& Public Meeting (3pm) with Angie Zelter

Speaking about the situation on Jeju Island South Korea

Friends’ Meeting House

Temple Street

Llandrindod LD1 5HF

All CND Cymru Members and affiliated group delegates are warmly invited.

Motions for discussion and resolution to CND Cymru by 18th May 2012.

All queries to Jill Gough (heddwch@cndcymru.org)

Followed by: Public Meeting 3pm

Angie Zelter

 Jeju Island South Korea

The people of Gangjeong village on Jeju Island are struggling against the construction of a huge illegal military base being built by the Korean navy and Samsung, at the insistence of the United States as part of their military expansion in the Asia Pacific region. It is both an environmental disaster and a threat to peace in the region. It is an immediate threat to the people of Gangjeong, their livelihoods, their way of life, and their enjoyment of their environment, especially the sacred Gurumbi volcanic rock mass, currently being destroyed by the Samsung and the Korean navy.

 See you there!

I believe we could re-build a powerful campaign that would help Britain rid itself of nuclear weapons at a time when a possible independent Scotland is likely to demand that Trident leave Scotland. The kind of sustained resistance envisaged at Aldermaston would also help the global disarmament movement at a time when proliferation is dangerously increasing.

I am willing to commit 3 years of full time work as a volunteer to help facilitate such an initiative but would need the dedicated help of at least 6 or 7 other people with skills in IT, mobilising, training and fund-raising, a couple of whom should be living within 10 miles or so of Aldermaston. Please contact me if you think you might enjoy this volunteering and be able to commit to 2 or 3 years of hard work! Then we can meet, discuss and plan.

Love and peace, Angie

“A single Trident submarine is the sixth largest nuclear nation in the world all by itself.” Rear Adm. Joseph Tofalo, Kings Bay, Georgia, USA.

Angie Zelter, 6 Church St, Knighton, Powys, LD7 1AG. Cymru.
Tel: +44 (0)1547-520929. Email: reforest@gn.apc.org

Websites:- www.iwps.info www.tridentploughshares.org
www.faslane365.org http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk
_

Côr Cochion and CND Cymru commemorated the 26th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, the explosion at Chernobyl nuclear power station, as a bitter northeast wind blew across Cardiff from Russia as if to remind us of the events of 1986.

Our songs of peace drifted across the Hayes, and the message was “No more Chernobyls! No more Fukushimas!

A man approached us, saying he had just returned from a visit to Chernobyl. The exclusion zone, particularly the mossy areas, was still highly radioactive; but outside it, they were met with the eerie sight of a dead town frozen in time. Nature was reclaiming the countryside, with feral animals and wild flowers flourishing.

Wales has made a strong connection with the people of Chernobyl. Hundreds of children from the stricken area, many of them suffering from cancers and other medical problems as a result of the accident, have enjoyed life saving holidays and medical treatment in Welsh hospitals.

Thousands of Welsh farmers were badly affected by the fallout of Chernobyl, and have been prohibited from sending their livestock to market since 1986. Levels of radiocaesium continue to be detected above accepted levels in some areas.

Yet, unbelievably, the Welsh government and British politicians are still supporting the development of Wylfa B nuclear power station in Anglesey, and looking to replace the two firms that have pulled out of the scheme with the same company that built, maintained and were responsible for the Chernobyl nuclear plant..

The people of Wales say loud and clear: No to Wylfa! No to Hinkley C!

 ‘The world is growing weary of war. The nations are groaning under the burden of military expenditure and military servitude and are longing to be delivered’.
Henry Richard 1812 -1888

This spring, CND Cymru, along with people all over Wales have been commemorating the 200^th anniversary of the birth of the Henry Richard MP.

Henry Richard was elected MP for Merthyr Tydfil in 1868.

‘Before there was ‘conflict resolution’ there was Henry Richard. Before Gandhi, Henry Richard urged passive resistance. Before Alfred Nobel, Henry Richard and the Peace Society were involved in international peace congresses. Before the United Nations and international disarmament talks, Henry Richard succeeded in passing the first ever Parliamentary Bill (1873) calling for a system of International Arbitration to prevent war.’*                                                         

CND Cymru has produced a free, easily accessible and bilingual briefing paper by Tony Simpson about Henry Richard with a specially commissioned drawing by leading illustrator Dai Owen. CND Cymru will be present at the Peace Fair at Y Talbot, Tregaron, the town in Ceredigion, Mid Wales where Henry Richard was born in 1812. In London, a commemorative event has been held at Abney Park Cemetery, where Henry Richard was buried in 1888 and  this year sees the launch of a new book by Gwyn Griffiths: ‘Henry Richard -  Apostle of Peace and Welsh Patriot’.

Jill Gough, National Secretary of CND Cymru commented:

‘It is clear to see that Henry Richard was man who saw the bigger picture, and looked ahead well beyond any ‘next election’. Many of our current elected representatives – and we peace campaigners have much to learn from this man.’

‘Sadly, humans have not yet learned the truths that Henry Richard spoke.  He could almost have been reflecting on situations in the 21^st century when he said:

‘A bayonet has no aptitude for the discovery of truth; gunpowder has no quality of moral discrimination; a Krupp gun or a torpedo has no particular relation to righteousness. All that these can do, if you use them to the day of doom, is to decide, not who is right, but who is the strongest, the most skilful, the most wealthy, the most pertinacious.’ ‘

 ‘Peace Fair’ Events on Saturday April 21^st at Y Talbot start at 2.30pm. Speakers include Bruce Kent, Gwyn Griffiths and Mererid Hopwood and there will be entertainment by Welsh choirs.

Bruce Kent speaking in The Talbot, Tregaron 21 April 2012

All are welcome – Henry Richard – a man we should all be proud to celebrate!

( Unveiling of the Henry Richard statue, Tregaron 18th August 1893)

……………….

Henry Richard Briefings available from CND Cymru: www.cndcymru.org

 * Henry Richard’s character had been shaped by his kinship and community, moral example and education. He was primed to respond to what he called the ‘social and political conditions’ of his age. Joseph Tregelles Price, his predecessor at the Peace Society had already taken up the case of Dic Penderyn after the Merthyr Riots of 1831.

From beginning his ministry at Marlborough Road Chapel in 1835 until becoming Secretary of the Peace Society in 1848, he supported many progressive causes including anti-slavery and anti-war. After the Rebecca Riots in south-west Wales in the 1840s he condemned the use of dragoons and published leaflets calling for a peaceful solution. He also published a pamphlet against the 1847 ‘Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales’ (The Treachery of the Blue Books) which had smeared the ‘characters and virtues … of my countrymen … hundreds and thousands of such I know [and have] stood beneath their humble roofs’. Henry became a lifelong abolitionist and supporter of Joseph Sturge’s Anti-Slavery Society (1839) later writing his Memoirs of Sturge. He exposed the futility of the first (1839-1842) and second (1878-1880) Afghan Wars and gave a prophetic lecture (later published) at the London Hall of Commerce on the perils of so called ‘defensive war … which inevitably results in a boundless abyss of carnage and crime, from which you know you may not escape.’ The mire of the Crimean War (1853) proved his words. Simpson T. ‘Henry Richard MP – taking Peace to the World’ CND Cymru Briefing’ Number 1

Tuesday 24th April 2012 12pm onwards

outside Cardiff Central Market, entrance near St John’s Church.

Organised with Food Not Bombs Cardiff.

http://wiseupforbradleymanning.wordpress.com/

Tim Price’s play ‘The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning’ places Bradley firmly in the Welsh radical tradition. It so happens that Dic Penderyn, a young man who was framed following the 1831 Merthyr Rising, was hanged at the age of 23 just a few yards from where we will be taking action to draw attention to Bradley’s situation and calling for his freedom. No more martyrs!

In the evening, there will be a ‘special sneak preview’ screening of Jim Spione’s Oscar nominated short documentary ‘Incident in New Baghdad’ in Cardiff. More information about this event here.

Full details of the Free Food, Free Bradley Manning event here.

See also:

REPORTS – Recent Solidarity Actions in Wales around Welsh National Theatre’s perfomances of “The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning”

Youtube (1 min) – The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning Hyper Connected Theatre.

Youtube (30 secs) Audience Reactions ‘The Radicalisation Of Bradley Manning’.

Report & Photos here.

A year of photos of solidarity with Bradley Manning and Julian Assange in London and elsewhere.

Why Do We Need Whistleblowers in a Democracy?
An evening with
CRAIG MURRAY

(Ex-Ambassador, Author, Broadcaster, Whistleblower and Human Rights Activist)
Monday 16th April, 6-8pm
Small Chemistry Lecture Theatre,
Cardiff University Main Building, Park Place
All Welcome – Free Entry

(Also recommended: NATIONAL THEATRE WALES new production: The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning
See: nationaltheatrewales.org)

EVENTS for BRADLEY MANNING take place across WALES in APRIL see: wiseupforbradleymanning.wordpress.com

craig-murray-poster eng

Events this week in Cardigan and Pembrokeshire

While ugly wars continue, pursuing the last of the oil in the Middle East, one man more than anyone else has exposed the horror and corruption and futility of these wars. The young Welsh / US man Bradley Manning is now on trial for his life and supportive events are being held across Wales.
The Bradley Manning Support Campaign in Wales is asking us to sign a petition requesting that the Welsh government to join the Icelandic government in honouring him.
The petition and some info with ex military personnel will be available in:
Pwllhai Market, Cardigan on the morning of Thursday 12th April .
Picton Centre Haverfordwest Friday 13th in the afternoon when there will be an interactive exhibition and military speakers and relatives recounting war experiences from SAS in Iraq and Afghanistan and from WW2. This is followed by a local food supper for which booking is essential. or m: 07766 213606
Fachongle (nr Newport) Sat 14th

The acclaimed National Theatre Wales will be touring Wales with Welsh playwright Tim Price’s play ‘The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning’ this April (Haverfordwest 12-14, Cardiff 15-21, Connah’s Quay 25-28). See the NTW website for more details and booking information: . Performances will be streamed live on the internet, with a potentially world-wide audience. The launch is to take place at Tasker Milward School, Haverfordwest the comprehensive school in Haverfordwest where Bradley attended as a teenager.
Tickets : Wales Millennium Centre 029 2063 6464

The support events in Cardigan and Pembrokeshire are in a setting which shows how to live free from oil dependency (or war)
More info on all the events on
vicky moller
01239 820971
0779 180 9 810

www.ecocymru.org
vicky@ecocymru.org

Dear Friends

I can’t say that I’m glad to be here—there are many other places in Scotland that I would like to see. But I am back here because we have not yet achieved our aims. We have not yet restored this lovely place to peaceful purposes.

It is still home to Trident – our contribution to a system underpinned by a readiness to commit mass murder. Nuclear deterrence is both illegal and immoral. When I was in Glasgow sometime ago I read an interview with the Captain of a Trident submarine. He said than that if the worst came to the worst his sailors would do their duty.

Committing mass murder is not part of anyone’s duty.

But it will never happen we are told. Apparently we have them in order never to use them.

How does anyone know that? The list of nuclear weapon accidents and disastrous misunderstandings is a very long one. At least twice, over Cuba and in September 1983 at the height of the cold war we came within a hairsbreadth of nuclear war because people misunderstood what the other side was up to.

No accidents? Its only a few years ago that a French and a British nuclear armed submarine collided head on in the Atlantic.

At the moment we are warming up to an attack on Iran. Whatever happened to nuclear deterrence? That Israel has nuclear weapons is beyond dispute. We know it in part because of the courage of Morchechai Vanunu who blew the whistle on Israel’s nuclear arsenal.

So what happened to deterrence on which we were told our security depends? Doesn’t work for Iran?

‘Precarious’ was the word used to describe deterrence in 1978 in the Final report of the 1st UN Session on Disarmament and precarious it remains.

Our security? How do you threaten people who do not value their own lives? We call them suicidal. How do you threaten people (we call them terrorists but all holders of
nuclear weapons are terrorists) who do not have a territorial state?

That is why we are back here at Faslane. To say NO to this lunacy and to work even harder to make that NO effective.

Has anything changed?

Well a lot really. I’m not here to preach Scottish independence but I certainly rejoice that there is a different air up here on these issues. You in Scotland don’t accept so many of the dogmas, which have dominated this debate for too long.

A Scotland without nuclear weapons? What a good idea as long as it doesn’t just mean you would be happy if they were elsewhere on the other side of Hadrian’s Wall.

Thanks to a recent excellent Scottish CND report it is clear enough anyway that there is nowhere in England or Wales (not that the Welsh would want them) that they could go.

Getting them out of Scotland must be a first step to eliminating them all worldwide.
We have now a draft convention, which shows the way to doing just that. It wont happen over night but it can happen. But the Government at Westminster does not even want to make a start.

That Government has a choice to make and in large part it has secretly and undemocratically made it.

Plans for a replacement for Trident are already well advanced. This Government shows no interest in the 1996 ruling from the International Court of Justice that there is an obligation to negotiate elimination and to bring such negotiations to a successful conclusion.

The cost argument is a very powerful one and it may win the day for us. But beware. There are not a few British influential politicians who say they are against Trident replacement but who would be quite happy to have something cheaper.

Total elimination for Britain is not on their agenda. There can’t be one law for the goose and another for the gander.

We want to impose all sorts of inspections on Iran. If there is to be a non-nuclear world then all states are going to have to open themselves up to inspection.

Scientists working on such weapons of mass destruction must be ready to face criminal charges.

Service men and women in the Royal Navy have to be ready to refuse orders to have anything to do with nuclear weapons.

All of us must refuse the bogus security we are offered at such immoral terms.

That is the key word. Immoral.

If it is wicked to commit mass murder it is wicked to threaten to do so. Our imaginations have got too dull. We have become used to this expensive and dangerous nuclear weapon world. Too many foolishly think that we can limit the spread of such weapons while keeping the right to have them ourselves. President Obama for one and many others too.

It is just possible that Scotland, by rejecting Trident, might lead the way towards a more just, peaceful and humane international system. In that great task we, south of the border, are your friends and partners.