On Saturday 14 March, I woke early and was up and about with an uncharacteristic spring in my step. I can hardly remember such a joyful start to a day.
Okay, the sun was shining and a chaffinch trilled in the garden, and I’m sure that had something to do with my mood. But the real reason I was so enthused – and activists may need to take a seat – was because I was going to a meeting!
A reinvigorated Cynefin-Y-Werin (Common Ground) network met at the Morlan in Aberystwyth…
Following Climate Camp Cymru in mid-August, Wales set up a neighbourhood at the Climate Camp in London. The first of the Wales crew arrived with our enormous marquee squeezed into a small camper van. After a battle with the elements we got the marquee pegged down and could set up to boil the kettle for a much-needed brew.
Other Wales Campers arrived once the site had been taken in a swoop. “Is this the right station?” we wondered, exiting Blackheath station. Surprised by the…
Plaid Cymru environmental and justice campaigner Jill Evans was re-elected to Brussels, while Labour slumped in the vote, losing their second seat to UKIP. It was a good night for the Tories in Wales too, topping the poll for the first time since 1859, a time before universal suffrage for men or a secret ballot.
Labour’s vote in Wales is fragmenting, doubtlessly aided by courting free-market policies that alienated the traditional “working class” vote – as evidenced in…
In an interview with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, Lord Bingham compared drones with cluster bombs and landmines.
Yet here in Wales the taxpayer is supporting research into the use of drones for military purposes. An “unmanned aerial vehicle” (UAV) consultation has been carried out by the Welsh Assembly government (WAG) in preparation for setting up a testing zone above 500 square miles of west Wales. Although the emphasis is laid on future civilian…
Low Impact Development (LID) is an approach to creating homes and livelihoods that works with nature, using natural construction materials, renewable energy, and Permaculture design principles. Since its formation in August 2005, Lammas has sought to create an exemplary LID in Wales to demonstrate what the approach has to offer: building affordable homes, boosting rural economies and increasing biodiversity. As well as nine smallholdings and a community hub building, the Lammas Eco-hamlet…
Across the UK, companies are planning to cash in on a subsidy bonanza for electricity from burning biofuels. Producing one megawatt from biofuels such as palm oil attracts up to twice as many “green energy” subsidies (Renewable Obligation Certificates or ROCs) as gaining the same energy from onshore wind.
One company, Vogen Energy, applied for permission to build a vegetable oil power station in Newport, Pembrokeshire. Some 10,000 hectares of oil palm plantations would be required…
Wales is now investigating setting up a Peace Institute, along the lines of the Belgian Peace Institute first proposed in 1973, set in motion by the Flemish parliament in 2004, and operational since 2006.
The idea was to provide MPs with information about the arms trade, violence in society, and international peace.
The board of the Belgian institute comprises nineteen members. Each political party can nominate members and peace organisations can nominate six, while the…
On 10 January 100,000 people from all over Britain joined a march in London to protest at the Israeli embassy against the continuing relentless attacks on Gaza’s civilian population.
Ray Davies, 79-year-old vice-chair of CND Cymru, sustained head injuries, concussion and cuts when he was trapped with hundreds of others against the embassy gates by the Metropolitan Police.
The march had gone peacefully until it reached the embassy. Many shoes were thrown over the fence in a…
Greg Muttitt’s presentation about the politics of Iraqi oil at the Peace Festival produced both righteous anger and inspiration.
The Iraqi people are embroiled in an intense struggle against the privatisation of oil reserves and production. The fight put up by trade unionists and the Iraqi people to maintain ownership of their oil has so far been a surprising success and a cause for hope.
A law banning trade unions, which dates back to the days of Saddam Hussein, has never…
Once again this year Aberystwyth Town Council will lay a white poppy wreath at the war memorial. The ceremony takes place on Saturday 8 November at 11am. In taking this action Aberystwyth Town Council is unique in Britain. But the decision to maintain the tradition was not made easily. It took the casting vote of the Mayor, Sue Jones-Davies.
The white poppy not only commemorates all those who suffer in wars; it also sends out the message that “there are better ways to resolve…
After withholding 10% of my income tax for the last five years because I refuse to pay for war, I received a letter from Caernarfon County Court, saying there would be a case to decide whether £2,333.52 should be taken from my bank account, at 11.20am on the 7 October (the anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan).
Along with 20 supporters, including Robin Brookes, another member of the Peace Tax Seven, who’d travelled all the way from Devizes, I stood around outside the court for…
On Saturday 21 June, a toddler in a child-seat and twenty cyclists from the Welsh Youth Forum on Sustainable Development, Gwerin Y Coed (Woodcraft Folk) and Grwp Beic Aberystwyth completed the 157 miles from Machynlleth to Cardiff to publicise the need for cycle-lanes and provision for bikes on public transport.
At the Senedd, where they delivered a petition, cyclists were welcomed by Leanne Wood AM and Gordon James of FoE Cymru. Although cyclists endured some hostile motorists, they…
We don’t usually mark Memorial Day in Britain. Previously known as Decoration Day, the last Monday in May is a US holiday which originally remembered American men and women who have died in military service in the American Civil War. Following World War I, the memorial was expanded to include military casualties of any war. More recently, US peace and anti-war groups have reclaimed Memorial Day, holding ceremonies to remember all victims of war, military and civilian, and to call for an end…
Ffos-y-fran is the biggest open-cast mine in the UK. Situated on the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil, it is just 36 metres from some homes and near a nursery school. Legislation requiring a buffer zone of at least 500 metres for such schemes is pending but not set to be made retrospective.
Dust, smoke and noise from Ffos-y-fra will exacerbate health problems in a town that already has the lowest life expectancy in Wales. Mining is set to continue, 7am to 11pm, for 17 years.
“…As part of the international day of World Against War demonstrations, Aberystwyth Peace and Justice Network invited Wales to continue to protest. Five years on, the occupation of Iraq remains an unmitigated catastrophe.
In Aberystwyth, Cor Gobaith sang stirringly and a number of AP&JN supporters engaged with the public. Plaid Cymru president Dafydd Iwan sent a strong message of party support for the campaigns: Troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, Don't attack Iran, End the siege…
