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Faslane Peace Camp is a permanent
peace camp Peace camps are a form of physical protest camp that is focused on anti-war and anti-nuclear activity. They are set up outside military bases by members of the peace movement who oppose either the existence of the military bases themselves, the ...
sited alongside
Faslane Naval base His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...
in
Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...
, Scotland. It has been occupied continuously, in a few different locations, since 12 June 1982. In 1984, the book ''Faslane:Diary of a Peace Camp'' was published, co-written by the members of the peacecamp at the time.


Location

The site and look of the camp has varied considerably over the years, depending on the number and attitude of the residents. At one point there were two sites (one at each main gate) with distinct political attitudes (roughly characterised as
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
and
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
). The camp is well established with mains water, a conventional toilet, a telephone, a large kitchen and living room, running water and a bath and planning permission for 12 caravans. As of late there is no hot water. The tenancy was briefly ended in 1998 when the council borders changed. The new council then organised an eviction order but decided not to waste money on a large-scale eviction.


History of camp

The camp was begun when anti-nuclear campaigners Bobby and Margaret Harrison put a tent beside the A814 in June 1982. In 1999, a caravan which had been previously used by activists was put on display in an exhibition at the
Glasgow Museum of Transport The Riverside Museum (formerly known as the Glasgow Museum of Transport) is a museum in Glasgow, housed in a building at Pointhouse Quay in the Glasgow Harbour regeneration district of Glasgow, Scotland. The building opened in June 2011, winnin ...
, which also included a four minute film about the camp. By 2015 the number of permanent protesters had fallen to around 6. By September 2021 the number had gone down to 3.See
Inside world's longest-running anti-nuclear peace camp that inspired BBC drama Vigil
Mirror, 4 September 2021. Accessed on 12 January 2022. In 2021, the camp resurfaced in the media through its portrayal in the British police television serial ''Vigil'', where the death of a sailor on a fictional nuclear submarine is investigated. Though the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
intended to film on location, the occupants of the camp considered the series would give "a misrepresentative portrayal of the protesters" and refused.


Protests

Camp residents have occasionally breached the security of the Naval Base by getting inside the fence, by canoeing or swimming into the base, by successfully disrupting the road transportation of the
Trident missile The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). Originally developed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation, the missile is armed with thermon ...
warheads, which are heavily guarded by the
Special Escort Group (Ministry of Defence Police) The Special Escort Group (Ministry of Defence Police) or SEG (MDP) are a specialised unit of the Ministry of Defence Police. It is primarily responsible for the movement of all nuclear weapons and Defence Special Nuclear Material within the U ...
, and by blockading the two gates. They are also active, with
Trident Ploughshares Trident Ploughshares (originally named Trident Ploughshares 2000) is an activist anti-nuclear weapons group, founded in 1998 with the aim of ''"beating swords into ploughshares"'' (taken from the Book of Isaiah). This is specifically by attempting ...
and
CND The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...
, in large public blockades of the base, attended by members of the public and a few politicians. Such annual events aim to keep the base closed for as long as possible by preventing its staff from arriving for work, and usually involve large numbers of protesters being arrested.


Faslane 365

The Faslane 365 campaign was an effort to establish a continuous protest at the base for a 365-day period using autonomous groups of 100 people. The campaign was launched in September 2006 with the first protest action commencing on 1 October 2006 carried out by a campaigning group of women associated with protests at
Greenham Common Royal Air Force Greenham Common or RAF Greenham Common is a former Royal Air Force station in the civil parishes of Greenham and Thatcham in the English county of Berkshire. The airfield was southeast of Newbury, about west of London. Opened ...
. Arrests were made on 2 October of 12 women, and on 9 October of 7 unspecified people. On 16 October 23 Swedes and 19 Finns were arrested. There had been 473 arrests up to 8 January 2007. The most recent independent corroboration of the number of arrests appeared in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' on 12 December 2006, in an article which reported that there had been 344 arrests up to that date. On 7 January 2007, a group of around 40 world-renowned academics including Sir Richard Jolly and 25 students from Oxford, Cambridge, Sussex and Edinburgh held a seminar discussing the replacement of the trident missiles at the base. Protesters subsequently managed to stage the most successful blockade of the campaign (apart from a negotiated three-day blockage over Christmas) so far closing the North Gate for six hours. All those who blockaded were arrested and held overnight. The majority of these arrests were for
breach of the peace Breach of the peace, or disturbing the peace, is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries and in a public order sense in the several jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It is a form of disorderly conduct. Public ord ...
, with 22 prosecutions being made; the vast majority of arrested protesters were released, receiving a letter from the Procurator Fiscal's office explaining that although "evidence is sufficient to justify my bringing you before the Court on this criminal charge", the Procurator Fiscal has "decided not to take such proceedings".


Political situation

The presence of the Faslane base is also an issue in Scottish politics. The
Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
, the
Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland. The party was founded in 1998. It c ...
and the
Scottish Green Party The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; gd, Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Green Pairtie) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 20 ...
all oppose the deployment of nuclear weapons, although the
Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
have claimed that they would retain the base for the servicing of conventionally armed and powered naval units. It is not unusual for members of these Scottish political parties, and indeed some from the Labour Party, to attend rallies outside Faslane. One of its founder members, Les Robertson, went on to become a Labour Party Councillor on the local Dumbarton Council and is a regular candidate for the Scottish Socialist Party. Robertson has served two prison sentences for protests he has taken part in at the Faslane base, the first in 1983 when he was still resident at the camp, and the most recent in 2005. Various other Scottish politicians have been involved in protests at Faslane.


See also

*
Anti-nuclear movement in the United Kingdom The anti-nuclear movement in the United Kingdom consists of groups who oppose nuclear technologies such as nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Many different groups and individuals have been involved in anti-nuclear demonstrations and protests ...
*
Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp was a series of protest camps established to protest against nuclear weapons being placed at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire, England. The camp began on 5 September 1981 after a Welsh group, Women for Life on ...
*
Nuclear weapons of the United Kingdom In 1952, the United Kingdom became the third country (after the United States and the Soviet Union) to develop and test nuclear weapons, and is one of the five nuclear-weapon states under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. ...
*
Protest camp Protest camps are physical camps that are set up by activists, to either provide a base for protest, or to delay, obstruct or prevent the focus of their protest by physically blocking it with the camp. Protest camps may also have a symbolic or repr ...


References


External links

{{Commons category, Faslane Peace Camp
WebsiteFaslane 365NukewatchFaslane 365 coverage on Indymedia


News coverage


BBC news – Peace caravan becomes museum piece (Faslane)
Peace camps Anarchist communities Anti-nuclear movement in Scotland Anti-nuclear protests Organisations based in Argyll and Bute British anti–nuclear weapons activists Protests in Scotland Intentional communities in the United Kingdom 1982 establishments in Scotland Trident (UK nuclear programme) Pacifism in Scotland Squats in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Argyll and Bute Politics of Argyll and Bute 1982 in British politics 1982 in Scotland