Aiding the blockade

If you are going to hurl your
body at the gates of nuclear
insanity, do it in Scotland and
cause maximum disruption to
the Faslane base. The Scottish
people are with you (over 70 per
cent would like to see Trident
scrapped, at the last count). And
the local police mutter the threat
of an impending arrest - ' I have
to warn you …' - like a schoolchild
dutifully but mechanically
reciting the school motto.

In my experience, at any rate,
they even enter into the spirit of
things in the cells, opening the
hatches of our solitary cells for us
to hear the singing of a fellow
arrestee - or maybe this is a
custom in the Dunbarton nick and
they do it for the more tuneful
drunks as well? These policemen
and women would rather not be
spending their time arresting
poets and professors for, ironically,
`breaching the peace', or
cutting samba players and others
out of ingenious lock-ons -
protesters locked together via
metal tubes, or with their arms
stuck into barrels of concrete, for
example.

'We want to be getting on with
real policing,' the officer in charge
at Dunbarton police station, told
me. With elections due in May,
the police's political masters, the
Scottish executive, can't risk
toughening police tactics and
Westminster has to accept the
electoral calculation. After the
election - well, things could get
interesting.

If the polls are right and the
SNP and pro-independence
parties win the majority, and if
public pressure keeps the SNP to
its commitment over Trident (see
page 24), then there's a constitutional
crisis in the making and the
police will be bystanders as the
blockades gather momentum. If
New Labour manages to be in a
majority again, policing could well
get tough, and out of the hands of
the local constabulary, with whom
the steering committee of Faslane
365 are in regular contact.

It's the importance of developments
in Scotland, which has long
been a weak link for New Labour,
that makes joining a blockade at
Faslane so worthwhile. You really
could help to make a difference to
the success of the campaign.

You can be part of the protest
in your own way. If your profession
can be adapted to
blockading, like the 30 academics
arrested for holding a seminar to
halt the traffic into the base, then
practise your trade. Across the
country, there are more than 100
local blockading groups, including
many organised around different
professions, such as health
workers, clergy, academics,
students, comedians and actors.

If your friends are likeminded
and enjoy purpose in their
pleasure, make it the venue of
your birthday party, as has one
anti-Trident protestor, Kathleen,
already.

The Faslane 365 steering group
encourages blockading groups to
be as autonomous as possible,
deciding their own theme and
tactics, organising their own
training, accommodation, food
and so on, but offering all the
support they need. The
Manchester group, for instance,
put on several local training
sessions and built up a 50-strong
contingent. They made the 11-
hour journey on a 1950s'
double-decker bus, with the
advertising panels reading
'Manchester says No to Trident',
'What would you spend £40
billion on?', 'Nurses or Nukes?'
and 'Trams not Trident'.

Considerable local publicity is
generated in their own towns and
cities by these groups and there
is growing national coverage, both
sides of the border. The 'elected
representatives' blockade gave
that a boost last month with
MEPs, MSPs and MPs all doing a
stint in the cells. International
publicity is growing with groups
joining the blokades from
Germany, Canada, France,
Japan and Belgium.

The Faslane blockaders
are also
disrupting the
base itself.
Protestors
regularly hear
internal tannoys
announcing that
one of the two
main gates has
had to be closed. A
cleaning contractor has
refused to go in when the
protest is on, and it's likely there
are other reverberations too.

The Faslane protest is also
acting as a catalyst for protest at
other Trident-related sites - Aldermaston,
Devonport, Plymouth -
as well as the London march on
24 February. But there's a lot
more to do. One in every three
days for the next three months is
covered by a promised blockade,
but there are still plenty of gaps.
There are gaps in constituencies
of support too: for example, union
banners are still noticeable more
by their absence.

Anyone going to Faslane will
get all the support you need - as
a group or as an individual - from
training for the blockading on the
evening before, through legal
support, to a good send off when
you're released from the nick. And
there's a need for people to join
the protests whether or not they
are willing to be arrested.

Go to www.faslane 365.org for
all you need to know.

Published by Red Pepper