Don't Bomb Syria - Manchester - 2 December 2015

Bombing is NOT the Answer!

Members of Rochdale Unison, Rochdale Green Party, the Littleborough branch of Rochdale Labour Party and Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group met outside Rochdale Town Hall on Saturday morning (28 November 2015) to urge Rochdale's MPs to reject the Conservative government's call for members of parliament to approve airstrikes against Syria.

The peace campaigners observed a minute's silence to remember the deaths of  the tens of thousands killed in the war in Syria and the hundreds killed in recent atrocities in Beirut, in the Sinai and in Paris. They unanimously endorsed the statement by Momentum Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton published yesterday (27 November 2015) calling on Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk to oppose David Cameron's call for airstrikes when the question is debated in parliament.

Many of the group then travelled to central Manchester to join the Greater Manchester Stop the War Coalition's rally and march against the bombing of Syria; one of many held throughout the country on Saturday.

Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the group said,

"‘The grim atrocities carried out by the so-called Islamic State (IS) / Daesh have rightly shocked and repulsed the world, but heaping further atrocities onto the people of Syria cannot be the answer. Airstrikes inevitably result in the deaths of civilians; innocent children, women and men who have played no part in the actions of IS. Further bombing would not fix the problem,  but bombing would expose us all to an even greater danger from terrorist attacks.
The situation does not need more pointless retaliatory violence and yet more deaths. What is urgently needed is both humanitarian assistance for refugees, and agreements between key nations to ensure that the supply of weapons and money to IS is halted, that its oil is not bought and that its bank accounts are closed. This would be far more effective than a further fanning of the flames of violence. Our MPs need to act on the lessons of Iraq and Libya. Another disastrous and ill-conceived bombing campaign would only make the situation worse."

Petitioning and Planting for Peace

Supporters joined members of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group in Littleborough on Saturday morning (31 October 2015), to sign the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's petition calling for the Trident nuclear system to be scrapped and not replaced. People also paused to admire crocus and daffodil bulbs planted by the group in the shape of the CND symbol and collected leaflets encouraging them to join to join the forthcoming 'STOP TRIDENT' demonstration in London on 27 February 2016 and to become members of CND.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said:

"We are greatly encouraged by the groundswell of local and national opposition to the Trident nuclear weapons system. It is crucial that we let our politicians know our views and that we stop the government squandering ever more £billions on dangerous weapons of mass destruction. Trident threatens our very survival and drains enormous resources from the services we desperately need. In 2016, parliament will be voting on the question of so-called 'Trident Replacement' and, on 27 February, the Peace Group will be in London to tell the government loudly and clearly that we don't want the existing Trident system and we don't want any replacement system. Our bulbs will be in flower by the end of February. We shall take them with us to London as a symbol of peace. We trust that many people from Rochdale join us there."

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group Play a Full Part in CND Conference

Members of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group played a prominent part in last weekend's national conference of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament held at the Arlington Conference Centre in London. Rae Street moved a resolution which called for an immediate end to NATO exercises and war games involving nuclear capable weaponry and in particular demands that the UK government refuses to deploy criuse missiles and nuclear capable aircaft on its territory,  while Pat Sanchez moved a resolution from Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group which highlighted "the extreme and unacceptable dangers posed by the risk of accidental launches of nuclear missiles, systems failures, accidental collisions and unsafe behaviour by members of submarine crews" such had been exposed by whistleblower submariner William McNeilly in his report 'Disaster Waiting to Happen’ (https://wikileaks.org/tridentsafety/).

Both resolutions were passed by the conference which involved CND members from across all parts of Britain.

Pat Sanchez said, "I was very pleased that the resolution from Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group passed unanimously. It is essential that we recognise both the immoral waste of public money involved in funding a nuclear weapons system and that we understand and expose the horrific consequences that would result for us all from any use of those nuclear weapons; whether intended or accidental."

Peace Group Responds to Osborne's Insult to Parliament Over Trident

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group responded quickly to George Osborne's announcement last week that the government will soon be spending another £500,000,000 on preparing the Faslane naval base for new nuclear-armed Trident submarines, despite the fact that Parliament has yet to even make a decision on whether the existing Trident nuclear weapons system will actually be replaced. On Saturday morning (5 September 2015), members of the peace group asked people in Littleborough to sign the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's petition calling for the existing Trident system to be scrapped and not to be replaced.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said:

"Nuclear weapons will not keep our country safe and secure. George Osborne has his priorities all wrong. He should be funding the public services we need, not squandering £100 billion on a new generation of nuclear weapons.  The Chancellor should not be wasting money on Trident when people are dying within our benefits system. Osborne is cutting essential services and benefits for the vulnerable, while effectively making them pay for weapons of mass destruction. His government is giving obscene amounts to the nuclear weapons industry for outdated weapons of mass destruction at the same time he is hitting ordinary people with welfare sanctions and forcing them to exist on stagnant wages."

Hiroshima / Nagasaki - Never Again

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group gathered at Hollingworth Lake on Thursday night (6 August 2015) to commememorate the dropping of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. On the 70th anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima, by nuclear bombs, members of the peace group read survivors' accounts of the devastation and shared poems and prose which reiterated their commitment to campaigning for peace and disarmament. They then observed a minute's silence to remember all who have died in wars and floated lanterns and scattered flower petals on the Lake in memory of the dead.

Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the Peace Group, said:

"In 1945, the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused utter devastation. By 1950, over 340,000 people had died as a result and generations were poisoned by radiation. The explosion's effects killed indiscriminately by vaporising human tissue. Many survivors of the initial blast burned to death, while cancers caused by the radiation affected countless others, causing years of misery to both adults and children. That is the effect of a nuclear weapon. 70 years later, in 2015, Britain continues to threaten all our futures with nuclear weapons of mass destruction. 16,000 nuclear weapons threaten the survival of the world. 225 nuclear warheads are based in Britain as part of the Trident system. Each of these bombs has eight times the killing power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

As we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bombings, we need to remember what nuclear bombs do and we need to work together to make sure that no-one else suffers such pain and devastation. We need to scrap Trident and begin to finally rid the world of nuclear weapons."

Rochdalians say 'No to Austerity. No to Trident'

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group met friends from Rochdale UNISON and Greater Manchester and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmanent (GMDCND) on the streets of London  on Saturday 20 June 2015). Marching from the Bank of England to the Houses of Parliament, they joined tens of thousands of people from around the country who were supporting the People's Assembly demonstration demanding an end to policies of austerity in public services. They applauded speakers such as Jeremy Corbyn and Charlotte Church who condemned plans for further cuts in in health, education and social care. They called, in particular, for the immediate scrapping of plans to spend even more public money on the Trident nuclear weapons system and for the £100 billion (£100,000,000,000) that this would cost to be spent instead on reversing the cuts being made in public services such as adult social care. 

Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the Peace Group, said:
"Our country does not need austerity. We do not need cuts in social care. We need to scrap Trident now and to spend our taxes on the services we need, not on weapons of mass destruction.The government threatens essential public services with cut after cut, but it continues to waste £6.6 million a day on nuclear weapons we do not need. Cameron seems intent on squandering even more £billions on ever more dangerous but completely futile nuclear weapons. It is time for us to demand a halt to this madness."

Don't Nuke the Climate

The Peace Group has signed the 'Don't Nuke the Climate petition'. See: http://www.wiseinternational.org/campaign/sign-petition

NHS Not Trident - 30 May 2015 - Manchester Royal Infirmary

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined hundreds of campaigners from across Greater Manchester on Saturday (30 May 2015) in a call to “Keep Our NHS Public”. At the rally held at the gates of Manchester Royal Infirmary campaigners from groups including the People’s Assembly, ‘Save Our NHS’ and NHS staff and patients united to show their support for the NHS. Padlocks, covered in reasons why individuals love the NHS, were secured to the gates of MRI to symbolise the aim of ‘Locking-out Privatisation’ from the NHS and in celebration of everything a truly public NHS does for people on the basis of their medical needs. It formed part of the People’s Assembly Against Austerity’s National day of action, while Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament members promoted the message “NHS NOT Trident” on their placards and T-shirts.

Philip Gilligan on behalf of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group said,

“Peace Group members and supporters are clear that there is one cut that does need to be made. We need to cut the vast amounts of money being spent on the Trident nuclear weapons system and to bring an end to the madness of squandering even more money on an even more dangerous and unnecessary nuclear weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, we are committed to the campaign against austerity. We need to be spending more money on public services like our NHS and adult social care, not less, and we need to protect our public services from creeping privatisation.  We need to secure our NHS services and ensure that they are not undermined by those who seek to make a profit from the sick. In Rochdale, we have already seen a serious erosion of our local hospital services under successive governments. Now, hospitals across Greater Manchester are under huge amounts of pressure. Patients wait hours to be seen and hospital targets are not being met. Further cuts will only increase the problems. The government needs to spend our taxes on improving these services not on developing ever more dangerous nuclear missiles”

'Vote Out Trident' says Peace Group

On Saturday morning (25 April 2015), twelve days before the general election, Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group braved the rain in Yorkshire Street, Rochdale to urge people to use their votes to bring an end to Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system.

They were supported by the Green party candidate for the Rochdale constituency, Mark Hollindrake who confirmed his agreement with the view that "the next government should scrap its nuclear weapons rather than replace them with a new system and that the money saved should be spent on things such as education, social care and the NHS."  

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said:

"A majority of people in Rochdale have made it clear, time and again, that they think it would be a ridiculous and very dangerous mistake to spend £100,000,0000,0000 on replacing Trident with a new nuclear weapon system and they want their MPs to take that same message to Westminster after 7th May 2015. Whatever the final composition of the government, it is clear that our country cannot afford to squander £billions on useless nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear missiles do not keep us safe. In fact, they put all our lives at risk and threaten our planet with total destruction. We need MPs who will vote against nuclear weapons of mass destruction and who will ensure that the money saved will be spent on the services we need." 

Rae Street reports on US Tour

Rae Street from Hare Hill Road Littleborough gave fellow anti-nuclear campaigners a full report on her recent visit to the USA on Wednesday night (22 April 2015) at the monthly meeting of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group. Rae had been invited to New York to help launch the new Interference Archive exhibition which features artefacts, posters and photographs from the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp together with interviews with Greenham veterans. These include interviews recorded with Rae Street and Maggie Muir in Littleborough last year. Both are veterans of the successful campaign to remove US Cruise nuclear missiles from the Greenham Common base in the 1980s.

From New York, Rae moved-on to California where she joined old friends like Gwyn Kirk, Judith le Blanc, Jackie Cabasso and others at a number of peace events, including a demonstration against the enormous amounts of money allocated to military expenditure by the government of the USA.

Rae Street said:

“It was great to meet old friends from the USA who had been so supportive of our successful campaign to get Cruise missiles removed from Greenham Common, and it is always a delight to be reminded that the peace and anti-nuclear movement is alive and well in the USA. We hear too little in the British media about the very active campaigns against the Trident and other nuclear weapons on the other side of the Atlantic. Trident, including the UK’s so-called ‘independent deterrent’, is a system very much in the control of the US government and many in the USA recognise that it is dangerous, immoral and ineffective. Like most people in Rochdale, they know that far from protecting anyone, nuclear missiles threaten to destroy our world.”

'People Not Trident'

Rochdale and littleborough Peace Group joined fellow campaigners from Greater Manchester and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmanent (GMDCND) on the streets yesterday (11 April 2015) urging people to think about the issue of nuclear weapons when they vote on 7 May 2015. They highlighted the fact that current plans to replace the Trident nuclear missile system will cost the country a staggering £100 billion (£100,000,000,000) and noted that the government already spends £6.6 million a day on nuclear weapons. They described this as "an appalling waste" and stressed that cancelling the Trident replacement would release around £100 billion which could be spent on healthcare, education, housing and energy, which they described as "the things we need".

Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the Peace Group, said:

"With the final vote on Trident replacement due in 2016, at an estimated cost of £100bn, this is the final election before the decision – and it is one which requires a higher level of debate than we are seeing at the moment. Senior military figures warn that the £100bn white elephant of Trident replacement does nothing to keep us safe. How a blind commitment to squandering our overstretched national resources on an outdated weapon of mass destruction can be touted as being "strong on defence" is beyond me.

It's time to ensure that we vote only for parliamentary candidates who are opposed to so-called 'Trident Replacement'. It's time for the Conservatives and Labour to wake up to the huge public opposition to Trident. It's time to scrap Trident, save £100bn, and spend it on things we really need."

Peace Group marks anniversary of nuclear disaster recorded by Rochdale artist

Members of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group paused during their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday evening (11 March 2015) to remember the ongoing suffering of the thousands of children and families affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. On the fourth anniversary of the meltdown of three of the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan on 11 March 2011, they discussed the work of the ‘Strong Children Japan’ project founded by Littleborough-born artist Geoff Read and reiterated their call for a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear power-plants.

On behalf of the group, Rae Street said,

“The stories of individual children affected by the meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi bring home very vividly the dangers posed to us all, our children and our grandchildren by nuclear power plants. It is chilling to remember that Heysham is only 42 miles from Rochdale, especially when we know from viewing Geoff Read’s blogs that in Japanese cities like Koriyama, which is about the same distance west of Fukushima, levels of radiation were so high that most parents and schools could not allow their children to play outside at all, even though soil had been removed from many school grounds. In Koriyama, they wear long sleeves and face masks when outside, and avoid the rain. Naoya aged 8 years who lives there and who drew one of the pictures we looked at, said very poignantly "It’s sad for me that there are nuclear plants near Koriyama.", while 6 year old Hanako from Fukushima City drew a picture of the swing in the children’s playground which is surrounded by a barrier to stop the children using it because of the contamination. Hanako’s mother wrote “The earthquake on March 11 caused the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident and high levels of radiation have been leaking since then. We can still detect cesium in many areas around Fukushima. We all have no idea how Fukushima children’s health will be in the future.”

For more information on the ‘Strong Children Japan’ project, please see http://strongchildrenjapan.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/age%200-5

Betty Tebbs - veteran Greater Manchester peace & anti-nuclear campaigner -

Rochdale peace campaigners help close nuclear bomb factory

Three members of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group travelled the 200 miles to Berkshire yesterday (2 March 2015) to support the blockade of the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Burghfield, near Aldermaston. Mai Chatham, Pat Sanchez and Philip Gilligan from Littleborough joined hundreds of other anti-nuclear protesters from around the country who blockaded all three entrances to facility which develops warheads for the Trident nuclear weapons system. The blockade started at 07:00 GMT and also included protesters from France and Finland. Action AWE, which organised the "Burghfield Lockdown", said the protest aimed to bring "work on Trident warheads to a halt". Campaigners locked themselves to each other and to concrete blocks and were successful in stopping all traffc in and out of the area where new buildings are being constructed.

Pat Sanchez said " We were delighted to do something to slow down production of these dangerous and evil weapons of mass destruction. They threaten all of us and our planet on a daily basis. If used they will destroy us all. We need to scrap them now. We need to stop squandering £billions on ways to destroy our world and to use these wasted resources for the services we urgently need. We need these £billions for our NHS, to bulid homes, for schools and social care services. We should not be wasting them on nuclear weapons that threaten all our futures. 

Rochdale campaigners join 'peace-knits' to Wrap Up Trident

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined thousands of protesters from around the country on Saturday (24 January 2015) to wrap the Ministry of Defence in two miles of the bright pink peace scarf knitted for the Wool Against Weapons campaign. They, then joined a rally opposite the Houses of Parliament, where the crowd carried placards with messages including "A&E not WMD", "Books Not Bombs" "Jobs Not Trident"., "NHS Not Trident" and "Homes Not Trident". They called on the Government to "wrap up" the ever more costly Trident nuclear missiles programme.

Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the Peace Group said “We are here to give the government and our own MPs a very clear message. They need to take the issue of the £billions squandered on useless and dangerous nuclear weapons more seriously. When Rochdale and the rest of the country desperately needs an end to austerity and improved health, education and social services, it is unacceptable for our MPs to remain indifferent and non-committal about plans to waste a further £100 billion on developing an even more dangerous Trident system. We need them to tell us much more clearly what they think about the Trident system and plans to replace it. Last week Simon Danczuk and Liz MMcInnes had a clear opportunity in Parliament to represent the views of their electorates and to vote against so-called 'Trident Replacement'. I am appalled that they failed to do so. Failing to vote and avoiding discussion is not enough.”

Peace Group calls on Rochdale MPs to support diversion of £billions from Trident to the NHS

At its January meeting (14 January 2015), Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group welcomed news that former deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott has come ‘round to the view that the £billions currently earmarked for a new nuclear submarine fleet should be diverted to spending on the NHS.

Peace Group members were delighted to learn that Mr Prescott has suggested a straightforward way of resolving the deteriorating situation in the NHS. In an article in the Mirror, at the weekend, he expressed admiration for hospital workers caring for his sister, but also noted that “councils have cut their care budgets – so more elderly patients have to stay in hospital blocking beds because there aren’t the care packages to help them in the community” and that “A&E waiting times are now the worst since records began”. He concluded that “Crisis hit hospitals deserve our cash more than nuclear submarines”. (see http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/john-prescott-crisis-hit-hospitals-4957260#ICID=sharebar_twitter )

Speaking on behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said, "We know that Liz McInnes and Simon Danczuk share John Prescott’s horror at the impact of austerity on our health and social services. What we, now, need from our local MPs are clear promises that, if re-elected in May, they too would support a policy of diverting the £billions destined for a new nuclear weapons system to spending on the NHS. Will they join the former deputy leader of the Labour Party in stating unequivocally that cancelling so-called ‘Trident Replacement’, so that our loved ones can be cared for properly, is “a price worth paying”."