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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PHOTO: Janet Fenton
The subs will be built with the more expensive PWR3 nuclear reactor rather than the less safe PWR2 one, but this will further increase the costs of the Trident replacement programme.
The aim is to base the new nuclear missile submarines at Faslane in Scotland until 2060. This is a decision that flies in the face of the will of the people of Scotland who have just elected a parliament with a clear majority of MSPs who are strongly opposed to nuclear weapons.
…Four years ago the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), in coalition with the Greens, formed a minority Scottish government. Its manifesto and campaign literature had prominently declared opposition to the Trident nuclear weapon system.
After the Westminster government authorised design work for the replacement of Trident submarines, the Scottish parliament answered with a resolution calling upon the UK government not to replace Trident.
Then, in October 2007, the Scottish…
On 10 March, Stirling hosted Scotland’s White Ribbon march, organised by men taking action against violence against women. The event was sponsored by Stirling Council and supported by Amnesty International. It was also supported by the local police force, so it was the first march I have been on where the police were simultaneously policing and marching (openly at least!).
Perhaps this will be repeated in the coming months when the police try to gain our support against cuts to…
After several years of the Faslane peace camp maintaining not much more than just a token presence, the campers have decided to start a drive towards bringing it back to life in time for the thirtieth anniversary in June.
There have been several small events just with friends and associates, starting with a communal rebuilding on 1 January and several clean up days. The momentum of progress has been steady and greater than expected, and the camp is now busy and active once more…
In mid-March, activists at the Happendon Wood Action Camp disrupted the South Lanarkshire council planning committee meeting that gave approval to Scottish Coal’s plans to develop Happendon Wood for opencast coal mining.
On 8 March, as the planning committee convened to rubber-stamp the decision, activists set off two stink bombs to show just how much the council stinks. Outside, activists briefly occupied part of the council HQ’s roof, and unfurled a banner reading “South Lanarkshire…
I met Karen and Alice at the Heatherington Recreation Club student occupation at Glasgow University. They and numerous others are occupying and looking after a beautiful building, a former club for research students that had been left to waste by the university authorities.
Heatherington is now being used as an educational and cultural venue as well as a space from which to organise on issues in higher education and the wider anti-cuts agenda. Scotland’s academics took two days…
A new book, Trident and International Law: Scotland’s Obligations was launched on 1 February. The launch took place at the Scottish parliament and was hosted by Bill Kidd MSP. Edited by Rebecca Johnson and Angie Zelter, the book is a project of the Acronym Institute, Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre and Trident Ploughshares. The eminent judges and lawyers writing in the book, review the arguments for the illegality of nuclear weapons and support Scotland’s right to demand the disarmament…
In early December, members of Trident Ploughshares, Helensburgh CND and the Faslane Peace Camp braved freezing temperatures to hold a vigil at the gates of Faslane Naval Base in solidarity with the five members of the Disarm Now Plowshares group on trial in Tacoma, Washington, USA.
The five members of the Disarm Now group entered the US Navy’s Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific (SWFPAC) on 2 November, 2009 in a symbolic act intended to bring light to the immoral and illegal…
In December a delegation to the Scottish Parliament met Bruce Crawford, minister for Parliamentary Business in the Scottish Government, to hand in an open letter to the first minister. This was a follow-up to the Scottish Government’s response to the report from parliament’s Working Group on Scotland Without Nuclear Weapons.
The letter was compiled by Edinburgh Peace & Justice Centre, Faslane Weekly Vigil, Greenpeace, Helensburgh CND, The Institute for Law and Peace,…
Over the past couple of months THWAC (The Happendon Wood Action Camp) has been a hive of activity, with direct action and community resistance taking place all over the Douglas Valley in South Lanarkshire and beyond.
In November the camp hosted its second gathering and on Monday 8 November, 11 activists entered Mainshill Opencast Coal Site, stopping work on site for an hour by jumping on dumper trucks and blocking the haulage road.
Two days later, an early morning…
On 15 November, 120 asylum seekers protested in Glasgow’s George Square after receiving letters stating that they are to be removed without consent to alternative accommodation. The letters state that they can be moved to any region in Scotland, a huge concern for families whose children are now established in Glasgow schools.
The forced removals are a consequence of the UK Border Agency cancelling a contract with Glasgow City Council after failure to agree over costs. The…
Scottish CND discussed the next stages in the campaign against Trident renewal at their AGM on 12 November.
SCND Chair Alan Mackinnon argued that taking Trident replacement along with the military spending on the war in Afghanistan the UK is spending £7bn per annum that could be diverted elsewhere at a time of deep cuts to social services, so there are real possibilities for lobbying disaffected Lib Dems and raising Trident replacement on the political agenda. Alan also described how…
On 6 November, a small but dedicated group of peace campaigners braved the rain in Glasgow’s Victoria Park for a rededication of the Peace Tree. This cherry tree was presented to Glasgow by Christian CND 21 years ago, to mark their 1989 annual conference.
Speakers Pauline McNeill MSP and Martin Bartos of the Green Party reaffirmed their own personal commitments to the anti-nuclear cause and reminded the gathering of their membership of the burgeoning worldwide movement for a…
Immediately after being fined £500 for blockading Faslane two women painted their judgement on the walls of the Dumbarton court building. Barbara Dowling wrote “This JP court does not uphold international law” on an interior wall while Janet Fenton painted “We want a peace court” over the brass plaque by the entrance. They now may face jury trial for an alleged £3000 worth of damage on vandalism charges.
The painting was an indictment of the Scottish courts’ persistent refusal…
