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."