Thanks to the help of a number of local Peace Party supporters in delivering leaflets, 1.2% of the voters (39 of them) put their mark beside "PEACE" on the ballot paper. The turnout, at 31%, was disappointingly low.
Notification of a County Council by-election in the Worplesdon Division of Surrey came at the same time as the new UK Government was confirming the continuation of the war in Afghanistan and how “we” should continue to support its efforts there.
Within days we learned of the deaths of even more UK young people (although nothing of the numbers of the Afghan slain as a result of the war, now estimated between 13,372 and 32,969).
There was no choice! The Peace Party is dedicated to taking the peace message to the electorate – here was another opportunity to do so – and to stand a chance of taking that message to one of the country’s “halls of power”.
Governments have the duty to protect and care for its citizens. Unfortunately, the new UK Government has made it clear that it sees war as a means of resolving conflict. However, war exposes citizens to death, injury and trauma and causes men and women to go out and kill. It makes war an immoral act. War is never a necessity. Engaging in it shows that a government has lost its compassion for people, that it no longer has reverence for life.
Now, more than ever, the whole of the war budget – £40 to 45 Billion every year on the military - needs to be cut to zero. That is the kind of cut in public spending we need; not cuts in support for jobs, not cuts in the health service, not cuts in education, not cuts in social services, not cuts in housing, not cuts in public transport.
Fear of an enemy creates insecurity and doubt in people’s minds and this is a deliberate manipulation by mainstream politicians to justify huge defence spending and to ensure the survival of a massive arms industry in the U.K.
For The Peace Party, peace does not mean only the absence of war. Our Charter sets out the underlying principles which would help create a society where non-violence, social and economic justice and environmental concerns would have a much higher profile. Underpinning these principles are the values of care, concern and compassion for humanity and support for and nourishment of all life.
A Peace Party “Queen’s Speech” would have included planned government action to:
a. Initiate a full programme of the teaching and learning of the skills associated with the non-violent resolution of conflict for all who need such skills. Cost - £1 Billion.
b. Cease all military operations in Afghanistan and place all our troops in their barracks and bases. The men and women will be withdrawn from there to the UK. We estimate that this will save £2 Billion in the current financial year.
c. De-commission our Trident nuclear weapons submarines and all other UK nuclear missiles and weapons. We estimate that this will save £5 Billion in the current financial year.
d. Cancel Trident replacement. We estimate that this will save £10 Billion in the current financial year.
e. Cancel the aircraft carrier projects. We estimate that this will save £2 Billion in the current financial year.
f. Ensure that no arms sales are permitted to any other country. We estimate that this will save £1 Billion in the current financial year.
g. Encourage all arms manufacturers to convert production to civilian uses. Cost £2 Billion in the current financial year.
h. Set in motion talks to withdraw the UK from membership of the NATO military alliance. We estimate that this will save £2 Billion in the current financial year.
i. Set in motion talks to remove the UK from being a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The UK would still take its turn on being a member of the SC.
j. Initiate a 5-year programme to wind down the whole of the military. We estimate that this will save £5 Billion in the current financial year.
k. Set up an emergency and disasters organisation using some of the equipment and staff currently used by the military. Staff might include communications workers, drivers, pilots, seamen and women while equipment would include transport aircraft and ships, helicopters, lorries and rescue vessels. We estimate that this would cost £2 Billion in the current financial year.
This programme would save, conservatively, £20 Billion net in the current financial year.
Key Points from the 2010 Peace Party County Council Election Manifesto
1. Services for Communities
There must be free local bus travel for everyone
All road surfaces to be restored to a high standard
Non-recyclable waste must be disposed of in non-polluting systems of incineration, coupled with the use of heat produced for generating electricity
2. Children and Young People
Guidance, support and care for the young should be provided especially where the parent or parents are unable to deliver full support and care
All schools must be of equal excellence – to avoid problems occurring in the selection of pupils for secondary education
Schools to continue under local authority direction with funding from taxes
Full involvement of parents in the education of their children
3. Adults Social Care
The council must listen to people to identify the needs of those who find life more difficult than others. Needs must then be matched to appropriate facilities
There must be more specially- and sensitively-built accommodation for those with disabilities of all kinds
Assistance to vulnerable adults must be free and available at all times
4. Corporate Services
It must be ensured that money in council care is wisely invested in jobs, community services and the environment
Three candidates from The Peace Party contested the May, 2010 elections for seats for the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
John Morris received 280 votes in Guildford (0.5% of the votes cast), Jim Duggan 253 votes in Horsham (0.45%) and Julie Roxburgh 204 votes in Woking (0.39%).
The candidates invite all 737 voters to contact them NOW with a view to helping build a stronger party ready to contest future elections across the country. (Phone 0772 096 5577 or e-mail john4peace@msn.com)
1. How the Peace Party would sustain economic recovery
It would take every opportunity to advocate cutting expenditure on the military and on the manufacture of, and trade in, armaments. It is a core tenet of the Peace Party to bring about peace by showing real compassion for people. This can only be done by taking the moral high ground and saying that we will never support the killing of anyone ever again – in war or under any other circumstances. Conflict must only be solved non-violently. We must begin to transfer the £40 Billion allocated in 2010-11 for fighting wars to caring for people.
2. Public services will not need to be cut
The Peace Party believes that there must be no cuts in any of the public services – except, of course, in the military – in the preparation and carrying out of war.
3. The Peace Party’s position on taxation
It would not support a general increase in taxes, especially where they would impact unfairly on the poor (e.g. Value Added Tax or tax on fuel). Any increase of taxes would need to fall only on those with the ability to pay.
4. The importance of the environmental agenda
The Peace Party has enormous concerns about the environment. Besides those connected with the likely consequences of global warming, there are problems associated with air, water and soil pollution from such sources as transport and agriculture. There is a need to ensure that there continues to be sufficient food for everyone, the world over.
5. The Attitude of the Peace Party to Immigration?
To ensure equality throughout humankind, there should be no restrictions to the movement of people around the world. At the same time, the world community, through organisations like the European Union, the Commonwealth and the United Nations, must be working considerably harder to ensure the elimination of poverty and injustice wherever it is occurring. Factors tending to push people away from their homes and home countries must be rapidly reduced and eliminated.
6. The Development of our relationship with the European Union
We have always advocated a strong, united European Union. The U.K. should be adopting the Euro as its currency at the earliest opportunity to bring us closer to our European neighbours. The U.K. should join the Schengen Agreement as soon as possible, eliminating all border controls within the Union. We should be encouraging all children to learn at least one other European language, studying it from 5 to 16.
7. Support for the current house building targets in the district
We support unreservedly the housing targets for the district. For humanity’s and equality’s sake, the needs and demands for housing must be met. Of course, sites no longer required for their original purposes must be used first, before others are sought. New buildings must be fitted carefully into their surroundings.
8. Improvements to our hospitals, schools and the police
On hospitals, we would continue to reduce waiting times and the rates of hospital-acquired infections. On schools, we would keep buildings up to the highest standards of decoration and repair. On the police, we would employ more auxiliary staff to enable trained officers to be out in the community.
9. The Peace Party view of the military action in which Britain is currently engaged
The Peace Party sees all war to be highly immoral as well as utterly wasteful. I will pressure the new government to disengage from all military action anywhere in the world and put its full weight behind all means of resolving conflict through non-violent means.
10. Peace Party vision for Britain in the next five years
We envision a far more peaceful country, where people can better demonstrate their care and compassion towards others, where there is far more social justice and where we care more for our surroundings, both natural and man-made. We see the beginnings of the replacement of capitalism by a system of co-operation by everyone acting together over the production and distribution of surpluses. We remember that one person’s wealth is another person’s debt.
Jim Duggan was born on 23rd July, 1940 in Dublin, Ireland. He has worked in radio and marketing and, for most of the last 30 years in the building trade. He has been active in promoting peace and raising awareness of and funds for national and local charities. He has been involved in the politics of peace for many years both in Ireland and in Horsham, his home town.
He passionately believes that a consciousness change is necessary - and possible - to achieve a LOVING - PEACEFUL - TRUSTING - TRUTHFUL - RESPECTFUL - TOLERANT and JUST society.
Born in June, 1938 in the south London suburbs, John grew up in wartime and still has traumatic memories of being “bombed out”, of air raids and sirens, shrapnel in the garden, the blackout, “doodle bugs,” the smell of air-raid shelters and cellars and being “evacuated” away from home.
But the immorality, inhumanity and insanity of it all was only slowly brought home to him.
During the 1960s he was greatly affected by the anti-Vietnam War stand of an American teacher colleague. He witnessed the thousands on the London anti-nuclear marches in early 80’s and became an active member of CND, but it was his daughter, Carol, who convinced him that the Falklands War was wrong.
In 1988 John joined the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), having been attracted by the Quakers’ Peace Testimony. He became involved with the peace education work of the Peace Pledge Union and was its Chair for a while. Later, convinced of the need to offer the electorate the possibility of voting for peace, John joined the pacifist Fellowship Party and was briefly its Chairman.
In 1995/6, John worked with others to set up the Peace Party, and contested Parliamentary, European Parliamentary and local government elections. He became the Party’s President in 2006.
In 2000 John helped to set up the Guildford (later, Surrey) Stop the War Coalition and became its Chair for a while. The work of the Coalition continues within the Guildford and District Peace and Justice Network of which John is an active member.
Julie Roxburgh was born on 23 September 1938 in Woolwich, South East London. She studied at the Royal College of Music and became a music teacher until 1988. She obtained a University of London degree in English and History in the 1980s, during which time she became active in the animal welfare movement.
She also became a vegan not only on moral grounds, but also because she cares about the planet and considers much of global warming is caused by the rearing and consumption of meat.
This is also mirrored in her concern for the marine environment which is being polluted at an enormous rate. She believes that in order to return the planet to a balanced state it is essential that all peoples become aware of each other and their actions. The only way to do this is by peaceful means. She considers that the agenda of the Peace Party is the way forward.
