Peace Group mark John Bright's bicentenary by remembering a decade of killing in Afghanistan

Peace Group members marked the imminent bicentenary of John Bright’s birth in Rochdale on 16 November 1811 by gathering at Bright’s statue in Broadfield Park on Saturday 12 November 2011 to remember all those who have been killed in Afghanistan since the NATO invasion in 2001

Their placard recalled Bright’s speech from 1855, when, in opposing the war in Crimea, he famously, told parliament that “The angel of death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings. ... he takes his victims from the castle of the noble, the mansion of the wealthy, and the cottage of the poor and the lowly”. Peace group members read out the names of both the 37 British troops who have been killed in Afghanistan, since 1 January 2011 and the names of some of the many thousands of Afghan civilians killed since 2001.

Philip Gilligan said,

“Bright’s words resonate across 150 years and remind us that war is an indiscriminate killer. 385 British troops have been killed in NATO’s disastrous war in Afghanistan, since 2001, alongside many hundreds of other foreign troops and countless thousands of civilians, including many thousands of children. It is time to stop this slaughter.”

NOTES

For a full copy of Bright's 1855 speech, please see http://www.cobdencentre.org/2010/08/the-angel-of-death-has-been-abroad/

For the list of British troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001, please see http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSheets/OperationsFactsheets/OperationsInAfghanistanBritishFatalities.htm

For a list of the civilians known to have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, please see http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold/listing.htm

There will be a showing of Nick Wilding's film 'John Bright and the Angel of Death' followed by a discussion at The Touchstones Heritage Centre, Rochdale, starting at 7.30pm on Wednesday 16 November 2011. (For more details, please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l1coDOVcYw )

Peace Group congratulates International Campaign to Ban Uranium Weapons

At its meeting on Wednesday (9 November 2011) Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group congratulated local campaigners, Pat Sanchez and Rae Street, following their participation in a protest outside the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday (8 November 2011).

Pat and Rae from Littleborough joined other campaigners from the International Campaign to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW) in dumping two buckets of imitation ‘depleted uranium (DU) dust’ on the Ministry of Defence’s doorstep to remind them of their responsibility for contaminating areas of Iraq and Kuwait, during the 1991 and 2003 conflicts.

ICBUW are demanding that the government take responsibility for contamination in the Gulf and cancel plans to extend the life of the UK’s last remaining DU round, known as CHARM3.

Rae delivered a letter to the new defence minister Philip Hammond, signed by eight organisations including the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Pax Christi, and Campaign Against the Arms Trade. It condemns the use of Depleted Uranium and asks the Ministry of Defence to stop to the CHARM3 extension programme.

She explained that “When Depleted Uranium munitions hit hard targets an uncontrolled release of Depleted Uranium dust occurs. If inhaled or ingested, this dust has the potential to cause cancer. In areas where Depleted Uranium has been used, most notably in Iraq, doctors have reported a substantial increase in the rates of cancers and birth defects within the population. Internationally Depleted Uranium weapons have been condemned by four resolutions in the European Parliament, including a landslide resolution in 2008, which called for a global ban. It is totally unacceptable for the Ministry of Defence to extend the life of these weapons.”

Pat commented “In ICBUW and in the Peace Group, we are delighted that Jim Dobbin, MP has signed the Early Day Motion opposing CHARM 3 renewal. We call on other MPs to do the same.”

Peace Group calls for closure of Pennine spy base

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined many other groups from all parts of the country at Menwith Hill near Harrogate, on Sunday (17 October 2011), to call for the closure of the communications base, there, which provides intelligence support to the United States military.

The RAF describes the Menwith Hill base as being “owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and made available to the US Department of Defense (DoD)” (see http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/rafmenwithhill.cfm ). The RAF says that “the administration of the base is the responsibility of the US authorities.” and, in July 2007, the then Defence Minister, Des Browne, admitted that Britain had agreed to Menwith Hill being used by US forces as part of its controversial missile defence (‘Star Wars’) system.

Pat Sanchez, on behalf of the peace group said:

“It is outrageous enough that the US military are allowed to spy on the world from an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the Pennines, but even more frightening that they are being allowed to absorb Menwith Hill into their dangerous plans for sending missiles into space. We do not want our countryside used for the Pentagon’s Star Wars fantasies. We do not want our world to be intimidated by US missiles and we do not want people in the Pennines to become a target during a future military conflict.”

"The decision to let the US use Menwith Hill in this way was made without any debate in Parliament or even the pretence of consultation with the public. There was no chance for MPs, let alone the public to discuss the decision to tie Menwith Hill into the so-called missile defence system." This totally unnecessary system will protect no-one, but it will threaten all of us, by giving the US the ability to strike without any fear of retaliation," she added.

Call for increased pressure on MPs to scrap Trident

At their annual conference held in Bradford on Saturday (15 October 2011) members of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) from all parts of Britain unanimously supported the resolution from Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group.

The resolution noted, in particular, that: "the Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition is spending scarce public monies on developing a replacement for the Trident nuclear weapons system and that claims that a decision on Trident replacement has been postponed until after 2016 are clearly false, in light of the decision, announced on 18 May 2011, to spend up to £3billion of public money on designing submarines for the Trident system." It committed CND to continuing the campaign for the scrapping of all UK nuclear weapons and to encouraging all branches, affiliated groups, members and supporters to ensuring that all their local MPs state, publicly, their view on the decision announced in May 2011 to spend up to £3billion on designing submarines for the Trident nuclear weapons system

Philip Gilligan who spoke in favour of the motion said,

“For many, this will mean discovering yet again about the duplicity of their elected representatives; learning that some of those who, as candidates in 2010, appeared to declare their opposition to so-called 'Trident Replacement' have, in 2011, supported or said nothing about the Coalition Government's ongoing programme to upgrade the Trident system."

"We need to bust the myth of so-called 'deterrence'. We need to put the scrapping of Trident on the agenda of political parties. we need a nuclear-free future", he added.

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

Peace Group joins Manchester protest against the cuts

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined tens of thousands of other protesters at the North-West TUC demonstration against cuts to public services, pensions and jobs on Sunday afternoon (2 October 2011). They joined trade unions and campaigning groups from across the region in a march that took them through central Manchester and past the Conservative Party conference

Philip Gilligan said,

“This was a protest that united many groups who know that there are real alternatives to the policy of cuts in jobs, pensions and essential public services. The peace group was clear in promoting the message that an end to spending on the Trident nuclear weapons system and an end to spending on the disastrous war in Afghanistan would free many resources to help protect our education, health and social services. We were pleased to be marching alongside a wide variety of groups, including Rochdale UNISON and the Rochdale branch of the NASUWT. We are determined to protect services, pensions and jobs.”

Newsletter - September 2011- pp1-2