nuclear arms

Militarisation in the UK generally

'Militarisation' means the ways in which the presence and approaches of the military (typically state armed forces and Defence Ministries) are normalised in a society. Military solutions are prioritised, and the military is privileged in various ways.

A society has to be militarised for a government to justify the development and maintenance of nuclear weapons to its citizens; militarisation creates a culture of acceptance. It popularises military euphemisms such as 'Defence', 'Security', and – particularly relevant to nuclear weapons – 'deterrant', and makes it hard to for those challenging these to be seen as credible.

Tim Wright

Each year, the nine nuclear-armed nations spend a combined total of more than US$100 billion on their nuclear forces – assembling new warheads, modernizing old ones, and building ballistic missiles, bombers and submarines to deliver them. Much of this work is carried out by private corporations, which are financed by a vast web of financial institutions around the world.

Each fall the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space organizes a week of local actions called Keep Space for Peace Week. This year events were held from October 1-8 and the theme chosen by our leadership was the expanding use of drones in U.S. wars in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.

Protest actions took place throughout the U.S. and in six other nations at major space weapons installations and factories like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics.

Between October 2-9 the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space had another week of actions against the militariSation of space, under the slogan: “Keep Space For Peace”. There were number of actions during this week, focusing on the missile defence shield, drones and other forms of militarisation of space. For a full list of actions, go to: http://www.space4peace.org/actions/ksfpw10.htm.

At the 2009 Strasbourg-Kehl summit, NATO members agreed to produce a new Strategic Concept for the alliance. The Strategic Concept (SC) is usually the guiding policy document for NATO for the coming decade. In November, at the NATO summit in Lisbon, NATO countries hope to agree on a document that is “short and crisp”. The main content will to a large extent re­peat the 1999 SC, but it will be shorter overall. Insiders expect a document of 12 pages max.

Three Christian peace activists were arrested at AWE Aldermaston after opening the base for disarmament. The three, Fr. Martin Newell (43), Passionist priest from the London Catholic Worker, Susan Clarkson (63) of the Oxford Catholic Worker, and Chris Cole (47) also from Oxford , cut a doorway into the outer fence of nuclear base. They group then attached a sign saying ‘Open for Disarmament: All Welcome’.

This is a clickable map of past, present, and planned nuclear power stations in Britain, plus important sites of Britain's nuclear weapons programme.

This map is based on OpenStreetMap, and uses OpenLayers for placing of the icons. You can click on an icon to see more information. You can also zoom in and out (see zoombar on the left), or move around on the map.

From 1-5 July 2010 the IV European Social Forum will take place in Istanbul.

War Resisters' International is part of several seminars and workshops during the ESF:

Thursday, 1 July, 9.30-12.30

The struggle against nuclear weapons in Europe and the Middle-East
Hans Lammerant (Vredesactie), Dominic Moran (Greenpeace), Ufuk Uras
Room D102-200, İtü Maçka Kampüsü

"No to Nato, Against militarisation and nuclearisation of the EU, build EU for peace"

Background

In April 2009, President Barack Obama declared in Prague that he was committing the United States to a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. His vision was almost universally welcomed and, eventually, honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Since then, it has become apparent that the President’s vision is not driving a change in US nuclear policy. Instead things have gotten, as Alice said in Wonderland, curiouser and curioser. The path to a world free of nuclear weapons, the President seems to believe, leads first through the largest increases in nuclear weapons funding in history—the weapons production budget will nearly double, to $13 billion, in the next five years.

Despite the bad weather thousands of Bombspotters have gathered in Kleine Brogel today to denounce the illegal nuclear policy of the Belgian government. They responded to the appeal of Vredesactie and were not intimidated by the massive presence of police and military personnel, kilometres of barbwire, several helicopters and guard dogs that were being deployed in order to try to keep the illegal nuclear policy in place.

Actions for nuclear disarmament at nuclear weapon bases all over Europe

Overview on http://www.bombspotting.org

During the Easter weekend peace organisations all over Europe are staging actions at nuclear weapon bases and command centres, as part of a European Day of Action against nuclear weapons. One month prior to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) Review Conference, peace movements in all the European countries with nuclear weapons on their territory (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey and the UK) are sending one message: it is time for nuclear disarmament. The continuing deployment of nuclear weapons does not provide more security, but rather encourages the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

On 15 February 2010, more than 800 activists from Britain and all over Europe blockaded the nuclear weapon factory AWE Aldermaston in Berkshire, England.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KYyodq0x5w]
Video of the Aldermaston blockade on 15 February 2010.