Norwich Peace Camp

and Peace Cycle

Events

Below is the text of the Peace Camp petiton for having the Mayor of Norwich officially designated as being a mayor for peace in line with over 3,900 cities worldwide and many in this country also. This petition to date has received over 300 signatures including that of current Mayor Cllr Tom Dylan.  For more info about the Mayors for Peace initiative please visit Links on this site.

Petition

“We the undersigned endorse the Mayors for Peace initiative and petition Norwich City Council to consider adopting the initiative of other cities by designating in future the Lord Mayor of this city as being a Mayor for Peace”.

Question Time on Peace

Questions to candidates in Norwich election 2010

On 12th April 2010 fourteen endorsing member organisations of Norwich Peace Camp invited candidates from the five parties contesting the election on May 6th for Norwich to answer questions about peace, justice, human rights and other related issues, both here and abroad, at Friends Meeting House. The meeting was well attended with over 100 people present. The questions tabled for the evening are listed below and drew a variety of answers from the candidates, who however agreed that they all needed to be addressed with urgency and that if elected in many cases they would seek action upon them. While we felt greatly encouraged by a number of the statements and even commitments, these varied in degree and it was not always the case that these were consonant with the clear line of the questions which we feel speak clearly for themselves and in every case should be taken up urgently in Parliament.

1) From No2ID

The government and Civil Service are obsessed with hoarding data about individuals on numerous databases, from the DNA of innocent people to children’s details, to medical records, to peaceful protestors, to your very national identity.

How do propose to protect citizens from having their personal information used against them by governments, sold on by insiders, sold officially to the commercial sector or other third parties, uploaded and stored incorrectly, or simply lost?

2) Norwich Amnesty International

Will you actively support Amnesty’s campaign for a full, independent and impartial public enquiry into the UK’s involvement in rendition, secret detention and enforced disappearances, including the activities of the security services?

Amnesty International recognises that the government has an obligation to protect the security of the UK population. Should this ever be at the expense of the basic rights of our citizens?

3 NORFOLK JEWISH PEACE GROUP
“In December last year an arrest warrant was issued by a London court for former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

       “The warrant for alleged war crimes was subsequently revoked when it was learnt that Ms Livni was not in fact visiting the UK.

      “Be that as it may, the issue of the warrant and the resulting uproar within the UK Jewish community led Prime Minister Gordon Brown to declare that the law had been exploited for political gains and needed to be changed.

      “Does the panel agree with Mr. Brown that there needs to be a change in the law, in effect putting Ms Livni and others representing countries deemed to be allies of Great Britain above the law, or would such a change, as has been argued by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others, be a grave mistake?”

4 Campaign for nuclear Disarmament

     “Given that the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference will be taking place in May, the British Government must demonstrate its commitment to working in good faith towards global nuclear disarmament. Would the candidates agree that this aim is inconsistent with the proposed replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system, and what would they do if elected to ensure that the next Government meets its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty?”

5 Norwich Palestine Solidarity Campaign

The British Government, EU and United Nations have demanded that Israel lift its blockade of Gaza, ceases settlement building in the West Bank, and house building and disposessions in East Jerusalem. Yet it (Israel) continues to flout international law and opinion. In the light of such transgressions and its resistance to genuine negotiation, will you, if elected, support moves to introduce an arms embargo and economic sanctions against Israel?                                                                           

6 Norwich Stop the War coalition

The human and financial costs of the Afghan war are soaring. Over 30 000 Afghan civilians and hundreds of troops have died. According to official figures, Britain alone has spent £12 billion. The policy of war has failed, bringing only death and growing devastation to Afghanistan. Viewing these facts, the fact of economic recession and that this is an unwinnable war, do you think we should withdraw the troops from Afghanistan ?

7  Norwich & Norfolk Muslim Association

Islam is not ‘terrorist’, neither are Muslims ‘terrorists’, Muslims believe in justice and universal human rights and above all want peace. In view of this, how would you if elected seek to address the concerns of Muslims here and abroad, when we see our religion being misrepresented and Muslims becoming victims of this and the whole world suffering as a result?

8 Norfolk Campaign Against Arms Trade

‘The UK government supports and promotes military exports through the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation, which has more staff working specifically to promote arms sales than all other types of export combined. Much of this promotion targets unstable and repressive regimes. Would you agree that the UKTI Defence and Security Organisation must be shut down and its functions ended?’

9 Norfolk African Community Association

What is your view on UK’s International Development Aid policy in particular in supporting peaceful resolution of conflicts in the developing countries of Africa, for example in Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, Congo etc?

10 Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

Considering the current collapse of the existing unequal as well as unregulated economic system, and given the increasing financial strain, what is your opinion about imposing a tax on all financial transactions (FTT/Tobin/Robin Hood Tax)?  Figures of 0.005% (TUC and some NGOs) and 0.05% (Jeffrey Sachs) have been suggested

11 Norwich Quakers

Do the panel agree that peace is threatened by climate change, resource depletion and the growing world population and that grappling with these is a higher priority for humanity than the “war on terror”?

13 Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

“One in three women is experiencing gender based violence. What would you do to change a culture that permits violence against women and in which men feel that aggressive and violent behaviour improves their status?”

12 Refugee Council

Assuming there is no place for racism and xenophobia in British politics, do you think that democratic debate is enhanced by denigrating the most vulnerable in our society? Would you pledge to stand by the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, who are not entitled to vote, but who depend on our proud tradition of offering succour to those in genuine fear of persecution?

Norwich United Nations Association

What policies would your party seek to reduce unruly behaviour in the
street. Fighting and drinking is carried on not only among the young
fellows ?

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