Aldermaston Big Blockade-Help disrupt illegal work on WMD at Britain’s nuclear bomb factory!

by Trident Ploughshares Wed Oct 01, 2008 18:52 England

Campaigners to disrupt illegal work on weapons of mass destruction

in Big Blockade of Britain’s nuclear bomb factory

Wednesday, 1 October 2008 - For immediate release

Contact: Daniel Viesnik, media liaison for Aldermaston Big Blockade

[email protected] Mob: 07506 234 091

Trident Ploughshares [1] has called a major non-violent blockade of Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston, near Reading on Monday 27 October 2008 , from 6:30am. The event, which is supported by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) [2], Block the Builders [3] and the Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp [4], is aimed at disrupting work on existing Trident warheads and their successors.

Hundreds of peace campaigners from around the country and beyond are expected to converge on Aldermaston in what is likely to be the biggest day of direct action against Trident nuclear weapons since the Faslane Big Blockade on 1 October 2007 . On that occasion, 171 arrests were made as campaigners celebrated the end of a year-long peaceful blockade of the naval base in Scotland , which resulted in 1150 arrests of concerned citizens from all walks of life resisting nuclear weapons. [5]

On Easter Monday 2008, an estimated 5,000 people surrounded AWE Aldermaston as CND marked the 50th anniversary of the historic first London to Aldermaston march. It was the biggest demonstration seen at the site for two decades. [6] Trident Ploughshares are keen to build on these recent successes.

In March 2007, Westminster voted in principle to retain nuclear weapons and to build new submarines from which to launch them. To date, there has been no vote in parliament on the future of warheads. However, Ministry of Defence (MoD) documents obtained by CND in July 2008 confirmed that contrary to repeated ministerial denials, the government has already made the decision to replace the warheads. [7].

The MoD has already committed billions of pounds to a massive ongoing construction and recruitment programme at AWE, where Britain ’s nuclear warheads are researched, developed and maintained [8]. AWE first outlined its expansion proposals, which it claimed would be on the scale of Heathrow Terminal 5, in its 2002 Site Development Strategy Plan [9]. Building work commenced - on the Orion laser - in 2005 and continues to this day.

A spokesperson for Trident Ploughshares says, “We are unsurprised but nevertheless disappointed at the level of dishonesty and disingenuousness of ministers. The expansion of AWE, continued deployment of Trident and plans to replace it contradict and undermine the government’s stated support for global abolition of nuclear weapons. This is hypocritical, destabilising and breaches disarmament obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Britain signed 40 years ago. There can never be a lawful or moral use for Trident, so the whole system must be taken out of service immediately. We would rather see AWE used for warhead decommissioning as part of a global Nuclear Weapons Convention, in line with government proposals.”

Notes

1. Trident Ploughshares is a campaign to disarm the UK Trident nuclear weapons system in a non-violent, open, peaceful and fully accountable manner.

For further information and to arrange interviews, contact:

Daniel Viesnik, media liaison for Aldermaston Big Blockade

[email protected] Mob: 07506 234 091

http://www.tridentploughshares.org

http://blockawe.blogspot.com

2. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe ’s biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 35,000 members in the UK . CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere. Contact Ben Soffa, CND Press Officer: 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859 http://www.cnduk.org

3. Block the Builders http://www.blockthebuilders.org.uk

4. Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp http://www.aldermaston.net

5. Faslane 365, a year-long blockade of Faslane naval base, Scotland http://www.faslane365.org

6. CND The Bomb Stops Here event, Easter Monday 2008 http://www.cnduk.org/aldermaston

7. CND press release http://www.cnduk.org/index.php/press-releases/trident/s....html

8. Atomic Weapons Establishment official site http://www.awe.co.uk

http://www.banthebomb.org/magazine/jan08/aldermaston.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-....html

9. AWE site development strategy plan (2005 update) http://www.awe.co.uk/Contents/Publication/1567930Site%2...5.pdf

10. Other relevant links:

The UK ’s secret warhead programme was reported by Ian Bruce in ‘The Herald’, 4 September, 2007 http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.166168...0.php

However, the existence of such a programme was denied in a written answer to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne MP in response to a question by Dai Davies MP (12 September, 2007)

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2007-09-12a.155...195.h

See also: ‘So, minister, are we developing new nuclear weapons or not? -

Scientists say they are designing a new warhead design, despite government denials’

by Marie Woolf , ‘The Independent’, 29 October, 2006

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article193837...0.ece

Some links providing background to the ongoing developments and recruitment drive at AWE:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4434696-102285,....html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1690630,00.html

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article190497...4.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/25/nuclear.defence

http://politics..guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329744446-1102....html

by Jailed Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:04

Monday in Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court at 2.00pm, Dan Viesnik
was sentenced to 14 days in Pentonville Rd. prison for refusing to pay
the fines for his Aldermaston Protest action against the Atomic
Weapons Establishment http://www.awe.co.uk/. Dan had continued to
refuse to pay the original 50 pound fine. The fine was increased so
that as of yesteray it was 515 pounds.

Participating in the Aldermaston Protest against nuclear weapons, at
the end of the march he sat down at the entrance to Military Defense
Property refusing to get up voluntarily.

Dan is a regular volunteer at the London Catholic Worker's Community
Cafe http://www.londoncatholicworker.org/ and a Peace Activist
http://greenleftblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/dan-viesnik-g....html.
The magistrates adjourned briefly to consider the 14 - 28 day penalty
as prescribed by law for non payment of fines. The Chief Magistrate
stated that they were not taking a position on Dan's action, but gave
him a 14 day prison sentence. Dan had read a compelling statement to
the Magistrates who were willing to sit & listen without comment. In
his statement Dan quoted Thoreau including the sentence "Our duty is
to do what is right."

The gallery was full of supporters from London as well as Nagase from
the Peace Pagoda http://www.batterseapark.org/html/pagoda.html in
Battersea Park and a spare American. All stood to honor Dan as he was
escorted out of the courtroom. With hands folded, Dan responded with a
slight bow to the group.