Oxford Anti-militarism Feature Archive

Two women from Oxford are amongst a group of peace activists visiting Afghanistan this month. The delegation aim to spend time meeting and making links with ordinary Afghans, and then raise awareness back in the UK of what they discover.

"We are traveling as friends and equals of the Afghans we will be visiting, not to fix Afghanistan but to fix UK perspectives on Afghanistan" -Mary, one of the group.

Nine years ago another local peace activist, Paul, moved to Afghanistan to work with the UN, and sent a series of personal reports, providing a revealing first-hand account of life there.

UK Peace Activists Visit Afghanistan | From Cowley Road to Kabul | First days in Kabul | Kuchi Refugee Camp in the Shah's Back Yard | Oxford Man in Afghanistan
VCNVUK blog | Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers | Global Days Of Listening | RAWA

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Gloucestershire's skies were darkened again by the Royal International Fairford Air Tattoo as some of the world's worst climate criminals and human rights abusers compared their best killing machines. This is an event about the glorification of everything that a civilised society should feel repelled about. Despite this, virtually every single newspaper, TV and radio show lavished it with praise. In so doing, they justified the entertainment budgets that the military industrial complex lays on at our expense.

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This February and March double roundup of grassroots news in Oxford begins with the anti-cuts movement. Back in February there was a March against the cuts, then in March, Cornmarket turned into the Big Society Hospital. A week later the big TUC march bought London to a standstill, one Oxfordian wrote My march for the alternative about the day. Please do share your experiences of demos at publish your news by the way! Not to be outdone both Swindon and Stroud were also organising against the cuts.

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Welcome to the latest round up of grassroots news from Oxford. It's proven to be another busy month for activists and campaigners in Oxford. Local, national, and international attention has focused on our little city somewhere between London and the Midlands.

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On Monday several actions took place against the government's nuclear weapons and their plans to develop new ones. The focus was AWE Aldermaston, the military base near Reading where these weapons are developed and maintained.

Activists from Trident Ploughshares had been holding an "Aldermaston Summer Gathering" for several days sharing information and leafletting nearby villages. Co-inciding with this, folks from the Catholic Worker movement were holding a "Faith and Resistance" retreat in Oxford celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first Ploughshares action.

As the day began around twenty TP folks blockaded one of the main gates into the base, including four who "locked-on" with arm tubes. They left without any arrests after successfully blockading for two hours.

Soon afterwards, 3 of the Catholic Workers cut through the perimeter fence and broke into the base, "opening it for disarmament", while others carried out a vigil at the gates of the base. They were arrested, held until evening, charged with criminal damage, and may also face SOCPA charges.

[ Report of TP gathering ] [ Reports of CW gathering: 1 | 2 ] [ Actions: 1 | 2 ]
[ Trident Ploughshares | Catholic Worker | Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp ]
[ Coverage elsewhere: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ]

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E.ON has withdrawn from University Careers Fairs run by AIESEC following a string of protests around the country. E.ON did not show up at Birmingham today (12th Nov). The protesters object to E.ON wanting to develop new coal fired power stations, such as at Kingsnorth - the target of this summers Climate Camp. However E.ON cannot avoid the protests by avoiding careers fairs - expect more fun during 48 hours of action against E.ON and new coal on the 28/29 November.

Students have visited careers fairs to protest about the presence of parts of the arms and fossil fuel industries. Climate chaos related companies targeted include RBS (the oil and gas bank), BP and Shell. The arms industry representatives include the Army, B.Ae, Qinetiq and Rolls Royce. Careers fairs have been targeted in Aston, Birmingham ( 2 ), Bristol, Cambridge ( 2 | 3 ), Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial College London, Kings College London, Leeds, Liverpool, Loughborough, Manchester ( 2 | 3 ), Nottingham ( 2 | 3 ), Oxford ( 2 ), Sheffield, Southampton, Warwick and York. More reports are available from People and Planet.

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Update (11/10/06): The trial resulted in a hung jury, with the jurors unable to agree on a verdict after over 12 hours of deliberation!

The trial of two Oxford peace activists who attempted to disarm B52 bombers on their way to Iraq is taking place all this week. Toby Olditch and Phil Pritchard went into Fairford airbase just two days before the planes were used, hoping to disable the bombers and thus save civilian lives in Iraq and inspire others to action.

They were arrested before reaching the planes but have gone on to fight a high-profile legal battle, using their case to challenge the legality of the war and raise awareness. The upshot of this has been that various courts, up to and including the House of Lords, spinelessly (but predictably) refusing to allow arguments about the legality of the war. The legal argument for the trial now focuses on Phil and Toby's reasonable belief that they were acting to prevent war crimes.

Support at court is very welcome during the trial, either to come inside or with banners etc outside; Bristol Crown Court is on Small Street, off Corn Street, in Bristol town centre. Check the trial blog for the latest updates.

Margaret Jones and Paul Milling's trial for a similiar action resulted in a hung jury recently and they are awaiting a re-trial.

Meanwhile a Peace Picnic takes place this Saturday 7th October at RAF Croughton, a local US/UK spybase.

B52two trial blog | B52two homepage | trial report | press release

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A strange thing happened in the town of Carterton today (23/4/05)– a peace march, believed to be the very first ever protest march through the town.

Carterton is host to RAF Brize Norton - Britains main airbase for waging the war and occupation in Iraq. Most of the British Troops that fly out to Iraq do so from Brize Norton as does much of the supplies. Carterton community is heavily dependent on the base for work and thus heavily affected by British war casualties.

The demo explicitly aimed to interact with the people of Carterton: its message "The war/occupation is illegal and immoral - support the troops bring them home."

report | report+pics | more pics

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Update 10/11/04: On Saturday the attack on Falluja started. Since then there have been protests and actions all over the UK, including vigils in Oxford. Keep an eye on the calendar for more protests or plan your own and tell us

Last Thursday, with the horror of the US build up to the attack on Falluja coming ever closer dead bodies in Cornmarket made a sombre impact. The public were noticeably moved to see a number of bodies, some of whom appeared to have blood on them. They were lying on the street in Cornmarket, the main shopping street in Oxford. All around them were statements chalked on the pavements giving information and explanations. This caused people to stop longer to read what they said. Others took the leaflets or read the posters which had more information.

This was a 'die in' organised by OSAN to remind people of the over 100,000 Iraqi's who have already died since the invasion. With a loud speaker Moslem women and others read out the names of those who have died, their age and how they died. For many of them the cause of death was shrapnel. While I was giving out leaflets I watched the public stopping and with puzzled stares look at the bodies while they listened to the names of the dead Iraqis. It was as if they could not move on and a great sadness seemed to hang over the street. Many people told me they were in support. Of course there were the others who said that it was a waste of time or that we were wrong but the main response was one of real sorrow, feelings of desperation and a need to show we do not agree with what is happening during this very illegal occupation.

report | report + pics | OSAN | NOW | Voices

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The Fairford coach case is at the Court of Appeal this week, on the 14 and 15 of October. The coach detainees will be taking the police to court once again over the basic human right to protest and the right not to be detained. The following press release recently appeared on the Fairford Coach Action website.

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On 10th April, 50 young people set out on the 40 mile march to Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment. The march, organised by Youth & Student CND, was to protest against Britain's nuclear weapons.

The first day saw a short rally in Bonn Square, with speakers including Gawain Little (national committee, Y&S CND), the Rev. David Platt (Christian CND) and David and Rene Gill (Oxford CND), who had taken part in the very first march to Aldermaston in 1958.

Despite the overcast sky, spirits were high and we marched along St Aldates and out of Oxford, 15 miles to Wallingford.

The second day's march was from Wallingford to Reading, where we were received by the Reading Quakers. The march from London also arrived in Reading in the evening and we were able to share food and tales of sore feet!

Monday began with a gathering at Broad St, Reading, where around 200 people awaited the London march. By the time the procession left Burghfield, there were around 1000 people marching. The atmosphere was tremendous, with people tired, but proud of the distance they'd marched and eager to make their protest heard.

Well done to everyone who marched - let's make it even better next year!

Reports [1] [2] | Youth Student CND

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Nine members of the public decided to use Prime Minister's Question Time today to question directly Tony Blair on the important issues of the occupation of Iraq, and the real reasons that the United Kingdom went to war. Refusing to be silent on hearing the Prime Minister's evasions on these important issues, each stood up and made one simple demand: "No more whitewashes, Tony!"

The Oxford residents are all furious at Parliament's inability to hold the Government to account over its war, which resulted in the deaths of over 10,000 Iraqi civilians, and the subsequent occupation which has killed thousands more Iraqis, as well as hundreds of American and British soldiers. The protestors were keen to point out that the war on Iraq, as well as the occupation, was illegal under international law, regardless of the presence or absence of weapons of mass destruction.

The disrupted speech came several hours after demonstrators dressed as judges poured white paint over downing street's gates in a protest against the government's persistant clearing of itself of any wrong-doing.

Press Release | Report | Solidarity statement and "heckling guide"

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An Oxford citizen has left in September for Afghanistan, where he is now a United Nations volunteer. He reports about the deterioration of security, the lack of democracy, the American control of Afghanistan and the UN incompetency. As British politicians talk about how democracy is being supported and security is maintained in Afghanistan, this personal point of view from inside the UN, from someone on the ground in Afghanistan is very interesting and disturbing.

Here are his reports:

• Afghanistan: Optimism, Fragile Peace and Foreign Agendas (03/04/2004) - with pictures
• No good news from Afghanistan (23/03/2004)
• Afghanistan Diary (08/03/2004)
• Afghanistan: 500 women march to register (22/01/2004) - with pictures
• Afghanistan: elections in the North... (17/01/2004) - with pictures
• Down the bunker in Afghanistan for the second time (12/01/2004)
• Down the bunker for the first time (12/01/2004)
• Afghan diary (29/11/2003) - with pictures
• Don't believe Bush on Afghanistan (20/11/2003) - with pictures
• Afghanistan from inside the UN (16/11/2003) - with pictures
• Oxford man in Afghanistan (12/10/2003)

For more information about the state of affairs in Afghanistan after the war, visit this feature from Cambridge IndyMedia.

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On the evening of November 20th, around 2000 people turned out to give Dubya the two-fingered salute in Oxford city centre.

Reports: [1] [2] | [Pictures and report]
Click Read more for a detailed report and lots of pictures.

Other actions in Oxford or by Oxford activists:

• Die-in and staged wedding between Bush and Blair [pictures]
• "Bush Free Zone" banner hang in London [report and press release] [pictures]

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On the 9th of November, as part of the international day of protest and action against Israel's 'security wall', protesters in Oxford (wearing huge white cardboard boxes on their heads) attempted to give the local weekend shoppers a glimpse of life in occupied Palestine.

People gave leaflets, talked to people and shouted slogans. The 'wall' was seen making its way through the Westgate and Clarendon shopping centres - to the annoyance of security guards, culminating by a walk down Cornmarket and a visit to Marks and Spencer's. Finally, a 'checkpoint' was built on a nearby (pedestrianised) street, until the 'soldier' announced he was taking the 'prisoners' into custody and the wall was taken apart and dumped in a nearby bin. If only the real thing was as easily dealt with...

[Report | Photos]

[Stop the Wall] | [Palestine Campaign] | [Wall that breaks Rafah's heart]

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Madeleine Albright, former American Secretary of State, who (amongst many other things) presided over genocidal sanctions in Iraq, had her speaking and booksigning tour disrupted in Oxford by a variety of actions and protests.

Pickets, vigils, leaflets, banners, die-ins, debating, heckling, poetry, binbag barricades, sit-downs and cacerolazo (pots + pans) all combined beautifully, causing her to meet huge opposition, especially inside Borders (the bookshop) and be delayed 40-60 min for her talk at the Oxford Union (elitist debating society).

[report] | reports with pics: [ 1] | [2] | [Video]

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Shortly after 11 am on Saturday 11th October a coach-load of protestors left Oxford for USAF Croughton, a satellite communications base near Brackley, Northants. This U.S. spy base had been chosen by CND and the Campaign for the Accountability of the American bases (CAAB) as the focus for a national day of protest against the US Star Wars project, along with the better-known Menwith Hill in Yorkshire. On arrival at the base, a group of around 80 to 100 people with colourful banners, accompanied by various musical instruments and chanting Buddhist monks, made their way around the perimeter fence, past the sinister ‘golf balls’ (radomes).

Report, pictures and background info on USAF Croughton

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Between 10 and 100 thousand people (eleven ?) from all over Britain marched against the occupation of Iraq in London yesterday.

Pictures and comments: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ]
Pictures, story and comments: [ 1 ]
Women contingent: [report and pics]
Video: [1 long clip, 1 short clip, 1 quicktime virtual tour of crowd]
Debate about coverage of demo on IMC: [ 1 ]

Simultaneously, in Edinburgh a banner drop and a rally took place, whilst it was streaming down with rain.

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On Wednesday, during a day of protest and actions against DSEi - the weapons exhibition taking place this week in London - a bunch of Oxford activists managed to get inside the exhibition centre, where one group unfurled a banner on top of a tank, while another locked themselves to the inside of an APC.

[read report] | [photos + video] | [radio programme]

Meanwhile, other Oxford people joined in with a variety of actions during the week.

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Around 40 campaigners blockaded the two main entrances to the Excel Centre in London's Docklands throughout the morning on Monday 1st September, while tanks and other military hardware waited to be brought inside. Excel is the venue for the DSEi arms fair due to be held next week from 9th-12th Sept - a week of counter events, protests and actions will run alongside starting on the 6th (see Disarm DSEi.

One of the activists, Laura Semple from Oxford, said "DSEi is one of the leading arms fairs in the world, where more than 600 arms companies will be queuing up to strike deals with oppressive regimes and to fuel conflicts all over the globe. We intend to shut it down."

See: Report 1, Update 1, Update 2, Photos, Videos.

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Around 35 people from around the country joined in the 'Reclaim the Bases Summer Camp' at Aldermaston in Berkershire.

Organised by the D10 group the camp brought together activists from around the counrty to share information and skills to widen the network of non violent direct activists taking part in actions against militraism.

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Peace campaigners have won the right to challenge police decisions to detain and prevent them from demonstrating against the war on Iraq at Fairford air base in March this year. Over 120 people from two coaches were searched, detained, and forcibly returned to London with a huge police escort. Granting permission for their judicial review case to proceed Mr Justice Richards commented that the issues it raised were "substantial" and "of importance" to merit a full High Court hearing.

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The Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEi) arms fair is due to take place in London, at the Excel Centre in Docklands, on the 6th-12th September. The arms fair will be made up of a series of multinational companies who will be trading arms to a number of countries on Amnesty International's list of human rights abusers.

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LIBERTY, the human rights group, has released a 13 page report focusing on the policing of anti-war demonstrators around USAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, during the concentrated bombing of Iraq earlier this year. The damning report details fundamental breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights in the extensive use of anti-terrorism laws to prevent citizens taking part in legitimate protest and to harrass them (by mid-april the campaign group Gloucestershire Weapons Inspectors alone had recorded 89 stop and searches under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 carried out against just 26 people!), as well as the excessive use of various other public order legislation. At its most extreme an anti-terrorist order was served on an 11-year-old girl (her father is now seeking legal redress) and 3 coach loads of demonstrators were "kidnapped" by police (see indymedia feature), also the subject of a legal action (also see Fairford Coach Action).

Download full Liberty report: (pdf)
Corporate Media Coverage of Liberty report
War on Freedom and Democracy (10 page Statewatch pdf, Sept 02)

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On Friday 4th July, American Independence Day, a number of people from Oxford met with other local activists and marched on RAF Fairford.  The demonstrators assembled in Fairford village at 3pm, with many in fancy dress as the event formed part of the "Gatecrashers' Ball". Some of the men came in black tie, with women in comedy ball gowns.  The procession went to the main gates of the base waving banners and enjoying some of the Arabic music someone had brought along.  On arrival, the Declaration of Independence from America was read and signed.  The protesters stayed to have a picnic of cucumber sandwiches and fairy cakes, and eventually drifted off home.  The protest passed off entirely peacefully, with only some irritable car drivers raising objections to the protest.

pictures 1 / pictures 2 / Fairford Peace Watch

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Update: Charges of obstruction of the highway against Anna and David have been dropped. However, the case of another Oxford activist accused of causing 8,333 pounds worth of damage to the main gates of USAF Fairford has been transferred to Cirencester Magistrates Court.

Toby and Phil, the 'B-52 Two', were granted bail Friday the 20th and finally have their freedom! Charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage when they tried to disarm a B52 warplane at RAF Fairford in March 2003, they pleaded not guilty as they acted lawfully to uphold international law. The Gloucester Crown Court will make a judgement on the legality of the war on 19 September.

Several other people with Fairford related cases had good news also. Two Oxford activists were offered bindovers in place of charges of aggravated trespass, a citizen from Oxford pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal damage and aggravated trespass - the case was adjourned, and two others had their charges of criminal damage to the main gate of Fairford completely dropped. Mysteriously the gate -related charge of another Oxford activist is still being pursued and was adjourned for the time being.

* The "B-52 Two" WEBSITE
* pictures of Phil and Tobi getting out of jail
* video of a vigil held by supporters of Phil and Tobi outside Gloucester Prison
* Prisoners for Peace website
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