Greenham Common 25 years on Welcome Martin Argles, November 9 1983, the Guardian The welcome sign posted at the main gate of the air base. Newsroom archive collection

GREENHAM BLUE GATE VIOLET GATE

GREENHAM COMMON FENCE UNDERGROUND BUNKERS AIRFIE LD RUNW AY ORANGE GATE

GREEN USAF FENCE CRUISE HEADQUARTERS GATE MISSILE SILOS

Road block MAIN PEACE CAMP Roger Tooth, December 13 1982, the Guardian GATE An estimated 4,000 women turn up to blockade the base. Some manage to enter and plant snowdrops. (YELLOW) Newsroom archive collection Map of the Greenham Common airbase

1 Greenham Common: 25 years on The arrival at the base was marked by bright scarves, peaceful. It was not an easy parting. The men were angry. ribbons and flowers, a band and one of the women doing Eventually they stormed off. The women had succeeded in somersaults. Some chained themselves to the main gate making the protest their own but they were about to draw and sent a letter to the base commander saying they were down years of male fear and disapproval. “implacably opposed to the siting of cruise missiles” and When work started on building the silos the women were wanted the arms race to be halted immediately. He scornfully given a high court order to leave immediately. Women protested said they could stay as long as they liked as far as he was outside the court and 22 were arrested. Bulldozers were used to concerned. So they set up camp. clear tents and belongings from outside the main gate. Women Life was hard: no lavatories, no washing facilities, no shops, lay in front of the bulldozers and climbed into the cabs. The camp no proper shelter. They slept outside in sleeping bags, and had become a focus of international protest and nobody seemed on a concrete slab lighted a fire, which over the years became able to stop them now. They eventually managed to challenge the focal point of the camp. Then help began to arrive from the legality of the base and its nuclear weapons before the peace groups around the country – a frame tent, some hot food highest courts in the land. and containers of water and firewood and rugs and blankets, In the first major blockade by the women in March 1982 and it kept coming. thousands turned up and many stayed on. Women were dragged At first, there was a disappointing lack of national publicity. along tarmac roads and thrown into ditches as they tried to stop They gained some after four of the women chained themselves preparations for the missiles to be rought along the roads and to the railings. They were the first of a number who formed through the gates into the base. a rota of women continuously chained to the railings, which Many court cases followed, mostly in Newbury. Women were represented for them the barrier between their idea of a world sent to prison after refusing to pay fines and rejecting bail free of nuclear weapons and the silos that were being built to conditions that would have mant them staying away from Greenham. house the missiles in the base beyond. From conferences and meetings in western Europe and the Winter came. Most of the women from Wales had to go back Uited States and from dissidents in the eastern bloc, messages to their families, but others stayed and many came to join them. of support were arriving with every post outside the main gate. The winter gales and rain started, bringing acres of mud. Bracken The women were not affiliated to any political group – the Labour was put down for sleeping. Women learned how to make “benders” party, to CND or to any other organisation. They had no means out of tree branches, and covered these with plastic to create of cmmunication apart from the nearest payphone kiosk and makeshift shelter. the right to receive mail, which they had won after a struggle. The march was conceived as a women’s initiative. There were Yet tey had become a major embarrassment – not only to men at Greenham at the start and the inevitable crisis occurred. the 501 Tactical Missile Wing of the US Third Air Force, which The women wanted them to go. The men were not doing enough occuied the Greenham base, but to the British government of the work, they said, and they had been more likely to become and to NATO. Large sections of the huge fence were torn down violent on demonstrations while the women wanted them to be by demonstrators.

Smiling Soldier Graham Turner, December 15 1985, the Guardian The Ministry of Defence introduces new trespass bylaws and women are charged. It takes three years for the bylaws to be judged unlawful – the women’s convictions are quashed Newsroom archive collection

n 1981, preparations had started for the arrival of 96 American the manufacture of nuclear weapons. They were alarmed by Tomahawk cruise missiles at Greenham Common airbase in the growing threat of the Cold War. IBerkshire. It was common land, loaned to the Americans by The idea of a women’s peace camp at Greenham Common, the British government during the second world war and never which became internationally famous, started in Wales in returned to the people of Newbury. Each nuclear missile would early 1981. Ann Pettit, a smallholder originally from London, have the destructive power equivalent to 50,000 – 150,000 tons and her friends, had founded peace group Women for Life of TNT, four times that of the atomic bomb that obliterated on Earth after the alarm over the nuclear waste sites and the Hiroshima. They were part of a planned European-wide NATO build-up of nuclear weapons. The Labour party had broken its deployment of 464 cruise missiles and 108 Pershing II ballistic promises to be anti-nuclear, they thought, and they had to missiles to be dispersed across West Germany, Italy, Belgium and act independently. “People didn’t believe Hitler would kill Holland as well as Britain. One MP protesting at their arrival said: six million Jews, but it happened. A nuclear war that would “There will be enough cruise nuclear missiles to destroy the world.” destroy the world could happen.” The Labour government, led by James Callaghan, had agreed Helen John, a midwife with five children, was also deeply to have the new “European theatre nuclear weapons” brought to worried by the planning of the nuclear waste sites and the Britain. It alarmed even pro-NATO Europeans that if the policy of arrival of the cruise missiles she had read about. They met up. deterrence failed, the Americans might be secretly planning to On August 27 1981, 36 women and four men, aged between “No, I’m absolutely certain that Her Majesty’s Opposition fight their nuclear war in Europe, devastating its civilisation while 25 and 80, and a few children left Cardiff to walk the 120 miles were given fair warning of the Greenham Common to Downing Street road-widening scheme.” leaving their homeland intact. But there was little overt publicity to Greenham Common – it took them 10 days. They had produced Les Gibbard, April 4 1984, the Guardian about them. It was a “security matter” not open to debate in the a leaflet: “Why are we walking 120 miles from a nuclear weapons At dawn police using loud hailers give the women five minutes British parliament or elsewhere. factory in Cardiff to a site for cruise missiles in Berkshire?” to leave the camp. Their eviction followed the transfer of land adjoining the airbase to the Ministry of Transport to In Wales, a few women had begun to worry about nuclear The other side showed a picture of a dead baby, deformed allow a new access road to be built. waste disposal sites being planned near their homes and about by radiation, in Hiroshima. Newsroom archive collection

2 3 n December 1982, in the cold and the mud, they fulfilled a plan to get enough women to the base to surround it Itotally. The idea had spread by word of mouth and mail but they were not sure how many would turn up. Some 35,000 did, linking arms and hands, totally surrounding nine miles of wire and pinning to it everything that meant most to them – babies’ clothes, bottles, teething rings, family photos, teddy bears, the women standing in a mass of knotted bramble to pin them up. Supporters came not only from Britain, but from Europe, as well as America, Africa, Asia and New Zealand. Notable names started to visit, among them well known actors, writers and politicians – Julie Christie, Yoko Ono, Glenys and Neil Kinnock, Michael Foot, Fiona Bruce, Sheila Hancock, Susannah York and Doi Takako, who went on to lead Japan’s

Social Democrat party. It became the largest women’s Road block demonstration in modern history, many of the protesters Roger Tooth, December 13 1982, the Guardian inspired by the suffragettes and the underground resistance Protesters block the path of an US Air Force bus. in Europe during the war. Newsroom archive collection

Teddy Bear Garry Weaser, December 12 1982, the Guardian Americans for British Independence from Nuclear Arms Race Many of the protesters attached personal items to the Martin Argles, July 4 1983, the Guardian Greenham fence. Ribbons in the suffragette colours of The protest was by now receiving global recognition and acting as a catalyst for other peace campaigners, many of who also visited Greenham. The Greenham Common protests were green, white and violet were popular – green (hope), white to gain a more significant profile in the US in November 1983 when federal court action was taken by some of the women against President Reagan in an attempt to ban him from locating (purity) and violet (dignity). cruise missiles in the UK. The court action was to fail. Newsroom archive collection Newsroom archive collection

4 5 aving surrounded the base the women began to blockade When they were brought to court, they sang “you can’t it. Protesters who stayed on sat down in front of the gates. kill the spirit”, and were sent to prison. That month, a number HBut by 7.30am squads of police had arrived from inside of them organised a sit-down in the central lobby of parliament and outside the base. The women began to sing “You can’t kill and sang protest songs against cruise missiles. They produced the spirit” as they were dragged away and flung into the mud arguments against a law of 1362 being used to evict them from at the side of the banks. There were shouts and cries, harsh the camp, climbed up on top of Holloway prison in support of orders from the police, screams and thuds as bodies hit the those imprisoned inside, and managed to get their case against ground. One woman was dragged by her hair away from the gate, the Greenham cruise missiles brought before the federal court a policeman kicking her with his boot. But other women kept in the US. Twenty one women were banned from Greenham for coming back, still singing. It ended with them lying and sitting life under a high court order, but defied it and went back. in front of buses, trying to tell the police why they were doing In April 1983, as the US Air Force started to airlift in the this, hugging each other, singing and crying as well. equipment needed for cruise missiles, the women formed Women started to get into the base itself when a group another huge chain, linking arms around the base and blocking occupied a sentry box on August 27 1982, which led to the gates. prosecution, court and prison sentences. Other action followed. The 96 missiles finally arrived in November 1983. The Mock cruise missile transporter Forty four women used ladders to get into the base early on action to stop them had failed, but the women were undeterred. Frank Martin, October 31 1983, the Guardian A mock cruise missile transporter approaching the houses New Year’s Day in 1983, and climbed on to the silos which were Thousands demonstrated against their arrival and there was of harliament during demonstrations to mark the debate to house the missiles. There they linked hands and danced, for huge publicity. The women had at last succeeded in getting on deployment of the missiles at Greenham Common. several hours. the national debate they had wanted. Newsroom archive collection

WPCs US Air Force Galaxy Martin Argles, July 4 1983, the Guardian Kenneth Saunders, November 1 1983, the Guardian The start of a week of blockades of the airbase. The first US Air Force Galaxy transport aeroplane arrives at Greenham and is unloaded. Newsroom archive collection Newsroom archive collection

6 7 Along the fence Frank Martin, December 11 1983, the Guardian An estimated 50,000 women encircle the base, many reflecting it back on itself with mirrors. Newsroom archive collection

M/S guided, Mrs-Guided Les Gibbard, April 5 1983, the Guardian In a joint action with CND on April 1, 70,000 form a human chain linking Aldermaston, Burghfield and Greenham. Newsroom archive collection

Tearing down the fence Frank Martin, December 11 1983, the Guardian Parts of the fence are torn down or cut using bolt cutters – these were known as black cardigans to avoid detection and confiscation. Hundreds were arrested. Newsroom archive collection

he police action against the women was even heavier after government to get the women out. Michael Heseltine, defence the missiles arrived. The mud and cold outside the fence secretary, warned the women could be shot if they trespassed on Twas like something out of the trenches on the Somme, the base. He had visited it earlier and had been angrily mobbed. and life in front of the main gate was often made more difficult But entries into the base by the women went on, many by the non-stop relays of visitors from press and public, undetected, and some for days on end. A group climbed into deliveries of mail and requests for speakers at meetings, the control tower at the centre of the base.“I looked through which had to be dealt with among the squalor. Local residents the manuals they had in the desks on nuclear and biological from Newbury started to attack them. The right-wing press weapons and wrote peace messages on them,” recalled vilified them. Russian spies were alleged to dwell among them. Rebecca Johnson, who camped at Greenham for five years. Women spoke of threats of rape and being “gassed like animals”. The two other women wrote on the walls. “When they found us, Some of the women spread out to form a new camp at what a guy brought out his gun and I really thought he was going to became known as “blue gate”. Other camps followed at the other shoot us. He freaked out.We were arrested but they couldn’t gates of the camp, mapping out their own actions and ideas. decide what to charge us with.In the end Johnson served 30 There was now an absolute determination on the part of the Tory days for criminal damage.

8 9 n court, the women were arguing that the policy of mutually Then came the nuclear disaster at the Russian Chernobyl plant assured destruction broke international law and that they in 1986, with the same consequences of thousands of cancers Ihad the right and a duty to act against it. and foetal deformity, still continuing today, as after the dropping In April 1985, the Ministry of Defence invoked bylaws on of the Hiroshima bomb. trespass, which brought more arrests, evictions and brutal After the Gorbachev-Reagan talks in Rekyavik, the Intermediate harassment by bailiffs. The women fought a long battle to prove Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty between the US and USSR was the bylaws illegal.More missiles had arrived in November 1985. agreed, with its undertakings to dispose of the cruise missiles. It seemed as if the word had gone out that now the missiles This included the Russians starting to inspect our bases to make were at the base, the women must be got rid of for good. But sure the cuts were being carried out, and Americans inspecting nothing would stop their protest. Again and again the evictions Russian bases.In 1988 the first Soviet inspection took place at went on, sometimes four in a day. The women would be woken Greenham Common. In 1989 the first cruise missiles were removed. up by bailiffs pulling down the plastic sheeting, dragging away The Greenham women welcomed the INF treaty, but many the sleeping bags and throwing them out. They went round the were sceptical. They continued to camp at the base. By now it base evicting everything and leaving the women in a lake of mud. had become a symbol of women’s struggle, not only for peace, The stand-pipe had its water supply cut off. but for their own rights of independence. At the camp many The movement for nuclear disarmament was gaining support had sought shelter from their own difficult lives and homes. internationally. Greenham had inspired peace camps at every One woman wrote: “I know what has turned the Earth into a American base in Britain and some overseas. Then Mikhail technological nightmare. I know why I cannot walk at night Gorbachev was elected to power in the Soviet Union. He tried, without feeling threatened by attack. I know why there is Judicium Extremum (The Last Judgement) Posy Simmonds, August 9 1983,the Guardian but failed, to reform communism and then abandoned it. But the militarism and imperialism and racism and sexism. I know why In the lead up to Hiroshima Day (August 6) and Nagasaki Day was successful in winning support from the west on an idea close the negative ‘isms’ exist. It’s because of patriarchy – male rule.” (August 9) women had symbolically “died” in front of the to his heart: cutting down the west’s dependence on nuclear For many, attitudes had not changed with the gradual departure public, politicians and military hardware buyers at the Greenham Air Tattoo. There is also a silent vigil and fasting weapons, particularly as is was costing the Soviet Union dearly. of the missiles. By 1990 the US had announced that Greenham held at the Newbury war memorial while the outlines of He had talks on international nuclear disarmament with President was no longer an operational base. The last of the cruise missiles corpses are painted on the road outside the yellow gate. Reagan and the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, in London. were moved out in 1991. Newsroom archive collection

Greenham acted as a powerful catalyst for a range of issues. Starting next year, women who were at Greenham, as well Women’s networks had spread – to campaigning against the as those now mounting a vigil at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire destruction of the Pacific Islands, the growth of militarism, (the US “listening post” for its Star Wars project) and women the food mountains, and they were taking action against from other peace camps are planning a year-long protest at corporations that supported apartheid and the commercial Faslane base in the west of Scotland, home of the Trident exploitation of pornography. Women from Greenham went submarines. You can’t kill the spirit. to Zimbabwe and Nicaragua, to the US and the Soviet Union and linked up with other women. They had supported the miners during the strike of 1984 and striking miners had Jean Stead visited Greenham. September 2006 After the cruise missiles had all been removed, there followed a long struggle between the Ministry of Defence, which wanted to retain the base, and the people of Newbury who were demanding the return of their common land. The House of Lords returned their rights to the common land to the people of Newbury and, in 1997, Newbury was able to buy back its common land from the Ministry of Defence for £7m. Two years later cattle were back grazing and the rights of the commoners were re-established. A memorial has been designed in memory of the Greenham Common peace women. The UK’s nuclear deterrent is now the Trident missile, designed to be fired from purpose built submarines. Each submarine carries 16 missiles with eight warheads on each. Each warhead is estimated to carry eight times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb and there are a total of 196 warheads deployed on the Trident fleet. Plans are being made to replace Trident with new nuclear weapons and, as in 1981, there are calls from MPs and anti-nuclear groups for a public debate. The UK is dependent Bin lorry evictions Kenneth Saunders, March 6 1984, the Guardian on the US for its nuclear weapon system. They collaborate Newbury district council, the Ministry of Defence and the local police combine forces to evict the women in preparation for a cruise convoy deployment. The tents and “benders” over the warheads and the delivery systems under the (makeshift tarpaulin shelters) were dismantled and thrown straight into awaiting bin lorries. Mutual Defence Agreement, renewed in 2004 for a further Newsroom archive collection 10 years.

10 11 Greenham Common – a chronology re-elected. June 25 2,000 women sew 4.5-mile serpent tail acknowledgemENts to weave in and out of the base. July 24 Women symbolically 1941: Greenham Common requisitioned under wartime “die” in front of politicians, public and military hardware Jean Stead started work as a journalist with the Yorkshire Post emergency powers. buyers at Greenham Air Tattoo July 25 Seven women cut before joining the Guardian in 1963. She became news editor hole in fence and paint peace symbols on US spy plane in 1970 and assistant editor in 1974. Whilst working as assistant 1947: Airfield de-requisitioned but not restored. Blackbird. August 18 Blackbird trial. MoD withdraws editor for Special Projects she covered nuclear disarmament charges. One woman imprisoned for contempt. September 5 from Germany, US and Soviet Union. Latterly she was Scottish 1951: Commons re-requisitioned for USAF in spite of Second anniversary of protest. Women obstruct laying of correspondent from 1983 until her retirement in 1988. local protests. fuel pipes into base. 27 arrests. November 1 Michael Heseltine tells House of Commons that “intruders” run the The Newsroom would like to thank the following for their 1960: Air Ministry purchases 600 acres of risk of being shot. November 9 Federal court action is taken help with the catalogue and exhibition: Greenham Common. in New York against President Reagan and Vice-President Bush in order to ban them from deploying cruise missiles David Fairhall; Les Gibbard; Posy Simmonds; 1966: Greenham becomes NATO standby base. in UK. 24-hour vigils begin at all 102 US bases in the UK. Martin Argles; Garry Weaser; Roger Tooth; Kenneth Saunders; November 14 First of the missile-carrying transporters Frank Martin; Jane Bown; Ted Hamilton-West; Graham Turner; 1973: Commons and commoners’ rights registered. arrive at Greenham. December 11 Using mirrors to reflect Sue Adler; Ranjit Dhaliwal; Simon Barnett; Ann Pettit; Raissa the base back on itself, 50,000 women encircle the base. Page; Sarah Hipperson; Matthew Harris; John Hodder; Carrie 1978: Plans to base US KC-135 tankers at Greenham Parts of the fence are torn down or cut using bolt cutters Pester; Rebecca Johnson; Murdo Macleod; Lesley McIntyre; abandoned after local protests. – these were known as black cardigans to avoid detection Martin Bence; Lindsay Pentelow; Lyndsay Poulton. and confiscation. Hundreds are arrested. 1979: NATO agrees to base nuclear cruise missiles in Europe. 1984: March 5 Newbury district council, Ministry of Defence and local police combine forces to evict the camps in 1980: Greenham Common and Molesworth chosen preparation for the first operational missiles being for NATO’s cruise missile deployment in UK dispersed from the base. Cruisewatch formed. November 7 Ronald Reagan is elected president of the US. President Reagan re-elected.

1981: August 27 Women for Life on Earth march leaves 1985: March 11Mikhail Gorbachev elected General Secretary of Cardiff.S eptember 5 March arrives at Greenham. the Communist Party. April 1 Mass trespass in contravention December 21 First action – women stop sewage of new MoD bylaws. Women arrested and convicted. pipes being laid. 1986: Chernobyl nuclear power station explodes in USSR (Ukraine). 1982: January 20 Newbury district council serves notice of intention to evict camp from common land. February 1987: Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty signed. Camp becomes women only. March 22 First blockade of base by 250 women. 34 arrests. April 2 Falklands war 1988: MoD bylaws are judged invalid – women’s convictions starts. August 6 Hiroshima Day – women place 10,000 quashed. USSR inspectors visit Greenham and Molesworth stones on Newbury war memorial. August 9 Nagasaki under terms of INF treaty. Day – eight women enter base to present Commander with the 1,000th origami crane, a Japanese symbol of 1989: August 1 First cruise missiles leave Greenham. August 6 peace. August 27 Women occupy the main gate sentry Peace campaigner Helen Thomas is killed in a traffic box until arrested. November 15 Sentry box action trial. accident outside main gate. November 9 Berlin Wall falls. 23 women imprisoned. December 12 Embrace the Base – 35,000 women link hands to encircle the base. 1991: March 5 Last cruise missiles leave Greenham June 4 December 13 4,000 women blockade the base. Some 501st Tactical Missile Wing disbands. enter to plant snowdrops. 1993: MoD puts Greenham airfield up for sale. 1983: January 1 44 women climb the fence and dance on the cruise missile silos. February 7 Over 100 women enter the base 1997: Greenham Common Trust buys airbase. Newbury district dressed as snakes. Secretary of state for defence, Michael council aquires commons. Perimeter fence is demolished. Heseltine, visits Newbury leading to protests at council chambers. February 15 Silo action trials. 36 women imprisoned. 1999: Grazing cattle return to commons. February 22 High court injunctions and eviction hearing adjourned when 400 women present affidavits stating that 2000:April Commons officially reopened to public.S eptember 5 Greenham is their home. March 24 Women blockade visit to Last protesters leave on 19th anniversary of the first base of NATO generals. April 1 200 women enter the base to marchers arriving. have a picnic while disguised as furry animals. Joint action with Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament sees 70,000 form 2001: Greenham and Crookham Commons Act re-establishes Greenham Common Woman a human chain linking Aldermaston, Burghfield and Greenham public access and commoners’ rights. Les Gibbard, September 19 1987, the Guardian (unpublished) The US and USSR agree to reduce their number of nuclear missiles. President Reagan Common.May 31 Women dressed in black enter base to announced that over 1,000 weapons would be scrapped over the next few years, including scatter ashes as US cruise missile technicians arrive. June 10 2003: Cruise missile silos scheduled as national all of those stationed at Greenham. Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative government are historical monuments. Newsroom archive collection

12 Greenham Common 25 years on

An exhibition held at the Newsroom, the Guardian and Observer archive and visitor centre, from September 6 to October 20 2006

For further information call 020 7886 9898, visit guardian.co.uk/newsroom or email [email protected]