Nottingham Student Peace Movement was first established by concerned students in the lead-up to the US-lead invasion of Afghanistan and has subsequently opposed wars and injustices including the illegal invasion of Iraq and the brutal blockade and bombardment of Gaza. Our main focus is to highlight and and work against the root-causes of war and injustice. We have been involved in a broad range of causes from anti-fascism and civil liberties to disarmament and the environment. We employ a huge diversity of tactics from awareness-raising and motions in the Students’ Union council to protests and direct action. We work with an inclusive and dynamic approach based on consensus processes.

In the lead-up to the war against Iraq, we organised dozens of coach-loads of Notts students to attend the massive protests in London. We have blockaded the nuclear bases in Aldermaston and Faslane. We have organised countless debates, discussions, conferences, workshops and have hosted fantastic lectures from timely voices in the political-wilderness. We played a large role in organising the highly successful ‘Free Hich campaign’ which mobilised the largest campus protest in the history of Nottingham University, and has ensured the freedom of our friend and NSPM-alumni Hicham. Many other projects and groups have emerged from NSPM, including the popular free summer-festival ‘Sounds on the Downs’. These are just a few of the concrete achievements of the society over years for which it has existed.

This has been a difficult year for NSPM. All those who have been involved are final-year students and all have been extremely busy with other commitments. As such NSPM has not been so active and effective as in previous years. We have not received the much-need injection of energy from the next generation of student activists. Thousands of people have attended our events over the years, but precious few get actively involved in helping to organise them. The entire committee are graduating this year and the future of the society is now in jeopardy.

In a last attempt to save NSPM we are calling an AGM on Saturday 17th July, at 1pm, meeting at The SUMAC Centre.

http://www.veggies.org.uk/sumac/welcome.html

We need everyone who is interested in the future of student activism at Nottingham to attend this meeting. If you are studying at Nottingham next year or are a member of the wider community, if you have been on our mailing list silently watching, if you are interested in peace and social justice but have never gotten actively involved, now is your time! Please step forward and help to save the most active and effective peace and social justice society on campus! If NSPM folds this will be a great loss to the diversity of political activism on campus and a great loss to the campaigns and causes which NSPM supports.

If you are unable to attend the meeting but are keen to get involved next year, please send an email to nspm@riseup.net. If you would like a place on the committee please indicate this.

We hope that this lull is not the end of NSPM, but just the beginning of the revival!

Yours in peace and hope.

NSPM

The border regimes and immigration controls of the UK and Europe cause untold suffering for many thousands of people. Those who choose or are forced to migrate from poverty, war, and environmental destruction are often met with violence, oppression, and discrimination. Many of the root causes of migration into Europe can be traced back to countries in the West, from conflicts fuelled by the arms trade, military invasions of countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan as wall as support for oppressive regimes and human rights abusers, and the devastating effects of climate change caused by the rampant pollution of industrialised countries. This creates a ‘Full Circle’ of oppression and violence, and leaves many thousands of people desperate and hopeless, trapped in a vicious circle of suffering and poverty.

This day of workshops, films, and discussions has been organised to explore these issues in more detail. It will include sessions on the topics of climate migration, the ongoing situation in Calais and the oppression of migrants trying to cross the border into the UK, the workings of the European border regime and how migration is affected by developments in the global economy.

Saturday 8 May, 10am-5pm, University Park Campus, C Floor, Portland Building, University of Nottingham.

Free admission, everyone welcome. Email nspm@riseup.net for more info.

Schedule:

10.00am

CLIMATE NO BORDERS

What is the relationship between climate change and migration? This workshop will analyse some of the issues in connection to concepts such as ”climate justice” and ”climate refugees”. We will investigate the relationship between capitalism and nationalism in relation to climate change, and arguments surrounding freedom of movement.

FULL CIRCLE

A popular education workshop exploring how different political issues, campaigns, and struggles are connected, and how the common ground they share can be used as a base from which to move beyond single-issue campaigning.

11.30am

WOMEN, MIGRATION, AND CHALLENGING OPPRESSION

This workshop will provide space to explore more specifically the reasons why women may migrate, and the problems that women can face when trying to navigate throught the asylum process. We will also look at how, in order to build strong and effective movements against systems of oppression, hierarchies and domination need to be challenged within activism and the ways we organise.

NO BORDERS

No Borders is a network of groups across Europe who campaign and struggle against oppressive border regimes. This workshop will explore the political position of No Borders, addressing the question of why we have borders as well as the role of the state and capitalism in curtailing freedom of movement.

1pm LUNCH (unfortunately we are unable to provide food, so please bring a packed lunch)

2pm

CAPITALISM AND MIGRATION

Capital knows no borders – governments may claim to control the movement of people, but the increasingly globalised economic system has its own logic. What do current shifts in economic power mean for the future of migration, borders, nations and conflict?

CALAIS MIGRANT SOLIDARITY

After a long and difficult journey across Europe, Calais is where many migrants attempt to cross the border into the UK. Living in squats and makeshift camps, and facing constant police harassment, the migrants in Calais are subject daily to the brute oppression and violence of the joint UK – France border regime. This session will include a film documenting the situation in Calais followed by a short discussion.

3.30pm

ANTI-FASCISM

Fascism is underpinned by the desire to defend a perceived national race from outsiders and therefore poses a significant threat to those who want to see freedom of movement for all. This workshop will explore some of the history of fascism and the different forms anti-fascist resistance has taken, as well as developing consciousness of the underlying assumptions of fascist politics.

IMMIGRATION DETENTION

Hicham Yezza, editor of Ceasefire Magazine, was arrested under the terrorism act at his Nottingham University office in May 2008. He was cleared of those charges after six days but was immediately thrown into an immigration detention centre to be deported within days. He spent six months in total between immigration detention centres and Foreign-National prisons until he won his case against the Home Office in August 2009. This workshop aims to both share what he has discovered in his two years fighting Home Office oppression in al its forms and also to encourage participants to think about how to challenge the government’s inhumane immigration policies and tactics.

For more info, please contact activestudents@riseup.net

10am – 6pm, Saturday 9th May
Portland Building, University Park
Free entry – No need to book – Everyone welcome

Programme:

Click here to join the event on facebook.

‘Capitalism has destroyed our belief in any effective power but that of self interest backed by force’
George Bernard Shaw

Why is there so much fighting, destruction and suffering on our planet?  Is modern warfare really ‘human nature’?  How are conflicts related to economics and geopolitics?  Is the capitalist system to blame?

Join us for a day of talks, interactive workshops, discussions, debates, films and food.  The conference will engage in a range of topics exploring the links between war and the dominant economic system of our time.

Confirmed speakers, groups and participants:

Milan Rai, editor of Peace News
Dr. Matthew Rendall, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations
Dr. Srila Roy, Lecturer in School of Sociology
Dr. Tim Jacoby, Lecturer in the School of Environment and Development at Manchester University
Dr. Andy Robinson, Research Fellow in the School of Politics and International Relations
Steve Yemm, from the think-tank Compass
Campaign Against the Arms Trade
New Internationalist
Shut Down H&K
Amnesty International
Frank Jackson, editor of World Disarm!

For more information, email: nspm@riseup.net

Whether for one session or all day, join us for some informative and insightful investigation of these pressing issues.

See http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/g20 for details.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=49600653225

*** The Great Green Film Festival 2009! ***

Saturday 14th March, 10 AM

C11, Portland Building, University Park Campus.

Free entry, no need to book, all welcome.

MP Alan Simpson makes address in occupied B62

For more inormation please visit: http://occupationnottingham.wordpress.com/