SOUTH SOMERSET PEACE GROUP NEWSLETTER, FEBRUARY 2012

TUESDAY 28TH FEBRUARY MEETING
We were hoping to hear Craig Murray, but he is now going to a conference on international diplomacy in Berlin, so we will hope he can visit later in the year.
The meeting will now be in the form of a discussion on "Nuclear Power Generation: Is It A Threat To Peace?", led by Nikki Clark of Stop New Nuclear, Stop Hinkley and a founder of South West against Nuclear http://southwestagainstnuclear.wordpress.com/ , and by  Robert Shearer for the Peace Group.

7.30pm in the Minster Rooms, Ilminster ; all welcome - entry £3, including tea/coffee

TUESDAY 27TH MARCH MEETING
Our speaker will be Bijan Omrani, who says, "I should like to speak on "Why Afghanistan tends to war" - why a country with so many advantages of geography and resources is so perennially ravaged by conflict. I will spend some time looking at the country's recent history."
see  http://www.bijanomrani.com/?p=about

TUESDAY APRIL 24TH MEETING
We are hoping to have a speaker from Freedom from Torture (formerly the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture)

JANUARY MEETING : "Arab Spring, British Shame"
Sharen Green from Campaign Against Arms Trade gave us a compelling presentation which covered :
- Cameron's recent 'democracy tour' to countries using British Arms
- the arms we supplied in 2008 for Libyan tanks, only to drop bombs on them last year
- the ' if we don't do it, someone else will' argument : but we don't traffic in cocaine or slaves...
- the 55,000 arms export jobs account for under 0.2% of the UK workforce, each attracts an annual subsidy of £9,000, and arms make up just 1.5% of total exports
- some 30% of Export Credit Guarantee Department funding goes on arms, as does about 50% of Government expenditure on research and development
- the arms trade kills people, encourages repression, takes money away from schools and hospitals etc. and increases developing countries' debt
- we say we do not sell to countries with poor human rights records, but Saudi Arabia is our largest customer

YEOVIL & WEST DORSET STOP THE WAR COALITION
This is the new name for our friends at the Yeovil & Sherborne Stop the War Coalition.
Following the success of their joint meeting with SSPG and the Sherborne Palestine Support Group in November, another such meeting is being planned for 7.30pm on Thursday 22nd March, at the Labour Club in Yeovil; the speaker will be Betty Hunter, Hon. President of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign

SHAKER AAMER (a permanent British resident, married to a British citizen)
from Reprieve at  http://www.reprieve.org.uk/cases/shakeraamer/
It is now ten years since Reprieve client Shaker Aamer was transferred to the US military prison in Guantánamo Bay, where he has  since been abused and held in punishing isolation but never charged  with any crime.  Shaker, a Londoner, arrived in Guantánamo Bay on the same day –  Valentine’s Day 2002 – that his youngest child was born, a child he has never met. He was cleared for release by the Bush Administration in 2007, and it has been publicly reported that he has also been cleared   by the Obama Administration.  He wishes to rejoin his British wife and four British children in the UK.

TRIDENT: NOWHERE TO GO
CND's new report, Trident: Nowhere To Go, coincides with developments towards a Scottish independence referendum and analyses why alternative locations to Faslane and Coulport in Scotland - the current home of the Trident nuclear weapon system - are simply not tenable.
With possible altenative locations including the 2012 Olympics sailing venue, National Trust land and densely populated residential areas, the conclusion is thatthere is simply nowhere for Trident to go.
Read: Trident: Nowhere To Go ( http://www.cnduk.org/images/stories/briefings/trident/trident-nowhereToGo.pdf )


NUCLEAR EDUCATION TRUST (NET)
One claim often made in favour of Trident is that it secures jobs at the Barrow shipyard (where the submarines are built) and sustains an important part of Britain’s manufacturing base. NET would like to commission an independent inquiry into economic alternatives for Barrow, including possible options in sustainable technology. CND is strongly behind this plan; senior trade unionists have described the inquiry as ‘just what’s
needed’ and Jeremy Corbyn MP thinks it could be ‘the Lucas Aerospace plan for the 21st century’ (the ‘Lucas Plan’ was developed by employees of weapons manufacturer Lucas Aerospace suggesting ways in which its output could be switched to socially useful products). The total cost of the project is £24,000, of which NET has raised only £8,000, including contributions from CND. The rest needs to be raised very quickly if the inquiry is to be published in
September, when it will have the maximum possible impact. There is more information about the project on NET's website (www.nucleareducationtrust.org/barrow) and you can make a donation here : http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/netbarrow-report. Online donations are taken through the Charity Giving website, which is operated by the Dove Trust who collect the donations and pass them on to NET.If you would prefer to send a cheque please make it out to the Nuclear Education Trust and send it to NET, 162 Holloway Road, London N7 8DQ.

HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL
SSPG supports Handicap International www.handicap-international.org.uk as our way of demonstrating our commitment against the use of landmines. HI is a co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and in the UK they run the Ban Cluster Bombs Campaign. You can donate to them at our meetings, or via their website, and at www.higiftshop.org.uk you can buy virtual gifts : clear an area of landmines from £5, buy a demining kit for £35... Martin Shirley has more information, and can give a fund-raising talk to any interested  local group.  

FOR YOUR DIARY
Saturday 25 February Peace Vigil Crewkerne in front of Victoria Hall 11-12
Tuesday  28 February Public Meeting Minster Rooms  Ilminster 7.30
Saturday 24 March Peace Vigil South  Petherton Blake Hall 11-12
Tuesday 27 March Public Meeting Minster Rooms Ilminster 7.30
Saturday 21 April Peace Vigil Chard Holyrood Street 11-12
Tuesday 24 April Public Meeting Minster Rooms Ilminster 7.30
Saturday 19 May Peace Vigil Crewkerne in front of Victoria Hall 11-12
Tuesday  22 May Public Meeting Minster Rooms Ilminster 7.30
Saturday 23 June Peace Vigil South  Petherton Blake Hall 11-12
Tuesday 26 June Public Meeting Minster Rooms Ilminster 7.30

The South Somerset Peace Group is affiliated to :
CND  www.cnduk.org
Campaign Against Arms Trade  www.caat.org.uk 
National Guantanamo Coalition  www.guantanamo.org.uk 
Palestine Solidarity Campaign  www.palestinecampaign.org 

With love and thanks, for the South Somerset Peace Group :       18.2.12
Mike Wigmore 53165 Martin Shirley 62608 Kate Vanovitch 242037  Tricia Goddard 30228
Janet Brown 66462 Robert Shearer 30306 David Grace 67368 (all 01460 numbers) 
Please contact any of us if you can help with the core group which keeps the Peace Group running.
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www.southsomersetpeace.infoaction.org.uk