Edinburgh Peace and Justice Resource Centre

By Brian Larkin
Ten miles from the "bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond," on the shores of another picturesque Scottish loch, lurk the menacing black hulks of four Trident submarines. Unlike the fabled Loch Ness monster, these behemoths represent a very real danger to humanity.
For when each of these submarines slips silently into the deep waters of the North Atlantic, it is armed with 48 nuclear warheads, each 8 to 10 times more destructive than the Hiroshima bomb. Before the subs return to port, the warheads are stored at a weapons depot called Coulport in bunkers dug out of the hillside on the banks of the next loch over. That hillside is fenced off and patrolled by dogs and sentries toting automatic weapons.
Periodically, a convoy carries the warheads to the Atomic Weapons Establishment near London where the warheads are maintained. If you walk along the perimeter of that fence Ministry of Defence police with German Shepherds will escort you off the land.
But across the road is a beautiful bit of woodland known as Peaton Glen. A sign says this land is for the "peaceful enjoyment of all." About 10 years ago this land was purchased from the MOD by Georgina. She is in her 70s and walks with a cane now. But in the early 1980s Georgina was one of the "Greenham women."
Hundreds of women camped at Greenham Common for 10 years opposing U.S. nuclear weapons based there. They broke into the air base and danced on top of one of the silos where Cruise missiles were stored. Their persistence paid off and the U.S. withdrew its Cruise missiles. With the end of the Cold War, the feeling that nuclear weapons presented an imminent threat to humanity subsided. But the UK still had its own nuclear weapons based on those submarines up in Scotland.
It was not the end of the anti-nuclear weapons movement in Britain. At the same time that Georgina bought the land next to Coulport, a group of peace campaigners formed a group called Trident Ploughshares.
Trident Ploughshares was inspired by the Berrigans and others who hammered on the nose cone of an MX missile in 1980. Members pledged to engage in, or support, direct disarmament actions in an open, accountable and non-violent way until the government itself started to disarm the nuclear weapons. The group held disarmament camps each summer in Georgina's woodland. People reclaimed those hills and lochs, walking the perimeter, cutting through the fence and even swimming across the loch and into the port. Gillian painted the word "VILE" on a sub in dock.
Angie, Ulla and Ellen dumped computer equipment into the loch. They were acquitted on a defence of international law. TP organized several big blockades of Faslane. In 11 years there have been more than 2,000 arrests. Yet Trident is still there.
In 2006-07 a handful of TP members organized Faslane365, a yearlong blockade of the base. More than 100 autonomous affinity groups came from all over the UK and Europe, even from Japan. There were more than 1,000 arrests.
Having been involved in anti-nuclear campaigns in the past, I felt it was time to push for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Too many countries now have, or are developing, nuclear weapons. And Scotland has a unique part to play because the Scots do not want Trident. They elected the Scottish National Party, which made getting rid of Trident its top campaign pledge. By the end of the yearlong blockade, the SNP government formed a working group on a future of Scotland without nuclear weapons.
Two years later, there has been no action. In fact, there is little the Scottish Parliament can do because defence matters are in the hands of the UK government. That's why, during TP camp this summer, five of us walked straight in the front gate of Faslane to invite everyone at the base to join us in beginning the process of disarming the nuclear weapons.
We passed through two levels of security and reached the inner high-security perimeter before police stopped and arrested us. We offered flowers and a letter inviting base workers to talk with us about putting their skills to work on building renewable energy. We were charged with Serious Organized Crime Prevention Act, which was enacted as part of anti-terrorist legislation after the 7/7 bombings in London.
We could face up to a year in prison for this simple nonviolent action, though it is unlikely. Other protesters convicted under this law for entering the base were simply admonished. Our letter explained that "it is the presence of Trident submarines each carrying 48 warheads 10 times more destructive than the Hiroshima bomb, which constitutes a serious organized crime. We invite others to follow us through this gate and restore humanitarian law."