Now in Italian: IL GRANDE BLOCCO: ALDERMASTON, 15 FEBBRAIO 2010
Il Cancello Delle Donne
Le donne dicono: No alle armi nucleari - No alla violenza

and in Spanish: Las mujeres dicen NO A LA OTAN: El GRAN BLOQUEO: ALDERMASTON 15 FEBRERO 2010
La Puerta de  las Mujeres

23 January 2010
-- Nuclear Information Service

 A street survey conducted by local environmental groups shows that a large majority of local people think that the proposed new Enriched Uranium Facility at AWE Aldermaston should not be built.

Over the past six weeks members of a coalition of groups concerned about the impacts of the Enriched Uranium Facility spoke to 550 people on the streets of towns and villages in West Berkshire to ask them for their views on the planned development.

Results from the survey showed significant levels of public concern about the project:

   * Over 60% of those who were surveyed believed that the facilityshould not be built. Just 13% supported the development, with a quarter of those surveyed stating that they did not know whether it should be built or not.    * Despite AWE's claims that public consultation had been a keyaspect in preparation of the planning application for the new facility, nearly three quarters of those asked had not heard about the project before being approached to complete the survey.  more

The Women's Gate at the Aldermaston Blockade
Blog report on action from Feb. 18, 2010

"Today forty women successfully blockaded one of the main gates of the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. Vehicles of base employees and police were prevented from entering or leaving the gate from 7 am till 10 am. Our non-violent act of peaceful protest was part of a blockade of all seven gates of this nuclear weapons ‘factory’ to protest against the Government’s plan to renew and modernize the submarines, missiles and warheads of the Trident nuclear weapons system, at an estimated cost of £97 billion"... more (2 pp., 16 Feb. pdf)

"Nobel Peace Prizewinners Mairead Maguire from Northern Ireland (middle, being carried off, and under, left) and Jodi Williams (of the landmine ban, were a great to her right) encouragement to us at the Women's Gate._{"
Quote and all photos: Cynthia Cockburn}

Aldermaston is home to the Atomic Weapons Establishment or AWE, where the "Blue Danube", the UK's first atomic weapon was built. Since 1958 all UK nuclear weapons have been designed, tested and built there -- with US help. "The UK government plans to spend a billion pounds each year for the next three years on modernizing its weapons of mass destruction. Greenpeace has estimated a £97-billion pound price tag for the renewal plan for the Trident submarine-borne nuclear weapons system to the year 2050. But although massive building work on facilities to test, design and build new warheads is already well under way at Aldermaston, the final decision about whether to go ahead with the new warheads has not yet been taken by Parliament. Trident renewal is current policy, but it is not irreversible," say peace activists (from 2 pg. paper mentioned below, also available here).

Cynthia Cockburn, Women in Black, London, on
"Women against Nuclear Weapons: Preparing for the Aldermaston Blockade,
15 February 2010"     (6 pages, pdf format)

..."Many of you host US nuclear weapons in your countries under a NATO ‘sharing’ agreement. Britain is different. We manufacture a Bomb right here. The facility we are going to close down on Monday is literally a bomb factory. Even if we can only prevent it working for a few hours, so long as our actions are appropriate, our messages are clear, and we do our media work well, we can have a big impact."

Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp, Feb. 2008

"A beacon of disobedience since 1985" -- the Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp(aign) has opposed atomic weapons and maintained a women's peace presence for 25 years. It's cold in the peace camp now, but preparations are heating up for women's participation in the Feb. 15th nonviolent blockade, and women are invited to join the peace camp on 13 February, 2010 - 14 February, 2010, ahead of Monday's Big Blockade. (more)

The Big Blockade is being organized by Trident Ploughshares and supported by CND, Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp and other groups. The women’s gate blockade is being organised by Women from AWPC, Women in Black against War, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Women against NATO e-listserve and the London Feminist Network.
Download the 2-page paper: THE BIG BLOCKADE: ALDERMASTON, 15 FEBRUARY 2010, The Women’s Gate.