Fasting against the bomb at Burghfield

IssueSeptember 2013
News by Julia Mercer

From 6-9 August, a group of peace activists including Serge Levillier, a lively 79-year-old Frenchman, held a fast and vigil outside Burghfield atomic weapons establishment in Berkshire. This was in solidarity with fasts also happening in France and Germany.

We put up banners, sang together, and read from the accounts left by survivors of the terrible atomic bombings in Japan. We did shadow drawings on the tarmac outside the main gate to remember those at the heart of the explosion, who left nothing but a smudge on the ground. And we knitted for peace, to help make a seven-mile-long scarf that will join the two British nuclear bomb factories, Aldermaston and Burghfield, next year (see end of article).

It was a time of peace and tranquillity; we had constructive discussions with the police. It was a good lead-up to the Burghfield disarmament camp that goes on till 7 September. All peace-loving people are invited to come to all or part of this camp.