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When Tony Blair first put the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear weapon system on his government's agenda as a 'legacy issue', he thought he could slip it through quietly as a routine replacing of the submarine 'platforms'. As with so much of his thinking on security, defence and foreign policy, he was wrong.
It may have looked as if the majority of British public opinion was uninterested in nuclear issues when, three years ago, the government refused parliamentary debate and rammed through a ten-year renewal on the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement governing nuclear collaboration with the United States. And few except the Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp(aign) seemed to notice when the government handed an extra £5.3 billion pounds to the private companies that manage Britain's atomic weapons establishments (AWE) at Aldermaston and Burghfield (including US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin), along with permission to build a spanking new laser and supercomputer for warhead design and testing.
But by March 2007, when Blair had to rely on the Conservative opposition to help him win a parliamentary vote on Trident renewal, he was already up against growing political and public opposition. Labour MPs had to be whipped and cajoled into the 'yes' lobby with a combination of half-truths (that this decision was only to "begin the concept and design work required to make possible a replacement" for the current submarines) and promises that there would be warhead reductions and further votes.
As traditional anti-nuclear organisations like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament saw their membership and funds grow, a new movement got underway in Scotland. Faslane 365 started on October 1, 2006, shortly before publication of the government's White Paper on Trident replacement. In the past year thousands of people from all over the world have travelled to Faslane to close the base for however long they could. The nonviolent actions over the year have been as varied as the people who have participated: large or small, carefully planned or serendipitously chaotic; some were funny, with a poignant edge, such as the Spanish group that covered themselves in slippery blood-red paint before lying down (imagine the police cleaning bill), while some were unbearably moving, as when a group of elderly Hibakusha (survivors) of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings laid paper peace cranes across the mouth of the gate and sang songs about preventing nuclear weapons destroying anywhere else in the world. Then they sat down, defying police orders to move. The blockades have ranged from bagpipes and ceilidhs to dawn lock-ons and tripods in the road that closed all the gates of the nuclear base for over an hour.
Among those arrested there have been Members of the Scottish and European Parliaments, a UN Assistant Secretary-General and his family, a Nobel Peace Laureate, renowned writers and musicians, doctors, nurses, community workers, unwaged (but hardworking) activists, gays and lesbians, scientists, cyclists, mixed choirs, women in wheelchairs, grannies for peace, representatives from various faiths, students with their arms locked together while their professors sat on camp stools in front of the North Gate and held a 6-hour seminar (in the pouring rain)... The persistent, almost daily blockades focussed opposition and highlighted how the continued deployment of nuclear weapons violates Britain's international legal obligations, notably the NPT and humanitarian law.
In the run-up to the vote on Trident in the Westminster parliament on March 14, it was the grassroots movements that kept up the pressure. Although Blair won that vote, he lost the argument and was heavily opposed within the Labour Party. MPs from all sides of the house challenged the 'insurance policy' and 'deterrence' justifications for replacing Trident, and argued that nuclear weapons provide neither genuine status nor security for Britain. They questioned the government's declared budget of £20 billion and showed that Trident replacement was likely to cost over £76 billion - a vast sum that would be better spent on conflict prevention programmes, education and alleviating poverty. Most significantly, almost half of Labour's backbenchers - 88 - rebelled and joined the Liberal Democrats, independent parties and a few Tories in voting against Trident.
Each day of the Faslane 365 blockades has been different, and as the number of arrests climbs towards a thousand they have generated local and regional press coverage. This helped to raise awareness in Scotland in the run-up to the May 2007 elections, ensuring that Trident became one of the most important issues on which voters cast their ballots. For the first time ever, an anti-nuclear party was elected to government. Six weeks later, 71 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) voted for a Green Party motion against Trident replacement. Only 16 (all Conservative) voted against. The Scottish Labour Party split, as some voted with the majority in favour, while 39 MSPs abstained.
As the Faslane 365 year comes to an end, a new generation has been inspired and mobilised to take the campaign against Trident to the next political stage. With new administrations in Westminster and Holyrood, there is a historic opportunity to lay different foundations for peace and security in the 21st century and beyond.
For further information on the Trident debate and ways to support or join the growing opposition to Trident, subscribe to the Acronym Institute's electronic news services: Nuclear Non-Proliferation News and Proliferation in Parliament, available also from our website.
© 2007 The Acronym Institute.
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