U-Turn for Peace: Join Maya Evans and John Catt for Mass Civil Disobedience in Bournemouth on Sunday 23 September.

Meet 1pm at THE BANDSTAND, in the Lower Gardens, Bournemouth, between the PIER and ”THE SQUARE” (see here for the location of the Lower Gardens).

Over 100 peace activists from around the UK have pledged to take part in nonviolent civil disobedience outside this year’s Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth. They will be demanding that Gordon Brown turn his foreign policy around, away from war and towards peace: ending British complicity with torture, stopping Trident renewal, withdrawing troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and ending arms sales to repressive regimes.

On Sunday 23 September 2007 – the opening day of Brown’s first Party Conference as Labour leader – these pledgers will join Maya Evans and John Catt for a two-part action outside the Conference organised by JNV, the London Catholic Worker and Voices UK :

* first, a photo call inside the anti-protest zone around the Conference centre, wearing specially-made anti-war t-shirts modelled on the U-Turn for Peace "road sign" above (probably a non-arrestable action).

* second, for those willing to risk arrest, a sit-down protest in the road leading to the Conference Centre.

Accommodation and Nonviolence Training Session
Overnight accommodation will be available from 7.00pm on the evening of the Saturday 22nd September and the evening of the 23rd for those who need it, at the Friends Meeting House, 52 Wimborne Road, Poole. This is a 5 minute walk from Poole train station, and opposite the Fire Station. It is a 30 minute bus ride from central Bournemouth. This is basic accommodation: ie sleeping on the floor. If you need a bed, please phone Martin Newell on: 020 7249 0041 who will try to arrange this. At 7.30pm on 22 Sept, there will be a Briefing, Planning and Non-Violence Training Session.

T-shirts!
If you are definitely coming and would like us to reserve a free fairtrade 'U-Turn for Peace' t-shirt for you then please contact us on 0845 458 2564 or voices@voicesuk.org with your name and details no later than Wednesday 12 September (offer available only to those taking part on 23 September!).

Background: Brown's Bombs and the Majority for Peace.

We know from polls that a majority of the British public are opposed to torture , Trident renewal , and arming repressive regimes. Majorities also want to see all British troops withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan:

* 72% of British people oppose all torture (BBC poll, 19 October 2006, http://tinyurl.com/ysmjfl).

* When presented with its estimated costs, 54% oppose Trident renewal (MORI poll for Greenpeace, 8 – 13 September 2005, http://tinyurl.com/2arga9).

* 82% oppose ‘selling arms to governments that abuse human rights’ (Poll for the ‘UK Working Group on Arms’, 5-7 March 2002, http://tinyurl.com/2dsq6v).

* 59% say British troops should be withdrawn from Iraq ‘more or less immediately.’ 53% say British troops should be withdrawn from Afghanistan ‘more or less immediately.’ (YouGov poll, 26 - 28 March 2007, http://tinyurl.com/24rear).

Shut out of the political system, there is a majority for peace.

Brown's Bombs
Meanwhile, according to a recent (12 August 2007) story in the Sunday Telegraph , ‘British war planes have dropped more bombs on Iraqi targets in the past month than in the whole of the previous three years,’ whilst according to the Observer British troops in Afghanistan have called in US airstrikes ‘hundreds of times in recent months’ contributing to a rapidly mounting death toll of Afghan civilians.

These are Brown's bombs. Nonetheless, the barrage of propaganda following Blair's resignation is having an impact: according to one recent poll 57% of the British public thinks Brown has got the relationship with the US "about right." All the more reason for you to be in Bournemouth on 23 September to demand a real change in British foreign policy.

Background: Maya Evans and John Catt.

Maya Evans
In December 2006 Maya Evans became the first person to be convicted under Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, after reading out the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq opposite Downing Street without permission from the police. See ‘Acts of defiance against war turned ordinary people into criminals’, Independent, 8 December 2005.

John Catt
During the 2005 Labour Party Conference in Brighton John Catt was stopped by police officers as a terrorist suspect ‘for the crime of carrying an artist's sketch pad, felt-tipped pens and wearing a T-shirt with anti-Blair slogans.’ See ’80-year-old man was held as terrorist for wearing an anti-war t-shirt’, Mail on Sunday, 2 October 2005.

Legal Info: What are the possible consequences of being arrested?

If you are thinking about risking arrest and you’ve never been arrested before then we highly recommend that you read the following briefings on the Activists' Legal Project web-site: The Arrest Process and Your Rights and The Impact of Arrest and Criminal Convictions.

A "bust card" and legal support line will be available on the day of the action itself.

Pledge Postcard: Who Would Gandhi Bomb, Gordon?

You can pledge now to take part in the action on 23 September by signing a "Who Who Would Gandhi Bomb, Gordon?" postcard (see below). Copies of the card are available free from Voices: voices@voicesuk.org or 0845 4582564. Please specify how many cards you want.



"I don't accept that what America has tried to do has failed" - Gordon Brown

The Labour Party leadership contest must be an opportunity to change British foreign policy towards one based on peace and justice:

* withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan
* publicly opposing any US assault on Iran
* ending British complicity in torture (Guantanamo etc...)
* stopping British arms sales to repressive regimes
* rejecting the renewal of Trident nuclear weapons

Unless the Government accepts these positions, which generally reflect the majority view of the British people, I pledge to take part in mass nonviolent civil disobedience at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth between 23 and 27 September 2007.