‘Scrap Trident, not services. We want nurses not nukes.’

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group were in Middleton on Saturday (16 October 2010) collecting signatures for the latest Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)'s petition calling on the government to scrap the Trident nuclear weapons system and cancel all plans to replace it. With placards declaring 'Nurses Not Nukes' and 'Treatment Not Trident', they urged people to join them in telling the government and MPs that they want an end to all spending on nuclear weapons and want the money saved spent instead on protecting education, health and social services.

On behalf of the group, Philip Gilligan said,

“At a time of economic crisis, when essential services for vulnerable people are being drastically cut, it is simply not acceptable to be spending £2,000,000,000 (£2billion) per year on nuclear weapons of mass destruction. When disabled people are being threatened with reductions in their benefits and care homes are being closed in our borough, because of a lack of funds, it is scandalous that £billions are being squandered on new facilities at AWE Aldermaston developing ever more deadly nuclear weapons. When young people are being told that it will cost them £7,000 per year in tuition fees at university, it is crazy that the government is still planning to spend tens of £billions on a new nuclear weapons system we do not need. It is already clear that most people in Britain are opposed to spending any more money on Trident. We want our taxes spent on decent public services, not on nuclear weapons. Trident is an immoral, illegal and hideous misuse of public funds. This is money that needs to be spent on essential services."

CND National Conference supports Rochdale campaigners call for peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has unanimously supported a resolution from Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group at its annual conference on Sunday, 10 October 2010. The resolution reaffirmed opposition to NATO’s war in Afghanistan and Pakistan and called for the immediate withdrawal of British, US and other troops and support for a peace agreement negotiated by and between Afghan civil society.

Philip Gilligan who spoke in favour of the motion said,

“The numbers of civilian and military deaths and injuries in Afghanistan and Pakistan have all increased dramatically during 2010. The United Nations reports, for example, that the number of Afghan children killed during the first six months of 2010 was 55% higher than the number killed during the same period in 2009, while the total number of troops killed this year, is already greater than for any year since NATO started its disastrous war in 2001. Meanwhile, as the US military diverts more of its pilot-less drones for CIA attacks on targets in Pakistan, increasing numbers of Pakistani civilians, including large numbers of children are being killed, there. Between January 2006 and April 2009, such attacks killed at least 701 people in Pakistan, including 687 civilians. It is time for the killing to stop.”

He urged people in Rochdale to support the national ‘Afghanistan: Time to Go’ demonstration called by CND, Stop the War Coalition and the British Muslim Initiative in London on Saturday 20 November 2010.

CND conference also endorsed the membership of three people from Rochdale on its national council. Pat Sanchez and Rae Street were endorsed as directly elected delegates, while Philip Gilligan remains as the representative from Greater Manchester and District CND.