To save succeeding generations...

The most recent peace plaque at Beachy Head in Sussex, which local activists paid for, installed, and in some cases, wheeled by foot all the way from Brighton, is a year old this week. Here's something I wrote for my Facebook blog a year ago

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The following was written for the installation ceremony of a new peace memorial at Beachy Head, Sussex, on 24 May 2008. In the event I decided not to say it, but the mayor of Eastbourne was present on a very blustery evening and made a fine speech. (Not as long as this one is…)

The idea of the plaque was to provide a focus for peace for the many local peace groups, and to be a kind of alternative war memorial - one which reflects the fact that since 1914 civilian casualties in wars have increased exponentially. It is now, overwhelmingly, civilian populations that suffer the heaviest casualties, particularly through aerial bombardment, and we wanted the memorial to remember them as well as the military deaths.

What made the day all the more remarkable was that the six-kilogram plaque was brought to Beachy Head on foot, by several members of our local peace group, all the way along the coast from Brighton (some twenty miles away). This was some achievement, particularly in view of the undulating Seven Sisters cliffs and the fact that two of the walkers were senior citizens. A heroic achievement, and a day which is vividly recalled to me every time I see the plaque in its prominent position opposite the visitors centre.

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The Second World War, whose end gave birth to the United Nations and the UN Charter quoted on our plaque, was fought partly in the skies above Beachy Head. The town of Eastbourne was bombed, like many others, and had its own civilian and military casualties amongst the millions killed by the war’s end. Since then, despite the UN Charter, dozens of wars have been fought around the world, and more millions of people have died as a result.

We are now only a few years into a new millennium. We have a symbolic chance for a new beginning of peace, justice, toleration and the rule of law, but so far the lessons of the past hundred years have not been learnt. This plaque stands as a memorial not only to the casualties of war in the twentieth century, but to all those still being killed in wars across the world. Respect for international and humanitarian law, even by the world’s most powerful countries, is in serious decline, and millions have already died in the years since 1 January 2001.

This plaque, brought to Beachy Head through the heroic physical efforts of local peace activists and generous donations from the public, stands not only as a memorial to those killed but also as a symbol of hope - for a better, more tolerant, law-abiding and above all PEACEFUL world in the years to come. Let’s hope that by the time the chalk cliffs have eroded this far and the plaque will either be gone or moved further inland, that world will long since have arrived.

Meanwhile, in its small way, the installed plaque will be something tangible that supporters of both organisations have achieved, and its presence by the Beachy Head UN Peace Path a lasting memorial to the millions who have died in war, and a reminder of the UN Charter which MUST be reaffirmed as a vital document for the safety of the world and ALL its peoples. This is reflected in the wording of the plaque, which says:

IN MEMORY OF

ALL WHO LOST THEIR LIVES

IN THE WARS OF THE

LAST HUNDRED YEARS, WHATEVER

THEIR GENDER, AGE OR NATIONALITY,

MILITARY OR CIVILIAN

SPRING 2008

EASTBOURNE UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION

EASTBOURNE FOR PEACE AND LIBERTY

...WE THE PEOPLES OFTHE UNITED NATIONS

DETERMINED TO SAVE SUCCEEDING

GENERATIONS FROM

THE SCOURGE OF WAR

CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS

JUNE 1945, IN SAN FRANCISCO

Craig Murray's evidence on UK complicity in torture

This week Craig Murray, the ex-ambassador to Uzbekistan and now a human rights activist, gave evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights concerning the UK's complicity in torture.

To Craig's dismay, the revelations he presented here have been almost completely ignored by the mainstream media, so I'm posting his evidence here:

http://tenpercent.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/craig-murrays-evidence-on-youtube/

It's long (in seven parts), and takes concentration, but worth it because of the obvious importance of the evidence he gives.

Please post this wherever you can, because as so often the mainstream media in Britain is not doing its job.

You can read Craig's own comments on his excellent blog:

http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/

A pig, yesterday

The nice kind, that is. These pigs don't go beating up and manslaughtering peaceful people in the city of London.

It's now illegal under certain circumstances to take photographs of the other species of pig. Section 76 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 makes it a criminal offence to take pictures of pigs 'likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism'.

Of course, even before the G20 protests it was obvious why that was. Recent examples also show that it appears to be up to the discretion of the pig concerned, as to whether a photographer might be a terrorist or not. http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=836646

Only in this country...

Only under this government...

I'm assuming however, that photos of the nice kind of pigs are definitely not illegal. So here's a lovely picture of a pig, taken near Beachy Head earlier this spring.

Innee lovely!

The man who died

The following video and article prove that Ian Tomlinson was assaulted by police at the G20 protests moments before he collapsed and died. The video backs up eyewitness reports that an officer attacked Mr Tomlinson from behind with a baton and pushed him roughly to the ground.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/07/video-g20-police-assault

Protest against police intimidation

The following was written by Andy May, the creator of a new Facebook group 'Protest against police intimidation'. I'm posting it here because what he says is so important and what he witnessed was so horrifying.

If you're on Facebook, please join his group and invite others!

I decided to create this group having gone down to see climate camp, where unnecessarily aggressive police tactics against peaceful protestors made violence inevitable.

Read the account below and watch this video to see the moment it happened http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2009/04//426087.mp4

First let me put this in context, I was not involved with any group demonstrating in the city for the G20 protests. I work in marketing, for a charity and have never taken part in direct action. However, I am concerned about climate change - one of the issues on the G20 agenda. I wanted to see exactly what the climate camp contingent were about and what kind of message they wanted world leaders to hear. Considering the vast majority of scientific opinion believes we are in severe danger from climate change and lack of action thus far, I thought they might have pretty important reason to be out on the streets.

I also wanted to see whether reports of heavy handed police tactics’ on earlier demos was accurate.

I’m sorry to say that from what I saw, the police tactics were designed with nothing in mind other than to oppress a peaceful protest and make a violent situation inevitable.

This particular group of protesters were encamped in a tent city near Bank. Having wandered around at lunchtime and after work amongst them it appeared were universally peaceful . They were in no way associated with the more violent protests the police dealt with earlier in the day in bank.

The climate camp occupied about a 100m stretch of street running a couple of streets parallel to bishopsgate. The thousand or so protestors had erected a tent city, complete with bunting, cake, live music, stalls, even a stand up lavatory for those caught short. Until about 7pm in the evening it was entirely peaceful – until the police moved in.

Two lines of police in riot gear penned each side of the street and without warning stopped anyone from entering or leaving. Just a couple of minutes after this ‘penning’ began we attempted to exit the street only to be aggressively told by riot police that no-one could leave if they were involved in the protests. When questioned further one stated that ‘there were criminals in there’ and ‘this lot have been causing trouble at bank and we are going to go in and get them’.

Having failed to get out at the Liverpool street end we tried the south end of the street. Here we saw protestors with faces covered in blood being dragged away, whilst others staged a sit down protest to try and avoid being pushed into the crush by the riot police. We slipped around the side of the street but were initially denied exit. After pleading with one of the more reasonable riot police I got out with my friend at the other end – but after I showed my id card to the police officer and explained we were just observing and in no way involved in the protests.

Unlike the thousand or so hapless people remaining there, I was lucky enough to have an ID badge from my charity (which happens to specialise in human rights) so the police changed their tune. Unfortunately the others got left to their fate (which in one case I saw firsthand meant an unprovoked truncheon attack from a female police officer).

Later a work colleague of mine who was also at the demo told me police had charged a group peacefully staging a sit down protest. They were beaten and trampled along with bikes, tents and anything else that got in the way.

I can categorically say that I saw not more than one or two anarchists in the camp (who are easily recognisable being dressed in black) who were doing nothing threatening at the point I saw them. The hard core of the other more aggressive protestors were still penned in outside the bank of England, putting the police justification for deploying riot police at climate camp on shaky ground.

As I left, anger started boiling over at police protest and at least two bottles were thrown from the initially peaceful demonstrators – thus the police had their excuse for suppressing the demonstration. But all I ask is that the truth is reported - it was their own tactics which caused a crushed crowed, panic and violence.

This country is founded upon the peaceful right to protest – as I said to one of the riot police who would not let me leave. We are not a police state. Whoever was responsible for the police operation here deserves to be condemned, but then I suppose encouraging violence justifies their ever spiralling security budgets. The Police cheifs who instigated this operation deserves to be held in the same contempt as the people who incited violence in other seperate G20 protest - Hold them to account!

'Rattling the Cage'

The gallery’s interior was stark: grey, white, black and orange – Guantanamo colours. An orange boiler suit lay spread-eagled on the floor; the walls showed photos of marches, stalls and demonstrations. Along one wall were examples of letters from MPs, ministers, government officials. Another display showed newspaper cuttings from The Argus: a history of the campaign from its beginnings in 2005. This was the ‘Rattling the Cage’ exhibition in Brighton, organised by Louise Purbrick to display the work of local activists, who tirelessly and patiently campaigned for the safe return of Omar Deghayes from Guantanamo Bay – and were ultimately successful.

The letters on one wall were a reminder of how much activism consists of patiently writing letters, over and over again, to be met often with lame, formulaic or dishonest replies from ministers and their minions. The Argus cuttings showed how hope was kept alive even when no one could know for certain if Omar would ever be free again. And a video displayed in one corner showed interviews with diverse activists from the campaign: ‘ordinary’ people who came together four years ago to educate themselves and combine their efforts against a terrible injustice, in which the ‘war on terror’ had affected a local family and put them through years of grief and psychological torture.

It was great to see our friends again in Brighton: Omar, Louise, Martin, Sally, Joy and Caroline. And Omar gave a talk which, as always, left me in admiration of his strength of character at being able to channel the effects of his ordeal into positive action. He spoke of how Guantanamo was the tip of a huge iceberg of rendition and torture; how the Americans use techniques which they learned from their own POW experiences, in World War Two, Korea and Vietnam. Bagram, he said, was like a huge Nazi camp, with barbed wire along concrete walls, and soldiers in towers with guns trained on the prisoners when they were allowed to exercise. He talked about some of the torture, of the sexual humiliations which led to prisoners resisting and thence to being beaten up. Air conditioning and bright lights left on continually for six years, so that the cells were like dazzling fridges with never a moment’s darkness. All this he described with humanity and sometimes even humour; the absurdity and irony of some aspects were not lost on Omar or his audience. And he had an appreciative audience too: understanding, attentive and indignant at the abuses of human rights described. Every time I hear Omar I learn more, and each time I realise how much more there is still to do, even if Obama does bring Gitmo itself to an end before the year is out.

Chatting to Omar, Sally and Joy after the meeting was great; it’s been over a year since Angie and I were with the Save Omar group in their home city. I took some photos of the exhibition, and we signed letters to Jack Straw and Obama, a reminder that the correspondence continues, more than a year since Omar himself returned home. The group now campaigns for the closure of Guantanamo (it hasn’t happened yet!), the safe return of the remaining British residents, and an end to torture, rendition and imprisonment without charge in the ‘war on terror’. This will be the biggest, long-term challenge; Obama recently confirmed that prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq will remain outside the reach of law, and he has made no orders to end rendition: the kidnapping and sending of prisoners to countries that use torture. Often these victims are simply ‘disappeared’.

As we left, Brighton was basking in a glorious spring afternoon. Angie and I walked through the daffodils, then drove along the coast road by a glittering blue expanse of sea. The white cliffs of Saltdean were bathed in late-afternoon sunlight, and as so often it felt hard to imagine such darkness and suffering existing still in those secret prisons, which our own government and intelligence services are proving to be involved in. Perhaps this is partly why so many people ignore the evidence and don’t even think about such injustices; they seem so far away. But Omar’s case shows that the ‘war on terror’ can come very close to home – indeed right into our own homes. And while the liberal newspapers chatter about Binyam Mohamed and whether or not his accusations can be believed, the activists in Brighton, Worthing, Eastbourne and London continue to work patiently and persistently for an end to these brutal assaults on law and liberty in the global war on terror – which is itself an act of terrorism.

‘Rattling the Cage’ is showing at the Phoenix, 10-14 Waterloo Place, Brighton until Saturday 21 March. Opening times 11:00am - 5:00pm, admission is free. http://www.phoenixarts.org/

http://www.save-omar.org.uk/

Animal Magic

Last year I learned the hard way what prolonged and intense focusing on war and torture issues could do to my emotions. Spending most of 2008 recovering from severe anxiety made me realise that I’m not the sort of person who can do this for long; I may be able to campaign, but I also need deep relaxation and light relief. And it’s strange to find that one source of pleasure is what interested me most as a small boy. Animals are calming, fascinating and beautiful, and the smaller furry species nearly always bring a smile to my face!

Last Friday, Angie and I went to Drusilla’s Park, between Eastbourne and Lewes. I don’t like to see animals confined, but these were in relatively spacious and relaxed surroundings and were mostly small creatures, including meerkats, marmosets, mongooses, lemurs, otters and two wonderful if extremely sleepy (because nocturnal) fennec foxes. I was getting as close as I could, and snapping away happily with my camera. The highlight had to be the ring-tailed lemurs, which lived in an open space the public could walk through; we could have touched them if we’d been allowed to. With their long, banded black-and-white tails and startling orange eyes they were stunning, endearing creatures, and it was a beautiful sunny day to see them, with the green curves of Windover Hill (my favourite place close to home) overlooking the scene. One lemur leaped at eye level between Angie and me, from one side of the path to the other, while others sat basking on their bottoms in the sun, grooming each other and blinking in the light. It was hard to leave them; to think I’d never seen them before and they were only a few miles from our house!

A couple of years ago I’d have been in pain after wandering on my feet all afternoon, but that condition is so much better these days as well. I got home with Angie tired but happy, and wishing we could keep a mongoose or a fennec fox as a pet! Maybe one day we’ll finally get a cat, but I’ve been promising that to myself for years…