Dear supporters,
As we write, the brutal bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza is continuing, reinforcing Israel’s cruel denial of food, water and fuel to the civilian population of Gaza. This horror has been provoked – but is not justified by – the appalling Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians on 7 October.
Peace News has tried to be of use in this crisis by leafleting demonstrations to encourage people to email their MPs, mass action that has had a visible effect in parliament. We have also circulated a guide to holding ‘Ceasefire Now/Naming the Dead’ actions – public readings of the names of Palestinian and Israeli children killed in this latest round of violence, and produced a ‘Ceasefire Now’ badge – any surplus from sales will go to Medical Aid for Palestine.
We will be doing our best to support peace activists everywhere campaigning for peace and justice. In the last year, Peace News has also worked to counter pro-war propaganda in relation to the Ukraine War and have campaigned for a negotiated end to the war, reminding people about the peace agreement that Ukraine and Russia nearly signed in Istanbul in April 2022. And we’ve supported pacifists, conscientious objectors and anti-war activists in Ukraine, Russia and Belorussia.
This last year, PN has also marked the 20th anniversary of the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003, including with six important online meetings, featuring women from the Iraqi diaspora and a former UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Iraq, Hans von Sponeck, among others. These are some of the ways PN has supported nonviolent grassroots movements for peace and justice in the UK recently, apart from our usual columns, events listings and news reporting.
Over the decades, PN has had an outsized impact on the peace movement, an impact described in Rosa Schling’s recently-published history of 5 Caledonian Road - Peace! Books! Freedom! The Secret History of a Radical London Building. The book is available from our sister organisation, Housmans Bookshop.
One of our watchwords has been nonviolent revolution, a call understood in different ways by different parts of the peace movement. This year, we’ve emphasised our commitment to radical/ revolutionary nonviolence with articles on, and by, inspiring radical pacifists. In the next year, we would love to publish a collection of classic nonviolent revolutionary texts by major figures such as AJ Muste, Barbara Deming, Dave Dellinger and George Lakey, along with biographical sketches capturing some of their astonishing life contributions.
We hope that you value what Peace News does for nonviolence, for peace and social justice and for climate justice. In these very difficult times, even the smallest donation makes a difference to us – if it's possible for you to give more, we would appreciate it so much.
Thank you!
Emily, Emma, Gabriel and Mil
The Peace News team
P.S. Please subscribe and encourage your friends!
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