Well here we go again, there is going to be another blockade, although thankfully for one day and not a whole year!! So what to expect? Probably the usual as direct action workshops are being held the day before. What the local population will not know until that day, is what time to expect the blockade to start.
For those who do not know the geography of the area Faslane’s North Gate, the chosen location of the blockades, is located on the A814 and for the people of Garelochhead and the Rosneath Peninsula it is the only route by public transport. In the past protesters have contested this fact because of the MoD Haul Road, which links RNAD Coulport to Loch Lomond. The plain fact is that it is the most vulnerable in our community that are affected because they do not have private transport.
It is worth noting that Monday 15th April is the date that schools in Argyll and Bute reopen after their Easter holidays and that at this time children are preparing for vital exams and that having had the previous two weeks free this blockade’s timing yet again takes no account of the local ‘non MoD’ population.
Local representatives have repeatedly in the past asked for consideration to the local population who do not deserve to have their lives repeatedly disrupted. These requests have been largely ignored and local activist Jane Talents was quoted in the New Statesman as saying that “People want to carry on as if it’s a spaghetti factory up the road. They just don’t want to think about it.” This statement displays extraordinary tunnel vision and a complete lack of empathy and connection with the locals. This attitude resulted in locals forming their own protest group, Peninsula 24/7, to voice their frustration at the continual blockades of Faslane 365. Although they managed to highlight some of the difficulties faced by the locals, the group still found hard-core activists unwilling to make concessions until media pressure over the school children’s exams encouraged the 365 group to issue guidelines to blockading groups asking, them to avoid starting before 8.30am. This ensured that the school buses and carers were able to get through before the blockade started.
This time we shall just have to wait and see and once it’s all over the protester’s will go back to their lives, uninterrupted by the political agenda of others and go about their daily business…..
For further information go to http://scraptrident.org/
delusionalbint 