Lewisham and Greenwich CND protesting against the arms fair

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On Thursday September 7th 2017, Lewisham and Greenwich CND protested at the DSEI arms fair. The theme of the day's blockade was 'Free Movement for People, not Weapons!'

DSEI is one of the world’s biggest arms fairs. For one week every two years, in East London, arms companies display their weapons to buyers from around the world, including countries in conflict, authoritarian regimes and countries with serious human rights problems.

The UK government helps to organise this arms fair, invites these military buyers from around the world, and helps arms companies to make deals, at taxpayer expense.

Bromley and Beckenham CND at the Arms Fair

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On Wednesday 6th September, Bromley and Beckenham CND participated with the #StopDSEI action at the London arms fair Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI).

Wednesday was the day of action against nuclear weapons systems and in support of renewables as a replacement.

"Several lorries were delayed during'lock downs' at the East and West entrances to Excel, and there were some arrests.

This was renewables invest day with several large wind turbines displayed as part of the demo." Ann Garrett of Bromley and Beckenham CND reports.

Korean Peninsula nuclear crisis: WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER

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The news that North Korea has tested a hydrogen bomb has thrown the situation on the Korean Peninsula deeper into crisis. London CND condemns this escalation by the DPRK. War is not the answer.

During August, as tensions on the Korean Peninsula mounted, EU leaders continued to call for diplomacy.

A statement, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini in mid-August said ‘the European Union supports diplomatic work with our partners aimed at the de-escalation of the situation and achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula through peaceful, not military, means.’

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also made a strong call for diplomacy. Germany would not ‘automatically’ join the United States in a potential war on North Korea, she said. ‘I do not agree that diplomacy won’t work. I do not agree that all diplomatic means have been exhausted.’

Peace organisations called for de-escalation during August. Peace Action USA and Abolition 2000 each launched a call for talks, as did the Japan Council Against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo). On 3 September, they condemned the DPKR’s hydrogen bomb test with the following statement:

We Condemn North Korea for Its Nuclear Test

September 3, 2017

Yasui Masakazu, Secretary General

Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo)

Today, North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) conducted its 6th nuclear test.  This is a serious challenge to the international community, threatening peace and security of the world and the region.  We firmly condemn this outrageous act, which blatantly tramples upon the aspiration of the people of the A-bombed Japan for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

The cycle of reciprocal provocations and threats by the U.S. and North Korea is heightening the real possibility of military conflict, creating a very dangerous situation.   

We urge North Korean government to immediately end all nuclear tests and missile launches.  At the same time, all parties concerned must stop any provocative acts, including military exercises, and clarify their stances to achieve a peaceful settlement of the problem.

Japanese government’s response as a neighbor of demanding that North Korea should stop nuclear tests and missile launches is not enough.  Japan must support the efforts of resolving the issue through negotiations based on the Constitution of Japan, the U.N. Charter and the resolutions of the Security Council and urge the U.S. and North Korea to hold a dialogue.

Coming September 20, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will be open for signatures, demonstrating that the major trend of the world is moving towards a total ban on nuclear weapons.  The effort to press for this direction is more necessary in this East Asian region than anywhere else.  We reiterate our call on North Korea, Japan and all other parties concerned to clearly shift their directions from the dependence on nuclear deterrence to the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons.   

Nagasaki Day August 9th

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by Ann Garrett, Secretary of Bromley and Beckenham CND

On a day when tensions between the US and North Korea were increasing, and nuclear arsenals were being flaunted by Donald Trump and Kim Yong-un, a small group of people from Bromley and Beckenham CND met with members of Lewisham and Greenwich CND and one person from the Sydenham and Forest Hill CND area, to mark Nagasaki Day.

They met in pouring rain in Chinbrook Meadows , Grove Park in a café ‘Snack in the Park’ near the Archbishop Tutu Peace Garden [ opened by him in 2007 ] to read poems and make statements opposing nuclear weapons.

After this they walked with peace banners to the River Quaggy nearby and threw white chrysanthemums into the flooding waters in memory of the 340,000 people who died as a result of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US in 1945 at the end of the Second World War. Japan had already wanted to surrender, but the US were determined to use the bomb to show its strength and dominate the post-war world.

Today over 17,000 nuclear weapons still threaten the survival of the world and Britain has 225 nuclear weapons and has voted to renew the Trident Missile system at an estimated cost of £205 billion.

The present UN Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has been ratified by 50 countries, but the US, France and Britain have stated that they don’t intend to sign it.

The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is illegal under international law, and yet today we are perilously close to this being breached.

This is why CND [ the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ] and other peace organisations are continually working for international and unilateral disarmament.

KOREAN PENINSULA: Nuclear crisis continues to escalate

South Koreans protest US anti-missile system

South Koreans protest US anti-missile system

The US-led war games on the Korean Peninsula are now at an end, but as the war of words between Trump and Kim Jong-un continues to escalate, London CND Chair Carol Turner considers whether the crisis is bringing us closer to nuclear war.

Annual war games on the Korean Peninsula are the biggest in the world. This year these military exercises, a simulation of nuclear war with North Korea, have helped bring the world one step closer to a real-life nuclear conflict. The 10-day long Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercises came to an end on 30 September, but the confrontation between US President Trump and North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un is still mounting.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been high throughout 2017, aggravated by missile tests in the North and the installation of a US anti-missile system in the South, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). Pressure grew at the end of July, when the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) successfully test-fired a long-range missile over the Sea of Japan. In response, the US conducted a live-fire missiles exercise with the Republic of Korea (ROK).

The present crisis came to the world’s attention on 9 August, Nagasaki Day commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city, after a tweet by Trump threatening North Korea with ‘fire and fury like the world has never seen’. 

The DPRK military upped the ante with a proposal to fire ballistic missile near the island of Guam, a US territory in Micronesia in the Western Pacific, and a strategic American air-base. But Kim Jong-un took a step back, announcing on 15 August that he intended to wait and see before approving this plan.

In the run up to US-ROK annual war games, this August has been punctuated by a war of words between the two leaders. More seriously perhaps, it has also witnessed a series of increasingly provocative actions on both sides.

The threat of open conflict on the Korean Peninsula is now a real and present danger. South Korea is host to the third-largest number of US troops overseas, after Japan and Germany, with 35,000 US military personnel stationed across 83 sites. North Korea has taken on the United States before and fought it to a stalemate with the help of China, in the Korean war of 1950-53. No peace treaty was ever signed between the US and DPRK; the 1954 armistice is still enforced with a demilitarised zone between the two Koreas.

The 10-day long Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercises began on 21 August, with military personnel from the UK participating, as well as Australia, Canada, Colombian, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. They were a simulation of nuclear war with North Korea, and are widely believed to have included ‘decapitation missions’ aimed at the assassination or capture of Kim Jong-un.

China and Russia proposed a de-escalation of the growing crisis: the DPRK should agree to halt missile tests in return for a moratorium on US-led war exercises. This was dismissed by the United States, and has been largely ignored by the West.

Responding to US pressure, the UN imposed more sanctions on the DPRK, banning imports of coal, minerals and sea food. China, often reluctant to support sanctions, this time announced it would implement them – a further measure of how seriously the threat should be taken.

As the military exercises were drawing to a close, on 29 August the DPRK launched a short range missile which flew over the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Trump responded with a White House statement that ‘all options are on the table’. This revives the implied threat of a pre-emptive attack that his ‘fire and fury’ tweet triggered.

The US and Japan called an emergency meeting of UN Security Council, demanding tough action against Pyongyang. Stronger UN sanctions are under discussion, and the US and North Korea have clashed at a UN Disarmament Forum meeting in Geneva.

Meanwhile, the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian concluded with US and ROK fighter jets flying close to the demilitarised zones between the two Koreas in 10-hours of simulated strikes against Pyongyang. Japan also took part in this manoeuvre, providing an escorting for US bombers out of Guam air-base. 

Less than 24 hours later, President Vladimir Putin of Russia was warning that large scale conflict was imminent, andhis Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described events as heading towards a war with large numbers of casualties.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reported to be considering seriously upping the military budget, with controversial calls from the Japanese military for the development of long range offensive missiles. This move would violate Article 9 of Japan’s post-war constitution, already under reconsideration, which provides for a self-defence force only for the protection of the country’s borders.

The end of Ulchi-Freedom Guardian is far from ending the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

UK refuses to ‘sign, ratify or ever become party to’ nuclear ban treaty

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In a joint statement with the US and France, Britain’s representatives to the UN declared that Britain had not taken part negotiation which led to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which opens for signature on 20 September. ‘We do not intend to sign, ratify or ever become party to it. Therefore, there will be no change in the legal obligations on our countries with respect to nuclear weapons.’ Read the full text of the joint statement given by the Permanent Representatives to the United Nations of the United States, United Kingdom, and France Following the Adoption of a Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons at New York City on July 7, 2017.

Afghanistan: only one solution

Responding to President Trump’s announcement that more US troops will be sent to Afghanistan, Stop the War convenor Lindsey Germany argues the only solution is to ‘recognise that this intervention is a major part of the problem and to get all the troops out’.

Read Lindsey German’s article here.

PeaceLine editor Jim Brann (4th right) and London CND chair Carol Turner (5th right) joined a Stop the War’s protest at Downing Street earlier this year.

PeaceLine editor Jim Brann (4th right) and London CND chair Carol Turner (5th right) joined a Stop the War’s protest at Downing Street earlier this year.

Stand up to Trump's nuclear war drive

So Donald Trump continues to get even more unpopular, if that were possible! CND is supporting a Stand up to Trump coalition protest outside the US Embassy this Saturday – can you join us?

The protest has been called in response to Trump's threats that he will unleash a nuclear war with North Korea. The US and South Korea are due to start inflammatory military exercises next week, which can only increase tensions. We’ll be calling for a de-escalation in hostilities from both sides: Britain should apply pressure on the US, as its ally, to pursue a political solution to the crisis.

Join the facebook event

We’re hoping as many of you as possible can join the CND bloc, which will be meeting at 11:30am at the Dwight Eisenhower statue (which is on the right-hand side if you are facing the embassy).