Scottish CND volunteers have been travelling around Scotland with our Vote Out Trident message, helped by our giant puppets Big Sandy and CiNDy.

IN EDINBURGH: Last minute before the election leafleting on Wednesday 6^th May: 5pm at the East End of Princes Street.

Saturday 9th is the 2nd Saturday of the month, so we will be out for some post-election leafleting at 1230 also at the East End of Princes Street.

CND’s General Secretary Kate Hudson has this week assessed the manifestos, the hustings, and then the candidate responses on Trident. She found Trident is a live election issue with all parties publishing clear commitments. But the manifestos don’t necessarily represent the views of candidates.

Scottish CND has created an online database with information on what the candidates and the parties say about nuclear weapons. Find out what the candidates in your constituency think here If you haven’t already done so, you can send them an email on Trident here 

CND has also slammed a pro-Trident letter from military figures to the incoming PM saying that it would be irresponsible folly not to replace Trident.

POST ELECTION EVENTS

Month of Conscientious Objector Events 15 May 5 – 6:30pm. Conscientious Objectors Day Vigil We will gather on the Mound to honour Conscientious Objectors wars, past and present. There will be a meeting of the Scottish Peace Network after at the Peace and Justice Centre. For other P and J events check their website.

The film ‘These Dangerous Women’  will be shown in Edinburgh on Monday 18 May 2015 at 7.30 pm at

Augustine Centre Studio, George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL : you can book a place online: http://bit.ly/1Dg66kA. The doors will be open at 7pm to give time to look at the photograph exhibition of WILPF women and events in WILPF’s 100 years of working for peace.

The film tells the story of some of the British women who travelled to International Women’s Congress at The Hague in April 1915.  It reviews the relationship between the women’s involvement in the suffrage movement and their desire for a negotiated settlement in place of war to resolve international disputes. There will be Q&A with Film Director from 8 pm.

Tuesday 26th May 7.30pm Stop The War Public Meeting at the Augustine Church, George 4th Bridge: Islamophobia, War and Chaos in the Middle East – the legacy of Bush and Blair.  With Moazzam Begg, Lindsey German, Aamer Anwar and Safeena Rashid

In Glasgow: 

Stop Arms sales to Israel May 9^th, The Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 4JP (Map) Registration 9am (£10/£5) – Finish 6pm

Scrap Trident meeting 20th May (more information to follow)

 

EVENTS:

1. Edinburgh singer-songwriter, Calum Baird, plays alongside Edinburgh CND’s Penny Stone and legendary Scottish folk singer-songwriter and socialist, Dick Gaughan, at the Pleasance on the 1st of May in celebration of International Workers Day and the May Day weekend.

Tickets available here (not sold on the door):

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/event/the-may-day-concert-dick-gaughan-tickets/173559

http://www.tracscotland.org/festivals/tradfest/events/2685/the-may-day-concert-dick-gaughan

2. The Edinburgh CND banner will be on the march the following day 2nd May: assemble Middle Meadow Walk Edinburgh. There will be a rally at the Pleasance Theatre, 12.30pm. There will be a Peace stall and more singing from Penny Stone (and some other good speakers). Please join us.

3. Edinburgh CND will be meeting at 6pm on Monday 4th May at ACE. This is an informal meeting to plan our next events
4. Don’t Bank on the Bomb Scotland Campaign Meeting. 5 May. 7 – 9pm. Peace and Justice Centre.
5.  Edinburgh CND will  leafleting  at 1230 on Saturday 9th May East end of Princes Street.
6. The Story Collective are exploring Scotlands folk stories and their relevance to modern society and politics.

One of the stories being presented is “Assipattle & the Mestre Stoorworm” about a loathesome sea monster, and making a direct comparison to the Trident nuclear subs (at the Scottish Story -telling centre)

 NEWS:

You may have noticed that Trident has become a major issue in this general election campaign. Have your candidates made their feelings known?

CND’s has criticised Labour’s ‘hypocritical and muddled’ approach to foreign policy. In a landmark foreign policy speech at Chatham House today, Labour leader Ed Miliband pledged a commitment to multilateralism and global institutions, yet he reiterated Labour’s support for Britain retaining nuclear weapons, while failing to set out plans for multilateral disarmament and a global ban on nuclear weapons.

Miliband also criticised the Conservatives for lack of post-conflict planning following the 2011 bombing campaign in Libya and the ensuing migrant crisis – despite it being a war which Labour backed.

CND’s General Secretary Kate Hudson said:

‘Labour can’t have it both ways. Ed Miliband is trying to situate the party as one of multilateralism and international institution-building, but the party’s record is one of supporting disastrous and bloody misadventures: from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya.

CND at the United Nations

A CND delegation will be heading to the UN in New York this weekend to participate in the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, an international conference on nuclear disarmament. As well as hosting an official fringe meeting, CND will join other NGOs at protest events and meet with Ambassadors. Global Wave to Nuclear Weapons  rally held in New York on April 26 (and other places).

Trident: Time to Move On has launched! Some of you may have seen the  letter in the Observer on  Sunday  –http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/apr/11/letters-trident-not-desirable Please do share the links – especially the petition – with your networks now as every single signature will count over the next three weeks as we attempt to demonstrate to politicians and the mainstream media that any complacency around this issue is sorely misplaced.

Future events:

1. Conscientious Objectors Day Vigilwith Protest in Harmony. 15 May. 5 – 6:30pm. On the MoundPrinces St.

likely to be followed by a Scottish Peace Network meeting at 7 pm at the peace & justice centre

2.The film ‘These Dangerous Women’  will be shown in Edinburgh on Monday 18 May 2015 at 7.30 pm at Augustine Centre Studio, George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL : you can book a place online: http://bit.ly/1Dg66kA.  The doors will be open at 7pm to give time to look at the photograph exhibition of WILPF women and events in WILPF’s 100 years of working for peace. The film tells the story of some of the British women who travelled to International Women’s Congress at The Hague in April 1915.  It reviews the relationship between the women’s involvement in the suffrage movement and their desire for a negotiated settlement in place of war to resolve international disputes.

3.OneWorld Peace Ceilidh Edinburgh Steiner School. 60 Spylaw Road. Friday 29th May.7:30pm til midnight.

4. Workshop on Friday 1 May:  George Wilkes, who directs the Relwar (Religion and Ethics in the Making of War and Peace) Project, works with an inter-disciplinary team of scholars in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and they have been invited to come to Edinburgh to contribute to input and facilitation based on their  contextual action-research and book projects.

We’ll be updating the site on a regular basis with news, information and events.  Do add it to your bookmarks.