News

1 June 2001 Zertashia Hussain

On 8 March the United Nations Development Fund for Women and International Alert awarded Women in Black, Belgrade, among others, their millennium peace prize.

This year, the award was bestowed upon six women and organisations, for their courage and hard work. Among the six were, Dr Flora Brovina, a Kosovar Albanian human rights campaigner, imprisoned in 1999 by Serb authorities, and Veneranda Nzambazamariya for her role in promoting peace in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide and for helping women rebuild their lives.

Asma Jahangir and Hina Jilani, the human rights activists and lawyers, were also among the recipients – in acknowledgement of…

1 June 2001

A brief round-up of May Day events from around the world.

London: After all the fuss beforehand, May Day in London was a fairly peaceable affair.
With 6,000 police, threats of tear gas and rubber bullets, and a stated “zero tolerance” approach, parts of central London still ground to a halt. The generally fluffy and colourful band of several thousand displayed creativity and humour in the face of repressive policing. Hundreds participated in a critical mass action in the financial district.
Seoul: About 20,000 workers took to the…

1 June 2001 PN staff

Action by Israelis, Palestinians and internationals

After a nonviolent action carried out by Israelis, Palestinians and internationals to dismantle an Israeli roadblock located outside two Palestinian villages, 16 people were arrested and a car containing two activists was riddled with automatic gunfire.

The car's occupants were mildly injured during the attack which it is alleged originated from the nearby Israeli settlement of Brukhim. The injured had been waiting in the car for the release of activists who had earlier been…

1 January 2001 PN staff

Almost nonviolent - marred only by the deaths of two people - was it, or is it, a revolution? 

The west has hailed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's election of President Kostunica as the triumph of democracy - though whether Kostunica actually received over 50% of the votes will probably never be known. Nevertheless, the West is falling over itself to invite the new FRY into their gang: OSCE, UN - they'll bejoining NATO next!

For those within Serbia who spent the past decade opposing Milosevic, his wars and his policies it is a time for celebration, but also a time for…

1 January 2001 PN staff

By the beginning of November the escalating war in the Middle East had claimed more than 160 lives (predominantly Palestinian), 2000-6000 had been wounded and more than 700 arrested.

Once blood has been shed and tensions reach new heights, the opportunities for dialogue and resolution to conflict are reduced. However there have been numerous acts of solidarity and calls for a cease-fire from both Jewish and Palestinian groups and several joint demonstrations and vigils. These have included a permanent sit-in in Jerusalem; a Jewish/Arab reconciliation tent; demonstrations at the US embassy; open meetings; petitions; and Women in Black vigils. There have also been…

1 January 2001 PN staff

The war in Chechnya rumbles on, with reports of increased fighting and both civilian and military/paramilitary deaths in recent months.

This has included renewed heavy exchanges around Grozny and a series of more isolated incidents, including the death of an entire family who were crushed by a Russian military APC and the execution of three Russian soldiers by Chechen fighters, while they walked through a market.

At the end of October Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a 99-page report entitled Welcometo Hell , detailing the torture and abuse of thousands of Chechens who have been detained by the Russian forces in…

1 December 2000 Andreas Speck

In October anti-nuclear activists in Germany recommenced their resistance to nuclear waste transports (Castor) - one of which is due to leave the nuclear power station at Philippsburg in the south of Germany for the reprocessing plant in La Hague, France.

This would have been the first Castor transport since the one to Ahaus (see PN April 1998) and the total ban on transports following the discovery of radioactive contamination of rolling stock (see PN July 1998). This would also have been the first transport since the red-green government took power in October 1998, and reached the so-called “nuclear consensus” with the nuclear industry, wrongly presented as a slow process to shut down all nuclear power stations.

The strategy of anti-…