8 more arrested in Anti Nuclear Campaign
0 Comments Published by Tom Woodcock on Sunday, January 28, 2007 at 1:37 PM.
Another eight Cambridge residents have been arrested during a protest outside the Trident Submarine Base at Faslane on the Clyde in Scotland this weekend.
Those arrested were among 50 others demonstrating this at the base on Saturday and Sunday. They are the third group from Cambridge to partake in a year long blockade of the base that aims to halt government plans to replace Trident - Britain’s nuclear submarines.
The eight were held for 12 hours at Dumbarton and Clydebank Police stations under the charge of breach of the peace. The group told police they were upholding international law, which prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons. All were released without charge. The number of arrested at the base is now 493 since October.
Denise Knowelden, Respect County Council Candidate, said she did not want her three children or their families to grow up with the threat of nuclear war:
"The government would be committing Britain to Nuclear weapons until 2054. When faced with climate change there are so many more productive things to do with advanced science. Each Trident submarine carries 48 nuclear warheads, 8 times the power of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people. Why would anyone want to do that again?"
Also amongst those arrested was Jannie Brightman (Convenor of The Cambridge Stop the War) Coalition. She said:
“The blockades at Faslane illustrates a ground swell of public opinion that will also see tens of thousands take to the streets of London and Glasgow on February the 24th to call for ‘No to trident Replacement and Troops Home from Iraq’. We are urging people to come on the demonstration as well as write to their MP asking them to vote against the £76bn replacement program that could come before parliament this March”
Cambridge MP Cambridge David Howarth has signed the early day motion (1113) which calls for a pubic debate on the issue of Replacing trident Nuclear Missiles. He has not yet stated which way he would vote on the issue.
Many campaigners have highlighted the hypocrisy surrounding the cost and legality of the replacement proposals. Local lecturer Jill Eastland and I were arrested at Faslane in October whilst trying to present a cheque for £76bn to the security staff at the base. Jill said:
“ This Government has spent billions bombing Iraq on the pretext that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass destruction, now they are asking taxpayer to break international law and rebuild Trident. At the same time staff where I work have been made redundant and A level courses cut because there is not enough money.”
Other public sector workers have made the connection. 30 health professionals, dressed in paramedic-style clothing bearing the slogan Trident Health Warning, lay down in front of the base on Friday – 9 arrests were made.
Stop the War are organising coaches from Cambridge to the demonstration on the 24th of February £3/£5. Call 07712 893552 or 01223 328912 email: cambridge@stopwar.org.uk
Those arrested were among 50 others demonstrating this at the base on Saturday and Sunday. They are the third group from Cambridge to partake in a year long blockade of the base that aims to halt government plans to replace Trident - Britain’s nuclear submarines.
The eight were held for 12 hours at Dumbarton and Clydebank Police stations under the charge of breach of the peace. The group told police they were upholding international law, which prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons. All were released without charge. The number of arrested at the base is now 493 since October.
Denise Knowelden, Respect County Council Candidate, said she did not want her three children or their families to grow up with the threat of nuclear war:
"The government would be committing Britain to Nuclear weapons until 2054. When faced with climate change there are so many more productive things to do with advanced science. Each Trident submarine carries 48 nuclear warheads, 8 times the power of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people. Why would anyone want to do that again?"
Also amongst those arrested was Jannie Brightman (Convenor of The Cambridge Stop the War) Coalition. She said:
“The blockades at Faslane illustrates a ground swell of public opinion that will also see tens of thousands take to the streets of London and Glasgow on February the 24th to call for ‘No to trident Replacement and Troops Home from Iraq’. We are urging people to come on the demonstration as well as write to their MP asking them to vote against the £76bn replacement program that could come before parliament this March”
Cambridge MP Cambridge David Howarth has signed the early day motion (1113) which calls for a pubic debate on the issue of Replacing trident Nuclear Missiles. He has not yet stated which way he would vote on the issue.
Many campaigners have highlighted the hypocrisy surrounding the cost and legality of the replacement proposals. Local lecturer Jill Eastland and I were arrested at Faslane in October whilst trying to present a cheque for £76bn to the security staff at the base. Jill said:
“ This Government has spent billions bombing Iraq on the pretext that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass destruction, now they are asking taxpayer to break international law and rebuild Trident. At the same time staff where I work have been made redundant and A level courses cut because there is not enough money.”
Other public sector workers have made the connection. 30 health professionals, dressed in paramedic-style clothing bearing the slogan Trident Health Warning, lay down in front of the base on Friday – 9 arrests were made.
Stop the War are organising coaches from Cambridge to the demonstration on the 24th of February £3/£5. Call 07712 893552 or 01223 328912 email: cambridge@stopwar.org.uk
Labels: No Nukes
Spend it on Something Else
0 Comments Published by Tom Woodcock on Monday, January 22, 2007 at 8:58 AM.
The Cambridge Stop the War Group protested in the Market Square last Saturday to raise the issue of Trident replacement, the upcoming blockage of the Scottish navel base this weekend by Cambridge people and the Stop the War/CND demonstration being held in central London on Saturday 24th February.
The government is absolutely adamant that it is going to replace trident and commit Britain to a new generation of nuclear weapons. More dangerous and more expensive then before. The commitment is also one that links us to Washington’s foreign policies, and thus its pro market, environmentally and socially exploitative global economic project.
When half the world's population can’t get a proper meal every day and in the most resorce rich places on the planet people die from starvation, how can we use our technological knowhow to build killing machines to keep the poor down? At a time when the government is struggling to rebuild Schools that are falling appart and our Hospitals are in funding crisis, when there is a housing and transport crisis, how on earth can you justify a £76bn financial commitment? When the Government uses WMD’s to start a war with Iraq and is now constructing a case against Iran on the same grounds how can we go ahead with the proliferation of our own WMD’s?
Please support Cambridge Faslane 365 group this weekend.
The government is absolutely adamant that it is going to replace trident and commit Britain to a new generation of nuclear weapons. More dangerous and more expensive then before. The commitment is also one that links us to Washington’s foreign policies, and thus its pro market, environmentally and socially exploitative global economic project.
When half the world's population can’t get a proper meal every day and in the most resorce rich places on the planet people die from starvation, how can we use our technological knowhow to build killing machines to keep the poor down? At a time when the government is struggling to rebuild Schools that are falling appart and our Hospitals are in funding crisis, when there is a housing and transport crisis, how on earth can you justify a £76bn financial commitment? When the Government uses WMD’s to start a war with Iraq and is now constructing a case against Iran on the same grounds how can we go ahead with the proliferation of our own WMD’s?
Please support Cambridge Faslane 365 group this weekend.
Labels: No Nukes
This week I was arrested for participating in a Faslane 365 blockade. It was the first time I have taken part in non-violent direct action and, for any one who wants to give it a go, hurling yourself head first into the state apparatus sure feels good. But is it really going to reverse New Labour’s Nuclear obsession?
Last Thursday morning at 7.15am Jill and I tried to cash in a giant cheque at Faslane, Britain’s trident nuclear submarine base on the Clyde in Scotland. The receipt of the cheque would have signalled a U-turn in Government policy and could have delivered real gains for working people, whilst simultaneously halting Britain’s most immoral WMD programme. Unfortunately the cheque bounced and Jill, myself and 26 others, were locked up and arrested for having such a sensible idea.
The cheque to which we were bolted (for safety reasons of course) was worth £76, 000,000,000,000. I think that’s the right number of zeros but you can see why we needed a cheque. The sum Brown, Blair or Cameron will pledge for Trident replacement over its 30 year life would pay for: 50,000 more firefighters for five years, save seven million acres of rainforest, employ 120,000 nurses and build 30 new hospitals, hire 60,000 more teachers for the next five years, save the lives of 1.5 million children in the Third World and scrap student top-up fees for five years.
This is a truly obscene amount of investment and highlights the unbelievable hypocrisy and cynical lip service that establishment politicians are paying when they claim real concerns about world poverty, environmental issues, public services or pensions. Perhaps more hideous still are the moral questions surrounding the capabilities of a weapon that has 8 times the destructive power of the bombs that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
The thought that the Royal Navy will be allowed to replace its four trident Nuclear Submarines without so much as a debate in parliament has rightly angered a lot of people. So much so that up to 100 are going to blockade Faslane almost every day and in doing so are causing a minor irritant to the state, all be it a major one for Strathclyde Police. More effective is the reverberations each visit could have in raising the profile of the issue and thus building the campaign amongst local and national groups.
The group of activists who I went with were a mixed bag or ‘umbrella group’ from the East. It consisted of a group of UEA student, a number of Quakers, Environmental and Green Party activists - including a councillor, a number from CND and a small group of us from Cambridge Stop the War. Some were prepared to risk arrest through blockading and others were supporting.
There was plenty of opportunity to network and share ideas and as an activists weekend break there was potential for team building and cultural and political input. Further to this I got a 30 hour meditation and relaxation session thrown in courtesy of Her Majesty: en-suite room, hot dinners and much needed time to catch up on some reading and sleeping.
Our position on Trident is simple. It is morally wrong and financially, and environmentally ludicrous. Public opinion is however a little more divided. A recent Greenpeace survey of UK showed 46% oppose Trident Replacement and 44% are in favour. If you tell people how much it costs then 54% are opposed and 33% support. This is still reasonably firm base from which to build a no campaign. In Scotland the argument is all but won with 80% opposed.
However the perceived problem for the campaign is raising the issue as a public and political priority. In the early 80’s when the CND campaign reached its height over 40% of the public sited Nuclear Weapons as the most, or one of the most important issues facing Britain today (unprompted survey). However since the end of the 80’s the figure has been consistently below 5%.
On first glance this might inspire little hope for turning the government on this question. The Labour Party changing it no nukes policy and the end of the cold war has lowered the priority of Nuclear Weapons in the public sphere. However we must not forget that there are a raft of other important issue for people to worry about. The environment, global poverty and opposition to ‘the war on terror’ are high on many peoples priorities and all campaigns capable of mobilising massive numbers of people.
If the campaign to stop trident replacement takes place in isolation we might struggle to achieve that goal. If it is part of the wider movement against the neo liberalism and imperial aims of the British establishment then the 365 campaigns could play an important part in uniting a number of movements.
Trident replacement represents a clear marker in Britain’s relationship with the United State’s. It could not be used without US say so and know-how. Economically it is a direct payment of UK taxation in to US arms firms. Worse still it indicates a ‘more of the same’ foreign policy direction for the duration of ‘son of trident’ - taking us up to 2055. Many also see it as a commitment to the nuclear industry as a whole.
Radicalised activist will be drawn to Faslane as an embodiment of this Governments shameful trajectory. We need to make sure that the messages and activity this campaign throws up is not just supported but consistent with the aims of the broader movements.
The ambitious task of a year long blockade might struggle a bit through the winter but a significant number of groups are going to have gone before then and many will be re-grouping and others planning to get involved through the spring and the summer when the campaign could really take a hold. The issue could swing some marginal seats in the May Scottish parliamentary elections and then start to put pressure on in other areas by galvanising the existing public feeling and channelling it into strong local and national campaigns related to the anti war work we have already been building.
I enjoyed my weekend but, unlike many others who will be making the pilgrimage for the second time in their life, I don’t want to have to do it again aged 80!
Last Thursday morning at 7.15am Jill and I tried to cash in a giant cheque at Faslane, Britain’s trident nuclear submarine base on the Clyde in Scotland. The receipt of the cheque would have signalled a U-turn in Government policy and could have delivered real gains for working people, whilst simultaneously halting Britain’s most immoral WMD programme. Unfortunately the cheque bounced and Jill, myself and 26 others, were locked up and arrested for having such a sensible idea.
The cheque to which we were bolted (for safety reasons of course) was worth £76, 000,000,000,000. I think that’s the right number of zeros but you can see why we needed a cheque. The sum Brown, Blair or Cameron will pledge for Trident replacement over its 30 year life would pay for: 50,000 more firefighters for five years, save seven million acres of rainforest, employ 120,000 nurses and build 30 new hospitals, hire 60,000 more teachers for the next five years, save the lives of 1.5 million children in the Third World and scrap student top-up fees for five years.
This is a truly obscene amount of investment and highlights the unbelievable hypocrisy and cynical lip service that establishment politicians are paying when they claim real concerns about world poverty, environmental issues, public services or pensions. Perhaps more hideous still are the moral questions surrounding the capabilities of a weapon that has 8 times the destructive power of the bombs that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
The thought that the Royal Navy will be allowed to replace its four trident Nuclear Submarines without so much as a debate in parliament has rightly angered a lot of people. So much so that up to 100 are going to blockade Faslane almost every day and in doing so are causing a minor irritant to the state, all be it a major one for Strathclyde Police. More effective is the reverberations each visit could have in raising the profile of the issue and thus building the campaign amongst local and national groups.
The group of activists who I went with were a mixed bag or ‘umbrella group’ from the East. It consisted of a group of UEA student, a number of Quakers, Environmental and Green Party activists - including a councillor, a number from CND and a small group of us from Cambridge Stop the War. Some were prepared to risk arrest through blockading and others were supporting.
There was plenty of opportunity to network and share ideas and as an activists weekend break there was potential for team building and cultural and political input. Further to this I got a 30 hour meditation and relaxation session thrown in courtesy of Her Majesty: en-suite room, hot dinners and much needed time to catch up on some reading and sleeping.
Our position on Trident is simple. It is morally wrong and financially, and environmentally ludicrous. Public opinion is however a little more divided. A recent Greenpeace survey of UK showed 46% oppose Trident Replacement and 44% are in favour. If you tell people how much it costs then 54% are opposed and 33% support. This is still reasonably firm base from which to build a no campaign. In Scotland the argument is all but won with 80% opposed.
However the perceived problem for the campaign is raising the issue as a public and political priority. In the early 80’s when the CND campaign reached its height over 40% of the public sited Nuclear Weapons as the most, or one of the most important issues facing Britain today (unprompted survey). However since the end of the 80’s the figure has been consistently below 5%.
On first glance this might inspire little hope for turning the government on this question. The Labour Party changing it no nukes policy and the end of the cold war has lowered the priority of Nuclear Weapons in the public sphere. However we must not forget that there are a raft of other important issue for people to worry about. The environment, global poverty and opposition to ‘the war on terror’ are high on many peoples priorities and all campaigns capable of mobilising massive numbers of people.
If the campaign to stop trident replacement takes place in isolation we might struggle to achieve that goal. If it is part of the wider movement against the neo liberalism and imperial aims of the British establishment then the 365 campaigns could play an important part in uniting a number of movements.
Trident replacement represents a clear marker in Britain’s relationship with the United State’s. It could not be used without US say so and know-how. Economically it is a direct payment of UK taxation in to US arms firms. Worse still it indicates a ‘more of the same’ foreign policy direction for the duration of ‘son of trident’ - taking us up to 2055. Many also see it as a commitment to the nuclear industry as a whole.
Radicalised activist will be drawn to Faslane as an embodiment of this Governments shameful trajectory. We need to make sure that the messages and activity this campaign throws up is not just supported but consistent with the aims of the broader movements.
The ambitious task of a year long blockade might struggle a bit through the winter but a significant number of groups are going to have gone before then and many will be re-grouping and others planning to get involved through the spring and the summer when the campaign could really take a hold. The issue could swing some marginal seats in the May Scottish parliamentary elections and then start to put pressure on in other areas by galvanising the existing public feeling and channelling it into strong local and national campaigns related to the anti war work we have already been building.
I enjoyed my weekend but, unlike many others who will be making the pilgrimage for the second time in their life, I don’t want to have to do it again aged 80!
Labels: No Nukes
I will be part of a group of Cambridge peace activists from the Stop the War coalition will this week and will join with 100 others from the region to campaign against the replacement of Trident Nuclear weapons.
On Thursday and Friday the 26th and 27th of October the group will take part in a peaceful blockade by chaining ourselves together at the Scottish naval base which is home to Britain’s Nuclear submarine fleet. The action is part of a co-ordinated year long protest called Faslane 365. They will be joined by a group of Quakers from the south of England on the Friday. A group entirely from Cambridge will also be going in January and we will be looking for others to join us.
Each group will highlight its own reasons as to why the £76 billion replacement of Britain’s nuclear submarine capability is wrong. The members of Cambridge Stop the War are taking the message that the replacement is morally wrong, fraught with hypocrisies and is illegal under international law.
We are going to Faslane because Nuclear Weapons an indesciminate means of warfare and because there are so many other humanitarian causes that tax payers money should be spent on. Gordon Brown is overseeing the worst cuts to the NHS that we have ever seen. He claims there is no money for maintaining our public services or solving the problems of poverty and the environment. Yet the £76 billion he is pledging to Trident could pay for 30 new Hospitals and 160,000 nurses as well as 50,000 new FIREFIGHTERS, save 7 million acres of rainforest, hire 60,000 more teachers for the next five years, save the lives of 1.5 million children in the Third World and scrap student top-up fees for five years.
The GOVERNMENT'S commitment to Trident replacement is far from a deterrent. It is the beginning of a new and unnecessary arms race. Trident will further tie us to US foreign policy as we USE their satellite guidance systems. Britain will also be breaking the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the Nuremburg principles. Britain is flouting
international laws whilst at the same time using international law to construct a case for war against Iraq and more recently to build a case against Iran and North Korea. I am going to Faslane because I want to see the end to nuclear weapons in my lifetime and because we should be using scientific expertise to solve the world’s problems not to perpetuate weapons which can destroy it.
On Thursday and Friday the 26th and 27th of October the group will take part in a peaceful blockade by chaining ourselves together at the Scottish naval base which is home to Britain’s Nuclear submarine fleet. The action is part of a co-ordinated year long protest called Faslane 365. They will be joined by a group of Quakers from the south of England on the Friday. A group entirely from Cambridge will also be going in January and we will be looking for others to join us.
Each group will highlight its own reasons as to why the £76 billion replacement of Britain’s nuclear submarine capability is wrong. The members of Cambridge Stop the War are taking the message that the replacement is morally wrong, fraught with hypocrisies and is illegal under international law.
We are going to Faslane because Nuclear Weapons an indesciminate means of warfare and because there are so many other humanitarian causes that tax payers money should be spent on. Gordon Brown is overseeing the worst cuts to the NHS that we have ever seen. He claims there is no money for maintaining our public services or solving the problems of poverty and the environment. Yet the £76 billion he is pledging to Trident could pay for 30 new Hospitals and 160,000 nurses as well as 50,000 new FIREFIGHTERS, save 7 million acres of rainforest, hire 60,000 more teachers for the next five years, save the lives of 1.5 million children in the Third World and scrap student top-up fees for five years.
The GOVERNMENT'S commitment to Trident replacement is far from a deterrent. It is the beginning of a new and unnecessary arms race. Trident will further tie us to US foreign policy as we USE their satellite guidance systems. Britain will also be breaking the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the Nuremburg principles. Britain is flouting
international laws whilst at the same time using international law to construct a case for war against Iraq and more recently to build a case against Iran and North Korea. I am going to Faslane because I want to see the end to nuclear weapons in my lifetime and because we should be using scientific expertise to solve the world’s problems not to perpetuate weapons which can destroy it.
Labels: No Nukes
Cambridge has now set up a faslane365 group. The intention is to get 100 people from Cambridge together in order to spend two days blokading the Nuclear Submarine Base in Faslane, Scotland. The Cambridge group is organised on geographical lines and will brind together a number of different campaign and individuals. Other groups from around Britain and as far away as Sweeden will take other days in an atempt to blokade the base for a whole year starting in October. I intend to go and hope you will come too. The hipocracy of this government is so clearly exposed on this issue. Nuclear Weapons are just so wrong, they kill everything in there way, they cannot tell compatant from civilian and cause irreputable damage to the environment . if you don't intend to use them then you don't need them. We are signed up to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) and the new generation trident due to be housed at Faslane are more pwerful than the current system and thus a clear breach of the international treaty. Blair, Bush and most of the British media are currently engaged in a propoganda war against Iran for breaking the NNPT, which they are not, whilst the axis of corporate enterprise plans their attack and rebuild their warheads without and sene of the irony! The resources and money that will be tied up in the project are an insult to working people. We have been told that there is not enough money for free education and health of decent pensions. The 25 billion being spent on the submarines and bomps is enough to pay the 'crippling' NHS debt 35 times.
A steerning group has been set up and a date set - the weekend of the 4th and 5th of November.
If you would like to be on the e-mail list for the Cambridge Faslane 365 group then send a message to: sympa@lists.riseup.net
Log on to faslane365.org to check out the plan
A steerning group has been set up and a date set - the weekend of the 4th and 5th of November.
If you would like to be on the e-mail list for the Cambridge Faslane 365 group then send a message to: sympa@lists.riseup.net
Log on to faslane365.org to check out the plan
Labels: No Nukes
Trident Nuclear Weapons
1 Comments Published by Tom Woodcock on Sunday, October 02, 2005 at 12:01 PM.
David Howarth has written a positive response and signed the early day motion.
Dear David Howarth MP,
I am writing on behalf of Cambridge Respect in the hope that you will support the
Early Day Motion 1197 sponsored by Michael Meacher MP and entitled
Replacement of Trident Weapons, which reads:
That this House believes there should be the fullest possible public debate on a decision to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system; notes that a successor to Trident could cost as much as £25 billion, therefore affecting significantly other public spending options; calls on the Government to produce a Green Paper on Trident replacement that considers all possible options, including non-replacement; and further calls on the Government not to conclude any agreements, or to engage in preparations to build a new generation of nuclear weapons, until after this debate and a deciding vote held in Parliament.
We are strong believers that weapons of mass destruction are not helpful or safe in any ones hands and particularly in the control of a prime minister we believe to be guilty of war crimes.
I hope we are in agreement on this issue
Yours Sincerely,
Tom Woodcock
Secretary
Respect – The Unity Coalition
David Howarth has written a positive response and signed the early day motion.
Dear David Howarth MP,
I am writing on behalf of Cambridge Respect in the hope that you will support the
Early Day Motion 1197 sponsored by Michael Meacher MP and entitled
Replacement of Trident Weapons, which reads:
That this House believes there should be the fullest possible public debate on a decision to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system; notes that a successor to Trident could cost as much as £25 billion, therefore affecting significantly other public spending options; calls on the Government to produce a Green Paper on Trident replacement that considers all possible options, including non-replacement; and further calls on the Government not to conclude any agreements, or to engage in preparations to build a new generation of nuclear weapons, until after this debate and a deciding vote held in Parliament.
We are strong believers that weapons of mass destruction are not helpful or safe in any ones hands and particularly in the control of a prime minister we believe to be guilty of war crimes.
I hope we are in agreement on this issue
Yours Sincerely,
Tom Woodcock
Secretary
Respect – The Unity Coalition
David Howarth has written a positive response and signed the early day motion.
Labels: No Nukes
