Anti-war action

1 April 2005News

After a week of presiding over the trial of the Pit Stop Ploughshares in Dublin's Four Courts, Judge Frank O'Donnell dismissed the jury after admitting that that his actions could be perceived to be biased. He ordered a retrial for October.

On 3 February 2003, the Pit Stop Ploughshares Five disarmed a US Navy C40 plane in a hangar at Shannon Airport, County Clare, Ireland (see PN2458).

Two years later, on Monday 7 March, they finally went to trial. One hundred and fifty…

1 March 2005News

As Big Ben struck 4.30pm, on Tuesday 15 February, around 60 people lay down on the street in front of Parliament Square in silence, and in protest.

Three minutes of silence remembering all the victims of the Iraq war was followed by raised voices, demanding that the troops be withdrawn from Iraq, now.

Unfortunately, what could have been a very effective and long-lasting blockade instead became a short and very symbolic occupation of one lane of the street, with passengers on…

1 March 2005News

The four anti-war activists who last November staged a series of die-ins to highlight the slaughter in Iraq - one of which took place deep inside the Cabinet Office - have had their cases dropped (see PN2458)

The four had been bailed to return to West End Central police station on 2 February for “questioning”. When first arrested, they were never interviewed in spite of being held in police custody for 24 hours, during which time they were strip-searched, had all their clothes…

1 March 2005News

On Wednesday 2 February, a pirate ship set sail from the south coast of England, docking three days later at Carlingford Lough in Ireland. But this wasn't just any pirate ship, it was the Enterprise - an ex Royal Navy minesweeper - converted by volunteers into a force for good by the Southampton-based charity Pirates For Peace.

The aim of the Pirates For Peace project is to foster cooperation and opportunity for the young people of Ireland, north and south, through the…

1 March 2005News

On 15 February, Yeovil, Sherborne and Area Stop the War Coalition held a peaceful demonstration at RNAS (Royal Naval Air Station) Yeovilton in Somerset in protest at the continued occupation of Iraq.

The group handed leaflets to military and civilian workers about the Military Families Against the War campaign to bring the troops home. Although they were observed by MoD Police on the gate, a considerable number of incoming workers took leaflets. One worker said “I don't need one, I…

1 February 2005News

Bush inauguration marked in both silence and rage

Outside the US embassy in London on the evening of president Bush’s inauguration for a second term in office, a silent candlelit vigil was held to remember those who have lost their lives in the Iraq conflict. A black coffin, representing the estimated 100,000+ who have died, was placed directly opposite the front doors of the embassy.

Brought to a standstill (again)

Thousands of people took to the streets in cities across the US (see…

1 February 2005News

In November 2004 – on the day of the reopening of parliament – four anti-war activists staged a series of die-ins to highlight the slaughter in Iraq and the deafening silence of both politicians and the mainstream media. The first die-in took place outside parliament – where the four were quickly dragged off and searched under anti-social behaviour legislation. The second, outside 10 Downing Street, went on for much longer, under the bemused and sometimes supportive gaze of tourists. After…

1 December 2004News

Those pesky Euro bombspotters have been up to their naughty tricks again recently.

Kicking off a series of “Bombspotting small” actions, a group representing Flemish NGOs and individual activists, paid a visit to the Kleine Brogel nuclear weapons base in north-east Belgium on 11 October. After breaking into the base the group occupied its runway.

The “small” actions are the unannounced dimension of a wider Bombspotting campaign, which includes large public actions such as…

1 September 2004News

Every year, in the city of Hiroshima, Japan, people come from far and wide to float lanterns decorated with prayers, thoughts, and messages of peace down the rivers in commemoration of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Fifty-nine years have now passed since the event that opened the floodgates for the nuclear age, an era in which our survival as a species is continually under threat. August 6-9 were again days of remembrance and action for many activists from all over the world.…

1 September 2004News

An “anti-NATO” summit took place in Istanbul between 19 and 27 June as a response to the NATO summit being held in the city.

The alternative summit ended with a large demonstration, which around 40,000 people are reported to have attended. The main organisers of the summit were the Turkish trade unions KESK and DISK, and groups such as Global Peace and Justice Coalition, Unity against Bush and NATO, and the Chambers of Engineers and Doctors of Istanbul.

Seminars on Media…

1 June 2004News

The International Peace Pilgrimage has arrived in Japan, signalling the final leg of the eight-month journey across Australia and Japan in protest at nuclear weaponry and uranium mining.

The hikers have trekked more than 2273 km since 10 December, from the uranium mining site at Roxby Downs, South Australia, through Port Augusta, Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra, Australia's capital.

Along the way, the pilgrims visited people affected by the nuclear weapons industry. 124…

1 June 2004News

This Easter, biologically and culturally time of new life and hope in western Europe, saw a new and very large step taken by hundreds of anti-nuclear activists in Britain.

Hundreds of people of all ages took thousands of steps, walking the 50+ miles from London to the Atomic Weapons Establishment Aldermaston where Britain's nuclear weapons are developed. The journey took four days with marchers receiving the hospitality of Sikh, Hindu and Christian communities along the way as well…

1 April 2004News

In late January, 28 peace activists were sentenced to a cumulative five years and ten and a half months in prison, five years probation, and US$8,500 in fines as a result of a nonviolent protest at the School of the Americas - now officially called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation - in Fort Benning, Georgia, USA.

Defendands process to court.
PHOTO: COURTESY SOA WATCH


The protesters were arrested for trespassing after walking onto Fort Benning…

1 April 2004News

Trident Ploughshares (TP) activists seem fuelled by something as long lasting as radioactivity, never ceasing in taking bites, sometimes mosquito size, at the bases and companies in England and Scotland that manufacture and protect Britain's weapons of mass destruction.

In February, Lockheed Martin, the world's largest manufacturer and exporter of weapons, had their London offices visited by four TP women who locked staff out of the arms giant's HQ for six hours. Amazingly there were…

1 December 2003News

On 25 October hundreds of citizens from Belgium, Britain, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy carried out an inspection of SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe), the NATO military headquarters in Mons, Belgium. The action was organised by Forum for Peace Action, For Mother Earth and Bombspotting.

Good citizens enter NATO HQ in search of evidence of preparations for war crimes.. PHOTO: COURTESY OF FOR MOTHER EARTH


Early in the morning 12 citizen…