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Nieuwsbrief Faslane 365
Organisation - 09.05.2007 17:19
Dear friends of Faslane365,
Welcome to another edition of the newsletter. With 147 days to go 85 blockading groups have participated in Faslane365, maintaining 116 days of presence, with 740 arrests and 29 prosecutions. Trials are coming up on 14 May at Victoria Halls in Helensburgh and 11, 20 and 25 June at Helensburgh District Court. There is still only one conviction on a guilty plea coming out of a F365 action.
Sluit je aan of organiseer zelf een groep
Blockading Groups Continue
Demanding freedom for both Mordechai Vanunu and Palestine the Vanunu Freedom Ride began at the gates of Faslane with a flag-making workshop before setting off on their 2nd annual 200 mile ride to London. According to the group’s website Vanunu spent 18 years in prison “12 of these in solitary confinement, for telling the world that Israel was secretly developing nuclear weapons …. Vanunu was released from prison in April 2004, but is still not free. His freedom of speech, movement and association are all severely restricted in clear contravention of his human rights. He is denied a passport, and not even allowed to leave East Jerusalem without permission. He is forbidden to communicate with foreigners or discuss Israel’s nuclear weapons, and suffers continuing harassment by the Israeli authorities. 21 years’ detention is 21 years too long”. The ride ended at the Israeli Embassy. Read more about Mordechai Vanunu and Israel’s nuclear weapons on the Freedom Ride’s website:  http://www.vanunufreedomride.org.uk/ .
Quirkiest Group Ever
Taking the prize for the quirkiest blockading group so far is the multi-national but mostly Swiss group CIA (an acronym for Cows in Action) brought to us by the one of a kind Renate, a part-time cow herder from the Swiss hinterlands. Calling for nuclear free hay for all cows, some dressed in cow suits and others wearing large felted cowboy and cowgirl hats, these actually serious environmentalists, many of whom work for Greenpeace, fooled the police and, after two days of fun and games with cow toys at the gates, boarded a bus for home but doubled back to chain themselves across the North gate by surprise when no cops were there to stop them.
Committed
A small but committed Glasgow affinity group made a presence in April and are set to return monthly for the duration, beginning on 13 June, 9 July, 13 August and 21 September. They would welcome reinforcements of arrestables or non-arrestables and can be contacted at: . We know there are many supporters out there in the greater Glasgow area who have been out to Faslane in years past. We need your support again this year.
Serious Lock-ons
A group of twenty-two Trident Ploughshares people pulled off a surprise blockade which succeeded in locking the base down for a full two hours during the school Easter holidays. Three groups simultaneously blocked the North Gate, the South Gate and the Oil Depot Gate at morning rush hour, all with lock-ons, some of which occupied cutting teams for close to an hour. The North Gate group piled out of vans at the roundabout, and succeeded in getting locked on in the gate, despite waiting police who attempted to push them back into the vans. Two supporters were arrested for waving down traffic for safety when blockaders were lying in the road. To their delight the blockaders were all released from police custody by late afternoon, eight of them with undertakings to appear in court. All plead Not Guilty and trial dates are spread over August, September and October.
Insistent
Intrepid Irene refused to waste a journey north for a required court appearance and did a lone lock on to the front of a lorry at the North Gate. She had carefully reconnoitered the logistics of locking on with a D-Lock around her neck and on to the tow loop on the lorry. She waited for the moment when the lorry was at a full stop in the queue and, with only two supporters present quickly took action. The surprised lorry driver jumped out and took her photo to prove his story that a 60 year old hippy in day-glo green dread locks had locked herself to his vehicle. Irene’s smile was priceless as she was taken away after being cut out. See for yourself on the website at: . This was her seventh or eighth 365 arrest; no one is sure, including Irene herself.
A Bit Silly
Portobello and Lothians autonomous group included some soft toy protesters who, in a bizarre incident were arrested, searched in a police van and released. Following this police searched three human protesters on the pavement, and finding them in possession of caribeeners, arrested them for a Breach of the Peace. In a baffling contrast to the early release of the TP blockaders these three were held overnight, but released without undertakings. Thus we will never know what the court might think of this preemptive policing tactic.
Environmental Coalition
A coalition of Environmentalists, including Friends of the Earth, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, the Green Party and Children of Chernobyl mustered a sizable turnout on Chernobyl Day. Most were wearing white elephant badges while a huge FOE inflatable white elephant stood by the road at the Peace Camp. See photo: http://faslane365.org/en/environmentalists/environmentalists_photo_gallery . Speakers made the too often neglected link between nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The Children of Chernobyl representative spoke of the group’s work to provide a respite for children, extending their life-expectancy which is shortened by exposure to radiation, and of the tens of thousands who have died as a result of the Chernobyl fire and the risk posed by nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. At the conclusion of a four minute die-in in the road some of the dead refused to rise and were hauled off by the police.
The same day a group of students from Stirling, Edinburgh and St Andrews’ Universities blocked all roads in to Coulport nuclear weapons depot using two tripods and lock-ons and super-glue. See photo at: http://faslane365.org/en/environmentalists/environmentalists_photo_gallery . This blockade took place the morning after Jackie Baillie MSP, in a public meeting on Trident jobs, urged protesters to blockade Coulport instead of Faslane. It was good of the students to take up her suggestion so promptly.
From Aberdeen to Kingston
Kingston Peace Council were here for two days, some of them staying over in the Peace Camp. They had some beautiful banners and did a very peaceful late morning blockade. A lone kilted Aberdonian was seen dancing in the entrance one day as was a white-bearded Marxist on another day.
Anti-365 Protests
As was reported in the last installment April began with an anti-Faslane365 Protest. In response to this expression of local concerns about the impact of blockades on school pupils getting to exams the 365 Steering Group strongly recommended groups not blockade on school days before 9am or between 12 and 2pm in the lead up to and throughout the exam period. Groups have responded positively with alternative approaches including a blockade of the nearby Coulport nuclear armaments depot which did not disrupt local traffic, blockades of Faslane at other times of the day. In meetings with police we have suggested that base traffic be redirected to park up at the military base on the road above Faslane when blockades take place so that local traffic can get through. The police are currently looking into that option. Nonetheless the local school has made alternative arrangements for buses to go around blockades via the Loch Lomond road. Recent press coverage has reported the anti-protest spokesperson saying that Faslane365 was unable to “control” the protests or “guarantee” no disruption to school buses during the exams. We have written to the Helensburgh Advertiser, local authorities, the Head of the local school and had conversations with local people emphasizing that we are listening and responding to concerns about disruption to pupils going to exams but that we do not claim to control the decisions of autonomous anti-Trident groups. We have also made clear that as long as weapons of mass destruction are deployed at the base there will certainly be people who will attempt to impede and disrupt these violations of international law.
Twenty-five Years of Faslane Peace Camp
In addition to the Faslane Peace Camp’s 25th Birthday Party 12th and 13th of June, there will be a special Old Peace Campers’ Reunion on Saturday 9th June. Please come prepared with contributions of music, storytelling and reminiscences of old peace camp times, photos, drawings, and tales of what you have been involved in since you were at the Camp. There will be an action workshop Sunday 10th June and day of action of Monday 11th June. The Peace Camp welcome everyone to celebrate 25 years of resistance to nuclear weapons with an alcohol and drug free, child friendly Peace Camp. Those who want to enjoy a drink are welcome to do so on the beach.
Beyond F365
There will be a meeting to plan for continuing the energy of Faslane365 for resistance to nuclear weapons in the UK for Saturday 29 September, with an evening of creative celebration, song dance, storytelling, contributions welcome. Sunday 30 September will be further planning, with the afternoon and evening devoted to action preparation for autonomous groups who wish to join in a celebratory blockade of blockades to end the year of resistance. All are welcome. If you want to attend or can’t attend but want to have input contact  info@faslane365.org or watch this space for details of venue etc in the coming months.
Political
Following the elections the largest party in the new Scottish Parliament, the SNP, is unambiguously opposed to the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Scotland. This is a major victory in the long struggle for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The result sends a clear message to the Labour party that its policies of maintaining nuclear weapons and pursuing neo-colonial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in concert with the US are unacceptable to the Scottish people. This outcome belies the Labour argument that a unilateralist stance on nuclear weapons makes a party unelectable. Direct action has helped keep Trident at the top of the agenda and contributed to making this political situation possible. But the position of the SNP is tenuous. They may be unable to form a coalition government and may have to govern issue by issue. We need therefore to keep up the pressure and insist that the SNP and Scottish Parliament actively push for the disarmament of Trident in Scotland immediately. Although defense is reserved to Westminster there are many ways the Scottish Parliament can work to make it difficult for the UK to maintain nuclear weapons within Scotland.
Renewed people pressure is needed now more than ever. We therefore need more people than ever to get involved and to build on the success of the blockades. There are still gaps in the rota for the coming months. We invite new groups to sign up and old groups to take another turn.
To get involved contact us at: info@faslane365.org ,
and visit the website to find a group to connect with: http://www.faslane365.org
Donations Welcome
Donations to Faslane365 are welcome and needed.
Please send cheques to:
Faslane 365
Valley Farmhouse
East Runton
Norfolk
NR27 9PN
UK
 E-Mail: info@faslane365.org  Website: http://www.faslane365.org
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