Scotland

UN World Peace Day was marked in Edinburgh with the rededication of the Peace Pole at the city’s Peace and Justice (P&J) Resource Centre. The P&J Centre was celebrating its 30th birthday and friends gathered for the re-dedication and to enjoy a celebratory lunch. The centre, co-ordinated by Janet Fenton, supports all groups and individuals committed to issues of peace and justice. Later that day one such group, Scotland’s for Peace, launched their Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons…

There are similarities between the UK government’s attitude towards the poor and that in Canada. So said AJ, an active member of Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), on a visit to Glasgow and Edinburgh in mid-September.

AJ told me how people in Britain have a tendency to look upon Canada with affection when actually it is an “a***-hole of a country”. Later, at a meeting in Edinburgh’s Drill Hall, AJ drew comparisons between the UK and the experience in Ontario.

Back in…

The Climate Nine activists associated with Plane Stupid who closed down Aberdeen airport back in March 2009 have received their sentences. They were found guilty of a breach of the peace at Aberdeen sheriff court, where they had faced up to five years in prison, but instead received fines of up to £700.

Expert witnesses testified that urgent and direct action is necessary to stop runaway climate change and that the aviation industry, as one of the fastest growing sources of CO2…

On 12 September, 40 climate activists occupied a new site in Happendon Wood, South Lanarkshire, Scotland to set up the Happendon Wood Action Camp (THWAC), to help defend the wood from destruction by Scottish Coal.

The Scottish Resources Group (SRG), which owns Scottish Coal, have applied for planning permission for a mixed-use development on this land (which is in an area of Great Landscape Value) in the Douglas Valley, but they intend to mine the area first.

It is…

The highlight of the Edinburgh festival for me was John Holloway launching his latest book Crack Capitalism (Pluto Press) in the city that was his home before he moved to work at the Autonomous University of Mexico.

John has spent recent years theorising about the meaning of revolution today. His earlier book Change the World Without Taking Power has stimulated discussion amongst activists the world over who, like John, reject the antics of revolutionary…

On the evening of 30 July, two dozen peace activists from around the world gathered in Gretna to begin Scotland’s month-long “Footprints for Peace” walk. Participants came from Scotland, England, France, Switzerland, South Africa, Poland and Australia to follow the various routes taken by the nuclear weapons convoys travelling between Burghfield /Aldermaston in the south of England and Faslane/Coulport on the west coast of Scotland.

Many were veterans of either the 2006 “Long…

On 18 May, UK immigration minister Damian Green announced there would be no more child detainees at Dungavel, Scotland’s immigration removal centre.

Good news you might think? Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister has welcomed the announcement, allowing him to make the high moral claim that no children are imprisoned in Scotland. But the consequence for refugee families is a traumatic removal to England in sealed vans. Families will be isolated from their friends, and personal…

Public shareholders of RBS put the case for sustainable investment at the bank’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Edinburgh on 28 April. Since the bank bailout in 2008 the UK government owns 84% of RBS shares, effectively taking the bank into public ownership.

However, the public who amassed outside Edinburgh International Conference Centre, many suited and booted for the occasion, held their meeting from behind police barriers.

The meeting was supported by the World…

Scottish CND held a post-election conference in Glasgow on 15 May to discuss the consequences for lobbying against Trident renewal in the new parliamentary world of the Lib-Con alliance.

Initial gate

John Ainslie, SCND co-ordinator, started with the projected timescales and costs of Trident replacement. According to the MoD’s 2006 guidelines, the design phase of Trident renewal should have commenced last year. However, the “initial gate” decision which would have given the…

The attempt by the Scottish Defence League (SDL) to stage a rally in Edinburgh on 20 February was the mother of all damp squibs, as the “patriots” were confined to a couple of pubs in the vicinity of the Royal Mile. For those who had travelled up from England in solidarity, it was, at best, a poor introduction to Scotland’s boozers. Certainly the Scottish Defence League, the little brother of the English Defence League (EDL), must be getting the message that they really aren’t welcome on the…

On 13 March, Edinburgh appeared to host two manifestations of popular nationalist sentiment on the same Saturday, one considerably larger than the other. At Murrayfield, the Scottish rugby team met England in the Calcutta Cup (a 15-15 draw, by the way), while down in the Grassmarket, Scottish CND mobilised a relatively small gathering in opposition to the Trident nuclear weapons programme.

While the former was open about its flag-waving, kilt- and chain-mail-clad patriotism (yes,…

A vigil was held at Faslane Naval Base on 15 February in solidarity with the Aldermaston blockaders’ action that day. The vigil was called by Faslane Peace Camp and neighbouring Helensburgh CND. Renfrewshire CND also joined the protest, which marched with banners and flags from the peace camp down to the north gate of the naval base, which is home to all of the UK’s nuclear weapons. A presence was maintained during the shift change at the base.

Subcontractors

Being at…

Hanukkah Candlelit Vigil

The Jewish Fast for Gaza is an ad hoc group of rabbis, Jews and people of conscience world-wide who have committed to undertake a monthly daytime fast to call for the lifting of the blockade on Gaza.

We also call for humanitarian and developmental aid for the people of Gaza and for Israel, the US and the international community to engage in negotiations without pre-conditions with all relevant Palestinian parties, including Hamas, for an end to…

Approximately one year ago, Israel unleashed its attack on the Gaza Strip – amidst its ongoing siege and occupation – killing more than 1,400 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians.

From Alaska to Adelaide, on 27 December, people worldwide demonstrated in their towns to remember the assault, including Glasgow and Edinburgh. At the Edinburgh gathering, fifty people held banners and placards at the foot of the Mound, appealing to passing bargain hunters to remember the…

The long-awaited report from the Scottish Parliament Working Group on Scotland Without Nuclear Weapons was published on 18 November. It concluded that “there is a bright future for Scotland without nuclear weapons”, recommending that a route map be created for disarmament. The route map would include identifying the needs of the key communities and businesses most affected by the removal of nuclear weapons, so that assistance, including the allocation of a “disarmament dividend”, could be…