Press Releases & Updates 2001

Hundreds of activists from all over the UK, from Ireland and from the continent, are expected at the gates of Faslane from 7 a.m. on Monday morning. Among them will be at least six MSPs, Chris Grahame, Sandra White, Adam Ingram, Dorothy-Grace Elder, Adam Ingram and Tommy Sheridan, the last two named having clearly indicated that they will risk arrest. Leading Scottish author AL Kennedy will also be there.

The blockade, jointly organised by CND and Trident Ploughshares, has been given additional sharpness by the events of September 11th and the US/UK attacks on Afghanistan. A minute’s silence for commemoration and reflection at 9 a.m. will be honoured by activists and police alike.

A Trident Ploughshares statement on the current crisis includes the following: "The stated Western commitment (to end terrorism and mass murder) is inevitably flawed by double standards. In the case of the UK that is simply illustrated by our close involvement in a deliberate policy choice over Iraq which has led to so many deaths over the last decade and by our continued active and threatening deployment of weapons of mass murder. There is no credibility in claiming the leadership of a coalition against terrorism at the same time as continuing to engage in terrorism."

Best wishes for the blockade have come from Low Newton prison in Durham where Trident Ploughshares member Angie Zelter is serving a sentence for an anti-Star Wars action. Angie has just returned from monitoring and taking direct action against human rights abuses in Israel/Palestine and she said: "The consequences of getting involved in peaceful direct action in the UK are trivial when compared with the beatings, torture and murder that such activists face in Israel/Palestine. This gives us over here a much greater responsibility to act against injustice and warmongering."

A message of support also came from Danish activist Ulla Roder who is in Cornton Vale Prison in Stirling under threat of deportation. Ulla said: "Let’s show them that we mean what we say - we will get there in the end."

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