From info at j-n-v.org Wed Feb 25 19:46:53 2009 From: info at j-n-v.org (Justice Not Vengeance) Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:46:53 +0000 Subject: [JNV] Events / Afghanistan Name Reading & Die-in / Gaza Art Auction(s) / Gaza Briefing Message-ID: Contents 1) Online Islamophobia Course 2) 10 Events (February-April) 3) JNV Gaza briefing 4) Afghanistan Name-Readings and Northwood Die-in 5) JNV Art Auction(s) for Gaza 6) Peace Movement Essays by Milan Rai ----- Dear friends, Please find below some anti-war activities or resources. Please note especially the Afghanistan activities (number 4) including a name-reading resource created by JNV and a die-in at Northwood in north London (27 May) supported by JNV. Best wishes Maya Evans, Emily Johns, Milan Rai Justice Not Vengeance ----- 1) Online Islamophobia Course Milan Rai, JNV researcher and author of 7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War, is running a 10-week online course with ZNet, the world's top radical website, from 1 March. "Examining the breadth and depth of anti-Muslim racism in the Anglo-American mainstream, this course will deal with the evolution of Western Islamophobia now, during the era of the 'war on terror', and its roots in the Middle Ages, when Islamic empires were superpowers and European peoples were on the political, economic and cultural margins. We will also explore the parallels and contrasts between the histories of anti-Muslim racism and anti-Jewish racism in the West." ZNet has supporters or Sustainers who pay at least $1 a month. Spring courses (there are several other excellent options) cost $100 for non-Sustainers; only $50 for Z Sustainers. ZSchool is at: http://moodle.zcommunications.org/ (To become a Sustainer, just click on the link for ZCom on the left hand side of the screen.) ----- 2) Ten Events (February-April) Network for Peace continues to provide an invaluable guide to peace movement events at: www.networkforpeace.org.uk Ten events coming up are: Saturday 28 February OXFORD. "Building Alliances for Joint Action Against War." A one-day conference open to all, aiming to unite groups and individuals campaigning for justice and peace into a broad alliance which would be strong enough to challenge the renewed arms race and the perpetual planning for war. Organised by Network of Oxford Women (NOW) for Justice and Peace. Speakers to include Haifa Zangana, Iraqi author and peace campaigner, Alice Ukoko, Human rights defender and founder of Women of Africa, Kate Hudson, Chair of CND. 11am - 4.30pm at North Oxford Community Centre, Diamond Place, Summertown, Oxford OX2 7DP. =A33 pp, light lunch available at small extra cost. Contact: Margaret Stanton, co-ordinator of NOW, 1 Charles Ponsonby House, Osberton Road, Oxford OX2 7PQ. www.nowpeace.org.uk Wednesday 11 March LONDON. "Emergency Lobby of Parliament for Palestine." Please make an appointment to lobby your MP now. This lobby has been organised at short notice to call for urgent action by the British government to address the horrific humanitarian crisis that has been forced upon the people of Gaza. You can request a meeting via the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website. 2-6pm, House of Commons, London (nearest tube Westminster). "Call on your MP to: End the blockade on Gaza; Suspend the EU-Israel Trade Agreement; Bring Israeli war criminals to justice; End the arms trade with Israel." Contact: Palestine Solidarity Campaign; 020 7700 6192; www.palestinecampaign.org Saturday 14 March ABERYSTWYTH. "Networking for a more just and peaceful world." Reimagining a peace and justice network in Wales. A Peace Institute for Wales? Annual Peace Festival. Putting a stop to St Athan. Climate Camp Cymru 2009. Canvassing public opinion... 2 - 6 pm, Morlan Centre, Queens Road, Aberystwyth. (Wheelchair accessible.) Contact James Maiden, 07825 991 557; info@cynefinywerin.org.uk LONDON. "Art Auction for Gaza." Organised by JNV and Peace News and hosted by Housmans Bookshop. Art donated by Hastings artists (see below for brief report). All proceeds to Medical Aid for Palestinians and the Free Gaza Movement. Auctioneer Milan Rai, JNV/Peace News. 2pm. Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX (2 minutes from Kings Cross). (Shop wheelchair accessible; no accessible toilet.) Contact: JNV, 0845 458 9571; 07980 748 555. Saturday 21 March BRISTOL. "Change in Progress." Join activists from eight campaigning organisations for a day of training and networking to make change happen! We are all engaged in trying to change the world we live in for the better. Take part in Change in Progress to: Learn skills and share ideas that will make your campaigning more effective. Choose from over 12 skills workshops including campaign planning, using the media and lobbying your MP. Share experiences with campaigners from a broad range of organizations. College Green Centre, City of Bristol College, St George's Road Bristol BS1 5UA. (Fully wheelchair accessible, please book a parking space if required.) The event is free to attend but spaces are limited, so book now at http://www.changeinprogress.org.uk/practical.html; or by emailing annemarie@caat.org.uk. Saturday 28 March LONDON. "Tell the G20 =96 'Put People First'." A march for - Jobs: decent jobs and public services. Justice: end global poverty and inequality. Climate: build a green economy. Organised by an alliance of unions, NGOs & campaigners. Assemble 11am Victoria Embankment. Rally Hyde Park 2 pm. Speakers & entertainment. www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk 1-5 April STRASBOURG. "No to war. No to NATO!" NATO's 60th birthday events: resistance camp, direct action, counter-conference, demonstration. (A) To take action, do trainings, or otherwise help with the Resistance Camp, please book a place in a vehicle leaving the UK 31 March (returning 6 April): 0845 337 0282; mellcndeast@cnduk.org Deadline for bookings: 6 March! (B) For coaches to the demonstration on 4 April (=A373, leaving London 9am, 3 April, returning 5 April), book with Stop The War Coalition, 0207 278 6694; or online: http://tinyurl.com/peacenews061 www.no-to-nato.org 3-5 April LANCASTER. "Exploring grassroots consensus." An in-depth skillshare on facilitation and consensus in small and large groups. For people with wide experience of facilitating consensus to explore and build their skills. Vegan food and floor space provided (bring sleeping mats & bags) and a limited number of proper beds =96 contact us if you need one. The venue is wheelchair accessible with an induction loop. The cost is =A330 per person inclusive (or pay what you can). Please apply by 15 March: 0845 3307 583; www.seedsforchange.org.uk Wednesday 22 April LONDON. "End the war in Afghanistan." With Peter Marsden, author of Afghanistan- Aid, Armies and Empires and The Taliban, Jonathan Steele of the Guardian and Gabriel Carlyle, Voices in the Wilderness UK. 7.30pm.Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Wheelchair accessible. Organised by JNV, Voices and the Northwood Die-in committee, 0845 458 2564; www.stopbombingafghanistan.org 24-25 April LONDON. "Peace History Conference". Organised by the Movement for the Abolition of War at the Imperial War Museum! Speakers include; Joseph J Fahey, Mahattan College, New York on civilian resistance to the war in Vietnam, Lyn Smith of the Imperial War Museum on Conscientious Objectors in action, and more. =A330/=A310 full-time students. Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1. Bookings: www.abolishwar.org.uk ----- 3) JNV Gaza briefing HAMAS HAS OFFERED PEACE Palestine Needs A 'Partner for Peace' JNV Anti-War Briefing 116 3 February 2009 [Available with links/references and as a double-sided A4 pdf at www.j-n-v.= org ] The impression given in the Western mass media is that the Palestinian political group Hamas is an irreconcilable fundamentalist force committed to the destruction of Israel. Israeli author Rachel Shabi describes a common perception in Israel: 'mention the civilian casualties in Gaza and the stock response is to blame Hamas, cast as a bloodthirsty, death-worshipping cult, a terror group that by definition forces Israeli soldiers to kill Palestinian children.' ('Comment is free', Guardian, 23 Jan. 2009) The reality, successfully suppressed throughout the British media, is that Hamas has for many years publicly offered a long-term truce with Israel on the basis of the 1967 borders. In other words, Hamas has for many years been in close proximity to the international consensus that Middle East peace can and should be based on an Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories. JIMMY CARTER The most high-profile offer came in April 2008, when former US President Jimmy Carter travelled to Syria to speak to Hamas leaders, including Khaled Meshal, generally seen as a hard-liner, and often described as the group=92s 'political leader'. Carter told BBC Newsnight that Hamas would accept a deal on the 1967 borders and added: 'Hamas indicated... that if Israel is willing to have a mutual ceasefire and a renunciation of violence in Gaza and in the West Bank, they will accept it, and as a first step they would even accept just limiting that to Gaza.' ('Carter: Hamas will accept Israel', BBC News online, 21 Apr. 2008) HUDNA On the same day, Khaled Meshal told reporters in Damascus that Hamas was willing to agree a ten-year truce with Israel on the 1967 borders, without formally recognising the state of Israel: 'We agree to a [Palestinian] state on pre-=9267 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital with genuine sovereignty, without settlements, but without recognizing Israel. We have offered a truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, a truce of 10 years as a proof of recognition.' This statement, reported in Ha'aretz, Israel=92s oldest and one of its most influential daily newspapers, was accompanied by this comment: 'Meshal used the Arabic word hudna, meaning truce, which is more concrete than tahdiya - a period of calm - which Hamas often uses to describe a simple cease-fire. Hudna implies a recognition of the other party's existence. (21 Apr. 2008) RIVALS The same Ha'aretz report quoted Carter as saying that Hamas had agreed to accept a peace agreement negotiated by their rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. This was quite a concession, as Hamas began life as a rival to the secular nationalism of Abbas's Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). After Israel took control of the Occupied Territories after the 1967 war, 'In Gaza, Israel hunted down members of Fatah and other secular PLO factions, but it dropped harsh restrictions imposed on Islamic activists by the territory=92s previous Egyptian rulers.' A new movement led by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was nurtured precisely as a weapon against Fatah. Israeli Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, governor in Gaza from late 1979, says now that he had no illusions about Sheikh Yassin's long-term intentions. However, in Gaza, Segev observes: 'our main enemy was Fatah'. Yassin's group, which evolved into Hamas, was allowed by Israeli forces to physically attack Fatah, and Hamas leaders regularly met Israeli officials. ('How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas', Wall Street Journal, 24 Jan.) More recently, in the two years preceding this announcement, Hamas had fought bloody street battles with Abbas's Fatah security forces, culminating in the division of the Palestinian territories into Gaza, controlled by Hamas, and the West Bank, controlled by Fatah. Carter said in April 2008: 'They [Hamas leaders] said they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians... even though Hamas might disagree with some terms of the agreement.... It means that Hamas will not undermine Abbas' efforts to negotiate an agreement and Hamas will accept an agreement if the Palestinians support it in a free vote.' In other words, Hamas would allow their fiercest political rivals to negotiate a deal with their sworn enemy, and pledged to live with the result of a Palestinian referendum on the product of these talks. COMPLICATIONS The history of Hamas truce offers goes back a long way. Efraim Halevy, a former Mossad operative turned mediator, who played a role in releasing Hamas founder Sheik Yassin from an Israeli jail, revealed on 23 March 2004, that: '[In 1997] Yassin brought up the idea of a cease-fire of 30 years between Israel and the Palestinians'. Also in 1997, Yassin told Associated Press that he would accept a 10-year truce if Israel would withdraw troops and settlers from all of the West Bank and Gaza. (Both stories, AP, 23 March 2004) These offers weren=92t exactly what they might first appear. For example, Abdel Aziz Rantissi, a Hamas hard-liner, told Reuters on 27 January 2004: '... it is difficult to liberate all our land at this stage, so we accept a phased liberation. We accept a state in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. We propose a 10-year truce in return for [Israeli] withdrawal and the establishment of a state.' (Independent, 27 Jan. 2004) This was the idea of 'transitional' or temporary truce to be honoured while Hamas continued in its efforts to take over the territories currently constituting Israel - as it believed the entire territory of the historical Palestine should form a single state (ruled according to its interpretation of Islam). ACCEPTANCE Then, on 3 December 2004, came a new line: 'Hamas has announced that it accepts a Palestinian independent state within the 1967 borders with a long-term truce,' Sheik Hassan Yousef, the top Hamas leader in the West Bank, told the Associated Press. He went on: 'For us a truce means that two warring parties live side by side in peace and security for a certain period, and this period is eligible for renewal. That means Hamas accepts that the other party will live in security and peace.' (Guardian Unlimited) In 2006, the elected Hamas-led Palestinian government repeatedly offered Israel a long-term truce on the 1967 borders. For example, the pragmatic Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, said he would honour agreements with Israel 'that will guarantee the establishment of a Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital with 1967 borders.' (Washington Post, 26 Feb. 2006) WHERE NOW? On 8 January 2009, as the war in Gaza raged, a senior Hamas foreign policy advisor, Ahmed Yousef, said, accurately: 'For many years, we have proposed a long-term truce provided that the Israelis prove their willingness to withdraw, in accordance with international law, from all the territories occupied in the aftermath of their 1967 incursions.' (Guardian Unlimited, 7 Jan. 2009) Mouin Rabbani, an analyst with the respected International Crisis Group, observed three years ago: 'It would be as na=EFve to take the above statements on faith as it would be foolish not to put them to the test.' (International Crisis Group, 18 Jan. 2006) Instead, Israel - with full US and British backing - has repeatedly rejected such proposals out of hand. The Hamas peace offers undermine Israel's plans for domination of the Occupied Territories, and therefore they are a threat that must be erased. The Western press obliges with selective amnesia. Hamas must be judged on its record. It has largely kept the ceasefires it has agreed. ------ 4) Afghanistan Name-Readings and Northwood Die-in >Name Reading 2009 is set to see a major escalation in the war in Afghanistan, with increases in both US and British troop levels. A majority of Afghans oppose these plans, and want a negotiated solution (see Peace News, March 2009). 68% of British people - 59% men and 75% women - think troops should withdraw within 12 months. (BBC poll, November 2008: http://tinyurl.com/jnv21 ) For the anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan on 7 October, JNV helped to organise a name reading of Afghan civilians and British soldiers known have died in the war. Local peace groups are invited to organise their own name-readings. JNV has compiled a list of names and posted them on our website: www.j-n-v.org A suggested national day for name-reading is around Friday 8 May, the anniversary of one of the wedding party massacres in Afghanistan. > Northwood Die-in, Wednesday 27 May A die-in for NATO's victims in Afghanistan. Meet 11am, outside Northwood tube station for a wedding procession to the gates of the UK's military nerve centre and NATO regional command. Wear symbolic wedding clothes. 27 May is the second anniversary of a US attack on a wedding party at Haji Nabu in Afghanistan, in which 47 civilians were killed. This action is organised by an ad hoc group and supported by Voices in the Wilderness UK, Justice not Vengeance and CND. Contact: 0845 458 2564; www.stopbombingafghanistan.org ----- 5) JNV Art Auction(s) for Gaza Apart from supporting local and national demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza, JNV also initiated an art auction in Hastings, using the springboard of an exhibition by JNV artist Emily Johns, and a film showing (Occupation 101) at Hastings' art house cinema, the Electric Palace. The proceeds were to go to Medical Aid for Palestinians and the Free Gaza Movement. Artists were invited to donate work, and a wide range of items was received gratefully. Artist Rachel Spring wrote to us: "I rarely give my sculpture for charity as every day is a struggle to make a living. But this is a cause that puts my personal struggle in perspective, and these are people I trust to multiply every resource and use every ounce of it in the most effective possible way. I just wish I had some cash to give, and I am grateful to the organisers of this auction for, hopefully, making this wish come true." In the end there were over 100 lots, many more than could be sold on the night (3 February). During the evening, which was co-organised with Hastings Against the War (HAW), dozens of lots were sold, and the crowd of 50 (gathered despite snow and ice) listened live to International Solidarity Movement volunteer Jenny Linnell, working in Gaza. Jenny told us how earlier that day she had been accompanying a Palestinian herb farmer near the Israeli border. They had been shot at, bullets just metres away, as they walked the fields. With cakes and teas (also donated), donations and sales of excellent art, over =A31,100 was raised. The auction continued at the Electric Palace on 9 February, before the showing of the film 'Occupation 101'. The Electric Palace donated the venue and the projectionist. In a brief auction over =A3190 was taken; donations (from a crowd of 30 people - the weather was atrocious) raised another =A3205. In total we have collected =A31500, with some more promises to pay yet to be harvested. All this money will be going out to our chosen good causes. The third and final stage of the auction, to sell the remaining art works, will take place at 2pm, on Saturday 14 March at Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX (two minutes from Kings Cross). ----- 6) Peace Movement Essays JNV researcher Milan Rai has recently written two essays about the British peace movement. They are available on his blog at ZCommunications: a) No Such Thing As A Radical Tactic (2,500 words) http://www.zmag.org/blog/view/2654 b) Growing A Radical Peace Movement (4,500 words) http://www.zmag.org/blog/view/2568 (To be able to comment on the essays actually on the ZCom website itself, you must be a ZSustainer donating at least $1 a month. You can view them for free, however!) ----- We hope you found this (long) email useful. JNV From info at j-n-v.org Sun Mar 8 07:56:08 2009 From: info at j-n-v.org (Justice Not Vengeance) Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 07:56:08 +0000 Subject: [JNV] Afghan women / Free Hicham! / Peace Prisoners / Anti-War Events Message-ID: 1) Afghan women mark International Women's Day 2) Free Hicham Yezza! 3) Other Peace Prisoners 4) Online Islamophobia course 5) Anti-war events March-April Dear friends We hope you find the listings below useful. Please do write to Hicham Yezza, and please do tell your friends in London about the JNV Gaza Art Auction next Saturday (2pm, Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX). Thank you Maya Evans, Emily Johns, Milan Rai JNV --- 1) Afghan women mark International Women's Day United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) =97 To mark International Women=92s Day, women across Afghanistan will come together for a Prayer for Peace with Justice. The gatherings will take place at 10am, 8 March throughout the country in Kandahar, Bamyan, Kabul, Herat, Mazar, Daikundi and Jalalabad. At the gatherings, the women will wear scarves whose blue colour matches that of the burka, the garment widely regarded as a symbol of women=92s oppression under the Taliban regime. "The women in Afghanistan deliberately chose this colour to call attention to the need to look beyond the burka toward a future where women's contribution to society is fully acknowledged," says Wenny Kusuma, UNIFEM country director in Afghanistan. "The situation for women in Afghanistan is very mixed. There are a lot of achievements to point to institutionally, such as the Constitution, which stipulates gender equality, but the situation on the ground is not matched by the progress on paper," she adds. =93In particular, we see with ever-growing concern a return to a public acceptance of violence against women that is not addressed with the legal means in existence." It is estimated that more than 87 percent of women in Afghanistan are subjected to domestic violence. UNIFEM is supporting the Prayer for Peace with Justice on 8 March that is expected to be the first gathering of this size and scope in Afghanistan. The idea for the prayer gathering was born last year, when a small group of women in Kandahar, one of the most volatile areas of Afghanistan, spread the word to friends and colleagues, expecting only a few women to show up. In the end, more than 1,500 women gathered in Kandahar on that day. "Afghan women are tired of being subject to egregious acts of violence, they are tired of watching their family and friends being killed, and they refuse to accept the pervasive political, cultural and economic violence that woman face on a daily basis, both at home and in their pursuit to participate in public life," says Rangina Hamidi, a women's rights and peace activist in Kandahar. > Also see the Feminist Peace Network http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/international-womens-day/ --- 2) Free Hicham Yezza! One of the founders of the Nottingham Student Peace Movement has been imprisoned as the result of a vindictive campaign by an embarrassed government. Last May, Nottingham University administrative worker and editor of the campus peace magazine Ceasefire Hicham Yezza was wrongfully arrested and detained for six days for handling an al-Qa'eda training manual - a publicly available document which had been downloaded from a US Justice Department website. He was printing it out for a colleague researching terrorism - something a tutor immediately testified to. After an international outcry, Hicham and his friend, student Rizwaan Sabir, were released, but the embarassed authorities immediately tried to pursue Hicham for unrelated immigration 'offences'. See this Guardian article for coverage of the initial incident: The case finally came to court in February, and on 12 February, after a surprisingly brief trial (the judge cut the presentation of complex evidence down to one day), Hicham came closer to being deported from Britain after a jury found him guilty of lying to immigration officials about the expiry of his visa =96 =93securing avoidance of enforcement action by deceptive means=94. Nottingham University peace activists believe the immigration charges are an attempt by the government to smear Hicham and distract attention from their initial blunders and repressive actions. It is clear that he failed to get a stamp from the authorities extending his stay in the UK; it is equally clear that, as his lawyer told the court: 'He did not in any way try to hide his identity and, if he had done things properly, he would have been granted in all likelihood the right to stay in this country.' See the Nottingham Evening Press (you can comment on the article): On 6 March, Hicham was sentenced to a completely disproportionate nine months in prison. He is understood to be preparing to appeal. a) Please donate to Hicham's legal fund. Sort Code: 400205 Account Number:81474715 IBAN number: gb44midl40020581474715 International Swift Code: midlgb2140c b) Please write to Hicham A cheerful, chatty, colourful postcard - without too much hero worship or commiseration - or a letter describing what you are doing for peace, with some stamps enclosed, are often the best. Hicham's current address: Hicham Yezza XP266 HMP Woodhill Tattenhoe Street Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire MK4 4DA --- 3) EDO Peace Prisoners Taken from this month's Peace News: The nine activists who decommissioned the EDO arms factory in Brighton in January, in protest against the supply of British arms to Israel and the assault on Gaza, are now facing the much vaguer charge of 'conspiracy to cause criminal damage' as well as the charge of criminal damage itself, following a court hearing on 16 February. The charge of burglary was dropped against all nine. Because of this change to a 'conspiracy' charge, the three activists who were arrested outside the factory, and who caused none of the damage, are more likely to be convicted. In addition to the change in charges, the claimed value of the property damaged has risen to =A3300,000, up =A350,000 from the initial estimate. Two of the protestors remain in jail: Robert Alford in Lewes Prison and Elijah Smith in Bristol. Robert applied for bail, but was turned down. Elijah refused to apply for bail until Alford was released. Though the two men were originally held in Lewes Prison together, Elijah Smith was moved to Bristol earlier this month for =93security reasons=94. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for 8 May. Donations welcome: The Decommissioners, PO Box 6, Booty, 82 Colston Street, Bristol. BS1 5BB. Please write to the prisoners: Elijah Smith VP7551, HMP Bristol, 19 Cambridge Road, Horfield, BS7 8PS Robert Alford VP7552, HMP Lewes, 1 Brighton Rd, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1E --- 4) Online Islamophobia Course Milan Rai, JNV researcher and author of 7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War, is running a 10-week online course with ZNet, the world's top radical website. Courses (there are several other excellent options) cost $100 for non-Sustainers; only $50 for Z Sustainers. ZSchool is at: http://moodle.zcommunications.org/ --- 5) Twelve Events (March-April) Network for Peace continues to provide an invaluable guide to peace movement events at: www.networkforpeace.org.uk Twelve events coming up are: Wednesday 11 March LONDON. "Emergency Lobby of Parliament for Palestine." Please make an appointment to lobby your MP now. This lobby has been organised at short notice to call for urgent action by the British government to address the horrific humanitarian crisis that has been forced upon the people of Gaza. You can request a meeting via the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website. 2-6pm, House of Commons, London (nearest tube Westminster). "Call on your MP to: End the blockade on Gaza; Suspend the EU-Israel Trade Agreement; Bring Israeli war criminals to justice; End the arms trade with Israel." Contact: Palestine Solidarity Campaign; 020 7700 6192; www.palestinecampaign.org Saturday 14 March ABERYSTWYTH. "Networking for a more just and peaceful world." Reimagining a peace and justice network in Wales. A Peace Institute for Wales? Annual Peace Festival. Putting a stop to St Athan. Climate Camp Cymru 2009. Canvassing public opinion... 2 - 6 pm, Morlan Centre, Queens Road, Aberystwyth. (Wheelchair accessible.) Contact James Maiden, 07825 991 557; info@cynefinywerin.org.uk LONDON. "Art Auction for Gaza." Organised by JNV and Peace News and hosted by Housmans Bookshop. Art donated by Hastings artists (see below for brief report). All proceeds to Medical Aid for Palestinians and the Free Gaza Movement. Auctioneer Milan Rai, JNV/Peace News. 2pm. Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX (2 minutes from Kings Cross). (Shop wheelchair accessible; no accessible toilet.) Contact: JNV, 0845 458 9571; 07980 748 555. Saturday 21 March BRISTOL. "Change in Progress." Join activists from eight campaigning organisations for a day of training and networking to make change happen! We are all engaged in trying to change the world we live in for the better. Take part in Change in Progress to: Learn skills and share ideas that will make your campaigning more effective. Choose from over 12 skills workshops including campaign planning, using the media and lobbying your MP. Share experiences with campaigners from a broad range of organizations. College Green Centre, City of Bristol College, St George's Road Bristol BS1 5UA. (Fully wheelchair accessible, please book a parking space if required.) The event is free to attend but spaces are limited, so book now at http://www.changeinprogress.org.uk/practical.html; or by emailing annemarie@caat.org.uk. Thursday 26 March BRIGHTON. 'Afghanistan'. With Jonathan Neale, a writer and long-standing anti-war activist who has lived in Afghanistan. Organised by Hands Off. 7.30pm. Brighthelm, North Road, Brighton BN1 1YD. Saturday 28 March LONDON. "Tell the G20 =96 'Put People First'." A march for - Jobs: decent jobs and public services. Justice: end global poverty and inequality. Climate: build a green economy. Organised by an alliance of unions, NGOs & campaigners. Assemble 11am Victoria Embankment. Rally Hyde Park 2 pm. Speakers & entertainment. www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk Wednesday 1 April LONDON. Anti-war/nuclear disarmament/Palestine solidarity march through central London on the eve of the G20, assemble central London, 2pm. Send a message to Barack Obama and other leaders of the world's most powerful nations at the G20 summit which starts on 2 April. It will be Barack Obama's first visit to Britain.Organised by the Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, The British Muslim Initiative and CND. Thursday 2 April LONDON. Anti-war/nuclear disarmament/Palestine solidarity protest at the ExCeL Centre London Docklands, assemble 11am. Send a message to Barack Obama and other leaders of the world's most powerful nations at the G20 summit which starts on 2 April. Organised by the Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, The British Muslim Initiative and CND. 1-5 April STRASBOURG. "No to war. No to NATO!" NATO's 60th birthday events: resistance camp, direct action, counter-conference, demonstration. (A) To take action, do trainings, or otherwise help with the Resistance Camp, please book a place in a vehicle (=A330, leaving the UK 31 March, returning 6 April): 0845 337 0282; mellcndeast@cnduk.org - seats probably gone, but worth checking (B) For coaches to the demonstration on 4 April (=A373, leaving London 9am, 3 April, returning 5 April), book with Stop The War Coalition, 0207 278 6694; or online: http://tinyurl.com/peacenews061 www.no-to-nato.org 3-5 April LANCASTER. "Exploring grassroots consensus." An in-depth skillshare on facilitation and consensus in small and large groups. For people with wide experience of facilitating consensus to explore and build their skills. Vegan food and floor space provided (bring sleeping mats & bags) and a limited number of proper beds =96 contact us if you need one. The venue is wheelchair accessible with an induction loop. The cost is =A330 per person inclusive (or pay what you can). Please apply by 15 March: 0845 3307 583; www.seedsforchange.org.uk Wednesday 22 April LONDON. "End the war in Afghanistan." With Peter Marsden, author of Afghanistan- Aid, Armies and Empires and The Taliban, Jonathan Steele of the Guardian and Gabriel Carlyle, Voices in the Wilderness UK. 7.30pm.Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Wheelchair accessible. Organised by JNV, Voices and the Northwood Die-in committee, 0845 458 2564; www.stopbombingafghanistan.org 24-25 April LONDON. "Peace History Conference". Organised by the Movement for the Abolition of War at the Imperial War Museum! Speakers include; Joseph J Fahey, Mahattan College, New York on civilian resistance to the war in Vietnam, Lyn Smith of the Imperial War Museum on Conscientious Objectors in action, and more. =A330/=A310 full-time students. Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1. Bookings: www.abolishwar.org.uk