Emily Johns
Congratulations!
After fighting their case through almost every court in the land, the B52 Two are not guilty and they richly deserve it!
Falklands, Palestine, DarfurIn this issue, we see that in all these cases, there have been real diplomatic alternatives available, which had a genuine prospect for radically reducing conflict and violence. And in all of these cases, those with power have avoided peace. They have crushed negotiations by force (Britain in the Falklands), they have…
b>From 28 April to 6 May, the LaUnf (nonviolence) network of Iraqi peace activists organised a second “Week of Nonviolence”, this time at 13 locations, reaching 7300 people all over Iraq. Sites included, in the north, Irbil, Kirkuk, and Mosul; in the south, Basra and Fao; and Baghdad in the centre.
PNspoke to Ismaeel Dawood, a key support person for the LaUnf network, in his capacity as Iraq worker for the Italian activist NGO Un Ponte Per... Baghdad (A Bridge to... Baghdad…
May Day is workers' day
The struggle for the eight-hour day which began in the 19th century (and which goes on, even now) involved strikes and demonstrations throughout the world, and a coordinated day of action on 1 May 1886. In a related demonstration three days later, in the Haymarket in Chicago, a bomb was thrown at the police, killing eight. The anarchist organisers of the demonstration and the speakers were then arrested and prosecuted for the murders, on the grounds that the bomb…
On 20 April, author Maya Anne Evans and PN editor Milan Rai were called to stand trial at Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court, London, for “contempt of court”.
At an earlier hearing on 10 April, when they were meant to have been tried for alleged offences under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (2005), the judge had refused to continue with the trial after the pair had refused to give their dates of birth.
Judge Newton sent the activists to the cells for an…
A myth is being created. The myth of William Wilberforce, the great white liberator, as perpetuated by Amazing Grace, the Hollywood version of the abolition of the slave trade.
The reality is captured in Adam Hochschild's magisterial study, Bury the chains: the British struggle to abolish slavery, which brings to life “a pioneering mobilisation of public opinion, via boycotts, petitions, and great popular campaigns, all powerfully reinforced by the armed slave…
Yes, we are facing daunting threats (as Noam Chomsky points out in his interview). At the same time, on an international scale there are social movements of a size and sophistication which have never been seen before, and in Britain there is a tangible restlessness and dissatisfaction with things as they are, and enormous opportunities for education and organising towards radical social change.
One part of making a better, stronger movement (along the lines sketched out in the last…
