NEWS
- Democratic Confederalism discussed in Rome
- Urgent call for Hasankeyf and the Tigris Valley
- Xerîb Hiso: Erdoğan has taken the decision to go to war
- Dutch MPs warn against possible Turkish attack against Syrian Kurds
- Congress rapporteurs meet with suspended HDP mayors in Amed
- Abdi: Erdoğan’s concern is not about security but about invasion
- HDP: Permanent mobilization against trustees until 19 October
- ‘We deserve support’: Reinvented north-east Syria strives for stability
- Erdogan’s demographic engineering plans in Syria mirror those of Assad time – FT
- Syria’s Kurds protest exclusion from constitutional committee
- Turkey must resist emotional politics to find peace and democracy – Gultan Kisanak
- Daesh makes resurgence in Syria, captures town, attacks Kurdish and Russian forces
- UN Excludes one third of Syria, mostly Kurds, from Constitution Committee
- Memorial in London for Mehmet Aksoy
- KNK: Autonomous Administration should join constitutional team
- Maxmur Refugee Camp under embargo for two months
- Increase in Turkish-linked jihadist cells in Syria, study finds
- Pro-Kurdish leader Demirtas could be released soon, lawyer says
- Devastating all dissent in Turkey
- PEN America condemns u.s. decision to bar entry to austrian academic
- Gen. John Allen hails Kurdish role in fighting ISIS
- (VIDEO) Justice system and human rights status in Turkey discussed at UN
- Berlin Conference for a new Turkey ends today
- Delegation from NE Syria visits the US
- Former British fighter who fought alongside Kurds commits suicide
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
- (VIDEO) International Conference Rome 5-6 October -Democratic Confederalism, Municipalism, Global Democracy
- (VIDEO) Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival 2019 – Interview with Simon Dubbins
- Interview to the III. International Social Ecology Meeting
- A better path forward for Syrian refugee return
- INTERVIEW: Kurdish leader Ilham Ahmed on security in North and East Syria
- Erdogan’s Syria plan: Resettling the Syrian refugees or ousting Kurds from their land
- Locals in norther Syria ready to resist Turkish incursion
- Rojava Revolution: What does the ‘safe zone’ deal mean?
- Sarah Glynn: What would ‘system change’ look like?
- The demise of democracy in Turkey
- Editorial: Facebook and Twitter cannot be allowed to police our politics – Editorial, Morning Star
- Kurdish Opposition Looks To Take On Larger Role In Iranian Politics
- The Turkish ‘Safe Zone’ and Erdogan’s Territorial Ambitions
- ‘They are barbaric’: Turkey prepares to flood 12,000-year-old city to build dam
- The UK is complicit in torture
- I recognize Boris Johnson’s coup for what it is because I’ve seen this before – in Turkey
- Former official of Turkey’s ruling party pictured brandishing severed head in Syria
- (VIDEO) Rivers of Discord: Iraq’s Water Crisis
- Kurdish Art: An Interview with Lukman Ahmad
ACTIONS, CAMPAIGNS
- Campaign of the week: Solidarity with those fighting for freedom and democracy in Turkey and Kurdistan
- Newsletter #14 of the Internationalist Commune of Rojava
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NEWS
- Democratic Confederalism discussed in Rome
6 October 2019|ANF English
The conference begins with a critique of the present, then analyzes the paradigm of the Democratic Confederalism in order to discuss a new perspective and propose an alternative.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/democratic-confederalism-discussed-in-rome-38098
- Urgent call for Hasankeyf and the Tigris Valley
6 October 2019|ANF English
It is possible to save the 12,000 year old Hasankeyf and the Tigris Valley, which gave and gives life to all of us, says the Hasankeyf Coordination.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/urget-call-for-hasankeyf-and-the-tigris-valley-38104
- Xerîb Hiso: Erdoğan has taken the decision to go to war
6 October 2019|ANF English
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan threatened an attack against Northern Eastern Syria. “An attack maybe launched today, maybe tomorrow”, he said while in parallel military shipments and concentration on the border line continue.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/xerib-hiso-erdogan-has-taken-the-decision-to-go-to-war-38100
- Dutch MPs warn against possible Turkish attack against Syrian Kurds
4 October 2019|Kurdistan 24
Several Dutch MPs have warned against a possible attack against the northeast of Syria following threats made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Dutch MP for the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Martijn van Helvert, on Thursday warned that if the US allows Turkey to invade the northeast of Syria, Kurdish would release all Islamic State prisoners and surrender to Assad, Russia, and Iran.
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/cbfc51fb-751f-4663-9615-a6535146ef7d
- Congress rapporteurs meet with suspended HDP mayors in Amed
3 October 2019|ANF English
A delegation from the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is carrying out a monitoring visit to Turkey to assess the implementation of the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government which was ratified by Turkey in 1992. The co-rapporteurs will consider how local and regional democracy has evolved in the country since the adoption of the Congress’ last recommendations in 2011 and 2014. The second part of the monitoring visit will take place in November 2019.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/congress-rapporteurs-meet-with-suspended-hdp-mayors-in-amed-38047
- Abdi: Erdoğan’s concern is not about security but about invasion
3 October 2019|ANF English
Mazlum Abdi, General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, assessed Turkey’s current threats against North and East Syria to Medya Haber TV. He emphasized that the AKP regime was not concerned with “border security” because it was fulfilled with the implementation of the security agreement, but with occupying the region and building a colony. Abdi stressed that neither they nor the coalition would accept such an approach.
- HDP: Permanent mobilization against trustees until 19 October
2 October 2019|ANF English
The HDP Crisis Coordination Center against the trustees decided to carried out a permanent action against the seizure of municipalities until 19 October. Public meetings will be organized in seven cities. Public meetings are planned to be held in various cities and “We Meet for Democracy” activities will be organized in Amed, Van, Mardin, Batman, Adana, Istanbul and Izmir under the leadership of HDK, DTK and HDP. Rallies and public gatherings will be held in these seven cities.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/hdp-permanent-mobilization-against-trustees-until-19-october-38035
- ‘We deserve support’: Reinvented north-east Syria strives for stability
2 October 2019|The Guardian
An estimated 12,000 fighters from the north-east region died in the territorial struggle against Isis, which ended in March, and a further 20,000 were wounded. What was initially a Kurdish force of ground troops with air and logistical support from a US-led coalition has expanded into an administration controlling 30% of Syria, east of the Euphrates river.
- Erdogan’s demographic engineering plans in Syria mirror those of Assad time – FT
02 October 2019|Ahval News
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s real objective in Syria is to overwhelm the de facto home rule Syrian Kurds have established in the north of the country and change the demography by diluting the Kurds with a big influx of Sunni Arabs, the Financial Times said in an editorial. The move by Turkey’s strongman mirrors the violent demographic re-engineering going on in the rest of Syria, the article said.
- Syria’s Kurds protest exclusion from constitutional committee
2 October 2019|Yahoo News/AFP
Hundreds of Kurds demonstrated in northeast Syria on Wednesday in protest at their minority community’s “exclusion” from a United Nations-backed committee tasked with drafting a new constitution for the war-devastated country. Carrying placards, demonstrators gathered in front of UN offices in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli. “It’s our right to participate in the drafting of the constitution,” read one sign.
https://news.yahoo.com/syrias-kurds-protest-exclusion-constitutional-committee-133751289.html
- Turkey must resist emotional politics to find peace and democracy – Gultan Kisanak
1 October 2019|Ahval
With high emotions dominating discussions of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey, a serious effort is required to foster dialogue and dispel polarisation around the issue, said Gültan Kışanak, a jailed senior figure in Turkey’s Kurdish political movement. Kışanak, a former lawmaker of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the former co-mayor of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, told Ahval she had become wary of the emotional politics used to deal with the Kurdish issue and that politicians should concentrate on building movements in Turkey to overcome the current polarisation.
- Daesh makes resurgence in Syria, captures town, attacks Kurdish and Russian forces
1 October 2019|Middle East Monitor
Daesh has conducted manoeuvres to make a resurgence in Syria today by besieging Russian and regime forces, attacking a prominent Kurdish militia and capturing a town in the east of the country, fulfilling recent predictions of the extremist group’s recuperation in the conflict.
- UN Excludes one third of Syria, mostly Kurds, from Constitution Committee
30 September 2019|Jewish Post
A new UN committee tasked with writing a Syrian constitution has excluded voices from one third of the country and may be given foreign powers a veto over which Syrian voices are allowed, according to reports. Despite claims by the UN’s Geir Pedersen that the UN would have “Syrians sitting together,” including voices from the diaspora, large groups appear to be excluded.
- Memorial in London for Mehmet Aksoy
29 September 2019|ANF English
In a statement inviting everyone to join the day of tribute, the Kurdish People’s Assembly wrote: “Our memorial will have less meaning without the presence of Mehmet’s family, friends and supporters as we want to share with you all our grief, pride and love that we have all endured over the past years. It means such a lot to us and I hope it is meaningful for you too to get together to share, support and pay tribute to our dearest Mehmet. He is a shining star and we will never let his memory fade!”
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/memorial-in-london-for-mehmet-aksoy-37948
- KNK: Autonomous Administration should join constitutional team
26 September 2019|ANF English
The Executive Council of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) issued a statement about the recent announcement by UN Secretary General Guterres to create a constitutional committee on Syria. The statement recalled that “unfortunately, this committee is by no means representative of all the peoples or regions of Syria, nor is it representative of all of those who have made sacrifices in the struggle to bring peace and stability to the country.”
- Maxmur Refugee Camp under embargo for two months
15 September 2019|ANF English
The embargo of the southern Kurdistan’s ruling KDP party against the self-governing Maxmur refugee camp has lasted for two months. For 15 days, Peace Mothers have been protesting at a checkpoint with a sit-in action against the embargo.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/maxmur-refugee-camp-under-embargo-for-two-months-37650
- Increase in Turkish-linked jihadist cells in Syria, study finds
13 September 2019|Morning Star
Attacks by Turkish-backed jihadist sleeper cells in Syria increased last month, with intensified activity seen in cities in border areas and inside the so-called buffer zone, according to a new report. The Rojava Information Centre (RIC) recorded 95 sleeper cell attacks in August and said they were intended to “destabilise infrastructure and shatter the fragile peace in the region, paving the way for Turkey’s expected invasion.”
- Pro-Kurdish leader Demirtas could be released soon, lawyer says
13 September 2019|Ahval News
The lawyer of Selahattin Demirtaş, jailed former co-chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, said he could be released soon, Rudaw Iraqi Kurdish news network Rudaw reported on Friday. Demirtaş has been in prison since November 2016 on charges of membership to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an armed organisation that has been waging an armed insurgency on Turkish soil for over three decades, as well as he has been tried over insulting the state and the Turkish President.
- Devastating all dissent in Turkey
12 September 2019|Ahram Online
In another major crackdown on Kurds, last month Turkey removed three top Kurdish mayors who were elected earlier in the year. They were accused of “terrorist propaganda” and “financing terrorism”. Those detained were the mayors of Mardin, Van and Diyarbakir eastern Turkey provinces who are members of the opposition pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party but stand accused of having ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The three had won office with large majorities.
- PEN America condemns u.s. decision to bar entry to austrian academic
13 September 2019|PEN America
The news that Austrian scholar and expert on Kurdish affairs Thomas Schmidinger was subject to extensive questioning about his work and political views before being denied boarding for a flight to the U.S. raises questions about whether the United States, perhaps in coordination with other governments, is unlawfully employing ideological criteria to restrict entry into the country. Schmidinger, who states that he had a valid visa, has expressed concern that Turkish officials, may have requested that the U.S. deny him entry.
https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-condemns-u-s-decision-to-bar-entry-to-austrian-academic/
- Gen. John Allen hails Kurdish role in fighting ISIS
12 September 2019|Kurdistan 24
Speaking at the Brookings Institution, which he now heads, Gen. John Allen (US Marine Corps, Retired), had high praise for the part played by the Peshmerga and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the fight against the Islamic State. Allen was Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS from 2014 to 2015, after which he joined the Brookings Institution, becoming its president in 2017. A decade earlier, Allen fought in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF.) From 2006 to 2008, he served as deputy commanding general of the II Marine Expeditionary Force and commanding general of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade.
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/a20d401b-ca46-4a43-be50-f7cf6e29825f
- (VIDEO) Justice system and human rights status in Turkey discussed at UN
23 September 2019|ANF English
A panel was held today at the UN Human Rights Council titled “Justice system in Turkey and Human Rights Status”. The co-mayor of Amed has been dismissed on 19 August by order of the Ministry of Interior. In addition to Amed, the HDP mayors of Van, Mardin, Kulp and Karayazi have also been replaced by trustees. “I would like to invite the representatives of the European institutions – said Mizrakli – to come to Amed and see for themselves if there is any law and justice left in our country. I invite you to break the silence on what is going on here.”
- Berlin Conference for a new Turkey ends today
22 September 2019|ANF English
The conference brought together artists from ethnic groups, journalists, politicians and academics who worked around the need for a “Social Contract for a democratic Turkey”. Today the conference is expected to end with the communication from the various work groups and a final statement containing recommendations.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/berlin-conference-for-a-new-turkey-ends-today-37799
- Delegation from NE Syria visits the US
20 September 2019|ANF English
The talks in the US will handle various issues including Syrian constitutional committee and border security. A delegation from the Federation of North and East Syria has arrived in Washington for a series of talks with the US officials. The delegation includes Syrian Democratic Council (MSD) Executive Committee President Ilham Ehmed and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria Executive Committee Co-President Elizabet Gewriye.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/delegation-from-ne-syria-visits-the-us-37769
- Former British fighter who fought alongside Kurds commits suicide
11 September 2019|Kurdistan 24
A British volunteer fighter with a Syrian Kurdish guerrilla group who had participated in operations against the Turkish state in Afrin has been confirmed as dead from an apparent suicide. Jamie Janson (42), from London, had signed up to fight alongside Kurdish fighters in northwestern Syria following the Turkish incursion into Afrin. It has been reported that Janson died of an apparent suicide last week.
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/de85d49e-061d-4409-8c0b-1bfd0a89e730
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
- (VIDEO) International Conference Rome 5-6 October -Democratic Confederalism, Municipalism, Global Democracy
6 October 2019|Peace in Kurdistan/Radiosonar.net
- (VIDEO) Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival 2019 – Interview with Simon Dubbins
6 October 2019|Peace in Kurdistan/Freedom for Ocalan Campaign
The Freedom for Öcalan trade union campaign interviewed Simon Dubbins, co-chair of the campaign and International Director at Unite the Union at the 2019 Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival. We asked Simon about his thoughts on the progress and future of the campaign, the international situation and the engagement of UK politicians in the Kurdish struggle. The Freedom for Öcalan campaign is a UK trade union-backed initiative to secure the release of imprisoned Kurdish political prisoner Abdullah Öcalan.
- Interview to the III. International Social Ecology Meeting
5 October 2019|ANF English
For four days, starting on the 26th of September, activists, communards and social ecologists gathered and discussed about how to build a free society, on the base of radical democratic self-organisation, against the suppression of nature and human beings by capitalism.
- A better path forward for Syrian refugee return
01 October 2019|Middle East Institute
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his speech at the annual gathering of the UN General Assembly to advocate for a plan that would see the return of over one million Syrian refugees from Turkey to a strip along the Turkish border in northeastern Syria. While Turkey should not have to indefinitely host its 3.6 million Syrian refugees, the plan proposed by Erdogan would entail large-scale deportations of refugees, demographic re-engineering, and the destabilization of northeastern Syria, an area enjoying relative calm.
https://www.mei.edu/publications/better-path-forward-syrian-refugee-return
- INTERVIEW: Kurdish leader Ilham Ahmed on security in North and East Syria
29 September 2019|Defend Rojava/The Defense Post
“For years, the Autonomous Administration has asked the U.S. government to advocate on their behalf for their inclusion in Syria’s postwar constitutional committee, but in apparent deference to NATO ally Turkey, the U.S. has instead negotiated a buffer zone to allow joint U.S.-Turkish patrols in northeast Syria and a withdrawal of the YPG from the Turkish border area.”
- Erdogan’s Syria plan: Resettling the Syrian refugees or ousting Kurds from their land
30 September 2019|Al Monitor
Turkish President REcep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks at the United Nations indicate that Turkey has dangerous intentions for the east Euphrates.
- Locals in norther Syria ready to resist Turkish incursion
26 September 2019|Ahval
A unilateral Turkish intervention in northeast Syria would be only possible if supported by the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, a top Syrian Kurdish official told Ahval in an interview. Ilham Ahmed is the co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF and its allies have played a key role in the global coalition against ISIS, but Turkey views the Kurdish-led groups as terrorists due to their links to outlawed domestic militants.
https://ahvalnews.com/rojava/locals-northern-syria-ready-resist-turkish-incursion-kurdish-leader
- Rojava Revolution: What does the ‘safe zone’ deal mean?
24 September 2019|Green Left Weekly
July 19 marked seven years of the Rojava Revolution. In 2012, the newly formed Kurdish self-defence forces took control of the town of Kobanê from the Assad regime’s forces. Despite all the immense challenges facing it, the revolution has survived. It has provided tremendous inspiration to people around the world. It thus has a global meaning and relevance. The involvement of women and the relentless efforts to empower them is simply without historical precedent. All genuine people’s revolutions have drawn women into the struggle to some extent, but never like this. In this sense Rojava is a women’s revolution.
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/rojava-revolution-what-does-safe-zone-deal-mean
- Sarah Glynn: What would ‘system change’ look like?
20 September 2019|Commonspace
Sarah Glynn from Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan looks at lessons from the democratic experiment in autonomous North East Syria as a new system that could confront the ecological crisis
https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/14729/sarah-glynn-what-would-system-change-look
- The demise of democracy in Turkey
15 September 2019| IOL
Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2003 as a moderate and modernising Muslim leader in the region, with a large support base at home where he was largely considered the flower of democracy. How far he has fallen from that pedestal seventeen years later both at home – where even stalwarts of his own party the AKP have turned against him – and many in the region now consider him a threat to regional peace and stability.
https://www.iol.co.za/news/opinion/the-demise-of-democracy-in-turkey-33001169
- Editorial: Facebook and Twitter cannot be allowed to police our politics – Editorial, Morning Star
13 September 2019|Morning Star
Facebook claimed today that a four-month-old post by the Morning Star’s international editor, stating nothing more than that Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan had met his lawyers, has been removed as it violates its community standards.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/e/facebook-and-twitter-cannot-be-allowed-police-our-opinions
- Kurdish Opposition Looks To Take On Larger Role In Iranian Politics
14 September 2019|Tsarism
One of the little-noticed but important differences in the Iranian political landscape is the role increasingly being played by Iranian Kurdish groups. Kurdish insurgents remain the most organized armed opposition to the Islamic Republic. At the same time, several Kurdish activists have organized peacefully around the globe against the theocracy. What has recently changed is the declared goal of this organized militia.
- The Turkish ‘Safe Zone’ and Erdogan’s Territorial Ambitions
13 September 2019|Washington Institute
After a month of negotiations and much previous speculation, Washington and Ankara have agreed on a 75-mile buffer zone between Tall Abyad and Ras al-Ain, with the two armies establishing a joint operations center in Ankara. But these joint efforts have not stopped Erdogan from criticizing the United States and accusing Washington of establishing a safe area for a “terrorist organization”—in reference to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
- ‘They are barbaric’: Turkey prepares to flood 12,000-year-old city to build dam
12 September 2019|The Guardian
The ancient settlement of Hasankeyf will soon be submerged as part of a controversial dam project – despite residents’ protests. Hasankeyf is thought to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on Earth, dating as far back as 12,000 years and containing thousands of caves, churches and tombs.
- The UK is complicit in torture
5 September 2019|Prospect Magazine
Despite strict prohibitions in law, the UK has taken advantage of torture on a significant scale. And now the commitment to an independent judicial inquiry has been dropped
- I recognize Boris Johnson’s coup for what it is because I’ve seen this before – in Turkey
30 August 2019|The Intependent
Britain is experiencing a slow-moving coup d’etat in which a right-wing government progressively closes down or marginalises effective opposition to its rule. It concentrates power in its own hands by stifling parliament, denouncing its opponents as traitors to the nation, displacing critics in its own ranks, and purging non-partisan civil servants.
- Former official of Turkey’s ruling party pictured brandishing severed head in Syria
29 August 2019|Nordic Monitor
A Turkish Islamist militant who appeared in a video brandishing a decapitated head turned out to be an official of the youth branch of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) before joining the jihadist cause in Syria.
(TRIGGER WARNING – PICTURE OF DECAPITATED HEAD)
- (VIDEO) Rivers of Discord: Iraq’s Water Crisis
19 August 2019|RT Documentary Channel
The ecological disaster poisoning Basra and the Mesopotamian Marshes
In Basra, a lack of clean water is making people ill. Locals are desperate and rioting. During the summer of 2018, over 150,000 cases of water poisoning were recorded in Iraq’s second city, where the Tigris and Euphrates meet. The canals of Basra, once known as the Venice of the East, are in a shocking state.
https://rtd.rt.com/films/rivers-of-discord-basra-water-crisis-marsh-arabs-azzam-alwash/
- Kurdish Art: An Interview with Lukman Ahmad
The Kurdish Project had the opportunity to interview Lukman Ahmad, a Kurdish artist who is using art as a weapon of peace and understanding. Learn more about how Lukman is raising awareness about Kurdish life and culture through his work.
https://thekurdishproject.org/kurdish-art-an-interview-with-lukman-ahmad/
ACTIONS, CAMPAIGNS
- Campaign of the week: Solidarity with those fighting for freedom and democracy in Turkey and Kurdistan
21 September 2019|Morning Star
Britain is authoritarian Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest ally in Europe, possibly the world. It was the only country to invite him on a state visit during last year’s election campaign where he was met with lively protest from Turkish and Kurdish groups. It was here that then prime minister Theresa May caused outrage when she praised him during a press conference for his efforts in fighting “Kurdish terrorism.”
- Newsletter #14 of the Internationalist Commune of Rojava
11 September 2019|Internationalist Commune
In August, we sent you the newsletter #13, in which we commemorated the German internationalist Şehid Sara Dorşin (Sarah Handelmann). We have since published a video of the merasîm (remembering) ceremony that was made in her name in Derîk, along with an article giving more details on her revolutionary trajectory, “In memory of Şehid Sara Dorşin”.
https://internationalistcommune.com/newsletter-14/
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Gingell – Tel: 020 7272 7890
Fax: 020 7263 0596
Patrons: John Austin, Christine Blower, NUT International Secretary, Prof Bill Bowring, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Prof Mary Davis, Lord Dholakia, Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director, Jill Evans MEP, Lindsey German, Convenor STWC, Melanie Gingell, Rahila Gupta, Nick Hildyard, Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru, James Kelman, Bruce Kent, Jean Lambert MEP, Elfyn Llwyd, Aonghas MacNeacail, Scottish Gaelic poet, Mike Mansfield QC, Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, GFTU, Dr. Jessica Ayesha Northey, International Coordinator, Green Party of England and Wales; Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Kate Osamor MP, Margaret Owen OBE, Gareth Peirce, Maxine Peake, Lord Rea, Joe Ryan, Stephen Smellie, Steve Sweeney, Dr Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Dr Tom Wakeford, Dr Derek Wall, Julie Ward MEP, Hywel Williams MP.