Thursday 16 April 2009

FRESH START ON NEW SITE


FAREWELL NW EVENING MAIL 'MESSAGE-BOARD' BLOGS AND HELLO GOOGLE
It's always hard to leave something with which you have become familiar but a time comes when departure is necessary in order to move on.
Barrow Peace Coalition was formed in March 2003 shortly before the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. The organisation fizzled out in October that same year owing to poor leadership by a local slithery political opportunist and lack of sustained support by the majority of those who had initially signed up on a surge of shallow emotionalism that quickly evaporated in the heat of requested commitment.
The few remaining peace activists formed a Steering Group, took control and, until recently, held a regular monthly street presence at the outdoor market in the town centre.
Furthermore, at 11am on each second Saturday of the month, the group conducted a 'Naming the Dead' ceremony - reading the name, age, rank and regiment of every British soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan - at the Gazebo in Dalton Road.
Loss of activists owing to age or infirmity has now reduced Peace Group activity to an absolute minimum and we have had to adapt to these changed circumstances - hence the move to a new web site and a change of name. Fortunately, the name change has not altered our email address: www.barrowpeaceco@btinternet.com
and we remain in contact with the Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Voices (in the wilderness) and the Campaign Against the Arms Trade and, whenever possible, we send letters to the local press on Peace issues.
Someone reading this and who belongs to an actively campaigning Peace group must think this is all very tame but they would not have appreciated or understood our particular situation and unenviable (for a Peace organisation) location.
This is Barrow in Furness, Cumbria. Barrow is a coastal town situated at the tip of a narrow peninsula and some thirtyfive miles west of the M6. Its MP is John Hutton, currently Defence Secretary. Generally, most local people aren't much interested in anything beyond the borough boundary and, to tell the truth, they're not much interested in anything that goes on inside the borough boundary either. In this respect, it's unlikely they are any different to most people residing in many other areas of Britain.
However, this town built the now ageing Vanguard class Trident-carrying nuclear submarines currently in service with the Royal Navy - which cost the loss of 11,000 jobs.
The shipbuilding yard, formerly Vickers Engineering and Shipbuilding Limited (VESL - geddit?), then Marconi and now BAE 'Submarine Solutions', is presently engaged in building the first of class Astute nuclear powered attack submarine (and maybe a further six boats) and hopes to be awarded the contract to build the next generation of Trident missile submarine launch platforms. This presents a pretty daunting picture for any local Peace campaign, don't you think?
But that is not all. Barrow imports irradiated nuclear waste, which is then shipped by rail up the coast to Sellafield for reprocessing after which it is returned to Barrow and exported. Furthermore, the government wants to surround us with even more nuclear installations. So environmentalist groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are also 'up against it' here.
Bearing all this in mind, it is not surprising that few locals want to be regarded as supporting campaigns to end nuclear projects for weapons, for power generation or for processing when the local economy is now so dependent upon these activities especially when they are consistently promoted by the Trade Unions, local businesses, the local press, local religious groups, the local MP and many locals with family members employed in these industries. Any opposition is instantly seen to be a threat to jobs and, subsequently, the local economy.
Barrow Peace Council will continue to challenge this cul-de-sac view just as it has done in the past and show that a different, healthier and more beneficial means of achieving economic well-being is possible using the existing skilled workforce and current technological and industrial infrastructure.
The first step now is to organise a public meeting to consider diversification and conversion of the arms industry to manufacturing socially useful products whilst developing and constructing armaments that best suit our defensive requirements as an island nation in the 21st century. We are already working on it - watch this space.