On 26 April, the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Bangor city council became the first Welsh council (the 16th in the UK) to pass a resolution supporting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
Quakers in North Wales have a new Nuclear Weapons Group targeting action on councils, particularly via the ICAN Cities Appeal.
David Mellor of Colwyn Bay Quakers explained: ‘We have been inspired by TPNW and then shocked by the UK government’s defence plans to…
Some months before the coronavirus pandemic struck, a small group in Aberystwyth got together to raise awareness of peace issues within the county of Ceredigion, with the ultimate aim of getting the county council to adopt a ‘Peace Charter’.
The first step was to ask Ceredigion county council and some of the county’s main towns to officially recognise and mark International Peace Day.
As it happened, the county council had already decided to do this, but Tregaron and Cardigan…
On 22 April, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) was given permission by a high court judge to bring a case for judicial review of the government’s decision in July 2020 to resume arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
Sarah Waldron of CAAT commented: UK-made weapons have been central to a bombardment [of Yemen] that has destroyed schools, hospitals and homes and created the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.’
In January the new Biden administration in the US ‘paused’ arms sales…
Undercover police officers spied on activist Celia Stubbs for more than 20 years as she tried to discover the truth about the death of her partner, Blair Peach. So the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) was told on 6 May.
Anti-fascist teacher Blair Peach died after being hit on the head in April 1979 while on his way home from an Anti-Nazi League demo.
The Metropolitan police sat on an internal report that found that it could ‘reasonably be concluded’ that Peach was killed by a…
On 11 May, following Israeli assaults on Gaza and Jerusalem, over 150 protesters shut down the British head office of Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms firm with 10 factories and offices in the UK. Three people were arrested.
The action was called by Palestine Action.
According to Palestine Action, the direct action campaign which called the 11 May blockade, Elbit produces the baton rounds ‘which have claimed eyes and limbs in Jerusalem’, and provides drones used for Israeli…
After a Metropolitan police officer was charged with the murder of Sarah Everard in March, there was a wave of postings on social media as women shared their experiences of sexual harassment and violence by men.
On 13 March, countrywide vigils were organised by a new feminist group, Reclaim These Streets.
However, the day before, the home secretary, Priti Patel, told police chiefs that she wanted the demonstrations stopped because of the COVID risk. Police told organisers any…
Over the weekend of 3 – 4 April, there were ‘Kill the Bill’ protests, mostly under a thousand strong, in more than 25 towns and cities in Britain. The largest was in London where an estimated 10,000 people marched from Buckingham Palace to Parliament Square.
On 1 May, May Day, there were more demonstrations around the country, including another one of 10,000 people in London, organised by the Kill the Bill Coalition.
The London marches led to 107 arrests in April and nine in…
As PN went to press, Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire on Gaza had claimed nearly 200 lives, and Palestinians were fearing another ground assault.
Shortly afterwards, on 21 May, after 11 days of violence, the Israeli government and Palestinian militants in Gaza accepted a ceasefire.
Hamas, the Palestinian armed movement which rules Gaza, had first …
‘Peace is a big part of our lives, which maybe we didn’t realise. Now I understand more about the news. After we did our project on Syria, I could explain something about the conflict to other people.’ – Delyth, peace ambassador, Ysgol Dyffryn Aman
‘Learning about conscientious objectors and how Wales welcomed immigrants in the past really influenced my views, and I see things differently.’ – Judy, Cyfarthfa High School, Merthyr
These are just two of the comments the…
Desperate attempts are being made to resuscitate the fading nuclear dream in North Wales, where the Welsh Labour government is vying with Tory Virginia Crosbie, MP for Ynys Môn, in repeated bids to save the seemingly-doomed Wylfa B power station project.
Possible ‘white knight to the rescue’ options included an unholy consortium of the financially- and morally-bankrupt Bechtel, Southern Company and Westinghouse.
In January, the application by the site owners, Horizon Nuclear,…
The UN’s head of humanitarian affairs has described the ‘huge cut’ in UK aid to Yemen as a ‘quite shocking’ attempt to ‘balance the books on the backs of starving people’.
Mark Lowcock was reacting to the UK’s pledge of only £87m of aid compared to the pledge of £160m it made a year earlier – and the £214m it actually delivered in 2020 – 2021.
For several years now, the UN and humanitarian agencies have described Yemen as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Mark…
Police killed 15 – 20 percent fewer people between 2014 and 2019 in those parts of the US where there had been Black Lives Matter protests.
Where there were larger and more frequent BLM protests, there was a steeper decline in police killings.
These are the findings of a new study by US economist Travis Campbell posted in February (but not yet peer-reviewed): ‘Black Lives Matter’s Effect on Police Lethal Use-of-Force’.
Campbell wrote: ‘The payoff for protesting is…
British anti-fracking campaigners have been celebrating several wins recently.
On 2 March, West Sussex county council rejected new plans to test drill for oil in Balcombe, site of an early anti-fracking struggle in 2013.
Despite council officers recommending approval of the revised plan from Angus Energy, councillors unanimously refused the application.
On another front, at the beginning of February, anti-fracking campaigners were celebrating in Surrey and Sussex when…
A Quick guide to NI
by PN staff
As many readers will know, the Northern Ireland mini-state was created when the British government partitioned Ireland 100 years ago, on 3 May 1921.
Since then, there have been people in NI who want to reunite the six NI counties with the rest of Ireland – they’re known as ‘nationalists’ and ‘republicans’. Against them have been those who want to maintain British rule over NI – known as ‘unionists’ and ‘loyalists’.…
As part of the White Ribbon campaign, members of three activist choirs collaborated to stage a fundraiser for the charity, which works with men and boys to end male violence against women.
Canwyr Stryd Bangor, Côr Cochion Caerdydd and Aberystwyth’s Côr Gobaith organised an evening of teaching songs, singalongs, and performance poetry.
The evening began with Anthea Sully, chief executive of White Ribbon, who outlined the White Ribbon Promise ‘to never commit, excuse or remain…
Lotte Reimer writes: As congregating to sing or otherwise celebrate together was impossible due to the lockdown, a great deal of thought and innovation went into how to celebrate the ‘entry into force’ of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on 22 January. ‘Travelling’ signs and peace cranes were photographed in various places across Wales (including the Welsh senedd/parliament – see below) and pictures were posted on social media. There was also an online CND Cymru concert…
The incoming Joe Biden administration stepped in to renew New START for another five years on 3 February, two days before the treaty was due to expire.
New START places limits on the US and Russia in terms of warheads, missiles and launchers that can be used for a nuclear attack on each other’s homelands (‘strategic’ weapons).
Each military can only have 700 ‘deployed’ (operational and armed) methods of attack at any one time.
They can split up that 700 number between…
Four people charged with criminal damage to the bronze statue of 18th-century slave trader Edward Colston will face a jury trial at Bristol crown court, starting on 13 December.
The date was set at a hearing on 2 March, after the Colston 4 pleaded not guilty before Bristol magistrates on 25 January, and opted for a trial at crown court before a jury. This is their right because the charge they face carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Bristol city council, who recovered the…
On 26 February, the final occupier came out of a tunnel under Euston railway station in central London. Bradley was taken away in an ambulance, having spent 31 days underground.
The tunnels were dug under an anti-HS2 protest camp which was set up in August in Euston Square Gardens, outside Euston station.
The aim of the Tree Protection Camp was to stop the felling of the trees in Euston Square to make way for new taxi ranks for the new HS2 terminus. Half the Gardens had already…
On 29 January, after six days of trial, the court of appeal in London overturned the convictions of the activists known as ‘the Stansted 15’, saying they should never have been prosecuted on counter-terror charges in 2019.
After they prevented the departure of a deportation flight from Stansted airport in 2017, the Stansted 15 were prosecuted on the charge of ‘endangering the safe operation of an aerodrome’, under section 1(2)(b) of the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990.
…
