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  Anna-Linnea Rundberg reports from the Nordic "anti-star wars" action camp held in Fauske in northern Norway at the end of June.

  • Anna-Linnea Rundberg
    In the spirit of the protests against Menwith Hill and against the "long arm" of US militarism, 35 Finnish and Swedish peace activists set up an action camp in Fauske, in northern Norway, between 17 and 20 June.

        Fauske is home to a surveillance base - Forsvarets stasjon Fauske (FSTF) - essentially a radar station, which is believed to be connected to the US Missile Defence programme.
        The camp, organised by the Sweden-based network "Ofog [mischief] for a nuclear-weaponfree world", and the Finnish Association of Conscientious Objectors, was the first of its kind and size ever to take place at the base, and even if the top secret activities at FSTF have been questioned before, there has never been any form of protest there which used nonviolent direct action. Until now.
        Before the bus with the peaceful Nordic activists even entered the country, their activities appeared in fat headlines on the front of the biggest local newspaper, stating that the police were on "full alert" as activists were "about to strike". There was clearly an attitude problem regarding nonviolent direct action that needed to be worked on.

    Surveillance network

    The first surveillance station at Fauske was built in 1952, and between 1962 and 1965 the US military began using a total of five ground-based satellite stations, located in Turkey, Japan, Afghanistan, Alaska and Fauske in Norway. The station at Fauske is still active, specialising in picking up signals from other countries' communications satellites.
        Between 1999 and 2000 a significant upgrade of the base took place which, according to the Dutch surveillance expert Cees Wiebes, was financed by the US National Security Agency (NSA).
        The current base commander, Per-Arne Didriksen, told activists in a closed meeting that he knew nothing about any upgrade in 1999-2000, but that the station is "like a mobile phone - continuously upgrading" and that it is all paid for by the Norwegian government, using Norwegian technology.

    A close relationship

    Norway is a member of NATO, and thus co-operates extensively with other NATO countries on, for example, surveillance and information gathering, especially since the "war on terror" has become such an important focus for the alliance. It is no secret that Norway and the US co-operate closely in a number of ways, not least militarily. The station in Fauske is known to have been involved in the Falklands War and the first Gulf War, where navigation information was picked up from Russian satellites and used by NATO allies.
        However, activists who met with the Fauske base commander, under the supervision of the local police force, were told that the station has nothing to do with the US missile defence programme. This contradicts recent suggestions made about the radar base by For Mother Earth International, who said: "The militarisation of space is dependent on an international network of radar and communication bases in which Fauske plays an important role."
        On the question of what was inside the golf balls, or "radomes" as they are called in official surveillance language, the answer was "no comment", even though it was made no secret that the station was among the most advanced in its field in the world today. Naturally, the following question was "what field?" But the answer again clarified nothing, and when asked about the radar and exactly how the satellite dishes pick up various signals from different satellites, the answer was very clear and short: "I never said anything about any satellites." Strange. Who would posses three such huge dishes and then not use them to pick up satellite signals? The Norwegian Secret Service, apparently. Maybe they are using them as rain collectors or parabolic solar systems instead (?).

    Secrets revealed

    Despite all the obfuscation, perhaps the most surprising thing, however, was that this group of foreign activists got to meet the base commander in the first place. Apparently, nobody even knew his name before they were introduced to him; he never gives interviews to journalists.
        The secrecy around the station has been - and remains - substantial, but four Swedish activists who climbed the fence, and were arrested, could later reveal a military secret: that two of the golf balls are named "Ole" and "Karl". This was previously unknown information that has now been made public. A group of mapdrawing activists also collected considerable amounts of information about the site and could, towards the end of the camp, present a decent picture of what the station looks like on a map.

    Expensive action!

    The rumour about Norway being an expensive country was confirmed rather horribly towards the end of the camp, following the final action on 19 June: four arrested activists were fined 10,000 NOK each (equivalent to about #860/e1280) for trespassing on military land after they climbed into the base. The fines were far in excess of what is considered normal and thus what was expected; a fundraising campaign has now begun in order to collect money to pay the fines.
        The climbing exercise was part of a wider manifestation outside the main gate, where street theatre, dancing and acrobatics were performed, and banners were flown asking the station to open up for inspection and to "Stop Star Wars".
        Although this camp could, in many ways, be considered a "pilot camp", a first-timer to work out how to do things, many participants felt positive and empowered by it and the overall feedback was "great camp!".
        Plans for future actions and camps are now being developed, with hopes of involving more Norwegian activists, along with people from other countries, to take action against NATO bases in the Nordic region.
    Anna-Linnea Rundberg works with Trident Ploughshares and the Aldermaston Women's Peace Campaign. Ofog, info@ofog.org;     http://hypatia.nu/ofog/
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