In May 2007, Scotland elected a minority government committed to getting rid of Trident.
Opinion polls showed that opposition to Trident was the foremost reason cited by people who transferred their votes from the Labour Party to the Scottish National Party (SNP). It is important to recognise that the outcome was not due to an upsurge in nationalist opinion, but reflected disgust with Tony Blair's government, not least over Labour's decision to renew Trident for a further 30 years.…
On 4 July 2005, during the G8 summit, 2,000 people blockaded Faslane Naval Base, home of Britain's Trident submarines, armed with nuclear missiles, and closed it for the day. The police strategy was to leave the street party and not attempt to clear the gates. At 5pm folk got up and went home. And for Faslane, it was business as usual.
A few weeks later an email arrived with a “Proposal for year-long blockade”. The concept was simple: get 100 people to arrive each day and blockade…
These days the Faslane machine, as far as can be seen from the outside, goes on as normal. The hundreds of cars and coaches that form the work shifts, the supply vehicles in all their variety, drift in unhindered. However, if Faslane 365 lives up to its promise, from the first of October all this will change.
The British state is trampling on the basic laws of humanity by wielding Trident, a weapon of terror capable of killing millions. How do we respond? There are many equally…
“It is our duty to future generations to build nuclear power stations.”
I think I've heard that before. Perhaps when I was a little boy and the Queen opened a plant producing plutonium for British nuclear weapons at Calder Hall (part of the Windscale complex) and emphasised the contribution of its side-product, electricity. Or perhaps it was in the 1970s when I worked on Peace News and we began to campaign against civil nuclear power.
All my life nuclear power has…
An unprecedented Iranian government proposal, which could offer a definitive solution to the diplomatic crisis over its nuclear program, is being resisted by Britain.
Iran remains committed to enriching uranium on its own soil (for its nuclear power programme), but indicated seriously for the first time on 13 May that an international consortium could control the enrichment and nuclear fuel manufacturing process.
The idea had previously been floated through back channels with…
Tell us a bit about your involvement with the antinuclear movement.
I first took part in anti-nuclear actions in the early 1980s. I went on the big anti-cruise demonstrations and went to Greenham a couple of times, for events like “Embrace the Base”. I didn't do anything much on the issue after that until the late 1990s, when I started to get alarmed about war and US foreign policy, particularly in relation to nuclear weapons. The two things that worried me were the expansion of NATO…
If Trident is replaced, it is our money that will pay for it.
Between seven and ten percent of tax raised is used for “defence” spending. Our money equips occupying troops, and subsidises arms companies. Trident provides even more reason to oppose military taxation. Trident will be funded by everyone in the UK, because we all pay tax. This includes pensioners, students and people receiving benefits, who all pay VAT. It would be virtually impossible not to. Withholding income tax is…
DEMONSTRATE Along with the national “Stop Trident” demonstration on 24 February, various opportunities for demonstrating present themselves over the coming weeks. LOBBY Several campaign groups are calling for serious lobbying of MPs on the run-up to the parliamentary debate and vote. CND are asking people to get their MPs to sign EDM 579. A Lobby Pack with details of how to go about this is available on their website. See http://www.cnduk.org or call 020 7700…
On 19 May, the public sector union Unison sponsored a day conference in London taking forward the campaign against Britain's Trident nuclear arsenal.
PN talked to Bruce Kent the next day, and this is what he told us: “It was a very positive meeting. It lasted from 10am to 5pm, and people really stayed.
“There were over 70 people at it, and they represented quite a wide spectrum of churches, trade unions, and peace activists.
“There was no feeling that the vote…
The following interview was conducted with filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, who recently produced War and Peace - a three-hour film of epic proportions about the state of affairs in Pakistan and India. We spoke in Toronto during the Hot-docs Film Festival after the showing of his film.
CS: Anand, do you call your self a Gandhian? I am going by what I saw in War and Peace where you trace your relationship to Gandhi through your uncles and other Gandhians in the…
On 4 and 5 August a group of international peace gardeners visited AWE Aldermaston to plant vines and fig trees both inside and outside the Atomic Weapons Establishment. Nine were arrested and charged with criminal damage.
Taking inspiration from the biblical text Micah 4:3 - "and everyone shall live underneath their vine and fig tree and none shall make them afraid..." - the action kicked off a weekend of events held at Britain's nuclear weapons factory to mark the 60th anniversary…
All over Britain, people came together to commemorate Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days. There were vigils, ceremonies and tree plantings whilst other people chose to raise awareness by leafleting, fasting or floating peace lanterns. This is a round-up of a few of the events that took place:
In Southampton, over 100 people gathered at Bitterne Park United Reformed Church Hall for a meeting with the Mayor, Cllr Edwina Cooke, and Bruce Kent. After the meeting the audience and speakers viewed…
On 1-2 June, Ray Bradford, Janet Fenton and Gillian Lawrence defended themselves against the charge of criminal trespass on a protected nuclear site, under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA), arising out of the Trident Ploughshares Big Blockade in February 2010.
The judge apparently paid attention to the defendants’ human rights and international humanitarian law arguments. All three were sentenced to only three months’ conditional discharge and costs of only £50 each…
Five defendants arrested at the Devonport blockade in November 2010 went free after appearing before Plymouth magistrates on 9-10 June.
Three Scottish defendants, who had locked-on across the gate to the dock where Trident nuclear submarines are serviced, had been charged with “obstruction of a constable”. The prosecution tried to change this at the hearing to “obstruction of the highway”. The District Judge dismissed the cases because “obstruction of the highway” was a summary…
Faslane Peace Camp is now 29 years old. It is a humble collection of caravans and communal spaces by the side of the road near Faslane naval base where the British nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered submarines are stationed.
Many hundreds of people have lived at the camp over the years. They didn’t choose to live here for comfort or style, but because they wanted to be part of the constant vigil and direct action campaign against a morally-corrupt world with nuclear weapons.
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