From: newsletter at faslane365.org
Date: 2007年8月5日 3:23:19:JST
To: Brian Larkin
Subject: [Newsletter] Faslane 365 August Newsletter
Dear friends of Faslane 365,
It is hard to believe that less than two months now remain in this extraordinary year of resistance. Thus far 114 Blockading Groups have made 164 days of presence with 919 arrests and 37 prosecutions. It continues to be amazing to see so many diverse and creative groups each making their presence felt in their own distinct way. From the youthful creative energy of Bang-Europe (the true name of Next Generation) to the delightful highland games played by Assynt, this month has been no exception. But I think I speak for all of us when I say that the Bamboo Block by the Japanese had to be the most moving witness in this year of relentless testimony to the terror of nuclear weapons. We are united in our desire to make sure that there are, in the words of the Japanese banner, No More Hiroshimas, No More Nagasakis.
We hope all of you who together have created this historic campaign of resistance can come together and bring new friends to press once more for the disarmament of Britain’s wmd at the BIG BLOCKADE on the FIRST of OCTOBER.
Plan Beyond Faslane 365
On Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th September in Glasgow there will be a planning session for continuing the energy of Faslane 365. For more info please contact us.
Celebrate F365
On the evening of Saturday 29th September we will have a celebration including music, poems and films. We invite your contributions.
Accommodation, Training, Transport
Accommodation and training will be available in Glasgow the evening before the Big Blockade. Coaches will be leaving Edinburgh at 4:30am and Glasgow at 5:30am on 1st October.
To book contact 0845 45 88 365 or info@faslane365.org
Spread the Word
Faslane 365 Needs YOU to help make this Grand Finale a success by spreading the word. To download leaflets click here or call us to request a stack of leaflets.
Peace Groups across Somerset used the slogan Tractors Not Trident to show the enormous waste of money renewing our nuclear weapons would be and to highlight how the money could be better spent. A group of three from Sedgemoor were arrested in a lock-on at the South Gate. Dr. Richard Lawson explained, 'It is the duty of the citizen to disobey the Government if it behaves foolishly and illegally.'
Having recently returned from Glastonbury Faslane Peace Campers made their presence felt when they established a blockade at the South Gate of the Base. Three were arrested. Displaying two panels of the colorful “Smash Trident” Triptych which they had painted for Glastonbury the trio made use of “the mother of all lock-ons”, which had been carted from one training to another but not used because its prodigious bulk would prohibit fast action. But when the cutting crew chipped away the top layer of concrete and revealed a rusty saw blade Matt and Squeaky immediately unlocked. Squeaky said “I am a nonviolent person. The next time I do an action I don’t want the cutting team to think I might harm anyone.”
The protesters succeeded in closing the entrance to the base for 45 minutes during the peak shift change. One of the organizers said “British foreign policy is hypocritical. Tony Blair supported the disastrous American invasion of Iraq claiming Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But it is the US and the UK that terrorize the world. When will the governments learn that weapons of wmd are not the way to peace?”
CND Groups from Renfrewshire, Helensburgh, Edinburgh, Stirling and Ayrshire held a peace picnic outside the gates of Faslane on a sunny Sunday. Thanks to Jane and to the groups coordinators for mobilising. A variety of beautiful banners were displayed and all enjoyed the afternoon sunshine.
Magnificent Seven and Ffriends
The Magnificent Seven and Ffriends drove through the night from Norfolk and rode up to the unpoliced North Gate, locked-on rapidly and shut down the entrance for nearly an hour. Police complained that as this had not been announced in the calendar - 'this may change the ground rules'! “Though as yet” said one of the Seven “we still haven't received our printed copy of the 'ground rules' from the police”.
Unarguably one of the highlights of Faslane365 was the visit of twelve Japanese.
Ten people, including atomic bomb survivors (‘Hibakusha’) from Nagasaki were arrested during the “Bamboo Blockade” of Faslane.
The Japanese group, supported by around 100 others, including a large group of Quakers, placed peace cranes in front of the North gate. As police moved in to remove the cranes, four grandmothers from Fukuoka and the son of a Nagasaki bomb survivor sat in front of the gate, while five more, including his father and peace campaigners from Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Finland locked themselves together with bamboo arm locks. The Japanese appealed to the British government not to deploy or renew the Trident nuclear weapon system. The police quickly ‘dearrested’ four elderly women and one young man, who had sat in front of the gate singing Japanese peace songs. It took them nearly an hour to cut the bamboo blockade and reopen the gate.
As he was arrested, Masahiko Moriguchi who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki when he was 7 years old, said: “The Faslane 365 campaign is encouraging the epoch-making first step towards the abolition of nuclear weapons. As one who experienced the A-bomb, I wanted to see this nuclear base with my own eyes and personally take part in this action to halt the nuclear weapons.”
His son, Shinya Moriguchi (born in Nagasaki) said: “The UK’s decision on whether or not to renew Trident is not only a British matter, but will influence proliferation and insecurity around the world. I wish the UK to make a wise and rational decision and pioneer the road to nuclear abolition, which would make this world safer.”
Before being arrested in the Bamboo Blockade, Kohei Ueyama from Hiroshima (aged 26), said he came to Faslane to show solidarity with the Scottish people taking nonviolent action to get rid of Trident: “If we do something for peace in our neighbourhood and country, we can solve any international problem.”
Yoshiko Sakai, a retired quantum chemist, said she was “eager for Britain to be the first country that has the honour of abolishing nuclear weapons”.
Eisaku Miyoshi (60), Professor of Engineering from Fukuoka, brought a harrowing exhibition of photographs and paintings from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As he was arrested he said “We have to bear witness to the horror of nuclear weapons so that they are never ever used in this world again.”
The Japanese delegation shared water from Nagasaki with people in ceremonies at the cherry trees which were planted years earlier at Helensburgh Victoria Halls and the Faslane Peace Camp. They were also welcomed to Edinburgh by City Councillor Ewan Aitken and Nigel Griffith MP in a reception at the Gillis Centre hosted by Chris Boles and organized by the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Resource Centre. Thanks to Penny Stone and Janet Fenton for getting that organized for them. News stories about their visit to Scotland & Faslane in the Scotsman can be found in the press coverage section of our website.
The European youth group Bang-Europe (Ban All Nukes Generation) came together at Faslane and Trident Ploughshares Coulport Camp with students of the Global University who disembarked from the Japanese Peace Boat to travel here for a whirlwind stop on their world tour. Click here to find out more about Peace Boat. To find out more about Global University click here. The North Gate seemed to explode as these two groups of youth met in a vibrant mix of energies. Before coming to the base BANG spent the previous day in a packed Action Academy program which included a Postcard Competition, the winning entries to which can be seen and downloaded from the BANG website, Clowning and Arts and Action workshops in which they generated slogans, painted banners and planned media and support work. A Learning Space Dynamics (LSD) forum facilitated individuals obtaining information on International Law, nuclear weapons proliferation, current nuclear weapons deployments, and movements and campaigns. Having thus educated themselves eight attempted a superglue action at the North gate. They received enthusiastic support from clowning colleagues and about ten Japanese who performed an incessant dance, a combination of callisthenics, karaoke and aerobics. The young blockaders included two fifteen year old girls who were released within a few hours and a sixteen year old.
Trident Ploughshares Camp sprang to life as both groups arrived for an afternoon workshop. The Japanese had to leave before Tea time. Next day the group were given a tour of the base area by Anna-Linnea Rundberg and Rebecca Johnson a talk on Trident by Rebecca and one on missile defence by Regina Hagen, Coordinator of INESAP (International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation). Click here to visit the INESAP website. A group of five set off early the next morning for Dublin to rendezvous with the Peace Boat and sail from Dublin for New York, to take a statement from BANG to the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs at a Nagaski Day action at Dag Hammerskold Plaza. Click here for more info on the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). This group included intrepid sixteen year old Georgia who was arrested in the North Gate action and who had spent a difficult night in a police cell flanked by two women who threatened each other throughout the night. Georgia’s then seventeen year old brother was arrested back in November in the Quaker White Poppy action. They must have some great supportive parents.
Assynt
The Assynt group returned to Faslane this time to hold the first Faslane Highland Games. They arrived dressed in kilts and plaids, one young father wearing a handwoven sort of kilt/ragrug. His little boy eagerly joined in the games and won the Haggis Put and Egg and Spoon Race. First on the program was the Punch and Judy Show put on by the Peace of Cake Theatre in which the foolish Punch meets an evil Arms Dealer who convinces him that the Crocodile actually has a lot of bombs even though everyone knows the crocodile lives far away in the river eating buttercups all day. Punch is persuaded to buy some bombs with the $20 he is supposed to spend on sausages for the babies. Predictably the Arms Dealer then sells bombs to the crocodile and when Punch and the Croc meet they drop their bombs. Miraculously they get a chance to start over. Judy convinces the Arms Dealer to make cake and share it with everyone. Great games followed including Welly Over the Faslane Sign – which turned into Welly over the Fence and the Tug of Peace which strayed into the gateway. The rope was the right length to close the entrance, but was quickly cut by a zealous OSU cop who, in flagrant violation of the Health & Safety concerns forever asserted by the police, strode quickly through the crowd with an unsheathed sharp knife saying “Right this rope is getting cut”.
The Teachers were bolstered by being joined by Julia and Lutzia, coordinators of Bang-Europe, and Regina Hagen, and Hannah, a postgraduate student doing research on the communication between Faslane365 and the locals. After considering a Teach-In which would have included a Geography Lesson on the effects of nuclear weapons and the History of their use in US and UK foreign policy as a Big Stick for getting their way in the world the teachers decided the best lesson they could offer was to set an example of direct resistance to this policy. Making connections between the progressive Scottish education policy decision to ban the belt as a means of classroom discipline, a moral decision based on the insight that violence was not an acceptable way to maintain social order, the National anti-bullying strategy, and the oxymoronic UK policy of deploying Trident, they asked: How can we as teachers hope to educate young people for a culture of peace and the non-violent resolution of conflicts when our government sets the immoral example of relying for security on threatening (apparently non-existent) enemies with annihilation. Their banner read Teachers Against Nukes: Stop Nuclear Bullying but was grabbed by the OSU along with supporters, who were taken into custody. The teachers succeeded thanks to careful practice in getting locked-on on the South gate access road even though an OSU police car and a van of Strathclyde police were on the spot. Nine people were arrested. Three supporters arrested waving down traffic for safety were released early after Strathclyde Police realized they had not been attempting to blockade. The Teachers are planning a second block in late September or for the 1st of October. For info contact brian@faslane365.org.
TELL THE GOVERNMENT WHAT ITS SECURITY PRIORITIES SHOULD BE
Gordon Brown and his new Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, have asked for our opinions for what foreign and security policy priorities should be. After Blair, we’re probably all cynical about manipulated consultations, but this is a new government, and so it is REALLY IMPORTANT that we give them OUR alternative security ideas - in large numbers and with sensible, coherent arguments. (Especially since I gather they’ve received a lot of Tory tosh about asylum seekers and getting out of the EU and very little from our side of the picture). Check out the 'New Diplomacy' page on the FCO website
The three key questions from the Foreign Office, each with a webpage for submitting your comments are:
What should our priorities be?
What is the best way to co-ordinate across UK government?
How can the FCO engage beyond Whitehall?
So tell them we want them to think in terms of human security, not national security, that they must not only not replace Trident but they need to take the lead towards scrapping all nuclear weapons, starting with Trident, and become a leader and initiator in creating the conditions for an irreversible, verifiable nuclear weapon free world. They should denuclearise NATO, evict the US nuclear weapons from Lakenheath, and pull out of the dangerous and destabilising missile defence collaboration with the US (Menwith Hill and Fylingdales).
Let’s tell them we want Britain to comply fully with international law and UK obligations on disarmament and human rights; that we want security challenges to be addressed at source; that we regard poverty, climate change as major security threats, which need to be addressed collectively. We want them to stop making and selling arms, to go beyond their current ‘Arms Trade Treaty’ and to ban cluster bombs, as a follow on to the landmines ban. Tell them we regard not just nuclear proliferation but the continued existence and deployment of nuclear weapons by anyone to be a major threat to our human and international security.
The more people putting an anti-militarist, anti-nuclear, human security agenda forward the better - if we don't respond, how can we get them to change? and if we do respond and they don't change, we'll have a stronger case for telling them they've got it wrong. And who knows, they might even listen for a change?!
And Carl Laughed
A US High School Theatre company is bringing their play about Father Carl Kabat to the Edinburgh Fringe August 7-11. Kabat is currently in Federal prison in the US for disarming a missile silo in North Dakota. He has served sixteen years all told for such actions in the US. Read more about the Weapons of Mass Destruction Ploughshares here . View a trailer of the show on the AndCarlLaughed website .
Faslane 365 GREETING CARDS
Each of the cards is a collage of the different banners that have been brought to the Faslane 365 blockades during the first 6 months and includes a photo of one blockade per card. Each of the 8 cards in a set contains different banners and photos and is blank inside. Four Pack of 8 cards in colour with envelopes. £5 per pack (inclusive of p&p). To view the cards on the website click here
To order contact cards@faslane365.org or ring 07835 354652. Make cheques payable to 'Faslane365' and send to Valley Farmhouse, East Runton, Cromer, Norfolk, NR27 9PN with a note to say who it is from and that the cheque is for cards.
DONATIONS ARE WELCOME.
Please send cheques to:
Faslane 365
Valley Farmhouse East Runton
Cromer Norfolk
NR27 9PN
UK.
Still time to FILL the GAPS in the ROTA
We invite new groups to sign up and old groups to take another turn. Contact us at: info@faslane365.org.
Visit the website for updates: http://www.faslane365.org
Call for info: 0845 45 88 365 or 07768 312676
In peace,
Brian, on behalf of Faslane365 Steering Group
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