nuclear arms

Jim Haber

Outside the courthouse in Knoxville, Tenn., where three anti-nuclear activists were severely sentenced on February 18, Michelle Boertje-Obed, the wife of one of the three Transform Now Plowshares members, encouraged everyone to see Judge Amul Thapar’s ruling in a positive light. Despite her husband Greg having just received over 5 years in prison for infiltrating the Y-12 nuclear weapons facility on July 28, 2012 and damaging federal property — along with Michael Walli and 84-year-old Catholic nun Megan Rice – Michelle pointed out that the judge could have easily given them much longer sentences, as recommended by the prosecution.

Film made on 8 February 2014 during the ‘Reporting a Crime’ event at Reading Police Station. Part of the Action AWE campaign.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKan9K7QpKg width:400 height:300 autoplay:0]

Anti-nuclear activists in the UK are knitting frantically – why? On Nagasaki day (9 August), they plan to connect the two "Atomic Weapons Establishments" at Burghfield and Aldermaston with a 7-mile (11km) pink peace scarf, as part of the growing campaign against the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system.

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Press statement , 14 October 2013

Belgian former prime ministers and a former Secretary General of the NATO support campaign against nuclear weapons.

'Time to Go!' is the name of the campaign of the Belgian peace movement against the American nuclear weapons stationed in Belgium. On Sunday 20 October 2013 (from 2 until 6 p.m.) the peace movement organizes a national demonstration for nuclear disarmament in the Belgian capital Brussels (Jubelpark- Cinquantenaire ). There will be speeches, entertainment for children and concerts of Jaune Toujours, James Deano en Helmut Lotti.

http://www.timetogo.be

Militarisation in the UK generally

'Militarisation' means the ways in which the presence and approaches of the military (typically state armed forces and Defence Ministries) are normalised in a society. Military solutions are prioritised, and the military is privileged in various ways.

A society has to be militarised for a government to justify the development and maintenance of nuclear weapons to its citizens; militarisation creates a culture of acceptance. It popularises military euphemisms such as 'Defence', 'Security', and – particularly relevant to nuclear weapons – 'deterrant', and makes it hard to for those challenging these to be seen as credible.

Tim Wright

Each year, the nine nuclear-armed nations spend a combined total of more than US$100 billion on their nuclear forces – assembling new warheads, modernizing old ones, and building ballistic missiles, bombers and submarines to deliver them. Much of this work is carried out by private corporations, which are financed by a vast web of financial institutions around the world.

Each fall the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space organizes a week of local actions called Keep Space for Peace Week. This year events were held from October 1-8 and the theme chosen by our leadership was the expanding use of drones in U.S. wars in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.

Protest actions took place throughout the U.S. and in six other nations at major space weapons installations and factories like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics.

Between October 2-9 the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space had another week of actions against the militariSation of space, under the slogan: “Keep Space For Peace”. There were number of actions during this week, focusing on the missile defence shield, drones and other forms of militarisation of space. For a full list of actions, go to: http://www.space4peace.org/actions/ksfpw10.htm.

At the 2009 Strasbourg-Kehl summit, NATO members agreed to produce a new Strategic Concept for the alliance. The Strategic Concept (SC) is usually the guiding policy document for NATO for the coming decade. In November, at the NATO summit in Lisbon, NATO countries hope to agree on a document that is “short and crisp”. The main content will to a large extent re­peat the 1999 SC, but it will be shorter overall. Insiders expect a document of 12 pages max.

Three Christian peace activists were arrested at AWE Aldermaston after opening the base for disarmament. The three, Fr. Martin Newell (43), Passionist priest from the London Catholic Worker, Susan Clarkson (63) of the Oxford Catholic Worker, and Chris Cole (47) also from Oxford , cut a doorway into the outer fence of nuclear base. They group then attached a sign saying ‘Open for Disarmament: All Welcome’.

This is a clickable map of past, present, and planned nuclear power stations in Britain, plus important sites of Britain's nuclear weapons programme.

This map is based on OpenStreetMap, and uses OpenLayers for placing of the icons. You can click on an icon to see more information. You can also zoom in and out (see zoombar on the left), or move around on the map.

From 1-5 July 2010 the IV European Social Forum will take place in Istanbul.

War Resisters' International is part of several seminars and workshops during the ESF:

Thursday, 1 July, 9.30-12.30

The struggle against nuclear weapons in Europe and the Middle-East
Hans Lammerant (Vredesactie), Dominic Moran (Greenpeace), Ufuk Uras
Room D102-200, İtü Maçka Kampüsü

"No to Nato, Against militarisation and nuclearisation of the EU, build EU for peace"