Wales Anti-militarism Newswire Archive

Online campaign: NATO Cop Watch

A day of action in solidarity with Welsh-American whistleblower Chelsea Manning was held on Tuesday 12 August as the Long March on Newport stopped off in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire where Manning attended the local Tasker Milward school as a teenager and has many family connections. On Wednesday 13 August the march passed Brawdy military base where Manning's father, then a US Navy intelligence analyst, was stationed in the 1970s.

The march is one of many protests against the NATO Summit which will be held in Newport on 4 & 5 September. A week of action, workshops and a counter-summit are planned in Newport and Cardiff from 30 August. See Stop NATO Cymru, No NATO Newport and this feature for more details. Many of the documents released by Manning, for which courageous act she is now serving 35 years in a military jail, expose NATO's wars and corruption.

Saturday 9 August 2014: 69 years since the US obliterated up to 100,000 innocent lives in Nagasaki and a day since the slaughter Israel has been visiting on the innocents in Gaza resumed.

Four of us met at 10.30 and set up an anti-nuclear stall to remember Nagasaki. From 1.30pm we began to chalk outlines, names and ages of a few of the children killed over the past month by Israel in Gaza, and at 2pm we were joined by 40-50 others to protest the ongoing attacks. The gathering culminated in an occupation of Barclays Bank in protest at its links with the arms trade and investments in Israeli companies.

Feel free to download and print this updated flyer and distribute at any Barclays bank.

Actions in London and Cardiff. / Gweithredoedd yn Llundain a Chaerdydd.

Stop NATO Cymru take direct action in London and Cardiff
Full report with pictures:  http://southwalesanarchists.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/stop-nato-cymru-day-of-action-against-militarism/

On Wednesday, July 9th, the otherwise successful Day of Action against Nato in Merthyr Tydfil was marred by an intrusive police presence, the attempted intimidation of Stop Nato Cymru activists and the harassment of a public meeting that afternoon.

The second Gaza solidarity action in Wrexham this week was held outside Barclays Bank today to protest Barclays' investments in the arms trade and in Israel. See also this Indymedia report and photos from last Thursday. Barclays is the single largest global investor in the arms trade and the only high street bank with significant direct investments in Israeli companies. Based on the breadth of Barclays arms investments, it seems safe to assume that Barclays makes a financial profit for every death in Gaza. On that basis, we stood at the entrance to the bank and read out the entire list of names published by Al Jazeera of those killed by Israel in the Gaza strip since July 7th, adding after each one: "Barclays Bank profited from this death."

As Israel continues to shower death and destruction on the oppressed Palestinians in occupied Gaza, it's hard to know what to do, how to resist. My inbox is full of forwarded Stop the War Coalition emails advertising their disingenuously entitled Gaza Emergency Appeal, highlighted in red 'emergency' lettering at the top of their website. Clicking through reveals that the emergency in the StWC camp is funding their own activities and keeping their London office staffed.

Protesting at the Israeli Embassy is a great idea if you live within striking distance or feel motivated to make the journey, with or without the help of Stop the War's 'Gaza Emergency' fund. If not, how about something closer to home? Every High Street has a Barclays...

National Convergence Weekend:

Saturday 19th July 11am -5pm in Newport, South Wales at the Community Space Partnership, 128 Lower Dock Street, Newport, NP20 1EG.

Sunday 20th July 11am- 5pm in Cardiff, South Wales at the Owain Glyndwr Pub, (Tair Pluen function Room) Cardiff, 10 St John's Street, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 1G

All welcome except cops & journos.

Gerard (Gerry) Conlon, framed for the Guildford pub bombings in 1974, illegally rendered from Ireland and tortured by the British state and who served nearly 15 years in English jails, died in his native Belfast at the weekend, aged 60.

"On the 29 November 2013, an event was held in Trinity College Dublin to mark the visit of the family of Chelsea Manning to Dublin. During the evening Gerard Conlon gave a speech that nobody who was there is ever likely to forget. It was Gerard Conlon at his best: fiery, courageous and compassionate. May he rest in peace." Dave Donnellan.

Watch Dave's video of the speech by following this link to full article or on Vimeo.

After a fortnight of fruitless communication with Wrexham County Borough Council over its support for and promotion of an event that we knew would be used by military recruiters to target young children, a small group gathered on Llwyn Isaf on Saturday with a 'Peace Presence' at Armed Forces Day.

Welsh drone protesters enter new drone test centre, Llanbedr airfield, to protest use of armed drones

North Wales Armed Forces Day is this year being held in Wrexham. We are being asked to 'celebrate' and 'thank' our Armed Forces without any critical analysis of the recent conflicts they have been involved in. The event will be used by the military as a recruitment exercise, and much of this will be aimed at children.

Over 100 people have signed an open letter to Wrexham County Borough Council protesting its promotion, sponsorship and funding of this event and the use of a picture of a toddler in military gear to advertise it. The council has yet to respond.

As part of Newport Rising, there was a banner drop today off the footbridge and at the top of the Kingsway car park against warmongering Newport company EADS.

From the 26th May to the 1st June 2014 Anarchist Action Network is holding a week of Anarchist events dubbed the Anarchist Travelling Circus in Newport, South Wales. The week will include, workshops, discussions and skillshares and more. We hope that these events will address some of the issues which most people are facing right now from problems with housing, to welfare cuts and the government austerity agenda, as well as increased poverty, environmental destruction, police repression, racism and the racist border system.

Conscientious Objectors Day, 15 May

World War I Centenary, 2014

15th May is Conscientious Objectors Day and this year it's 100 years since the start of WWI. Mindful of these two anniversaries, I spent this afternoon visiting my friend the great anti-war campaigner Lib Rowlands-Hughes, who was born right at the end of the First World War and is now 95 years old, and learning a little of her family's history. This includes four uncles lost in the war, a military man turned pacifist and a conscientious objector imprisoned for resisting war.

On Saturday 3rd May, a group of 25 anarchists and other anti-militarists closed Barclays' Cardiff city centre branch in protest of the bank's investment in the arms trade.

Welsh translation of the Anarchist Travelling Circus call out.

From the 26th May to the 1st June 2014 Anarchist Action Network is holding a week of Anarchist events dubbed the Anarchist Travelling Circus in Newport, South Wales. The week will include, workshops, discussions and skillshares and more. Emailo us to get involved!