Campaigners say “no thanks – no more nukes” outside US embassy in London
Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary
Labour Outlook’s Sam Browse reports from this weekend’s demonstration against US nuclear weapons at Lakenheath.
On Saturday, to music and song, demonstrators gathered outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms, London, to send a clear message that new US nuclear weapons are not welcome in the UK.
The protest follows the announcement that US nuclear weapons would be returning to the UK after campaigners had successfully pushed for their removal in 2008.
Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the organisers of the demonstration, told Labour Outlook, “we’re here today, outside the US embassy, to say that we don’t want US nukes to come back to Britain. We know that later in the year, most likely, they’re going to be bringing nuclear weapons to Lakenheath airbase in East Anglia. That’s a disaster for the local community, but it’s not just a local or regional issue; this is something that affects the whole of Britain because those nuclear weapons put us on the US nuclear frontline in any war that they are conducting and it makes not only Lakenheath but the whole of Britain a target.”
“At a time when we have two conflicts in the world, in Ukraine and Gaza, where nuclear weapons are a factor – where nuclear weapons could be used – it’s absolutely essential that we are not participating in a further nuclear escalation.”
“Our view is no nuclear weapons, no more U.S. nuclear weapons, no thanks.”
Lindsey German, the convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, told the gathered audience “we need to get across how severe this threat is and how much our government and the United States are escalating the threat of nuclear war”.
“When you think what they’re trying to do at Lakenheath, they’re trying to bring back nuclear weapons that we got rid of in 2008 – and that was a great victory for the movement. We need to remember these victories, but we shouldn’t let them bring back nuclear weapons by stealth”.
Jess Barnard, a peace activist and member of Labour’s NEC, told the crowd, “I can’t think of a more urgent time for us to be resisting allowing the UK to be a pawn for the US war machine. As bombs continue to rain down on Gaza and we are witnessing the crime of genocide being committed against Palestinians, the UK and the US who have continued to arm Israel will forever be remembered for their complicity.”
“Just yesterday the US conceded its weapons may have been used to commit war crimes against the Palestinian people. We have to say ‘enough is enough’. What more evidence do we need that the UK should not allow the US to put us on the nuclear frontline?”
However, she also had strong words for the leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer: “the words of the Labour leader and his appalling record on defending the rights of Palestinians do not represent Labour members or the kind of government a Labour government should strive to be. They do not represent the world we should aspire to be a part of.”
Campaigners also made connections between nuclear weapons and the dash for nuclear power, with Sam Mason, coordinator of the Climate Justice Coalition trade union caucus, pointing to how both domestic and military nuclear programmes were interlinked. Shigeo Kobayashi of Japanese Against a Nuclear UK, similarly argued “we cannot assume that there will be no more nuclear accidents. Nuclear power is currently neither green nor cheap”. The campaign organise regular vigils outside the Japanese Embassy in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster.
As today’s speakers reminded us, we must continue to demand a nuclear-free world, and say loudly and clearly: no to new nukes in the UK!
- Sam Browse is a regular columnist for Labour Outlook and an organiser of Arise Festival. You can follow Sam on Twitter/X here.
No comments:
Post a Comment