PN Staff

On 21 June, Fossil Free London dropped this large banner across a tower at Bodiam Castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, demanding that the National Trust, which owns Bodiam Castle, stop banking with Barclays, Europe’s biggest fossil-fuel funder since 2016. One of the National Trust’s core aims is to protect nature and climate.

On 9 July, climate activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) climbed on the roof of the county hall in Lewes to hold a banner saying: ‘ESCC: Which side are you on? Fossil fuels or climate action?’

On the ground, in front of the building, was a colourful and noisy Divest East Sussex (DES) protest featuring an ‘oil monster’ and a giant pair of cardboard scissors.

XR South East and DES, who had co-ordinated their actions, called on East Sussex county council (ESCC) to cut its ties…

On 26 June, a group of peace activists in Southampton blockaded the entrance to the Leonardo factory in the Millbrook Industrial Park, near the docks. The entrance was closed for an hour before police arrived and forced an end to the protest. Campaigners say the factory ‘produces parts for missiles very likely being used by the IDF to commit atrocities in Gaza, Palestine and the wider region’. Leonardo UK is a subsidiary of a major Italian arms manufacturer.

With the help of a small, dedicated team of volunteers, PN has raised £15,500 for Medical Aid for Palestinians, by giving away badges for a donation, mostly at the national Gaza marches in London – including on 8 June and 6 July.

All three badges are available on the PN website.

On 1 June, the British Museum in Central London was visited by a coalition of Palestine and climate activists who built a large protest mosaic in the Great Court (see above) and offered teach-outs, alternative walking tours and children’s activities. BP or not BP, Energy Embargo for Palestine and Parents for Palestine called on the museum to drop sponsorship by the oil giant BP because of its involvement in global heating and in supplying the oil sustaining the current assault on Gaza. Last…

You can still place an order for our new four-page A5 briefing showing how Churchill believed (by July 1945) that there were two diplomatic tools which could end the Pacific War without an atomic bomb being dropped and without a long land invasion (PN 2667).

The two tools were: a Soviet declaration of war on Japan and/or granting immunity to the Japanese emperor Hirohito.

£…

On 19 June, Tell MAMA (‘Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks’) launched a Manifesto Against Hate ahead of the UK general elections on 4 July. They urged political candidates to address the increase in hate crimes across the country and to promote social cohesion.

Founded in 2012 with government support, Tell MAMA is a national service supporting victims of anti-Muslim hate through casework, counselling, advocacy, legal and signposting support.

Tell MAMA models itself on the…

We are now taking orders for a new four-page A5 PN briefing setting out the facts about Churchill’s belief in 1944 and early 1945 that a Japanese surrender could be gained without an atomic bomb being dropped and without the Allies having to invade Japan (PN 2667).

Churchill believed by July 1945 that there were two diplomatic tools which could end the Pacific War, especially if combined.

In September 1944, Churchill pleaded with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to…

Peace News is in a period of change. We’re dreaming big ambitious dreams as to how PN can make a bigger contribution to the peace movement and to other nonviolent grassroots movements for social change. That might still be as a radical media project; it might conceivably be something even better.

If you have a wild idea, a sensible idea, a cheap-to-put-into-practice idea, or a would-need-a-billionaire-to-fund-it idea, please do add your thoughts to the mix – for…

Someone pointed out that the last British general election held in July was in 1945, which sent us scrambling for the archives. On 15 June 1945, the PN editorial responded to the calling of the election by noticing that there were two strands within British pacifism: those ‘who seek to work in the political sphere’ of party politics and those who ‘believe that their proper activity as pacifists lies outside the political sphere altogether’. (PN 470)

You can either…

It’s difficult to report on Palestine Action (PA), partly because they have carried out so many actions (at least 24 since our last issue), and partly because their website has suffered from sabotage.

The big victory the direct action group has claimed since our last issue is the closure of a Tamworth factory owned by Elbit Systems, the Israeli drone manufacturer.

On 28 March, PA said ‘the Israeli weapons maker was forced to sell due to increased security costs which cut their…

The first major policy announcement of the British general election campaign came from the Conservative prime minister. Rishi Sunak announced his intention, if re-elected, to set up compulsory ‘National Service’ for 18-year-olds.

This would involve either 12 months’ full-time military service (for perhaps 30,000 young people, who would be selected) or 25 days’ voluntary work in the community over a year for the other 90 percent of 18-year-olds.

The plan, which seems aimed at…

Most climate direct action recently seems to have been carried out by Just Stop Oil (JSO), and most of the court cases also involve them, including three acquittals and a professional suspension. Here is some of what’s been happening.

On 15 May, three JSO activists were convicted under the Section 7 of the new Public Order Act 2023, which bans interference with ‘key national infrastructure’, including roads.

Daniel Hall, Phoebe Plummer and Chiara Sarti had marched along a…

Hastings-based ‘Grieving for Gaza’ has been coming to Central London to perform tableaux vivants (‘living pictures’) to confront passers-by with the pain Palestinians are experiencing. New performers, leafleters and banner-holders welcome: grievingforgaza (at) proton.me

On 15 May, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement’s executive secretary Yurii Sheliazhenko set fire to a draft card at the start of the group’s online gathering for International Conscientious Objectors’ Day. UPM said: ‘[D]espite some fair judgments in favor of conscientious objectors and pacifists... the majority of judicial practice in Ukraine illegally condones political repressions.’ Yurii himself is facing an unjust prosecution (see PN 2671). In the UK, there were events in Bury St…