Ground the Drones - Channel 4 News - 27 April 2013

GROUND THE DRONES - Waddington - 27 April 2013

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group travelled to Lincolnshire on Saturday (27 April 2013) to join the national demonstration against the growing use of military drones which are causing civilian casualties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza and elsewhere. The demonstration at RAF Waddington, near Lincoln was called by War on Want, the Stop the War Coalition and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

 The Ministry of Defence had earlier admitted for the first time that armed drones have been operated remotely from RAF Waddington and used in attacks in Afghanistan (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/25/uk-controlling-drones-afghanistan-britain ).

On 6 April 2013, in a single incident, a drone attack ended up in killing 18 people including at least 10 children in the Shigal district of Afghanistan (http://www.asiantribune.com/node/62242 ).

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

“It was very important for Rochdale to be represented at this demonstration. We were pleased to join fellow campaigners from throughout Greater Manchester and other parts of the country. We all travelled to Lincoln to make our voices heard against these unacceptable weapons. The killing of civilians by weapons controlled from an air-conditioned bunker in the East of England is not ‘collateral damage’ in a ‘game’ played on a computer screen. Each death and injury is a murderous war crime.

Over the past four years, the USA has launched hundreds of drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya. Drones have killed thousands of people, including hundreds of children. They are indiscriminate killers. Drones make the world a much more dangerous place.

In our own country, the government’s willingness to use drones has grown rapidly in recent years without any public consultation or debate. This spring they will double the number of Reaper drones in Afghanistan and begin operating them from Waddington where we have been protesting today.

Drones are killing civilians who play no part in war. They are violating human rights and increasing the risk of conflict. We need to bring their use under control.”

See also http://www.channel4.com/news/drones-protest-at-raf-base-over-behind-our-backs-war

WE ARE ALL DOWNWIND OF A NUCLEAR POWER STATION

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group marked the 27th anniversary of the nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl on Friday (26 April 2013) by calling on local MPs to support the decommissioning of all existing nuclear power stations and an end to plans to build new nuclear plants. They displayed poster and distributed leaflets reminding shoppers that "WE ARE ALL DOWNWIND OF A NUCLEAR POWER STATION".

On behalf of the peace group, Pat Sanchez said,

“The explosion and fire at Chernobyl released vast quantities of radioactive particles which spread all over Europe including the United Kingdom and Rochdale, but Chernobyl is only one of many disasters which have threatened all our futures. Like Chernobyl, the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi in March 2011 was also classified by the International Nuclear Event Scale as a highly dangerous level 7 event.

In Rochdale, we are very vulnerable to the existing nuclear power stations at Heysham and at Sellafield where there have been successions of accidents, fires and closures which threaten our safety.

Nuclear power is dangerous, expensive, unnecessary, damaging to health and closely linked to nuclear weapons proliferation. An accident or terrorist attack at a nuclear power station could leave large parts of Britain uninhabitable for hundreds of years, but even without an accident, routine releases from nuclear plants lead to rises in childhood leukaemia. New nuclear plants would create vast amounts of nuclear waste for which there is no agreed safe storage solution.”  

SCRAP TRIDENT - GLASGOW 13 April 2013

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined a Scrap Trident rally in Glasgow on Saturday (13 April 2013) calling for removal of nuclear weapons from the Faslane submarine base in Scotland, from all countries of the United Kingdom and from the world.

Standing beside a statue of Sir Walter Scott in St George's Square, they heard Scottish trade unionists emphasise that ongoing funding on the Trident project is a waste of public money especially in times of harsh cuts to spending in all areas of the public sector, while convener of the Church of Scotland's church and society council, sent a message asking whether a world burdened with the scourge of nuclear weapons is a place we want to live in and leave behind? (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22134802 )

Philip Gilligan on behalf of the Peace Group said:

"Sally Foster-Fulton reminded us that nuclear weapons are a profound evil and their potential for irretrievable harm is immense.  She and other Scots are demanding a nuclear free future, but this is not just a Scottish issue. Scrapping the Trident nuclear weapons system is just as important to Rochdale and to England as it is north of the border. Trident is an expensive and dangerous menace which we cannot afford. It is utter madness that the government continues to spend more than £2 billion every year on these evil weapons and even crazier that it is planning to squander another £100 billion on their successors. It is unforgivable that Cameron and Clegg are doing this at the same time as they are cutting services for the disabled and punishing people for having an extra bedroom. Our taxes should be funding human needs, not being wasted the means of humanity's destruction. It is time to scrap Trident."

Ten Years On Peace Group Says 'No More Wars'

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group has been marking the tenth anniversary of Britain's biggest ever anti-war demonstration which was held in London on Saturday 15 February 2003 . At their stall in Yorkshire Street on Saturday morning (16 February 2013), they reminded Rochdale's shoppers that ten years ago they had joined between one and two million people in London and millions more around the world in an effort to stop George Bush's and Tony Blair’s plans to invade Iraq.

Their leaflet told people that "Since NATO’s invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, more than 600 British troops have been killed in pointless foreign wars." and that "These same wars have killed and injured tens of thousands of civilians— men, women and children.", adding that "Now, in 2013, NATO’s disastrous war in Afghanistan still takes lives on a daily basis; British troops are bound for Mali  and drones are regularly taking the lives of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan." They said that "It is time to bring the troops home and to tell the government that we want no more of their wars."

The Peace Group asked people to join them in urging MPs Jim Dobbin and Simon Danczuk to support Early Day Motion 1055 in Parliament and collected more than 100 signatures in support of calls to express deep regret "that the war went ahead and that the will of the people was ignored" and for the view that "any decision to engage in armed conflict should be subject to prior approval via a free vote in Parliament rather than relying on prerogative power."

Partricia Gilligan who was in London on Saturday 15 February 2003 and campaigning again in Yorkshire Street on Saturday 16 February 2013, said,


"In 2003, we were packed so tightly in the streets that we could not move. It was obvious that this was a huge demonstration and there was a great sense of solidarity and purpose. We knew that regardless of whether we were two million people or one million people, we represented the overwhelming view of ordinary people in Britain. We rejected Bush and Blair's war. There was no need to invade Iraq and when the invasion took place, I felt that the politicians had betrayed me. A country was going to be destroyed and thousands of innocent children, women and men would be killed. Remembering Iraq reminds us of the futility and horror of war. It should make us more determined than ever to say no to war.”

Peace Group highlight risks from nuclear waste in North West England

On Wednesday 6 February 2013, Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group discussed  the growing crisis surrounding nuclear power and nuclear waste in the United Kingdom and especially in North West England. They called for the decommissioning of all existing nuclear power stations and the immediate scrapping of plans to build any more.

Philip Gilligan said: "The government plans to build more nuclear power stations, when the existing ones are already polluting our planet and deforming our children.
"Those promoting nuclear power don't want us to know the dangerous truth. They tell us that nuclear power is "safe", but as the disasters at Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima have all shown us, this is not the case. They tell us that nuclear power is "clean”, but the nuclear industry produces dirty radioactive waste that remains dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years.
"Now MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have told us that the 'enormous' legacy of nuclear waste at Sellafield has been allowed to build up, with no indication of when the cost will stop rising.
"The PAC said that Sellafield already costs the public around £1.6 billion per year and its chairwoman, Margaret Hodge MP says that a solution to the problem of long-term storage of nuclear waste is as far away as ever following the decision by leaders of Cumbria County Council to reject plans for an underground dump in the Lake District.

"Successive governments have failed to find any solution to the thousands of tons of nuclear waste that has been allowed to build up on the notoriously accident-prone sites around the often renamed nuclear power sites in Cumbria, while the current government’s plans to build more nuclear power stations will produce more nuclear waste.

"This hazardous and very long-lasting material is taken by train from places like Sizewell in the South East of England up the west coast mainline to be dumped 'temporarily' above ground at Sellafield. It is time to stop this dangerous and expensive madness.”

Rochdale campaigners call for freedom for Palestine

 

On Sunday night (25 November 2012) around forty people gathered opposite Rochdale town hall to remember the victims of Israel’s latest bombing and bombardment of Gaza and to call for justice and freedom for Palestine. They heard speeches from Linda Clair, chair of Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk.

During the candlelit vigil, members of the crowd read out the names of more than 30 Palestinian children known to have been killed during Israel’s most recent attacks and kept a minute’s silence in their memory.

Philip Gilligan from Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group reported that he and other local campaigners had also joined thousands of protesters from across the country outside the Israeli embassy in London on the previous day (Saturday 24 November 2012). They had marched from Downing Street and heard speakers like the mayor of Jenin, Hadem Rida, and Jeremy Corbyn, MP who had called for an end to arms sales to Israel, a boycott of all Israeli goods and the return of illegally occupied land.

 

Rochdale Palestine Solidarity Campaign Coordinator, Jenny Turner said:

“It is time for the international community to put an end to Israel’s war crimes. Too many people and too many children have died in Netanyahu’s ruthless attacks. It is time for ordinary people in Rochdale and throughout the world to demand an end to the oppression of the Palestinian people. Enough is enough; there will be no peace until Palestinians have justice. We shall continue to demand an end to the occupation, an end to the siege of Gaza, an end to house demolitions, an end to illegal seizures of Palestinian land. We demand an end to arms sales to Israel and immediate international inspection and control of Israel’s huge arsenal of nuclear weapons.”