AWE Aldermaston

On Monday 2nd March, members of the European Antimilitarist Network and hundreds of activists from across the British isles rose early and prepared for a mass blockade of Burghfield Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) - Burghfield Lockdown Burghfield is one of the sites where the British government builds and maintains the nuclear warheads that are fundamental to the Trident nuclear weapons system (alongside Aldermast

A seven-mile pink scarf knitted by over 5,000 people from around Britain and beyond has been unfurled between the Atomic Weapons Establishments (AWE) at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire. The knitters are calling on Parliament not to renew the Trident nuclear weapons system when the decision comes up in 2016.

Film made on 8 February 2014 during the ‘Reporting a Crime’ event at Reading Police Station. Part of the Action AWE campaign.

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September 2, 2013: Activists from all over Europe today blockaded the two gates of AWE Burghfield, starting at 5:15am. For almost an hour, all vehicle access to AWE Burghfield was blocked, until police cleared a lock-on blockade of six Finnish activists on The Mearings to the south of the main gate. Later, a blockade of Scottish activists and another blockade of Belgian activists were cleared to the east of AWE Burghfield, near construction gate. Up to the time of writing, 22 activists have been arrested by police, and one blockade on The Mearings leading to the main gate of AWE Burghfield is still in place.

By Angie Zelter

In 2016 the UK government will finalise the decision to build a new nuclear weapons system to replace the present Trident system (http://actionawe.org/the-trident-system/). The nuclear submarines that carry Trident are getting old, so the government has pledged to finalise contracts to replace them in 2016 in order to build a new generation of nuclear weapons at an estimated cost of £76–100 billion. This is more than the current planned public spending cuts of £81 billion. If the contracts go ahead, the warheads would be designed and manufactured at AWE (Atomic Weapons Establishment) Aldermaston and Burghfield, in Berkshire, about 50 miles west of London ( http://actionawe.org/awe-burghfield-maps-gates/ ).

Militarisation in the UK generally

'Militarisation' means the ways in which the presence and approaches of the military (typically state armed forces and Defence Ministries) are normalised in a society. Military solutions are prioritised, and the military is privileged in various ways.

A society has to be militarised for a government to justify the development and maintenance of nuclear weapons to its citizens; militarisation creates a culture of acceptance. It popularises military euphemisms such as 'Defence', 'Security', and – particularly relevant to nuclear weapons – 'deterrant', and makes it hard to for those challenging these to be seen as credible.

Three Christian peace activists were arrested at AWE Aldermaston after opening the base for disarmament. The three, Fr. Martin Newell (43), Passionist priest from the London Catholic Worker, Susan Clarkson (63) of the Oxford Catholic Worker, and Chris Cole (47) also from Oxford , cut a doorway into the outer fence of nuclear base. They group then attached a sign saying ‘Open for Disarmament: All Welcome’.

This is a clickable map of past, present, and planned nuclear power stations in Britain, plus important sites of Britain's nuclear weapons programme.

This map is based on OpenStreetMap, and uses OpenLayers for placing of the icons. You can click on an icon to see more information. You can also zoom in and out (see zoombar on the left), or move around on the map.

During the women's blockade at AWE Aldermaston on 15 February 2010. Photo: Cynthia Cockburn

On Monday 15 February, at the Big Blockade of the Atomic Weapons Esta­blish­ment in Aldermaston, Berkshire, one of the seven gates was blockaded unique­ly by women. A planning group of around ten women had got together to organise the ‘women’s gate’.

On 15 February 2010, more than 800 activists from Britain and all over Europe blockaded the nuclear weapon factory AWE Aldermaston in Berkshire, England.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KYyodq0x5w]
Video of the Aldermaston blockade on 15 February 2010.

Flash presentation

Presentation by Sian Jones, AWPC, at the seminar "Europe for Peace" in Milton Keynes, 12 February 2010

Click to start or advance to the next slide

For a full screen version of the presentation, click here (opens in a new window/tab).

Up to eight hundred anti-nuclear campaigners from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and a number of other countries joined a blockade of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston in Berkshire from just before 7am in the morning. Every gate was closed by blockaders in the course of the morning. Twenty-six arrests were reported, on suspicion of criminal trespass (for entering the site) and highway obstruction.