Bridport Peace and Justice Group
Welcome
to the web site of Bridport
Peace and Justice Group. We hope it becomes a useful resource for
those, especially locally, who wish to work for a more peaceful and just
world.
Bridport, Dorset, England.
Have
you been puzzled by who the 42 countries who we keep hearing about
as being members of ISAF which as you know is an acronym
for International Security Assistance Force. These are the
guys who are occupying or assisting with the security of Afghanistan,
depending upon your point of view. Well here they are:-
The raw data for this was sent to me by NATO, (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) This has made me realise that my geography is so much worse than I had imagined. I had not realised that Singapore (two points, deux points, zwei Punkte etc) was anywhere near the North Atlantic. Some pertinent facts are that the USA has three times as many troops in ISAF as the next contributor, the UK which in turn has twice as many troops as the next contributor, Germany. Germany has 4245 times as many troops as the smallest contributor Georgia. I understand that the USA have further troops in the country, under the acromyn OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom?) It might be that the Georgian troop is a Georgian superwoman, who more than pulls her weight, or it might be that this one troop is designed to irritate the hell out of the Russians. If that is the case, then it certainly seems to have worked. It does not sound quite so snappy when it is expressed as 42 countries or which more than 20% do not contribute more that a football team. ......................................................... David Partridge |
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| Air strikes in Afghanistan ::::::::::::::::::::::::::: CLICK | |||||
| Declaration of the Georgian Peace Committee :::::::::::::::::::: CLICK | |||||
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The Bridport Peace and Justice Group has been adopted by a lady called Sharen Green, who is presently in Israel/Palestine doing her second stint as a human rights monitor. Her
reports can be viewed at:::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Report 2...... http://www.bpjg.co.uk/Independence%20Day%20in%20the%20Seam%20Zone.html If you wish to drop her a note in support you can email her at: sharen@bpjg.co.uk
Good news on the disinvestment campaign!
This years Bridport Peace & Justice Group stall at Tolpuddle Festival generated some good news about progress with our campaign to get Dorset County Council to stop investing any of its pension fund in US and other arms companies.*
Several people came to the stall who had taken away our disinvestment campaign leaflets last year – and brought some news about unexpected developments:
Some
Northern trades unionists we gave the leaflets to last year had
started what they described as ‘big campaigns’ for disinvestment.
UNISON in Greater Manchester (one of the largest councils in Britain
in financial terms) in particular have voted unanimously to disinvest
and are now putting considerable pressure on the council to do
so - and all because some of these trades unionists read our leaflet
- a tremendous start.
*Dorset County Council invests its employees' pension fund in a variety of companies including arms manufacturers such as US company Halliburton, and UK company BAE. In 2007 its total investments in arms companies were £7,037,184. If you pay council tax in West Dorset your money is contributing to this investment. If you work in West Dorset, part of your employers business rates contribute to the same fund. BPJG has written to Dorset County Pension Fund's investment manager objecting to this, but he says that the aim of the investment is to 'maximise the value of investments' and that ethical, sustainability or political considerations must be put to one side. However, three councils in London and one in Scotland have managed to steer clear of such investments, so it can be done.
If you plan to write the them please will you let us know and we can give you on addresses, form letters and advise on the ways in which they will seek to fob you off. Dec
update ::::::::::::::::::::::::: This is somewhat more complex in that some belonged to the County Council, and some belonged to Dorset Pension Fund. It is also possible that some might be recovered. We are well aware of the excuses for this, as they are the same excuses as they use to excuse the fact that the Dorset Pension Fund invests in Arms Manufacturers, firms who make weapons for the purpose of killing people. The excuse is that they are required to do it, it is their fiduciary duty. So I have two favours. The next time you make a mistake, no matter how trivial, tell you partner that it was in some way your duty to make that mistake, and more importantly, I mean really important, if they buy this please let me know. http://www.bpjg.co.uk/misc%20pages/Response_28012007.doc ............ log on http://www.bpjg.co.uk/misc%20pages/Disivestment_Dorset_11012008.htm ............ log on http://www.bpjg.co.uk/misc%20pages/Response_10122007.doc ................. log on
...................................................David Partridge .
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Local contact:::::::::: David Partridge 01308 420 556
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