D, Ippy

Ever wondered what's the best way to practically disarm the military? Well, this helpful little book is full of tips on how to cut, crush, burn, melt and bend weapons to the point where they no longer present a menace to society.

There are sections containing practical information and diagrams with details of what equipment and personnel are required, plus helpful hints on where to cut or bend. However, the section on deep-sea dumping is probably best avoided! As the book says, “The…

It would be very easy to argue that the true “axis of evil” is actually rather short, and stretches from the White House across the river Potomac and down to the Pentagon. But perhaps we would begin to sound like “America bashers”.

The problem is, as many have noted, that in this reality there is one dominant force (in a hegemony that also includes Britain, most of the European Union and some of south Asia) and that is the United States.

The “war on terror”, or…

Between December 2001 and PN going to press, at least 11 Israeli and Druse men spent time in military prisons for refusing to serve in the Israeli Defence Force. Most served short sentences of between 14 and 28 days, although one refusenik, Rennan Amin Salameh was charged with desertion and remains in prison awaiting trial. If convicted he faces up to three years in prison.

Two of these conscientious objectors Yair Khilou and Igal Rosenberg (pictured above) had earlier signed a…

This well-produced 10-minute film attempts to offer a vastly contracted version of the historic events at Greenham Common; from the occupation of the land by the military in the middle of the century, through to the return of the common to the people of Newbury at the end of it in April 2000.

As someone closely bound up with Greenham, I found the emphasis on the land issue (as opposed to nuclear weapons, militarism, women's empowerment, etc) a little disappointing.

However,…

So, what hasn't been said? And who hasn't yet said something, anything, however repetitive, however vacuous, however well-meant, about the war in Afghanistan? Suddenly we are all commentators, suddenly we all decide we oppose war, and suddenly we are all interested in the experience of Afghan civilians.

But the number of words spewed about the crisis reveals a desperate scramble to find higher ground. For many, there is a well-rehearsed, reflexive response to conflict, and in…

Timed to coincide with the annual Prisoners for Peace list and associated articles, Peace News takes a look at prison and nonviolent struggle.

Not only because nonviolent activists and war resisters frequently end up in prison—and have to continue their struggle while inside - but also because the core issues of prison poses many conceptual challenges to nonviolence, challenges which we also feel we have failed to address adequately in this issue.

This is a kind of concept album about pirate-radio and death-row. The premise being that it’s the night before a revolutionary, activist nun (yes, nun), who advocates the medical use of marijuana, is about to be executed.

Hmmm... Michael Franti is a lovely, great guy, and this album has a lot to recommend it (it's on in the office a lot). Issues are sensitively covered, the songs are fantastic, beautifully arranged, hitting the political-soulful-funk spot perfectly. But the snippets…

This is not to ignore or condone the sometimes random and violent actions of some activists and police infiltrators. The expressions on the faces of the police who witnessed Carlo Giuliani's death should remind us of their intrinsic humanity, and that no-one should be on the receiving end of a rock, a petrol bomb, or a fist. However, this “violent 'anarchist' thuggery” – as it has been described – shouldn't divert us from the massive, overwhelming violence that millions of people experience…

This is Consolidated's seventh full-length studio album, and while perhaps their most musically diverse,certain political themes remain a constant feature of all their work.

It's a musical journey which touches on blues, rock, industrial and hiphop. The End of Meaning has several outstanding tracks: I rather liked the shambling hip-hop of You Go Dude; the anti-porn rant of Speech and Harm ; and the industrial intensity of Fall of the Culture Industry…

Gabriel Wolf, serving his second consecutive prison term at the time of writing, was initially imprisoned on 1 April, for refusing to be recruited into the Israeli Defence Force, after being heard by the military Conscience Committee – the body that hears requests for exemption to military service.
However they concluded that “The Committee was not convinced that you [Gabby Wolf] are a pacifist”, to which Gabby replied “I never tried to convince anyone that I was one”.…

Personal responsibility is the key to the OTPOR movement in Serbia a movement which has been credited with contributing to the fall of Milosevic. With up to 80,000 activists, a wide variety of tactics and a belief in nonviolence, OTPOR has continued to keep the pressure up on the new incumbents. Since Kostunica took office he has been warned that only the removal of corrupt power-bases in the police, military and government will be enough to stave off future mass action.

At the end…

We spent time attempting to pin down exactly what we would focus on, and in the end rejected creating an issue which focuses on globalisation however topical. Instead, while acknowledging the context provided by the ease with which capital, goods and services have been enabled to flow around the world, we decided that what we were really doing was creating an issue which would look at the economies of militarism.

To this end, PN 2442 has tried to focus on four distinct areas:

Since 1993 the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been responsible for the provision of many services (health, education, social etc) to its population, but it has not had control of the most basic resources such as land and water, or access to international economic markets. Consequently the Palestinians have remained dependent on the state of Israel for economic co-operation (one figure suggests that 25% of Palestinian GDP comes from such co-operation).

Economic separation

The…

This fundraiser CD for Survival -the campaign group supporting tribal people - makes very easy listening. Billed as “A fusion of chilled tribal beats, ambient dub and trance music”, it certainly is!

While it has several tracks from famous artists, such as Leftfield, and Banco de Gaia, it also showcases less well-known performers, and all cite tribal influences in their music.

Basically it starts off very chilled, builds up to a more busy and dancey middle section - with tracks…

This interesting, engaging and often humorous CD is the edited recording of a lecture given in the summer of 1997 at Colorado College in the US by radical activist and academic Angela Davis.

At the core of this fairly simple lecture is the exposing of links between capitalism, racism and the prison system - and this is done fairly eloquently on the whole.

Drawing on her own prison experience and the experiences of her friends and comrades, combined with a professed ex-…