Sun. October 31, 2010
Nuclear Weapons: The only cut worth Making.
Welsh Disarmers to Blockade Devonport
Vigil in Wrexham
Welsh campaigners for nuclear disarmament will be taking part in tomorrow’s non-violent blockade of Devonport Naval Dockyard in Plymouth, England (1). This Dockyard not only refits, maintains, and upgrades the submarines which carry Britain’s immoral and illegal Trident nuclear weapon system, but is increasingly the site where old and out of service nuclear submarines are ‘dumped’.
Tomorrow, Monday 1st November from 6am, campaigners will be gathering at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth to non-violently and peacefully attempt to impede the on-going work related to the Trident nuclear weapons system (2). This action has been organised by the Plymouth-based Trident Ploughshares (TP) group, The Tamarians, and is being supported by the CND Cymru , along with other peace and environmental groups.
A Wrexham vigil will also be taking place in solidarity with the blockade on Monday morning, calling on the Government to prioritise ‘Welfare not Warfare’, to ‘Ban all Nuclear Weapons’ and for ‘No nukes at Devonport – No nukes anywhere’, ‘Trident is one cut worth making’ (3).
As far as pollution by radionucleides is concerned, Devon is ‘in the backyard’ of everywhere. The every day production, transport, deployment, refurbishment, use and decommissioning of nuclear submarine reactors and nuclear weapons present a huge danger to all life, now and in the future.
Angie Zelter, founder of Trident Ploughshares who was awarded the Right Livelihood Award 2001, is travelling from Knighton, Powys to take part in the blockade. She said:
‘I will be blockading Devonport in support of local people in Plymouth who are suffering from the effects of radiation leaks and the dangers of both the refitting of the current nuclear powered Trident submarines re-fitted in the middle of their town and having tens of old discarded nuclear subs stored there, right next to schools and hospitals.’
‘The long-lasting effects of the accident at Chernobyl almost 25 years ago prove that there is no safe level of radiation and that the birth defects and illnesses pass down the generations.’
‘Nuclear weapons distort the moral fabric of our society and undermine our humanity. With our world facing massive ecological crises caused by corporate power abuse backed by military might, we need to actively promote a culture of peace not war.’
Camilla Cancantata also from Knighton said:
‘I will be at Devonport playing my trombone for peace and nuclear disarmament’.
CND Cymru National Secretary Jill Gough commented:
‘The true threats to our security involve resource depletion, climate change, pollution, human greed and the oppression of human rights. Nuclear weapons are no defence against these and in fact exacerbate the problems.’
‘A decade of Trident Ploughshares blockades and disarmament actions have helped build a strong and broad movement against nuclear weapons in Scotland. The Scottish government was elected with a policy of nuclear disarmament.’
‘Now it is England’s turn.’
ENDS
Blockade information: http://www.tridentploughshares.org/article1608
Comment/interviews
Contacts:
Devonport – Angie Zelter m: 078 3535 4652
Wrexham – Genny Bove t:0845 330 4505
CND Cymru National Secretary Jill Gough : t: 01239 85 11 88 m: 01239 85 11 88 heddwch@cndcymru.org
Trident Ploughshares – m: 0790 493 4142 (Shirley) or m: 0796 9858 214 (John Robb)
Ray Davies (Caerphilly) m: 075 1825 3032 (ho
We expect to make photographs will be available following the event. Send your email address and requirement details Jill Gough (see above) for more information.
NOTES
(1) Why Devonport?
Blockading the Devonport Dockyard is an effective way of disrupting the ongoing work there of ‘re-fitting’ the submarines, and of expressing a clear and unambiguous message of opposition to the barbarity that is Britain’s Trident nuclear weapon system, and to the proposal to cut up and store old nuclear subs next to the homes of 250,000 people.
(2)Illegality of Trident
Trident is used by the British Government to ‘project force into the World’, this constitutes a real and on-going threat to other nations. Trident Ploughshares insist that the continuous deployment of armed Trident submarines is an on-going criminal act. They also say that the British government’s stated policy of Trident Replacement runs contrary to its obligations under the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty.
(3) SOLIDARITY VIGIL/DEMO IN WREXHAM.
From 8.15 – 9.45 am on Monday 1 November on Regent Street, opposite the Art College and Catholic Cathedral (at the traffic lights – junction with Bradley Road) .
(4)Jobs
Campaigners point to a recent report by CND that exposes the myth that Trident creates jobs. It finds that Trident costs more jobs than it creates. Research by another local group has found evidence suggesting the incidences of cancer in people living close to the Dockyard are massively higher than the national average.
Trident is not good for the nation, and certainly not good for the people of Plymouth, which is gaining a name as the ‘Sellafield of the South West’.
Trident Ploughshares are not alone in believing that the expertise of the workforce in Devonport makes Plymouth ideally placed to become a centre of excellence in renewable and sustainable technologies of the future that would provide stable, secure and expanding work opportunities. This would be a huge improvement over the current situation where an ever-dwindling number is employed in lethal technologies, facing uncertain job prospects, and exposed to the whims of political change.
