Swindon Stop the War Coalition

Swindon Stop the War Coalition was formed in late 2001 by a group of people who were concerned about the warlike noises coming out of the White House after 11th September. We are a wide-ranging group, including muslims, christians, atheists, buddhists, trade unionists, greens, socialists, lib dems, animal welfare campaigners and assorted peace activists with no other political or religious ties.

Read more here, including past achievements, list of officers, resolutions, meeting minutes and groups which have made financial contributions.

The war in Iraq is not over ~ We are opposed to the racist back-lash in the UK ~ Iraq is under military occupation ~ Where are the weapons of mass destruction?

Join our on-line community to receive announcements, press releases, details of events and more by e-mail, and to share any interesting information you have with Swindon Stop the War Coalition.

Over 20,000 demonstrators showed their support for the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in a march and rally held in London on 9 June, 2007, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War and the ongoing military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. The rally, which took place in Trafalgar Square, was organised by Enough!, a coalition of over 50 charities, trade unions, faith and other campaign groups.

BAE, Europe's biggest arms company, claims there is 'no evidence' that it has engaged in massive corruption to sell arms overseas. David Leigh and Rob Evans have published the evidence and documents gathered round the world in support of those allegations. Readers can judge for themselves.

Hometown Baghdad was shot by an all-Iraqi crew and tells the stories of three young people trying to survive in Baghdad.

Please rate and comment on the videos. And please subscribe to our channel. Our brave Iraqi cast and crew risked their lives to make this series. So please help us make sure the world listens by helping us spread the videos. Embed them to your site, email them around, favorite them.

We estimate that as of July, 2006, there have been 654 965 (392 979–942 636) excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the war, which corresponds to 2·5% of the population in the study area. Of post-invasion deaths, 601 027 (426 369–793 663) were due to violence, the most common cause being gunfire.

A slideshow of photos taken at the Stop the War demonstration in London on 24th February 2007. See also videos of the speeches on YouTube .

Called by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in conjunction with Stop the War Coalition and the British Muslim Initiative, tens of thousands marched in London on 24 February, 2007, to protest against the Trident and against the imperial wars in the Middle East, including Iraq and the looming one on Iran. People were there to express their opposition to militarism, the 'war on terror' and demand justice for Palestine. Scotland for Peace's "Bin the Bomb Roadshow" also ran between 16 and 24 February, culminating in a march and rally on 24 February in Glasgow.

An interactive map from the BBC, using data from the Iraq Body Count web site to plot the locations by months of violent deaths in Baghdad since 2003.

The 4th Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi) to be held at the ExCeL Centre in London's Docklands was the focus of a concerted campaign in response to the callout for a Week of Action".

Some actions took place in advance of the opening, with Army recruitment adverts subvertised in Oxford, and a lock-on and weapons inspection at MSI in Norwich by Norfolk Campaign Against the Arms Trade. Actions on the previous day included a picket of a defence conference in Central London, and an action at AWE Aldermaston.

On the opening day, Tuesday 11th September, the security cordon around DSEi, was breached shortly after 7.30am , when a group of about 20 activists ran into the car park. Later a solidarity blockade of BAE took place in Manchester. About 80 people joined a CAAT march and rally, and about 50 cyclists arrived at Custom House DLR station from a critical mass style ride that left Bank tube station mid-morning. Two people were arrested after 'rivers of blood' were poured onto the ramparts of the Arms Fair venue.

Space Hijackers managed to get a tank and sound system to the main entrance of ExCeL, after diverting the police with a decoy tank. They auctioned off the tank and invited the 200 strong crowd to a party against the arms fair to let the fair's delegates know what they think about their murderous business.

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) is a major piece of legislation, which established the Serious Organised Crime Agency, an FBI-like agency to tackle "serious organised crime", as it says on the box.

People-trafficking, drug wholesaling, violent armed robbery, torture, extortion and murder, is the kind of thing that might spring to mind. The bill, however, was used as an opportunity to deal with issues that might not be considered so serious. It introduced us to ASBOs, for example; outlawed animal activists' "interference with contractual arrangements" and, most pertinently, the right to protest in designated areas without prior permission.

Below is a comprehensive 'diary', put together by IMC UK activists, of events related to SOCPA since it came into force on 1 August, 2005. See also the SOCPA topic page for full coverage.

Palestine Fair Trade Association (PFTA) is a national Palestinian union of farming and producing cooperatives, traders, and processors based in Jenin that promotes and supports fair and equitable trading principles. These principles are developed locally by PFTA and are compatible with international fair trade principles and in sync with Palestinian traditions. Furthermore PFTA is active in promoting fairly produced Palestinian products in international fair trade markets in Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan.

Originally shown on More4 on 20th November 2006, this documentary investigates the growing culture of mass surveillance via CCTV, Automated Number Plate Recognition, the National Identity Register, Oyster cards, RFID chips and the like. It examines the tendency towards function creep in these systems, and exposes the lack of security around the information the state gathers about us.

On Jan 26th 2006 Swindon Borough Council adopted a motion to reject the use of ID Cards for access to local services.

At the time, members of the NO2ID campaign, along with many other concerned individuals and groups, applauded Swindon Council for not supporting the controversial Identity Cards legislation.

The legislation subsequently passed into law on the 30th March 2006 as: The Identity Cards Act 2006. Both Swindon MP's voted loyally with the Government.

The campaign against Identity Cards and the National Identity Register continues as resolutely as ever, and with the Local Elections being held on the 3rd of May 2007, interest in candidates views on the subject is high.

The NO2ID (Swindon) organisation have delivered a questionaire with a stamped and addressed return envelope to all 93 candidates standing for election.

The candidates replies, where supplied by the candidate, might give some indication how those views might dictate their official actions, or attitudes, within Swindon Council, if elected.

The candidates replies will be scanned, converted to pdf (portable document files - readable with Adobe Acrobat Reader), and accurately reproduced within the 'Swindon Council 2007 Elections' forum, and also within the NO2ID forum here

Amnesty International deplores acts of terrorism and acknowledges the right of governments to protect their citizens when they face such hostile challenges and threats. We all value our safety and that of our loved ones after all.

For too long the 'war on terror' has been used to justify acts of torture, 'rendition', discrimination and unlawful detention. Amnesty acknowledges that the perpetrators of terrorism must be brought to justice but believes this should be achieved without eroding the very values we are fighting to defend.

Governments, including the UK's, have manipulated public fears, exploiting them to excuse actions that under normal circumstances would never be thought of as acceptable.

Actions that include the rendition and detention of terror suspects without adequate legal representation or fair trial in prisons like Guantanamo Bay. Prisons where guards are ordered to use torture to break the will of detainees in order to obtain information.

The rule of international law and the protection offered by fundamental human rights mechanisms is being seriously violated. Governments assume you support such actions in the ‘war on terror’ but the truth is you’ve never been given a choice.

Until now.

This is your chance to voice your concern and join a movement of people who feel the same way. A movement that believes everybody deserves basic human rights no matter what their beliefs or what they are alleged to have done. A movement that feels accepting such immoral, illegal, even barbaric actions, undermines the society they live and believe in.

Zaytoun is an ethical business established to support marginalized farming communities in Palestine. Palestine is the home of the olive tree, supporting over half the population & dominating the agricultural landscape. Zaytoun finds a market place for Palestinian produce in the UK. As a non-profit company Zaytoun's primary objectives lie with the welfare of the producing communities. They invest in empowering farming communities and developing the agricultural infrastructure in Palestine.

To buy Zaytoun olive oil in Swindon, call Jo on 07760 294 272.

The first drafts of history are fragmentary. Important revelations arrive late, and out of order. In this timeline, we’ve assembled the history of the Iraq War to create a resource we hope will help resolve open questions of the Bush era. What did our leaders know and when did they know it? And, perhaps just as important, what red flags did we miss, and how could we have missed them? This is the first installment in our Iraq War timeline project.

Discussion forum for people in and around Swindon. Quoting the introductory message:

"The TalkSwindon forum is provided as a meeting place where enquiring Swindonians can discuss pretty much whatever they like. At present there is a fair bit of discussion centering on Swindons two Labour MP’s, and their Parliamentary performance. Or lack of it. Don’t be put off by political debating or members having a good moan at the council/traffic wardens/speed cameras etc…. all of those topics, and more, will live down at the other end of the forum, in ‘Speakers Corner’. All the lighter, general interest topics and chat will be up at this end of the forum, the shallow end, and the heavier topics will remain in the deep end……lifeguards will be on duty to rescue those who flounder there. The forums scope of interest will expand as its membership grows, so if you feel there is a need, or demand for a particular forum, e.g a ‘Pets Corner’, or ‘My Car Won’t Start’,.....then please, by all means suggest it!"

The BBC are maintaining a list of the UK soldiers killed in Iraq to date.

This project aims to ship recycled computers from Bristol to small towns in Palestine. There they will be used for education, youth work, and for general use by all sections of the community. Digital cameras, and laptop computers and other IT equipment are also needed. But most of all money to pay for shipping costs, transport in Palestine, for repairs, software and consumables.

Local peace groups from Bristol, Swindon, Oxford and Faringdon worked together to organise a march past RAF Brize Norton, at which the dead of the Iraq war were named, and flowers were laid in remembrance. A rally was held in the village of Carterton near the base, with speakers from Stop the War Coalition, CND, the Green Party, Labour Party, Scottish Socialist Party, At Ease and a veteran of the first Gulf war.

The event was covered by the Swindon Advertiser , the Oxford Mail and the Observer . There are some photos, audio and a 15-minute film on UK Indymedia , some more photos on Bristol Indymedia , a report and photos on the Socialist Unity blog and Colin Fox MSP's speech on his blog .

"By its own admission the UK government has made no effort to count how many Iraqis have died or been injured since the 2003 US/UK invasion. Independent estimates, published by Iraq Body Count and The Lancet, suggest tens of thousands of Iraqi have died as a result of the ongoing conflict. The government rejects this research but refuses to provide any assessment of its own. The failure to count the casualties prevents us from knowing if civilians are being protected. It impedes the care and rehabilitation of the injured. It inflames perceptions in the region that the US and UK governments care little for Iraqi lives. And it means that the tragic deaths of civilians can be more easily forgotton."

Every two years East London plays host to the worlds largest arms fair and every two years thousands attempt to shut it down. This year, there were 4,000 police to protect the dealers in death from maybe a few hundred protestors and direct-action groups before and during the fair.

During events like this, the Indymedia slogan "Don't hate the media, be the media" takes on special significance as independent journalists and media workers provide reports, photos, videos and more of the protests, while the mainstream media looks the other way.

Follow this link for all the features and reports covering this year's DSEI.

Cartoons and flash animations with an anti-war / anti-bush theme. Favourites include recruiting the pro-war chickenhawks for the US army , compassionate conservatives on Fallujah , "There is no doubt Saddam has WMDs and Gulf War 2 , a flash animation in the style of a strategy game depicting the development of the Iraq war if the claims about Iraqi WMD were true.

A video documentary of the DSEi arms fair held in London's Docklands in September 2003, a highly professional Indymedia UK Video production, 27 minutes. Available in high-quality DivX format at 230MB and lower quality QuickTime format at 13MB.

You really need to be on a broadband connection for this, but if you didn't hear about DSEi 2003 or read the independent news coverage at http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/actions/2003/dsei/ then this film provides an excellent introduction.

It mixes footage and eye-witness accounts of direct actions and protests with over-the-top policing, with interviews with spokespeople from Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Amnesty and more, plus lots of background on what's wrong with the arms trade.

This website is dedicated to telling the truth about the British government's September 2002 dossier Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction - that it was, after all, "sexed-up" by the government's spin doctors. It will use contemporaneous documents, transcripts of oral evidence and freedom of information requests to reveal who really wrote the dossier, how it was "sexed-up" as a result and how the government covered-up the truth. It will also solve the greatest political whodunnit of the century so far: who put the notorious 45 minutes claim in the dossier?

An interactive map showing the locations of companies in London involved in the arms trade

In this creepy, funny story, conservative Bradley White learns that his privacy actually DOES matter, even though he THINKS he has nothing to hide.--from Liberty News TV (www.libertynewstv.com)

Roy contacted us via the web site to tell us about his web site. It includes photo galleries from various anti-war protests over the last few years. Well worth a look.

Oppose the proposed development at Coate. You can read the official Local Plan, a briefing and discussions, reasons to object, and even download the official objection form here. "The revised deposit draft of the Swindon Borough Local Plan includes provision for a university campus, 1800 dwellings and a large "employment" zone at Coate. The proposed development would destroy an environmentally and socially sensitive area of Swindon (some twenty times the size of the Princess Margaret Hospital site) adjoining two-thirds of the perimeter of Coate Water Country Park. This huge green field development has been slipped into the plan as "an urban extension site"!

Sign the on-line petition or print and sign the paper petition (PDF format - you need the free Acrobat reader from http://www.adobe.com/ to open it)

Update November 2005: There are now over 26,000 signatures on the petition calling for a kilometre of countryside to be left around Coate Water in order to protect its beauty, tranquillity, wildlife and historic and literary associations. This number of objections to any proposal is unprecedented in Swindon and reflects the strength of feeling about Coate Water and its rural setting. Please encourage people to sign the petition either at the café at Coate Water or online at www.savecoate.org.uk.

The inevitable Google-powered search engine, which you can use to search within this web site and other web sites as well as across the whole web.

If there's a web site you want to see added to this list, contact webmonkey@swindonstopwar.org.uk

This leaflet was produced by Swindon Stop the War Coalition to provide information for young men and women thinking of joining the Army. Our young service men and women deserve better.

A collection of subverted WW2 propaganda posters, updated in the context of the "war on terror"

Video and audio of a public meeting held at the Pilgrim centre on 13th February 2007. Labour MP Michael Wills, Conservatives Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson. Green Bill Hughes, Lib Dem Martin Wiltshire, UKIP's Stephen Halden, independent Labour peer Lord Stoddart and database specialist Anna Ellis answer questions from the public on the ID Cards Act 2006 and the National Identity Register.

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