10/11 November 2006 London Block

FASLANE 365 - Song written by Leon Rosselson after their November Block

Autumn trees are red and gold in the light of the breaking dawn
The wind rakes the waters of the Loch and the rain drives down
And we gather at the gate of the submarine base where a thousand Hiroshimas are deployed
Behind that grey iron fence topped with razor wire.
And the police are there to uphold the law and they clear the way so the early shift
Can service the machine whose end is nuclear war.

And we stand at the gate with our placards and our banners and we sing
Our voices are scattered and battered by the wind yet still we sing -
WE SHALL NOT GIVE UP THE FIGHT WE HAVE ONLY STARTED .....

I'm wet and I'm cold and I'm losing the will to live
And I'm wondering, as are the police, what we hope to achieve.
But there's a gang of dangerous armed extremists up there making plans
They've got to be stopped and we haven't got much time.
Conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions, that's what they've got in mind
And to be silent is to be complicit in a crime.

So we stand at the gate with our placards and our banners and we sing
Our voices are scattered and battered by the wind yet still we sing -
NO MORE KEEPING QUIET FOR ME, NO MORE, NO MORE ....

At 11am from the base a hooter is heard
And we stand in silence to remember the glorious dead.
And down at the Cenotaph they'll be there, wearing solemn faces, our mind-locked leaders
Who believe you can settle disputes with a nuclear bomb.
Hard power war junkies intent on making sure
There'll be millions more dead to remember for generations to come.

So we stand at the gate with our placards and our banners and we sing
Our voices are scattered and battered by the wind yet still we sing -
TRIDENT, TRIDENT MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN
IT CAN KILL ALL LIVING CREATURES AND THEN KILL THEM ALL AGAIN ....

From the hills to the north of the Loch through the misty rain
I can see the heavy grey shape of a nuclear submarine.
Any enterprising terrorist with a rocket launcher could easily take it out
In which case Trident, as a deterrent, wouldn't be much good.
And, I wonder, would they really use it? They've got to mean and to say that they would
But if they use it, it wasn't a deterrent and we're all screwed.

So we stand at the gate with our placards and our banners and we sing
Though our voices are scattered and battered by the wind yet still we sing -
TRIDENT OUT CLOSE THE BASE TRIDENT IS MASS MURDER ....

A gust of wind sweeps the clouds away and the sky is clear
How beautiful the Loch would be were the base not there.
So it's 76 billion pounds for a weapon that can't be used.
Are they mad? Or are we with our hopeful chants and our naive faith
In our peaceful power to challenge the state and our belief that people are good
And wouldn't want to turn children to ash and poison the earth.

So we stand at the gate with our placards and our banners and we sing
Our voices are scattered and battered by the wind yet still we sing -
WE SHALL NOT GIVE UP THE FIGHT WE HAVE ONLY STARTED
WE HAVE ONLY STARTED WE HAVE ONLY STARTED ......

10/11 NOVEMBER
We were just 12 people ranging in age from 20 to 70 plus. The police outnumbered us by 3 or 4 to 1 on the 1st day, watching us to see how far we would take our demonstration. Would we try and block the entrance to the base and risk arrest? On this occasion, the answer was no. Instead we covered the fences in placards pointing out that Trident is a weapon of mass destruction and encourages nuclear proliferation. We displayed colourful banners - Sing Trident Out! WMDs? We've found them - . We gave out leaflets, in the form of an open letter, to workers going into the base and to passing motorists. Many people responded positively; some, stern-faced, ignored us; others were downright vulgar. We also distributed leaflets in Garelochhead and Helensburgh.
And we sang. In the wind and the rain and the cold, we sang. From 6.30 in the morning, for hour after hour, we sang - peace songs, anti-nuclear songs, anti-Trident songs, we-shall-not-give-up-the-fight songs. it's what warmed our hearts and lifted up our spirits. The power of song.
The police, many of them, seemed impressed by our determination to defy the weather, offered to share their sandwiches, stood with us during the Armistice Day 2 minutes' silence, chatted to us about Joan Baez songs and guitars and how, when they were lads in the 60s, their dads had taken them to anti-Polaris demos in Holy Loch.
We'd decided before we went that as we were such a small group risking arrest was not a sensible option. But we felt we'd done our best to make our message known and our presence felt and heard. And we came back enthused enough to contemplate doing it again. 'Trident, Trident, money down the drain, It can kill all living creatures and then kill them all again...'