Press Releases & Updates 2004

The stimulus for the progressive 20-minute piece is on the one hand the reality of Trident as an actively deployed and threatening weapon of genocidal scale and on the other the failure of the Scottish criminal justice system, especially the Scottish High Court, to address this ongoing state crime.

A particular issue is the way the High Court undermined the judgment of Sheriff Margaret Gimblett who in 1999 acquitted the Trident Three of criminal damage to the Trident research barge "Maytime", on the grounds that their actions were justified under international law. In giving its judgment on the Lord Advocate’s Reference dealing with the case, the High Court claimed that the UK government was not breaking the law by deploying Trident. The High Court has also heard many appeals by anti-Trident activists against convictions, heavy fines, and imprisonment.

Trident Three member Angie Zelter said: "The Scottish High Court has been given many opportunities to rule on the side of peace and justice and against the Government and will continue to hear cases where they could, if they wished, use their wisdom and knowledge of the law to judge according to the basic human right to life. They could help stop the UK’s preparations for mass murder."

Camilla Cancantata is a London based composer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist. She specialises in working for and with children, young people and women, as in community-based workshops or in her environmental opera Soya Susie and the Gene Dictators (1999). There is also a very strong international interest in her work, with workshop programmes and tours in Japan, Mexico, Guatemala and Palestine. She said: "This Oratorio has been written to appeal directly to the Scottish High court judges. We offer it to all the Judges and Lawyers of Scotland in remembrance of the fundamental message of Nuremberg that everyone, whatever their formal roles, has to take responsibility for challenging war crimes."

The Oratorio will have its first performance at 2.30 pm on Sunday 11th July 2004, in St Augustine’s United Church, George IVth Bridge, Edinburgh. The performance will be followed by discussion of its major themes, international law and weapons of mass destruction, and of the connections between politics and the arts. All are welcome. Seats are free.

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