Reported written 11/November/2004
Water supplies to Tall Afar, Samarra and Fallujah have been cut off during US attacks in the past two months, affecting up to 750,000 civilians. This appears to form part of a deliberate US policy of denying water to the residents of cities under attack. If so, it has been adopted without a public debate, and without consulting Coalition partners. It is a serious breach of international humanitarian law, and is deepening Iraqi opposition to the United States, other Coalition members, and the Iraqi interim government.
International Days of Protest to
Stop
the Militarization of Space
No Election
Time Deployment of "Missile Defense"!
No
Weapons in Space!
No
Nuclear Rocket!
End
the War in Iraq!
Abolish
Nuclear Weapons!
Keep
Space for Peace!
Fund
Human Needs!
For information on localised action click here
The Abolition Global Council has sent a letter to members of the Security Council and other representatives to the UN about a "non-proliferation" resolution proposed by the United States to stop the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons which utterly fails to mention any obligation for the nuclear weapons states to get rid of their own nuclear weapons, let alone stop their illegal proliferation of new weapons.
WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO WRITE TO YOUR FOREIGN MINISTER NOW
Barcelona,
Spain 23-27 June 2004
Major international congress organized
jointly by IPB and Fundacio per la Pau at the Barcelona
Forum 2004
**SEE THE FULLY DETAILED PROGRAMME **
For
more information click: www.peacedialogue2004.org
The ENPHR meeting in Brussells on the 29th-30th of April 2004 went well. See Invitation page for papers from the Conference.
Dear Friend,
Our Conference in Brussels began at 11am on Thursday 29 April, and continued until lunchtime on Friday 30 April.
17 February2004 For
Immediate Release
Orion - a massive new laser plant planned for the Aldermaston nuclear
weapons site - has been withdrawn from the planning process by the Ministry of Defence following legal arguments first raised by the network of Nuclear Free Local Authorities[1].
If constructed, Orion would be one thousand times more powerful than the
MoD's current laser plant which can already generate temperatures up to three million degrees centigrade and pressures of millions of atmospheres in order to simulate the extreme conditions generated within a nuclear weapons explosion. Government confirms Orion is to ensure the reliability of the UK’s Trident warheads without resort to physical test explosions, but also to provide the capability to develop a new nuclear warhead to succeed Trident.
The threatened legal challenge arises because in July 2000 the Secretary of State for Defence committed the MoD to “carry out … environmental impact assessments of all new projects…” and the MoD recognised that “…environmental impact assessments for new projects should be regarded as a vital element of MoD’s business”. Despite this, the MoD failed to provide any such assessment for Orion when it lodged a notice of proposed development with West Berkshire Council last October and failed to consult Berkshire residents on the environmental impacts of the plant. These failures, raised by the Nuclear Free Local Authorities with the Aldermaston local council - West Berkshire – have been taken up by a local resident, who is threatening the commencement of judicial review proceedings. To avoid these proceedings the MoD has withdrawn its proposed development.
Analysts agree Orion, if constructed, would create the ability to test, design and build not only a strategic successor to Trident, but also a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons or ‘mini-nukes’. It would subvert the purpose of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty that the UK Government has signed and ratified, and it would further undermine the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Article VI of this Treaty requires the UK and other nuclear weapon states to negotiate nuclear disarmament.
Welcoming MoD’s decision, a spokesman for Nuclear Free Local Authorities said “Our legal work has helped buy a little more time for a serious and informed public debate about whether costly ‘Cold War’ nuclear weapons programmes have any value in the ‘post 11 September’ world.”
For more information contact: James Woolley 0114 220 4452 or e-mail office@nuclearpolicy.info
Website: www.nuclearpolicy.info
[1] The network of 80 councils includes Slough and Reading, both of which will host a march to Aldermaston from London between 9th and 12th April to protest against nuclear weapons.
Dear Friends,
The nuclear threat, far from going away, becomes ever more dangerous. And so campaigning against nuclear weapons becomes more important than ever.
Of course, our passions are naturally engaged by the war on Iraq. The horrors that have been visited on that country, on the pretext of opposing Weapons of Mass Destruction, have clearly shown to be unwarranted. Indeed, the principle dangers of proliferation do not come from so-called "rogue states" anywhere in the world, but issue from some among the nuclear powers themselves.
Changes in military doctrine have accompanied worrying new developments such as the accelerated research and deployment of "mini-nukes" in the United States and Britain. This process threatens to break the taboo on use of nuclear weapons, as these bombs are increasingly seen as part of a useable arsenal. Certainly, these landmark developments will be high on the agenda of the European Network for Peace and Human Rights at its meetings in 2004.
That is why we urgently need to meet and exchange our ideas and experiences. We are greatly encouraged by the progress of the World Social Forum from Porto Alegre in 2003 to Mumbai in 2004, which sees many of the concerns of the world-wide Peace Movement at the centre of the Forum's deliberations.
We wish you every success.
Yours sincerely,
Ken Coates, Chairman, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation
Please find below some information about the national consultation of peace movement organisations in Italy.
We have also been asked to circulate information about the No to Star Wars Conference in Leeds, and the forthcoming referendum in Ireland on the Treaty of Nice.
22 April 2001
Initiated by the Women's Forum of the Partito Comunista Rifondazione
Some 60 to 70 people attended. They came from a variety of groups, including some from Milan and elsewhere outside Rome. The organisers were pleased with the participation which seemed quite broad. They want to link up to the European Network by means of a newsletter circulating amongst the groups attending their meeting and more widely. There may be a summary in English.
I emphasised our need of their advice about who should contact whom regarding the Network. At the meeting they seemed to be thinking mainly about how to spread the net in Italy. It will take more time for proposals about a division of Labour outside Italy.
There are Elections in Italy on 13 May which are both national and local. It is expected that Elettra Deiana of the Women's Forum will be elected to the lower house (she attended the first Brussels consultation). Elettra said we must link up with the Network to have wider co-operation.
Awareness on Star Wars is growing. Angelo Barraka from the Scientists against Nuclear Arms has written on the subject. I requested a message from Italy for the Leeds Conference.
The conference participants are very concerned about Yugoslavia and how to deal with the aftermath of the bombardment. They want to come out of NATO. They were shocked by how many people had swallowed the "humanitarian" justification for the bombardment. They have started a wider examination of NATO's role (particularly in the journals GIANO and Guerre e Pace).
Immigration from the Balkans is a big issue in Italy. This includes trafficking of women for the sex trade from Ukraine and Moldova through Romania, Yugoslavia, Albania and into Italy and thence around Western Europe. This trade has grown hugely since the bombardment in 1999. It's run by the Albanian mafia apparently collaborating with the Italian mafia. Women are sold on for about £7,000 each. Sr Caroline Price (our correspondent from the Good Shepherds who work with women and children displaced by war) is co-operating with other religious orders who are working with these women around Europe. They had recently attended the meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights, whose rapporteur on the matter has identified involvement of some of the military in Kosovo in the trafficking.
Rifondazione are having a preparatory meeting on 4/5 May to prepare for the protests at the G8 meeting to take place in Genoa on 20-22 July. Participants from the peace movement will highlight the link between militarism and globalisation, which, as they point out, is usually overlooked.
Over the weekend 4-6th May 2001 about 150 people gathered in Leeds (UK) from all over the world to demonstrate, network, plan and develop opposition to US plans for 'Star Wars' and the weaponisation of space.
The weekend included the annual meeting of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.
************************ Discussion forums ***********************
********* See the pictures and hear the sounds from Leeds ********
**** Sign the visitors book and become a conference participant ****
*********** Send your news from your country or group *************
Thanks to support and enthusiasm from funders and designers there will be a website with all the conference papers and discussion forums for ideas and questions to be shared and exchanged.
To get to this amazing conference internet experience visit www.yorkshirecnd.org.uk or www.space4peace.org where there is more information about the conference.
Please pass this information onto others that you know, and please log in, sign the address book and join in the discussion. The more the merrier and the more who take part the better.
The conference is being hosted by Yorkshire CND and Scientists for Global Responsibility.
YORKSHIRE CAMPAIGN FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT E-mail: cndyorks@gn.apc.org Website: http://www.yorkshirecnd.org.uk Postal Address: 22 Edmund St, Bradford, BD5 0BH. Tel. 01274-730795 / Fax. 01274-414413
The Peace & Neutrality Alliance (PANA) was established in 1996 to advocate an independent Irish foreign policy, maintain Irish neutrality, and promote the United Nations and the OSCE as the institutions through which Ireland should pursue its security concerns. It represents a wide range of NGO's, peace groups, political parties and individuals that support its objectives.
PANA is campaigned for a NO vote in the Referendum on the Nice Treaty due in June. It is seeking a re-negotiation of the Treaty so that a Protocol can be added similar to that the Danes already have which would exclude Ireland from the preparations of the European Rapid Reaction Force.
PANA requests your support by e-mail to the PANA International Secretary and to the PANA Chair, Roger Cole. More information is available from Roger and Con. Also, please consider sending a financial donation, however small , to PANA, 113 Springhill Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, Ireland (e-mail: silchester@eircom.net).
PANA emphasise that it is very important to e-mail news of international support direct to the main Irish news media such as:
Please pass on news of the campaign in Ireland to all your national and international contacts.
As we feared, even before his inauguration President Bush made it perfectly clear that the imposition of National Missile Defence, or "Son of Star Wars", would be a major priority for his Administration. Now, his Secretary of State for Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, has informed the European allies that the American Government sees this as a constitutional obligation.
Of course, peace movements everywhere are all too aware that this programme will provoke dangerous mutations in nuclear doctrine, and annul the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, upon which is founded the present East-West agreement on nuclear détente. The danger is that limited nuclear disarmament and arms control measures will be brought to a halt. A new round of highly dangerous proliferation is likely to follow. Russia and China feel deeply threatened. As they perceive matters, National Missile Defence embodies the new military doctrine adopted by Nato at its Jubilee Conference, as well as the pursuit of "Full Spectrum Dominance" by the United States military on earth and sea, in the air and in space. Once again, nuclear weapons force their way to the centre of our concerns. Fylingdales and other locations in Europe will trigger strong protests, just as the nuclear submarines at Faslane still mobilise thousands of opponents.
It is not only the peace movements that are registering these disturbing concerns. Most European governments are also profoundly uncomfortable with these policies. They may well begin to wonder whether Full Spectrum Dominance includes not only the military intimidation of opponents, but also the strategic imposition of economic and other choices on the allies themselves. President Chirac made his opposition to "Son of Star Wars" absolutely clear at the summit with Prime Minister Blair in Cahors. Chancellor Schroeder has been similarly outspoken. What they fear is that the imposition of a profoundly destabilising nuclear policy may greatly and unnecessarily aggravate their own relations with the East.
Clearly, at this time, public opinion may be decisive in determining the choices which can maintain peace or lead directly to nuclear confrontation.
Two years ago, the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation launched an appeal for a representative European Conference for Peace and Human Rights. This sought to bring together all those people and organisations who were concerned about the trend to seek military solutions for social and political problems. These trends have been aggravated by a growing readiness to ignore the United Nations Charter. There has grown up a culture of domination and intimidation. Nuclear proliferation is one result of this. Another result is growing support for the peace movement. Many organisations have been responding to these threats. In the resultant discussion, a Network stretching across Europe has begun to establish itself. Position papers have been circulated, and these have provoked widespread debate. The issues involved have been considered at two European consultations held in Brussels at the European Parliament. These agreed to organise a number of meetings in different countries to deepen this process and prepare the ground for the launching of a permanent Network and a European Conference.
With the threat of Star Wars, and the scandal of depleted uranium, the nuclear dimension of threats of war has become all the more pressing. At our next European meeting, it therefore seems necessary to launch a public Network, to elect officers, and to establish contact points throughout Europe. We are seeking sponsors for this activity, and we are already negotiating for appropriate facilities for a launch before the end of 2001. Those who share our concerns are most cordially invited to join in sponsoring this Network by completing the attached reply slip.