PN Staff

PN Staff

PN staff

20 November 2015Blog

After four years of legal struggle, the Metropolitan police finally concede that undercover relationships were an abuse of power and violated women's human rights

Statement by the eight women:

In the apology issued today by assistant commissioner Martin Hewitt, the Metropolitan Police finally conceded that 'officers, acting undercover whilst seeking to infiltrate protest groups, entered into long-term intimate sexual relationships with women which were abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong' and that 'these relationships were a violation of the women’s human rights, an abuse of police power and caused…

8 October 2015Blog

Older feminists gather in London at the end of November.

REMEMBER THE WOMEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT?

WERE YOU ACTIVE IN THE 1970s, 1960s, 1980s?

Join the 70s-sisters’ network, and start the Feminist Forum to express our vision in politics.

For the past five years the 70s-sisters have been meeting in small consciousness raising groups to address the issues that face us in our own lives, in our generation and at this moment in history.

Now we are also launching the Feminist Forum, a new political think-and-do-tank.

8 October 2015Blog

A long-time anti-war activist has been jailed for six weeks for refusing to pay his council tax on the grounds that the UK government is engaged in terrorism

On 7 October, Chris Coverdale of Rye, East Sussex, was imprisoned for 42 days by Hastings magistrate court, for refusing to pay over £1,800 in council tax to Rother district council.

According to the Hastings & St Leonards Observer, Chris said he believed it would be a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 to pay taxes for…

1 October 2015News

Trees replanted in threatened valley

Children fired up to plant trees at a Hastings anti-roads camp, 19 September. Photo: Andrea Needham

Hastings anti-roads group Combe Haven Defenders (CHD) continues to campaign against a road planned for a ‘site of nature conservation interest’. During a pop-up camp (18–20 September) in threatened Hollington Valley, CHD re-planted trees on the planned route.

Local ‘development’ quango SeaChange cut down trees in the valley in preparation for the ‘Queensway Gateway’ road, but…

1 October 2015Feature

An African human rights activist gives his thoughts

The ‘Refugees Welcome Here’ demonstration in central London, 12 September. Photo: Natasha Quarmby/Fields Of Light Photography

Previously an investigative journalist in Africa, Almamy is now a human rights activist and a caseworker with HOPE Projects in Birmingham (he manages directly nine houses for destitute asylum-seekers and refugees). As PN spoke to him, Almamy was organising a demonstration in Birmingham calling for an amnesty for asylum seekers and migrants already in the UK.…

1 October 2015Feature

PN surveys a mixed picture

There is a lot to admire about Germany’s response to the refugee crisis. The warm welcome extended by thousands of ordinary Germans (overwhelmingly women, mostly university-educated, either young or older folk) has been inspiring. A poll at the beginning of September found 87 percent of Germans were ashamed of recent anti-refugee attacks.

The German government has also been very welcoming of refugees from the Syrian warzone.

At the same time, the government has…

1 August 2015News

250,000 march in London as meals on wheels slashed by 81%

Demonstrators navigate a rising tide of anger against cuts in Whitehall, London, 20 June. Photo: PN

In the first four years of the coalition government, there was a 16 percent cut in real terms in children’s services in Britain (in terms of spending per child), as local government spending has been squeezed by national government.

Over 150,000 older people have lost access to care at home since 2010 because of government ‘austerity’ measures, amounting to a 28 percent cut.…

1 August 2015News

Making PN more useful to our movements?

On 12 September, a group of readers, writers, volunteers, staff, trustees and all-round good people will be coming together in central London (11am - 4pm) to think about how Peace News can be even more useful to grassroots movements for social change.

We’re looking for folk new to activism, and people who’ve been hard at it for some time; we’re looking for old-timers steeped in the history and culture of Peace News and for campaigners just getting to know us.…

1 August 2015News

Volunteers needed to categorise, code, pack and sell.

PN needs volunteers for a variety of jobs, including ‘web categorising’, which is to do with labelling things on our website (full training given). There are other computery jobs like this which can be done remotely.

We also love it when folk can sell/distribute the paper at events, and we appreciate help with packing the paper when it comes in from the printer. If you have some hours to spare, please do get in touch with us on 0207 278 3344 or…

1 August 2015News

Climate change activists take action in wake of Airports Commission recommendations

On the north runway, Heathrow, 13 July. Photo: Plane Stupid

On 13 July, 12 climate change activists from anti-airport expansion direct action group, Plane Stupid, broke into Heathrow airport in west London at 3.30am. They locked-on to fencing on the north runway, disrupting flights for eight hours, leading to 22 flights being cancelled.

The protesters said that going ahead with the recent Airports Commission recommendation of a third Heathrow runway would make it impossible…

1 August 2015Feature

Events to mark the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In the Ota River, Hiroshima. Image: Emily Johns

31 July – 1 August

WALLASEY CH45 5DX. EXHIB
Hiroshima/Nagasaki exhibition in Earlston Library, Earlston Rd.

3 – 31 August

LIVERPOOL L3 8EW. EXHIB
‘Hiroshima and Nagasaki 70 years on’. Exhibition in Central Liverpool Library, William Brown St. More info: www.mcnd.org.uk

Saturday 1 August

BROMLEY BR1 1HA. VIGIL
Hiroshima Day Vigil with…

1 August 2015Feature

Community building, 30 July - 3 August

A set-up meeting at the start of camp discussing what jobs needed doing. Photo: Roy St Pierre.

In this world of Facebook activism and online petitions, we think that there is a vital place for face-to-face meetings, for conversations around campfires, for chatting while doing humdrum but essential chores together, for games and songs as well as analysis and facts. Face-to-face community, we believe, is an essential part of the glue that holds strong movements together.

1 June 2015News

Scottish direct action protest draws 250

On 13 April, 34 protesters were arrested as they blockaded Faslane naval base near Glasgow, where Britain’s Trident nuclear submarines are kept. The Scrap Trident coalition’s ‘Bairns Not Bombs’ action (which kept the base closed from 7am until workers were sent home at 1.30pm) brought together 250 trade unionists, party activists, religious groups, environmental campaigners and community members, on the Global Day of Action on Military Spending. The blockade followed the 4,000-strong…

1 June 2015News

New app to 'educate' soldiers

The ‘Fighter, not Killer’ app for Apple and Android smartphones, launched on 19 May, is the latest effort by Swiss group ‘Geneva Call’ to educate armed groups on the humanitarian laws of war.

Available in Arabic, English and French, the free downloadable quiz works through 28 scenarios to explain the legal principles that should guide armed action.

This follows Geneva Call’s use of online and broadcast video, and a booklet of cartoons, to spread the same key points to…

1 May 2015Blog

 

A reader in Germany has sent us news of PN appearing as an artefact in an art exhibition!

 

A display case in the 'Picasso and contemporary art' exhibition in the gigantic Deichtorhallen art centre in Hamburg, Germany, contains a recent edition of Peace News!