Personal Account from one of the Blockaders

Faslane 365 started on the first of October. It follows eight years of blockades and disarmament action by Trident Ploughshares and consists of various diverse groups acting one after the other in hopes of resisting the replacement of Trident and getting rid of it all together. At thirteen, Catherine Holmes is the youngest person to be arrested for peaceful direct action at Faslane during that time. Catherine was one of the Edinburgh group blockading on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th October 2006. She writes

Nuclear weapons are immoral. They are indiscriminate and cost billions of pounds. The government say that they are for security yet it's a strange kind of security which puts our people more at risk from terrorists and any other enemies. What right do the governments of America and Great Britain have that they should own these bombs? Owning them is illegal and they are not above the law. They may be more powerful and rich than other countries but why should this be a reason to bully smaller countries? The recent nuclear test in North Korea was deemed "a risk to national security and peace" by George Bush; however he seems to forget that his country owns billions of pounds worth of these weapons. By replacing - or even retaining - these weapons of mass destruction, our governments are failing to abide by the Non Proliferation Treaty.

Earlier this year, in September, along with many other people from different places across Britain and the world, I walked from Faslane to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh in an effort to bring about awareness amongst the local people and MSPs of Scotland. Amongst the walkers there was a real sense of community and it was a pleasure getting to talk to people who you don't normally get the chance to. Long term peace protesters such as Bruce Kent were joined by church and trade union leaders as well as young people like myself. On the walk we went through many areas where it was clear to see funding was needed and it was apparent to everyone on the walk that if we weren't spending so much money on Trident then all these areas could be improved, along with the lives of the people who live there. The support of local people we passed on the walk was incredibly encouraging, with people tooting horns and shouting support. It was obvious that the majority of locals were against Trident. It's just a shame no one else listens to them.

Following on from the walk there were many meetings with people from the walk as well as people who weren't able to join us. At a meeting with ex-Senator Douglas Roche and peace writer and Jesuit Gerry Hughes it was pointed out with reference to the Nuremberg trials after WWll, that there is no difference between putting innocent people in ovens and throwing ovens at innocent people.

All through my life I have known about what's going on in other countries and I've been educated by more than the media and school. I've had the chance go to a talk with a man called Moazzam Begg who had been taken to Guantanamo Bay and kept as a prisoner there for years without getting to speak to his family and without being guilty or even tried for anything. Listening to him speak in such a gentle and forgiving way was so inspiring and seeing someone who has been through so much come out the other end peaceful and not at all full of hate or anger was incredible.

Ever since I was young I have been signing petitions, going on marches and demonstrations, hearing people talk about their experiences in Africa, Palestine and other places, and learning about things which are hidden from us by the government, like the munitions depot at Beith. I think that this is a really important part of demonstrating against things which we believe to be wrong in the world. However I began to feel that I wasn't being listened to, and so I decided that I wanted to be part of a direct action. This is why I had decided to go to Faslane and make my views heard.

To prepare for this I worked with an afiinity group so that we knew and trusted each other to take care and act safely. We took non violence training to help with being peaceful whatever happens and showing respect to the police and people working at the base. We practiced our action, locking our arms inside a giant teddy, over and over, going through all the different things that might happen, so on the day, it all went according to plan - one policeman even said he had to hand it to us that he hadn't seen it coming.

While I was lying in the road being cut out of a lock-on one of the police officers made a comment about my age. Surely they know that there are innocent children much younger than myself being killed in Iraq because of depleted uranium. We asked one of them if they actually knew what was behind that big tall fence with the guards and the dogs yet she just shrugged. It made me wonder why they hadn't asked themselves what we were actually protesting against. I guess they were just doing their jobs.

One of the major problems in our society today is the fact that there is little education about what our government is actually doing in Iraq or in Palestine or even just up the road at Faslane. If people knew what was really going on there would be much more questions asked and much more pressure on the government to get rid of Trident. If Britain were to get rid of our nuclear weapons I am sure many other countries would follow. No wonder they feel the need to own weapons of mass destruction when the western world has enough to do the damage of Hiroshima hundreds of times over. Catherine Holmes, 15th Oct 2006