Features

On 17 September, 5,000 people arrived in the financial district of Manhattan in New York, bearing banners, tents and sleeping bags. They had been drawn in by the idea, originally mooted by the Canadian anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters, of occupying Wall Street and demanding economic justice. The proposed occupation was described as “a fusion of Tahrir with the acampadas of Spain”, making clear that it was inspired by the Arab Spring, and in particular the Tahrir Square protests in Egypt…

After two years of preparation, the Rebellious Media Conference (RMC), featuring Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Michael Albert and many others, finally happened on 8-9 October. It was a storming success. Details of what happened, and recordings of various sessions, are available on the RMC website (see end of article).

The RMC began life two years ago, as Peace News staff tried to think of ways to celebrate our 75th anniversary as an activist publication. Our first idea was a dayschool…

The idea of detaching Armistice Day, the red poppy and, later, Remembrance Day from their military culture dates back to 1926, just a few years after the British Legion was persuaded to try using the red poppy as a fundraising tool in Britain.

A member of the No More War Movement suggested that the British Legion should be asked to imprint “No More War” in the centre of the red poppies instead of “Haig Fund” and, failing this, pacifists should make their own flowers.
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Every year poppy fever rages higher as councils launch their local appeals with increasingly diverse events; schools and communities are urged to do their fundraising bit and the national appeal is launched with hit singles and celebrities. And you can of course follow trendy young “Poppy” on Facebook and Twitter.

This year three young Welsh boys are “the faces of this year’s Poppy Appeal”, chosen because their dad “died a hero in the war in Afghanistan” when his vehicle was…

As I write, we are on the eve of a last-ditch high court judgement on the long road to eviction at Dale Farm. At a time of great tension, outside activists like myself are deeply committed to resisting the eviction, yet in the media and in parts of the wider Gypsy and Traveller community, divisions have opened between direct activists and those pursuing legal approaches to preventing the eviction.

When I first visited Dale Farm, I asked myself whether activist visitors’ efforts to…

According to Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Propaganda Model (PM) of the media, the mainstream media do not operate as a fourth estate. Although they may challenge individuals and even governments, they do not challenge the edifice behind which the concentrations of economic and political power are maintained. Events that might threaten established interests are either ignored or treated with indignation, whereas events that bolster support for the status quo are given a lot of attention,…

1) Why do we need “radical” media?

Anne Beech: Most recent reasons? Phone-tapping scandals, reportage (and analysis) of the disturbances in Tottenham, Hackney et al, the ongoing misrepresentation of events, individuals and communities (Dale Farm, anyone? Palestine?), the sclerotic hardening of information arteries online and in print, in media and in book publishing, the continued conglomeration – but all at a time when new start-ups (the ones that want to retain their independence,…

Taesun Kwon co-founded South Korea’s radical national daily newspaper, the Hankyoreh, born of South Korea’s democracy movement in 1988. She is now executive editor of the paper, which has a circulation of over 500,000.

PN : How is the Hankyoreh different from other South Korean newspapers?

TK: There are many differences between the Hankyoreh and other newspapers in South Korea. The first difference is the birth of the Hankyoreh. The Hankyoreh was established with the help of…

It is important for both Michael and myself to let you know how much we appreciate your support whilst my husband is locked up in military prison. Every message, letter and show of face means the world to us and is really helping us to get through this crazy time in our lives.

I am sure most of you know why Michael has been punished by the royal navy so I won’t waste your time regurgitating the details of his case, the intimidating court martials or the legality of his defence.…

It is hard to grasp the horror of the US-led war in Afghanistan. It is also hard to grasp the depth and scale of the lies that the war has been based on. How do things look to the masters of war? Watch a chilling leaked night vision video recorded in October 2001 by a US AC-130U Spectre gunship. The seven-minute video (link at the end of this article) documents an attack on an Afghan village.

There is a soundtrack: calm, unhurried conversation between the men in the plane. You also…

In July ForcesWatch launched the Military Out of Schools campaign. Speakers Oskar Castro, a US activist in countering military recruitment, and Ben Griffin, ex-forces and the founder of fledgling Veterans for Peace UK, discussed how young people are militarised and what can be done about it.

US counter-recruitment has developed over the last 10 years to many thousands of individuals and hundreds of organisations. The terms “truth and recruitment” or “alternatives to the military” are…

It took over 100 days but in the end we did it. After passing through spectacul-ar landscapes from lush forest to barren desert, experiencing unbounded human warmth and pushing ourselves to our physical and mental limits while cycling 7,000km – we finally arrived in our destination: Palestine.

“PEDAL: 100 Days to Palestine” was conceived as a solidarity cycle ride based on the idea of linking people and groups struggling against different forms of oppression, with the goal of…

Ten years after al-Qa’eda’s 11 September attacks on New York and Washington, the global antiwar movement is preparing to mark the tenth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Three official lies stand out.

The first lie is that the war was inevitable, that it was the only way of bringing the perpetrators of 9/11 to justice.

In October 2001, not only had the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan offered in principle to extradite Osama bin Laden to a third (Muslim)…

Women for Life on Earth left Cardiff on 26 August 1981 to march to Berkshire to protest against the siting of Cruise missiles at Greenham Common. The marchers stayed and camped; hundreds of thousands of women came and went, lives were radicalised and liberated. Cruise missiles left 10 years later.

This song by Peggy Seeger, Carry Greenham Home, describes the day of Embrace the Base, an action that was organised in six weeks by chain letter.

Hand in hand, the line extends
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This year’s Freedom Flotilla 2 still managed to make waves, despite failing to make it out of Greece, as Israel extended its blockade of Gaza to the entire Mediterranean. Nine ships participated in the venture this year – three up on last year’s effort. Named “FF2 – Stay Human” in memory of slain Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni [see PN 2533], the mission included: the Italian and Dutch ship Stefano Chiarini named after the prolific Italian journalist; the French ships Dignité and Louise…

I was in Hackney when I got the text, on my way to an organising meeting on local responses to the riots/uprisings. Police vans were cruising up and down Dalston High Street, nervous shopkeepers were standing in doorways and hipster NGO/graphic designer types were sinking pints outside a trendy pub. “Deptford Community defence meeting outside Ladbrokes on the high street @ 8.30 – to put out fires should they occur.”

I made a U-turn and got there early. I used to live in Hackney but…

On 13 August, 3,000 people of all ages and backgrounds, mainly from Hackney and Haringey, but with additional support from all around London, marched from Gillet Square, Dalston in Hackney, to Tottenham Green in Haringey. The march was organised and publicised just two days before by the hastily-formed North London Unity Assembly initiated mainly by Turkish organisations and the Haringey and Hackney Anti-cuts Alliances.

The aim was to provide a united community response to the recent…

It’s a bit odd to me that with my sense of geographical direction I’m ever regarded as a leader to guide groups in foreign travel. I’m recalling a steaming hot night in Lahore, Pakistan, when Josh Brollier and I, having enjoyed a lengthy dinner with Lahore University students, needed to head back to the guest lodgings graciously provided us by a headmaster of the Garrison School for Boys.

We had boarded a rickshaw, but the driver had soon become terribly lost and with my spotty sense…

Walker is reflecting on the 1969 moon landing and the planting of the US flag. The magic of that silver disk, with its message that there are places still untainted by human greed and malice, had been diminished forever.

Many of us have the same feelings about the sea, although the illusion of freedom from contagion is even more difficult to maintain, given the quantity of plastic debris that litters all our coasts, to say nothing of our knowledge of the huge and terrible changes we…

Military victory in the Iraq war has emboldened the Pentagon in their claims that space technology gives the US total advantage in time of war. According to Peter Teets, under secretary of the Air Force and director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), American capability in space, “must remain ahead of our adversaries' capabilities, and our doctrine and capabilities must keep pace to meet that challenge”.

“I think the recent military conflict has shown us, without a doubt,…