On the way out of Newbury we will pass the old Greenham Common airbase and pause at a gate to remember the women who set up the peace camp there back in September 1981 having walked from West Wales.
They were protesting against the (then proposed) installation of US cruise missiles at the base. This was seen as a major escalation of the cold war and a threat to world peace.
The women resisted repeated attempts to evict them, practiced many forms of non-violent direct action, attracted world-wide attention to the issue and gave impetus to a mass protest movement.
Although cruise was briefly deployed at Greenham, the burgeoning peace movement across Europe ultimately forced the USA and USSR to the negotiating table and cruise (and the equally contentious pershing missiles on the west german border) were withdrawn.
NVDA can be effective, and the Greenham women should be an inspiration and strengthen today’s activists travelling to London to rebel against another existential threat.
We honour those women.
We invite others to meet us there – precise time and location will be posted here and on Facebook in early April.