Stop Israel's War On Gaza Vigil

On Saturday 24th November, following Bath Stop War Coalition's weekly vigil outside Bath Abbey, a demonstration calling for an end to Israel's war on Gaza took place. Although a ceasefire had been called by the time of the demonstration, reports were already coming in of Israel breaking the terms of the ceasefire, which many saw as a temporary measure in any case, and it was decided that the demonstration would go ahead.

Despite heavy rain, over 20 people turned out for the demonstration, including people from Bath Stop War Coalition, Occupy Bath, Bath Socialist Worker Party, BARF, South West Food Not Bombs and other members of the public, including film director Ken Loach, who has long opposed Israel's aggression towards Palestinians.

Many people I spoke to were very clear that they do not support Hamas, but were there in support of the Palestinians and were against the attacks and oppression they have being living under for generations. This was not a demonstration against Israeli civilians by any means, but against the actions taken by the Israeli government and military.

Local campaigner Simon Jilley commented: "Although things haven't broken out into something full-scale, they also hadn't for many years in the past. This is the way that this conflict has been working though - it is completely built upon creating fear amongst the people of this region. Not only have millions of people been displaced in some way over the last century in this region, but they are also given a bloody scary life to hang onto. How would you feel if you and your family were forced out of your house, and chucked in a ghetto area where you become watched over at all times, and occasionally bombed? This demonstration, for me, is not just about what has been happening in Gaza over the last few weeks. It is so, incredibly, much more than that. For me, it is to demonstrate about the whole messed up situation in that region. It is give my voice to the change that I see in the world, with the hope that, somehow, my voice will spark beautiful things."

Further Reading:

Bath Chronicle article on the demo: http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Protest-highlights-problems-Gaza/story-17458984-detail/story.html

Noam Chomsky: How to stop Israeli crimes and bring peace to Gaza: http://stopwar.org.uk/index.php/palestine-and-israel/2099-noam-chomsky-how-to-stop-israeli-war-crimes-and-bring-peace-to-gaza

 This short film, where Israelis are asked to role-play as Palestinians, is very moving http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxXPGvuJjSY

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Bath Drones Conference - Opposition Meeting this Saturday

The opposition to the drones conference at the Assembly Rooms in June is growing, with Bath Stop War Coalition's petition increasing in signatures via the internet and on paper by the day and letters most weeks in the Bath Chronicle. Now, Bath Stop the Drones have issued the following information relating to a meeting this Saturday 2nd June to plan action for the event. Please spread this far and wide throughout Bath and the rest of the UK.

RESIST THE DRONES FAIR - NO DRONES IN BATH - ORGANISING MEETING - SATURDAY 2nd JUNE 

Manvers street Baptist church (1 minute walk from Bath Spa train station) – 11AM-4.00PM

As you may have seen, a large military fair - focussing on military and surveillance drones - is being held in Bath between the 25th and 28th of June. We intend to resist them, and want to bring together the biggest coalition of groups and individuals to educate, agitate, organise and make sure the death dealers' stay in Bath isn't a pleasant one!

As we speak, groups and individuals in Bath, including the local Stop the War Coalition are doing sterling work petitioning the council to scrap the conference (as it is being held in council-owned buildings). We hope that this tactic will encourage the council to see sense, but in case the fair does go ahead, we need to start organising ASAP to build the biggest and most effective response.

In an effort to make sure that resisting the drone conference is a process that includes as many different voices, groups and perspectives as possible, we are holding a planning day, where all groups and individuals opposed to the conference can kick-start the process of organising resistance/events. We would love it if you, and as many of your mates/representatives from your group as possible could make it along.

As you will probably know, drones are unmanned aerial weapons which have been indiscriminately terrorising, killing and maiming hundereds of civilians in countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The structure of the day is completely open, so if you have any amendments or suggestions, please drop us an email at bathstopthedrones@gmail.com. At this point, we imagine the day will break down a bit like this -

MORNING SESSION – 11-12.30

*Introduction to the conference - who are the baddies/where and when will they be meeting?

*Feedback on progress so far - finding out the progress of petitions to the council etc

*Feedback from anti-drone conference protests in Bristol - what worked, what didn't?

*Events - coming up with ideas for protests/events and a timetable

*Any other ideas/ things that need to be discussed or have not been covered

*'To do list'

*people form working groups to complete tasks on the to do list

LUNCH - 12.30 - 1.15

AFTERNOON SESSION - 1.15 - 3.45

*Split into working groups

*Feedback from working groups and discussion of next steps

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Bath Drones Conference

Bath Stop War Coalition are leading a campaign to stop the forthcoming drones conference in Bath in June, and have asked for the following message to be spread as widely as possible. If you don't want this conference to go ahead, please sign the petition:

http://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=9&RPID=5224890&HPID=5224890&$LO$=1

Stay tuned for updates on this campaign.

JOIN BATH DRONES PROTEST

Groups in Bath led by Bath Stop War Coalition are mobilising to stop the conference and exhibition booked for June 25 – 28 in Bath’s historic Assembly Rooms to promote and market drones – unmanned aerial vehicles. Although the event is billed as covering the military and civilian use of drones, a visit to the organisers’ website will soon convince you of its overriding military purpose.  In recent years there has been a huge increase in the military use of drones in state surveillance and bombing in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East and North Africa; they are widely implicated in terrible civilian casualties and in extra-judicial killings (executions).  

Specialist conferences for drones procurement represent rich opportunities to profit from suffering – we don’t think there should be such a conference here.

The Assembly Rooms are owned by the National Trust, which has no legal say in their use, since they are under long-term lease to the Heritage department of Bath & North East Somerset Council. Our current aim is to mobilise to convince the Council to cancel the letting. We also want to persuade the National Trust to play its part by requesting the Council to re-think this particular commercial transaction, which is unethical and liable to bring the NT’s name into disrepute.

We ask B&NES residents to write to their councillors and to sign the on-line petition here to convince them that the event will be seen as an outrage by its electorate, making them complicit in encouraging this sinister new direction for the arms race and arms trade. (You can also sign the paper petition at the regular Bath Stop War weekly peace vigil outside Bath Abbey, 11.30 to 12.30 every Saturday).

The petition calls on the Council to hold a public debate on the matter. If we get 1000 signatures on the petition, a public debate will be granted automatically.

Our first and most urgent request is for support in these and other moves to stop this ugly event from going ahead. We think that with enough publicity it is possible to get it cancelled, especially if we can make it a national issue and give it all the publicity and notoriety it deserves. Please pass this email on!

If … in spite of all our persuasive powers this event goes ahead, we hope that the protests will be so loud and so eloquent that all Local Authorities and owners of buildings get the message for the future: such events are an affront to human decency and will inevitably excite such levels of protest that they become unviable

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