Lakenheath Alliance for Peace

XR Peace has joined the newly formed Lakenheath Alliance for Peace (LAP). LAP is a coalition of groups that is dedicated to preventing the return of US Nuclear weapons to USAF Lakenheath. It is committed to nonviolent direct action for a peaceful and non-threatening world.

It demands that military resources are instead directed towards global peace and justice and the prevention of human caused climate change and biodiversity loss. XR Peace will be joining the peace camp at Lakenheath in the summer and hope that many XR Peace supporters will join in. A website is in the process of being built at
https://lakenheathallianceforpeace.org.uk and the email is lap@gn.apc.org

ICAN: Second meeting of states parties agrees nuclear deterrence is the problem

[From www.icanw.org]

The Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW has successfully concluded and agreed that nuclear deterrence is a significant security problem, requiring urgent attention by the international community, that more research on the impacts of nuclear weapons is needed, and that the harms caused by nuclear weapons use and testing require ongoing attention.

94 countries participated in the meeting as states parties or observers including some that currently endorse the use of nuclear weapons in their defence doctrines. These countries engaged in a robust and interactive debate during the week, adopting a political declaration and package of decisions.

Nuclear deterrence is a cause of global instability and insecurity

One of the adopted decisions included, for the first time ever, an agreement to work together to challenge the false narratives of nuclear deterrence. States parties mandated states, the International Committee of the Red Cross and ICAN and other stakeholders and experts, “To challenge the security paradigm based on nuclear deterrence by highlighting and promoting new scientific evidence about the humanitarian consequences and risks of nuclear weapons and juxtaposing this with the risks and assumptions that are inherent in nuclear deterrence.” 

There remains an information gap between what would actually happen as a result of nuclear war and the policies of the nuclear-armed states and their allies, and efforts to bridge this gap are the primary responsibility of those whose policies include the use of nuclear weapons. 

New evidence on the impacts of nuclear weapons demand action from the global community

New research was presented during the meeting as well, including findings showing that based on current understandings of arsenal sizes and effects on human beings, a nuclear war between the US and Russia would likely result in about 90 million casualties from blast, heat, fire, and radiation from hundreds of explosions across the northern hemisphere.

There is much greater understanding of the cascading effects on food supplies, the financial system and energy supplies that help us better predict the likely effects of nuclear detonations.

It was understood that research alone cannot reduce the risks of nuclear weapons, but that it can inform the public and policy makers about the harm existing in their arsenals or security doctrines. 

Additionally, the Scientific Advisory Group presented research findings showing that  the elimination of nuclear weapon facilities is possible and that there are ways to achieve conversion of facilities to civilian use; and there are ways to develop processes for arms control, such as weapon counting and warhead authentication.

Importantly, the Scientific Advisory Group also called for a new UN study on the consequences of nuclear war given the last comprehensive studies were done in the late 1980s.

Centring affected communities

The states heard testimony from members of communities affected by the use, testing and development of nuclear weapons, and heard their calls for recognition by governments of the harms they did to people, particularly Indigenous peoples.

They also heard about the efforts made so far to repair the damage that has scarred people and the land, as well as to open official records and do more research on the health impacts and environmental impacts of nuclear weapons.

These representatives, supported by wider civil society, called for the clean up and remediation of lands – through Articles 6 and 7 of the TPNW – in which Indigenous peoples must be involved as the Traditional Owners, and research on nuclear weapon impacts on intangible cultural heritage.

A joint statement endorsed by 26 nuclear affected community-led organisations, and supported by a further 45 allied organisations  said “We have the right and responsibility to speak about what nuclear weapons really do… We call on States Parties to the TPNW to push relentlessly for its universalisation.”

Other stakeholders

A delegation of 23 parliamentarians from 14 countries mostly from countries that are yet to sign the treaty met on the margins of the conference, and delivered a statement denouncing nuclear threats while urging governments to sign and ratify the treaty urgently.

The financial community was also present, delivering a joint statement by more than 90 investors, representing over $1 trillion in assets under management, encouraging states to work with the financial community to further strengthen the norms and objectives of the treaty, including by ending financing relationships with the nuclear arms industry.

During the week, more than 65 events, including art exhibitions, concerts, panel discussions, awards ceremonies and more were held on the margins of the meeting. 

The Third Meeting of States Parties to the treaty will take place 3-7 March, 2025 in New York.

Israel/Palestine Conflict

Also see page about the Israel/Palestine Conflict

The World’s Most Documented Genocide in History. By Lara Elborno. 4 Jan 2024

‘Are we the baddies?’ By Jonathan Cook. 27 Dec 2023

The Worst Day in Gaza. DDN Video 13 Dec 2023

How Israel uses an AI genocide program to obliterate Gaza. Jonathan Cook. 5 Dec 2023

Recruiters Drop Elbit Systems after Palestine Action Campaign. 1 Dec 2023

U.S. Military Satellites Over Gaza. YouTube. 29 Nov 2023

Why Does The UK Give Israel Unqualified Backing. By Mark Curtis. 21 Nov 2023

Don’t be fooled. By Jonathan Cook. 15 Nov 2023

Condemn if you wish, but Palestinians will pay a heavy price. By Jonathan Cook. 10 Nov 2023

What the BBC fails to tell you about October 7. By Jonathan Cook. 2 Nov 2023

Mounting evidence suggests Israel may be ready to ‘cleanse’ Gaza. By Jonathan Cook. 1 Nov 2023

Former British Soldier Exposes Israel War Machine. By Joe Glenton. DDN Patreon video. 31 Oct 2023

With Hamas gone, Gaza still wouldn’t be free. By Jonathan Cook. 28 Oct 2023

UK Charities Call for Immediate Ceasefire, Humanitarian Aid and Lifting Siege on Gaza.
27 Oct 2023

The Palestinian people have a right to their lives, land and sovereignty. By GRAIN. 27 Oct 2023

ICC statement on the Israel-Palestine war (International Coordinating Committee). 26 Oct 2023

Israel Killed 30 Members of My Family in 2 Days. By Yara Edi. DDN Patreon video. 25 Oct 2023.

Statement on the Palestine/Israel conflict by Safe Passage. 24 Oct 2023

Queen Rania criticizes West’s ‘blatant double standards’: “We are witnessing a massacre in Gaza”. YouTube. 24 Oct 2023

King Abdullah’s speech at the recent Cairo Peace Summit. Facebook video. 22 Oct 2023.

Interview with Israeli journalist Amira Hass. Facebook video. 20 Oct 2023.

Israel is a Terrorist State by Matt Kennard. Double Down News. 18 Oct 2023.

Jewish Currents: A Textbook Case of Genocide. By Raz Segal. 13 Oct 2023.

Gabor Mate explains how he sees the Palestine Israël conflict. YouTube. 8 Oct 2023

The war in Ukraine is fuelling the climate crisis

by Mustafa Shrestha. D + C. Aug 2023

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is causing significant greenhouse-gas emissions. It also reveals the connection between climate action and security policy.

A recent study by the Initiative on GHG Accounting of War provides information on the climate impact of the war in Ukraine. The research was supported by Ukraine’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources. Lennard de Klerk and his team investigated the greenhouse gas emissions that were released during the first year of the war.

First of all, they took into account emissions caused by direct fighting and the resulting fires. Second, military vehicles require large quantities of fuel, and troops and equipment are transported long distances to the fronts. Consequently, the team also included the greenhouse gases emitted during the run-up to the war. Third, the post-war period will also affect the war’s climate impact. When peace is restored, destroyed buildings will have to be reconstructed. Building is energy-intensive, however, and generates high emissions.

Read the full article at https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/russias-war-aggression-causing-significant-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-revealing

Read Latest Articles Here

Making the NPT Work for Global Security

As diplomats meet to discuss nuclear weapons dangers at the Non-Proliferation Treaty meeting in Vienna from 31 July to 11 August, the war on Ukraine is a terrible reminder of how nuclear weapons add to human insecurity.  In this briefing ‘Making the NPT Work for Global Security’ Rebecca Johnson argues for important measures on nuclear disarmament and preventing the use of nuclear weapons to be urgently taken.  

AIDD-Make_NPT_Work_for_Global_Security-final-29July2023

[View as pdf]
[View as Word document]

Jurors Rights – solidarity statement by Angie Zelter

“Everyone has a fundamental right to defend themselves by explaining their motivations, intentions and reasons for their acts.”

I, Angie Zelter, believe there is a serious constitutional crisis taking place in our courts. For this reason I am standing outside the Inner London Crown Court, on 15th May 2023, to remind Jurors of their rights. I will be holding up a placard that tells the jurors they have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to their conscience. They will be hearing and giving a verdict in a trial of yet more supporters of Insulate Britain [1].

I should not need to do this but many people involved in nonviolent civil resistance to prevent government criminality are being denied their basic rights under British law. I have to act. At this Inner London Crown Court, Judge Reid has ruled that Insulate Britain supporters cannot mention their motivations to a jury, cannot talk about fuel poverty, insulation, government inaction or the climate crisis – if they do they are sent to prison for contempt of court. This is a serious breach of our right to a fair trial. Everyone has a fundamental right to defend themselves by explaining their motivations, intentions and reasons for their acts. But now we are seeing these rights being silenced at a time when protest rights themselves are under threat. Instead of show trials we in the UK are meant to have public trials where the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth – the pledge we take when we go into the witness box – can be heard by everyone, including the jury.

Juries have been acquitting defendants when they have heard the real facts about climate collapse and government inertia. Judge Reid did not want such acquittals to happen in his court and has thus tampered with defendants rights that have been enshrined in British Law for centuries. He has sent defendants [2] to prison for contempt of court for mentioning the motivations for their actions. However, this assault on the Insulate Britain defendants’ rights to a fair trial did not go unopposed.

Some supporters, of those defendants who were put in prison for contempt of court and denied their right to a fair trial, decided to inform jurors in other cases coming before the same judge of their rights to decide for themselves whether to acquit or not. They shared publicly available information outside the court – that juries have an absolute right to acquit according to their consciences. But these supporters now found themselves arrested, their houses searched and have been charged with either perverting the course of justice or contempt of court. The cases of the first 4 people arrested are currently either with the Attorney General for review or with the police [3].

Jury rights to acquit even against a Judge’s determination of guilt is an important measure to protect us all from the tyrannical abuse of power. 12 ordinary men and women are selected at random to decide upon the guilt or innocence of the defendant. They are there to ensure that common sense, basic ethical standards and conscience come into play. So that corrupt or abusive processes that may emerge and may influence our Judges can still be held to account.

I am now standing in solidarity outside the jury entrance with a replica of the sign that Trudi Warner held and for which her case is being decided by the Attorney General. The sign has a quote from information that has hung on the Old Bailey wall for centuries. It is the same information that I gave to the jury that acquitted me after a group of us nonviolently disarmed a Hawk Jet that was being exported to the Suharto regime in Indonesia that was bombing East Timor and committing genocide on distinct indigenous tribes there. At this trial, held in Liverpool, I was allowed to present my evidence and to remind the jury of their right to acquit whatever the judge might say to the contrary. Despite the appalling prejudice that Judge Wickham showed in our trial nevertheless the Jury had enough information to enable the jury to vote with their consciences and acquit. This was in accordance with common morality that abhors the arming of repressive regimes to commit genocide. Again, in Scotland, during the Loch Goil trial at Greenock, I was acquitted by a Jury (though this time the Judge also urged an acquittal as we had a sincere belief backed up by evidence that we were acting to stop a criminal conspiracy to contravene international law namely by threatening to use nuclear weapons). [4]

I stand for the rule of law in accordance with public morality. The law has no legitimacy without being securely rooted in ethics. I am therefore showing solidarity with all those urging jurors to acquit according to their convictions and for the rights to a free and fair trial to be respected.

See also: https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/inner-london-crown-court-britain-old-bailey-attorney-general-london-b2339145.html

1. Mary Adams, Judith Bruce, Michael Brown and Lucy Crawford.
2. For example, David Nixon, Amy Pritchard, and Cllr Giovanna Lewis
3. Trudi Warner’s case is with the AG, Cathy Eastburn, Sally Davidson and Oliver Rock have been bailed to attend Brixton Police Station on 30th June 2023. They were all arrested for perverting the course of justice.
4. http://tridentploughsharesarchive.org/ruling-of-sheriff-m-gimblett/

Why War causes Climate Change and Climate Change causes War

Short 3 minute talk for The Big One XR Main Stage by Angie Zelter, XR Peace

We live in a global system run by the rich and powerful to make money for their own selfish benefit. Predatory capitalism has spread across the world like a virus, commodifying everything and valuing nothing. Ultimately, we all suffer as climate change heats our planet and ecosystems collapse. Not even the rich will be able to eat, drink or breathe money, if that is all that is left. The stage has been set for everlasting war as people and nations fight over dwindling resources.

Armed conflicts, war and increasing militarisation are an integral part of the problems we face. It is not just that more than 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions are from military activity. Nor is it that many of the wars recently fought have been for access to oil that should be left in the ground. It is the linkages between corporate greed and the militarisation that backs it up.

To take global food supplies and agri-business as an example, the way food is produced has contributed more to bio-diversity loss and climate change than any other industry. It has decimated our soils, water, and air and driven millions of people from their lands and their self-reliant and productive livelihoods. There has been a corporate take-over of land and resources in vulnerable regions, backed up by the military and police.

Climate change itself is already a significant cause of conflicts and is a key factor driving the refugee crisis, because of droughts, floods and other extreme weather events that cause water and food shortages, displacement and destruction of entire communities and ecosystems. We are already seeing the climate crisis worsening, the increasing tensions, wars and more refugees. Borders are becoming increasingly militarised, exacerbating an already desperate situation for refugees and migrants.

The UK and other states are evolving more authoritarian security-based responses, eroding the human rights and dignity of countless millions while awarding contracts to unethical corporations. These corporations actively shape government policies, through lobbying and being involved in government ‘expert’ groups, all the while profiting from human misery. This state-corporate fusion is best described as a Border Industrial Complex and it is noticeable that many of the leading border industries today are also military companies, seeking to diversify their security products in a rapidly expanding new market.1

XR Peace was formed to bring attention to the militarism that is a central pillar of the exploitative, extractive systems that are causing climate change. The pillage of the earth’s resources, taken from formerly self-reliant peoples and resulting in terrible environmental destruction is backed up by force of arms, disguised as ‘free-trade’ and hidden behind a camouflage of legality through unjust trade agreements.

Everything is linked, and we have long recognised that the climate crisis is connected to all of our social issues; the cost of living crisis is the price of uncontrolled capitalism and inequality, which also blocks real action on climate change.. It’s no surprise that across almost every sector, unions are re-energised and their members out on strike. Gathered here today are many social change organisations who realise that now is the time for all of humanity to co-operate. Our groups and movements have to work together and expand alliances.

XR Peace demands that the government work to reduce international tensions, avoid war as a method of resolving conflict, end the arms trade, eliminate nuclear weapons, and drastically reduce military spending. Resources currently in the MOD budget must be re-directed to address the threat of climate catastrophe that now faces all peoples of the earth.

1 https://www.tni.org/en/publication/financing-border-wars

[download as pdf]

TBO: Report from Irene Sanderson

On behalf of the members of North Cumbria CND and Cumbria and Lancashire Area Group CND I went down to London to attend the Big One, April 2023.

Friday 21 April from 7am there were pickets at the government ministries. XR-Peace was at both the North and South entrances of the Ministry of Defence. I joined those at the North Entrance below the great statues of Earth and Water, known by the staff as the Two Fat Ladies. We were keen to meet the ministry staff of around 3,150 who “work for a secure and prosperous United Kingdom with global reach and influence… protect our people, territories, values and interests at home and overseas, through strong armed forces and in partnership with allies, to ensure our security, support our national interests and safeguard our prosperity.”

There was a flurry of arrivals for the first 3 hours; many people with bags packed for the weekend. They did not look very happy, indeed they appeared nervous of our presence.

Throughout the day there were many comings and goings and we offered postcards and printed information with our greetings to whoever used the entrance and passed our picket line. After a while and certainly by the time the early arrivals were off again early home, the nervousness was gone, they no longer looked threatened but somewhat curious about our purpose, almost flattered by the attention and certainly cheered by the prospect of the weekend. But not one stopped to discuss our purpose there, not even for a chat. At most we achieved a snatch of a leaflet or the gather-up of a badge, so our banners had to say it all.

On a break I strode around the corner and along the Ministry west facade that overlooks Whitehall. The MoD building is massive extending over 7.4 acres. But the CND banner NURSES NOT NUKES was on an equally huge scale. Other peace groups set up their impressive artworks along the railings making a magnificent gallery really good to see for those passing on their way down to the hubs of action on the verges of the Palace of Westminster.

It poured with rain for the opening speeches which were crammed onto small plots of grass by the Palace of Westminster. Pity these patches of green had to serve for the venue as the main area of grass was fenced off and only accessible to the electric mower that glided up and down.

To schedule Kate Hudson and Tom Unterrainer gave rousing speeches and hosted speakers and choirs for a considerable audience. The XR-Red Ladies paraded past followed by well costumed and coordinated objectors to everyday environmental abuses such as private flights. XR-Peace kept up the energy with the active sequence re-arrangement by willing helpers of an extensive range of black umbrellas each with an outlined letter in red spelling out messages NO TO NATO and DEMILIATARISE 4 SECURITY.

We continued our picket until the evening as planned below that cold and grim facade. The north entrance is especially chilly, but we felt it important to keep to the published schedule.

Saturday was the biodiversity march. My cousin of 85 years accompanied me brandishing my banner before I plunged into the tide of hope and optimism. It was a good-natured crowd moving gracefully along. The stewards did a great job chivvying or braking the pace with plenty of space for acrobats and dancers of all abilities and ages. There was a lot of optimism and a lot of alarms too in the messages of the groups that declared and demanded for the planet’s future.

Midway we “died” for 5 minutes lying in the road; so many of us that it was almost impossible to get down. As we curled together a police motorcycle blue lamps flashing glided silently past in the lane dedicated for emergency vehicles. It led an immaculate black Range Rover driven by a pale and elderly couple as we lay dead; a vision of the present-day, the affluent having no regard for those lying in the street, not even a mote of tact, but just motor on. Was it Charles and Camilla?

The march ended at the Houses of Parliament and the action fizzled out. I wish at that point we had formed that human chain, taken the energy and made something that fused our mood and bound us together.

I could not attend on Sunday 23 April, but Monday 24 April I returned to my post at the MoD. Again, the pickets were there from 7am and again timing important as Ministry workers of finer attire arrived early perhaps forewarned and nervous of our presence. The arrivals were mostly grim after the cheery farewells of Friday. However, we were building a relationship and most now acknowledged us, even the stonier faces for a moment relaxing into a tired smile. That morning I heard the one negative comment, “You shouldn’t be here!” addressed to me by a very smart woman as she mounted the steps on her way into the building.

Did it have an impact on the government department? For sure it did. Such a huge building approached by the workers along a dedicated route it was an obvious effort for the staff to make any contact. We gave a wake-up call that there were people out there who were not in agreement and were watching and were keen to be heard, to be talked to.

We left our pickets late morning for the cosy atmosphere of Parliament Square and set up our banners anew with CND. There we continued handing out the leaflets to the crowds of the Big One and many tourists besides. Speeches were given throughout the day including a rousing run-through by Angie Zelter of the present situation and furthermore what we could do about it. Various marches set off around the Westminster block and up and down and around Whitehall. I did not keep track of the timetable but at this point it was not a matter of concern for me as I was keener to learn from conversation with others and those who had a particular march to make were well informed for action. The messages remained clear and fully expressed by the banners, placards and voices of the very many still there.

I left the Big One that afternoon taking with me optimism and inspiration for renewed efforts to achieve a future that could be saved by united action.

We met with our MP yesterday back in Penrith to put before him questions on his stance on nuclear weapons, the climate crisis and the plight of refugees. He trotted out the same old answers of facing the exploiters of the “boat people” and the need for a “nuclear deterrent that had worked for 30 years”. But our arguments were strengthened with a refreshed fervour and resolve that cut through his clichés.

I thank everyone involved in the Big One who all had worked very hard with such energy and drive to present the performances, marches, events along with speeches and workshops and keep the momentum of ideas flowing and actions happening over those long days; I greatly appreciated all as they led to conversations, and those exchanges were the most interesting and indeed inspirational. The past seems irredeemable, but the future we should save together.

Thank you, Angie, again!

Irene Sanderson, North Cumbria CND/Cumbria and Lancashire Area CND