Anya Nanning Ramamurthy speaks on the links between remembrance, peace and climate justice at the National Alternative Remembrance Ceremony 2021.

Anya joined PPU Council in 2021 after being the PPU's Remembrance Project Intern in 2020. She is a lifelong Quaker and pacifist. She has grown up fighting for peace, attending many anti war and arms trade protests and frequently speaking out against militarism of young people and education. Since 2019 she has become increasingly involved in the youth climate justice movement, including coordinating many of the London youth climate strikes. She also loves to cycle and is studying geography at Lancaster University.

-

Every year the National Alternative Remembrance Ceremony makes a stand for a different approach to remembrance, one that confronts the injustices of war, remembers all its victims, both military and civilian, and stands up for peace.

This year the event was live streamed from Tavistock Square in London, after a year online due to the pandemic. Around 100 people attended in the square, with hundreds more watching online.

Speakers:
- Hamit Dardagan, co-founder of Iraq Body Count and the charity Every Casualty Worldwide
- Huda Ammori, activist, writer and co-founder of Palestine Action
- Hosted by Anya Nanning Ramamurthy, organiser of London youth climate strikes and PPU council member

The ceremony highlighted the importance of a peaceful and inclusive culture of remembrance at a time of growing instability caused by the climate crisis and the COVID pandemic. It also marked twenty years since 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan, with speakers focussing on the catastrophic impacts of the 'war on terror'.