Tri-denting It Handbook 3rd Edition (2001) 5 PART 1: OVERVIEW OF TRIDENT PLOUGHSHARES 1.1 Aims 1.2 Several Good Reasons for Trident Ploughshares is taking place within the Disarming Trident context of an international peace movement which has been actively engaged in nuclear disarmament To use or threaten to use nuclear weapons of work ever since the first use of nuclear weapons in any kind is a crime against humanity and totally Hiroshima and Nagasaki over 50 years ago. immoral. As global citizens we will endeavour to openly, Trident is criminal and illegal. accountably, safely and peacefully disarm the British nuclear weapon system, which is deployed on Trident is a clear breach of Articles I and VI of Trident submarines. Our acts of disarmament are the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. intended to stop ongoing criminal activity under Trident pollutes the environment with toxic and well-recognised principles of international law. We radioactive waste threatening the future of the will do this as our part of an international citizens planet. initiative to encourage a nuclear weapon free world Trident deployment does not respect interna- and an international culture of peace and co- tional Nuclear Free Zone boundaries and operation. exposes every person on the planet to the risk The very many actions and campaigns, of which this of a nuclear accident. is just a small part, may well not succeed in the Trident warheads are transported from one end abolition of all nuclear weapons in the very near of the UK to another exposing countless future. We must not lose heart if this is the case. All communities to the risk of a nuclear accident. we can do is our very best. Each attempt at disarma- ment adds to the overall pressure and we will Scarce global resources and vast sums of British perhaps never know which of the many peace actions taxpayers money spent on Trident (currently finally succeeds in pulling the world back from the around £1.5 billion per year) are being diverted brink of a nuclear holocaust. We can be sure however from urgent social necessities (eg in health and that our acts of disarmament will have an effect and education) and from programmes that could be part of the solution. Trident Ploughshares is a tackle the underlying causes of international practical way of peacefully disarming some of the conflict. horrific nuclear threats to life on earth and is a way A majority of the worlds nations feel threat- of withdrawing our consent for British nuclear ened by nuclear weapons and want them weapons and NATO nuclear war planning. disarmed. Many poor nations regard them as a terrible threat which is used to protect the interests of the rich nations. Trident is anti-democratic. The decision to have nuclear weapons was made in secret without informed public debate. The majority of people in recent polls say it would be best for British security if we do not have nuclear weapons. Nobody made a greater mistake than s/he The British Government and NATO are not who did nothing because s/he could only disarming Trident themselves. do a little. Global citizens have a right and obligation to Edmund Burke uphold international law, to behave ethically and in the interests of the global community, and to disarm Trident themselves. 6 Tri-denting It Handbook 3rd Edition (2001) 1.3 General Overview of Trident May event is a week long; and the August event is a Ploughshares two-week disarmament camp at Coulport. Affinity groups can, and do, plan and carry out their own By January 2001, 175 Ploughshares activists from closed disarmament actions at any of the Trident- fifteen different countries, united under an agreed related sites at any time of their own choosing. set of nonviolence and safety ground-rules, and For up-to-date information on dates and places of organised into supportive affinity groups, had disarmament actions please contact 01436 679194 undergone a common preparation in order to or 01324 880744, or write to the office or look at our attempt to disarm the British nuclear Trident system. website. The TP Newsline also gives updated Each activist signs the Pledge to Prevent Nuclear information on upcoming events. (See Part 10 for Crime (Part 9.1) and a public list of their names is contact details.) sent to the Government every three months. Serious and considered dialogue and negotiation is continually offered to the British Government with a Make a distinction between the person set of criteria for nuclear disarmament. Some of the and their opinions - opinions are like letters and a summary of the dialogue can be seen in clothes, a matter of taste and fashion that Part 3. If promises of serious and meaningful nuclear can be changed at will. Dont mistake disarmament are forthcoming then Trident them for the essential core. Ploughshares will be able to stop its active and Mark Somner practical disarmament actions, but meanwhile they continue. Trident Ploughshares was launched on May 2nd 1998 in Edinburgh, Gent, Gothenburg, Hiroshima, and 1.5 Why Nonviolent Action and why London. In August that year several hundred activists this Action Now? attended the two-week disarmament camp at Faslane and Coulport for the first of the open disarmament Why nonviolent action? actions and there were over 100 arrests. By the end of the camp, nine people were on remand in Scottish Nonviolence has been chosen as the guiding prin- prisons and tens of cases were being heard in the local ciple for the Trident Ploughshares project for a District Court at Helensburgh. The disarmament variety of good reasons: actions ranged from fence-cutting to blockades to Our vision is for a world which is not ruled by swimming across the loch almost onto a Trident violence, but relies instead upon co-operation, submarine in the dead of night. Since then there have tolerance and a willingness to seek creative been regular open disarmament camps every three outcomes to nonviolent conflict. This is how months. Security at the bases is constantly being we work in our affinity groups. Trident breached. represents the logical conclusion of a habit of By November 2000 the total number of arrests was thinking which relies upon domination by 775 and the local court system had been so force and threat of annihilation. It is an overwhelmed that the majority of first arrests are expression of extreme violence. Our methods now seldom pursued through the courts. Most for opposing Trident must be consistent with actions are minimum disarmament actions (eg our vision of what we would like to see in its blockades and fence cutting) but there have been place. Part of the aim of Trident Ploughshares eight maximum disarmament actions of which three is to show that active nonviolence can be more were successful. Rachel and Rosie disarmed testing powerful than even the deadliest weapon on equipment on HMS Vengeance at Barrow in February earth. It is entirely possible. 1999, Ellen, Ulla and Angie disarmed Maytime at Since Trident is supported by the military, Loch Goil in June 1999, and Susan and Martin legal and political establishment, we should disarmed a warhead convoy vehicle at RAF Wittering acknowledge that we are confronting a very in November 2000. violent system. Violence is a common response Trident Ploughshares Pledgers have committed to a concerted challenge. The system is themselves to continual disarmament attempts until designed to respond to violent resistance the Government commit to disarming Trident through the use of greater violence, but it themselves. doesnt have much expertise in handling For a more detailed look at the story so far see Part 4. nonviolent resistance. We should be prepared for violence and be strong in our calm and peaceful responses. We are trying to bring a 1.4 Timetable for Actions new and creative dynamic into a deadlocked There are four open disarmament events every year, situation - violence will not do that. at either Coulport/Faslane or Aldermaston in February, Nonviolent intervention is about bringing an May, August and November. The February and inherently violent or unjust situation to wide November events are usually over a long weekend; the attention and changing it. We are not trying to Tri-denting It Handbook 3rd Edition (2001) 7 defeat an enemy in a situation of winners and disarmament and has done much to address the losers; we are instead seeking to transform the technical, scientific and political problems cited as situation so that everybody wins. obstacles by the nuclear weapons states. Sixty-two Violent conflict seeks to dehumanise the generals and admirals around the world have publicly opponent so as to justify harm to them. declared their opposition to the continued inclusion Nonviolent conflict always looks beyond the of nuclear weapons in military arsenals. One of these, title, the uniform or the suit to the person so as General Lee Butler, was, until his retirement in 1994, to engage on a purely human level. Even if our Commander-in-Chief of the US Strategic Command, opponents are aggressive or violent, we will with responsibility for all US Air Force and US Navy practise techniques to stay calm and try to strategic nuclear forces. His statement can be seen on defuse the situation. Any complete and lasting our website. disarmament needs the support and In June 1998 the Foreign Ministers of Brazil, active participation of everyone. Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand/ Indeed, some of the very people we Aotearea, Slovenia, South Africa and are actively confronting in this Sweden made a joint declaration calling Ploughshares action will have to for decisive action to eliminate nuclear complete our disarmament work by weapons from the earth.