Newsletter November 2006

Welcome to the second Faslane 365 Newsletter, with the highlights from the last month's blockades at the Faslane base!

The two middle weeks of November was the most intense period of blockading so far, with 11 different blockading groups in 14 days. A total of 16 groups had a precense at the base in November, bringing red dragons, white poppy-lockons, a double decker bus, sambabands, choirs and lots of positive energy.

With Tony's proposal to develop a successor to Trident it is even more important now to come to Faslane and show that nuclear weapons are both "unwise and dangerous" contrary to what Mr Blair says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6205174.stm

Let's keep up the pressure and make December and January at Faslane even more creative and effective than the last months!
Read about how you can get involved:
http://faslane365.org/getinvolved

On the website you can find all of the reports, press coverage and photos not included in this newsletter:
http://www.faslane365.org

CONTENT
1) Blockade Summary
2) Lock on of the Month
3) Press Coverage
4) Blockade Reports
5) Donations
6) Volunteers

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1) BLOCKADE SUMMARY

Blockade summary for November
139 arrests
16 groups
22 days of presence

Blockade summary so far
327 arrests
32 groups
46 days of presence

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2) LOCK ON OF THE MONTH

The Bradford CND-symbol:
http://faslane365.org/en/blockade_photos/locked_on

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3) PRESS COVERAGE

Some of the press coverage from November.
All press links can be viewed at
http://www.faslane365.org/press_coverage

"The veteran Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) organization Sunday was organizing a peaceful blockade of the naval base that accommodates Britain's nuclear missiles in protest against replacing the country's submarine-based Trident system.
The two-day protest is part of a one year continuous blockade of the Trident base at Faslane on the west coast of Scotland that started last month."
- Islamic Republic News Agency (Iran) 5th November

"CND campaigners from all over Wales will be joining a continuous blockade of Faslane Naval Base on November 12. The blockade, known as Faslane 365, is aiming to cause a whole year of disruption at the Trident British nuclear weapons base on the Clyde in Scotland.
Many Welsh people have already joined the blockade and some have been arrested by the police. Next week, about 100 people are planning to take part in a 72 hour all-Welsh blockade."
- News Wales 7th November

"A granny locked up after a nuclear base protest has delivered a rallying call to Welsh activists at a demo today: 'Don't be scared of getting arrested - I don't regret a thing.'"
- Wales on Sunday 12th November

"Seven anti-nuclear protesters have been arrested for breach of the peace as campaigners from Wales joined a protest at Faslane naval base in Scotland."
- BBC Online News 13th November

"A veteran peace protester arrested for the fourth time outside a nuclear submarine base in Scotland has vowed to continue campaigning."
- Rochdale Observer 15th November

"The Reverend Chris Howson was taken into custody during a demonstration outside the Faslane nuclear submarine base in western Scotland."
- This is Bradford 17th November

"Nearly 300 people, including clergy and church members, have been arrested since the start of a protest campaign that began in October, aimed at a year-long, daily blockade of the Faslane Trident base in Scotland."
- Church Times 24th November

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4) BLOCKADE REPORTS

Quotes from the blockade reports.
All Blockade Reports can be viewed at.
http://www.faslane365.org/reports

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Clergy and Religious Leaders

"The Christian gathering at Faslane began at the civilised hour of 12 noon on Wednesday November 1st, and we were pleased to overlap with a group from Cumbria. Nine of them were arrested the previous day. Many of the Cumbrian group were Quakers and they held a short meeting before departing which we were invited to join.

For our block there were representatives of CANA (Clergy Against Nuclear Arms), Clergy Action and the Iona Community, ministers and priests from the Church of Scotland, Church of England, Baptist and Catholic churches, as well as individual lay people who came out to join us. In all, our numbers were around 45-50 on the first day.

Ten people then sat down on the roadway in front of the gate. The police were quick to create a line in front of us, and the Main Gate then was shut over, preventing anyone entering or leaving. An announcement was made on loudspeakers at the base, advising employees to leave by the South Gate."

David McLachlan.
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CND at Faslane 365

"On Sunday 5th November, approximately 50 demonstrators gathered outside the North Gate calling for No Trident Replacement. Sunday's rally was addressed by Katy Clark MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, CND Chair Kate Hudson, and Scottish CND Chair Alan MacKinnon.

An early-morning blockade and demonstration took place on the morning of Monday 6th November in conjunction with the Stop the War Coalition. Demonstrators arrived at Faslane at 6:30 am causing traffic disruptions and leading to delays in workers getting on to the base."

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Manchester block report

"Fifty or so people from Manchester travelled up to Faslane on 6th - 8th November and 25 of these were arrested blockading North and South Gate at Faslane. We created a vibrant presence on our main day of activity (Tuesday 7th) with the arrival of our group on a 1950s Routemaster double decker bus complete with advertising panels which read 'Manchester says No Trident' ; 'What would you spend £40,000,000,000 on? and Nurses or Nukes? Trams not Trident? The bus carried Rhythms of Resistance samba group and other protesters on an epic 11 hour journey from Manchester to Faslane.

The Grim Reaper was also present, take a look at the photographs to see him.
We decided to block both North and South gates at the same time and did so with some success. The North Gate was distrupted for around an hour and a half as the police struggled to penetrate a lock-on device they had not encountered before.

On a less positive note we can report that the police presence at North Gate on that day (Motherwell District) used pressure points to try and minimise the length of time people blockaded for. Also, excessive force was used on one woman who was arrested (twisting her arm badly).

Overall a very positive experience, and many of us want to come back again in the Spring, building on our experience this time. "

Manchester F365 group

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Remembrance Day 11th November 2006

Helen John and Tossie Stickles painted slogans on the High Court building in Edinburgh on the 11th of November.

"The "arrest and detain for 30 hours without charge" policy amounts to an abuse of process designed to silence legitimate protest against upgrading genocidal Trident nuclear missiles. I choose to come here to the High Court in Edinburgh to place on public display the terms "No Upgrading Trident", "Honour the Living", "No More War Crimes for Bush and Blair" and "All US Bases Out of the UK"."

Helen John
11 November 2006

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Reflections from a Scottish police cell

"Eight of us were arrested by about 8.30am. It took another 2 hours to get us to the police stations. The boys were dropped off at Dumbarton station, and the rest of us were taken to Clydebank.

I spend some time doing yoga and my physio exercises… and handstands. I go for a jog in circles one way and in circles the other, sometimes bouncing off the walls to add momentum.

Then some singing starts…very faintly at first, and I think that everyone else must be miles away, but it gets louder and louder til I feel inspired to join in, and although the song I know is a bit different, it fits in with the round. Our voices ­ yeah, even mine ­ sound fantastic echoing against the hard cell walls.
...the cell door clangs open and it's time to go, back to the desk where my heaps of belongings are returned to me and I'm given a letter from the procurator fiscal telling me that he's decided not to take me to court this time, even though my "criminal" activity would justify it.

I dump my stuff in the reception area and go outside to find Liz happily dancing around in the rain."

Gogledd Cymru

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London Singing Group
10-11 November

"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."

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Sussex students block report. 25/11/06 to 27/11/06.

Monday morning at 7.30 am 8 of us left the peace camp, where we had stayed in luxury accommodation in a heated bus, and marched down the A814 to lock on in two groups of 4 across the road, blocking the north and south gate from this direction (on the advice of the chirpy coppers the night before!). We used a combination of thick arm tubes and neck to leg d-locks and blocked both lanes for almost an hour, slowing traffic for a further hour or so as blockaders were moved from 1 lane.

Despite considerable lack of equipment and organisation, we feel we had a very successful weekend, not least because of our continued presence at the north gate for almost 3 days. Many of the students who ventured all the way up to faslane had never taken direct action or even taken part in a political protest before. All returned inspired, energetic, and determined to keep up the fight against our government’s expensive and immoral wars, and playground-bully attitude to defence- using effective, direct tactics. Bring it on!

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DONATIONS
Donations to Faslane 365 are always welcome (and needed) and can be sent by cheque (made out to "Faslane 365") to:
Faslane 365,
Valley Farmhouse, East Runton,
Cromer, Norfolk,
NR27 9PN,
UK.

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VOLUNTEERS
As Faslane 365 goes into its third month the Steering Group would like to ask for more people to get involved to keep the blockades growing. Let us know if you can help out with trainings, mobilising, website work or contribute in other ways. See contact details below.

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info@faslane365.org, www.faslane365.org, 0845 45 88 365, 07768 312676
Faslane 365, Valley Farmhouse, East Runton, Cromer, Norfolk, NR27 9PN, UK