Nuclear weapons crime in the UK has been reported to Thames Valley Police.
Summary of the International Fast - 2014:
Paris, Valduc, Saintes, Büchel & Burghfield 4 day Fast: 6th-9th August 2014
A 4 day fast was held in sorrow at the destruction caused by the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians and destroyed these 2 cities in 1945.
The fast is an international fast, held every year, and followed this year by over 120 people altogether at sites in France, Britain and Germany.
Actions in France
In Paris, approximately 70 people fasted, supported by 20 non-fasters and 12 people who fasted “at home” in other parts of France.
At Valduc, the nuclear weapons research establishment which is the French equivalent of Aldtermaston, approximately 32 people fasted for all or part of the time.
In Saintes - South-West France – 8 people fasted.
Some links to the actions in France (in French!):
http://www.sortirdunucleaire.org/spip.php?page=camp-militaire-liste2
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100647945949718406764/albums/6048131678017805809
on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/agissons.contre.le.nucleaire.militaire
Valduc-Dijon:
http://www.gazetteinfo.fr/2014/08/05/un-jeune-contre-le-nucleaire/
Actions in Germany
At Büchel, the last NATO base in Germany at which US Nuclear Weapons are stationed, 5 people fasted, who with over 100 non-fasters blockaded the base for over thirty hours!
Here are details (in German!):
Fast at Burghfield:
At Burghfield in Britain, 3 of us fasted, with one person in support – and thousands to join us (or we joined them!) for the unfurling of the pink scarf.
It was a quiet, but cheerful and moving Fast. We sang songs, attempted to knit, and held daily vigils at the main gate of the Base.
Above all we put across our message, that Burghfield is one link in a chain of death and destruction, and that we were joining other protesters across our continent in saying that here, as in their countries, we were intent on those links being broken, and the chain being replaced with a chain of peace, friendship and cooperation.
Photos of the fast:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/67400030@N04/sets/72157646260235744
A recording of our singing – in French:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Bvj4YK6t0&feature=youtu.be
Here for anyone who wants to join in are the words – composed by indefatigable French faster Serge Levillayer:
La paix en rose
Tandis que Gisèle détricote la terreur nucléaire , les Britanniques tricotent l’Europe de la paix .
Au pays de Shakespeare il y a aussi des violettes , de l’aubépine et de l’églantier . Sur le chemin , on rencontre des grandsmères , neveux ,nièces et gentils copains ; Elles déferlent l’écharpe rose qu’Europe a tricotée . Sur les neuf miles ,elles se lamentent : Quel avenir ? Quelle postérité ?
Les Anglaises tricotent , une maille après une maille .
Les grands mères tricotent l’Europe de la paix .
Lastly a short poem composed by Marc Morgan in the course of the fast:
The boy
When I think of that morning, what I see
Is a small boy, his hands cupped to his eyes,
Straining at the plane on the horizon;
World-weary too soon, he knows that the plane
Is a bringer of death in these derelict times.
I see him see the plane swoop and pull away
High in a sky of an infinite blue,
In a silence of endless virginity.
Does he feel the pregnancy of that moment,
The split-second of the before, the before
Before the after, the after beyond which
Nothing will ever be the same again?
The bomb snuffs him out, him and a hundred
Thousand others, so he will never know
That that bomb bore a friendly, human name,
Evocative of an innocence like his:
Simply, it was called Little Boy.
Pre event publicity and contact resources:
Burghfield Nuclear base
August 6-9th 2014
International Fast
Banner used during the 2013 International Fast at AWE Burghfield
An international fast
We are fasting at Burghfield, one of the main establishments for Atomic Weapons Research in Britain, as part of an International Fast held every year in France, Britain and Germany between Hiroshima and Nagasaki days (6th-9th August).
The fast is organised:
- in France by Maison de Vigilance and Sortir du Nucléaire
http://maisondevigilance.com/projets.htm
- in Germany, by the Gewaltfreie Aktion Atomwaffen Abschaffen (GAAA), and atomwaffenfrei.jetzt campaigns
www.versoehnungsbund.de/2014-fasten
- in Britain, by Action against the Atomic Weapons Establishment
http://actionawe.org/topics/fast-2014
It is supported by ICAN, an International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
www.icanw.org
Why do we need international fast days?
The fast, initiated thirty years ago in France, takes place in sorrow and in commemoration of the300,000 deaths at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As well as an act of remembrance, it is also an Action-fast, to protest against the ongoing possession of nuclear weapons by 9 states including Britain and France. 18,000 nuclear weapons are in existence worldwide of which 2,000 are kept on high alert status, ready to inflict an apocalyptic number of deaths in minutes.
Numerous distinguished public figures have called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Three quarters of UN member states have voted in favour of a Convention to abolish nuclear weapons. But whereas four nuclear armed states support such a Convention, several others are opposed to it, including Britain and France. A visible demonstration by those fasting can send a powerful message and so influence public opinion by stating:
Abolish all nuclear weapons: we must and we can!
Come and join us!
Fast 2014 camp site
View Fast 2014 in a larger map
Whether to fast with us or simply to join us in peaceful protest, you will be welcome. We will be camping near Burghfield AWE. Bring tent (if possible) and sleeping bag.
Our program includes:
Wednesday 6th August, noon
Commemoration and vigil at main gate of AWE Burghfield
Thursday 7th August
Walk around AWE Burghfield base
Friday 8th August
Choir/Singing, knitting
Saturday 9th August
Participation in unfurling of Human Peace Scarf between Burghfield AWE and Aldermaston AWE: see
You cannot make it? Join us in spirit or by fasting, wherever you are and no matter how long for
Write to us: Hiroshima-Nagasaki fast, Opposite Church Cottages, Reading Road, North end of the Mearings, Burghfield RG30 3RJ. Remembering we’ll only be there for the postman on the 7th and 8th of August
For more details contact:
Marc Morgan at 07563 725 829
Jed Picksley at [email protected].
