| | by admin | | posted on 12th February 2023 in no cat | | views 905 | |
One of the most defining anti-nuclear protests was the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp (GCWPC).
Between 1981 - 2000, the GCWPC was a series of protest camps established to oppose nuclear weapons from the United States being stored at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire, England.
The GCWPC began in September 1981 after a Welsh group named Women for Life on Earth arrived as protesters at RAF Greenham Common. In the first act of resistance, 36 women chained themselves to the base's perimeter fence in protest.
To sustain support for their cause, these women set up a peace camp outside the RAF base, at first in caravans and tents. When those were removed by bailiffs, branches were bent over and covered with large sheets of plastic.
The women organised and publicised events and actions to draw attention to the issue. They blockaded the base, lay down in the road in front of lorries carrying nuclear warheads, pursued night-time convoys and put sugar in petrol tanks. Their protest was always peaceful.
It was decided that the protest should involve women only. It was a space to express women's beliefs without what participants described as patriarchal dominance. The collective identity of women as mothers and carers was used to signify that the protest was about the future safety of children.
For the women at the GCWPC, a woman's place was not in the home but at the protest.
The GCWPC protest became known as Embrace the Base, and it caught the public imagination. Thousands of women from across the country, as well as from Europe and America, came to Greenham Common to join the peace camp.
A year after the first peace camp was established, in September 1982, the women were evicted by the local council. However, they regrouped and formed another nearby camp only days later.
The camp organically grew into a collection of nine smaller camps, most stationed by a gate of the airbase and named after the colours of the rainbow. The first was Yellow Gate, established the month after the march reached the airbase.
The others followed throughout 1983. Green Gate was nearest to the silos and, being furthest from the road, was considered the safest for children. Turquoise Gate was next towards Newbury, followed by Blue Gate, also known as the new age gate.
By this stage, the GCWPC was an intentionally leaderless organisation. This frustrated sections of the media and political opponents, who found it difficult to frame criticism without a clear figurehead.
The media often ignored the Greenham women's collective identity of 'women as mothers' protecting children and instead focused on the supposed illegitimacy of the camp. It was sometimes described as a witches' coven associated with criminal activity, with the women portrayed as a threat to family values and the state.
In 1983, 70,000 peace demonstrators formed a human chain stretching 14 miles to link Greenham to Aldermaston and Burghfield, two sites used in the development of nuclear weapons. At the same time, 200 women from the GCWPC entered the RAF base dressed as teddy bears.
By juxtaposing the softness of a childhood symbol against the highly militarised atmosphere of the RAF base, the women highlighted their cause not only across the UK but internationally.
A year later, in 1984, the women were again evicted. They soon returned, and the GCWPC continued to draw large numbers of women protesters until 1987.
In 1987, the governments of the UK and the United States agreed to begin removing missiles from RAF Greenham Common. The last missiles left the base in 1991 as a result of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The camp, however, remained in place until 2000 after protesters secured the right to establish a memorial on the site.
Although the missiles had been removed, the camp continued as part of protest against the forthcoming UK Trident programme.
When the last women left and the GCWPC was disbanded in 2000, a peace garden was created at the site as a memorial to the women who had maintained a 19 year continuous presence at the RAF base. In 2014, a trust was established to maintain the peace garden as a lasting legacy.
The focal point of the peace garden is seven Welsh standing stones surrounding a sculpture symbolising the flames of a campfire, inscribed with the words:
You can't kill the spirit
Rooted in Quaker radical faith & activism, YQN empowers young adults to explore Quakerism, challenge injustice, and build a more peaceful future through friendship.
