Saturday 11th April would be the day that we usually leaflet in Princes Street. Instead we are urging our supporters to support the SCND ‘ windows for peace’ initiative. http://www.banthebomb.org/…/2076-windows-for-peace-placard-…

The Edinburgh CND April meeting will be held on-line with the aid of ZOOM. Further details on our Facebook page or by emailing edinburghCND@yahoo.com

COVID-19: A message from Scottish CND and Edinburgh CND
We are facing an outbreak of the Covid-19 virus across the world and here in Scotland which is particularly threatening to those in our communities who are older and/or have underlying health conditions. We encourage our members and supporters to follow the official NHS Scotland advice found here.
The Scottish CND office will be closed to visitors for the foreseeable future and staff will mostly be working from home so if you have a non-urgent query please get in touch via scnd@banthebomb.org or leave a voicemail for us on 0141 357 1529. Membership, online shop orders and payments will be processed as usual, maybe with a small delay.                                                                                                                     With the help of the internet, other campaigning can continue even in lockdown – researching, letter writing and lobbying from home. Our website has various current suggestions – protesting radioactive discharges into the Gare Loch, calling for the closure of Hunterston nuclear power station and checking your local authority shows support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by signing the ‘Cities Appeal’. All of these issues concern both nuclear weapons and the environment. If you feel you want the information you cannot find then please get in touch.

The CND office in London is also shut: They explain that these are frightening times for millions of people around the world. But this global pandemic was predicted in successive government security assessments. So why are we so unprepared?
Twisted priorities have seen billions of pounds wasted on nuclear weapons rather than preparing for the situation we now find ourselves in.
This is why we’re urging our supporters to write to their MP to tell them it’s time for the government to wash its hands of Trident so we can begin to address the real security threats we face. Hundreds have already taken part, and we ask you to spread the message further. Click here for the lobby tool.It’s also a crucial time to make the case for NHS not Trident.

Internationally: Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament are also monitoring parliamentary action and policy analysis of the coronavirus pandemic situation and the connections to security policy.
See for example the article National security is too crude to protect us from pandemics: It’s time to shift to human security’ by PNND Council MemberJonathan Granoff and published in Newsweek. Also of interest could be To address the corona virus: Shift resources from nukes and the military to public health and the economypublished by Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, and the blog PNND and the Coronavirus.
“We are at war with the coronavirus. We need a massive wartime manufacturing mobilization for coronavirus testing kits and personal protective equipment for medical personnel. We need to activate our capable and talented domestic industry and bring the full power of the federal government to bear in responding to this viral enemy.”
PNND Co-President Senator Ed Markey. Letter to President Trump, March 15, 2020. See PNND and the Coronavirus.
Move the Nuclear Weapons Money published a blog, To address the corona virus: Shift resources from nukes and the military to public health and the economy, which explores these issues and the budget decisions which governments must make to address both the health and economic impacts of the corona virus pandemic.

1. From SCND: Post-election is the beginning of a new chapter in Scottish CND’s campaign for a nuclear-free Scotland working for a nuclear-free anti-racist world, and responding appropriately to the climate emergency. An anti-nuclear, anti-racist stance was explicit and high profile in the SNP campaign and the one remaining Labour MP in Scotland is known for his steadfast opposition to Trident. The election results outwith Scotland are a sober reminder that Scotland is currently part of a United Kingdom which is dead set on continuing to prioritise nuclear wepaons at the expense of genuine social and economic security, and to wilfully ignore the planetary crisis.
   (Some in SCND believe that) an independent Scotland will follow a better path than the road the UK is being led down. The power is in our hands to rid the whole of the UK from the scourge of nuclear weapons and we should now be planning the vital and sequential steps towards that end. Meanwhile, we must live and act as part of that global groundswell for peace and human security that is behind the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It is a sleeves up moment.
   At the same time we share the feelings of distress, dismay and actual grief that so many are experiencing today and we wish to express real and heartfelt solidarity with those who are even now picking themselves up to continue the hard struggle for equality, truth and justice. In particular, we saluate the courage and the persistence of those in the rest of the UK who work their socks off in the cause of nuclear disarmament in such a hostile climate. We are in this together.       NB Saturday 11th January Scottish CND participated in the march for Scottish independence to push for an independent Scotland free of nuclear weapons.
2. CNDUK: 2.1 Many of us may still be disheartened at the Conservative Party victory in last week’s election. But as a movement we must hold our heads high and carry on our crucial campaign, whoever is in government. See the magazine for CND’s next steps. This issue also includes an article on possible further delays to the Trident replacement programme. Read Campaign: December edition Download Campaign: December edition       2.2     Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, Brian Eno and Tez Ilyas will address a demonstration against the threat of war on Iran in central London on Saturday 11th. They will be joined by war veteran Joe Glenton, Stop the War’s Lindsey German, CND’s Kate Hudson and others.
3. NFLA – On the 24th January the NFLA Scotland Forum will hold a business meeting, Annual General Meeting and a special seminar from 10am – 3pm in Glasgow City Chambers. The seminar will consider Hunterston B ongoing concerns, a vision for Scottish energy policy and the growing movement for divestment from Council pension funds of investment in nuclear weapon and fossil fuel companies. The seminar flyer is attached and registration is now open. On the 31st January the NFLA Steering Committee will hold a business meeting and its Annual General Meeting that were postponed from this month, due to the election. This meeting will be provisionally in the HM Coroner Conference Room, the Royal Exchange Building in Manchester city centre (access from St Ann’s Square) from 10.45am – 1.30pm. I strongly encourage all NFLA member and officer contacts to attend this meeting, which remains the most important of the year. Venues and dates for other meetings are being finalised and will be communicated as they are confirmed. The NFLA December newsletter considers the UK general election outcome and nuclear policy, the development of the Mayors for Peace European Chapter, NFLA plans for early 2020, our new climate emergency briefing, a planned nuclear emergency planning briefing and our external interaction in the month. Please disseminate it widely! The Annual 2019 newsletter gives a summary of all of the work of the NFLA Secretariat, and its interaction with its core partners, across the year.NFLA Website: http://www.nuclearpolicy.info – includes links to NFLA Facebook and Twitter pages Mayors for Peace Website: MAYORS FOR PEACE – 平和首長会議        Mayors for Peace International Newsletter and the UK and Ireland Mayors, Provosts and Leaders for Peace Chapter Policy Briefing. I also provide a short progress report on Mayors for Peace activity.
4. CAAT Edinburgh 2020 Strategy Day Saturday 25 January 2020, 10.30am to 5pm in Edinburgh (full address provided on registration) Campaign Against Arms Trade are growing in Scotland: our numbers of volunteers and activists are growing, we’re holding more and more demonstrations and protests about arms manufacturing and export, and we’re talking to more and more people about the need for peace. And we’ll be building even further on this in 2020! Please register by emailing Melanie on caatedinburgh@live.com
5. ICAN International Forum: The forum will take place all-day (9:00 — 17:00) on Friday, 14 February, and Saturday, 15 February. An evening social event will be organised on Friday, as well as Saturday, for those that are sticking around Paris until Sunday. Tickets Paris.icanw.org!  Extra: New ICAN website: www.icanw.org 
6. Latest edition of Peace and Justice Centre news: In this issue of Peace & Justice News we report on embroidery workshops for community engagement on the Opposing War Memorial project and on Collaborative Classrooms – an exciting new development on our Peacebuilders programme for primary schools moves into gear. As the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons moves closer to banning the bomb our origami peace cranes project has nearly reached its goal. There’s info on how to get involved in the next phase of the project. Plus there’s news of our involvement in XR Peace. Find out how to get involved in a P&J Affinity Group. All in Centre News. http://peaceandjustice.org.uk
7. Los Alamos Study Group Bulletin 265: Please help us work this coming year! Also: important meetings Jan 2 & 8 in Santa Fe; Pope Francis and The Bomb
8. Beyond Nuclear International: https://beyondnuclearinternational.org:    8.1 This week we look at nuclear colonialism, in the United States and overseas. From the exploitation of uranium to the dumping of radioactive waste, indigenous and poor communities of color are disproportionately discriminated against and democracy has often been cast aside for corporate profit. We look at Congo and New Mexico as two examples.                                      8.2 The truth in the nuclear world is quite often stranger — and nastier — than fiction. But little comes close to the bizarre true story of the bird ladies of Sellafield whose pigeons became radioactive waste. Illinois is America’s nuclear power capital, but the harm done by nuclear power and weapons is a legacy largely buried. In a new University of Illinois exhibition, artists bring that “slow violence” to light.                                                                                                                  8.3 (added 13/01) It’s time to examine nuclear issues through a social justice lens and get women’s voices heard, writes Lilly Adams, who takes issue with the male-dominated arms control community. She is fighting to get the emotional equation firmly at the heart of arguments for nuclear abolition. Trump’s reckless decisions to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and assassinate a top Iranian general may be pushing that country closer to nuclear weapons development. Or will Trump just decide to use nuclear weapons on Iran himself? Linda Pentz Gunter examines these perilous developments.                                                                                       8.4 (added 20/1) “Our water and our Grand Canyon is under attack,” write Patricia Kelly and Robert Arnberger. A growing number of calls to open the Grand Canyon to uranium mining risks the drinking water supply for 40 million people and would desecrate the world’s most spectacular gorge. Actor and peace activist, Martin Sheen, who has been arrested scores of times for acts of civil disobedience, chose arrest once again to protest the new apocalypse, climate change. Linda Pentz Gunter talked to him about his latest cause.                              8.5 added 27/1 And still we march. On January 18, it was the Women’s March, where many issues important to women were loudly proclaimed on protest signs and in speeches. But would a woman lead us to nuclear war? Linda Pentz Gunter ponders these questions and more. On January 25, we marched again, this time to say “no war with Iran.” But what do we really know about Iran and its people? Vijay Prashad gives us some perspective on the country, its history, and the motivation behind US war-making in the Middle East.
9. The countdown has already begun to the 2020 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. This is a once every five years opportunity where governments get together to review the progress they have made towards the goal of the Treaty – complete disarmament of all nuclear weapons.As we know, there has been little progress since the last Review conference: every nuclear weapons state is ‘modernising’ its arsenal. The UK is a major culprit. It signed the NPT in 1968, but continues to possess nuclear weapons, and has committed to replacing Trident. We need to act now to make sure our government participates in this conference at a high level, and takes its legal obligations seriously. This is particularly important as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons may well come into force this year. CNDUK is racing money for a Newspaper advert. If just 700 people donate £20 each, there’ll have enough to place the advert, but any amount will help towards the cost. The advert will feature your name, along with hundreds of others who want to see nuclear weapons banned for good. Please, help us support the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by making a donation and adding your name to our newspaper advert.
10. BaslePeace Office, Unfold Zero  Basel, January 6 2020 – The winner of a new youth award, the Peace and Climate action of European Youth (PACEY) Award, will be announced on January 9, 2020 at an international event in Basel that is bringing youth leaders and policy makers together to address the existential threats to humanity from the climate crisis and nuclear weapons. STOP PRESS +++The Green Building Municipality project, a multi-ethnic youth gardening initiative from a conflict region in Kosovo 
    Young people around the world are becoming more active on climate, peace and disarmament issues out of a growing sense of urgency, and a frustration at insufficient government action to address these threats. Latest update  highlights the recent United Nations resolution on Youth, disarmament and non-proliferation, the new UN resource on Disarmament and You(th), and initiatives/events of Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign, Abolition 2000 Youth Network, Basel Peace Office & PNND linking youth actions and voices on climate, peace and nuclear disarmament. (a)United Nations General Assembly resolution 74/64 adopted earlier this month onYouth, disarmament and non-proliferation; (b)Climate, peace and security: From youth voices to policy action, an upcoming event in Basel, Switzerland bringing policy makers together with youth leaders in climate, peace and nuclear disarmament movements; (c) Peace and Climate action of European Youth (PACEY) Award, a new award to support an outstanding or innovative European youth project or proposal for action on the climate, peace and nuclear disarmament; (d) Youth voices on climate, peace and nuclear disarmament, youth-led actions and initiatives connecting these issues; (e) Disarmament and You(th), a new UN resource.                                                      PNND add: 2019 was a tough year for nuclear disarmament, with increased tensions between nuclear-armed States and erosion of arms control and disarmament agreements including the INF Treaty and the Iran nuclear non-proliferation agreement (JCPOA).              ++++Since 1947, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has annually announced the level of risk to humanity from nuclear weapons (and more recently also from climate change) by setting the hands of the Doomsday Clock. The closer the hands are to midnight, the higher the risk to humanity of a nuclear or climate catastrophe. Watch live today (January 23 at 10am, Washington DC time) as the new setting for the Clock will be announced at the National Press Club by Gov. Jerry Brown (Bulletin Executive Chair), leaders of The Elders Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland), Ban Ki-moon (former UN Secretary-General), and the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board. Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said: “These expert warnings show how real the twin existential threats of nuclear warfare and the climate crisis are. Urgent action must be taken to avert disaster.

11. New paper: Youth Contributions to Peacebuilding in Yemen: “The situation needs us to be active”, written by Kate Nevens, Marwa Baabbad and Jatinder Padda for Saferworld. The paper draws on our experience of working with youth organisations and activists in Yemen over the past decade, and looks at the heavy toll the conflict is taking on youth activism, as well as the vital roles that youth continue to play in their communities across Yemen. Please find the paper attached and a link to the Saferworld page here.

12. UN Association have a part-time consultancy opportunity (from Feb – June 2020). It’s to provide support to the UK campaign to stop killer robots, particularly with regard to broadening membership of the group inc from the tech sector, working with parliamentarians and tightening up our advocacy asks. Details on request edinburghcnd@yahoo.com
13. January Dovetails events include the following: 13.1 A C CLARKE DROCHAID LAUNCH Full details HERE  The EDINBURGH launch of the pamphlet will also be happening on Saturday the 18th of January at lunchtime (exact time TBC) at Citadel Bookshop 41, Montrose Terrace Edinburgh. 13.2 Dove Tales member Jim Aitken has will be editing an anthology of radical Scottish poetry to be published by Culture Matters.  Culture Matters runs a website and publishing operation and promotes a progressive, socialist-minded approach to the arts and culture. With so much inequality, unfairness and social disconnectedness in our society and the world around us, the word radical should be interpreted in a way that suggests writers feel they are in opposition to how certain things are, whether expressed through protest, satire, the hopeful imagining of a better world, or other creative responses. Please send no more than 2 poems and a short biog of around 50 words to jaitken53@gmail.com by 31 March 2020. It is hoped that the book will be published and launched in the summer of 2020.
14. nuClear News No.121 January 2020 is now available for downloading here:
    www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/NuClearNewsNo121.pdf
15. Message of Pope Francis for the celebration of the 53rd World Day of Peace (1 January 2020), 12.12.2019 http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/12/12/191212b.html

 No to Nato rally TODAY 3rd December
Gather at 5.30 pm at the East End of Princes Street (Register House)
Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other NATO leaders are expected to attend a reception hosted by the Queen to mark NATO’s 70th anniversary. Please join us on  to show your opposition. Bring your banners, placards and friends     https://www.facebook.com/events/1307144789464996/

For more information on opposition to NATO: https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/14937/even-if-no-one-talking-about-it-nato-critical-issue-general-election

Afterwards: Join us from 7pm at the Peace and Justice Centre Epworth Halls, Nicholson Square for our AGM and Seasonal Social.

NEXT EVENT : 6 Dec
ember
FRI





COP 25 – Vigil for Climate Justice

17:30
Please join the GREEN FRIDAY alliance for the vigil to demand CLIMATE
JUSTICE NOW from the Scottish and UK governments in the coming general
election, and from the UN after 25 years of failed international climate
talks.The rally starts with guest speakers at 5.30pm outside Usher Hall on
Lothian Rd. After this we will go to make a human chain along the
western end of Prince’s St from 6:15pm for a vigil for climate justice
and in solidarity with social justice protesters in Chile, where the
government has chosen to pull out of hosting COP 25, the latest UN
climate conference, rather than meet their demands. Please help join us in PUTTING PEOPLE AND PLANET BEFORE PROFIT, with banners, climate carols and Chilean waves, on this international day of
action. REGISTER:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vigil-for-climate-justice-at-cop-25-tickets-83356847575Bring your banners, placards, torches,whistles, music
Wear something bright. Wrap up warm!

END BIT: A SURVEY The P and J emailed asking people  to complete a survey in Consultation on development of Princes St Gardens & encourage space for their Peacemaking Heritage. Unfortunately one of the links did not work.

Here is the Correct LINK

5. Climate Change is one of the main threats the world faces today. Urgent action is needed but our government continues to prioritise war and weapons over the future of our planet. CND joined XR Peace and is currently taking part in the October Rebellion. Find out more in the magazine, which also includes news on the upcoming NATO summit in London. Read Campaign: October edition
Eight of nine XR peace activists were arrested outside the supreme court. They had glued themselves to each other in front of the court in spite of the imposition of a Section 14 Order which prohibits any Extinction Rebellion protest in London. They called on the UK Supreme Court to recognise the crime of Ecocide and the illegality of nuclear weapons, and to protect people’s rights to freedom of assembly.   They   are calling on the court to use its powers to uphold international law.                           Photo Group outside the Supreme Court

Video of arrest

Photo Police surround activists ahead of arrests

Photo Superglue being removed by police

Photo Close-up of protester before they were arrested

6. Beyond Nuclear International: https://beyondnuclearinternational.org                   6.1 NATO is aggressive, expansionist, and should be abolished, argues the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Disbanding NATO, says CND’s Kate Hudson, would move us toward a nuclear-free, less militarized Europe. Even as its reactors — and shares — were crumbling, French nuclear company EDF held a propaganda side-show at the UK’s Labour Party Conference. Beyond Nuclear’s Linda Pentz Gunter went along.       6.2 The Extinction Rebellion, born in Britain, is on the streets en masse around the world. Part street theatre, part rage for survival, participants face mass arrest and harassment. What is XR and is it working? We provide a glimpse. Those living downwind of the US atomic tests have been unevenly compensated, excluding those at the epicenter of the very first test, Trinity. Will this injustice ever come to an end? 6.3 (28/10) An international team visited the small villages in the “Polygon,” the area in Kazakhstan where the former Soviet atomic tests took place. There, they found both terrible suffering and remarkable resilience. In the next in our series on the myths of nuclear deterrence, E. Martin Schotz argues that we are already at war, even before we use nuclear weapons.                                                                                                     ——————-                                                                                                                                   7. Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre. Over the coming year, the Peace & Justice Centre will continue to promote peacebuilding and non-violence through a range of great projects. Will you chip in to ensure that our hard-working staff and volunteers are able to realise these projects?DONATE NOW   (a) Thanks to substantial grants, our team of Peacebuilders will continue to teach peace in schools with our cooperative games programme. (b) Thanks to the generous donations of hundreds of supporters we’ve raised £67,450 so far to build an Opposing War Memorial in Princes Street Gardens – that’s 40% of our budget for the project. Our lead artist for the sculpture, Kate Ive is running workshops in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee for participants to create their own handkerchief like the ones that will be put on the tree. You will create a simple emblem, image or text design which Kate will then help you embroider onto fabric. During the workshop, Kate will also talk about the design and construction process and timeline for installing her Opposing War Memorial design in Princes Street Gardens.
Edinburgh workshop: Wednesday 27th November, 6.30 – 8.30pm, central venue to be confirmed.
(c) In partnership with Scottish CND and international health charity Medact we’ve persuaded three Scottish local Councils to call for divestment of their pension funds from nuclear weapons. Last month we published the 2019 Don’t Bank on the Bomb Scotland report where you can find information on how to lobby your Councillor. Check out the coverage in the National here.  (d) We’re also working with Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) to expose the role of Scottish companies in selling arms to Saudi Arabia. Our report will be published jointly with CAAT later this autumn.(e) To mark the 75^thanniversary of Hiroshima next year we’re planning an exhibition of 140,000 Origami Cranes. Each crane represents one person who died when the nuclear bomb was dropped. With 134,000 cranes made so far, we’ve nearly reached our goal.  (f) see website for white poppy sales                                                           —————–                                                                                                                                           8. Scottish CND:  8.1 The latest edition of Nuclear Free Scotland – Spring/Summer 2019 is available on our website. Become a member today to get a copy in the post! 8.2 The new Scottish Greens CND Network  counts all Greens in SCND as members. Data protection legislation makes it difficult to know who they are! Soplease email us to add you to our subgroup and receive relevant info write directly to scnd@scottishgreens.org.uk). 8.3 6 Nov, Glasgow: Scottish CND are proud to be supporting a screening of The War Game at the Glasgow Caledonian University 8.4 29 Oct, Glasgow: Come hear about the impact of nuclear power and weapons from Alex Lockwood and talk about what climate action means for you, what your priorities are and what you think we should all be doing. Edinburgh CND still has copies of Alex’s Book mail us on edinburghcnd@yahoo.com 8.5 Next No to War / No to NATO Scottish Network meeting is scheduled for Wednesday November 13 at 2 pm in Scottish CND office.                                                                                                         +++++++8.4 SCND AGM takes place on Saturday 16^th of November in the Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL, 10 am.                                                                                                                       ————————-                                                                                                                                 9. ANTHOLOGY LAUNCH Dove Tales NEW anthology is called BRIDGES OR WALLS? and features work by Margaret Elphinstone, Chrys Salt, Liz Niven, Ray Evans and many more. The book launch is at our Day of the Dead event at the CCA on Sauchiehall Street in GLASGOW on the 5th of November at 7pm!