David Heller: Trident Ploughshares and For Mother Earth
This paper introduces the work of two anti-nuclear campaigns, which use nonviolent direct action to openly and accountably disarm illegal weapons of mass destruction.
The TRIDENT PLOUGHSHARES campaign is part of the international peace movement that has been actively engaged in nuclear disarmament work ever since the first use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki over 50 years ago. For our part in the abolition of nuclear weapons, we will endeavour to peacefully, openly and accountably disarm the British Trident nuclear weapon system. Our acts of disarmament are intended to stop ongoing criminal activity under well recognised principles of international law.
A Ploughshares action is one in which we make a commitment to peace and disarmament through the nonviolent, open and accountable disabling of a war machine or system so that it can no longer harm people. The name comes from the Biblical prophecy to 'beat swords into ploughshares' but the movement embraces people with many different belief systems. The underlying appeal is the universal call to peace, to abolish war and to find nonviolent ways to resolve our conflicts. It recognises that war is always an abuse of power and that threats to kill are deeply immoral. Over 160 international activists have already signed the Trident Ploughshares Pledge To Prevent Nuclear Crime.
We are organised into small, autonomous, support groups called 'affinity groups' of between 2 and 15 people. Everyone joining the Trident Ploughshares campaign signs the "Pledge to Prevent Nuclear Crime" and agrees to the "Nonviolence and Safety Guidelines". This is a public commitment to take part in or actively support peaceful attempts to disarm the British Trident nuclear weapon system.
We first approached the British Government in March 1998 asking them to disarm the Trident submarines themselves in accordance with the many international agreements they have made. For instance, Article VI of the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) states, "Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control."
We set up a group of independent advisors and formed a dialogue and negotiation team who outlined a series of nine feasible and verifiable steps that would commit the government to a practical process of nuclear disarmament. In addition to the British government, NATO Heads of State and Foreign Ministers have also been approached. There has, however, been no constructive reply to any of this dialogue and we have consistently been refused meetings with senior policy makers. Despite the unpromising response, this work will continue throughout the life of Trident Ploughshares. We continue the exchange of letters and are keeping the doors open for any dialogue and negotiation. We are making it clear that we would prefer the 'authorities' to disarm Trident and that we are only making our own attempts because they continue to prevaricate.
The first of the open "disarmament camps" took place in August 1998 when several hundred people attended a two week camp near to Coulport (nuclear warhead depot) and Faslane (Trident submarine base) in Scotland. There were 99 arrests for blockading the bases, cutting the fences, and trespassing into the bases by land and by water. By the end of the camp nine people from England, Scotland, Finland, the Netherlands and Australia were on remand in Scottish jails and tens of cases were being heard in the local Helensburgh District Court. Over the past 3 years, there have been regular disarmament camps at Coulport and Aldermaston. These camps are a chance to get to know the bases, try out new tactics, and to form affinity groups. The increased security presence during the camps makes those actions that rely on an element of surprise more difficult but keeps the public and political pressure on the bases.
As a result, many affinity groups have carried out unannounced disarmament actions. They do not inform anyone of their exact plans and dates, although they explain their actions and take the legal consequences. Many Trident-related sites have been the target of such Ploughshares actions. Affinity groups may well do their follow-up actions and "secret" disarmament actions nearer to their homes, or if they are from abroad, at NATO sites near them.
Trident Ploughshares has also organised several mass-blockades of Faslane and Aldermaston bases often working with other local groups. The "Big Blockade" of Faslane in February 2001, for example, attracted around 1000 people, and led to 385 arrests.
Since 1998, there have been a number of high-profile court-room trials which provided the opportunity for experts in International Law to explain the general illegality of all nuclear weapons. One of the most successful of these cases was the ground-breaking trial in Greenock in Scotland, in October 1999. The trial ended when Sheriff Margaret Gimblett found the ‘Loch Goil Three´ (Angie Zelter, Ellen Moxley and Ulla Roder) not guilty of malicious damage to a Trident submarine testing station and uttered the immortal words: "I have heard nothing which would make it seem to me that the accused acted with such criminal intent." By acquitting them and by recognising that international law applies to Britain's nuclear deterrent, she opened up a huge crack in official complacency about our weapons of mass destruction.
As well as the major disarmament actions, there are also very many different types of action with greater or lesser risks of imprisonment attached. There are also many active support roles that are just as important as the active disarmament roles, and each affinity group needs both.
Although many Ploughshares activists use purely moral or political defences in their court cases, and when explaining their actions, we have a very strong legal defence based on international law. This was summarised by the International Court of Justice in their Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (issued 8th July 1996). Several examples of such legal defences that have been through the courts have been written up and are available on the website. There is also a permanent legal support team able to support all of those appearing before the Scottish courts.
To support individual pledgers and affinity groups, we have produced the "Tri-denting It Handbook- an Open Guide to Trident Ploughshares". This handbook (now in its third edition) gives a fairly comprehensive overview of the philosophy, background and structure of Trident Ploughshares. It also contains useful chapters on nuclear weapons inventories, the legal status of Trident and tools to help affinity groups work. It includes sections on court and prison preparation, as well as practical ideas on how to disarm various parts of the Trident system. It is advisable to read this thoroughly and also to view the 16 minute video entitled "Tri-denting the Nuclear Conspiracy - Uphold International Law", which gives a visual tour of Faslane. The website (www.tridentploughshares.org) contains up to date information from the campaign, as well as the latest news of actions, court cases, and an electronic version of the handbook.
The Belgian BOMSTOPPING campaign is due to be officially launched on March 23rd 2002, under the title "From Bomspotting to Bomstopping". It is an initiative of several Belgian peace organisations, including For Mother Earth (Voor Moeder Aarde), and it has been inspired in many ways by the Trident Ploughshares campaign.
There have been nonviolent direct action against the US nuclear weapons in Belgium for many years. On 16th April 2001 over 850 people from across Belgium, and many other countries took part in the "Bomspotting" action, and occupied the runway of the secret United States nuclear weapons base at Kleine Brogel, in the east of Belgium. This was (probably) the largest ever nonviolent direct action in a nuclear base. The activists had a clear message for the Belgian and US politicians in charge of these illegal weapons of mass destruction "These weapons have got to go!"
Many months have past, and there has been very little progress in the Belgian parliament on the resolution to get rid of the nuclear weapons at Kleine Brogel. The US is involved in a "war on terror", but they will not admit that the nuclear weapons which are still stored at Kleine Brogel have terror as their only purpose.
The vast majority of people want a world free from nuclear weapons. If the politicians will not listen to us, it is time to begin the process of disarming these weapons ourselves…
On 5th October 2002 there will be another mass action at Kleine Brogel. The aim is to shut down the base, so that the illegal weapons of mass destruction which are stored there cannot be used. We are encouraging people who come to this action to take part in one of the nonviolence trainings that we will be organising over the next few months.
If there is still no clear sign after this action that the politicians and military will remove the nuclear weapons from Kleine Brogel (as the first step towards the total abolition of nuclear weapons) the next phase of the campaign will begin. This will involve small groups of activists entering the base in unannounced nonviolent direct actions to begin a more concrete and permanent "Bomstopping".
This direct disarmament of the nuclear weapons system might involve digging up the runway, or damaging the planes used to carry the nuclear weapons. Whatever way it is done, people will do it nonviolently, and after enough training and preparation to make sure that they can do it safely.
For more information on these campaigns, please contact:
For Mother Earth
Maria Hendrikaplein 5
9000 Gent
Belgium
Tel: +32 9 242 87 52
Fax: +32 9 242 87 51
Email: international@motherearth.org
Trident Ploughshares
42-46 Bethell Street
Norwich NR2 1NR
England
Tel: +44 845 45 88 366
Fax: +44 845 45 88 364
Email: tp2000@gn.apc.org
Voor Moeder Aarde
Maria Hendrikaplein 5
9000 Gent
Belgium
Tel: +32 9 242 87 52
Email: david@motherearth.org