Wales Anti-militarism Newswire Archive

Banner drop in Wrexham yesterday in the wake of Chilcot and in solidarity with
- imprisoned WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning serving 35 years in a US military prison
- WikiLeaks Editor in Chief Julian Assange, now beginning his 5th year denied safe passage from his refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, in what the UN has ruled to be arbitrary and unlawful detention.
FREE MANNING! FREE ASSANGE! END THE WARS!

One of the UK’s biggest arms fairs (DPRTE) met resistance on 16th March in Cardiff town centre.

Full report with pictures and original formatting (via StCAF blog).

The Armed Forces Day 'family fun' extravaganza in Colwyn Bay's Parc Eirias went ahead on Saturday in intermittent drizzle and behind a prominent banner near the main gate stating what you'd have thought would be bleedin' obvious, but apparently to many punters wasn't: 'WAR IS NOT FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT'. As you'd expect of any attempt to disguise the brutal reality of war as fun and games, the event was at best conflicted and contradictory, at worst downright dishonest. With the stated aim of "recognising and honouring our armed forces and veterans" AFD is designed to leave no space open to question the legality or morality of the wars they've been off fighting in recent years, to ask whether warfare offers any real solutions for the problems we face, nor indeed to consider whether our various wars of aggression might conceivably be an aggravating factor in these problems.

In the end it was down to a handful of protesters to pitch up and create this space, right by the main entrance, and to break the illusion that everything in the military garden is rosy.

This event was held a week before official Armed Forces Day on 27 June. There's time to organise a presence at an AFD event in your area and it's well worth doing, however small. Even one person standing vigil at the gate can have a big impact.

On Saturday 25 April, over 50 people came together in Llangollen, Wales, on the centenary of the first Gallipoli landings to celebrate the very long life of Elisabeth (Lib) Rowlands-Hughes, born at the end of WWI into a family missing most of its young men.

Lib firmly believed that the lesson of WWI, a war which claimed the lives of four of her uncles, should be NEVER AGAIN. As an early member of the Peace Pledge Union, Lib made the following vow:

I renounce war, and am therefore determined not to support any kind of war. I am also determined to work for the removal of all causes of war

and this is what she did for the rest of her life.

Saturday 25 April is Anzac Day, and on this centenary of the first Gallipoli landings special commemorations are planned in Australia, New Zealand and in London including government sponsored events designed to bolster support for today's wars rather than mourn the terrible losses in WWI and learn the obvious lessons.

Here in Wales, we have chosen this day to celebrate the life of the great peace campaigner Elisabeth (Lib) Rowlands-Hughes, born right at the end of WWI, who lost an uncle at Gallipoli and three more in WWI: near Gaza and in France: uncles she never knew but remembered all her life and whose deaths she described as "an utter, utter, utter waste." Lib, who died last November aged 96, would have appreciated an event for peace on this anniversary which she would have seen as an invitation not to glorify war but to reflect on its futility.

Via South Wales Anarchists

Remember the Manning Truthfest in January 2014? Well, it's back!

A troupe of Irish musicians, actors and activists supported by Afri will travel across the Irish sea to Pembrokeshire on 23rd January for a solidarity weekend for Chelsea Manning and her Welsh-Irish family.

Solidarity Fund

Yesterday, 17/12/2014, was the 27th birthday of Chelsea Manning. Several groups conducted a noise demo outside the US Embassy, London to support the call for her release.

Statement from the anti-Nato protestors who were charged during the occupation of Barclays Bank in Newport.

Press Release

Protest the use of Llanbedr airfield for drone testing - Noon 30 Oct

DPRTE – “The UK’s Premier Defence Procurement Event” was held in Cardiff’s Motorpoint arena.

Last month, the Manning solidarity crew in Wales and Ireland were back in action, organising a visit to Dublin for Chelsea Manning's Welsh-Irish mother during which Afri (Action from Ireland) hosted a memorial evening for the late Gerry Conlon who died this summer and who met members of Manning's family during a previous trip to Dublin last year.

Yesterday, seven people gathered at short notice from 4.30pm on a busy route close to the centre of Wrexham and outside the office of Labour MP and Shadow Minister for the Middle East, Ian Lucas, to protest government plans (supported by Labour) to join the US-led coalition that's bombing Iraq again.

See also this previous article.

Thursday 25 September
4.30 - 6.30pm
39 Rhosddu Road, Wrexham LL11 2NS

Join us outside the office of Wrexham MP Ian Lucas which is on a busy route out of Wrexham with plenty of passing traffic at that time of day.

Demand NO British involvement in the US-led war on Isis in Iraq and Syria.

It's ten years since a group here in Wrexham occupied Ian Lucas' office in protest at his abstension on the crucial Iraq war vote and his abject failure to oppose the war once it had started although he'd previously said a second UN resolution was essential.

Now he's the Shadow Minister for Africa and the Middle East.

8.30 am at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena. Wednesday, the 8th of October

“When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

Report of solidarity with imprisoned Welsh-American whistleblower Chelsea Manning in August and September in Wales before, during and after the NATO summit.

Full article with links here:

 http://wp.me/p42I6Q-fU

Join us once again in Wrexham for a day celebrating peace and calling for an end to all warfare. This day is about coming together and sharing what we have in a spirit of peaceful cooperation. Peace Day events in Wrexham have always been free of charge and open to all. The success of the day is about what each of us brings to it. You are invited to bring vegetarian food to share and items you no longer need for the free stall. If you have anything else you would like to offer free of charge (no selling), please get in touch.

Here are some photos from outside the bank while the two hour die-in/occupation was taking place inside.

Background & pics from inside/arrests:  https://indymedia.org.uk/en/2014/09/517985.html

Barclays - Divest from Elbit!

Here are some more photos taken during the march on Celtic Manor as it passed through the suburbs of Newport.

As the summit opens, around 800 peace campaigners gather in Newport, South Wales to march to the Celtic Manor to voice their concerns over the summits agenda. The campaign is joined by Black and Red Blocs, Palestinian representatives, and members of the Welsh contingent of the C.N.D. (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament).

Taking inspiration from the poet from Swindon chalking a few yards away in Westgate Square, we used pavement chalk and song to let the people of Newport know the real reason the NATO summit is in south Wales right now.

Maps for those attending the 2014 NATO Summit

Come to Cardiff Magistrates court at 9.30 am with Palestinian and Anarchist banners, then at 10 am we will support the defendant in court.