This section of the website contains the press pack we are producing for the Big Blockade.
Advanced press releases will be put up here. On the day press releases will be posted as blockade reports on the Big Blockade page
A list of well-known people who are coming to the Big Blockade is available here along with some statements from some of them.
This contains a Summary of the Year
We have compiled a selection of the best photos. All the photos from the year are available in the Photo Gallery and each group has their own photos in their own gallery.
When viewing a photo, there will be a link, just under the photo on the right hand side, reading "thumbnail> | original>". If you click on the "original>" you get the full-quality photo.
The pack also contains background info on Trident and the Political Context of the campaign.
See here for statements from some of these people
This list will be updated as we approach the blockade. For an up-to-date list please check back at this page.
"I have always opposed nuclear weapons. Their possession is morally wrong. Their possession increases rather than reduces the likelihood of nuclear conflict and does not guarantee national security. The money proposed to be spent on a new generation of nuclear weapons should be invested instead in future schools, future hospitals and meeting the challenges of climate change."
"I will be at the Big Blockade at Faslane on Monday 1st October opposing Trident and I am encouraging as many people as possible to come to the Big Blockade and show their opposition to Trident. I congratulate all those who have taken part in the Faslane 365 campaign this past year. This is the most important event in the Scottish calendar this year because we can no longer afford both morally and financially to have these weapons of mass destruction on our shores"
Sandra White will be available to speak to the press after about 10am outside the North Gate of the Faslane Naval Base where she will be supporting the Blockade.
In January this year, Plaid Cymru's Deputy President Jill Evans MEP was arrested at the gates of the British Nuclear Weapons Base at Faslane in Scotland. On Monday 1 October, Jill will return to the base with many others to mark a year of non-violent blockading of the nuclear submarine base.
Speaking today, Jill Evans said:
"I said in January that we were here to reaffirm Plaid Cymru's commitment to nuclear disarmament and the party's opposition to these illegal and immoral weapons of mass destruction. That commitment is a strong as ever, and once again I am taking part in the blockade to reflect the views of the majority of people in Wales who oppose and have protested against Trident. Around one thousand people have been arrested during the twelve months of the protest, including forty from Wales. I congratulate all the many groups and individuals who have taken part in Faslane 365 making the point that nuclear weapons make the world a more dangerous place. These weapons will not protect us from global warming or terrorist attacks."
Speaking in her keynote address to the Plaid conference last Thursday, which was televised on BBC Wales Ms. Evans said “It's too late to prevent the disaster in Iraq, and the plans for new nuclear weapons for Britain move ahead. But not unnoticed and not unimpeded. In last year's conference I invited all of you to come and take part in the big blockade at the Faslane nuclear submarine base where the Trident missiles are sited. The blockade of the base has happened every day since 1st October last year and I would invite you all again to join others from far and wide to protest against these Weapons of Mass Destruction and come and take part in the final day on October the 1st. Earlier this year groups from Wales entertained as clowns, Dafydd Iwan led the protest songs and protesters dressed as Merched Beca, hoping to emulate the success of another band of Welsh campaigners against the mighty weight of the British state! A thousand people have been arrested including about forty from Wales - and even some from Plaid Cymru! We haven't stopped Trident yet but we will."
Jill Evans is available for interview at the Big Blockade outside Faslane Naval Base from 10am until mid afternoon. Contact David Bradley 01824-709700 / 07901-862907
Robin Harper MSP will join protesters at Faslane on Monday 1st October to show opposition to the replacement of the Trident system of weapons of mass destruction.
Robin Harper said "The use, the threat of use, and the planned replacement of Trident are all illegal. Replacing Trident is illegal. It would flout the international treaty agreements that the UK has signed up to. We should take a lead in fighting the wars of this century – the war against poverty, injustice and environmental destruction - not spend £25bn on weapons of mass destruction aimed at civilians. Trident is not wanted by UK citizens and I support this protest against Westminster’s increasingly disastrous foreign and defence policy. The UK Government’s breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by replacing Trident is close to being a criminal act."
Mr Harper said: "This is a crucial economic, strategic and moral issue for Scotland and our voices must be heard. Scotland must say no to a move which would make us a terrorist target, would create yet more nuclear waste, would be illegal and would give this country a key role in maintaining one of the most immoral and brutal features of 21st century politics. The cash spent on Trident should be used to fund vital public services and fight climate change, and promote peace and justice here in Scotland and abroad."
Mr Harper was part of a Scottish delegation of politicians, NGOs representatives and community and religious leaders, which last year visited Aldermaston and the House of Commons to convey concerns over plans to replace the Trident system of weapons of mass destruction1.
Patrick Harvie said "The strength of opinion in Scotland against the replacement of Trident is growing all the time, as people learn more about the cost, the danger to world peace, and the safety issues at home. Gordon Brown would do well, especially if he's worried about alienating any more Scots voters, to heed this public opinion and drop the plan for yet more vicious nuclear weapons."said
Patrick Harvie will be available for interview at the Big Blockade from early afternoon onward.
(To be read during the Service at the North Gate during the Big Blockade at 10am.)
Dear brothers and sisters,
I send greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, the friend of the poor and the lover of peace. On the night before he died he said these words to his friends: Peace I give you, my own peace I leave with you, not as the world gives peace do I give to you. These words continue to challenge the powers and authorities of the world where there is still such misplaced confidence in a so called peace that can be secured by a so called deterrence. But these expensive and devastatingly destructive weapons cannot bring peace. They only encourage others to depend on force. They add to the instability of the world. They leech finances away from so many other things that could do so much good. Our nation is demeaned and compromised by the presence of these weapons of mass destruction on our shores. The Church of England and most of the Christian churches in these islands stand united in calling upon our government to re-think its reliance on nuclear weapons for our security. This is the peace the world gives and it is not working. Let us turn instead to the peace of Christ who bids us turn our swords into ploughshares and our trident submarines into hospitals and schools. And it is my pleasure to send greetings and prayers to those of you who are gathering at Faslane today as you lament the madness of the world and bravely bear witness to the way of lasting peace.
After celebrating Eucharist outside the Faslane Naval Base on Friday 9th March 2007 Bishop Stephen Cottrell lead a procession into the gateway of the base, blocking the entrance. He was not arrested.
Since 1st October 2006 thousands of people from throughout the UK, ten European countries, and as far away as Japan have protested at Faslane against Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons system. There have been over 180 days of presence and nearly a thousand people arrested for blockading and charged with Breach of the Peace. Most of these were held overnight, sometimes for up to 36 hours, only to be released the next day with all charges dropped. Only 51 cases have actually been prosecuted. Thus far only eight trials have been completed with six people found guilty and two acquitted. Four cases have been dropped part-way through. Fines have ranged from £100 to £500.
The 125 autonomous participating groups have sought to apply critical public pressure for the disarmament of Britain’s nuclear weapons and to demonstrate the range of serious concerns – from human rights to climate change – that people in the real world consider to be the vital challenges for the 21st century. These groups included, among many others, environmentalists like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, faith groups including Buddhists, Quakers and Christians, Unity! the union of asylum seekers, human rights campaigners, artists, acclaimed writers, musicians and actors, peoples’ choirs, clowns, groups of professionals such as teachers, lawyers and health professionals, and Elected Representatives including Scottish Councillors and Parliamentarians from Holyrood, Westminster, Wales, Europe, and Holland.
Blockaders have used diverse, creative tactics. They have sat in the road, linked arms, superglued hands together and to the gate, “locked-on” with carabiners inside sections of plastic and steel pipe and even a concrete filled barrel which police had to cut through with a jackhammer. Base traffic has been disrupted for up to six hours at a time. Activists have sat atop tripods in the gateway and road so MOD had to erect scaffolding to remove them. One group scaled the fence while others rode bicycles in through the gate triggering the ‘bandit alarm’ so that the base was locked down.
Greenpeace blockaded Trident in its port by anchoring the Arctic Sunrise across the sea gate until police cut the anchor to remove her. Fifty University lecturers and students held a seminar in the gateway. There were solemn religious services such as Quaker meetings, Buddhist meditation, a candlelit Christmas vigil and a service by the Bishop of Reading, in mitre and vestments, who led the congregation to block the gateway. Several theological colleges held a service ending in a blockade.
In a moving testimony ten Japanese including survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki laid peace cranes across the gateway and some locked on through large sections of bamboo. There were musical and theatrical performances, and many groups engaged in colourful and humorous actions. Spaniards poured paint over themselves and Swiss dressed as cows. There has been a Tea Party, a Silent Disco, a blockade by bananas in tiny tinfoil lock-ons, and a Faslane Highland Games with a Tug of Peace across the gateway. Blockaders have ranged in age from 13 to 89.
Faslane 365 will culminate in a Big Blockade on 1st October 2007, in which many of the groups and individuals who have been part of Faslane 365 over the year will join together (with some who haven't made it to Faslane yet this year) to celebrate the year and renew our commitment to seeing Trident banished from Scotland and a nuclear-free world.
‘Trident’ is short-hand for Britain’s only nuclear weapons system, which comprises four Vanguard-class nuclear submarines, equipped with US Trident D-5 ballistic missiles (SLBM), and sustained by a stockpile of nearly 200 warheads. The current system was designed for the cold war Soviet threat and planned to be operational until the 2020s. The current Trident system costs Britain over £1,500,000,000 pounds (£1.5 billion) every year to run.
The UK submarines are built at Barrow, Cumbria, by BAE Systems, which has been mired in frequent corruption scandals. The ‘home-port’ for Trident is the HM Naval Base Clyde at Faslane, 30 miles from Glasgow. Current deterrence doctrine requires that at least one British nuclear-powered Trident submarine is always out on patrol, carrying 16 missiles armed with up to 48 thermo-nuclear warheads. Most of the warheads are 100 kilotonnes, which means that their destructive capacity – a hundred thousand tonnes of TNT equivalent – is around eight times greater than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima and killed over 140,000 civilians.
About half of these deaths were instantaneous due to heat and blast effects. The firestorm produced by the bomb killed tens of thousands more. Burned flesh fell from the bodies of many who suffered horrible pain for hours, days and weeks prior to death. Radiation sickness killed thousands more in the weeks, months and years that followed the bombing. Even today survivors (‘Hibakusha’) and their children and grandchildren are dying from cancers caused by exposure to radiation from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.
After a rushed debate and with a three-line whip imposed by the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition together, the UK parliament voted on May 14th to allow research and development on a new class of submarines to upgrade Trident. The motion was: “This House supports the Government’s decision as set out in the white paper The Future of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Deterrent (CM6994) to take the steps necessary to maintain the UK minimum strategic nuclear deterrent beyond the life of the existing system and to take further steps towards meeting the UK’s disarmament responsibilities under Article VI of the Non- proliferation treaty”. The motion was carried by 409 votes to 161. In a severe blow to the credibility of the government’s position, 88 Labour MPs opposed and several others failed to register votes. Several Scottish junior ministers and ministerial aides (and one Welsh aide) resigned government jobs in order to vote against the whip.
Though the government published a price tag of £20 billion, the actual replacement of the system has been estimated by the Liberal Democrats to cost over £76 billion, which could well rise to more than £100 billion if the new nuclear weapons went ahead. Parliament has been promised a further debate before construction of the submarines or changes to the warheads are authorized.
Most of Britain’s nuclear weapon system is based on US technology. The warheads are manufactured at AWE Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire, but they are based on the W76 US warhead and have to fit Trident D5 missiles. The UK ‘leases’ the missiles, which are designed, manufactured and refurbished by US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin at the US King’s Bay facility. Aldermaston, which produces the UK’s warheads, is co-managed by Lockheed-Martin. The very close nuclear collaboration between British and US scientists is coordinated through the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA), which was renewed in 2004, ignoring requests from MPs for a debate.
Though Congress has restricted funding, the US has embarked on a design and development process intended to lead to a new generation of more flexible warheads, currently dubbed the ‘reliable replacement warhead’. Despite UK government denials, US analysts have revealed that Britain is collaborating in design work, including subcritical warhead testing, and may also be preparing to build a similar warhead if Trident is renewed. It should be noted that three years before the March 2007 vote in Parliament, Aldermaston had received over £5.3 billion to build a new laser facility and supercomputer which will be used to design and test any new warheads for Trident.
For more info, see www.acronym.org.uk, especially ‘Worse than Irrelevant: British Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century’ (PDF), by Rebecca Johnson, Nicola Butler, Stephen Pullinger. Acronym Institute: London, 2006.
For the latest on construction and planning developments at Aldermaston and Burghfield see www.aldermaston.net.
Three political events formed the backdrop for Faslane 365’s yearlong blockade – the UK White Paper (published December 2006) and debate on renewing Trident, Britain’s submarine-based weapon of mass destruction; elections for the Scottish Parliament on May 3rd 2007; and the first meeting of the 2010 review cycle for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), April-May 2007.
At a time when the majority of British public opinion is portrayed as uninterested in nuclear issues, a primary objective was to raise awareness and opposition to the government’s precooked decision to renew Trident. But Faslane 365 aimed to do more than raise consciousness. We wanted directly to disrupt what we see as illegal nuclear weapon deployments and the military-nuclear machine, and stimulate a regrowth in nonviolent community-based activism on peace, justice and environmental issues.
Faslane 365 started on October 1, 2006, shortly before publication of the government’s White Paper on Trident replacement. In bringing people from all over the world to close the base for however long they could, the blockades focussed opposition to Trident and highlighted how the continued deployment of nuclear weapons violates Britain’s international legal obligations, notably the NPT and humanitarian law.
In the run-up to the vote on Trident in the Westminster parliament on March 14th, Faslane 365 kept up pressure to show the immorality, illegality and insecurity of Trident. Although Tony Blair won that vote with the help of David Cameron and a three-line whip imposed on both the Labour and Conservative Parties, he lost the argument and was heavily opposed within the Labour Party. MPs from all sides of the house challenged the ‘insurance policy’ and ‘deterrence’ justifications for replacing Trident, and argued that nuclear weapons provide neither genuine status nor security for Britain. They questioned the government’s declared budget of £20 billion and showed that Trident replacement was likely to cost over £76 billion – a vast sum that would be better spent on conflict prevention programmes, education and alleviating poverty.
Most significantly, almost half of Labour’s backbenchers – 88 – rebelled and joined the Liberal Democrats, independent parties and a few Tories in voting against Trident. In a courageous show of conscientious objection, the deputy Leader of the House of Commons, Edinburgh MP Nigel Griffiths, and several junior ministers and government aides also resigned their positions in order to vote against their own government’s decision to procure the next generation of nuclear weapons.
The persistent blockades at Faslane generated press coverage and helped to raise awareness in Scotland in the run-up to the May 2007 elections, ensuring that opposition to Trident became one of the most important issues on which voters cast their ballots. For the first time ever, an anti-nuclear party was elected to government. A month later, on 14th June, 71 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) voted on a Green Party motion against Trident replacement. Only 16 (all Conservative) voted against. The Scottish Labour Party split, with some voting with the majority in favour, while 39 MSPs abstained. This historic vote must now be carried forward by the Scottish government.
Scotland is not only part of the British Isles, but also in Europe. Over time, the European Union has forged a Common Foreign and Security Policy based around international cooperation and the consolidation of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms. While seeking to develop a more independent agenda for peace and security may bring Scottish aspirations – especially the rejection of Trident – into temporary conflict with some of Westminster’s current foreign and nuclear policies, Scotland’s peace policies can be integrated more directly with European and United Nations principles, agreements and perspectives.
The 1998 Scotland Act does not make this easy, because it reserved powers to Westminster on matters relating to national security, defence and foreign policy; but this does not mean that Scotland should have no voice or policy on these issues. Schedule V of the Act specifies that “observing and implementing international obligations, obligations under the Human Rights Convention and obligations under Community law” are not reserved matters. Underpinning potential new Scottish legislation on preventing crimes committed by weapons of mass destruction is the understanding that Westminster cannot reserve and impose on Scotland something that is contrary to international law and Britain’s own international and treaty obligations. In other words, illegalities cannot be reserved. And there are strong legal grounds to argue that with regard to nuclear weapons, London is making an unlawful imposition on Scotland.
Furthermore, as set out for the ‘Prevention of Crimes Committed by Weapons of Mass Destruction (Scotland) Bill 2007’, sponsored by Michael Matheson MSP, the use or threatened use of Trident in accordance with UK doctrine and policy would be unlawful. Hence, not only the replacement, but also the current deployment of these nuclear weapons must be considered unlawful.
Scotland therefore has legal as well as moral and political grounds to reject having nuclear weapons. There are overwhelming environmental and safety grounds for refusing to have nuclear weapons as well. In addition to the nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered submarines deployed out of Faslane, live warheads are frequently transported on public roads from Aldermaston near London to RNAD Coulport, 40 miles from Glasgow. The Scottish government has the right and duty to insist that if Westminster wants to strut its nuclear weapons on the international stage, it should find somewhere else to put them. Contrary to the misinformation peddled by some Trident supporters, this will not cost jobs but could create new economic opportunities, as highlighted in the Scottish TUC/SCND study on ‘Cancelling Trident: the Economic and Employment Consequences for Scotland’. This report looked only at denuclearising Faslane, but if the naval base were also closed down, this would free up the prime loch-side location for alternative jobs and peaceful purposes, including sport, recreation and research and industrial development into renewable energy technologies.
Faslane 365 participants played an important part in keeping Trident very visibly on the table before and during the meeting of the Non-Proliferation Treaty parties in April-May. On the first day, civil society representatives distributed an open letter from the heads of Scotland’s Catholic and Protestant Churches, Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien and the Right Reverend Alan D. McDonald. In it, these church leaders castigated nuclear weapons as “immoral, inhumane, and contrary to the teachings of all the world’s major faiths”. They also wrote, “Nuclear dangers and human insecurity will increase if nuclear weapons continue to be treated by some countries as a currency of power or as if they were an indispensable part of defence for the foreseeable future.” This is a point taken up by many non-nuclear parties to the treaty. A week later, NPT delegates were outraged to learn that nuclear warheads had been driven across Edinburgh by the MoD on the penultimate day of the NPT conference (one day after the new Scottish Parliament was sworn in).
The UK’s plans to build a new generation of nuclear weapons for the next 50 years was deplored by many countries at the NPT meeting. Ambassador Paul Kavanagh (Ireland) for the New Agenda Coalition of non-nuclear states said the “replacement or modernization of nuclear weapons” ran “counter to the agreement reached at the 2000 Review Conference … to eliminate these weapons”. The UK diplomats defended Trident renewal, declaring: “The UK is retaining not modernising its deterrent. There is no change in the capabilities of the system, no move to produce more useable weapons and no change in nuclear posture or doctrine.” However, South Africa spoke for many when Ambassador Abdul Minty said: “We were disappointed to learn about the decision of the UK on the Trident to maintain its nuclear deterrent. This could have been a landmark decision for others to follow, which could have provided the necessary impetus to a disarmament process that desperately needs to be reinvigorated.”
In a real victory for the work of civil society, including Faslane 365’s strategy and persistence, the Chair of the NPT Conference, Ambassador Yukiya Amano of Japan, gave unprecedented recognition to the criticisms about Trident and other nuclear weapons developements in paragraph 12 of his Summary: “Concern and disappointment were voiced about plans to replace or modernize nuclear weapons and their means of delivery or platform, the increased role of nuclear weapons in strategic and military doctrines, and the possibility of lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons...” The Indonesian Ambassador, speaking for the Non-Aligned Movement, reiterated the 1996 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and recalled that the UK has a “legal obligation to pursue in good faith and bring nuclear disarmament negotiations to a conclusion”. He called for all the Nuclear Weapons States to eliminate their nuclear arsenals in compliance with the Programme of action (‘Thirteen Steps’) agreed at the 2000 NPT Review Conference.
An important objective for Faslane 365 was to stimulate the building of communities of responsibility and resistance and to put the broader security picture into the frame. The White Paper called the renewal of Trident “a price worth paying” and advertised to the world that London considers nuclear weapons to be indispensable and expects them to retain a high political value for at least five more decades. At a time when Britain should be driving the agenda to devalue and eliminate nuclear weapons, the Labour Party bizarrely appeared to be trying to re-stage and win out-dated cold war battles.
Faslane 365’s strategy was based on breaking the nuclear chain in Scotland, where over 70% of people oppose nuclear weapons. If Trident cannot be deployed in Scotland, Westminster will have immense difficulty finding an alternative submarine port and would have to build warhead handling facilities to go with it, which would provoke widespread local opposition. Perpetuating illusions of nuclear deterrence distracts from the real security measures that need to be undertaken to address global threats like climate change, poverty and disease.
With new administrations in Westminster and Holyrood, there is a historic opportunity to lay different foundations for peace and security in the 21st century and beyond. While closing down the Faslane base will take time and concerted legal and political pressure, there are initiatives that can immediately be embarked on that would prepare the way for dealing more appropriately with current and foreseeable security challenges.
In recent history, civil resistance has played a critical role in raising awareness of nuclear dangers and making certain weapons undeployable. Peace movements have also been a crucible for ideas about security alternatives. The Faslane 365 blockades have brought a diverse variety of peace and justice groups to the nuclear base. Together we have shown that in ridding Britain of nuclear weapons it will be important to put in place alternative peace and security policies and tools, paying greater attention to the environment, justice and a more equitable sharing of the planet’s gifts.
Contacts: 0845 45 88 365 / 07733 360955 /07768 312 676
Hundreds of peace activists will risk arrest on October 1st when over a thousand people are expected to join in a “Big Blockade” of Faslane Naval Base. This will be the culmination of the Faslane 365 year of actions against Trident, Britain’s weapon of mass destruction. People and groups from all over Britain (and abroad) will use diverse nonviolent methods to block the entrances to the nuclear base and disrupt the ongoing deployment of Trident.
As they have done over the past twelve months, the groups and individuals, who will include Members of the Scottish and European Parliaments and well-known singers and artists, will highlight the illegality, insecurity and waste of resources inherent in the deployment and renewal of Trident. Throughout the day there will be colourful, creative and dramatic actions at the gates, including many different kinds of lock-ons and sit-downs.
“This Big Blockade will be a carnival of resistance to celebrate Faslane 365’s achievements in highlighting and disrupting the illegal nuclear deployments over the year,” said Dr Rebecca Johnson from the Faslane 365 Steering Group. “We will join together to mark the end of this year's campaigning, and to make clear our determination to keep up pressure on the Scottish and UK governments to get rid of Trident and to take the lead in moving the world towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, in accordance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the wishes of the majority.”
As diverse groups of activists blockade the gates, folk legends Leon Rosselson and Seize the Day will be providing music, and the renowned Roy Bailey and David Ferrard will perform songs from a forthcoming album about the Iraq War. A twelve-member choir will sing the oratorio Trident - A British War Crime, by Camilla Cancantata, first performed at the Edinburgh High Court in 2005. The Rev. Kathy Galloway, leader of the Iona Community, will celebrate a communion service at 10am at the North Gate with Clergy Action and Christian CND. Several Members of the Scottish Parliament, including Marlyn Glen (Labour), Robin Harper (Green) and Patrick Harvie (Green), as well as Jill Evans MEP (Plaid Cymru) have confirmed their participation and will be available for interviews.
Since Faslane 365 started on October 1, 2006, thousands have participated and more than 950 people have been arrested. Participants have included elected representatives from Scottish, UK and European Parliaments and local councils, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Buddhists, Christians, 'Unity!' union of asylum seekers, artists, writers, academics, students from the UK, Europe and Japan, atomic bomb survivors from Nagasaki, teachers, lawyers, health professionals and pensioners. Specific groups have come from many regions of Scotland, England and Wales and from eleven other European countries, as well as Japan and the United States. Prominent participants included the Bishop of Reading Stephen Cotterell, former UN Assistant Secretary-General Prof Sir Richard Jolly, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, Adrian Mitchell, A.L.Kennedy, actor Roger Lloyd Pack and singer-songwriter Billy Bragg.
For further background information on Trident, a summary of the political context of the campaign, and a selection of photos from the yearlong blockade see the full Press Briefing Pack on the website. www.faslane365.org/1oct/press
Contacts: 0845 45 88 365 / 07733 360955 /07768 312 676
Contacts: Dr. Rebecca Johnson 07733 360955 /Brian Larkin 07768 312 676
Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond sent his best wishes for a successful event as 8 MSPs and one MEP have so far pledged to join hundreds of protesters on Monday in support of the Faslane 365 Big Blockade in opposition to Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons based there. Among the messages of support received by the Campaign, Sandra White MSP (SNP) and Jill Evans MEP (Plaid Cymru) called on the Scots and Welsh respectively to join them in going to Faslane.
Sandra White MSP (SNP) said "I will be at the Big Blockade at Faslane on Monday 1st October and I encourage as many people as possible to come join in opposing Trident. I congratulate all those who have taken part in the Faslane365 campaign this past year. This is the most important event in the Scottish calendar this year because we can no longer afford both morally and financially to have these weapons of mass destruction on our shores".
Jill Evans MEP (Plaid Cymru Deputy President) speaking in her keynote address to the Plaid conference last Thursday, which was televised on BBC Wales said "It's too late to prevent the disaster in Iraq, and the plans for new nuclear weapons for Britain move ahead. But not unnoticed and not unimpeded. I invited all of you to come and take part in the big blockade at the Faslane nuclear submarine base where the Trident missiles are sited. I would invite you all again to join others from far and wide to protest against these Weapons of Mass Destruction and come and take part in the final day on October the 1st". Ms Evans was among the elected representatives arrested at the gates of the Faslane nuclear weapons base in January this year.
Alex Salmond’s office sent a letter on behalf of the First Minister to the Faslane 365 organizers conveying "his best wishes for a successful event" and affirming his full support for "responsible and peaceful protest against the replacement of Trident". The letter further stated that Mr. Salmond "shares" Faslane 365’s "objective of removing nuclear weapons from Scotland’s soil" and affirmed that "He is committed to doing whatever he can to persuade the UK government to alter its position on nuclear weapons." As a first step, on October 22, the Scottish Government will hold a Summit of key stakeholders to discuss Scotland’s future without nuclear weapons.
Angie Zelter of the Faslane365 Steering Group said, "We look forward to participating in the National Conversation organised by the Scottish Government about our common goal of ridding Scotland – and the world – of nuclear weapons. In inviting Faslane 365, the Government is clearly recognizing the important role played by people power in mobilizing resistance to the illegal deployment of these nuclear weapons, including the transporting of nuclear warheads on public roads."
Hundreds of peace activists will risk arrest on October 1st when over a thousand people are expected to join the "Big Blockade" of Faslane to highlight the illegality, insecurity and waste of resources inherent in the deployment and renewal of Trident. Throughout the day there will be colourful, creative and dramatic actions at the gates, including many different kinds of lock-ons and sit-downs.
For the earlier Press Advisory on the Big Blockade, a summary of the political context of the campaign, and other background information on the yearlong blockade see the full Press Briefing Pack here on the website.
Contacts: Dr. Rebecca Johnson 07733 360955 /Brian Larkin 07768 312 676