Britain Needs A Pay Rise Not Nuclear Weapons

Peace campaigners from Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined tens of thousands of other trade unionists in London on Saturday (18 October 2014). They formed part of the Peace Bloc on the TUC’s ‘Britain Needs A Pay Rise’ march which culminated with a rally in Hyde Park.

Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the Peace Group said “Ordinary people in Rochdale and throughout the country have seen their real incomes drop year on year. Wages and benefits are not keeping pace with people’s increased costs of living. Meanwhile, successive governments have continued to squander £billions on useless and dangerous nuclear weapons of mass destruction which not only threaten the destruction of our world, but constantly divert scarce resources from the public services we all need. We agree with the TUC that Britain needs a pay rise and we know that the country could afford this, if the government would stop wasting £3billion per year on the Trident nuclear weapons system and scrap plans to squander another £100billion on even more dangerous and expensive nuclear weapons. We need a government that will scrap Trident and put the resources saved into the NHS, the jobs, the homes and the social and education services we need.”

Rochdale Peace Campaigners say 'Bombing is not the answer!'

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group took to the street immediately on Friday (26 September 2014) to protest against the parliamentary vote to join the US-led bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria. They unfurled a large banner reading 'Bombing is not the answer!' and displayed peace flags at the junction of A58 and A664 in Sudden.

Philip Gilligan said,

"‘The grim atrocities carried out by the so-called Islamic State (IS) have rightly shocked and repulsed the world, but heaping further atrocities onto the people of Iraq cannot be the answer. Airstrikes will inevitably result in the deaths of civilians; innocent children, women and men who have played no part in the actions of IS. It was the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 that led to the chaos which has allowed the rise of the so-called Islamic State What is needed now is urgent humanitarian assistance, political pressure and working with allies in the region to halt the spread of this murderous group: not another disastrous and ill-conceived bombing campaign which will make the situation worse.’

Peace Group expresses sadness at death of Jim Dobbin MP

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group has expressed its sadness at the sudden death of Jim Dobbin MP.

Philip Gilligan said,

“This is a very sad loss for our borough and for parliament. Jim was a politician who could be relied on to act on principle and to promote the cause of peace. He voted against the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and remained firm in his consistent opposition to plans to renew the Trident nuclear weapons system. The peace group greatly welcomed Jim’s support and encouragement over many years. He will be sadly missed.”

Rochdale Peace Campaigners Join Protest at NATO summit

Rae Street and Pat Sanchez joined hundreds of other peace campaigners for two days of protests and a counter-summit in South Wales on Saturday (30 August 2014)  and Sunday (31 August 2014). Their messages for Barak Obama, David Cameron and other heads of government who will be meeting in Newport was very clear: "No New Wars. No to NATO".

On Saturday, Pat and Rae marched alongside the General Secreatary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Kate Hudson, friends from Greater Manchester and District CND and CND Cymru. On Sunday, they participated in workshops at the counter summit which included sessions on how to combat the spread of military drones, how to stop the increasing militarisation of the European Union and how to achieve the closure of all military bases.

Pat Sanchez said "We were joined in Wales by people from throughout Britain and from other NATO member states, especially Germany, France, the USA. We all agreed that far from being a guarantor of stability, NATO and its aggressive policies present a major threat to peace in the world. Not only is NATO is dogged by its  disastrous and misguided military adventures in Afghanistan and Libya, it is also morally tainted by its declared policy of 'first use' of nuclear weapons. This means that it would be prepared to take the first steps towards a nuclear war. Next week's NATO summit will, unfortunately, not be discussing how we create a just and peaceful world. David Cameron and the other leaders will not be considering matters such as how to end hunger across the world or how to bring justice to the Palestinians. Instead they seem intent on developing ways of  spreading instability, rekindling the Cold War, obliging governments to spend ever increasing amounts of their citizens' money on arms - which they will, of course, insist on being bought from the same US weapons companies. We are resisting increased spending on weapons which we do not need and which threaten all our futures. We are telling the NATO leaders to 'talk; don't bomb'. We need no more wars".

Wool Against Weapons - 9 August 2014

Remembering Hiroshima 6 August 2014

100th anniversary of the outbreak of WW1