ASBO Activist Calls Time On War

ASBO Activist Calls Time on War

ASBO to ban anti-war activist from City of Westminster for 10 years

Chris Cole, (Right) at Downing Street in October. 

A Christian peace activist has been served notice by the Metropolitan Police that they are seeking an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) to exclude him from the City of Westminster for ten years.   

Chris Cole (48) from Cowley, Oxford was served with papers as he attended a pre-trial hearing following a demonstration at Downing Street on October 7^th to mark the 10^th anniversary of the Afghanistan War.  

Cole, along with Catholic Priest Fr Martin Newell face charges of criminal damage following the pouring of paint on the Downing Street pavement.

The ASBO seek  to ban Cole from being in the City of Westminster except while passing through as a passenger on the London Underground;  being in possession of any can of spray paint, tin of paint, marker pen, chalk or charcoal in any place outside the city of Oxford or being in possession of bolt croppers in any place outside the city of Oxford.   

The application for the ASBO sites fourteen occasions over the past twenty-one years that Cole has been arrested at anti-war protests involving spray paint or bolt croppers.

Chris Cole said “Waging war is the great anti-social behaviour of our time.  Thousands of people have been killed and injured in the great follies of the Iraq and Afghanistan war, while billions have been wasted on preparations for nuclear war and arms companies continue to make vast profits from hawking  weaponry around the globe.  Rather than spraying bullets in Iraq or spilling blood in Afghanistan, I have spilled paint on the Downing Street pavement and sprayed paint on the MoD walls.  In all honesty, which is the real anti-social behaviour here?”  

The application for the ASBO on Cole will take place at the end of his trial for the protest at Downing Street, a date for which is yet to be set. In 2005, a District Judge refused to impose an ASBO on anti-war activist Lindis Percy. District Judge Anderson said: "I am firmly of the view courts ought not to allow anti-social behaviour orders to be used as a club to beat down the expression of legitimate comment and the dissemination of views of matters of public concern."

Global day of listening coming up

Kathy Kelly, member of a delegation of non-violent activists reporting from Afghanistan:

On March 19th, in Kabul, Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers will hold a candlelight commemoration, remembering the children recently killed in Afghanistan. Following this ceremony they will plant saplings as a symbol of their dedication to a nonviolent future. Their compassion extends beyond Afghanistan to young people in other lands, some of whom they will connect with through a "Global Day of Listening," a 24-hour Skype communication which they’ll host on the first day of spring, Afghanistan’s "Nau Roz" (New Year’s Day) holiday. Colorado College students, on their spring break, plan to participate.

The weblog of the delegation here, the article on a more stable and quotable site.
Another weblog associated to the delegation, and one for another journey.

Being headline news once more

If you are not familiar with the face (you are of course, but you think of a fictional character, don't you?): this has been the prime minster of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the past 7 1/2 years. He presided over four cabinets and is now ready to fix a fifth. Rather incredibly, the Dutch Labour Party pulled away because of the colonial war in Afghanistan (they never did it because of other colonial wars).
The words mean "have fallen", it is a joke on a certain telephone company which no longer exists or is existing again or - whatever.
A joke that has to be explained is awkward anyway. It already circulated three months after Balkenende took office so he may already have reached the books of holding the most and least successful of cabinet offices. At least, in NL.

Shamefully, the Christian Democrats and the Light Version of Christian Fundamentalists, the other two coalition parties in Balkenende IV, wanted to prolong Dutch participation in the Afghanistan colonial war. Oddly, the openly racist party that may be the largest after the early elections due in May 2010, supports the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The best way to get rid of these racists seems to be a sixth cabinet presided by Balkenende (if the Christian democrats succeed in being the largest party). It would be the best recipe for a short spell for the racists, who do not have a programme apart from muslim bashing. It all depends whether the officially politically organised Christians are willing to fully extend their war plans to the population of NL itself. It is always best to stay out of the headlines.

For now, brothers and sisters, I command you to God, awaiting in fear and trembling what is coming (but still with a smile about the picture above).