AWTT

Contents

  Who are Aldermaston Women Trash Trident?
  Smashing Vengeance
  Who are Rosie and Rachel?
  The defence
  The expert witnesses

Who are Aldermaston Women Trash Trident?

Aldermaston Women Trash Trident (AWTT) is one of 26 affinity groups which form Trident Ploughshares. The group has 11 participants, of which six women are presently identifying themselves as active disarmers and five as active supporters. The group has been in existence since April 1998, and was formally registered as a Trident Ploughshares affinity group in July 1998. The group is positively women-only and involves women aged from their 20’s to their 70’s. The group came together through their involvement with Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp, a regular monthly, women-only peace camp, established by Greenham women in 1986.

Like all Trident Ploughshares affinity groups, AWTT has received formal nonviolence training. However, as seasoned activists the group also developed and used custom designed training programmes.

From its inception the group has met regularly at the monthly Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camps, where strategy, action planning, budgets and equipment procurement has been discussed.

The group has examined third party, personal and political risks and the likely consequences of a range of nonviolent direct actions taken against Trident nuclear warheads (and associated vehicles: missiles; submarines; road convoys; planes. Plus testing facilities, communications systems and associated centres of decision making). This process has provided the group with a wide range of objectives, all of which intend to hinder, disrupt or prevent the deployment and functionality of the Trident nuclear warhead system.

Although Rosie and Rachel are the first Trident Ploughshares activists to board a Trident submarine and cause substantial damage, several other AWTT activists have also carried out symbolic and practical disarmament actions during the last 18 months. To date, three other AWTT activists have been prosecuted for taking action at Trident related facilities.

AWE Aldermaston is at the heart of Britain’s nuclear weapons production. The government-owned - contractor-operated (GOCO) factory is where Trident nuclear warheads are built. The site (and sister site, Burghfield) are currently managed by the Hunting-BRAE consortium, which comprises Hunting Plc, Brown and Root and AEA Technology Plc. However, the contract to manage the site has been awarded to a new consortium who will manage both sites from 1 April 2000. The new consortium is British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), Lockheed Martin, and SERCO.

The current managers have been prosecuted in British courts, had notices served by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and been condemned by community and environmental groups for their continuing contamination of the surrounding environment and poor health and safety record. Aldermaston Women Trash Trident know that it is impossible to build nuclear weapons without discharging radioactive waste into the environment.

At every stage of the nuclear cycle land and lives suffer. From mining uranium and nuclear testing on the lands of indigenous people, to the use of nuclear power (to obtain plutonium and tritium for warhead production) and the vast amounts of radioactive waste generated. From the production of warheads and their associated radioactive waste, to the deployment of nuclear weapons - the effect on global security and the potential for nuclear genocide. Nuclear weapons kill people now and will continue to kill people for generations to come. Nuclear weapons may be illegal, but more than that, they are an obscene symbol of human relations and the vast disrespect for our land and our lives. AWTT believe it is a duty to bring about the immediate halt to nuclear weapons production and deployment and to do everything possible to promote their safe and effective decommissioning.

Don’t be complicit Resist Militarism Dare to dream

Smashing Vengeance

The decision to use nonviolent direct action to disarm the Trident submarine, HMS Vengeance was taken by AWTT in January 1999. The submarine was still being built by GEC Marconi Marine and was berthed in the Devonshire Dock in Barrow in Furness. Vengeance was due to sail for sea trials in February, providing contractors with the opportunity to discover problems with the sub before it was handed over to the Ministry of Defence.

When a submarine is at sea there are limited opportunities to disrupt its operations and issues of marine safety are prominent in the minds of AWTT activists. Taking action to disarm Vengeance while in dock offered the greatest probability of success prior to deployment.

Here follows an account of the night two women trashed Trident...

Having spent time in the Lake District over the previous days engaged in final preparations the time had finally come. A final reconnaissance of Devonshire Dock, familiarisation with Barrow’s road systems and the availability of hideouts for the support team, were made the night before.The women travelled back to their base camp deep in the Lakes for a final equipment check and a few hours rest.

At 0200 hrs on 1 February, the women departed in dense hill fog and began a torturous and highly tense two hour journey through the Lakes. Five women and several lump hammers, sledgehammers, crowbars, boltcutters, paint, banners, distress flares, torches, mobile phones, chocolate and other useful items, made their paranoid way to Barrow.

They proceeded to the agreed drop point and Rosie and Rachel were delivered with the best wishes and hopes for success from the support team. While the two activists were sliding quietly into the dark waters, laden with a wide range of tools, the support team slunk off and ditched their car. In the inky waters Rosie and Rachel made slow progress towards Vengeance, trying to move silently and invisibly through the dock.

The support team lay in a piss and rubbish filled hole on the bridge overlooking Devonshire Dock. Their main purpose was to witness distress flares being set, or any violence perpetrated against Rosie and Rachel by workers or the police.

After almost one hour, the foetid waters finally delivered Rosie and Rachel to Vengeance. They climbed onto the dockside walked across a gantry onto the submarine carefully evading detection.

Although workers were busy on the sub, both women remained on board undetected for several minutes, even meeting one worker to whom they said a polite "hello". The main body of the sub had several workers inside so the women concentrated their disarmament work on the conning tower, specifically the testing equipment Marconi had located there. They also spray painted the words "Death Machine" and "Illegal" on the sub and hung a banner reading "Women Want Peace". After their disarmament work, both women walked calmly off the sub and into a security cabin. Security personnel contacted the local police who arrested both for "Suspicion of Criminal Damage" and took them to Barrow in Furness police station. Meanwhile, having seen workers and security personnel scurrying all over the sub, the support team had made a tactical retreat from Barrow.

For Rosie and Rachel the slow process of waiting to be processed by the police was just beginning, for the support team the tense wait for confirmation of the level of damage caused, by the unwitting delivery of codewords by the police. (It is the legal right of any suspect to have a third party informed of their arrest and the police are obliged to ask for a specific named person, AWTT had set up a system of using different names to indicate the level of damage).

When a phonecall for one "Abigail Adams" came from Barrow police, the confirmation that a maximum disarmament action had taken place was given. The support team then activated a system of delivering prepared press releases to a bleary world media at 0600 hrs.

Barrow police had requested that supporters bring dry clothing for both women as their wetsuits were being removed as evidence. The decision to re-enter Barrow was made with consideration of the potential consequences of returning to the scene. In fact Cumbria Constabulary had staked out a significant area of Barrow. The support team still managed to get to the police station and deliver clothing (which was never given to Rosie and Rachel, who remained in paper suits throughout their incarceration). On the return journey away from the police station the support team were snatched by Cumbria Constabulary, arrested for "Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Damage", their vehicle impounded and all taken to Barrow in Furness police station. All five women were held in solitary confinement for the first 16 hours of their incarceration, and under provisions contained in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, were denied police bail and remanded into custody for a total of 30 hours. All five were charged with causing £25,000 damage to HMS Vengeance.

On 2 February the women were transferred from Barrow police station in handcuffs to Barrow Magistrates Court where the Crown Prosecution Service made an application to get each woman remanded to prison for an initial period of 7 days. Representing themselves, the majority of the team argued successfully against the insinuations and outright lies contained in the Crown Prosecutor’s application. The defendants received a variety of responses to their applications for unconditional bail. Rachel Wenham was remanded to Risley Detention Centre. Janet Kilburn Louise Wilder, Helen Harris and Rosie James were placed under curfew, required to sign at their local police stations three times each week, and in the case of Louise and Janet, required to remain at least one mile away from any nuclear power or weapons related facility in Britain.

At a subsequent hearing several months later, all five defendants argued successfully for unconditional bail. In July 1999 the case against Louise Wilder, Janet Kilburn and Helen Harris was dropped. The case against Rosie and Rachel continued, with a trial that started on the 24th January 2000 at Lancaster Crown Court. Misleading estimates and unsubstantiated claims by the prosecution caused this trial to be abandoned. A re-trial date has now been set for 11th September 2000 at Manchester Crown Court.

Several unnamed activists provided practical support before, during and after this action and to them AWTT is eternally grateful. You unsung heroes!

Who are Rosie and Rachel?

Rachel has supported peace campaigns since she felt the threat of nuclear war in her childhood during the Cold War. She became active in the British peace movement approximately three years ago. During this period of activism, she has spent six months living at the (then) permanent women’s peace camp outside Menwith Hill U.S spy base near Harrogate in Yorkshire. She has also been involved with both Sellafield and Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camps. Rachel has played an active role in the Aldermaston Women Trash Trident Affinity Group since its inception, and has acted as a representative of the group at TP2000 meetings.

Rachel is in her 20s and lives in Leeds.

Rosie James

As a young child growing up in East London, Rosie felt affected by the 1980s climate of Cold War hostility. Her mother took her to Greenham when she was aged eight, the women’s resistance impressed her, and later, their success in changing public consciousness, and driving Cruise missiles out of Britain. At Warwick University, she became involved in environmental activism, and saw the roads protest movement curtail the government’s road building plans. Rosie spent the final year of her degree living at a peace camp outside the Alvis Tank factory in Coventry, which at the time, was supplying arms to the Indonesian military. Rosie graduated in summer ’98 with a BA in philosophy, and became committed to TP2000. A keen cyclist, she cycles hundreds of miles, up and down Britain.

Aged 24 Rosie currently squats in London.

The defence

  The defence team

Acting for Rachel Wenham

Solicitor: Gareth Pearce, BN Birnberg & Co. London

Barrister: Julia Dick

Acting for Rosie James

Solicitor: Gareth Pearce

Barrister: Patrick Fitzgerald (to be confirmed)

  The Charge

S1 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971, which states ... "That you, without lawful excuse, caused damage to property belonging to another, with the intent to cause such damage, or being reckless as to whether such damage was caused".

  Legal Defence

The charge of Criminal Damage comes with the explicit defence of lawful excuse. It can be argued that a person has lawful excuse where it is necessary to commit damage in order to prevent a greater crime.

Rosie and Rachel will argue that it was necessary for them to take nonviolent direct action (to prevent the operation of the Trident system), to prevent the crime of genocide.

  An international opinion

In July 1996 the International Court of Justice provided the world with an Advisory Opinion on the legality of nuclear weapons. They said that "a threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law". The court came to this opinion on the basis of the indiscriminate nature of nuclear weapons.

  Nuclear weapons are considered illegal because:

  They cannot discriminate between combatants and non-combatants (contrary to the Geneva Convention 1949)
  There is an obligation on states to avoid and minimise the loss of civilian life during war and not cause unnecessary suffering (As per the Declaration od St. Petersburg 1868)
  They are genocidal by design (Contrary to the Genocide Act 1948)
  They destroy the environment irreparably (Contrary to Geneva Covention, Additional Protocols of 1977)
  Their use cannot be confined to the boundaries of specific states and therefore challenges the inviolability of neutral nations (Contrary to the Hague Covention, 1907)
  They challenge the right of non-nuclear states to immunity from nuclear attack (As determined in the Non Proliferation Treaty 1968)

The defence will use the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), and the Nuremburg Principles (1946) (which determined that individuals (including Heads of State) can and should be held culpable for crimes against humanity).

  Moral defence

The defendants will argue that their genuine belief in the gross immorality of nuclear weapons was the basis for them taking nonviolent direct action to disarm Trident. As such their intent was never criminal.

  Previous cases

The acquittal of Angie Zelter, Ellen Moxley and Ulla Roder in October 1999 (for £80k of damage to a Trident related facility in Scotland), by Sheriff Margaret Gimblett in Greenock, Scotland, presented a landmark victory for Trident Ploughshares. For the first time, a British court heard and accepted the legal arguments which claim the illegality of Trident. Although the Greenock case sets no formal legal precedents, the fact that Ms Gimblett was prepared to hear the defence argument in full is a great step forward.

AWTT hope that if nothing else, the Greenock case will persuade those presiding in courtrooms around the world, that a defendant has the right to put forward any legal arguments in support of their defence.

  The Judge

To the best of our knowledge, the presiding judge, Justice Slinger has not presided over any cases which use the same legal and moral argument. However, at a similar trial in Lancaster in 1999, Justice Opinshaw refused to allow the jury to hear the full defence case (the testimony of expert witnesses).

Although the cases are factually different, the defence arguments are very similar. AWTT hopes that the jury in this case will not be denied the opportunity to hear the defence’s arguments in full.

No opportunity for justice should be denied.

The expert witnesses

The following six witnesses will be called by the defence to provide expert testimony on the deployment of Trident nuclear warheads by the British government, and the implications of this policy under international law. Between them these witnesses will establish: what Trident actually is; the purpose of deploying Trident; how the deployment of Trident affects global security; what the likely effects of the detonation of a single Trident warhead would be; how the threat or use of Trident warheads is in clear breach of international humanitarian law, and how nonviolent direct action is a legitimate tool of concerned citizens to right the wrongs of governments.

  Ulf Panzer

German Judge. Ulf Panzer took nonviolent direct action against the siting of US Pershing warheads on German soil. He will provide testimony to the power of NVDA as a legitimate tactic for bringing about political change. As a respected member of the German judiciary, we hope his testimony will be of genuine interest to the court.

  Rebecca Johnson

British Defence Analyst, The Acronym Institute. Ms Johnson is an expert on the implications of Britain’ s nuclear posture in relation to the obligations laid out in the 1968 Non Proliferation Treaty, to which Britain is a signatory. She also monitors the global implementation of disarmament treaties.

  Paul Rodgers

Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University. Mr Rodgers will provide evidence about the technical specifications of the Trident nuclear weapons system, the likelihood of nuclear accidents, and the role of nuclear weapons in international relations.

  Nick Grief

Bournemouth University. An expert on interpreting the Advisory Opinion provided by the International Court of Justice in 1996 with regard to the legality/illegality of nuclear weapons.

  Angie Zelter

Peace Activist, Britain. As one of few people to successfully win a case using a legal defence, brought against her by the British government. Angie is being called to provide evidence about Trident Ploughshares and political activism including nonviolent direct action.

  Helen John

Peace Activist, Britain. Helen has been called to provide a political character witness for Rachel Wenham. She will give first-hand evidence regarding the practical manifestations of Rachel’s sincere committment to peace.

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