Protestors from the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) gathered at the UK government’s Trident submarine base at Faslane in the west of Scotland on Sunday 26 September as part of a series of protest on the United Nations official International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.  Mike Picken was there to report for ecosocialist.scot.

The protest was part of the Scottish Climate Fringe Week to build momentum towards the COP26 talks due  in Glasgow in November.  Faslane is 40 km away from where the Glasgow UN Climate talks will take place and houses the totality of the UK government’s nuclear weapons system, the Trident nuclear submarines.  There have been many protests at Faslane over the decades and there is a permanent peace camp on the road leading to the nuclear base that also supported the 26 September protest.  This protest highlighted the impact of nuclear weapons on the environment and climate, particularly marine wildlife.  Protestors dressed as marine life and then staged a ‘die-in’ outside the Faslane North Gate entrance, to symbolise the negative impact of the Trident nuclear submarines on marine wildlife in Scotland and beyond.

The entire military industry is one of the biggest contributors to global climate change and nuclear weapons and nuclear power have a particularly terrible effect on the environment.  Uranium that fuels the reactors of nuclear submarines like Trident and nuclear weapons around the world has a devastating impact on the planet, from its extraction through mining, processing and the continuing leak of radioactivity into the environment.

Scottish CND will highlight the impact of nuclear weapons and militarism during COP26 in a day of action on Thursday 4 November in Glasgow.  You can find out more details shortly here: https://www.banthebomb.org/whats-on/

UK-wide CND are arguing that the UK government are breaking international law in increasing the number of nuclear missiles it holds, yet the UK government is still the UN-appointed official host to the COP26.  Read about CND’s campaign here: https://cnduk.org/report-the-uk-to-the-un/.

Scottish CND holds its Annual General Meeting online shortly after the COP26 events to plan and take forward the campaign against Trident and nuclear weapons.  The Scottish CND AGM is on Saturday 20th November 2021 and you can find out more details here: https://www.banthebomb.org/AGM/