Peace Group welcomes temporary halting of nuclear trains

Rochdale and Litttleborough Peace Group has welcomed the decision to stop the running of trains carrying highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel rods, from the Sizewell B plant in Suffolk to Sellafield in Cumbria, for the duration of the Olympics in 2012. However, they highlight current, ongoing and future risks, not just to Londoners, but also to people throughout North West England.

The trains which pass through the Olympic Park in London will be suspended for the duration of the Olympics, in a move long called for by anti-nuclear campaigners. However, despite this decision, the trains will return after the games are over, bringing with them the risk of an accident or terrorism contaminating anywhere on the route, including the West Coast Main Line as it passes to the west of Rochdale, Middleton and Heywood.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said,

"Of course, we welcome any plan, even a temporary one that halts the running of these potentially dangerous and deadly trains, but they present a current and ongoing danger which needs to be addressed in a permanent way, not just for the duration of the Olympic Games. These trains routinely put anyone along their route at risk, with hazards from potential accidents as well as terrorism. The Government, now, plans to build two new nuclear plants in the South East which would mean decades more of these toxic cargoes passing within metres of houses, schools and hospitals, all the way from there to Cumbria. The consequences of an incident involving the highly radioactive spent fuel rods on these trains could affect hundreds of thousands of people. This is yet another reason why dirty, dangerous and expensive nuclear power should not play any part in finding the answer to climate change."

Peace Group marks 30th anniversary with renewed call to scrap Trident

Around 60 members and supporters of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group celebrated three decades of campaigning for peace and disarmament in Rochdale borough with a shared lunch, in Littleborough, on Sunday (12 June 2011). They especially enjoyed a cake made in the shape of the CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) symbol. Several founding members of Littleborough Peace Group, including Rae Street, Pat Sanchez, Lynn Kelsall and Sharon Courtney attended the 30^th anniversary celebrations, while others, including former secretary of Rochdale CND, Jackie Ferguson sent birthday greetings to the group.

The group renewed their call for the scrapping of the Trident system and for an immediate halt to government spending on all nuclear weapons.

Philip Gilligan said

“The £2.2billion that the government squanders on the Trident nuclear weapons system every year is a dangerous waste of scarce public resources. This is money that needs to be spent on the services we need. We need our taxes to be spent on jobs, health and education, not on threatening our planet with nuclear annihilation. It is time to scrap Trident and to call an immediate halt to the government’s plans to spend tens of £billions more of our money on an even more destructive nuclear weapons system.”

Peace Group concerned about NATO ‘mission creep’ in Libya

At its monthly meeting on Wednesday, 8 June 2011, Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group expressed deep concern about NATO’s escalating military action in Libya. They expressed solidarity with anti-war groups in Portugal who, earlier in the day, had called for the immediate cessation of the armed intervention by NATO. They urged the Government to call for a negotiated and peaceful resolution to the civil war in Libya that would ensure that the Libyan people, and not NATO, determine the future of their country.

George Abendstern said,

“In March, David Cameron and those supporting military action in Libya told us that the goal was protect civilians. We were told that this would be a swift 90 day operation and that it would involve no ‘boots on the ground’. Critics like Conservative MP, John Baron and CND vice-chair Jeremy Corbyn, MP warned, at the time, that there was a major risk of ‘mission creep’ and doubted that NATO’s military intervention would be restricted to the protecting civilians. Time has quickly proved their fears to be well founded. NATO air-strikes have been ineffective in protecting many civilians who continue to suffer in military attacks, while, almost immediately, NATO’s agenda shifted to talk of ‘regime change’. British troops are already on the ground in a training role and NATO’s military action has been extended for, at least, another 3 months.”

“It is time for a change of direction on Libya. An escalation of violence will further destabilise the country and lead to more civilian deaths. The civilian population needs protection, through a negotiated settlement. They will not be protected by the warmongering rhetoric of David Cameron and William Hague; politicians who seem intent on dragging us into another apparently endless NATO war”, he added.

30 years of campaigning for peace and disarmament

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group will hold its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday (8 June 2011) exactly 30 years after the group first met. As the minute book shows (see photograph), at 8 pm on 8 June 1981, ten people met at 83 Smithy Bridge Road to discuss forming a 'group against missiles'. They were amongst the many thousands of people concerned about the escalating nuclear arms race and the arrival of 96 Cruise nuclear missiles from the USA at Greenham Common in Berkshire. They named themselves 'Littleborough Peace Group' to emphasise their positive objectives and agreed to affiliate to the national Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Many of those present, subsequently, spent time supporting the Greenham Common Peace camp which ultimately saw the departure of Cruise nuclear missiles from Britain ten years later, while the earliest local campaigns focused on collecting signatures for the International Peace Petition. This called on the presidents of the USA and the then Soviet Union "to end the arms race which threatens all with annihilation ... to terminate immediately all research, development, testing, manufacture and deployment of nuclear bombs and missiles; and ... progressively, but quickly, destroy present stockpiles."

The group has remained continuously active since 1981. Littleborough Peace Group worked closely with Rochdale CND during the 1980s and 1990s and formed a key part of Rochdale Stop the War Coalition from 2002. The three groups merged in January 2007 to become the current, borough-wide, Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group.

Some of the founding members have sadly died or moved away during the past three decades, but several remain very active supporters of the group.

Rae Street was one of those attending the inaugural meeting in June 1981. She has since been a vice-chair of national CND and was, until earlier this year, chair of the Greater Manchester and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Along with Pat Sanchez who sent her apologies for the inaugural meeting in 1981, Rae was also a founder member of the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons.
She said,

"Greenham Common is, now, thankfully, a natural resource and wildlife sanctuary, open to the public, while all those people in Littleborough who signed the International Peace Petition in the 1980s played their own small, but essential role in persuading Reagan and Gorbachev to eventually sign the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987. However, the threat of nuclear annihilation remains and the need to campaign for a nuclear-free future has never been greater. The nuclear-armed states (China, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the USA) have the capacity to destroy our planet many times over. Just one of the 48 nuclear warheads carried by each of the UK's Trident submarines has an explosive power 8 times greater than that which killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima. Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group remains as determined as ever to rid our world of nuclear weapons and war."

"All those who have supported our campaigns in the past or who wish to join us in future campaigning will be very welcome at our 30^th anniversary celebrations. For details of all our activities, they should contact Philip Gilligan ( philipgilligan@lineone.net, 01706 370712)." she added.

'Rochdale Palestine Solidarity Campaign urges shoppers to "Boycott Israeli Goods !" '

Rochdale Palestine Solidarity Campaign supported by Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group, today (Saturday 21 May 2011), urged Rochdale shoppers to "Boycott Israeli Goods!"

Rochdale PSC Branch Coordinator Jenny Turner said,

"For over 60 years successive United Nations' resolutions have not brought any respite for the suffering of Palestinian refugees or the people in territories occupied by Israel. The world's governments have done nothing, so ordinary people in Rochdale and elsewhere must take their own action. We are here today to raise awareness of the Palestinian struggle and to promote and support the international boycott of Israeli goods. The state of Israel has repeatedly shown through their words and deeds that they have no respect for the rights of the Palestinian people or those supporting them around the world. We need to bring global pressure to bear on Israel to respect human rights and international law."

"The Israeli military seeks to control every aspect of Palestinian life in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, occupied since 1967. We in Rochdale PSC and RLPG believe that it is a scandal that Israel profits from exporting fruit and vegetables grown on illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land and often misleadingly labelled 'West Bank'. People in Rochdale do not want to buy food grown on stolen land. Israel's siege of Gaza caused untold misery to it's people throughout 2007 and 2008 ; then Israel used overwhelming military force to kill 1,500 Palestinians, including many hundreds of children, at the start of 2010. We are calling on shoppers in Rochdale to show their solidarity with and support for the Palestinians against occupation, to join the boycott and help bring down Israeli apartheid in the same way the consumer boycott brought down South African apartheid. It has worked before and it will work again." , she concluded.

Andrew Wastling said,

"Today we are telling Rochdale shoppers to check the label ~ and asking them not to buy goods labelled 'Israel' or 'West Bank'. 'West Bank' means that this is produce from Israeli settlements on stolen Palestinian land. We are urging people to complain and challenge their supermarkets and to buy Palestinian goods wherever they can. Rochdale PSC has distributed cards for shoppers to hand to the manager of their local store. We urge anyone who wants to support the Boycott or who wants to join Rochdale PSC to contact us at 07787 575 570 at 07842 252639 or email us at rochdalepsc@gmail.com. We will be pleased to supply details of future,meetings , events and activities, especially our showing of the 'Iron War' film and Social Evening planned for 5 October 2011 in Rochdale."

No More Chernobyls. No New Nukes.

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined campaigners from across Greater Manchester on Monday evening (25 April 2011) to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl which resulted from the meltdown of the nuclear reactor there on 26 April 1986. Alongside the Chernobyl Children's Project, Greater Manchester and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Nuclear Free Local Authorities Association and the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Rochdale campaigners attended a concert in St Ann's Church, Manchester commemorating the deaths at Chernobyl and highlighting the ongoing consequences for those affected by the disaster. At 9 pm they joined the vigil in St Ann's Square where people holding candles spelt out a giant '25'.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said,

“It is 25 years since the disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station had a such devastating effect on the country of Belarus and many other places in the world. Chernobyl continues to cast a shadow over the lives of thousands of people. It continues to impact on their physical and mental health, but, despite this, many governments, including our own, have not yet learned the lesson that nuclear power stations will always be a risk too far. We have to hope that the, still unresolved, crisis at the nuclear power station in Fukushima, Japan will remind our politicians of the threats posed by nuclear power generation and, finally, persuade them to decommission plants at places like Heysham and Sellafield and to cancel all plans for building new nuclear power stations. We need no more Chernobyls. We need no more Fukushimas. We need to be rid of the dangers posed to us by Heysham and Sellafield. We need no new nukes.”

Warmonger Clegg welcomed to Milnrow - 12 April 2011