Citizens Pledge to Disarm Nuclear Subs

Trident Ploughshares

    To encourage a nuclear weapons free millennium, 160 interna-tional activists, referred to as the Trident Ploughshares pledgers, have signed a `Pledge to Prevent Nuclear Crime.' They have publicly committed themselves to peacefully, openly and accountably disarming Trident British nuclear submarines. These disarmament acts are intended to stop ongoing criminal activity under well recognised principles of international law. 

    They are organised into small, independent, 'affinity groups' of 3 to 15 people. They take direct action against Trident-related installations and equipment. By doing so they aim to inflict significant damage and disruption to these installations. When arrested, they take full responsibility for their actions. Their defence in court is based on the primacy of international law. They publicise their actions to increase public awareness of the UK's indefensible nuclear weapons policy. They hope that more people will either become disarmers or will actively support the movement.

    Their greatest success was in October 1999, when three activists (the "Trident Three": Angie Zelter, Ulla Roder and Ellen Moxley) were acquitted on all charges after disarming the "Maytime," a Trident-related research barge in June, 1999. The judge said that the women's actions were justified because of Trident's illegality under international law. 

---

Peace Walk from Aldermaston to Faslane

    This summer an international group committed to peace and nuclear disarmament are walking from southern England to Scotland. They carry a flame which was first ignited 55 years ago, in the fires of Hiroshima. 

    They set off from Aldermaston, where components for Britain's nuclear bombs are made, on June 26, and are walking to Faslane, 30 miles from Glasgow, where Trident nuclear weapon submarines are based. They will arrive on the August 1, to join a blockade of the base. 

    Prime movers in the walk are the nuns and monks of Nipponzan Myohoji, a small Buddhist order with peace pagodas in Milton Keynes and London. Among the walkers is Ulla Roder (45), a peace activist from Denmark and one of the "Trident Three" who spent several months last year in a Scottish prison before being acquitted. She said: "We are walking to make people aware that the nuclear threat is real, because of the continuing buildup in the new nuclear weapons systems. As we go on foot we can reach people directly and in a personal way. We will make the resistance to nuclear crime visible on the roads and in the towns. We can also demonstrate peaceful alternatives by the way we live and work together as we go." 

    Caroline Lucas, a Green Party Member of the European Parliament who was among 185 people arrested at the blockade of Faslane on February 14 will joined the walk on the June 28 and will be at the blockade on August 1. 

For more information, contact: Trident Ploughshares 2000, 42 - 46 Bethel St., Norwich NR2 1NR UK. Tel.: 01324 880744; Email: tp2000@gn.apc. org; Web site: www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/