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Network for Peace
Network for Peace
5 Caledonian Road, London N1
9DY
Tel: 07794
036 602 fax: 020 7278
0444 (shared fax, mark fao: NfP) Email: NfP
Trident
Replacement
Events
What is Trident?
Britain’s nuclear weapons system. It
consists of 4 nuclear-armed submarines, one of which is on patrol at all
times. Each submarine carries 48 warheads, each of which has the explosive
power of up to 100 kilotons, 8 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Replacing Trident
Trident
went into service in 1994 and has a 30-year lifespan. A decision has been
made but there’s plenty of time for this to change. The campaigning goes on.
Proponents of nuclear weapons argue that such a deterrent is necessary to
ensure our continuing security and to protect Britain’s status as a key
political actor. Many of us believe the latter is one of the most important
reasons nuclear weapons continue to be in favour with the nuclear weapons
states – these weapons are in fact a political tool rather than of any
military importance. We believe that Trident is illegal, immoral and a waste
of resources. It does nothing to increase world security and undermines
international efforts to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction. We
say there are better ways of building and maintaining peace!
Trident and the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty
To fulfil
its international legal obligations, the Government should comply with its
unequivocal commitment under the Nuclear Non
Proliferation Treaty by immediately decommissioning Trident and ruling out plans for
future nuclear weapon systems.
The cost
They
aren’t telling us the exact figure. It is estimated that it could be as much
as £25 billion. What could the government spend £25 billion on? See http://www.cnduk.org/pages/ntrep.pdf
British people oppose
developing new weapons system
When
presented with the estimated cost of replacing Trident, a majority of the British public
opposes the development of a new nuclear weapons system. The British public
understands that money would be better spent on defeating poverty at home and
abroad, and providing for employment, education and health.
Leading figures from
politics, religion, the arts and the military demand halt to replacement
A
powerful coalition of 100 scientists, lawyers, church leaders, actors,
writers and MPs have demanded (20th February) a halt to the rush
by Tony Blair towards a replacement for Britain's Trident nuclear weapon
system.
Stephen
Hawking, the astrophysicist, is among the prominent figures fronting the
campaign, which will strengthen growing demands in Parliament for the vote on
the replacement of the nuclear weapons system to be delayed until a full
debate on the options has taken place.
Professor
Hawking said: “Nuclear war remains the greatest danger to the survival of the
human race. To replace Trident would make it more difficult to get arms
reduction and increase the risk. It would also be a complete waste of money
because there are no circumstances in which we would use it independently.”
What you can do
CND
page on Trident http://www.cnduk.org/pages/campaign/ntdtrep.html
Join a local campaign against Trident.
Contact CND for details.
Organise a public meeting on Trident. Contact
the organisations below for information, suggestions on speakers, then
contact NfP for publicity!
Invite Bruce Kent to speak at your meeting.
Contact CND on 020 7700 2393.
Come to a Block the Builders action
at the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment, where a new generation of
British nuclear weapons would be designed and built. Blockades take place on
the second Monday of every month.
Tell Liam Fox not to exclude Trident from the Defence Review – use the
lobby tool on CND’s website http://www.cnd.iparl.com/lobby/39
Sign the Rethink Trident Petition: http://action.compassonline.org.uk/page/s/stoptrident
Ask
your MP to sign EDM 380
opposing Trident Replacement using CND’s simple email tool.
Contact
your MP and ask them to sign Early Day Motion 144: Nuclear Weapons Convention. Email them via CND's lobbying tool .
Events
2 – 6
September
READING. Trident
Ploughshares Summer Gathering ...for a nuclear weapons-free future. A chance
for new and experienced activists to come together to plot the end of those
nasty nukes. Join us for a fun and action-packed few days of: * Workshops
& Discussion * Local Networking & Outreach * Nonviolent Direct Action
Training * Action Planning * Trips to the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons
Establishment * (where nasty new warhead developments are well underway).
Organised by Trident Ploughshares 0845 45 88 361 tpgathering[at]yahoo.com http://www.tridentploughshares.org
1 November
DEVONPORT. Trident
submarines undergo refitting, upgrades and maintenance at the Devonport dockyard in Plymouth. It is already home to many
of Britain's
decaying retired nuclear subs and may become the dumping ground for them for
decades to come. Please come and join in the blockade. You can sit, lie down,
lock-on or provide support for the blockaders. We need your committed
nonviolent civil resistance. Please bring your friends and relatives and join
the blockade that will start at 6 am and continue for as long as possible.
The Devonport Blockade organised by Trident Ploughshares and supported by CND.
For more information or to help contact 0845 4588 363. Information available
soon on http://www.tridentploughshares.org/
Further information and
briefings
See the following websites for information:
Acronym: http://www.acronym.org.uk/dd/dd76/76news04.htm
BASIC: http://www.basicint.org/nuclear/beyondtrident/
CND: http://www.cnduk.org/pages/binfo/ntr06.pdf
CND ‘Alternative White Paper: Click
here
Greenpeace: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk
Medact: http://www.medact.org/article_wmd.php?articleID=387
Methodist Church: http://www.methodist.org.uk
Peacerights Report on the legality of the
Trident nuclear missile system: http://www.peacerights.org/reports/195
Trident Ploughshares: http://www.tridentploughshares.org/index.php3
UNA-UK: http://www.una.org.uk/ps_main.html
Briefing here
Yorkshire CND: http://www.cndyorks.gn.apc.org/news/articles/no_trident_replacement.htm
Blackaby Paper 7,
October 2007
The Hidden Human Cost of Trident
by Di
McDonald, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information Service (NIS), which
works to promote public awareness and debate on nuclear weapons issues, &
Jamie Woolley, sometime legal adviser to the Nuclear Free Local Authorities.
The 7th
in a series of occasional papers on defence and disarmament issues in memory
of Frank Blackaby.
After the
March 2007 UK governmental and parliamentary decision to undertake eventual
replacement of the V-class (Trident missile armed) submarine fleet, as well
as the continued upgrading of the warhead design and research capabilities of
AWE Aldermaston, it has become essential to document not just the financial
costs of this programme but also and more significantly the human and
environmental costs. This Blackaby Paper addresses these key and previously
underemphasised issues.
Blackaby
Paper 7 also contains a detailed section placing all the arguments within a
firm legal context.
Copies of
the full paper can be obtained from the Abolition 2000 UK office (address below).
Individual copies are £2:00 plus £0:50 postage (total £2:50). Prices for
multiple copies are available upon request.
Copies
can also be downloaded from the website.
Abolition
2000 UK,
162 Holloway Road London N7 8DQ
Email: mail@abolition2000uk.org
Website: www.abolition2000uk.org
Don't replace Trident!
Do you
want to know more about the UK's
nuclear weapons and help to make sure that they are not replaced? This pack, available free or for a
donation, includes a briefing about nuclear weapons in the UK, an action ideas
sheet, a list of key arguments, as well as postcards and petitions to use in
the community. Thanks to research by
the Oxford Research Group, the pack includes a letter writer's list of
'decision makers' - key officials and parliamentarians with a bearing on the
government's decision. There are also
instructions for making paper cranes, which we are suggesting people enclose
with letters to decision makers.
Folding paper cranes is also an ideal activity for children over 9 and
young people's groups.
For your
pack, write to:
Peace
& Disarmament Programme, Quaker Peace & Social Witness, Friends
House, 173 Euston Road,
London NW1 2BJ,
Email disarm@quaker.org.uk or call
020 7663 1067.
Quaker Peace & Social Witness Peace
and Disarmament newsletter: http://www.quaker.org.uk/
or email
QPSW Briefing on the Replacement of Trident: www.quaker.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=91671
Nuclear Peace
The
objective of this site is to scrutinise the arguments advanced both for and
against the replacement of the UK’s nuclear defence system, Trident.
http://nuclearpeace.wordpress.com/
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