Aldermaston Big Blockade

Most of you, and certainly those of you who live in Scotland will at least be vaguely aware of Trident. In Faslane, a few hours from Glasgow (the biggest city in Scotland) is Britain's main (only?) nucleur weapons base. Nuclear weapons are horrific, and immoral for so many reason, but if you want to read up a bit about why its important that we protest against the presence of weapons that could wipe out a continent then have a look at CND Scotlands lovely website.

I love the Peace movement, as its one of those places where Quakers, feminists, hippies, Mennonites and elderly church of Scotland ministers get together with MPs and trade unionists to fight a common battle.

Basically, Trident is not the only place concerned with nuclear weapons in the UK, and given that Scotland has an increasingly large anti-nuclear movement, with the most powerful MSP in the country (Alec Salmond) being oppossed, CND (Campaign for Nuclear disarmament) are focusing some of their campaigning on England, Aldermaston to be specific.

Aldmermaston is a nuclear weapons factory near Reading in the South of England, and to quote the briefing paper for the big blockade:

The facilities are being built
to test design and construct a
new generation of nuclear
warheads. The project is
going ahead in advance of any
parliamentary decision. In July
2008, documents obtained by
CND confirmed that the government
has already decided
to build new nuclear warheads.

A blockade is being planned for the Aldermaston Factory, which basically is an attempt to 'get in the way' for a day. It takes protest to a new level, showing that when something is going on that we consider to be wrong, and illegal, it is a DUTY to get in the way and stop it happening.

Involvement can range
from their simple but visible
presence at the gates, to trying
to communicate with
workers, to directly impeding
access to the illegal and immoral
work at Aldermaston
(by blockading the gates for
as long as possible and risking
arrest).

Training is available the day before the march, the protest is entirely non-violent, and non-arrestable roles are availabe if you are uncomfortable with that or can't because of your work.

Details of the Blockade

Date: Monday 27th October
Contact: 0845 4588 361

There will be be groups going down from all over the place, including Edinburgh, so if you want to get involved then try to find your nearest CND/Trident Ploughshares/Justice and Peace group and so on, and see if you can find people to go down with. These things are much less scary in a group. Your nearest Quaker community would also be a good bet.

This is such an important protest, I wish I could go but I can't make it, for a booking form and more information and flyers, then email blockawe@yahoo.co.uk

Prossy Kakooza

Prossy is a 26 year old women seeking asylum in the UK, after having to flee her home country (Uganda) due to a series of serious assaults, including sexual assaults, due to her being a lesbian. Her initial asylum claim was refused as the home office did not consider her risk to be serious enough for her to stay, despite the fact that she can be imprisoned for her sexuality in Uganda, and her further serious risk of violent attack.

Prossy will be renewing her claim before the Asylum Tribunal very soon, so its very important that we show support to her at the moment. There is a facebook group here
and an i-petition here. To hear more about her story go here

My prayers go out to Prossy, it would be disgusting for the government to send her, and the others like her who have claimed asylum on grounds of sexuality in the last few years (and often been refused), home.