As the lockdown loosens and the virus abates, the Yorkshire peace movement is beginning to get out on the streets and make its voices heard once again. On the 30th April, in commemoration of the International Day of Action Against Foreign Military Bases, Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign and Yorkshire CND called a protest outside the notorious Menwith Hill spy-base. Joined by around 30 people, campaigners made clear their opposition to the base's existence and demanded peace, openness and accountability. At the protest, we were joined by the Deputy Chair of Shipley Town Council who announced that they had passed a resolution supporting the Global Nuclear Ban!

Just a day after, as part of the Global Days of Action Against Military Spending (GDAMS), Keighley Peace Justice and Environment Network held a vigil against military spending in the town centre. The action was covered in the Keighley News.

As a part of the GDAMS season, we are joining other campaigners and encouraging everyone to write to their local MPs to see where they stand on the government's proposed 10% increase in the military budget. You can do this using CAAT's template letter to MPs. You can also find more information by visiting their Take Action page.

The Israeli state is attempting to ethnically cleanse Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, occupied Jerusalem.

As Palestinians protest in Jerusalem against these evictions and Israel’s ongoing programme of ethnic cleansing, Israeli forces have responded with brutality, including an assault on worshippers at Al Aqsa Mosque that has wounded hundreds.

The Israeli state has now started bombarding the population of besieged Gaza, many families of refugees from Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948. So far, dozens of Palestinian civilians have been killed, including children.

The plans to forcibly dispossess the families is part and parcel of Israel’s attempt to alter the demographic balance of the city, by ethnically cleansing Palestinians, while simultaneously providing financial and political support for illegal settlements built on stolen Palestinian land.

The UK government must take immediate action and stop allowing Israel to act with impunity. It must demand an end to current proceedings to evict these families, and start holding Israel accountable for all its actions ,which contribute to the crime of apartheid. This includes implementing sanctions, and banning the import of goods from Israel’s illegal settlements.

In Yorkshire, there have already been protests in Sheffield and Bradford, and there is a protest planned in Leeds this Saturday, outside Leeds Trinity Briggate at 2pm and in the City Centre at 1pm. Get along if you can and have a look for a protest in your area!

As part of the 13th biennial Asia Europe People’s Forum, which will take place between 17th and 24th May 2021 under the title “Asia Europe People’s Forum for a Just, Peaceful and Sustainable World”.

This session explores and challenges how nation-states attempting to out-compete one another in destructive military powers waste resources for meeting human needs, including addressing environmental collapse, a global pandemic, mass migration and social inequalities.

Featuring GCOMS UK campaigners, alongside activists from across the globe.

Following the government’s announcement that it will be increasing the number of warheads in the nuclear arsenal, CND has commissioned a Legal Opinion on whether this is a breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Join this online public launch meeting to hear from the lawyers who have authored the opinion – and put your questions to the experts.

Professor Christine Chinkin is a Fellow of the British Academy, a barrister and an academic member of Matrix Chambers; she is a leading expert on international law and human rights law.

Dr Louise Arimatsu is Distinguished Policy Fellow in the Centre for Women, Peace and Security. Dr Arimatsu was Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Law Department at Exeter University (2014-2017).

Chaired by Kirsten Oswald MP, Chair of Parliamentary CND.

Join Greater Manchester & District CND for this online event to discuss some of the implications of the recently published Integrated Review of Security, Defence Development and Foreign Policy.

With short presentations from:
– Dr Kate Hudson (CND General Secretary) on nuclear weapons policy changes in the Review, including warhead increases.
– Dr Jenny Clegg (CND Council) on UK-China and provocative plans to sail HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier to the Pacific.
– Dr Dave Webb (Chair, CND) on UK space policy, the militarisation of space and the involvement of US aerospace companies.

This will be a relatively short event but there will be time for Q&A.

Join CND and guest speakers to discuss the current situation in the Middle East and how the peace movement can best campaign for peace in the region. Will the Middle East ever be nuclear-free? And what is the UK’s role in the region?

This conference will be joined by speakers such as Sharon Dolev (Director of Israeli Disarmament Movement), Emad Kiyaei (Director of Middle East Treaty Organisation), Lindsey German (Stop the War convenor), Sara Medi Jones (CND Campaigns Director), Andrew Feinstein (Director of Shadow World) and CND General Secretary Kate Hudson.

For more information, contact information@cnduk.org

To address COVID, climate and the ecological emergencies we must move from an outmoded model of national security towards human security

Professor Paul Rogers, Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University and President of the Movement for the Abolition of War.
Professor Jenny Pearce, Latin America and Caribbean Centre (LACC). London School of Economics.
Moderator: Brian Larkin, Peace & Justice Coordinator

Local organising meeting for Leeds Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament currently meeting on Zoom due to social distancing. Meetings are kept to an hour and all are welcome.

Yorkshire CND’s Regional Campaigners Meeting reconvenes in June, and peace & anti-nuclear activists from across the region can come together to discuss their action plans. Two of the items for discussion will be the upcoming Divestment Day of Action, and the plan to organise protests across the region commemorating the birthday of the now-ratified UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Yorkshire CND is calling a regional day of divestment action, inviting all peace campaigners across the region to hold socially-distanced stalls and leafleting sessions outside NatWest and Barclays banks in their towns and cities.

According to Don’t Bank on the Bomb, between 2018-2020, NatWest had over £1.8 billion in outstanding loans to 11 nuclear weapons producers. Similarly, as noted in the Nuclear Weapons Financing Research Group’s ‘Investing in Change‘ report, Barclays is the “second-most significantly-exposed company to nuclear weapons producing companies”.

It is absolutely vital that we begin to communicate these facts to both their customers and the broader public. In a situation where the Johnson government is lifting the cap on nuclear warheads by 40%, in complete disregard of the reality that 77% of the British public support a total global ban of nuclear weapons and 59% support Britain signing up to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, it is imperative that we get the word out and put pressure on these banks!

If you are interested in doing an action on the day in your town or city, get in touch with the YCND office and we’ll give you a hand. You can contact us on info@yorkshirecnd.org.uk

The People’s Assembly has called a national demonstration in response to the government’s shocking mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis. Its pitiful offer to the nurses, the public sector pay freeze, lack of sick pay – all while announcing the first increase in nuclear weapons since the Cold War – makes it very clear that the government doesn’t care about the health and wellbeing of our communities.

The Tories are also attempting to use the cover of the pandemic to sneak through the draconian ‘Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill’. This demonstration is an opportunity to stand up for the right to protest.

Join CND’s 'Nurses not Nukes' bloc to protest against the government’s priorities: oppose the increase in nuclear warheads and support our NHS not Trident message. We will be part of a Peace and Anti-war Bloc with the Stop the War Coalition and will be joined by many other organisations.

Assemble 12 noon at Portland Place, London, before marching to Parliament Square. Yorkshire CND are currently in discussion about arranging transport to the event.

Contact information@cnduk.org with any queries

On the 7th July 2017, the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted. Almost four years later, this Treaty has received the signatures of 86 nation-states, the ratification of 54, and as of January 22nd 2021, entered into force as a treaty of international law. Despite this historic victory for the global peace movement, the nuclear weapon states have continued to defy the global nuclear ban. The British government has even announced an increase to its nuclear warhead stockpile by 40%.

In response, Yorkshire CND is calling a day of protest on the birthday of the TPNW. We are inviting all campaigners from across the region to emulate the actions of Bradford peace activists last year, by forming peace signs in their local cities and towns. We want huge peace sign protests across the region demanding that the British government endorse the TPNW and abandon its commitment to nuclear weapons.

If you want to organise an action, get in touch with the office and let us know how we can support. You can contact us on info@yorkshirecnd.org.uk