MAYDAY EVENTS IN CHESTERFIELD

   “Promoting PEACE” at   CHESTERFIELD MAYDAY GALA

SUNDAY 6 MAY

7.30 pm at the Winding Wheel, Chesterfield

Tickets: £10/ £8 unwaged

Chesterfield Stop the War

Concert for Peace

with
ROY BAILEY, Martin Sumpton, Steve White and the Protest Family

including

PEACE AND PROTEST

 A slide show of photographs recording

the history of PEACE ACTIVISM in CHESTERFIELD from 1930-2012

MONDAY 7 MAY ALL DAY

 from 10am in the Winding Wheel

An exhibition of ANTIWAR ART by CHRIS HOLDEN

Chris Holden is a peace activist, creating political art full time since 2003:
his works deal mainly with conflict, peace, poverty and the environment –
“issues that cannot be ignored if we are concerned about the future of the world”
Some of his posters & prints will be for sale.

PEACE AND PROTEST

A slide show of photographs recording the history of

PEACE ACTIVISM in CHESTERFIELD from 1930 – 2012

Also music from

  Nottingham Clarion Choir, Brampton Community Band,

                                 ICHABOD, BOOMERANG GENERATION and KWORYL                                                  

 Hope Flower’s Children’s Art Exhibition , 30th april-13th May 

The Parish Church of St Mary and All Saints, Chesterfield 

Display of paintings envisioning hopes for the future by the children of HOPE FLOWERS SCHOOL, Bethlehem.

The Hope Flowers School has become a unique example of education forPEACE and DEMOCRACY

 and is cited as a ‘hope for peace’ in this region of great conflict. 

The exhibition includes original pictures by the children, photographs and information on the school’s unique educational programmes.

PUBLIC MEETING

 Chesterfield Library Tuesday 27th March 2012 7.15pm

 SPEAKER JOE CLARK

IRAN THE NEXT IRAQ ?

What is needed for peace in the Middle East.

Come along to this important meeting and join the discussion

Threatened by Iran...Really ?

How Iran is threatening the United States, Britain, Israel and world peace

The world seems to be moving towards the third major war in the Middle East region within ten years, this time in Iran. This fact sheet reveals how much of a threat Iran is to world peace.

·         FACT: Iran does not possess a nuclear weapon.

·         FACT: Iran has the right, according to international law, to develop nuclear energy for civilian use.

·         FACT: Iran’s nuclear energy program is regularly monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

·         FACT: Iran has never started a war.

·         FACT: The United States possesses 10,600 nuclear warheads in its stockpile, 7,982 of which are deployed and 2,700 of which are in a contingency stockpile. The total number of nuclear warheads that have been built from 1951 to present is 67,500.

·         FACT: The United States is the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons. It did so when it incinerated hundreds of thousands of Japanese people living in the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Neither city had any military significance.

·         FACT: The United States has spent $7 trillion on nuclear weapons. The U.S. military budget for 2012 alone is about equal to Iran’s entire Gross National Product.

·         FACT: Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid (about $3 billion in 2011), unlike Iran, possesses hundreds of nuclear weapons.

·         FACT: Israel, unlike Iran, refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into Israel to monitor its nuclear program.

·         FACT: There is active discussion in the Israeli media about whether Israel will carry out military strikes against Iran’s nuclear energy facilities. Israel bombed similar nuclear civilian energy facilities in Iraq in 1981 (“Operation Babylon”) and in Syria in 2007 (“Operation Orchard”).

·         FACT: The United States and Britain used severe economic sanctions and CIA covert operatives to overthrow the democratically elected government of Iran led by Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. The Iranian government under Mosaddegh  had nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), which became known as British Petroleum (BP), in a campaign to use oil profits to eradicate widespread poverty within Iran. The successful CIA and British Intelligence coup d’état put the Shah of Iran (King) back in power. The Shah’s dictatorship denationalized Iranian oil and returned it to the ownership of British and U.S. oil companies. The Shah executed and tortured thousands during his 26-year bloody reign, which ended in the 1979 revolution that created the Islamic Republic of Iran.

·         FACT: The United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran and has pursued a policy of economic sanctions against the country since the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Shah (King).

·         FACT: Iran’s oil reserves are the fourth largest in the world—it has 12.7%t of the world’s known oil reserves. That makes Iran’s oil reserves second only to Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, greater than those of Iraq.

·         FACT: The new economic sanctions against Iran include a ban on the import, sale and trade of Iranian oil, which constitutes half of Iran’s Gross National Product. It forbids any company in the world that does any business with Iran or its Central Bank from having any trade or economic transaction with a U.S. bank or corporation.

·         FACT: The economic sanctions are an effort to create economic suffering in Iran and to deprive the country of the goods and services to sustain life. According to international law, these economic sanctions constitute a blockade or an act of war against Iran even though Iran poses no threat to the people of the United States or Europe.

Fact Sheet Source: www.answercoalition.org

10 Reasons: why we should say no to an attack on Iran

1  NO THREAT

Iran has not attacked any country in more than 200 years. Its military

spending per capita is among the lowest in the region. The regime

has allowed inspections and agreed to negotiate with the West on

all issues. Current Western rhetoric recalls the Iraq war, when a

threat was fabricated to justify an attack.

2  DOUBLE STANDARDS

Many of the West's allies, including Israel, have nuclear weapons.

There is no evidence that Iran is developing them, as last year's

IAEA report made clear. Iran, unlike Israel and Pakistan, is a

signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, under which

it has the right to develop civilian nuclear power.

3  SANCTIONS LEAD TO WAR

As the recent military standoff has shown, sanctions are increasing

tension and distrust. They will strengthen the hawks in Iran. In Iraq,

sanctions resulted in a genocidal level of civilian casualties and

brought nothing but death and suffering to the Iraqi people.

Sanctions were not a stepping stone to peace, but to war.

4  CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES

Any attack on Iran will lead to thousands of casualties and provoke

retaliation with devastating effects across the region. Sanctions

and war will drive up the cost of oil, creating further havoc to a

world economy already in crisis.

5  LESSONS FROM THE PAST

If the attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya teach anything, it is that

military intervention brings death, division and misery. 30,000 died in

Libya, tens of thousands in Afghanistan, and a million in Iraq.

Violence continues in all three countries.

6  WAR = CUTS IN WELFARE

Barack Obama recently committed to military expenditure above the

levels of George W. Bush's administration. Britain spent hundreds of

millions bombing Libya and is spending £6 billion a year on the war

in Afghanistan. An attack on Iran could have far greater financial

implications, leading the government to threaten yet more cuts in

welfare and public services.

7  DEMOCRACY

Recent wars have been deeply unpopular at home and have

created a democratic deficit. Plans have been laid in Washington

and Whitehall for an attack on Iran, with neither elected politicians

in parliament nor the electorate, being consulted.

8  SECURITY

The War on Terror has made the world a more volatile and

dangerous place. An attack on Iran can only increase bitterness

against the Western powers.

9  CIVIL LIBERTIES

The campaign against Iran will lead to further demonisation of

Britain’s Muslim community and more curbs on our freedom,

dressed up as 'anti terror measures'.

10  WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

The main restraining factor on the war makers is mobilised public

opinion. Even George W. Bush opposed Israel attacking Iran while

in office, because he felt Americans were against it. The voice of the

anti-war majority in Britain must be turned into a mass movement

that forces our political leaders to end their policy of endless war.

IRAN THE NEXT IRAQ?

PUBLIC MEETING

 Chesterfield Library Tuesday 27th March 2012 7.15pm

 SPEAKER JOE CLARK

IRAN THE NEXT IRAQ ?

What is needed for peace in the Middle East.

Come along to this important meeting and join the discussion

LONDON PROTEST AGAINST AN ATTACK ON IRAN .

LONDON PROTEST AGAINST AN ATTACK ON IRAN AND SYRIA :

Saturday 28th January 2012 2pm
The first major protest against an attack on Iran and Syria is scheduled for
next Saturday, January 28, outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London.
The prospect of a new war in the Middle East is growing. As well as tightening
sanctions, covert operations, assassinations and cyber attacks on Iran there is
clear evidence of hostile US troop movements in to the region. The right in 
the US is pushing hard for intervention and these kind of provocations could
spark war at any time. Meanwhile calls for intervention in Syria are getting
louder and, as Jonathan Steele reported in the Guardian this week, there is a
NATO backed military build up on Syria's borders too.

We need to start mobilising the anti-war majority now to swing the argument
away from war. We are asking our supporters to do everything possible to
publicise this protest and organise other protests and meetings locally.

Invite friends on Facebook - http://on.fb.me/yR9Q3i
Tweet to spread the word - http://twitter.com/#!/STWuk

DON'T MISS THE FIRST EVENT OF THE YEAR!

DON'T MISS THE FIRST EVENT OF THE YEAR !

  Chesterfield Stop the War / CND Present 

John Pilger’s Film 

The War You Don’t See

A Powerful and timely investigation into the 

media’s role in war.

TUES 24th JANUARY 

Doors open 6.45pm 

at St Mary and All Saints 

Parish Centre,

Crooked Spire 

Church Way Chesterfield 

(Above the Saints Coffee shop)

Refreshments and discussion to follow

LONDON PROTEST AGAINST AN ATTACK ON IRAN AND SYRIA :

Saturday 28th January 2012 2pm

OPERATION CAST LEAD = THE GAZA MASSACRE
Three years ago today Israel launched 'Operation Cast Lead' -

Besides vast destruction and mass population displacement, 313 children were killed among the 1414 who died over a 23-day period. Of the 5300 injured (many seriously), 1606 were children. In all cases, the vast majority were noncombatants.

Of the children killed:

-- most were at home or nearby;

-- around one-third were girls and the rest boys;

-- almost 15% were under age 5 and another one-fourth between 5 and 10;

-- the remainder were between 11 and 17;

-- the "overwhelming majority" were killed in densely populated residential areas;

-- 46% were killed in northern Gaza;

-- 38% in Gaza City;

-- 9% in Khan Yunis and Rafah and 7% in less densely populated areas.

Israel used conventional and illegal weapons. The former included missiles, artillery and tank shells, mortars, and automatic weapons.

Others included:
-- white phosphorous that burns flesh to the bone and can be fatal; it's use is prohibited in civilian areas;
-- flechettes that are 4cm long darts used as anti-personnel weapons; they penetrate to the bone and can cause multiple horrific injuries; up to 8000 of them can be packed into one artillery shell; on explosion, they travel at high speed in multiple directions up to around 300 meters; and
-- various other internationally prohibited weapons that PCHR investigations uncovered and condemned.
Its case studies show a consistent failure of Israeli forces to protect civilian lives, especially those of children. They document indiscriminate attacks against densely populated neighborhoods in grave violation of international laws.
To safeguard civilians and non-military areas and structures, IHL requires that precautions be taken in any attack, and civilian protection is paramount. Israel pays no heed and attacks indiscriminately in grave violation of the law

REMEMBER GAZA

WE WANT THE TROOPS OUT NOW !

Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed the death of another British soldier injured in Afghanistan bringing the British death toll in Afghanistan to 393.

Earlier this week, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans for a scheduled Afghan withdrawal with 500 troops planned to be pulled out in 2012 and more in 2013. 
Nevertheless, Cameron did not give an exact timescale for the British troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan while claiming that all soldiers should be out by 2014. 

The US-led Afghan war began in 2001. While there is no official figure revealing the number of civilian deaths, different reports tried to estimate the civilian death toll over different spans of time. 

A United Nations (UN) report revealed that nearly 3,000 civilians were killed in 2010. Furthermore, another UN report showed that only the first half of 2011, “1,462 non-combatants died.” 

REMEMBER GAZA !

PROTEST:

 OUTSIDE THE ISRAELI EMBASSY 

27TH DECEMBER 2011

1PM-3PM

BOYCOTT ISRAEL

BOYCOTT ISRAEL

There is an International campaign to BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS.
WHY?
Because Israel continues to break International Human Rights Law and ignores United Nations Conventions. These include serious breeches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Governments around the world have failed to call Israel to account for their illegal occupation of Palestinian land, the continued siege of  Gaza and Israel's apartheid system, and therefore Civil society must act and support Palestinians in their struggle for  PEACE and JUSTICE .
Palestinians are denied basic rights in their own land. They have now endured decades of suffering under military occupation.
A boycott of Israeli goods will send a message to the Palestinian people that they are not alone.
HOW?
THINK BEFORE YOU BUY !!!!! By purchasing goods from Israel you are helping to finance a brutal, illegal occupation !
Israel 
*grows produce on land stolen from Palestinians
*destroys Palestinian lives, livelihoods and homes on a daily basis
*refuses to stop building illegal colonies and the 'apartheid' wall on stolen land
*continues to control Gaza and occupy the West Bank
*denies refugees their right to return
*operates an apartheid racist system
CHECK THE LABELS ON  FOOD /GOODS... IF IT'S FROM ISRAEL or the WEST BANK... DON'T BUY IT !!!!
By being an ethical consumer you can help create justice and peace for the Palestinian people.
Call on our government to back sanctions on Israel now !
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR:
Many companies have connections with or source produce from Israel -some of the well known one's are:
JAFFA (oranges,grapefruit,lemons)
ELITE(halva,sweets,coffee)
OSEM(snacks,soups,nuts)
YARDEN(wine)
DELTA GALIL(clothing supplied to M&S, GAP)
TIVALI(health foods)
AHAVA(dead sea beauty products)
CARMEL(avocados,dates,wine)
NESTLE (chocolates,coffee)
JOHNSON&JOHNSON, L'OREAL, BODY SHOP
Many other herbs, flowers .fruits and vegetables are imported from Israel... SO CHECK THOSE LABELS BEFORE YOU BUY !
BARCODE 729 is always an Israeli product!!
SUPPORT PALESTINIAN PRODUCERS:
Fairtrade, Oxfam, Yaffa products and some local PSC groups stock and supply Palestinian produce.
Ask your local shops to source goods that support Palestinian farmers.
JOIN YOUR LOCAL PALESTINE SUPPORT GROUP AND HELP CAMPAIGN FOR JUSTICE!