Our Activities
We're distributing white poppies again this year.
For more detail about white poppies, look at the Peace Pledge Union's excellent website www.whitepoppy.org.uk
If you need more poppies to give away, please contact Heather. If anyone gives money, we'll send it to the PPU for education for peace.
Meanwhile, we wrote the following letter to the Durham Times
As Remembrance Day approaches, members of Peace Action Durham will once again be distributing white poppies.
We want to stress that white poppies do not in any sense dishonour or show a lack of respect for red poppies. Far from it - rather they complement and extend the symbolic significance of the red ones, to include the victims of all wars, all those who continue to suffer and die, soldiers and civilians alike. Most importantly, worn together, they symbolise hope and a commitment to look for alternatives to violent conflict.
It may sound naive to talk about Peace on Earth,and yet it is surely worse that we should carry on indefinitely with our increasingly dangerous assumption that war is inevitable. We are in cynical, pessimistic times, but we owe it to all our children to avoid despair, to allow them to believe that another more peaceful world is possible, and to help them feel that they can play their small part in bringing this about. When we say “never again” we need to work for a future which is different from the past.
PAD is supporting an event called Peace in Our Town on Thursday 21st October 7.30 at Elvet Methodist Church Durham City
Two speakers, Peter MacLellan and Patricia Devline who will help to animate the whole event.
The event will move from a hot discussion about local divisions and the need for peace and harmony in Durham to a cold discussion of the situation in Palestine
1. The "hot" discussion will be about issues which divide Durham at present and to try to determine whether there can be more understanding and perhaps common ground than there seems to be between groups who currently don't talk to each other.
We're thinking of fragmentation between town and gown, between academics and other residents, between members of different political groupings etc and issues such as those posed by the new Durham Plan - do we want Durham to be a historic city exactly as it is or to develop and lead the economy of the region? do we want more relief roads and scope for the motor car, or should we try to be green and emphasise public transport?
We'll do this by having a short provocative talk followed by facilitated discussions at individual tables on
- what sort of Durham do we want? (aim to get consensus, but if not to at least identify different themes and why we can't reach consensus)
and then
- how do we get there (on post-it notes, maybe in different colours if there are different visions, hoping to show that there is common ground)
We'll display the results of this during a break when there'll be cups of tea and nice cakes (I'm not at liberty to disclose whether flapjack will be available)
2. The "cold" discussion will be based on a talk on the realities of building peace in a Palestinian town near an Israeli settlement on the West Bank, to put some of our concerns in perspective.
We will try to summarise the results after the event and circulate these both to participants and to some of the relevant authorities.
Please tell everyone about the event and encourage them to come!
Support the DEC Appeal
If you are interested in the controversy surrounding the BBC's refusal to show the DEC Gaza Appeal then you may be interested in the following links:
The DEC Appeal - as broadcast by ITN
The DEC Website - donate now!
Tony Benn makes the appeal anyway
Rather feeble justification by a BBC spokeswoman
Also watch Gerald Kaufman's speech in the House of Commons
Contact all the group
We now have a single e-mail for distribution of e-mails to everyone on the group (anonymously). If you want to be part of the system, please contact Stuart through the contacts page.
useful information sites
CND’s Trident replacement briefing click here