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Some
new anti-war songs and poems, plus some from the lunatic fringe.
David
Rovics is one of the most prolific political song
writers of our time.
The
Unpeople. A song about the majority of the world's
population.
Songs
with an attitude about War and Injustice. A list of
recommended songs with discography compiled by Tony Kempster
and Sue Gilmurray for use in education and campaigning from
Movement
for the Abolition of War.
Prisoner of Palestine by Seize
the Day
Michael Weston
King - I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier.
An anthology of protest songs inspired by the endless vigils
of Wooton Bassett for the returning war dead from Iraq &
Afghanistan. Aug 2010.
Isreali anti-war rock band Eggroll singing about the Wall
on YouTube.
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Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical
Islam.
Mark Curtis’ new book recounts the history of British
collusion with radical Islamic and terrorist groups.
“Startling and deeply disturbing evidence about how,
in an effort to preserve declining influence in the world’s
oil-producing regions, the government has lent frequent and
critical support to the states that have been the primary
sponsors of radical Islam and the terrorism that it spawns...’
Noam Chomsky
Published by Serpent’s
Tail July 2010.
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'Signs for Hope - Talking About Nuclear Disarmament'.
A new film from TALKWORKS
(on public release 15 April 2010). (Music by Brian Eno)
For use at awareness-raising and public discussion meetings,
and in schools and colleges, around the country. Young people
express their hopes for a future without nuclear weapons and
war. UK policy makers and prominent disarmament experts talk
about what is being done to deal with growing nuclear threats
and the vast global stockpiles of nuclear weapons left over
from the Cold War.
'Signs for Hope' contrasts with, but complements the recent
offering from the US Nuclear Security Project, The
Nuclear Tipping Point.
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Nuclear Weapons Abolition. An idea whose time
has come. Rebecca Johnson (Acronym Institute for Disarmament
Diplomacy and former senior advisor to the International
WMD Blix Commission) argues for active engagement, and for
determination and long-term commitment from civil society
and governments to make progress against vested interests
who shore up nuclear arsenals and drive continuing nuclear
proliferation and insecurity into the 21st century.
Published in 2010. Available to download free or buy in
hard copy from Abolition
2000 UK.
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| The
Last Chance: Eight songs on Isreal/Palestine written
and sung by Leon
Rosselson, Reem Kelani & Janet Russell. On Fuse
Records. All profits to Medical Aid for Palestinians. |
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| This
Time We Went Too Far. The truth and Consequences of
the Gaza Invasion By Norman Finkelstein. The title of this book
is a quote from the Isreali journalist Gideon Levy who examined
his country's justifications for the invasion and found none
of them held water. |
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The
Shock Doctrine.The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi
Klein 2007.
Around the world in Britain, the United States, Asia and the
Middle East, there are people with power who are cashing in
on chaos; exploiting bloodshed and catastrophe to brutally remake
our world in their image. They are the shock doctors |
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WAR
ON TERROR Coporate profiteering from the politics
of fear, by Soloman Hughes ISBN-13: 978 1 84467 123 6
Who is behind companies that reap the dividend of war? How
close are they to our political decision-makers? Do they actually
deliver what they are contracted to deliver, and at a cost-effective
price? Hughes catalogues the appalling record of private contractors
doing our governments’ dirtiest work, and asks how we
can possibly justify delivering into the hands of market forces
an area of public life which requires the very highest standards
of scrupulousness and integrity.
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BLACKWATER
On September 16, 2007, machine gun fire erupted in Baghdad's
Nisour Square leaving seventeen Iraqi civilians dead, among
them women and children. The shooting spree, labeled "Baghdad's
Bloody Sunday," was neither the work of Iraqi insurgents
nor U.S. soldiers. The shooters were private forces working
for the secretive mercenary company, Blackwater Worldwide.
If you have the money they will supply the mercenaries.
When the US and UK governments withdraw troops from Iraq
these "private security personnel" step in. At the
present time they outnumber the combined US & UK military
personnel in Iraq.
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MAKING ARMS, WASTING SKILLS
Alternatives to militarism and arms production
by Steven Schofield 2008
Download
report as a pdf-756kb or order a printed copy from the CAAT
office.
Executive summary
Arms production is now an international military-industrial
network, dominated by US-based corporations the essential function
of which is to support the United States in maintaining its
military supremacy and its geo-strategic goal of continued access
to energy supplies. BAE, which already had an effective monopoly
position in UK arms manufacture, is now one of the largest suppliers
to the Pentagon, generating more sales in the US than the UK.
Various trends are clear, including the increasing use of
foreign subsidiaries and the rationalisation of the traditional,
domestic arms manufacturing bases in the USA and Europe, with
significant job losses. For example, since the early 1980s,
UK arms-related employment declined from 740,000 to 315,00
by 2006
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ENDING THE WAR IN IRAQ. A Primer
By Phyllis Bennis 2008. ISBN:9781566567176 Olive Branch Press
2008
Why did three separate US administrations all agree on maintaining
crippling economic sanctions on Iraq? Was it really the UN that
imposed those international sanctions? What was Operation Iraqi
Freedom all about? What did oil have to do with it? Phyllis
Bennis was one of the many Middle East and UN-watchers who anticipated
disaster long before the first US troops crossed into Iraq.
With the Bush administration and most Democratic presidential
candidates for the 2008 elections agreeing that US troops will
remain in Iraq indefinitely this handy guide is a must-read.
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CND 50 YEARS ON
Two short films celebrating CND campaigning over 50 years'Faslane365'
& 'Aldermaston
50 years on'. These films were made by Maddmovies,
a small group who are working on the ducumentary history of
CND. They have also made a short film on The
Media and the War conference.
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Today's war mongering
politics impact all of us, even though not enough people are
still prone to get involved. Perhaps if people realised that
if all of us take a little more of an interest then another
world is possible; otherwise the current state of affairs is
the legacy that we will leave
behind for our children. |
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THE SKY IS ALWAYS THERE
In April 1997, Camilla Carr and Jon James went to Chechnya
to set up a rehabilitation centre for traumatised war-children.
Three months later they were taken hostage by Chechnyan rebels
and held for 14 months. This new book is their story.
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THE
FAÇADE OF ARMS CONTROL:
How the UK's export licensing system facilitates the arms trade
This 2008 publication, written by an academic at the University
of Sussex, is the ideal publication for anyone who has struggled
to reconcile the wide variety of government, campaign organisation
and media pronouncements on the issue of arms control. |
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UNIVERSITIES INVOLVEMENT IN MILITARY CONTRACTS
The fourth of the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Peacemaker
Briefings, ‘Study War No More: Military Involvement in
UK Universities’ is now available to download from the
from the website at http://www.for.org.uk/PB04.
Universities are publicly funded institutions and yet information
on military funding of higher education is often not available
within the public domain. Where resources do exist, the information
is often partial and out of context. Read more to find out about
the report and corresponding campaign.
This also compliments the CAAT
campaign to expose investment by British Universities
in arms companies.
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EXTRACTS FROM JONATHAN STEELE’S
NEW BOOK ON THE WAR IN IRAQ 'Defeat: Why They Lost Iraq'
’Guys,
I'm afraid we haven't got a clue’
‘We
had no idea we were not wanted'
"The
farce of sovereignty"
The book is published by I.B. Tauris at £20 in the UK |
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BEFORE
YOU SIGN UP
Thinking of joining the armed forces? Know the facts by checking
this link. It's not all it's cracked up to be. How many politicians
children sign up?
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BRIBING FOR BRITAIN.
A new booklet written by the author and trade unionist Tim
Webb has been published by CAAT.
It pulls together the major events and players in the Serious
Fraud Office-BAE-Saudi Arabia story, provides the necessary
background and analysis, and presents it in one accessible,
highly readable account.
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Unpeople:
Britain’s Secret Human Rights Abuses
Curtis’ most recent book shows that Britain is complicit
in the deaths of ten million people since 1945. These are Unpeople
– those whose lives are seen as expendable in the pursuit
of Britain’s economic and political goals. The book pieces
together the Blair government’s “public deception
campaign” on Iraq and reveals government plans to increase
“information operations” directed towards the public
and to embark on a new phase of global military intervention.
He also reveals from the declassified British government documents
the hidden history of unethical British policies, including
support for the massacres in Iraq in 1963, the backing given
to the rise of Uganda dictator Idi Amin and the extraordinary
private support of the US in its aggression against Vietnam. |
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Indian
helicopters for Myanmar:
Making a mockery of embargoes?
Summary In July, Saferworld launched a report highlighting
how an EU arms embargo on Myanmar (Burma) is under threat.
Written by European and international NGOs, including Amnesty
International and Saferworld, the report reveals how variants
of the ALH attack helicopter contain rocket launchers from
Belgium; rockets, guns and engines from France; brake systems
from Italy; fuel tanks and gearboxes from the UK and self-protection
equipment from a Swedish company. German companies have been
crucial to the design development of the ALH.
The report calls on the EU to initiate immediate consultations
with the Indian government to prevent this transfer from taking
place. It also stresses the need for stricter EU arms controls
to improve national and EU arms export practice.
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The
Good The Bad and The Ugly.
As the world's second largest arms exporter , theUK's decisions
concerning arms exports are of critical importance. This report
looks at the Government's policy and practice in this area
over the last ten years.
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This five unit study packet leads the reader through the
soul searching moral and theological questions we are living
with in the post-Sept. 11 world. How do we find light in this
present darkness? Why do the terrorists hate America? Is Islam
the enemy? What's the best way to fight terrorism? The guide
contains study questions, action steps, and lists further
resources.
This is a 5-session, 48-page study guide--3-hole punched
and binder-ready, making it easy to add possible future sections
or your own supplements. A Moral Response to Terrorism is
designed for use in classrooms, Sunday school sessions, small
groups, and study circles.
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| In "The New Rulers of the World"
the award-winning journalist John Pilger selects from his recent
"Guardian" and "New Statesman" essays on
power, its secrets and illusions. The title is from his television
film about the mythology of globalization; in which he revealed
how General Suharto's bloody seizure of power in Indonesia in
the 1960s was part of a Western design that was the beginning
of globalization in Asia. In this book, John Pilger discloses
more of Indonesia's secret history, as well as describing the
price paid by the people of Iraq for the West's decade-long
embargo. The author also contemplates the September 11th terrorist
attacks on America and the causes. |
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Rethinking War And Peace
Is war ever a just way to resolve conflict? Diana Francis
argues that it is not. With passion and eloquence, she mounts
a head-on challenge to the belief that war as an institution
is either necessary or effective for good.
Refuting the notion that human nature condemns us to perpetual
carnage, she argues that we can change the ways we think and
the systems we live by. In a tightly reasoned discussion of
the ethics of war and peace she asserts that war is a gross
denial of the core values on which peace depends, and that
Just War theory has failed and deceived us.
About the Author
Diana Francis is one of the world's most experienced practitioners
of conflict resolution and has worked with local activists
in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She is a former
President of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation
and an active member of the Bath Stop the War Coalition.
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People, Peace and Power: Conflict Transformation
in Action
Diana Francis
Pluto Press, London. ISBN 0-7453-1835-5
'Millions of people around the world live in
countries torn apart by war, where violence and suffering
are part of everyday life. Yet in all those countries there
are groups of people working for peace in the midst of war,
standing up for human rights and decency. What difference
can they make? What can be done to support them, and to help
dialogue to happen in the midst of hostility and violence?
This book examines these questions, focussing on the roles
that ordinary people can play as peace builders in societies
where violence and antagonism have become the norm, where
inter-communal relationships are fractured or where institutions
and the rule of law have collapsed. It examines the theory
and practice of conflict transformation and its relevance
for different cultures and contexts. Using extensive case
studies taken from practical workshops - the most frequently
used form of conflict intervention - in the Balkans and around
the world, it shows both the power and the complexity of such
encounters.'
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Lessons from Kosovo: Alternatives to War
Diana Francis |
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"DESCENT INTO UNREASON - How Jack
Straw Ruined my Book"
by Donald Michie
One of the Bletchley code-breakers during World War Two and
expert on Artificial Intelligence exposes the irrational logic
and outright lies behind the British government's position on
Iraq. Michie concludes this 24-page pamphlet with the assessment
that all Straw's bluster comes down to "America - right
or wrong". He writes: "History is not kind to duplicitous
toadies. What is the best, then, that Jack Straw's friends can
now hope? Surely that history will draw a veil over this most
inglorious of British foreign ministers."
This pamphlet is packed full of arguments to be used in debate
against the war. It is only available from the Stop
the War Coalition. Individual copies are £2 each,
including post and packing. Ten copies for £15, or multiples
thereof.
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A British Officers
email from Iraq June 6 2007
There is a widespread, and well-sourced, belief based on both experience
and evidence, in both the British military and academia, that the
US is not "just in Iraq to keep the peace, regardless of what
the troops on the ground believe. It is in Iraq to establish a client
state amenable to the requirements of US realpolitik in a key, oil-rich
region. To doubt this is to be ignorant of the motives that have
guided US foreign policy in the post-war period and a mountain of
evidence since 2003."
Ten
Years of New Labour’s Arms Exports By Mark Curtis 21
May 2007. Mark has reviewed British arms exports for the ten-year
period under New Labour. The figures, and the links between the
arms traders and UK government, speak for themselves.
Chronology
of US - Iran events from 1953 to the present from the BBC
Is
The U.S. Planning a Horrific Global Nuclear War? By Michel
Chossudovsky Jan 17 2007 from "Information Clearing House"
"Doomsday
Clock" Moves Two Minutes Closer To Midnight. Jan 17
2007 from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists "Deteriorating
Global Situation" Cited on Nuclear Weapons and New Factor:
Climate Change.
An
interview with John Pilger by Graeme Greene Sept 5 2006
"There’s the small, rather dislocated terrorism that
is always associated with al-Qaeda. That has undoubtedly been strengthened
by the invasion of Iraq and everything Bush has done. Then there’s
state terrorism, which is almost never talked about. We’ve
just seen it in Lebanon. That was a terror war where they deliberately
bombed civilians. That’s the terrorism that should be worrying
us. It’s impossible for the world’s greatest terrorist
organisation - the United States - to conduct a war on terror. It’s
absurd. Since 1946, they’ve overthrown some 50 governments,
many of them by terrorist means - that’s terrorism".
You met Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. What’s he like?
"Very interesting. I’d never spoken to a politician before
who actually answers your questions - that was quite a new experience".
Empire
– A Tribe on Steroids excerpts from an essay By Manuel
Valenzuela.
There now emerges a vitally important decision to be made: do we
continue our ways, which based on technology and human nature means
certain extermination, or do we find common ground, understand who
and what we are and deviate away from a path that continues to bring
us closer to the brink of self-destruction? Something much greater
than humankind’s primitive fascination with the tribe or Empire
must surely exist.
The Pax Americana is as Empires have always been, growing internally
at first thanks to comparative advantages in technology, population,
philosophy or resources, flourishing regionally thanks to increased
power and wealth, until that time that her belly overflows her waistline
and the greed of man becomes the pursuit of imperial hegemony. To
appease the growing hunger of her leaders for power and of her people
for increased living standards expansion of her borders becomes
state policy. Thus, Manifest Destiny is birthed and the hand of
god is proclaimed to be the guiding force empowering the quest for
expansion onward, thereby granting forgiveness, and an excuse, to
the litany of crimes against humanity that is logically to follow.
Of course the torture, dehumanization, rape, pillage, brutal occupation,
murder, humiliation, disappearances, decimation of human rights,
false imprisonment, tyranny and utter contempt for human life prevalent
in America’s disasters in Iraq or Afghanistan are not exclusive
to the last few years. Rather, it has been methodical and systematic,
an unending product of expanding Empire and of maintaining control
over her vast fiefdoms throughout the globe, lasting over decades
of time, past, present and future, afflicting millions from almost
every land, of every religion, of every ethnic origin. It is the
nature of Empires, and thus of humankind, from those in Mesopotamia,
Asia and Africa and Mesoamerica, from Sumer to Babylon, from Egypt
to Greece to Rome, from the Mayas to the Inca to the Aztec, from
the Ottomans to the Persians, from the English to the Spanish.
Unwilling to alter a standard of living that has reached unsustainable
proportions, with its population expanding instead of curtailing
its outrageous demands for ever-increasing standards of living,
its greed of material wealth and love of consumerism outstripping
all semblance of control, the population inside the Empire are complicit
in the crimes furthered by America. In its locust-like appetite
for materialism and consumerism the citizenry of the Empire has
condemned billions of their fellow human beings to a life in utter
indigence, their abilities and talents used not for the betterment
of themselves or their families, but for the greed of the plague
hemorrhaging the planet towards its ultimate limit
The Empire declares itself the land of the free, yet its population
works the most of any developed nation, almost becoming automatons
in need of no rest or relaxation. It becomes sacrilegious to take
time off work and cherish one’s family; it is heresy to take
time off in order to take care of personal duties. Americans either
become addicts to work and slaves to their bosses or one becomes
an unwanted pariah. The pressure to conform and remain complacent
while the system shackles one’s life is omnipotent; its effects
on stress and life become extreme burdens on one’s psychology.
Every year hails the arrival of more police powers, more autocratic
rule, less democracy and civil rights and liberties. Every year
sees the government of, by and for the People transformed into one
of, by and for the Corporate World.
Lesson Learned or History Repeated?
For Empire today is global, no longer is it the regional power
of yesteryear. As a result, the playing field has shrunk, the powerful
competitors are closer and the chances for conflict have intensified.
With dwindling resources, especially those of water and oil, with
a booming human population, with the existence of nuclear weaponry,
with global warming soon to unleash its dastardly consequences upon
our fragile civilization, with human nature being what it is and
with the primitive love of tribe and theology embedded in our psychology,
the danger of self-extermination has grown exponentially, threatening
to destroy all life on the planet.
With a future based on more conflict, not less, with old Empires
and new rivals ready to wage battle over territory and resources
and power and control, there now emerges a vitally important decision
to be made: do we continue our ways, which based on technology and
human nature means certain extermination, or do we find common ground,
understand who and what we are and deviate away from a path that
continues to bring us closer to the brink of self-destruction? Unfortunately,
momentum is with the former, just as it has always been. Dare we
change it, and the course of human destiny as well?
Something much greater than humankind’s primitive fascination
with the tribe or Empire must surely exist, waiting to be incorporated
into human civilization, waiting to shed its enlightenment upon
all of humanity.
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