass destruction did not exist in the country we had bombed, invaded and allowed to be systematically looted, and whose infrastructure we wrecked and whose social fabric we had drastically weakened over the previous decade of sanctions - the British government's excuse then was “to bring freedom and democracy”.
Women in Iraq, especially urban and working women, have become less “free” than at any time since the 1930s, and their role in this new…
In what has been suggested was a unanimous verdict from the jury at Dublin's Four Courts, five ploughshares activists walked free on 25 July - more than three years after they had visited Shannon airport and damaged a US navy supply plane. The Irish airport was used extensively by the US during the build-up to and war on Iraq, something which campaigners firmly believe violates Ireland's stated neutrality.
Trials and retrialsAfter two previous trials, which both collapsed due to…
As PN went to press, activists from climate change group Reclaim Power had blocked the main entrance to the Hartlepool nuclear power plant in Teesside.
Using locks and other equipment, six activists successfully closed the main entrance and unfurled a large banner with the words “No More” on 29 August. The action was in response to government and nuclear industry plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations and coincided with the Climate Action Camp. The camp…
Questions were being asked in continental Europe's mainstream media after the shutdown of four of Sweden's ten nuclear power reactors on 25 July. The decision to stop the reactors was made after an electrical failure prevented power being supplied to the Forsmark 1 plant.
In the event of a power failure, four diesel generators are supposed to kick in and enable the safe withdrawal of fuel rods and the shutdown of the reactor. In July two of the generators failed for more than 20…
Farnborough International sells itself to the public as an airshow and family day out. However the public days are preceded by a full trade exhibition for aerospace and military products. The event is organised by the UK's Society of British Aerospace Companies, with international invitations managed by DESO (the Defence Export Services Organisation) which is funded by the tax-payer.
Farnborough takes place every other year and is a major date on the international arms fair calendar…
