PN Staff

Nuclear weapons should be banned. That was the view expressed by 44 of the 158 states attending the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in December.

The host nation, Austria, took this one stage further at the end of the conference by publicly pledging to seek a treaty to ban the Bomb. Austria called on all parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to ‘identify and pursue effective measures to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination…

As Peace News went to press, Campaign Nonviolence (CNV), a US nonviolence study/action initiative, was beginning its first week of action, which had been a year in the making. There were 227 marches, rallies, vigils, festivals, celebrations and other events planned across all 50 states of the continental USA, starting on 21 September.

The purpose of the week of action is to launch a long-term movement to build a culture of peace and nonviolence free from war, poverty,…

Please send a card for 1 December Peace Prisoners Day. More names and addresses can be found on the War Resisters’ International website:
www.wri-irg.org/node/4718. Please send your card in an envelope and include a return name and address on the envelope. If a prisoner’s number is given, include this with the address. Please avoid writing anything that might get the prisoner into trouble.

China: Liu Yuandong (detained 23…

No to NATO march, Newport. Photo: Marian Delyth

On 2 September, the annual meeting of the international network ‘No to War – No to NATO’ called for the abolition of NATO. They rejected the planned opening of further NATO military bases and the deployment of soldiers from NATO member states to Eastern Europe, and stated that the ‘conflict in Ukraine has been substantially escalated by NATO’. The network went on: ‘Currently, NATO views Russia…

Early on 11 July, a military convoy carrying nuclear warheads was stopped for one hour near Loch Lomond by protesters from Faslane Peace Camp. One person climbed on top of a nuclear transporter; four were arrested.

The 20-vehicle convoy, with four special transporter lorries to carry 100-kiloton nuclear warheads, had driven through the centre of Glasgow shortly after midnight.

The convoy, from AWE Burghfield to the Coulport nuclear store, was tracked by Nukewatch and Scottish…

As PN went to press, the Metropolitan police were only days away from having to confirm or deny that senior management had allowed male undercover officers to deceive women activists into long-term intimate relationships.

On 2 July, after three years of legal action, five of the women involved won a significant legal victory in London’s high court.

Mr justice Bean ruled that the Metropolitan police could not use a policy of ‘neither confirm nor deny’ [NCND] as…

At 3pm on 12 July, British peace activists Maria Gallastegui and Simon Moore set out from Gabriel’s Wharf on London’s South Bank, in Rumi, a 16-foot-long ‘Wayfarer’ sailing boat. They are aiming to sail to Beirut, Lebanon.

In their statement, Maria and Simon said: ‘We are going to Lebanon in order to raise awareness and support for the Syrian refugee community and to call for peaceful change within Syria for a just society. We support groups and individuals who are working…

When it comes to making a will, we all quite rightly think of family first. But it’s also possible to leave a gift to a cause close to our hearts. If you are thinking of making a will, or amending one, we’d be really grateful if you would consider including a gift to Peace News.

Legacies have been enormously important for PN, including the £5,000 that Tom Willis inherited in 1958, which he decided to give to the paper, enabling it to buy the building at 5…

This year, the main theme of Peace News Summer Camp (31 July – 4 August) is countering the militarism and jingoism around the centenary of the First World War, which is why the camp is called ‘The World is My Country’.

We’re bringing peace and justice activists from Belgium, France, Spain and other countries across Europe to help us mark the…

On 21 June, British peace activists Maria Gallastegui and Simon Moore will embark on a 3,500-mile voyage from London to Lebanon in solidarity with the people of Syria, sailing in a 16-foot Wayfarer dinghy.

Sail4Syria updates: http://syriapeaceandjustice.wordpress.com

Thank you to the 220 people who so generously responded to the questionnaire sent out with the last issue. We really appreciate your taking the time to give us feedback on what we’re doing. The questionnaire is part of a social audit that Peace News is carrying out, to evaluate what we’re doing, how far we’re achieving the goals we’ve set ourselves, and how we could better serve the community of people seeking positive social change in Britain and around the world.

There will be more…

Robb Johnson will be performing songs from
his highly-acclaimed Gentle Men album about
his grandfathers and the First World War.
Photo: Eric the Fish

This year we are delighted to be welcoming to Peace News Summer Camp Britain’s top peace researcher, professor Paul Rogers of Bradford School of Peace Studies; Emma Sangster, co-founder of ForcesWatch, one of the most exciting anti-militarist projects of recent years; Bruce Kent, Britain’s best-known and best-loved peace…

As we announced back in December, Peace News want to try out a one-year experiment, expanding the paper to 24 pages and reducing frequency from 10 times to six times a year, starting with this issue. Peace News Trustees, the parent company for Peace News, have asked us to produce this issue, which shows off some of our new ideas for a longer PN, and get your responses to the new format and frequency to help us decide whether this is really the right way forward.

The 24-page format…

On 15 March, Moscow saw its largest demonstration in over two years, a protest against Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and impending annexation of the Crimea.

News agency AFP reported that some demonstrators carried placards comparing Putin’s actions with the Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland before the Second World War. AFP counted 50,000 demonstrators; the Moscow police only 3,000.

Kidnapped and beaten

Only one arrest was reported at the 15…

Well, most people would say that good parenting involves teaching children to be polite and respect others, especially those who might be involved in civic or governmental organisations that are meant to help people in a democratic society. However, there would be clear times that I know of in the past when the best way to help our neighbours, and others in society, would involve what would be clearly labelled as bad manners.

One event that comes to mind is a May Day rally in a small…