Last year ended with New Labour's ethical foreign policy being forcefully delivered to the Iraqi people by bomber and missile launcher, while the Government continues to hold on to it's illegal nuclear weapons exclusively in Scotland. At the same time Barry Horne's 68-day hunger strike brought vivisection in particular and animal rights in general onto the news agenda as never before. In a few months, Scotland will elect a new breed of politicians
The Editorial Team
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Trident Ploughshares 2000, a group of global citizens who, fed up with the British government's unwillingness to act upon its promises to ban nuclear weapons, have publicly pledged themselves to "do-it-yourself" disarmament. Its purpose is to accelerate progress towards a nuclear-free world at the start of the new millennium by peacefully, openly and accountably attempting to disarm the Trident nuclear submarine fleet and challenge the legality of the British "strategic deterrent" before our courts.
The activists base the legitimacy of their disarmament attempts on international and national humanitarian law which prohibits the use of weapons which would cause indiscriminate harm between combatants and non-combatants, inflict unnecessary suffering, or result in widespread, long-term, and severe damage to the natural environment. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its Advisory Opinion of July 1996 confirmed that humanitarian law applies to the threat or use of nuclear weapons. Since test results have established that the 100 kiloton warheads deployed on Trident missiles could not be used in any conceivable practical circumstance without violation all the above legal prohibitions, the British nuclear deterrent is in fact an unlawful weapon system. The activists are also empowered by the Nuremberg Principles which impose a duty upon everyone who knows about a potential war crime to act to prevent it. Silence implies consent where a moral choice exists.
There were 39 trials arising from the August action. The defence that the illegality of trident justifies attempts to disarm it is being repeatedly pressed before the district court at Helensburgh, but the Scottish Legal system is unlikely to take the claim seriously until the matter has been debated in appeal before the High Court in Edinburgh. This is expected to be heard within the next few months.
The activists, of all ages and from all walks of life, converged on Faslane and Coulport, determined, after the failure of all other democratic means to disarm Trident, to take the law into their own hands and begin the non-violent disarmament process. Willing to take full responsibility for their actions and operating from the peace camps, the base fences were cut or climbed over, mass blockades of the gates were staged to disrupt the work being carried out inside and swimmers on 3 occasions risked the freezing waters of the Gareloch to reach the Trident submarine berth.
From 9th to 15th November 1998, the second wave of Trident Ploughshares actions took place again at Faslane and Coulport. This time there were 14 arrests.
Reports from the women remanded in custody and held at Cornton Vale Prison in September raise many issues about the apparently "routine" and "normal" treatment meted out by the prison staff to inmates. This included strip searches and painful restraint methods.
If you would like to support Trident Ploughshares 2000 or find out more information, please write to Alan Wilkie, c/o Peace and Justice Centre, St. John's Church, Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4BJ.
Whirlygig and Lorraine Jordan will be playing at a ceilidh organised by Edinburgh CND in support of Trident Ploughshares 2000. It will be held on Saturday 6th Feb at Stockbridge House, Cheyne St. Doors open at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £6 (£3.50 concessions), more information available on (0131) 664 8441.
In recent years, a number of disturbing incidents have appeared in the press concerning Bobby Roberts circus. Here are a few examples:
In 1990, an elephant named Maureen belonging to Bobby Roberts circus broke loose while attending the opening of a new Liverpool clinic. She was loose for 4 hours and was reported to have battered down a two foot wall, uprooted three trees and startled an elderly man. (Source: Blackpool Gazette, 6 Dec 1990)
After having his head crushed against a wall, Bobby Roberts underwent a nine hour operation during which metal plates were inserted in his face. (Source: The Sunday Mail 6 Jan 1991)
In 1994 Council appointed Inspectors at Dunfermline found a poodle at the circus in need of veterinary treatment and advised the owner to seek veterinary advice. When they visited again 4 days later, the dog had still not been taken to a vet. They also found wet bedding and walkways ankle deep in mud. A camel was shivering and had a reasonable amount of mud on its legs and abdomen. (Source: Dundee Courier, Feb 1994)
A woman was walking her 14 year old golden retriever past the circus in a public park in Portlethen, Aberdeen when three dogs escaped through a gap in the fence and attacked her pet. The attack took place on a public path where children regularly play. A sign pinned to the fence read "Dogs Bite Questions Later". (Source: Evening Express, 6 Oct 1994)
Please write to your MP asking for a complete ban on the use of animals in circuses. SCAN believes this is the only solution to the animal welfare problems inherent in circuses.
Scottish Circus Action Network (SCAN)
(SCAN is a coalition of animal rights/welfare groups in Scotland dedicated to ending the exploitation of animals in circuses by all legal means available.)
We did eventually find the meeting point at the recreation ground in Witney but there was no meeting going on there. That's where we first heard the rumours that the demo was going to be held in Oxford instead. So we contacted "Save the Hillgrove Cats" who informed us that the demo was indeed being held in Oxford and that we should make our way there as soon as possible. It was impossible for our bus driver to take us into Oxford, so all 21 of us boarded a local mini buzz bus. Whilst travelling to Oxford we were overtaken by a number of police vans and motorcycles all sounding their sirens, so at least we knew we were definitely on the right road this time!
Oxford was choc-a-bloc with Saturday shoppers and what better place to spread the word about Hillgrove Cat Farm than a bustling town centre. We all made our way to Carfax Tower where we heard some speeches before marching through the city centre and up Banbury Road towards the physiology department at Oxford University. Hillgrove Cats are used extensively at Oxford University - along with a number of other animals - in hideous and bizarre experiments. The police of course were a constant presence as usual and they blocked the road leading straight to the university. So, with that out of bounds to us we started to march back to the city centre, but the police formed a blockade and prevented us from moving up that way - in fact the police had prevented us from moving any way and we were confined to a small stretch of road with every escape route blocked!! As we are seeing, the police tactics are becoming more bizarre with each demonstration. We discovered that about 300 other protesters were still back at Carfax Tower and that's why the police had blocked the road back into Oxford. Although the other protesters were prevented from joining us, there was enough of them to make a lot of noise.
Eventually we were released and allowed to continue up Banbury Road through many residential areas and another main shopping area - we were joined by locals all along the way. We were then marched to a service station where our coaches awaited us and after a three mile march and six hour demonstration we were all tired and glad to give our feet a rest, but much respect and admiration was felt for the other demonstrators who went back to Hillgrove Cat Farm, and we all wished we could join them, but we had a long journey ahead of us, back to Scotland.
We went home with a feeling of satisfaction and more determined than ever to spread the word about the Hillgrove cats. Look out Farmer Brown - we'll be back! The next demo will be on 20 February. For information about Hillgrove and transport to the demonstrations contact (01592) 743166.
Mandy
(Hillgrove Farm breeds cats for vivisection. At any one time there are about 1000 cats and kittens there.)
Mumia is an activist who was framed for the murder of a policeman and is on death row in the USA. On 29th October last year he was refused the right to have an appeal heard. Now a death warrant, setting the date for his execution, could be signed any time.
Mumia has been a tireless campaigner against racism and oppression since he joined the Black Panther Party at the age of 14. Working as a radio journalist, he aroused the enmity of the authorities. Against all the evidence, he was convicted on a trumped-up murder charge in 1982 after a farcical trial (for details see our leaflet).
Some local people decided to join the world-wide movement to save and free Mumia. On 19 December 1998 around ten of us joined the 100-strong demo against the bombing of Iraq being held in the centre of Edinburgh and leafleted both the demonstrators and passers-by with FREE MUMIA NOW! leaflets. Hundreds were distributed,and signatures collected on a petition.
Posters featuring Mumia's photo and the text Free Mumia Abu-Jamal - Framed Us Activist On Death Row - Stop The Execution were displayed, along with anti war posters.
According to a reliable source, after the demo an unknown group of people proceeded to the United States Consulate in Regent Terrace, Edinburgh and plastered the door, railings and immediate area with posters, leaflets and stickers in solidarity with Mumia and against the war (see photo).
For leaflets on Mumia, send a SAE to Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh, 17 W.Montgomery Place, Edinburgh EH7 5HA - if you'd like extra to distribute just send more stamps.
Autonomous Centre
The core activity has consisted of a number of direct action groups - hunt saboteurs - who using non-violent means of intervention such as horn and voice calls, scent-masking sprays, laying false trails and clearing areas of wildlife before hunts begin, have sought to save wildlife.
Why has sabbing continued unabated? Simply because it can be so effective. A number of hunts in Scotland and elsewhere have failed to sustain kills for an entire season after being targeted by sabs. The hunting community were instrumental in drafting the notorious Criminal Justice Bill which sought to criminalise our activities which, they thought would end sabbing once and for all. Wrong! This deeply flawed legislation has instead often had the effect of galvanising opposition to hunting from those who were previously unaware or indifferent to animal suffering, such as political groups, ramblers and civil libertarians, who came together to oppose fatuous laws like "aggravated trespass".
Fighting cruelty is an expensive business from the viewpoint of time, money and often punitive penalties sustained by a system that seems more determined than ever to maintain hunting. I feel it's important to point out that hunt sabs receive neither income nor support from what laughably passes for animal welfare/rights groups.
Indeed far from providing any sort of solution such groups like Animal Concern, Advocates for Animals etc. have become more of a problem. Such groups, it seems to me, have "passed their sell by date", and exist now as job creation schemes with the bulk of resources expended on wages rather than animals.
Hard to believe? Consider some of the most effective hard-hitting campaigns of recent years namely the bid to ban live exports and the Hillgrove Cats campaign - both have been sustained by relatively small groups of dedicated determined campaigners with little money or resources available to them and faced with indifference or worse from the national organisations.
And so it has been with the recent Bill to ban hunting with hounds brought by Mike Foster MP. Thankfully, once again individuals in cities such as Ayr, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Carlisle took to the streets with information stalls, produced posters, held public meetings, distributed leaflets, wrote to newspapers, held vigils and visited MPs' surgeries.
The Glasgow campaign of which I was involved in literally took to the streets. In lead up to the Foster Bill, activists sustained 29 days of continuous campaigning without a break. We distributed over 60,000 postcards, 185,000 stickers and goodness knows how many leaflets, newsletters and posters. No surprise then that MPs received more mail on this issue than ever before and the overwhelming vote made history!
The Labour Government's betrayal then has been a bitter one, but they have a difficulty in ignoring such a tremendous response - indeed the democratic process itself is being brought into disrepute.
So where does that leave the campaign at present? Well the silence from the "New Labour" worthies is palpable. No national hunt ban appears likely. However, as one door closes another opens, namely the foundation of the Scottish Parliament next year. An all-Scotland ban would be a worthy opening gambit and send a signal to Blair. Our opponents are only too well aware of such a move and already 9 "lobbyists" from the Countryside Movement have been appointed to promote fox hunts.
Further, it has been widely trailed that the noble Lord Steel is, thanks to his friendship with Donald Dewar set to be appointed as the first speaker of the new parliament. This is the same David Steel who, whilst as a Borders MP received £93,000 per annum from the Countryside Movement. It seems fitting therefore that Edinburgh finds itself at the forefront of the battle to ban deathsports. Now as never before there is a need for groups and individuals to unite in this struggle. One cannot care for the environment and ignore the plight of all its creatures.
Ronnie Boyd
Hunt Saboteurs are active around both Glasgow and Edinburgh. For Glasgow phone (0141) 402 6210 for details and to get in touch with Edinburgh Sabs leave a message on (0131) 557 6242.
Its first project has been an imaginative scheme developed by Scottish supporters of the World Council of Churches' Programme to Overcome Violence. This is an approach to the problem of bullying in schools by tackling it in the context of the community around the school. The scheme needs substantial funding, and Margaret Macintosh, the project director, has worked hard to approach various trusts and organisations (including local authorities). Although there has been an encouraging response to her appeals, the big funding has not yet been obtained, and it may be necessary to modify the scheme accordingly. If any readers known an enlightened millionaire or two, perhaps they would let the Centre know.
Much of the work of the Centre, of course, can be carried on with fairly limited finance. We try to keep in touch with any projects that we get to hear about, like the anti-bullying magazine that school students themselves are producing with the assistance of the City Council's Youth Cafe in Victoria Terrace, or the splendidly comprehensive peace woodland scheme that a group in Winchburgh have planned. It would be helpful if we could find more money to extend the library.
But our great problem is the usual one: finding people who are free and able to give time to the work of the Centre. Most of those already involved wear many hats (woolly hats, naturally), and its is difficult to organise things so that the Centre can be open to the fullest possible extent. Anyone who has done a stint in the Centre will know how satisfying it is to be able to answer queries (usually about addresses of organisations), even though there may be long periods of quiet. A friendly bookseller provides us with a good range of second-hand books, and we have quite a clientele of buyers who my also look at our peace/environmental materials. With more support we could reorganise and develop the library.
So if you feel you could spare even a couple of hours on a regular basis, we should be glad to hear from you. Our strategic aim is to raise the profile of any work that helps on alternatives to violence. Unfortunately, violent methods still enjoy prestige and carry conviction even when manifestly don't work (as in penal policy). But there are signs of change, and the fact that the U. N. has declared the year 2000 as a year to promote a culture of peace is an omen. There's a long way to go, but the Education Centre can help a bit and is worth supporting.
Geoffrey Carnall, (0131) 447 1156
Three weeks after the hunger strike, Barry was still very ill and confused, and is unable to fully explain the precise reasons for ending his hunger strike. As Barry ended the hunger strike, the dirty trikcs departments swung into action. From nowhere the media started quoting unnamed mysterious sources, with bizarre claims that the hunger strike was a hoax, that his supporters were exaggerating BArry's condition and even that they had been plotting to let Barry die against his will.
Prior to this, the hunger strike had received several weeks of unprecedented and excellent national and even international publicity. In the press and on TV and radio, the whole issue of vivisectiona nd government policy became one of the top news items. Government ministers and MPs were grilled about broken pre-election promises.
Since our Libearty campaign started in 1992, we have been incredibly busy saving bears from lives of cruelty and torture and we have had some amazing successes. We have virtually stopped the spectacle of 'dancing' bears in Greece and Turkey and built sanctuaries for the bears rescued from this life. The huge problem of 'dancing' bears in India will be one of our main projects next year. In Thailand, we have built a sanctuary for bears destined for the cooking pot, and we have just completed work on a new sanctuary in Hungary to house ex film industry and circus bears. Last year we campaigned hard against the barbaric 'sport' of bear baiting and we are pleased to say that we are also making progress in this area. We have recently begun a ground-breaking study of Spectacled bears in Ecuador, which we hope will help with efforts to conserve them in the wild.
Along with our Libearty campaign, we also have many other projects. This summer WSPA launched a high profile campaign and petition against the growing sport of bullfighting in France. Our Pet Respect campaign will go on concentrating on the promotion of stray control and welfare in countries such as Poland, Cyprus and Malaysia. For the Turtle Alert campaign, launched last year, we will be funding a conservation initiative in Sri Lanka, and a public awareness campaign in Kenya. As always, WSPA's emergency rescue team will be keeping a constant vigil for animals threatened by man-made and natural disasters and we will continue to help the orang-utan casualties of the forest fires in Indonesia.
WSPA Scotland raises funds and awareness for WSPA in Edinburgh and surrounding areas on a regular basis. Our Edinburgh Libearty Group, which was established in 1995, organises a variety of fundraising events and activities which supplements those of WSPA Scotland. We are always looking for volunteers to help us with our work. If you think you can assist us in any way, however big or small, or would like any more information on WSPA's work please don't hesitate to contact me by phone or fax on (01875) 614 610 or by e mail at LESLEY_WINTON@compuserve.com or at the following address:
Lesley Winton