Up and Atom: Winter 2007

Aldermaston

So what is going on at Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment?

The government is pouring in billions, scientists from America are being recruited and the building program, as the owners describes it themselves is the largest building programme in Britain. Equivalent to the construction of Heathrow’s terminal five.

AWE already has over 1,100 buildings designed with nuclear weapons in mind, and now it’s getting bigger.

Considering the taxpayer is buying the new buildings, you’d think we would get told what they were for wouldn’t you?

Well we know that the new Orion laser, (one of the worlds most advanced lasers), the hydrodynamic testing facility, the Blue Oak super computer, (capable of three trillion calculations per second) and AWE newly ordered Larch computer (which will be the most powerful computing device in western Europe) definitely is not being used for futuristic flower arranging. No mater how ‘natural’ the names given to the bomb making equipment are. ‘Larch’, ‘Blue Oak, They don’t fool anyone.

Its all being put in place ready to build the next generation of nuclear weapons. The builders are there, it’s all started, all we have to do know is stop them!

So a group of anti nuclear campaigners from East Anglia headed to AWE back in December to put their bodies in the way of the building equipment. They joined other concerned citizens for the CND supported blockade of the nuclear weapon factory.

Monday morning Irene Willis, two others and myself arrived at Aldermaston to find the road blocked and a traffic jam. Two Aldermaston women had locked themselves together in the road using a rather innocent wheelie bin filled with concrete.

We decided to join them. 100 meters from the wheelie bin we jumped out of a vehicle and locked our selves together using all sorts of things. I always feel so empowered laying there non violently—saying NO.

With all the campaigning work I do this is the easiest, and I feel like I really am doing something positive. With out direct action, women may never have got to vote. With out direct action we ‘may’ never get rid of nuclear weapons. Of course we need to continue to lobby, letter write and change policy’s. But some times its good to just sit down and say ‘Not in my name you wont’.

We stopped the building of new nuclear weapons that day by over by two hours.

When my grandchildren sit on my knee and say grandma where were you when all the immoral evil nuclear weapons were being developed, I will be to tell them. I was along side all the lovely people who refused to sit back and allow it to happen, then we may be able to say, Yes, we stopped them, by continuous campaigning, lobbying, and non-violent direct action.

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