Scottish CND News Faslane Peace Camp
Press release from Faslane Peace Camp
Peace Activists From Faslane Peace Camp broke into Faslane Naval Base on Monday 30th March, disrupting the sailing of a Trident submarine.This was the third time in seven days that activists had managed to get into Faslane Naval Base.Disruption in and outside the base lasted from 9.30pm to 12.30am, and five campers where detained by Ministry of Defence police. Trident nuclear warheads are weapons of mass destruction, and it is the intention of Faslane Peace Camp to highlight and disrupt the prescence of these weapons in Scotland.All three hundred of Britains trident warheads will be based in Scotland as of April 1st 1998.
Argyll and Bute council will be going to Dumbarton Sherrif Court, at 10.45am on Wednesday April 1st, in order to seek permission to forcebily evict Faslane Peace Camp. Peace Campers and their supporters will be present from 10.45 onwards. Argyll and Bute council have made it clear that they are willing to spend the hundreds of thousands of pounds neccesary to evict campers. Argyll and Bute have been less forthcoming in justifying its desire to evict the camp.
The councillors behind the eviction moves, Dick Walsh and Bill Petrie have never spoken to residents of the camp about what problems they have with with the camp. More importantly the residents, and voters, of Argyll and Bute have not been consulted about the proposed eviction. Why? Because the Council knows that the vast majority of people in Argyll and Bute do not want the camp evicted. Instead, the people of Argyll and Bute would rather the Council concentrated its time, money and skills on saving jobs and services, and most particularly saving schools in rural areas.
Faslane Peace Camp is a community made up of colourful low impact housing. Its residents recycle their rubbish, clean their local beach, grow their own food, and tend the woodlands around them; planting trees and collecting herbs and plants for medicine and food. The camp is also involved in providing educational and artistic facilities, running regular multi-media art/workshop nights promoting environmentalism and the need for peaceful co-existence. Indeed the camp is one of the finest examples of a sustainable community in Scotland - a living example of the principles expressed in Agenda Twenty One of the Rio summit.
Faslane Peace Camp also brings trade to local businesses, particularly in the summer when thousands of environmentalists and peace activists from around the world visit the camp. Those visitors shop locally. Many go on to further explore the countryside of Argyll and Bute.
None of this is of any interest to the Independent councillors who run Argyll and Bute. Our crime is that we are activelly involved in opposing trident and conflict. We are activelly involved in informing the public about accidents in the Bases in Coulport and Faslane, about the convoys of nuclear warheads that travel along Scotlands roads, about the amount of money wasted on weapons of mass destruction. The eviction is an attempt to silence the views and beliefs of peace activists in Scotland. Quite simply this is an impossible task. There will always be people who will promote peace and co-operation, regardless of how many dark uniformed men are sent in to smash up our homes, and dragged us off to detention.
Argyll and Bute is ill served by politicians who use their positions to promote their own petty political goals, rather than deal with the very real problems and challenges facing the residents and voters of this beautiful part of Scotland.
Rab Fulton