Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Greens Co-Convener Patrick Harvie MSP, will headline the Scrap Trident Bairns Not Bombs demonstration against Britain’s weapons of mass destruction in George Square, Glasgow on 4th April,.
Cat Boyd
Also on the platform will be Cat Boyd from the Radical Independence Campaign, Disability History Scotland campaigner Sasha Callaghan , Nuala Watt, founder of Human Beings on Benefits, Ann Henderson, Assistant Secretary, STUC, Labour MP Katy Clark and singers Karine Polwart and our favourite local peace troubadour Penny Stone.
And on 13 April it will be the turn of the people to show our determined resistance to the unacceptable immoral ongoing deployment of nuclear weapons on our shores. The Bairns Not Bombs blockade of Faslane starts at 7am. Nonviolent Direct Action Training is encouraged for all who will be taking part or supporting the blockade and will take place in Glasgow on 12 April. Read the Briefing for full details and register here.
Nuala Watt
“The eyes of the world are on us. Britain is part of that intransigent and increasingly isolated minority of the world’s nations that possess and deploy nuclear weapons. Right now we have a unique opportunity to lead the way to global disarmament. The understanding that Trident makes no fiscal or strategic sense is ever more widespread, and as we face up to the horrors of its purpose, we are pushing at a door that is beginning to creak open.
karine Polwart
And Trident is not in fact a single issue. As well as being a horrific reality it is a key symbol of the things we want to change in Scotland, the UK and the world. It sums up the UK’s outdated approach to relations with the rest of the world, an approach that puts threats before peaceful co-operation.
In the context of savage cuts to services it is a sacred cow. It stands for hatred rather than social justice, for environmental devastation rather than care for the planet.
The Peace and Justice Centre is one of several groups in the coalition that is organising the Scrap Trident events andw we are urging everyone who can to help fill George Square on the 4th April and to consider joining the Big Blockade at Faslane. With this election Scotland has an opportunity to deliver a raft of anti-Trident MPs to Westminster who could stop the renewal of Trident nuclear weapons. This isn’t just about Scotland or the UK but its about the possibility of push starting global disarmament from right here in Scotland.
Moreover the Big Blockade is to take place on the Global Day of Action on Military Spending. The P&J has long called for deep cuts to the military and a seismic shift in the culture of corporate profit at the expense of human needs and indeed human life. Please join us in speaking out for a new and better world, free of nuclear weapons where we prioritise real human needs over armaments.
We also urge everyone to put pressure on Westminster election candidates. Scottish CND has set up an online system to make it easy for anyone to send emails to their election candidates and ask them what they think about Trident. Please contact the candidates in your constituency here.
You can also find out what we already know about the views of your candidates here. To help us to keep the system up to date, please pass on any responses or alterations to the candidate lists.
