Peace News: it's not just for reading. The PN annual appeal

Howard Clark

More "news" is now available more immediately than ever before. By TV and radio, by the Internet, by the forest-load in Sunday papers. It is news from a manufactured world - of glamour and distractions, on the one hand; of power-mongering and manipulation on the other. This glut mainly serves to increase the level of resignation about what is happening, the sense of powerlessness to change things that matter.
    So, why am I appealing to keep alive another source of news?
Peace News is news and reflection written by and for people using nonviolent action to change power relations and to end militarism. Its contributors from around the world are not paid for their articles, but write out of a commitment to share their understanding of situations and to change the course of events. While the mass media treat any event that catches their attention as a spectacle, Peace News is asking how did this come about, what can we learn from it, what can we do next? Peace News's coverage is not defined by what is making headlines in the mass media but by the issues facing people who work at the grassroots. That's as true now as it ever has been in the 64 years since the paper was founded. We were unable to sustain Peace News as a monthly, and thought that we could perhaps reach more people in a different way by producing a quarterly magazine. We felt that this is something people would keep, use, refer to and pass around, with a central section where articles would cover a theme from many angles. We think the new format has enormous potential as a resource for every reader grappling with issues and trying to develop strategies, and we expect to build better co-operation with a range of groups attracted by our blend of analysis-action-reflection. Peace News has always been in touch with new pacifist initiatives, and once again we think the paper is an important means to develop these - spreading the ideas, deepening the understanding, motivating and connecting people.
    As a Peace News company director, I'd say that we don't yet have the paper we want, but I think we're getting there. So far each of the four quarterly issues has shown progress over the one before. I passed a copy of the latest Peace News on to a friend in Madrid who was so inspired he translated one article each week for the following three weeks! The translated articles have since been published in new forums, spreading the PN message across the globe.
    We think that Peace News now has a terrific editor and a good range of people willing to guest-edit the thematic sections of the paper. But just asPeace News is for more than reading, so we ask readers to be more like supporters - using Peace News in workshops or education, recommending it to friends, asking libraries to stock it.
    Our biggest problem is that we might never be able to fulfil the paper's potential because of financial problems. We urgently need to raise more money in donations and subscriptions, otherwise we might have to abandon this promising project. To try to avert future financial crises we have relaunched the Peace News web-site (http://www.gn.apc.org/peacenews) and have begun a fresh promotional drive with 50,000 leaflets. If you would like some leaflets to distribute, please ask - and also get in touch if you think you could use any back copies to help promote PN. Boosting sales is the best way to improve our finances. But we also need donations.
    Just as Peace News's outreach depends on reader enthusiasm, the paper's survival depends on supporters' donations. So please give generously, using the form enclosed in this issue of Peace News. Howard Clark
On behalf of Peace News Limited