CHRONOLOGY www.yourgreenham.co.uk CHRONOLOGY

In brief THE (1940s to late 1980s) Thatcher and Reagan Protect and Survive

CRUISE MISSILES IN EUROPE (1979 – 1980) Decision to site Cruise missiles in Europe Nuclear missiles destined for Common

PROTEST AT GREENHAM (1981 – 1983) March to Greenham becomes women only Blockades Evictions Embrace the Base Dancing on the missile silos Using the courts Coordinating actions across the country and abroad

THE MISSILES ARE COMING (1983) Heseltine says ‘shoot’ Greenham Women vs. President Reagan

THE MISSILES ARE HERE (1983) Cruise arrive at Greenham Reflect the Base Occupying the air traffic control tower

BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN (1984 – 1985) Mass evictions Cruisewatch is formed Other military bases

A SEA CHANGE (1985 – 1987) Gorbachev elected Chernobyl disaster Détente Reagan and Gorbachev sign INF Treaty

CRUISE MISSILES LEAVE GREENHAM (1989 – 2000) The first Cruise missiles leave Greenham leave Greenham Perimeter fence is demolished

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THE COLD WAR (1940 – late 1980s)

The Cold War During the Cold War the world was divided into two factions, the United States and its allies and the Soviet bloc. The two world ‘super powers’ engaged in a colossal arms race. Each side claimed that the presence of nuclear weapons would act as a deterrent to the other, but many feared that, by ac- cident or design, the conflict would escalate into a nuclear war with hundreds of millions killed.

British Prime Minister (elected 1979) and American President (elected 1981) embarked on an anti-Soviet crusade, enforced by a nuclear programme. During the first three years of his presidency, Reagan increased defence spending by 40% in a conscious attempt to drive the into economic bankruptcy through the arms race.

In the late 1970s, the British government published a series of booklets and public information films to inform the British public of how to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear attack. A copy of the main ‘Protect and Survive’ booklet was distributed to every home in the UK and the films were broadcast on the BBC.

Far from reassuring the public, it ignited immediate protest. Suddenly thousands of people could see themselves not only as potential victims, but also as potential agents of nuclear war. The booklets were ridiculed by anti-nuclear campaigners who organised around the slogan “Protest and Survive”.

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CRUISE MISSILES IN EUROPE (1979 - 1980)

Decision to site Cruise missiles in Europe In December 1979 Nato announced that, in response to the Soviet’s stockpiling of their nuclear weap- ons, Cruise missiles would be sited in Europe. Since Cruise missiles were designed to be ‘first-strike’ weapons, this was a clear sign that the US nuclear doctrine of deterrence had shifted to one aiming to fight, and win, a nuclear war. In response, the Soviet Union withdrew its offer to negotiate.

Government announce that RAF base at Greenham Common will house nuclear missiles In July 1980 Secretary of State for Defence Francis Pym told the House of Commons that a total of 160 Cruise missiles would be located at RAF Greenham Common, , as well as the disused RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire. The UK would contribute 220 personnel to help guard the bases and the cost to the country would be £16m. There was no public debate.

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PROTEST AT GREENHAM (1981-1983)

March to Greenham On 27 August 1981 a women-lead group called ‘Women for Life on Earth’ left Cardiff to walk to Green- ham Common, demanding a televised debate on nuclear weapons. 36 women, four men and several children walked 120 miles; it took them ten days.

The modest peace march was largely ignored by the media, so, on arrival at the base, some of the women chained themselves to the gate in attempt to generate publicity. None of the marchers had intended to stay, but several women decided to remain at the base until their dissent had been ac- knowledged.

The women eventually acquired tents, bedding and cooking utensils. A permanent peace camp was assembled.

In the decade that followed, the women did hundreds upon thousands of actions in order to keep the nuclear issue at the forefront of the public’s imagination. Their actions generated thousands of news- paper headlines – from symbolic individual gestures like hanging baby boots on the perimeter fence, to huge coordinated actions involving millions of women worldwide – the protests of the women of Greenham forced the nuclear debate into political discourse.

Peace camp becomes women only In February 1982 it was decided that the protest should involve women only. Although this policy would be continually debated, the argument was persuasive – the women only nature of the peace camp gave women space to express their beliefs and assert their politics in their own names and tra- ditions without the customary dominance of men.

Many women considered the notion that men left home to go to war, to fight for the women and children they left behind, was an image abused by successive governments. ‘Not in our name’ was a popular slogan and many women felt that they could leave their homes for ‘peace’.

Blockades In March 1982, 250 women blockaded the base. 34 arrests were made. Committed to non-violent protest but determined to draw attention to the nuclear missiles stationed there, the women repeat- edly used ‘passive blockades’ to disrupt the activities of the base. In the years that followed, blockad- ing became an important tactic.

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PROTEST AT GREENHAM (continued)

Evictions After an official warning from Newbury District Council that the women would be evicted from the common land outside the main gate, in May 1982 bailiffs and police used bulldozers to clear tents and other possessions from the site. Four arrests were made. The camp re-located 20 feet down the road to an area of land not owned by the Newbury District Council. In the years that followed Green- ham women, Newbury District Council, the Ministry of Defence and the Highways Authority played cat and mouse with eviction orders and re-locations. Sometimes the women were evicted as many as eight times in a day. In the later years of the protest evictions became increasingly violent.

Embrace the Base In response to a chain letter 30,000 women arrived at Greenham on the 12 December 1982 to ‘Em- brace the Base’. Linking arms, they entirely surrounded the nine miles of perimeter fence. It was an astonishing show of strength. The following day, the Daily Mirror newspaper carried a single word as its front-page headline: ‘Peace’. The Greenham women had succeeded in becoming a huge media is- sue.

Dancing on the missile silost On New Year’s Eve 1982, 44 women used ladders to get over the barbed wire fence and into the base for the first time. They had no idea what their reception might be and many feared for their lives. The women climbed to the top of the silos which were house to the missiles and ‘danced’ for hours. This goes down in many memories as the ‘top action’. All of the women were arrested, 36 were impris- oned. No one was hurt.

Using the courts In January 1983, Newbury District Council revoked the common land byelaws for Greenham Common in yet another attempt to evict the women. Newbury District Council made itself private landlord for the site and started court proceedings to reclaim eviction costs from women whose address was given on the electoral role as the peace camp. The following month, High Court injunctions and eviction hearings were permanently adjourned when 400 women presented affidavits stating that Greenham was their home. Byelaws restricting access to the camp were eventually ruled illegal by the House of Lords in 1990.

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PROTEST AT GREENHAM (continued)

Coordinating actions across the country and abroad 200 women dressed as teddy bears entered the base to stage a protest picnic on 1 April 1983.

On the same day in a joint action with CND, 70,000 people formed a 14-mile linking the three bases in ‘nuclear valley’, , and Greenham. Mass actions like this kept Greenham in the news.

On 24 May 1983, in celebration of the ‘International Women’s Day for Disarmament’, women were encouraged to ‘Carry Greenham Home’ and take action in their own communities. 1 million women did simultaneous actions all over the country and abroad.

In the summer of 1983 thousands of women took part in the Star Marches. Initiated by dozens of local groups across the country, this mass action was a demonstration of support for the women of Greenham. The success of the action confirmed the strength of an active network of women that extended beyond the camp.

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THE MISSILES ARE COMING (1983)

Heseltine says ‘shoot’ On 1 November 1983, two weeks before the missiles were due to arrive at Greenham, Defence Secre- tary told Parliament that the Greenham base was secure and any intruders ran the risk of being shot.

Greenham Women v. President Reagan A group of Greenham women sought to use the U.S. legal system to enjoin the United States from deploying Cruise missiles in their country. The case, entitled Greenham Women Against Cruise Mis- siles v. President Reagan was filed in the New York Supreme Court on 9 November 1983. It was argued that, since the missiles were designed to be used first in response to a conventional conflict, their deployment was illegal. The case attracted publicity in the US and in Britain, and in many other countries around the world.

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THE MISSILES ARRIVE (1983)

Cruise missiles arrive at Greenham On 14 November 1983 the first Cruise missiles arrive at Greenham. A total of 96 missiles were to fol- low in the coming months. The Greenham women were devastated but undeterred.

Reflect the Base On 11 December 1983, three weeks after the Cruise missiles arrived, 50,000 women encircled the base. Holding mirrors in silent vigil, they symbolically reflected the military’s image back to itself. The women’s fury at the presence of Cruise missiles at Greenham in the face of such enormous pro- test was palpable. The day ended with the women pulling vast sections of the fence down. Hundreds of arrests were made.

Occupying the air traffic control tower On 27 December 1983, the women made a significant incursion. By occupying a highly sensitive area, Greenham women directly confronted Heseltine’s assertion that Greenham was the most secure base in Europe.

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BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN (1984 – 1985)

Mass evictions By March 1984, women had been living outside the perimeter fence of the base for 907 days. New- bury district council, the Ministry of Defence and the local police combined forces to evict the camps in preparation for the first operational missiles being deployed from the base. Over the months and years that followed, mass evictions became a daily occurrence and the living conditions at the camp became increasingly difficult.

Rather than feeling that they had lost the battle with Cruise, the women escalated their efforts.

Cruisewatch is formed Cruise missiles were designed to be fired from mobile launchers at secret locations away from the base. This required the Cruise convoys to regularly leave the base on practice manoeuvres.

Cruisewatch was formed in March 1984 to track the Cruise convoys whenever they left the base and disrupt their activities. Their principle concern was to undermine the secrecy upon which nuclear war preparations depended - they often brought the exercises to a complete stand still.

Michael Heseltine had claimed that the convoys would ‘melt into the countryside’. No deployment of Cruise from Greenham ever went unnoticed, casting profound doubt on the security and viability of Cruise missiles.

Other peace camps In 1984 and 1985, women started to take their protest to other bases in the UK, including Aldermas- ton and Menwith Hill. There were peace camps, demonstrations, non-violent blockades, trespass, questions in parliament, and letters to the press as well as radio and TV coverage. Many of these protests continue to this day.

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A SEA CHANGE (1985 – 1987)

Mikhail Gorbachev elected General Secretary of the Communist Party

Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until its collapse in 1991.

Chernobyl disaster The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded in the USSR on 26 April 1986. As a result of the cata- strophic explosion and hazardous radiation levels, all residents of the area were evacuated – very few ever returned. The town of Chernobyl has remained virtually abandoned.

Détente Amidst a paradigm shift in global relations, provoked by Gorbachev’s need to save the Soviet Union from the crippling costs of the arms race and a genuine horror at the prospect of another nuclear ac- cident – as well as a broad, vociferous, international alliance against nuclear weapons, exemplified by the Greenham protest – there came a period of détente.

Reagan and Gorbachev sign Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty to rid Europe of cruise

The INF Treaty was an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union signed in Wash- ington, DC on 8 December 1987 by President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev. The treaty eliminated nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and Cruise missiles. By the treaty’s deadline of 1 June 1991, a total of 2692 of such weapons had been destroyed. Also under the treaty, both nations were allowed to inspect each other’s military installations.

Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

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CRUISE MISSILES LEAVE GREENHAM (1989 – 2000)

The first Cruise missiles leave Greenham

The women of Greenham had succeeded in their quest to raise awareness about nuclear weapons; on 1 August 1989 the first missiles left Greenham. Their protest contributed to a dialogue that eventu- ally led to the removal of the missiles.

It took nearly two years for all of the missiles to be removed, the final missile left for destruction on 5 March 1991. On this day there was a party at Blue Gate to close women’s peace camp; some women stayed on at yellow gate. On 5 September 2000 the last of the protestors left the camp.

United States Air Force leave Greenham The USAF gradually withdrew and the base was formally handed back to the RAF in 1992. Although the military has pulled out of Greenham Common, it still owns three areas, including the silos, which are available for the Russians to inspect under the terms of the INF treaty. The last such inspection was in January 1998.

Perimeter fence is demolished Six years after the last Cruise missile left Greenham, the Greenham Common Trust bought the air- base and the Newbury district council acquired the commons. In a small ceremony, the common land was officially returned to the people of Newbury in April 2000.

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