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Aldermaston - A new campaign is launched to 'Block the Builders'

eileen | 08.08.2004 12:48 | Anti-militarism | London | Oxford

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Blocking the 'builders'
Blocking the 'builders'

'Corpse'
'Corpse'

Happy Blockaders
Happy Blockaders

Hiroshima wreath
Hiroshima wreath


Map
Map

Singer
Singer

Thinking of Hiroshima
Thinking of Hiroshima



Yesterday, Saturday 7 August, saw the launch of a new campaign at Aldermaston to disrupt the building of a proposed new laser facility using non-violent means.
Around two dozen people, including several Oxford activists and your intrepid Indy reporter, gathered at the main gate of AWE Aldermaston and gave the gentlemen of the MOD a first taste of how we plan to ‘Block the Builders’.
The action included a minute’s silence in commemoration of Hiroshima, then some role play where half the protesters dressed up as builders and tried to enter the base while the others peacefully prevented them from doing so. Each side put their case in, on the whole, good tempered exchanges. It was noticeable that some builders had unusually large families to support! One protester got in under the gate and was removed with great care by the MOD, as TV cameras and activist camcorders rolled. Not everyone captured the scene first time, so the protester was allowed back onto the base and the whole scene was re-enacted for the benefit of the rest of the photographers. Later, we had a picnic in the woods and a meeting to discuss further action. It was decided to have the next protest at the end of October, to coincide with the Halloween weekend, and with the provisional title of (appropriately enough ‘Spook the Base’.


Here is more info and links from the organisations involved in the campaign:

 http://www.blockthebuilders.org.uk/
Block the Builders is a new campaign which aims to nonviolently prevent the building of a new laser facility at AWE Aldermaston, the first stage of a series of proposed developments which would enable AWE Aldermaston to build the next generation of nuclear weapons. If and when construction starts on site, we plan to block the builders through a nonviolent blockade of the site. We don’t think this will happen until 2005, but we need to start planning now. The infopack gives you a basic idea about the campaign, and how you can pledge to join in.
Some background
On 23 June 2004, the Thatcham planning committee accepted the Ministry of Defence's proposal to build a state of the art laser facility (the Orion laser) at AWE Aldermaston. The facilities, which will enable the development of new nuclear weapons at Aldermaston, received less scrutiny by the planning committee than a supermarket. The next step in the legal process will be a formal building application by AWE Aldermaston, which is also unlikely to receive much scrutiny.

Many people, and local Councils, now demand a public inquiry into the proposed developments at Aldermaston, but the outcome of such an inquiry would not be legally binding. It seems the public has less opportunities to make its voice heard in the planning of a nuclear weapons factory, than if your neighbour wants to build a new garage.


 http://www.blockthebuilders.org.uk/infopack.pdf
What do we know?
In June 2002, the Observer and Guardian reported on
plans for new developments at AWE. A spokesperson
for AWE told the Guardian that the new facilities would
provide Aldermaston with the capacity to design and
produce mini-nukes.
In August 2002, AWE published their Site Development
Strategy Plan (SDSP), outlining new facilities, including a
new supercomputer, a state of the art laser facility, hydrodynamic
testing facilities and materials-testing laboratories.
In January 2003, the government announced the extension
(to 25 years) of AWE ML’s existing 10 year contract
to manage Aldermaston, at a total cost of £5.3 billion,
and in May 2003, the recruitment of new scientists was
reported.
In October 2003, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) submitted
outline plans for the new Orion laser facility to West
Berkshire District council; it was approved in December;
but in February 2004, the MoD withdrew this planning
notice in the face of a threat of legal challenge;
April 2004: hundreds of people take part in the London
to Aldermaston march.
May 2004: the MoD resubmit the planning notice with
additional (but limited) environmental information;
June 2004: West Berkshire District Council local planning
commitee unanimously unoppose the planning
notice – the next stage is a full planning notice.


This is the link for the Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp(aign):
 http://www.aldermaston.net/campaigns/

eileen
- e-mail: eileenck2003@yahoo.co.uk

Comments

Hide the following 19 comments

Rubbish

08.08.2004 13:10

So a dozen of you played party games and you intend to do it again in October ? I bet that has the MOD running scared !

No action again ?


Rubbish?

08.08.2004 13:50

Don't you just hate people who spend their time sniping at people who are actually doing _something_ at least?

ekes


Rubbish

08.08.2004 14:51

Don't you just hate people who spend their time doing something even if it achieves nothing?


not ekes


visibility

08.08.2004 19:43

this campaign will keep putting aldermaston in the news, will keep reminding us that we should all be doing something about weapons proliferation and the arms trade. silence gets us nowhere.

- -


Well done!

09.08.2004 07:39

A resounding "Well done!" to all those involved in getting the 'Block The Builders' campaign off the ground. I hope this receives loads of support. It certainly deserves to.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good [people] do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Karuna


Don't encourage them

09.08.2004 09:43

"Troll, troll, troll, troll,
Troll, troll, troll, troll"

All together now -

"I'm a happy troller....."

Trollwatch


a 'troll' possibly, but that epithet saves u dealing with the point

09.08.2004 13:02

Well yes, it is easy to snipe at such actions as this. But then this kind of action has been going on for 46 years !! Has it achieved anything? Possibly it created a climate which meant that the opening strike in the first war on Iraq was the cruise-missile destruction of Iraqi communciation facilities, rather than the explosion of a high-altitude EMP nuke. But elsewise?

By any standards, surely the antinuke campaigns have been utterly unsuccesful.

I'm afraid that, like the 'troll', I have no positive suggestions. But surely to keep on with an action which in the past has not achieved its apparent aim is a kind of neurosis. Of course it may be that the action has another aim - to express moral outrage, irrespective of its efficacy. That's not a bad thing, unless it detracts from any effective action.

But is it not time to address the fact of this failure, rather than make actions which take no note of this failure?

david murray


Not a Troll

09.08.2004 15:54

We seem to have reached a stage on Indymedia where any crit of an action results in the cry "Troll" or "What are you doing?". If people are putting up a report of an action completed rather than calling for support of a future one then they must expect comment.

The demo at Aldermaston is an example of well meaning, committed people achieving nothing. There is little point in actions that are invisible (Indymedia is not reaching a lot of people) and which do not stop the events we object to.

They are those of us who prefer for example to work through the political process rather than direct action as we feel it more effective, others may disagree and I welcome their comments, in return I reserve the right to comment on actions such as this.

It seems to me that for some the protest itself becomes a substitute for a mainstream life, for example the ongoing camp at Faslane which has evolved into a womens camp rather than any attempt to deal with the Trident issue.

Participant


correction

09.08.2004 20:52

If you're talking about faslane peace camp, last time I was there it was a mixed (ie male and female) camp. And the people there still do actions against the base from time to time, while also demonstrating alternative lifestyles on a daily basis.

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Campaign launch, not a 'demo'...

10.08.2004 07:19

FYI - This action at Aldermaston was not actually a demo, it was the public launch of the new 'Block The Builders' campaign, which it is hoped, will gain momentum over the coming months. Local media were present, and were very interested, and this will certainly help to make people aware of what is being planned for AWE (in breach of the Non Proliferation Treaty) and as such the event was entirely successful!

exasperated sigh...


my brain's so big I can barely get out of my house

10.08.2004 14:14

blah blah lifestyle blah blah ineffective blah blah no use blah blah (I wish I was still as young and pretty as these people)

"I have no positive suggestions" - you said it brother!

;-)


Women only

10.08.2004 16:26

Just to corrent an earlier posting the Faslane camp is women only, it is intended the permanant camp at Aldermaston will also have a No Men rule. This was decided upon to protect vulnerable women and also to protect children who may be at the site during the night.

Anne


Stop the carp

10.08.2004 17:02

What is meant by this "troll". Obviously a slur but could someone explain it to me. Trolls were (are) mythical creatures that lived in caves and other dark places and ate people....??
I know of no permanent women's camp at Aldermaston either at present or planned. There are monthly women's camps, there was one last weekend. I was made to feel most welcome and so will any male if he approaches with the right attitude, understands why they wish it to be a "women only camp" and does not make a nuisance of himself.
The BtB event on Saturday was as said above a "launch", a press and publicity jamboree.
46 years and got nowhere eh? How long were the suffragettes struggling for the vote? And the working man for that matter? Or the Indian people calling for independence?
Nuclear weapons - dangerous, immoral, illegal, insanely expensive, that's OK then?

Matt (male)


men and women will work together to block the builders

10.08.2004 19:42

I shall check out Faslane in two weeks - it has always been mixed when I have been there. As for aldermaston - the next block the builders event in October will definitely be for both women and men - we need all the people we can get to sign the pledge for the action which will really stop the builders when they start their illegal attivities in 2005.

sarah


how about a rational discussion?

10.08.2004 21:16

Matt asks - rhetorically - a good question, but misses something. Yes, it took a long time for women and male proles to get the vote and for the Birt state to withdraw from India. But this was not because of a length of time. It was because:
The vote was extended to a section of the working class - those with some property - in order to separate it off from the rest and split the working-class movement.
The Brit state post WW 1 did not want a return to the Suffrage actions before the War when it was so threatened in other ways - it would have found it very difficult to deny the vote to women following the *loyal* support of the suffragettes in the Imperialist War.
As for Indian - well, post WW2 the Brit State was totally in hock to Amerika and had no interest in holding on to India.

None of this was about moral force, it was about interest. What interest does the Birt state have in renouncing nukes? None. What threat is 'block the builder' advancing? None.

The utter futility of this action was shown - beyond parody - by the police allowing an 'action reply' for the benefit of the press. What could be clearer than this?

Let us have some argument as to why this action is at all likely to be effective, when those like it over the last 46 years clearly have not.

And how about a *rational* argument without the silly jibe of Matt that what I wrote implies that nukes are OK, or the personal abuse from the person who could write no more than a string of 'blahs'. Because if that's the best you can do, then the State can feel very safe.

david murray


Clarification please?

11.08.2004 06:54

Hello David,

Can you please clarify something for me? Your last comment left me puzzled. Is your view that any and all actions against the state are bound to be ineffective because the state will always get it's own way anyway...? If that's not what your saying, then what kind of actions do you consider to be useful or effective? Could you give some examples please?

Thank you

Karuna


No good

11.08.2004 16:45

This is not an action, it's a lifestyle choice. I am surprised those who go on with this type of activity seem unable to tell them apart. It is Greenham all over again (apart from the Stasi funding of course) a group of people start out protesting but then find living in a natural environment is a pleasant way to live. Throw in some funding, Income support, donations, other benefits etc and you've found a way to live pleasantly and someone else's expense. Wicked !

Confused


reply to karuna

11.08.2004 22:15

You don't say why u r puzzled. I thought the eg of the Brit state extending the suffrage to women was a clear eg of it responding to pressure.

As to the *kinds* of pressure that are effective - that's a tought one. It seems to me that it is not so much the kinds of pressure as the the vulnerability or lack of interest in the State on that issue. Here are some effective campaigns:

The (mainly) decriminalisation of male/male sex in 1967 - brought about by a Fabian strategy of lobbying and persuasion. But also a change on an issue which in no way affected the interests of business or 'social stability'.

Similarly the - in effect - decrim of dope smoking. Why? Because 5 G people regularly breaking the law is not good news for the legitimacy of the State.

The repeal of the Poll Tax - again 10s of K folk defying the law and the most serious rioting in central London in a century. The PT made sense in terms of Thatcherism, but - in the words of Lawson - 'was not worth going to the barricades over'.

Concessions to the IRA because a couple of more mega bombs in financial centres would have seriously damaged the Brit economy because of flight of financial institutions.

Closure of med research facilities due to the terrorismof the doggy-huggers.

There is a massive difference in kind between these in terms of the State's interest and/or the degree of pressure offered by protestors and that of the importance of nukes to the Brit state and the actions of its opposers. I mean, they well as chant some mantras and light some joss sticks for all the effect that it will have - oh, I forgot, that is just what they are going to do on Halloween. This is a total frigging joke!

The burden of the argument is on them to suggest why what they doing has any possiblity of success. I' m waiting.

david murray


women only?

12.08.2004 19:59

Anne: are you sure we're talking about the same Faslane Peace Camp?
 http://www.faslanepeacecamp.org.uk/

Perhaps there is also a women's only one? Or maybe one of the TP camps?

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