Sunday 30 November 2014

GREAT NIGHT

Thank you to Hermione and everyone at AidsVancouverIsland for a great night, with money being raised for a worthy cause.
   It was an extremely mixed night of music, from the country stylings of Hearse ( no, they are not a metal band), to the quirky indefinable Crashing Into Things, pop-punk by Killer Campground, and then finally, AK-47. As often happens at Logan's, old friends were happily seen,and new people were met.
   Thanks also to Hoon ( of the Gnar Gnars). We'll be seeing you at the Jay Brown Memorial Show (and Cancer Centre benefit ) on Jan.30th. Thanks again to everyone who attended.  

Tuesday 25 November 2014

BUSINESS AS USUAL

What the fuck do you expect from the world's #1 terrorist, capitalist imperialist genocidal pig amerikkka?

Chaotic protests fill Ferguson streets after grand jury declines to indict police officer

FERGUSON, Mo. - Chaos returned to the streets of Ferguson after a grand jury declined to indict a white police officer in the death of Michael Brown — a decision that enraged protesters who set fire to buildings and cars and looted businesses in the area where the unarmed, black 18-year-old was fatally shot.
Smoke billowed from some businesses Tuesday morning and shattered glass covered the sidewalks in front of others, but the streets in Ferguson were mostly clear.
Monday night's destruction appeared to be much worse than protests after August's shootings, with more than a dozen businesses badly damaged or destroyed. Authorities reported hearing hundreds of gunshots, which for a time prevented fire crews from fighting the flames.
There were 61 arrests in Ferguson overnight, many for burglary and trespassing, St. Louis County Police spokesman Brian Schellman said. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said there were 21 arrests in the city, where some protesters broke business windows along South Grand Avenue.
Jon Belmar, chief of the St. Louis County police, said that unless his agency could bring in 10,000 officers, "I don't think we can prevent folks who really are intent on destroying a community."
The grand jury's decision means that Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, will not face any state criminal charges for killing Brown, whose death inflamed deep racial tensions between many black Americans and police.
Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch said the jury of nine whites and three blacks met on 25 separate days over three months, hearing more than 70 hours of testimony from about 60 witnesses, including three medical examiners and experts on blood, toxicology and firearms.
"They are the only people that have heard and examined every witness and every piece of evidence," he said, adding that the jurors "poured their hearts and soul into this process."
In the first flash of unrest after the grand jury announcement, Belmar said he told officers to back off, suggesting they handle the situation as if it were a festival or baseball game. But the situation quickly "spun out of control," as protesters looted businesses and set fire to numerous vehicles, including at least two police cars. Officers eventually lobbed tear gas from inside armoured vehicles to disperse crowds.
As McCulloch read his statement, Michael Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, sat atop a vehicle listening to a broadcast of the announcement. When she heard the decision, she burst into tears and began screaming before being whisked away by supporters.
The crowd with her erupted in anger, converging on the barricade where police in riot gear were standing. They pushed down the barricade and began pelting police with objects, including a bullhorn. Officers stood their ground.
Speaking for nearly 45 minutes, a defensive McCulloch repeatedly cited what he said were inconsistencies and erroneous witness accounts. When asked by a reporter whether any of the accounts amount to perjury, he said, "I think they truly believe that's what they saw, but they didn't."
The prosecutor also was critical of the media, saying "the most significant challenge" for his office was a "24-hour news cycle and an insatiable appetite for something — for anything — to talk about."
McCulloch never mentioned that Brown was unarmed when he was killed.
Brown's family released a statement saying they were "profoundly disappointed" but asked that the public "channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen."
Shortly after the announcement, authorities released more than 1,000 pages of grand jury documents, including Wilson's testimony.
Wilson told jurors that he initially encountered Brown and a friend walking in a street and, when he told them to move to a sidewalk, Brown responded with an expletive. Wilson then noticed that Brown had a handful of cigars, "and that's when it clicked for me," he said, referring to a radio report minutes earlier of a robbery at a nearby convenience store.
Wilson said he asked a dispatcher to send additional police, and then backed his vehicle up in front of Brown and his friend. As he tried to open the door, Wilson said Brown slammed it back shut.
The officer said he pushed Brown with the door and Brown hit him in the face. Wilson told grand jurors he was thinking: "What do I do not to get beaten inside my car."
"I drew my gun," Wilson told the grand jury. "I said, 'Get back or I'm going to shoot you.'
"He immediately grabs my gun and says, 'You are too much of a pussy to shoot me,'" Wilson told grand jurors. He said Brown grabbed the gun with his right hand, twisted it and "digs it into my hip."
Asked why he felt the need to pull his gun, Wilson told grand jurors he was concerned another punch to his face could "knock me out or worse."
After shots were fired in the vehicle, Brown fled and Wilson gave chase. At some point, Brown turned around to face the officer.
Witness accounts were conflicted about whether Brown walked, stumbled or charged back toward Wilson before he was fatally wounded, McCulloch said. There were also differing accounts of how or whether Brown's hands were raised. His body fell about 153 feet from Wilson's vehicle.
Thousands of people rallied — mostly peacefully — in other U.S. cities on Monday night, and President Barack Obama appealed for calm and understanding, pleading with both protesters and police to show restraint.
"We are a nation built on the rule of law, so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury's to make," Obama said. He said it was understandable that some Americans would be angered, but echoed Brown's parents in calling for peaceful protests.
About 10 St. Louis-bound flights were diverted or cancelled Monday night because of concern about gunfire being aimed into the sky, a Lambert-St. Louis International Airport spokesman said, but the restrictions expired at 3:30 a.m.
The Justice Department is conducting a separate investigation into possible civil rights violations that could result in federal charges, but investigators would need to satisfy a rigorous standard of proof in order to mount a prosecution. The department also has launched a broad probe into the Ferguson Police Department, looking for patterns of discrimination.
Regardless of the outcome of those investigations, Brown's family could also file a wrongful-death lawsuit against Wilson.
The Aug. 9 shooting heightened tensions in the predominantly black suburb that is patrolled by an overwhelmingly white police force. As Brown's body lay for hours in the centre of a residential street, an angry crowd of onlookers gathered. Rioting and looting occurred the following night, and police responded with armoured vehicles and tear gas.
Protests continued for weeks — often peacefully, but sometimes turning violent, with demonstrators throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails and police firing smoke canisters, tear gas and rubber bullets. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon briefly summoned the National Guard.
Ron Johnson, the Missouri State Highway Patrol captain who oversaw Ferguson security during the summer protests, said the community must take some responsibility for the looting that took place Monday night. There were about 25 fires set overnight, and 10 cars burned at a dealership, Ferguson Assistant Fire Chief Steve Fair told local media. A pizza shop, beauty supply store and two auto parts stores were among those burned.
"Those are dreams," Johnson said. "Those are small-business owners, and we've torn those dreams away."
___
Link to grand jury documents: http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/ferguson-shooting/.
___
Associated Press writers Alan Scher Zagier in Clayton, Andale Gross and Jim Suhr in Ferguson and Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report. Follow David A. Lieb at: https://twitter.com/DavidALieb.

Monday 24 November 2014

WHO ARE THE VIOLENT EXTREMISTS?

The pigs are turning everything upside down as usual. Exactly who are the "violent extremists"? The people fighting for justice, or the police shooting youth dead in the street? Stupid fuckers.

Straight Talk on “Violent Extremists” in Ferguson

Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, Responds to Accusations from the St. Louis Police Chief

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

On November 14, St. Louis police chief Sam Dotson said on a radio program, “The Revolutionary Communist Party, I don’t know what their interest is in the shooting of Michael Brown.” On November 17, Dotson named the RCP on The O'Reilly Factor, suggesting that the RCP was intent on “criminal acts.” This takes place as the FBI warns that “violent extremists” may try to take advantage of the situation in Ferguson. This takes place as Missouri Governor Nixon has declared a totally illegitimate “state of emergency” and called out the National Guard in preparation for the grand jury decision over whether to indict the pig who killed Michael Brown.
Four things must be said about this:
1. Chief Dotson, the FBI, and the National Guard are the real “violent extremists.” The police terrorize, brutalize, kill, and ship off to prison millions of Blacks, Latinos, and others. In St. Louis alone, the police department that Dotson presides over has killed Kajieme Powell and Vonderrick Myers just in the 107 days since Michael Brown's murder. The FBI has a gruesome track record of “extreme violence” and “criminal acts” against the people, especially those rising up against oppression (see “Important Lesson on Political Piggery: How FBI COINTELPRO Targeted Radical Groups”). And the National Guard unleashed tanks, tear gas, rubber bullets, mass arrests, and vindictive brutality against peaceful protesters in Ferguson. These people have no right to talk about “violent extremists,” and no one should take one word of what they say seriously.
2. As for the RCP's interests in the Mike Brown case: everyone with an ounce of justice in their hearts needs to be part of bringing America to a HALT if the cop who murdered Mike Brown is not indicted for murder. Refusing to indict this murdering pig would mean a green light for all who want to murder, terrorize, kill, and destroy our youth.
3. On another level, the RCP's interest in this case lies in the fact that racist violence has been woven into the fabric of the U.S. beginning in hundreds of years of slavery, then Jim Crow, and now through the New Jim Crow of mass incarceration and police murder. It will take millions rising up and sweeping this system off the face of the earth through revolution to put a stop to this horror and we are working every day to bring closer the time when that kind of struggle can be won and a new day for humanity can be brought into being. Many more need to join with this Party in preparing for, and hastening, this revolution.
4. These accusations turn reality upside down. They take the focus off the police murder of Michael Brown. They aim to break up the unity of the people rising up. And they aim to set up the RCP for illegitimate repression. People of conscience must oppose this. The media must stop airing these accusations and must allow myself and the RCP the chance to respond.
Carl Dix is a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party. He co-founded with Dr. Cornel West the Stop Mass Incarceration Network as well as the October Month of Resistance to Stop Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation that included protests in over 70 cities in the U.S. and several in other countries on October 22. Dix was arrested three times in NYC protesting stop-and-frisk and twice in Ferguson standing with the youth and others demanding justice for Michael Brown.

Saturday 22 November 2014

THEY CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS

The fucking pigs and  the system and government they uphold are going to try and do it again, unless the people get together and make their voices heard in the loudest way possible. No more killer cops walking away from the bodies shot down by them with no fucking consequences. Serve and protect? Yes, they are a reflection of the fucking murderous capitalist system that they are sworn to uphold. Fuck them.
Take to the Streets When the Ferguson Grand Jury Announces Its Decision

IF THE MURDERING PIG WALKS, AMERIKKKA MUST BE BROUGHT TO A HALT!

Carl Dix | November 17, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Printable PDF of this statement

The grand jury investigating the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson will announce its decision any day now. All indications are that it will let the killer cop, Darren Wilson, walk free. This would amount to the system giving its stamp of approval, once more, to police wantonly murdering Black youth. This would be an outrage—one that we must refuse to accept.
When the decision comes down, people need to pour into the streets immediately. If the authorities let this murdering pig walk, America must be brought to a halt. Major streets and highways should be blocked, and traffic should be unable to proceed on bridges and tunnels. Professional athletes should join the response by refusing to play. Musicians should cancel appearances. Students should walk out of school when they hear that another murdering pig has gone free. If the decision is announced at night, the next day should be a day of NO BUSINESS AS USUAL at schools. Buildings on campus should be taken over, classes should become teach-ins on police murder of Black people. All this and more should be done.
Governor Nixon of Missouri has declared a state of emergency and mobilized the National Guard. The emergency we must act to stop is the murder of our youth by police. Nixon's actions underscore the need for us to step up and step out to say NO MORE to police murdering our youth.
If the grand jury does indict Wilson, we still need to act. If it's anything less than murder, that would be the system telling us Black life doesn't matter much. Even if they indict him for murder, justice hasn't been won yet. Zimmerman was indicted for the murder of Trayvon, but he was allowed to walk free after a trial where the prosecutors acted like they had forgotten how to prosecute.
What we do when the grand jury decision comes down has to be more than a one-day thing. It must be part of bringing into being a movement of millions of people who are determined to STOP the murder of Black and Latino youth by police and racist vigilantes. The day after Thanksgiving should become “Black Lives Matter” day instead of a black Friday of getting a jump on Christmas shopping. Walmarts should be a focus of protests because a young Black man, John Crawford, was murdered by police in Walmart in Ohio, and a grand jury let those killer cops walk free.
And all this has to be aimed at delivering a message to one and all that THE KILLING OF BLACK YOUTH MUST STOP! People must come together and say this in a loud and united voice. We must mean it, and we must act accordingly immediately when the decision is announced and going forward from there till the murder of our youth by police and racist vigilantes is truly no more.
TAKE TO THE STREETS AS SOON AS THE GRAND JURY DECISION IS ANNOUNCED!
JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL BROWN, ERIC GARNER AND ALL THE VICTIMS OF KILLER COPS!

Friday 21 November 2014

SHOW


 We're playing this fucked up show for Aids Vancouver Island. I'm not 100% on board with all of the harm reduction stuff, but these people are doing some good work. And it's gonna be a weird line-up, people. See you there. 

STUPID BRAINDEAD MEDIA

The slaughter of the five worshippers in a synagogue in East Jerusalem was indeed a horrible thing, but is it any worse than fighter jets blowing up mosques, schools, and hospitals? Is it any worse than growing up in refugee camps in your own country, living in dust and dirt while seeing lush green gardens thrive in land that was taken from your great grandfather? I'm not justifying what happened, but just trying to give it some perspective. I would never commend the perpetrators of such an act, but why does shit like this happen? The fucking scumbag media were looking for a simple " well, this happened, so this is the revenge for that" kind of thing, but it's not always that simple or transparent, or shallow. But at this point, I don't expect too much more from them.

Tuesday 18 November 2014

AND NOW, THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION...

AK-47

Garden City

Format: MCD
Playing time: 17:36
Rating:

AK-47 are a Canadian, political hardcore band, in 1997 founded and its then predominantly melodic sound over time has turned in favor of increased straight-in-your-face outbreaks. On this self-produced CD find 16 songs in just under over 17 minutes instead. That's cool and uncompromising.Besides putting Blasts, which are reminiscent of DRI on their first album, the quartet of the whole range of early Eighties Hardcore assumes and ignites well with melodic midtempo tracks like the title song. The song writing is full to the point of singing is rough and has something of NEGATIVE APPROACH, the guitarist cut out sometimes short, concise solos, the lyrics are angry. Representing AK-47 is the final song "Season of death / winter is over", which opens on to a melodic thrash rough, worn trailer with a wonderful chorus. And all in 1:21 minutes! The fully convinced and prepared at least to me real goose bumps. Thank you.




Zahni Müller
© by Ox-Fanzine / Issu

CIRCUMSTANCES

Due to a recent personal tragedy that was well beyond my control, I haven't been posting as often as usual. No matter how well one believes they are prepared for certain things, they can hit you hard. I will be back on track very soon. In the meantime, enjoy a review of "Garden City" from the German 'zine Ox. First in German, and then the stilted google translation.

AK-47

Garden City

Format: MCD
Spielzeit: 17:36
Wertung:

AK-47 sind eine kanadische, politische Hardcore-Band, die sich 1997 gründete und ihren damals überwiegend melodischen Sound im Laufe der Zeit zugunsten von vermehrten Straight-in-your-face-Ausbrüchen umgewandelt hat.

Auf dieser selbstproduzierten CD finden 16 Songs in knapp über 17 Minuten statt. Das ist cool und kompromisslos. Neben knallharten Blasts, welche an D.R.I. auf ihrem ersten Album erinnern, nimmt sich das Quartett der ganzen Bandbreite von frühem Achtziger-Hardcore an und zündet ebenso bei melodischen Midtempo-Tracks wie zum Beispiel dem Titelsong.

Das Songwriting kommt voll auf den Punkt, der Gesang ist rauh und hat was von NEGATIVE APPROACH, die Gitarristen hauen auch mal kurze, prägnante Soli raus, die Texte sind wütend. Stellvertretend für AK-47 steht der finale Song „Season of death/Winter is over“, welcher über derben Thrash in einen melodischen, getragenen Schlussteil mit wunderbarem Chorus mündet.

Und alles in 1:21 Minuten! Das überzeugt vollends und bereitet zumindest mir echtes Gänsehaut-Feeling. Danke.
Zahni Müller
© by Ox-Fanzine / Ausgabe #113 (April/Mai 2014










Tuesday 11 November 2014

HAPPY REMEMBRANCE DAY

One in 13 female full-time members of the Canadian Forces have been sexually assaulted in connection with their service in the military, Statistics Canada has found.
The statistics agency surveyed 6,700 full-time regular members of the Forces with a proportional percentage of women and men to the military from April to August 2013.
Of the women surveyed, 7.6 per cent said they had been sexually assaulted “while either deployed on Canadian Forces operation, at a Canadian Forces Workplace or by a Canadian Forces member or civilian Department of National Defence employee.”
The figure jumped to 15.6 per cent when including women who reported they’d been touched sexually against their will — also in the course of their service in the military.
Respondents were instructed that “sexual assault” was defined for the survey as: “someone forcing you or attempting to force you into any unwanted sexual activity, by threatening you, holding you down or hurting you in some way.” The other category, “unwanted sexual touching,” was defined as “unwanted touching or grabbing, kissing or fondling.”
Of the men surveyed, about 0.2 per cent said they’d been sexually assaulted in connection with their work in the military. However, Statistics Canada cautions that the number is low enough to be at risk of sampling error.
When including the number of men who said they’d experienced unwanted sexual touching, the number rises to 0.8 per cent — which would translate to about 500 of the forces’ 55,500 male soldiers. That number is statistically valid, according to the statistics agency.
The Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey, 2013, was conducted by Statistics Canada, in conjunction with the Department of National Defence. It surveyed currently serving members only, and would not have included anyone who was sexually assaulted and left the military before the survey was conducted.
The survey also covered many aspects of mental health and trauma. Some results concerning mental health and alcohol use were publicly released this week. A section on military sexual trauma was also included in the questionnaire.
Metro requested and received a breakdown of the sexual trauma results.
University of Ottawa PhD candidate Ashley Bickerton is studying military sexual assaults. Bickerton said the sexual trauma data was welcome but criticized the definition of sexual assault used in the survey because most people — and the law — consider “unwanted touching or grabbing, kissing or fondling” to be sexual assault.
According to Statistics Canada, that definition was used because it was consistent with surveys done in the past and would produce comparable results.
An external review into sexual assault policy and procedures, training and culture in the Canadian Armed Forces, by retired justice Marie Deschamps, is underway and the results are expected in spring 2015. It was launched after a Maclean’s/L’actualité investigation that included multiple interviews with military women who spoke about being sexually assaulted by other soldiers or commanding officers and then mistreated by the command when they reported it.
A larger issue
Michel Drapeau, a former Canadian Forces member who served for 34 years and is now a lawyer with an expertise in military law, represents soldiers who’ve been sexually assaulted. He called the statistics of sexual assault and unwanted touching that occurred in connection with military service “extraordinarily” high.
The U.S. military also has extremely high rates of sexual assault, he said.
Drapeau said that, typically, CF members are reluctant to report sexual assault because allegations are investigated by the military — which in general puts a strong emphasis on discipline and respecting authority — and go through the chain of command.
“If you do go through the system it is investigated, it goes through the military police who wear the same uniform, who are part of the same culture,” he said.
He said victims worry they won’t be believed and their military lives will be ruined.
“It’s a rank-based organization,” he said. “If you are victimized … before you announce it your first fear is would I be believed, would I be taken seriously, would there be reprisals?”
Most often, victims don’t report sexual assault, he said.
Male victims don’t come forward often either, he said. “They’re supposed to be macho and male, by god, so many of them will be more reluctant about their assault.”
In “too many” cases the military suggests mediation, he said. “But what could you possibly mediate?”
Drapeau is critical of the ongoing external review, because it excludes any review of the military police and justice system. Sexual assault was investigated and tried by civilian police and courts until 1998 and he would like to see sexual assault investigation back in the civilian system.
“Civilian police are able to investigate regardless of the rank that applies,” he said. “With somebody like Russell Williams on the base, military police may be very intimidated to knock on the door of a colonel. And a victim may be very intimated to report to the police or the prosecutor an action by a senior officer.”
DND’s response
The Department of National Defence made psychiatrist and mental-health adviser to the Canadian Forces command Col. Rakesh Jetly available for an interview with Metro about the Military Sexual Trauma statistics.
Rakesh said the sexual trauma statistics were gathered as part of a large survey on mental health that was meant to help the military better understand the “burden and the impact of mental illness” and trauma for members of the Canadian Armed Forces. DND has not yet analyzed the sexual trauma data and had not yet seen it until asked about it by Metro.
Some analysis of the data will be presented in November, he said.
“As a responsible health organization we want ask the questions — we’ve asked about different kinds of trauma, sexual trauma is one of type of trauma — because we want to see, first of all, how often does it occur and we want to see its relationship to the illnesses,” he said.
Asked if the statistics are high, Rakesh said: “As a senior officer in the Canadian Forces, it’s concerning to see numbers — it almost doesn’t matter what the numbers are — it’s disturbing — as (Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Thomas Lawson) has said already — that sexual trauma within our workplace does occur.”
Rakesh couldn’t speculate on why the numbers are as high as they are, what the figures say about the culture of the military, or the use of military rather than civilian police to investigate. He also couldn’t comment on whether or not new female recruits would be informed of the new statistics.
“We don’t know when it occurred in people’s careers,” he said. “Further analysis is going to be needed.”
Rakesh said that the military has robust mental health support for its members and confidential treatment is available for sexual assault victims whether or not they decide to inform military police.
By the numbers
1,400 – The number of the 8,900 full-time female CF members (in 2013) who have been sexually assaulted, or sexually touched against their will while on base, on an operation or by military or non-military DND personnel, according to the survey
500 – The number of the 55,500 full-time male CF members (in 2013) who have been sexually assaulted, or sexually touched against their will, according to the survey, will while on base, on an operation or by military or non-military DND personnel, according to the survey
178 – The average number of complaints of sexual assault per year since 2000, from full-time and reserve members, to the military police, according to a Maclean’s/L’actualité investigation.

Monday 10 November 2014

WATCH THIS !!!

Video : Chairman Omali Yeshitela in front of the Ferguson Police Department



Take some time to watch this video of Chairman Omali Yeshitela ( featured on the first Dead Prez CD) of the African Peoples Socialist Party. This shit is real.

AND THIS ALSO

I found this article interesting and inspiring. Note how at the end, he talks about the fucking cops harassing him for no reason.

'Never again': Anti-war veterans to carry white-poppy wreath to Cenotaph

Former SAS serviceman Ben Griffin says they will honour all of those killed in war 'including civilians and foreign soldiers'

 
 
A former soldier who set up an organisation for veterans campaigning against war will lead an alternative Remembrance Service next Sunday.
Ben Griffin founded Veterans For Peace in 2011 after discovering many war veterans supported his disillusion towards war. A former serviceman in the Parachute Regiment and Special Air Service division, he was discharged from the army in 2005 for refusing to continue serving in Iraq. In 2008  he spoke to an anti-war rally about UK involvement in extraordinary rendition the day before he was served with an injunction preventing him from speaking publicly about his time in the SAS.
As part of the service, veterans will walk to the Cenotaph memorial outside Whitehall, London, under the banner ‘Never Again’ carrying a wreath of white poppies to acknowledge civilians killed in modern warfare. They will also wear t-shirts bearing the message ‘War is Organised Murder’, a quote from Harry Patch, the last survivor of the First World War.
Griffin says they will honour all of those killed in war “including civilians and foreign soldiers”, but insists their primary objective is to educate the general population on the “true nature of warfare and to resist war and militarism through nonviolent action”.
Here he answers questions – which were restricted by the injunction he is still under - about his plans.
I served in the Parachute Regiment and Special Air Service on operations in Ireland, Macedonia, Afghanistan and Iraq. I founded Veterans For Peace UK in 2011 after realising that there were many other veterans who after experiencing war wanted to campaign against it.
Could you describe what type of organisation Veterans For Peace is?
We are an organisation of former servicemen and women who have come to the realisation that war is irrational and immoral and want to campaign against it. We have members from all three services with experiences ranging from D-day to Afghanistan. We work to educate the general population on the true nature of warfare and to resist war and militarism through nonviolent action.
How have Veterans For Peace been received by other organisations?
We have not received any negative communication from other veterans groups. Many veterans who do not consider themselves anti-war respect us and our work. Groups within the Peace Movement have been supportive of us.
What are Veterans For Peace planning for Sunday 9 November?
On Remembrance Sunday 9 November 2014 Veterans For Peace UK will walk to The Cenotaph under the banner ‘Never Again’. The message on the back of our tops will read “War is Organised Murder” which is a quote from Harry Patch, the last survivor of The Western Front who he died in 2009. We will lay a wreath of predominantly white poppies to acknowledge the fact that the majority of those killed in modern warfare are civilians.
Why are Veterans For Peace walking on Sunday 9th November?
We think that the annual campaign run by The Royal British Legion has little to do with remembrance and is waged in order to promote unquestioning support for the military and war. We have been told by the RBL that the official ceremony is only to remember British war dead and that foreign veterans are not welcome. We want to remember all of those killed in war including civilians and foreign soldiers. We also want to send a clear message that we have experienced war and it should not be glorified.
What are Veterans For Peace hoping to achieve through this demonstration?
A lot of people feel uneasy about the militaristic nature of the official ceremony and that politicians that take a central role. We will provide a truly peace-minded ceremony organised entirely by veterans that others are welcome to follow and observe. We want to send a clear message to our government, most of whom have never served in the military or experienced war first hand, that war is not glorious.
Have you received any hostility or pressure from the authorities?
Personally yes, after speaking out about the immoral and illegal nature of operations I carried out in Iraq I was handed a lifetime injunction in the High Court  by the MOD that prevents me from telling anyone about my time in special forces.
I have been raided and arrested in my home by the Metropolitan Police for spurious reasons on two occasions during which no charges were made. I have been harassed on the street by members of the Metropolitan Police on many occasions.