Last Wednesday, over 20 peace activists from Grassington, Huddersfield, Keighley, Leeds, Sheffield, Calder Valley and more, came together to work out what campaigners can do in the coming months to advance the cause of peace and disarmament.
As the lockdown slowly eases, the prospect of organising more socially-distanced, COVID-secure protests and actions increases. In this respect, peace campaigners across the region are cautiously broaching the possibility of getting out on the streets again. As you can see in our events page, Yorkshire CND is joining up with the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign to protest outside Menwith Hill on the International Day of Action against Foreign Military Bases. At the meeting two other actions were discussed as well. The first was the potential co-ordinating of a regional day of divestment action outside one or two banks complicit in nuclear weapons manufacture. The second was the idea of commemorating the fourth anniversary of the adoption of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on 7th July by emulating the fantastic peace symbol demonstrations organised by Bradford CND last year.
We are aware that people are understandably reticent to do too much too fast. Even as the pandemic slows and the take-up of the vaccine increases, we still have to prioritise public health. That’s why we think it is important that campaigners and activists get in touch with the office to let us know how they feel about both the beforementioned actions but also whether they’d be keen to take part and organise actions of this sort in their local towns and cities.
Alongside actions and protests, we also discussed putting out a divestment briefing for campaigners; protesting the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill; continuing our pledge and resolution work with councils and faith leaders; stepping up the scale and profile of our work on nuclear colonialism; and preparing for DSEI arms fair, COP26, and the annual Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemorations. If there’s anything you’d like to discuss with the office, please get in touch on info@yorkshirecnd.org.uk
