Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Keep Space for Peace - Menwith Hill October 11th

Stephen Cole | 13.10.2003 18:47 | Anti-militarism | Sheffield

On Saturday October 11th a coach from Sheffield arranged by Sheffield Social Forum, CND and Samba travelled to Menwith Hill outside Harrogate to take part in a call to Keep Space for Peace. Below is a report of the day written by the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases (CAAB.

International Week of Protest called for by Global Network Against Nuclear Weapons and
Power in Space
 
NSA Menwith Hill UK
 
Saturday 11 October '03
 
This was the fourth year running that CAAB, and this year in conjunction with Yorkshire CND, had organised the protest at Menwith Hill for 'Keep Space for Peace' week.   Menwith Hill - crucial with Fylingdales to the American Missile Defense System.
 
It was a beautiful warm Autumn day. The Yorkshire Dales looked stunning - but rudely interrupted by the perimeter fence, coils of barbed wire, CTTV cameras, radomes and an excess of police and police horses.  Welcome to Menwith Hill - the reality of the US militarism of the Dales.
 
People of all ages came (approx. estimate 160/70) dressed in the theme of a 'celestial body' - wonderful costumes. Sheffield Samba Band arrived with energy, colour and fantastic rythms. People who had not been to Menwith Hill before came - a children's space was set up with wonderful paintings which were hung on the fence.
 
It was a moving moment at the start of the demonstration when Christine Dean (Treasurer of CAAB) invited us to turn our backs on the base for a minutes silence  - remembering all those killed and injured because of the continuing violence in Iraq. 
 
Chris introduced Dave Webb (Convenor of GN) and Chris Davies (North West England MEP) who
spoke about the weaponisation of space and the fact that the UK gave away sovereignity to the US authorities many years ago.
 
Steve Hill facilitated a brilliant drumming workshop.  Veggies of Nottingham provided the yummy food. 
 
Lindis Percy (Joint Co-ordinator of CAAB) and Dave Webb (GN Convenor) took people on a guided walk round the base.  This time we actually managed to get round the whole base (over policing prevented the walk on 4 July).  
 
We stopped at various points round the base to give information about it and what it does.  The two Space Based Infra Red System radomes which will be crucial to AMD were pointed out. There was a heavy police presence blocking access all round the base. 
 
Thank you to everyone who came and made the day so good. 
 
We are even more determined than ever to stop the American Missile Defense System from 
becoming a reality.
 
In Peace
 
Anni Rainbow and Lindis Percy
Joint Co-ordinators 
CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMERICAN BASES (CAAB)
8 Park Row, Otley, West Yorkshire, LS21 1HQ, England, U.K.
Tel/fax no: +44 (0)1943 466405 0R +44 (0)1482 702033
email:  anniandlindis@caab.org.uk or  caab@btclick.com
Website:  http://www.caab.org.uk
 
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world:
indeed it's the only thing that ever does."     Margaret Mead

Stephen Cole
- e-mail: samba@colehse.demon.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.sheffieldsamba.org.uk

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Photos — Chris
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech