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Greenham - Peace News online archive published

Puce Knees | 12.09.2006 15:39 | Anti-militarism | Gender

This month, to mark the 25th anniversary of what was to become Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, Peace News delves into its archives from the 80s and publishes a new Greenham archive with almost 40 articles online (more to follow when we find the time/energy/volunteers).

During the 1980s Peace News created a space for news stories from and about the camp and associated actions (Common invasions, blockades, Cruisewatch, "visits" to related bases, solidarity actions etc) and also for a wider debate - about everything from "why women only" and what constituted "nonviolent", to how wide/narrow the focus of anti-nuclear weapons campaigining should be.

Fast forward 25 years to now and it seems that, before efore this year is out, the government will make public what it intends for Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system.
As in the 1980s, both women-only and mixed activist groups are continuing the tradition of "creative" and practical nonviolent direct action today (eg the Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp(aign), Block the Builders and Falsane 365) and Peace News continues to report on their actions and campaigns.

To celebrate the past and encourage more spanners for the current works, PN has published selected Greenham material from the archives. Read and be inspired, check out those bad 80s haircuts, laugh/cry at how some debates just go round and round - for decades! - and remember the carefree activist days before annoying little things like police bail, SOCRAP, s44, FIT and so on :)

Ultimately we'd like to publish all the Greenham material (well, all the PNs since 1936 really), so if there's anyone out there who fanices a day (or more) helping us out (boring things like finding articles and scanning them to pdf), then drop us a line.

The past should not be some nostalgic, rose-tinted story, but should inspire and equip us for the struggles of the future.

Puce Knees
- e-mail: editorial@peacenews.info
- Homepage: http://www.peacenews.info/specials/greenham/index.pph