Peace Group remembers all those killed in Afghanistan

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group held an hour's vigil at the cenotaph opposite Rochdale Town Hall on Tuesday 22 June 2010. They were mourning the deaths of British soldiers in Afghanistan, including, Richard Hollington aged 23 years, the 300th British soldier to be killed there and the deaths of the thousands of Afghan civilians killed, since the invasion by NATO forces in October 2001. Members of the group read the names of all 300 British troops killed in Afghanistan since NATO's invasion and the names of 300 of the Afghan civilians. They also laid two wreaths, one with the number '300' and one with the name 'Sayed Rahman', a two year old child killed in a US airstrike during the night of April 8/9, 2003 in a village in Paktika Province near the Pakistan border.

The group observed periods of silence for all the dead and called for British troops to be brought home from Afghanistan.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said,

"This is a day which we hoped would never come, but while the government continues to send our young men and women to kill and be killed in Afghanistan, it was inevitable that it would arrive. Saturday 26 June 2010 is 'Armed Forces Day' and David Cameron is telling us that we should show greater appreciation for our military. Bringing them home from NATO's disastrous and futile war would be a very good start. We need to remember all the dead and to demand that British troops are allowed to return home to their families. The killing must stop."

Budget Day message - “Cut Trident Save Services”

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group took its ‘Cut Trident Save Services’ message to the Budget Day demonstration outside Rochdale town hall on Tuesday evening, 22 June 2010.

Philip Gilligan carried the group’s mock Trident nuclear missile on his back, displaying a price tag of £97bn (£97,000,000,000). He said,

“Today’s budget is a major assault on local jobs and services. The coalition government says that they need to ‘reduce the deficit’, but they are ignoring the cost of the unnecessary and dangerous Trident nuclear missile system and refuse to even include Trident in their review of defence spending. Greenpeace estimates that the cost of ‘Trident Replacement’ will total £97billion. Based on population, Rochdale’s share of this would amount to a staggering £300million; six times the £50million cuts, now, threatened in next year’s Rochdale Council budget. This is money that could and should be spent on the jobs and services which the government is now cutting. Trident “is a system we simply cannot afford”. We need to cut nuclear weapons of mass destruction, not the public services we need.”

Rae Street addresses Free Palestine rally - 13 June 2010

Rae Street from Littleborough was one the main speakers at a rally organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Greater Manchester and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Stop the War Coalition and Viva Palestina in Manchester on Sunday afternoon (13 June 2010). She joined thousands of demonstrators from across the region, including several members of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group, in condemning Israel’s deadly attack on the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ aid convoy on 31May 2010 and in welcoming home Babu Adam Zanghar from Bolton and Paveen Yaqub from Huddersfield who are survivors of the attacks which left at least 9 people dead. The demonstrators called for freedom for the people of Palestine and, in particular for an independent international investigation into Israel’s attack on the boats which had been attempting to take aid to the besieged people of Gaza.

Rae Street said,

“I very much want to thank Paveen and Babu for telling us the truth about what happened to people on the flotilla. I also want to remind you of some other truths. Israel is the only nation in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons, but our government maintains a hypocritical silence about the dangers which their upwards of 200 nuclear warheads pose to the peace and stability of the world. Meanwhile, Mordechai Vanunu who has already suffered 18 years of imprisonment for revealing the truth about Israeli nuclear weapons has, now, again been imprisoned for daring to talk to reporters; for simply telling the truth. We all need to stand together to expose the truth about Israel and to tell our government to end its hypocrisy and to, immediately, stop selling arms to a state which has broken international law again and again.”

To view a copy of Rae's speech, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuEVmnOtUv0

Peace Group calls for immediate cuts in “a system we simply cannot afford”

‘Cut Trident not Treatment!’, ‘Cut Nukes not Nurses!’ ‘Fund Welfare not Warfare!’ These were amongst the messages that Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group shared with shoppers in Yorkshire Street on Saturday (12 June 2010).

They displayed a mock Trident nuclear missile with a very large price label of £97bn (£97,000,000,000) and asked people to join them in calling on the new coalition government to immediately decommission the current Trident nuclear missile system, abandon all plans to replace ‘Trident’ and to spend all monies saved on improving the country’s education, health and social care services.

Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the Peace Group said,

“On 6 May 2010, an overwhelming majority of voters in Rochdale and in Heywood and Middleton voted for parliamentary candidates who had clearly declared their opposition to so-called ‘Trident Replacement. This came as no surprise. These unnecessary and dangerous nuclear weapons of mass destruction already costs British taxpayers £2,000,000,000 per year, and the plans to upgrade them will cost our country tens of £billions more. Based on population, Rochdale’s share of the current costs already amounts to £7,000,000 per year. Greenpeace estimates that the true cost of ‘Trident Replacement’ will total £97,000,000,000. Rochdale’s share of this would amount to a staggering £300,000,000. This is money that could and should be spent on essential health, education and social care services. The new coalition government tells us that it needs to ‘reduce the deficit’ and has already announced over £6bn (£6,000,000,000) in swingeing cuts, but it still refuses to even include Trident in the review of defence spending. In the election campaign, Nick Clegg and his colleagues claimed that they “oppose like-for-like replacement of Trident.” They told us that “It is not suited to today’s security threats and, with a £100bn price tag, it is a system we simply cannot afford”. We agree and, now, they are in government, we want to see them cut what we cannot afford, not the services we need.”

Peace Group calls on Rochdale to support Gaza protests

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined hundreds of demonstrators from across Greater Manchester outside the BBC on Oxford Road, Manchester on Tuesday evening (1 June 2010) to protest at Sunday night’s unprovoked attack by Israeli commandos on the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ carrying aid to the besieged people of Gaza. The demonstration was addressed by Linda Clair from Spotland who is chair of the Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign. She spoke of her deep sadness at the slaughter of at least 10 unarmed civilians including at least one British citizen by the Israeli soldiers. She expressed serious concern for the welfare of the 40 British citizens from the aid convoy who are still being detained in Israeli prisons and called on people to demand that the British government applies pressure to ensure their immediate release. Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined in a minute's silence for the dead and in applauding the names of the British citizens seized by the Israelis.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said,

“The unprovoked killing of people taking aid to Gaza is a deeply shocking event. We must speak out about this atrocity and demand that the government takes effective action to ensure that Israel is held to account for its violations of international law. For far too long successive British governments have ignored Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people. For three years Israel has imposed an illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip, creating a devastating humanitarian crisis for the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped there under Israeli military occupation. We need Rochdale’s newly elected MPs to reassure us that they have written to the Foreign Secretary insisting that he put pressure on Israel to end the illegal blockade of Gaza. We need them to ask the Foreign Secretary to immediately withdraw the British Ambassador from Tel Aviv; to institute an immediate two-way arms embargo between the UK and Israel; to call for a prompt, independent and international investigation into the Israeli attack and to press for the immediate suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

There must be an end to the siege of Gaza and freedom and justice for all Palestinians. We hope that many people from Rochdale will join the national demonstration called by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign for Saturday 5 June 2010."