No New Nukes!
On a windy Sunday morning, a group of local activists led a protest on Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath to oppose the plans of the Government to increase the Nuclear Warhead arsenal of the UK.
Camden Peace Campaign
At 9.20am, Sunday 18 April, this group of 20 locals spoke about their concerns. A submarine with 180 warheads was on show in Hampstead Heath. 80 additional warheads were added to the submarine by people representing Boris Johnson (in Boris masks). There were speeches by peace activists and input (to boos) from Mini Boris on the Heath. The group was supported by about 20 others who brought home-made placards, cheered and joined in the speeches with their personal stories. Others who happened to be on the Heath, running, or on a walk, joined in and voiced their support for this important issue.
The demo on the heath was the brain-child of Paul Renny, Lucy Moy-Thomas and Pete Wickenden. Paul had the initial vision of a protest in the Hampstead Heath as lockdown was easing. At the time there were so many different issues going on that the government plan to increase nuclear weapons by 40% was at risk of going unmarked by local activists. Peter, who is active against the arms trade came up with the vision of a theatrical protest and the blue-print for the demo. Lucy made the banners, Pete the submarine and missiles. Lots of others came forward to help us bring our vision to life. We all had to work separately (Lucy was miles away, in Wales) but meet regularly over Zoom to organise all the details of the action. Huge thanks to Jack for creating the CPC logo, Dinny for being mini-Boris, Conor for filming and editing the event, and Pete R for helping with the props and all the others who supported us in making the vision a possibility.
Watch the film below of the event. Please share widely and oppose this unnecessary and dangerous nuclear arms race.
Statement 1: Peter Wickenden
Last month, the government revealed plans for a 40% increase in Britain’s nuclear arsenal. Today the arsenal stands at 180 Trident missile nuclear warheads. Each is about eight times the power of the Hiroshima bomb which killed over 200,000 people. That’s a killing capacity of hundreds of millions, yet the government proposes to add a further 80 warheads. No New Nukes!
Statement 2: Shezan Renny
Camden Peace Campaign was formed in response to this wasteful and ominous proposal. We organised this demonstration to call attention to this increase in the nuclear arsenal and bring together all those in the local community who wish to campaign against policies that promote a new nuclear arms race. No New Nukes!
Statement 3: Nick Weaver
The plan to raise the Trident nuclear stockpile to 260 warheads is a very dangerous and immensely costly return to cold war thinking. Trident is dependant entirely on US technology and is not relevant to Britain’s defence. The expense is huge and the utility non-existent in terms of military use. Now Boris Johnson wants to boost his ‘global Britain’ stance by investing in more weapons of mass destruction. No New Nukes!
Statement 4: Lucy Moy-Thomas
This is illegal and immoral. Increasing Britain’s nuclear arsenal contravenes our legal obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Treaty requires countries that have nuclear weapons to disarm. Increasing a nuclear arsenal is not legitimate under the Treaty. But it’s not just new warheads that are illegal, it’s the whole Trident replacement project as well. The Treaty requires ‘each of the parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament.’ So not only are additional warheads illegal, but Trident replacement is illegal, and the failure to disarm our existing nuclear weapons contravenes the Treaty. No New Nukes!
Statement 5: Paul Renny
This total disregard of the Non-Proliferation Treaty by Britain, USA and other nuclear-armed states means that non-nuclear states can conclude there is no justification for preventing them develop nuclear weapons. The Trident replacement programme will cost us over 205 billion pounds. This money could be well spent on our Covid recovery, the NHS or reducing child/ food/ housing poverty prevalent in the UK today. Let’s come together to say No to Nuclear Weapons – No New Nukes!
Gareth Murphy, whose father-n-law was a youngster in the outskirts of Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped, spoke movingly for nuclear disarmament.
Special Guest – Mini Boris on the Heath
Yes, hello and welcome. Welcome to Hampstead Heath. Although I don’t welcome these Peace loving hippies who want to ruin my blissful Sunday morning brunch it gets me away from my kids.
Yes, it’s me, your very own Prime Minister talking to you. Why, why, you may ask, why, why do you, Boris want to talk to us in the Heath. It’s quite simple really, because people share this in common, everybody loves the destruction, the blowing up, the blasts. Every one will feel safer with 80 more warheads, each with 8 times the more destructive power than the Hiroshima bomb.
Just think how wonderful, how powerful, that destruction would be. People ask me
Why are you not spending this on the NHS, Boris?
Why are you not spending this on jobs, Boris?
Why are you not spending this on houses, Boris?
And I say ‘Why would I do this, when I can make Britain great again by building lots more bombs!
Anyways, must go now. I have lots more contracts to hand out to my mates and my old school pal, David Cameron has asked me to get him out of a sticky wicket.
So boo to Camden Peace Campaign and boo to Peace
Contact camdenpeacecampaign@gmail.com for more info.
Camden Labour Left 