Trident Ploughshares 2000

    In the attempt to encourage a nuclear weapons free millennium, we will endeavor peacefully, openly and accountably to disarm Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system.  Our acts of disarmament are intended to stop ongoing criminal activity under well-recognized principles of international law. 
    There are now over 160 international activists, known as 'pledgers,' who have signed our 'Pledge to Prevent Nuclear Crime.'  They are organized into small, independent, support groups or 'affinity groups' of three to 15 people. We first approached the British government in March 1998 asking them to peacefully and responsibly disarm the Trident submarines in accordance with the many international agreements they have signed.
    We set up a group of independent advisors and formed a Dialogue and Negotiation Team who outlined a series of nine feasible and verifiable requests that would commit the government to a practical process of nuclear disarmament.  There has been no constructive reply to these requests and we have been refused a meeting.
    Trident Ploughshares 2000 was publicly launched on May 2, 1998, in London, Edinburgh, Gothenburg, Gent and Hiroshima.  Further letters have been sent to government officials and all 16 NATO Heads of State and Foreign Ministers have been approached.  We continue the exchange of letters and are keeping the doors open for any dialogue and negotiation. 
    We would prefer the 'authorities' to disarm Trident and that we are only making our own attempts because they continue to prevaricate.  Liaison with the police and security has also been ongoing, open and conducted in a friendly manner.  All the various authorities have been given a full list of those who have signed the Pledge to Prevent Nuclear Crime.  This emphasizes our commitment to full openness and accountability for our actions.  Updated material with the names of new pledgers is sent regularly to the Prime Minister and others. 
    The first of the open disarmament actions started in August 1998 when several hundred people attended the first two-week disarmament camp, which led to about 100 arrests.  By the end of the camp, nine people from different countries were on remand in Scotland and tens of cases were being heard in the local district court. 
    Since then, there have been a number of high-profile courtroom trials which provided the opportunity to present experts in International Law to demonstrate the illegality of all nuclear weapons.  The most successful of these was the ground-breaking trial of the 'Loch Goil Three' in Greenock, Scotland, in October 1999.  The trial ended when Sheriff Margaret Gimblett found 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 recognizing that international law applies to Britain's nuclear deterrent, she opened up a huge crack in official complacency about our weapons of mass destruction. 
    At the trial of the 'Newbury Four' in England, in March 2000, the judge allowed Trident Ploughshares activists to present expert witnesses in their defense but ultimately found the defendants guilty.  The trial of Rosie and Rachel - from the 'Aldermaston Women Trash Trident' affinity group, who boarded and damaged the latest Trident nuclear submarine at Barrow, is to go to a retrial this year.  
    Each affinity group has to take part in a nonviolence and safety workshop which is run by trainers from the Quaker-based Turning the Tide program. This workshop helps individuals and groups to prepare themselves emotionally, physically and legally for their actions as well as clarifying the non-negotiable ground rules for those actions.  These ground rules include total nonviolence, safety, openness and accountability.  A Core Group member liaises with each group to check progress, give support and ensure only responsible, totally committed nonviolent activists take part. We are dealing here with extremely dangerous and radioactive nuclear weapon systems and must ensure everyone's safety. 
    Some affinity groups are also committed to doing 'secret' disarmament actions whereby they do not inform anyone of their exact plans and dates, although they will of course be fully accountable and stand by their actions and explain them and take the consequences.  All Trident-related sites can be the target of Ploughshares actions.  Affinity groups may well do their follow-up actions and secret disarmament actions at the Trident related sites nearer to their homes, or if they are from abroad, at the NATO sites near them. 
    Although we have a good defense in law and we believe we are upholding the law, the courts may not agree.  Each activist must understand that theoretically we face possible imprisonment of up to 10 years if found 'guilty' of actual criminal damage or of conspiracy to commit massive criminal damage.  Sentences in Scottish courts have so far proved to be minor.  Of the 40% of arrestees who have been charged, most have been admonished or given minor fines.  However, we cannot rely on this  continuing. The whole moral and political strength of this action is to show just how many ordinary people are willing to make this personal sacrifice to disarm nuclear weapons.  There are many active support roles that are just as important as the active disarmament roles.  Each affinity group needs both.  There are also many different disarmament actions with greater or lesser risks of imprisonment attached. 
    As this project is open and the 'authorities' know who we are and the dates for our open attempts, it is very hard to get near a Trident submarine and disarm it.  However, even if we are arrested before we get near the bases - or while we are attempting to cut through the fences - we will not have failed because this project is also about disarming the public mind and persuading the government to respond to popular opinion. It is the attempt and the intent that matter.  Maybe hundreds of us,
committed to disarming Trident ourselves, will persuade the British Government to do the disarmament themselves. 

Source: "An Invitation to Join," Web site: www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/html/invite.html

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