Faslane Peace Camp
Fax alert Faslane Peace Camp (14 sep 98)

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From: Ak Malten 

Beste mensen,

ik hoop dat velen deze fax-actie zullen kunnen ondersteunen en
ook uitvoeren. Zonder het permanente vredeskamp nabij Faslane
wordt de anti-Trident strijd in Schotland erg moeilijk.

Met vriendelijke groeten,

Peace,
or saved by
the pigeon,

Ak Malten,

Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance

---doorgestuurd bericht---
Cc:     Faslane Peace Camp 

                        *** URGENT ALERT ***
                        MODEL LETTER ENCLOSED

                     PLEASE NETWORK THIS ALERT

Gent, 13 September 1998

Dear friends on the networks,

One more time Internet might help us win a struggle !!!

Today we sollicit your help as the Faslane Peace Camp in Helensburgh,
Scotland, is threatened with eviction. Faslane Peace Camp, with its 16
year
history, is the oldest non-violent peace camp opposing nuclear weaponry
in
the world (more information about the Peace Camp is included). It is
located near the British Trident nuclear submarine base. The Trident
first
strike Strategic Nuclear Weapon System has the destructive potential of
1074 times Hiroshima.

Today you can help by faxing a letter (model letter enclosed) to
  --------------------------------------------------------------
 
->  Argyll & Bute District Council                      +44-1546 604349
  
  Please fax copy to :
  --------------------

->  For Mother Earth                                    +32-9-233 73 02
->  Press Association, Attn. Joe Quinn          +44-141-221 0283
->  Helensburgh Advertiser, Att. Kristina Kran  +44-1436 671 241
  
The Peace Camp is in urgent need of your support. Councillors have
finally
agreed to meet a delegation of the Peace Camp on 21 September 1998 at
the
Victoria Halls in Helensburgh. But we cannot expect anything other than
that they will continue in their endeavour to evict the Peace Camp
whilst
leaving Trident untouched in the heart of their constituency. We are
however confident that they will take a different attitude if they
receive
requests from around the world to support the non-violent resistence
movement at the Faslane Camp.

The Peace Camp needs as much national and international support
as we can muster. We urge you to register your support for the
Camp.

Yours Sincerely,

Helen Markham                           Pol D'Huyvetter
Faslane Peace Camp                      For Mother Earth International
Office
Shandon,                                Lange Steenstraat 16/d
near Helensburgh                        9000 Gent
Dumbartonshire                  Belgium
GB8 8HT                         Phone +32-9-2338439
Scotland                                Fax +32-9-2337302
Phone +44-1436-820901           E-mail: international@motherearth.org
E-mail: janejim@gn.apc.org              WWW: http://www.motherearth.org/

***********************************************************************
             TRIDENT & FASLANE PEACE CAMP FACT-SHEET
***********************************************************************

                  Britain's Nuclear Weapons System

The UK nuclear weapons system is based on Trident missiles bought from
the
USA and ready to be fired from three submarines (four from September)
based
at Faslane Naval Base on the Gareloch near Glasgow and stored and loaded
onto the subs at Coulport on Loch Long a few miles further west. Each
submarine can carry up to 96 one hundred kiloton nuclear warheads. One
Trident warhead is 8 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. The
Trident system is a massive escalation in Britain's nuclear capacity. 

Trident was finally outlawed by the UN International Court of Justice,
when
on July 8, 1996 the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) gave its
Advisory Opinion to the UN General Assembly on the illegality of nuclear
weapons, stating  that "methods and means of warfare which would
preclude
any distinction between civilians and military targets, or which would
result in unnecessary suffering to combatants, are prohibited. In view
of
the unique characteristics of nuclear weapons, … the use of such weapons
is
scarcely reconcilable with such requirements". 

The Court stated clearly that "not only the use but also the treat to
use
nuclear weapons is generally contrary to the rules of international
humanitarian law."

Finally the Court also concluded unanimously that there exists a legal
obligation (NPT Art. VI) to conclude a Treaty Banning all Nuclear
Weapons.

Though Britain, France, Russia and the USA are reluctant to participate
in
such multilateral negotiations, we know that the mounting pressure from
NGO's and most national and local governments will soon move the the
Nuclear Weapons States world to conclude such a Treaty within the
framework
of the United Nations.

                         Faslane Peace Camp

Faslane Peace Camp is a very visible sign of hope in the struggle to
abolish nuclear weapons, situated right opposite Faslane Naval
Base-home of Britain’s three nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered
Trident submarines.

For sixteen years now the camp has been a base for non-violent protest
against the naval base. Protesters have cut through fences, negociated
razor wire and swum the Gareloch to get their message accross-that the
Trident system is illegal and immoral, violating international and
humanitarian law (cfr. UN International Court of Justice July 8 1996).

During the first two weeks of  August 1998 the camp was involved in the
highly successful  “Trident Ploughshares 2000” campaign, mounting daily
actions against the base which made headlines in the UK and around the
world. Seven non-violent campaigners are in Scottish prisons at this
time
following these protests.

The Peace Camp now faces imminent eviction by Argyll and Bute District
Council. The camp has planning permission and until last July had a
lease
for the site. And there exists a petition with 8000 signatures
expressing
support for the Peace Camp. But the Council has never discussed any of
the
problems it has with the Camp with the campers themselves or with the
rest
of the Argyll and Bute electorate. Neither has it explained where it
intends to find the hundreds of thousands of pounds necessary to evict.

The Ministry of Defence is attempting to sell woodlands
adjacent to the camp at the moment-but the Peace Camp is 
situated directly at the front of 9,5 acres of this land which
has been designated for residential development.

                    Evict Trident, not the Peace Camp !!!

end

***********************************************************************
                        MODEL LETTER FOR NGO's 
          FOR THE ATTN. OF THE ARGYLL & BUTE DISTRICT COUNCIL
***********************************************************************

Place, Date

For Argyll & Bute District Council
Attn. John Wilson,
Convenor, Argyll & Bute Council,
Kilmory, Lochgilphead,
PA31 8RT, Scotland

Fax +44-1546 604349


Dear Mr. John Wilson,

I am writing to you to express my concern about the stated intention of
Argyll and Bute District Council to evict the sixteen-year-old Faslane
Peace Camp. The protestors' continued peaceful protest is motivated by
conscience and vindicated by international, moral and humanitarian law,
as
well as economic concern for billions of pounds being wasted on the
military industrial complex, while millions live in destitution.

I would urge the Argyll & Bute District Council to reconsider its
decision,
and not to stifle the voice of conscientious objection but to support
the
non-violent campaigners in their struggle for the abolition of these
weapons of mass-destruction which are so inextricably bound up with
global
human misery.

Together we can free the next generations from the threat of nuclear
horror.

We look forward to your response.

Yours Sincerely



end 
     October  1 1998  International Day of Non-Violent Action
                      Citizens Inspect nuclear 'sites of crime'
                      Org: Nuclear Weapons Abolition Days       
                      a working group of Abolition 2000

     October 10 1998  BENEFIT FOR MOTHER EARTH - Vooruit - Gent

                      including:
                        
                      Information on disarmament actions in Faslane
                      (Scotland) and Kleine Brogel (Belgium)

                      Proclamation Winner Treasure Hunt Kleine Brogel

    ***************************************************************
    *           For Mother Earth International office             *
    ***************************************************************
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    *                Phone/fax +32-9-233 84 39                    *
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    ***************************************************************
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    *************************************************************** 
    *   For Mother Earth is member of Abolition 2000 - the global *
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    WHEN SPIDERS UNITE, THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION -Ethiopian
Proverb                      

---eind---


=============================================================
  The Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance (GANA) -- is a member of    
  The Abolition 2000 Network, A Global Network to Eliminate 
  Nuclear Weapons

Address: c/o Ak Malten                                     
        Irisstraat 134          Tel:+31.70.3608905
        2565TP The Hague        Fax:+31.70.3608905
        The Netherlands         E-Mail: A.Malten@net.HCC.nl

GANA's website:  

       http://www.inter.nl.net/hcc/A.Malten/welcome.html

The ICJ Advisory Opinion on Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, 
 **including ALL the Separate Opinions of ALL the Judges**,
    the Canberra Report, the CTBT Text and Protocol,
         the NPT text and the 1925 Gas Protocol,
              the Nuremberg Principles and 
   the MODEL Nuclear Weapons Convention can be found at: 

       http://www.inter.nl.net/hcc/A.Malten/docs.html
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