PSNI investigate legality
of UK’s nuclear weapons
Following on from a visit to Musgrave Street, Belfast, PSNI
station on 23rd November last by members of Make Trident History
who were reporting the UK illegal possession of nuclear weapons,
the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) have written
to say they are investigating: “As you are undoubtedly
aware the issues you raise are complex and wide-ranging and
it will take some time to ensure they are considered in a
meaningful manner. With this in mind…[the matter will
be dealt with by].ACC [Assistant Chief Constable] Crime Operations
who, as the PSNI’s senior Detective, is the most appropriate
person to deal with the concerns you have highlighted…”
Contact: Make Trident History, phone 0773 781 9569, e-mail
make.trident.history@ntlworld.com
The Hollies: Practical
sustainability in Co Cork
Since 1999, ‘The Hollies Centre for Practical Sustainability’
has become an inspiring place where people go to learn relevant
skills for today and the future. It started with two families
dreaming up an Eco-Village. A small version of it is currently
developing with planning permission for a Study Centre and
4 Eco-Houses. One of them is completed, lived in and also
serves as a venue for training courses which cover a range
of skills and techniques for sustainable living including
cob building – an ancient technique using a mix of earth,
sand, clay and straw to sculpt solid walls that last for centuries
and make beautiful, warm and comfortable homes. The materials
are very accessible and everybody can learn the necessary
skills. Cob houses can be relatively cheap although they are
labour intensive. The secret lies in getting more people involved
as volunteers or trainees – and then everybody wins.
This also highlights the underlying values of the project:
cooperation, shared responsibility for action, inclusivity,
mutual respect and trust.
The educational program also includes building efficient wood
burning stoves, organic gardening, woodland management, participatory
group facilitation (particularly consensus decision making),
conflict resolution (including Non-Violent Communication and
Community Mediation), renewable energy and other skills for
a sustainable future. The centre is currently run as a family
business by Thomas and Ulrike Riedmuller.
A more recent addition is teaching sustainability
in local schools. This new module is called ‘Learning
to Live with One Planet’…with the diversity of
people and with the limited resources of one planet Earth,
rather than the 4 we would need with our current of use of
resources. This module combines Development Education and
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and comes as a
package offered to schools in West Cork including two half
days classroom visits and a hands-on full day visit to The
Hollies. An important element of this work is reaching out
to the local community of each school by including lots of
opportunities for parents and the wider public for getting
involved through public events, as well as gardening and building
projects at the schools and in local towns and villages. The
message is that we can do a lot of very practical things to
save resources, live healthy lives, build community and have
fun – important now and in a future where fossil fuels
get scarcer.
Another important aspect we are working towards
is to spread effective communication and peace-making skills.
Activities during workshops include cooperative games, team
tasks, and regular feedback sessions. We also specifically
promote and organize courses for effective feedback skills,
non-violent communication and conflict mediation. Visit www.theholliesonline.com
for more information and a full programme of courses. The
Hollies Centre for Practical Sustainability, Castletown, Enniskeane,
Co. Cork, phone: 023 - 47001, office hours: Tuesdays and Fridays
9-12 a.m.
Chernobyl Children’s
Project International (CCPI)
CCPI is dedicated to providing humanitarian and medical aid
to the 3-4 million children the United Nations recognises
as suffering from the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. CCPI achieved
much in 2006 including having over 1,000 children visit Ireland
for rest and recuperation and the purchase of 4 new foster
homes, Homes of Hope, to enable the placement of almost 40
children in a loving family environment; the aim is to expand
home purchase to move these children from orphanages and institutions
into homes of up to 10 children each. The cost of building
each of these homes is €50,000 – this is excluding
all the other costs of physiotherapists, special educationalists
etc. Regarding building, 3 new units were completed in Vesnova,
a new Day Care Centre (DCC) in Petrikov and refurbishment
of Kalinkovichi Day Care Centre. Cardiac, community care and
medical programmes also continued, and the maintenance of
140 ambulances.
There was the successful delivery of CCPI’s
27th convoy of humanitarian aid from Ireland though such convoys
will not be continuing as it has been decided direct aid in
Belarus is more cost effective; part of the plan for this
year is to spend €300,000+ on direct humanitarian aid
by providing monthly in-country deliveries to recipients.
CCPI are always looking for volunteers – to organise
events themselves or by contributing expertise on the ground
as fieldworkers or medical and building staff in Belarus in
particular.
Further details are available at the CCPI website
at http://www.chernobyl-international.com
(donations can be made via the website or by bank transfer
or cheque). Chernobyl Children’s Project International,
Ballycurreen Industrial Estate, Kinsale Road, Cork. phone
021 - 431 2999, e-mail: info@chernobyl-ireland.com
Learning to transform
relationships; courses with ISE
The Irish School of Ecumenics (ISE), Trinity College, is currently
accepting applications for M.Phil., M.Litt. and Ph.D. programmes,
for entry in October 2007. A centre for reconciliation studies
since 1970, and with campuses in Dublin and Belfast, ISE offers
a unique opportunity for graduates to belong to an international
student body, where they are encouraged to learn from one
another as well as from a panel of expert lecturers. Students
share a wide range of interests: e.g., conflict analysis and
conflict transformation, peacebuilding, social justice, human
rights, politics, development, education, theology and religion,
ecology.
Courses offered are: M.Litt. and Ph.D Research
Degrees (Belfast and Dublin); M. Phil in Ecumenical Studies
(Dublin); M.Phil in International Peace Studies (Dublin);
M. Phil. In Reconciliation Studies (Belfast); Postgraduate
Diploma in Conflict and Dispute Resolution Studies (Dublin).
The taught M.Phil. programmes can be taken over one year full
time or two years part time. The closing date for applications
to the degree programmes is 30th June 2007, and 30th July
for the Diploma programme. One term sabbaticals are also available.
If you would like further details, please visit the website
at http://www.tcd.ie/ise/postgraduate
or phone Dublin 01 - 260 1144 or Belfast 028 - 90770087.
The Education for Reconciliation adult
education programme of ISE operating from the Belfast campus
is involved in a wide range of courses (including restorative
justice, hate and transformation etc) in different locations;
current ones include Raphoe (Donegal), Ballybay (Monaghan),
Dundalk, Newry, Castlewellan, Enniskillen, Coleraine and different
venues in Belfast. Other recent locations of courses include
Ballycastle, Carrickfergus, Cavan, Dungannon, Limavady, Lurgan,
Portadown, Portstewart, Saintfield and Belfast.
The Women in Peacemaking programme,
also in Belfast, has run 6-week courses on “The
Journey from Violence to Active Non-Violence in Northern Ireland:
Learning from women’s voices and experiences”
in Monaghan, Dungannon, Omagh, Armagh and a couple in
Belfast.
The Belfast campus of ISE is at 683 Antrim Road,
Belfast BT15 4EG, ph 028 – 90775010. The Dublin campus
is at Bea House, Milltown Park, Dublin 6, ph. 01 – 260
1144.
PANA: Getting the Tone
right on Iraq
PANA, the Peace And Neutrality Alliance, marked its 10th anniversary
by republishing "The Spanish War" pamphlet written
by Wolfe Tone in 1790 in which he first advocated Irish Neutrality.
It can be bought for €3 plus postage (it’s also
downloadable from the website), all profits go the Stop Bush
Campaign. PANA, the NGOPA (NGO Peace Alliance) and the IAWM
(Irish Anti-war Movement), together with Labour Youth have
re-established the Stop Bush Campaign (SBC) in order to make
the war in Iraq, and the use of Shannon Airport in that war,
an issue in the forthcoming election. They are asking all
candidates to sign a pledge and people to print and distribute
the WAR IS AN ELECTION ISSUE poster which can be downloaded
from the website. Thousands of posters have been printed and
there is a street collection in Dublin on March 15th to raise
money in order to print more posters. Volunteers are welcome
to take part and can contact pana@eircom.net PANA will also
strongly encourages all people to take part in a SBC demonstration
outside the Fianna Fail’s Ard Fheis on Saturday 24th
of March at 2.00pm. See http://www.pana.ie
PANA, 17 Castle Street, Dalkey, Co.Dublin, ph. 01 235 1512.
ICJSA on Palestine and
Israel
The Irish Commission for Justice and Social Affairs (ICJSA)
has issued a detailed statement on “Palestine/Israel,
Principles for a Just Peace” which was launched at the
end of February. At the launch, Bishop Raymond Field said
that “Where there is evidence of systematic abuse of
human rights on a large scale as in the Occupied Territories
there are questions that must be asked concerning the appropriateness
of maintaining close business, cultural and commercial links
with Israel.” and he mentioned some other issues he
would be taking up with the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Dermot Ahern. The full report is available at the ICJSA website
http://www.catholicjustice.ie
- go to ‘News and Press Releases’, click on the
appropriate press release and the report is available at the
end.
Irish Centre for Human
Rights (ICHR), Galway
A comprehensive report on ICHR activities 2004-6 is available
on the website at http://www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights/
which also contains detailed information on recent and forthcoming
events. Summer Schools this year will be: International Criminal
Court Summer School, June 11th - 16th, and Minority Rights,
Indigenous Peoples & Human Rights Law Summer School, June
17th - 22nd. A seminar at the end of February was on The Trafficking
of Human Beings, and at the start of March Professor Joshua
Castellino, who has been with ICHR since its inception in
2000, gave a farewell lecture on "The Challenges for
the Protection of Minority Rights”; he has become Professor
of Law at the University of Ulster.
The website has full information on academic
courses available including LL.M. programmes in International
Human Rights Law and International Peace Support Operations
and has a Cross-Border Programme in Human Rights Law (LL.M.)
and Human Rights and Criminal Justice (MSSc/LL.M.), in conjunction
with Queen’s University of Belfast; there is a PhD programme
in International Human Rights Law. ICHR is at National University
of Ireland, University Road, Galway, phone: 091 - 493948,
e-mail: humanrights@nuigalway.ie
Church and Peace: June
conference at Corrymeela
“Not by might nor by power….” is the title
of a Church and Peace conference on vulnerability and security
at the Corrymeela Centre, Ballycastle, Co Antrim from 14th
(late afternoon) – 17th June (breakfast). See www.corrymeela.org
for venue. The fee for booking by 5th April is £146/€220
or £166/€250 afterwards (by end of April) and this
covers all accommodation and organisational costs. Church
and Peace wishes to empower communities of Christ’s
followers to be places where his peace is lived out in a visible
way and there are group and individual members in 11 different
European countries. Information and booking: Church and Peace,
Ringstrasse 14, D – 35641 Schoeffengrund, Germany, ph
+49 6445 5588, e-mail IntlOffice@church-and-peace.org
and web http://www.church-and-peace.org
Friends of the Earth
or FOEs
Friends of the Earth picketed a meeting of Social Partners
in Dublin in mid-February to protest at the exclusion of environmental
groups. The Department of the Taoiseach has twice turned down
written requests from environmental organisations to discuss
their participation in Social Partnership. FOE Ireland director,
Oisin Coghlan said “10 years ago, when this government
was first elected they promised to put the environment at
the heart of public policy. Now, with Ireland's climate pollution
spiralling out of control, Bertie Ahern is refusing to allow
environmental groups take part in Towards 2016 discussions.
Meanwhile, scientists are telling us 10 years is all the time
we have left to stop climate change running out of control"..
Friends of the Earth, 9 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2, ph.
01-6394652, http://www.foe.ie
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's planning system
must be 'climate proofed' if the country is to play its part
in combating global warming, Friends of the Earth and the
Town and Country Planning Association have said. The call
came as the organisations met with planners and other key
stakeholders to discuss a Planning Policy Statement (PPS)
on climate change. In December 2006 following a similar campaign,
Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government,
announced a new Planning Policy Statement on climate change
for England. Key to this success was the drafting by the Town
and Country Planning Association and Friends of the Earth
of a mock PPS on climate change. The two organisations are
confident that this success can be repeated in Northern Ireland.
Friends of the Earth, 7 Donegall Street Place, Belfast, BT1
2FN, ph 028 - 9089 7591, web http://www.foe.co.uk/ni
Airportwatch website: Shannon
in a nutshell
The main page of the Airportwatch website concerning US military
use of Shannon Airport is at http://airportwatch.wikispaces.com/
and there is coverage of the following areas: Protests, direct
action etc. December 2001-present; Arrests, charges, convictions;
Official reports on rendition flights (Council of Europe,
EU Parliamentary Committee, Venice Commission, Submission
to Oireachtas committee); Debates in the Dáil and Seanad
relating to Shannon; Legal challenges to the government (Dubsky
and Horgan):
INNATE networking group meets next on
14th March and 18th April at 7 pm in Corrymeela House, 8 Upper
Crescent, Belfast.
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