Trident ‘a Big White Elephant’:
12 people arrested at nuclear base as part of a year long blockade calling for a decommissioning of nuclear weapons
40 people (most from N.Staffordshire) took part in two days of non-violent direct action at Faslane base on the Clyde, near Glasgow. Sunday 17th Dec saw a White Elephant themed parade to highlight the fact that the Trident Nuclear Weapon System that Blair is hoping will be recommissioned, it is a white elephant i.e., an expensive possession that is a financial burden to maintain and moreover, it is unwanted.
On Monday 18th Dec at 6.30am on a dark, cold, wet Scottish morning, 12 people (men and women aged between 21 and 60) were arrested for blocking the North gate of the base by locking onto each other with chains and padlocks in the middle of the road.
One arrestee stated, “I have never done anything like this before now, but I feel it is my duty as a citizen of the UK to come here and blockade the road to stop work going on which maintains this nuclear weapon system. The fact that the UK has such an indiscriminate system which has the potential to be at least 1000 x more powerful than the bomb that hit Hiroshima is unthinkable, it’s insane”.
Another arrestee pointed to the cost of recommissioning Trident – approximately £25 billion plus maintenance costs. She says she has taken part in this blockade because the Government should be investing in resources for the people of the region, rather than in Trident. She adds that the NHS is £millions in deficit, further and higher education are in disarray because of lack of funding and that we’ve seen army personnel died because of lack of equipment – including at least one soldier from RAF Stafford. In this context, she argues, the Government should not be invested in Weapons of Mass Destruction that not only have failed to stop terrorist attacks, but also will lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons worldwide and consequently an uncertain and unsafe future for subsequent generations.
The 12 arrestees join a long list of people arrested as part of what is known as Faslane365. Other groups taking part include clergy, academics, Quakers, Greenham women, musicians, clown army and other ordinary people. So far, all people arrested have been released without charge. The blockades will continue through to Oct 2007 so there’s lots of time for others to get involved.
Background information
Faslane365 is a year long civil resistance initiative to apply pressure for the disarmament of Britain’s nuclear weapons. People taking part share the common demand that i) Trident must be taken out of deployment, ii) that government must make a timetable for dismantling the UK’s nuclear weapon system, and iii) that government should commit not to develop any new nuclear weapons.
Local group email: Staffordshire@faslane365.org
Local group blog: www.whiteelephant365.blog.co.uk
Faslane365 website: www.faslane365.org
