Lindis Percy (born 1941,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

) is a peace

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

in the United Kingdom and founding member and joint coordinator of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases. Reporting for ''The Guardian'', journalist Rob Evans claimed that "there must surely be few Britons who have been arrested in political protests as many times as indis Percyhas". She is a trained nurse, midwife and health visitor and has worked for the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

her entire working life.

Methods

Percy attended the Department of

Peace Studies Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be creat ...

in the late 1980s. As an

, she uses non-violent

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

and

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

. Additionally, Ms. Percy also uses legal challenges, often assisted by

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

Mark Stephens and

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, Keir Starmer QC and sometimes acts as a

litigant in person In England and Wales, a litigant in person is an individual, company or organisation that has rights of audience (this is, the right to address the court) and is not represented in a court of England and Wales by a solicitor or barrister. Instruc ...

to make her protests.

Activism

Lindis Percy has been active since 1979, when

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...

s were to be deployed 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 ...

. Legal cases arose from her actions in "uncovering and lawfully exercising ancient

rights of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by Easement#Easement by prescription, prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' ...

and the

right to roam The freedom to roam, or "everyman's right", is the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land, lakes, and rivers for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the right of public access to the wildernes ...

" across United States'

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...

intelligence-gathering bases, such as Menwith Hill & Fylingdales located near her Yorkshire home, and further afield at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath which, she claims, are actually USAF bases situated in the United Kingdom flagged to the RAF. In June 1994, the newspapers reported that a series of meetings took place between representatives of the US and British governments "to discuss continuing incursions at US bases and how to deal with on-going US military concerns", as a result of Percy's persistent incursions into American and British bases and her campaigns in general. The campaign against the Menwith Hill base was documented by Duncan Campbell in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

documentary ''The Hill''.

Policy Influence

In 2001, Percy submitted a memorandum to the House of Commons about an expansion of jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP), which she opposed on several grounds, including what she denoted as an "extension of the jurisdiction of the MDP into areas not naturally within their stated role", thus essentially exposing "the citizen .... to a police force". In 2002, Percy submitted for information held about her by the government under the

Data Protection Act 1998 The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA, c. 29) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom designed to protect personal data stored on Computer, computers or in an organised paper filing system. It enacted provisions from the European Union (EU) Da ...

. The MDP admitted that it held a "considerable amount of data" on Percy, but also that it was "so much" and scattered around its filing cabinets, that it would take "too much effort to dig it out". They suggested that she could identify specific incidents to narrow down their search for documents. She did so, but again the MDP refused to retrieve the information, arguing that the documents on her were exempted from release, as they contained "sensitive information" to help in the "prevention and detection of crime"."Base invader"
''The Guardian'', 7 September 2002 In 2002, Percy spoke at

Levellers Day The Banbury mutiny was a mutiny by soldiers in the English New Model Army. The mutineers did not achieve all of their aims and some of the leaders were executed shortly afterwards on 17 May 1649. Background The mutiny was over pay and politic ...

. She was a speaker at the Global Network 2008 conference, and the European Humanist Conference. In 2008, Percy gave evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry into police tactics. She subsequently stated "It is becoming increasingly difficult to get satisfaction through the formal processes of our democracy." She rallied support for the hunger strike of Czech activist Jan Tamas who, along with Jan Bednar, were protesting the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense facility at

Brdy Brdy is a range of hills in the Czech Republic, forming a long massif stretching for c. 60 km southwest from Prague. The northern section of the Brdy is called "Hřebeny" and features one narrow ridge (highest elevation Písek - 690 m). The m ...

. Percy was a supporter of and participant in the 2009 World March for Peace and Non-Violence.

Personal life

Lindis Percy is married, with three grown children and six grandchildren. She lives with her husband Christopher, a retired

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

, in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, where her father once worked as a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

scout master. She is a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

. Percy was cast in ''The Mythologist'', a film about Habib "Henry" Azadehdel, aka Dr Armen Victorian, a UFO conspiracy theorist."The Armen Victorian Tapes"
, Open Minds Forum, 25 August 2007

References

Sources

"Britain's role in the new cold war"
Matthew Holehouse, ''The New Statesman'', 30 August 2007
"US imposing its values through its global military presence"
interview of Lindis Percy to Ramin Etesami, WordPress, 23 July 2008
"Woman stages palace gates protest"
BBC, 18 November 2003

External links

Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases
official website
Independence From America Day, Menwith Hill, 4 July 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Percy, Lindis British anti–nuclear weapons activists English Quakers 1941 births Living people English Christian pacifists English midwives