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"The idea of the march was a little notice in Peace News about a women-led march from Copenhagen to Paris
which I noticed whilst on a leaflet writing party to persuade our Council to go nuclear-free (they did). What a nice idea
to have one here - everyone agreed, but no one wanted to "do" it because it would be too much work. Nor did I, but the idea
just refused to go away so in the end I gave in to persistent internal pestering and announced that I would walk from
somewhere in Wales to somewhere, like Greenham Common, in England with anyone else that wanted to come." Ann PettitAnd the rest, as they say, is history...
Twenty-five years of women's struggle against nuclear weapons
Arriving on 5 September 1981 at Greenham's gates after a 120- mile walk from Cardiff, it seems almost impossible that the group of women - and a handful of supportive men - marching under the banner "Women for Life on Earth" would become the catalyst for a massive nonviolent direct action campaign.But that's exactly what happened and it was a struggle for peace and against nuclear weapons that would - after a short period of time - become very clearly defined as women-only. This September marks the 25th anniversary of Greenham, and the press has been awash with nostalgic tales of the mud, the evictions, and some of the more famous actions. Most however have omited failed to cover one of the most amazing dynamics at camp - the links that were forged between women at camp and women in other struggles. From the miners' wives to the women of the Western Shoshone Nation - on whose land the US and UK governments test their WMDs - women made the connections, not just the links of the nuclear chain, but of wider issues of militarism and male power. This is something that should be remembered and celebrated as should the subsequent embedding of Greenham's radical, feminist women in groups and organisations across the country and the world.
We are everywhere
Direct action to hinder the deployment of cruise took place right up until the very last convoy, and women from camp travelled from one end of the country to the other in the late 80s and early 90s - causing trouble at military and nuclear bases at every turn.When cruise had left, the restroration of the Common to the people of Newbury was in progress, and the camps finally closed, Greenham women were to be found initiating new peace campaigns and actions, working in NGOs, teaching children and working in hospitals, organising radical queer events, forming rock bands, starting squats, supporting refugees and many, many, other subversive activities. They still are.
If you're lucky, you'll find some of them at the Aldermaston and Menwith camps most months. See http://www.aldermaston.net .
PN's Greenham coverage
During the 1980s, Peace News regularly covered Greenham and the other camps, and women-only and mixed actions against cruise. The paper became a space where debates about what was meant by violence and nonviolence, gender and power, and new ideas about forms of - and approaches to - action, could be had. Much of this content was generated and provoked precisely because Greenham was there. This month we will publish some of these archive texts on Peace News online. See http://www.peacenews.info
The Danish Peace Academy has put together a partial history of the protests around Greenham Common and a reconstruction of one of the songbooks. See http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/abase/sange/greenham.htm .