Greater Manchester & District CND @ Wigan Diggers Festival!

This year, GM&D CND are teaming up with the Wigan Diggers Festival to host two back-to-back screenings of Gentle, Angry Women, Barbara Santi’s wonderful film connecting the struggles for peace and climate justice today with the iconic Greenham Common women who kicked the cruise missiles out of Berkshire!

If you’re a supporter in the area, come and say hello, and if you are a Greenham woman local to Wigan, please come along and introduce yourself to a new generation of activists for change. Drop us an e-mail on [email protected], we’d love to see you there.

Wigan Diggers Festival takes place on Saturday 12th September on the Wiend, Wigan, WN1 1YB. 

 

 

Get our brand new Drop Beats Not Bombs Limited Edition T-Shirts modelled here by GM&D CND President Maxine Peake!

As many of you well know, we have been working on new ways to raise funds for our continuing campaigns.

One of the ideas we had was a brand new t-shirt design. A few of us had seen the classic RUN DMC t-shirts and wondered if we could change it. One of our lovely friends is a graphic designer and he came up with 6 incredible designs! They are based on a number of different ideas. The black, yellow and white is from the old Hacienda days. Drop Beats Not Bombs was a music event we hosted a few years ago. The Manchester Bee emblem has become more and more popular in recent years so that had to be part of it, and the lemon, for those under a certain age, is from the world famous Manchester band, The Stone Roses. It was used on their debut album cover of the same name. The lemon’s came from the student rebellion in May 1968, Paris, where protesters used to suck them to help combat the tear gas.

All together this has made a fantastic limited edition GM&D CND Drop Beats Not Bombs t-shirt. The t-shirts go for £20 + PP and they come in S, M, L & XL sizes. Until our new website is up and running, e-mail us on [email protected] to get yours. Thank you all in advance for your continuing support ☮️

 

 

Global Week of Action for Climate Justice – Climate Not Trident

 

As part of the Global Week of Action for Climate Justice, we’re working with Greater Manchester Climate Justice Coalition and organising a street stall, making a call for action on sustainability and a just transition. Despite ordinary people massively struggling to pay our energy bills as colder climates approach, the government has offered up a measly amount of support whilst committing to even larger bouts of investment in military and nuclear capacities.

As part of the action, we have spent money on a prop demonstrating the need to transition away from missiles and towards clean energy. This prop, symbolising the need to convert weapons of mass destruction into the means for providing richer, more secure lives for everyone on this planet, cost us £400. If you’d like to contribute towards the costs, please donate to the below JustGiving fundraising. This approach also dovetails with national CND’s emerging campaign, People Not Nukes. If you want more information on new campaign or some materials for your local group, get in touch with the office.

Gather at 11am at the Queen Victoria Statute at Piccadilly Gardens on 20th September.

 

 

Greater Manchester & District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ‘Non-Violent’ Fighting Fund

Our regular communication is usually us asking you to spare some time to support our campaigns and we’re very happy to say that you always show up.

However, did you know that the cost of hiring a coach to travel to Barrow to protest at the nuclear submarine base was upwards of 40% more expensive last year than in 2019? You ask us about transport to national and regional demos but, sadly, we are less and less likely to be able to afford to book a coach, or even a minibus.

Despite these constraints, in the past twelve months, we have continued to organise, support and take part in local and national protests and events. These have included organising the North West Alternative Defence Review conference; No to Nuclear (power) book launch with Linda Pentz Gunter; transport to demonstrations at Lakenheath and Barrow; public meetings; film screenings; organising with trade unions and trades councils; vigils commemorating both Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and community events such as the Peace & Crafts Fair.

So this time we are asking you to support our ‘Non-Violent’ Fighting Fund which is especially important this year as we will be without our income from working at Glastonbury Festival.

It is essential that we continue our campaign to put pressure on the British government for a more peaceful agenda and a world without nuclear weapons. We want to reach relevant groups and individuals, however, the costs of running events, an office and staff salaries have all increased.

So, we are asking you to make a donation, or better still set up a Direct Debit, in support of our work. We don’t have a BAE Systems budget but we do have workers and volunteers committed to continued campaigning.

You can donate to our JustGiving page, or donate directly to our bank account: Royal Bank of Scotland, Account Number: 41455343, Sort Code 16-00-18. Please reference any direct donations with GMDCNDAppeal.

You can download or order a copy of the Alternative Defence Review. We also have copies in our office we are willing to pass on for a donation.

We’re not just a talking shop though. We want you to organise. Please pass this Peace is a Union Business motion in your trade union branches, committees and trades councils and get the message of peace deeper into civil society and the corridors of power.

 

 

North West Young Peace Makers Fund

We are opening the North West Young Peace Makers Fund to support young people to get started with a campaign, a project or even a new organisation which stands up for peace.

Why has this been set up?

Like many well-established Peace Groups in the UK, Greater Manchester and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (GMDCND) members tend to be in an older age group. We have our own connections and ways of communicating, and we are brave in defence of Peace. But our ways of communicating don’t always match younger generations, who use different media and organise in different ways to express their resistance to war and violence as a solution to conflict.

Young activists like Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement inspired young people to speak out on international and local issues. We know that there are young people who want to Stand up for Peace and organise resistance to war, and we want to help you get started. We have fundraised from our community to fund three new ideas.

After years of COVID and increasing individualisation, we know that getting together in person helps strengthen our movements and communities, so we are inviting young people in the North West to Get Going on Peace

What will we fund?

You might have an idea for a campaign, project, event, or new organisation. It needs to be related to Peace and anti-war activism, but we are open to how you interpret this within your community.

Who can apply?

Any individual or group aged between 12 – 25 living in the North West of England.

What is the maximum Grant size?

£500

When is the cut off date for applications?

31st October 2026

What is the timeline for the grant?

We expect to let successful projects know within a month of the closing date. From then, you’ll have 6 months to complete your project, and a further month to write a 1-page report on how you’ve spent the grant, your successes and your learnings. At the end of the projects, GMDCND will host a get together to share your ideas with our members and listen to your NEXT STEPS.

Who holds the Fund and makes the decisions?

A small team from Greater Manchester and District CND with support from Ellie Kinney. Applications will be judged based on how closely they relate to our aim of standing up for peace. Once successful, grantees will have control over how money is spent.

Do you need approval from anyone for your application?

Young people under the age of 18 will need to have the written approval of a parent/guardian who will also be financially responsible for receiving the money. Grantees over the age of 18 can have funds paid directly into bank accounts.

What to include in your application?

In 500 words, tell us:
– Who you are
– Your values – what is your vision?
– Your activities – what will you do with this grant? Who will you include, and how will you do it?
– Your budget – how will you spend the grant?
– Your aims – what do you hope to achieve with this grant?

This should be submitted to [email protected]

 

 

Lucas Plan 50th Anniversary Celebration – An Idea Whose Time Must Come!

A conference for trade union, left, green, peace, community activists and students and academics

  

FREE – REGISTER NOW

50 years ago, workers at the Lucas Aerospace arms company launched their pioneering Alternative Workers Plan. Faced with threats to their jobs, workers at Lucas Aerospace responded with a visionary, positive plan that challenged economic orthodoxy.  They proposed 150 detailed ideas for socially useful products the company could make could be used to make socially useful products, such as heat pumps, wind turbines and kidney machines, instead of fighter jet parts. The Lucas Plan became famous worldwide, sparking other groups of workers to propose their own plans. In Italy today, workers occupying the former GKN auto plant are putting those ideas into practice, making cargo bikes and solar panels.
 

SOCIALLY USEFUL PRODUCTION NOW!

  

Brian Salisbury and Phil Asquith, the surviving active members of the Lucas workers’ Combine say: “We’re inviting you to join us in Manchester, not just to celebrate this anniversary, but to help us build a new movement for socially useful production. That means policies and products that overcome the problems of inequality, poverty, environmental destruction and conflict created by the last 50 years of neoliberalism. The crises afflicting the world demand a response from all of us, but mainstream politics and the market economy are completely failing to deal with them. So just as in the 1970s, it’s time for ordinary people to take charge. We want to work with social movements and communities to develop a new alternative plan for Britain’s future, for our children and grandchildren.”

Hear Lucas Aerospace Shop Stewards and connect with new generations of workers, activists and communities to plan the economic and social transformation we need.

• Climate Jobs Not Bombs!
• For a just and green transition
• Human-centred technology, not AI-driven automation and deskilling

For more information contact [email protected]

Watch this space for news of the screening of the award-winning documentary, THE PLAN, and a performance of Banner Theatre’s new play about the Lucas Plan in the week before the conference.

 

Contacting GMD CND by phone

If you would like to get in touch with us, you can contact us on our mobile phone number, 07840303539 from Mon to Weds, and on 07533023070 on Thurs & Friday. Call anytime between 9am-5pm.