UK Anti-militarism Newswire Archive
Mysterious "laptop documents". Using fake intelligence to justify war on Iran
27-11-2010 19:37
A recent article by investigative reporter Gareth Porter confirms unequivocally that the mysterious laptop documents are fake.
We are dealing with a clear case of fake intelligence comparable to that presented by Colin Powell in February 2003 on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. The fake intelligence presented to the UN Security Council was used as a justification for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Will the US antiwar movement confront Washington's plans to wage a pre-emptive nuclear war against Iran based on fake intelligence?
Report: WikiLeaks Docs to Show US Military Supporting PKK in Turkey’s Civil War
26-11-2010 15:21
The PKK has been officially listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department since 1979, which would be reason enough that the Defense Department cannot legally back them. It is doubly problematic in this case, however, as the PKK has been fighting Turkey, a NATO member and close military ally of the US.The Pentagon is said to have praised the PKK as “warriors for freedom” in official documents and has ordered detained PKK captured inside Iraq released. They are also said to have provided the organization with weapons.
What about "an attack on one member is an attackon all?"
Dec 7th Support Vigil as Disarm Now Plowshares activists face trial:
25-11-2010 20:35
President Gul: NATO missile plan is in line with our expectations
25-11-2010 14:05
Actually, the signing of NATO’s new Strategic Concept by Turkey and all the other members of NATO at the November 2010 Lisbon Summit was the clearest indication of Turkey’s total capitulation to NATO and Israeli war plans against Iran.
US "giving a hand" to Koreas' crisis (by Latuff)
24-11-2010 11:24
Ahava: Occupation #5 – 22 November 2010
23-11-2010 09:53
london catholic workers new project opened yesterday
22-11-2010 16:22
london catholic workers are part of a worldwide radical catholic movement started nearly 80 years ago in america. they have set up nearly 200 houses of hospitality for the poor, the homeless, and the dispossessed, mostly in america, but spreading into european and other countries too. yesterday saw the official opening of another house in east london.
yesterday's opening of the of the 'guiseppe conlon house' was attended by around 200 people including a wide mix of refugees, advocates, punks, hippies, vicars, activists, lawyers, squatters, academics, muslims, christians, atheists, buddhists, musicians, locals and internationals. the internationals introduced themselves in a welcoming ceremony with representatives from outer hebrides to japan, kosovo to france, and sweden to uganda among many others.
the house has already been functioning as a refuge for undocumented refugees and others in need of shelter and support, but the main building (originally a methodist church, then taken over by catholics and more recently disused for two years) has now been officially opened both as a continuing shelter and as a community facility.
the new centre is named after guiseppe conlon, who was the father of gerry conlon, who at the age of 21 was one of the four irish men wrongly convicted for the guildford bombings in the early seventies. despite no connection to the IRA, and sound alibis for gerry and one of the others, it took until 1989 for human rights lawyer gareth peirce to finally get them released, and another 16 years until the british government offered an apology when for political reasons tony blair made a surprisingly unreserved statement.
gerry was beaten in police custody until he made false confessions implicating completely innocent members of his family, and as a result guiseppe, an ex-marine, was arrested in london where he was trying to find a solicitor for his son. he was not a well man, and died, a convict, in prison in 1980. his widow sarah was charged £3500 to fly his body home, and the home office billed her for his repatriation - his body was flown back and forth four times as the press shamed him, before he finally rested
he was the only one from the guildford four, birmingham six, and maguire seven, who didn't live to be vindicated and see his freedom. his treatment remains a terrible blot in the dark history of irish repression.
the catholic worker communities, as well as offering shelter to people suffering injustice and violence, are also pro-active in seeking out and confronting the roots of those injustices. catholic workers have been involved in acts of challenging civil disobedience, and one of the organisers at the new centre was imprisoned for 13 months in the US for taking a hammer to a B-52 bomber. the hammer was returned on his release and was later used against BAe in the UK, returned once more, and used again in a recent ploughshares action.
after an opening welcome ceremony and a song from irish singer/songwriter joe black, the human rights lawyer gareth peirce took the stage to wish the project well and to movingly describe her experience of the lies and corruption around the guildford four and gerry conlon's family, the maguires, and guiseppe.
after more music from local duo, lovers electric, ciaron o'reilly spoke more about the project and the difficulties he has faced as an anarchist catholic - untrusted by the left as a catholic and untrusted by the catholic establishment due to his anarchist way of doing things and his past incarcerations in various nations round the world for acts of non-violent civil disobedience.
poet stephen hancock then provided some excellent conscious and political verse, before angolan journalist, rosario miranda, spoke about the campaign for justice for jimmy mubenga. jimmy was the man who during a forced deportation was killed at the hands of GS4 security aboard a passenger flight to angola. passengers, though concerned by the blood, his screams for help, and the violence of the guards, were either too intimidated or too disempowered to intervene. rosario compared the media attention some woman got for putting a cat in a bin - the cat survived, the woman was hounded, she lost her job, she was prosecuted and she was villified. in contrast, the GS4 officers remain in work, no-one was prosecuted, and the newspapers have forgotten the matter. he asked poignantly whether the cat was more precious than a black man?
joe black, who travelled from dublin then provided a full set of songs, including a special one written to celibrate the opening and to commemorate guiseppe conlon, and finally local singer raz ended the formal entertainment.
before and after the timetabled events, there was a huge spread of donated food and drink, and more entertainment from the 'bow creek ramblers string band'.
the guiseppe conlon house intends to continue its work with homeless refugees, and to act as a hub for non-violent resistance to the war machine.
for more information, including news of the current campaign to close down the "army shop" recruiting centre in a shopping mall in dalston, see the london catholic worker website.
Wed 24 Nov - White Flag Revolution Mass Rally, Whitehall
22-11-2010 15:16
The White Flag Revolution will be hosting a mass rally starting at 10am on Wednesday 24th November 2010. - Whitehall (opposite Downing Street), Westminster, LondonBreaking news: Ahava shop in London occupied again.
22-11-2010 12:54
No Smash EDO noise demo next week - Solidarity with the Student walkout
20-11-2010 23:55
Smash EDO are going to take a rare week off next Wednesday and go and support the student walk out...UK Royal Wedding and Australian genocide-ignoring
20-11-2010 11:44
Sweden issues international arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Assange
19-11-2010 18:30
"Assange has repeatedly offered to be interviewed, first in Sweden before he left that country, and subsequently in Britain, “either in person or by telephone, videoconferencing or email and he has also offered to make a sworn statement on affidavit. All of these offers have been flatly refused by a prosecutor who is abusing her powers by insisting that he return to Sweden at his own expense to be subjected to another media circus that she will orchestrate,” explains Stephens. He continues, “This behavior is not a prosecution, but a persecution.”A letter from one of Assange’s Swedish lawyers, Björn Hurtig, has also been made public, which documents the numerous attempts by his legal team to organize Assange’s questioning by Swedish authorities, to no avail.
Stephens concludes his press statement, “Our client has always maintained his innocence. … As a result of these false allegations and bizarre legal interpretations our client now has his name and reputation besmirched. Thousands of news articles and 3.6 million web pages now contain his name and the word ‘rape.’ Indeed, three out of four web-pages that mention Mr. Assange’s name also now mention the word ‘rape’—a direct result of incompetent and malicious behavior by Swedish government prosecutors.”
In a separate comment to the media, Stephens explained that he had “never seen anything like it in 30 years of legal practice.”
In July 2010 WikiLeaks released 77,000 secret Pentagon documents on the war in Afghanistan, and followed that up in October by making public nearly 400,000 more documents on the Iraq war."
Food not Bombs hold free feast (Oxford)
19-11-2010 17:57
Food Not Bombs (FNB) Oxford recently celebrated its first meal, in support of the Free University event.Article taken from Issue 1 of The Ox-Fly - Oxford's radical newsletter:
http://theoarc.org.uk/oxfly.pdf http://theoarc.org.uk/oxfly_hires.pdf http://theoarc.org.uk/oxfly.txt
List of alleged war-criminals Israel
19-11-2010 12:07
The following information was received anonymously; presumably from a member of the Israeli Military. It was presented as follows:Call to action: Ban BAe from the NEC careers exhibition (Nov 26th & 27th)!
19-11-2010 10:21
Come and protest the presence of arms companies, including BAE Systems at the NEC National Engineering and Construction Exhibition on November 26th & 27th!Global warfare: After NATO summit, U.S. to intensify military drive into Asia
18-11-2010 23:28
Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre Protest
18-11-2010 21:34
Full article | 2 additions | 11 comments
Protest at the Queen's visit to the Rotherham Death Park
18-11-2010 15:08
Stuart Parkinson: Arms Conversion for a Low Carbon Economy
18-11-2010 00:01
Prosecute Tony Blair and John Howard over ‘proceeds of crime’
17-11-2010 00:00
Judicial exposure of US Alliance war crimes can be achieved if Australian PM John Howard, who committed Australia to the illegal invasion of Iraq, is prosecuted for “proceeds of crime” over his recently published memoirs.