Recent
posts and comments on the 1 Billion Rising movement have reminded me of how
absolutely awe inspired I was the day I first saw this photo:
[I didn't pay to use this but it came from here http://photofusionpictures.photoshelter.com/image/I0000JDMgmsjK3NY]
Greenham
Common Women's Peace Camp was established September 1981 to protest the siting
of nuclear weapons [cruise missiles]
The more
authorities arrested and moved protesters, the bigger the camp grew.
In
December 1982, 30,000 women joined hands around the base, to Embrace it.
In April
1983, about 70,000 protesters formed a 14 miles (23 km) human chain from
Greenham to an ordnance factory at Aldermaston.
Peace
camps popped up in more than a dozen sites in Britain
and Europe .
The last
missiles left the camp in 1991 when weapons treaties and policies changed - not as a result of the protests of course.
The camps
and protests hardly brought about world peace but they helped change my world a little.
It's funny how little our elected leaders take note of 'people power' movements. I wonder will that change with the immediacy and reach of multimedia in the last 30 years??
ReplyDeleteIs voting a people power movement? Doesn't have quite the same impact as a moratorium march, for some reason.
DeleteThe impact of changes in communication have already been phenomenal, and have made the world a much smaller place. Many of us are a lot better informed [with less effort required]... now all I need is to see something motivational ... in a format I can make sense of.
It is nice to see people have a "cause" and it is interesting to go back and see how long the causes have organized!
ReplyDeleteAnd I guess causes reach back for thousands of years if we'd really like to follow the chain.
DeleteThere have been protests that seemed to have little effect at the time, but brought about much wider ranging changes to society. The protesting women of Greenham Common must be included in the list.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look back with a more reasonable sense of perspective, the list is huge. Horrible what people go through at the beginning, but single incident can spark a fire. I guess we just shouldn't cave in too easily if something really matters to us.
DeleteBravo to all those women.
ReplyDeleteand I also recall the nuclear disarmament marchers of 1963 ... and now even North Korea has nukes with the money they save by not looking after their people.
sigh.
Well, at least we only sell our uranium to responsible countries. That makes it okay, doesn't it?
DeleteLove to see women showing strength and commitment even if it didn't change the mind of the rulers.
ReplyDeleteThe strength and commitment are really something. I guess change is a long term thing sometimes, but it happens.
Delete