‘People not Trident: Scrap Britain’s nuclear weapons’

Peace Group members promoted the message ‘People not Trident’ in Yorkshire Street, Rochdale on Saturday (31 May 2014).

Supporters joined them in calling on the government to get rid of nuclear weapons, to scrap proposals to replace the Trident system and to spend the money saved on creating sustainable jobs, building homes, providing overseas aid, dealing with climate change promoting wellbeing and providing decent health, education and other essential services.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said,

“The billions spent on Trident are an appalling waste. In terms of national security, nuclear weapons are irrelevant. Britain currently faces no nuclear threat and trident is useless in addressing the real threats we face from terrorism, cyber warfare and climate change. It would, in any case, be grossly immoral and illegal to use nuclear weapons because massive civilian casualties would be unavoidable. Cancelling the proposed replacement of Trident would save around £100 billion which could be spent on the things we need in Rochdale and throughout the country. Such a saving could provide 150,000 new nurses or tuition fees for 4 million students. It could pay for the insulation of 15 million homes or build 1.5 million new affordable homes or create 2 million jobs,”

“This is money we cannot afford to squander on nuclear weapons. Before the vote in Parliament in 2016, we need to make sure that there is a majority of MPs prepared to vote against our country buying more nuclear weapons we do not need.”, he added.     

More information on the People not Trident campaign is available via a link at http://www.cnduk.org/campaigns/no-to-trident  

Rochdale heroes honoured on International Conscientious Objector Day

Members of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined with other peace activists from around Greater Manchester on Thursday evening (15 May 2014) to mark International Conscientious Objector Day. At a ceremony organised by the Friends of Manchester Peace Gardens as part of the No Glory Campaign, they held flowers representing individuals who had refused to be conscripted to fight in the First World War. These included local men such as George Herbert Nedderman, the Rochdale teacher and Deeplish resident who although awarded the Croix de Guerre for his bravery as a member of the Friends Ambulance Unit. As a member of the FAU, George rescued injured British and French servicemen and French civilians, but refused to play any part in the killing of others. (See also Rochdale Observer, p22, 10 May 2014.)

As part of the ceremony, Rae Street from Littleborough read Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, Last Post and Pat Sanchez from High Peak, read Edna St Vincent Millay’s poem, Conscientious Objector, including the lines, “I shall die, but that is all I shall do for death; I am not on his payroll. I will not tell him the whereabouts of my friends nor of my enemies either. Though he promise me much, I will not map him the route to any man’s door.”

Patricia Gilligan on behalf of the peace group said,

“We are proud of all those who stand up against violence. Many Conscientious Objectors were imprisoned, some were court-martialled and too many died in defence of their right not to be forced to kill others. This was happening in Britain a century ago, but today, in many parts of the world, poverty and peer pressure still drive people to become forced killers and countries are still imprisoning citizens who refuse to be conscripted. We must support all those who refuse to fight and honour those who refuse to kill, wherever they are.”

‘Pay the Nurses! Stop paying for Trident!’

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group has responded to news that the government is refusing to give thousands of Britain’s nurses even a 1% pay increase, when the retail price index is increasing by almost 3% a year. Local campaigners were on the corner of Hare Hill Road and Church Street in Littleborough on Saturday (22 March 2014) asking people to join them in demanding that more of their taxes are spent on health, education and social services and not on the Trident nuclear weapons system.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Pat Sanchez said,

“We all benefit from the skills and commitment of our NHS nurses and we owe them a decent wage. We need the care and treatment they provide. Yet, the Government is refusing to give them and many others the pay increases they need. Meanwhile, Cameron and Clegg and their ministers seem determined to continue wasting £billions each and every year on the Trident nuclear weapons system. They seem happy to spend on nuclear weapons of mass destruction, but say they can find nothing for our nurses. We are telling the government and all those who support them in wasting our taxes on nuclear weapons that we want our county’s money spent on making lives better not on nuclear weapons which offer us nothing but death and destruction. We say ‘Pay the nurses! Stop paying for Trident!’”

Peace Group joins ‘Around the World in 90 Days’ Bike for Peace tour

                                                         Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined 8 Norwegian mayors and Kjell Magne Bondevik, the former Norwegian Prime Minister, as they started the Around the World in 90 Days Bike for Peace from Manchester on Saturday (15 March 2014).

From Manchester, the Norwegian Group plan to cycle back to Oslo via London, Paris, Nice, Rome, Tehran, New Dehli, Beijing, Hiroshima, Tokyo, Kansas, Indianapolis, Washington DC and New York. They will be hosting a reception with the mayor of Hiroshima to commemorate the tens of thousands of victims of the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan in August 1945. They are travelling with a letter of support from the current Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg.

Philip Gilligan joined the 8 mayors with his own bike at the Lord Mayor’s reception in Manchester town hall, cycling with them to Platt Fields Park where they all rode the Sri Chinmoy Peace Mile.

Philip said “It was inspiring to meet a group so committed to spreading the message of peace across around the world. Their slogans and objectives are ones which I am sure many people in Rochdale would be eager to support. They include the immediate abolition of nuclear weapons and support for the casualties of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and of nuclear testing and disasters in Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, in Nevada and at Chernobyl in Belorus. The cyclists from Bike For Peace and Mayors for Peace are also promoting the integration of disabled persons, gender equality and cycling as a way to help the environment and to reduce global warming. We wish them well in their campaign”

See http://bikeforpeace.info/2014/BikeForPeaceAroundTheWorld.pdf for more information about the Bike For Peace ‘Around the World’ event.

See http://www.demotix.com/news/4192603/launch-bike-peace-tour-lord-mayor-manchester#media-4191776  for more (professional) photographs of the Bike For Peace events in Manchester on Saturday (15 March 2014)

See http://www.manchester.gov.uk/news/article/6830/bike_for_peace_set_to_depart_on_90_day_world_tour_from_manchester_town_hall for the Manchester City Council statement.

Peace Group Make History

Staff from the People's History Museum in Manchester joined Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group campaigners in Yorkshire Street, Rochdale on Saturday morning (8 February 2014). The museum is collecting materials from contemporary campaigns for peace, justice and equality as part of its 'Play Your Part' project. They were keen both to publicise their project and to record Rochdale's peace campaigners in action.



The Peace Group are urging people to demand that their taxes be spent on decent public services rather than on nuclear weapons. Their leaflets reminded Rochdale's shoppers that "The government spends £2,500,000,000 every year on nuclear weapons", "still plans to squander £100,000,000 on upgrading the unnecessary Trident nuclear weapons system", that "Rochdale's share of the current costs already amounts to £7million per year" and that "the proportionate cost to our borough of so-called 'Trident Replacement' is over £300million". 

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said, 

“We are asking people 'How would you spend Rochdale's £300,000,0000?'. We find that an overwhelming majority want such money spent on essential health, education and social services not on weapons of mass destruction. People in our borough have seen the government impose the bedroom tax, triple tuition fees, cut benefits and freeze the pay of public sector workers. We have seen them force our council to cut essential services, but we know that these cuts would be unnecessary, if the government would stop wasting our money on things like upgrading the Trident system". 

"Nuclear weapons threaten all life on earth. Our goal is to make them 'history', while history shows us that nuclear weapons have not prevented wars, have not prevented terrorism and are a gross waste of public money", he added.  

For more information about the Play Your Part project, please contact Catherine O'Donnell on 0161 838 9190; e-mail catherine.odonnell@phm.org.uk or visit http://phmmcr.wordpress.com/ 

Thanks to Jim Dobbin MP for signing EDMs 854 and 855

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group was delighted to see that Jim Dobbin MP has signed Early Day Motions 854 and 855 (see  http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/854  and http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/855 ).


EDM 854 welcomes the statement from 125 states expressing concern about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons at the UN General Assembly First Committee on 21 October 2013; regrets the non-attendance of the UK Government at the governmental conference in Oslo to discuss this issue in March 2013; and urges the Government to ensure that the UK is represented at the new governmental conference in Mexico in February 2014. 

EDM 855 welcomes progress in diplomatic negotiations in the Middle East to eliminate existing stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs); and urges the UK Government to do its utmost to take advantage of positive momentum and ensure a conference supported and attended by all states of the region is convened without delay, so as to apply pressure on all states of the region to dismantle their arsenals of WMDs and make serious progress on a weapons of mass destruction free-zone in the Middle East.
 
These are vital issues and it is great to see that Jim is amongst the MPs in parliament taking them seriously and urging the Government to take actions which will contribute towards making this a safer and more peaceful world.

The Peace Group hopes that he will be joined by other local MPs in these efforts.

Messages of Peace for Littleborough

The Peace Group took their colourful peace cranes and an 'NHS Not Trident' message to the corner of Church Street and Hare Hill Road, in Littleborough on Saturday (14 December 2013).

Local campaigners, Pat Sanchez, Pauline Devine, Patricia and Philip Gilligan asked Christmas shoppers enjoying the carols to join them in signing a letter confirming that they want their taxes "spent on decent health and social care services, not the Trident nuclear weapons system". They distributed not only Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament leaflets asking, "What if we had over £100bn to spend on healthcare, transport, housing, education and energy?" but also samples of folded paper peace cranes and instructions for making these paper birds. The cranes were made by children and peace campaigners from across Japan who had attended this year's Peace March from Tokyo to Hiroshima marking the 68^th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. They have been sent to peace and anti-nuclear groups throughout the world, including Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group by 'Gensuikyo', the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs with a request that they be given as tokens of peace to promote a worldwide message of nuclear disarmament.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said, 

“The people of Japan know better than most the horrifying and indiscriminate destruction that the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought in 1945. They do well remind us in Littleborough and elsewhere that nuclear weapons now threaten to destroy our entire planet. We were delighted to receive the gift from Gensuikyo. The cranes symbolise our united call for all countries to scrap their ever-more dangerous nuclear arsenals and inspire us to repeat our demand that politicians in Britain recognise the need to scrap the Trident nuclear weapons system, immediately."

"There are many reasons why our taxes should never be spent on nuclear weapons and amongst them is the fact that scrapping the Trident nuclear weapons system would save our country around £100 billion. This is money which could fully fund all A&E services in hospitals for over 40 years into the future or be used to build 150 new state-of-the-art hospitals or to pay the wages of 150,000 extra nurses for the next 30 years. That would save lives, instead of threatening humankind's very existence.", he added.