Nuclear warheads, three times the strength of the Hiroshima bomb are set to arrive at Lakenheath base in Suffolk.
“Unredacted documents on the US department of defence’s procurement database reveal plans for a ‘nuclear mission’ that will take place ‘imminently’ at RAF Lakenheath, where nuclear weapons were stationed during the Cold War.” This was reported in the Daily Telegraph, 26 January.
Warheads may already be in place
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) raises the possibility that the B61-12 gravity bombs may already be in place. It is US policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence or absence of nuclear weapons at any general or specific location. The base will be run by the US Air Force under British regulations and laws. These tactical nuclear weapons can be deployed by F-35 fighter jets.
The Telegraph reveals that the US currently has warheads stationed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey, under a NATO nuclear-sharing arrangement.
“Russia has stated that the placement of US weapons in Britain would be viewed by Moscow as an “escalation” and would be met with “compensating counter-measures”.
Response from CND
CND reacted by condemning any return of United States nuclear weapons to RAF Lakenheath. One hundred and ten nuclear bombs were stored at the airbase until they were removed in 2008 following persistent popular protest. CND has said they must not be allowed back.
Whether or not the nuclear bombs have already been returned to Britain CND says this is a huge challenge for the peace movement and CND will do everything we can to prevent these weapons being sited here. CND reminds us that millions mobilised across Europe against the imposition of cruise and Pershing missiles in the 1980s.” We got rid of all those weapons then, and we have to have the energy, the commitment and the confidence to do that again.”
“A withdrawal of all US/NATO nuclear weapons from Europe would help reduce tensions at this very dangerous time and would ultimately help advance international disarmament.”
Millions protest
I was one of the millions mobilising against nuclear weapons in the 1980s. I was particularly incensed by the presence of US nuclear in the UK. Greenham common housed US cruise missiles. US forces moved huge convoys through sleepy villages at nighttime. This idea was to hide their whereabouts.
Greenham common women’s peace camp
Women at Greenham common were inspirational. I found it easy to become enmeshed in the soul of this group.
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Greenham common, circa 1986. Photo: Imogen Young.
I purchased my bolt cutters and was ready. Above, I am holding the fence around Greenham common open for a friend to enter. Likewise, another held open the fence for me to enter. On this occasion there were countless women entering the base, each of us refusing to give our name. We were all arrested and held. This was one of the planned events among many spontaneous actions. On one occasion, in February 1985 the US were rehearsing a critical event. I was one of many women watching. There was much activity; all personnel were wearing radiation suits; traffic was going around the base and in and out of the main gate of the base. Unfortunately, a US personnel forgot to close the emergency exit of a bus. I saw this and climbed aboard ending up in the middle of the US air force base of Greenham common, with a camera around my neck. I knew women at the gate had seen me and were thrilled when I stepped aboard. Later I found out that they, wisely, notified the base that I was on a bus. It seemed an age before the bus was stopped and personnel came aboard and saw me sitting on the floor. I was taken to the commander of the base. I noted on meeting him that there were just two of us without radiation suits and started a conversation about this. He instructed to his underlings to remove me from his office.
Why did I do this? Why did women break in and dance on the missile silo? Why did women dressed as teddy bears covered in honey have a teddy bears picnic in the bases? Why did we break in, cut the fence, occupy the sentry box, singing loudly during these times? We were angry, we feared what the “superpowers” were doing, and we wanted people to know. And we succeeded.
The activism was huge, peace marches in London and across the country, peace camps in various places, incursions into military establishments, groups set up to monitor the movement of the missiles. The coverage meant there was no choice but for the British people and people around the world to know what was happening about nuclear weapons in the world and about US nuclear siting nuclear weapons in the UK. The imagination and sometimes humour around so many of these protests press attracted coverage.
For my bus ride I was arrested under the Official Secrets Act; a big offence. I had been held at a civilian police station and was eventually let out on bail. Several women had monitored my whereabouts and were there on my release. Calls to the press were made. The Guardian ran the story. The Welsh Western mail was going to but later called me to say the Ministry of Defence had put a block on reporting. It was never in any other newspaper. I still have the Guardian article, though am unsure if it remained in the archives.
The protests will continue
Mine was just one small story. The action of so many was huge and powerful. US nuclear weapons were removed from the UK. And now are returning. Really? It will not be me climbing the wire or cutting the wire now. My time for accepting accommodations at her or his majesty’s pleasure is over. Any bus I catch will be into the village. And now, many, many others are out there, blockading, interrupting, glueing. Energy is always there for protests, imagination will surprise the lawmakers and I will continue to write the letters to my MP, the government, the airlines trying to carry asylum seekers to Rwanda and quietly continue my activism built over many years.
Our government might be criminalizing protest, but they don’t have the imagination to realize that we will never be silenced. There will always be activism, whether to the climate catastrophe, to poverty, to nuclear weapons, to trying to take our voices away.
