It’s almost fifty years since the first peace march to Aldermaston. Five decades later, the need to protest at the site is as great as ever. No doubt that’s what you would expect to hear from CND, but sadly it’s the truth.
When thousands of people turn up at Britain’s nuclear bomb factory in the pretty village of Aldermaston in Berkshire on Easter Monday, it will not be a sentimental event. Yes we will mark fifty years of protest, and what that has contributed to British democracy and the struggle for peace.
But above all the protest is about shaping the future. Huge building works are underway at Aldermaston – on the scale of Heathrow Terminal Five. Supercomputer and laser facilities are being developed to simluate the testing of nuclear weapons. There is no doubt in my mind that the intention is to manufacture a new generation of nuclear warheads at Aldermaston.
The majority of British people do not want our nuclear weapons system Trident to be replaced. Why spend £76 billion on weapons of mass destruction that cannot deal with the security threats we face? And the very act of doing so will fuel the fires of nuclear proliferation.
We have to put a stop to this. We can choose a future which includes the likelihood of nuclear war, or we can choose a future for humanity. Neither is inevitable. But we can help shape what happens. National and international demands for nuclear disarmament are increasing – let’s make Britain a strong voice for peace and nuclear disarmament. Join us to protest at Aldermaston on Easter Monday. Tell our government: no new nuclear warheads – no nuclear war.