London 'die-in'

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out leaflets explaining to on Greenham Common. doing. arrested. Oper i the bunkers. FOLLOWING an appeal by Helen Johns from the Greenham Common Peace Camp at the CND rally last Sunday, 60 women staged a 'die-in' at the Stock Exchange on Monday morning.

They blockaded five streets round the Stock Exchange by lying down in the street for half an hour, L:. shoe unmen handed THE LAST Manchester conference of local authorities supporting the concept of nuclear free zones was told that 140 councils have now signed the NFZ declaration. But what does this mean?

It can only be a propaganda declaration since councils have limited powers.

For example, British Rail transports nuclear waste every day through the major cities of this country, whether they be "nuclear free zones" or not, and they refuse to give any indication of their timetables to the local councils concerned.

If there was a derailment or an accident, as there was at Bescote sidings in the West Midlands few months ago, then the emer. gency services cannot be properly alerted.

Another factor is that the whereabouts of the real anti-nuclear bunkers are not known to democratically elected representatives цем councillors Or MPs. (The ones under the town hall and so on are remnants of the 1950s).

Since 1973 (after the miners' strike, and learning from Diplock, and events in Northern Ireland) Civil Defence has been under military control. There are 12 sub-regional centres - i.e. bunkers, with a trio of leaders in 1. each, consisting of government minister, the chief of police and the chief execuThe Stock Exchange was chosen as a symbol of the capitalism and militarism that allows millions to be pumped into the manufacture of means of killing people.

It was also a prutest at Reagan's visit. and the siting of American Cruise missiles in Britain. The women 'died' in London -as London would also be hit hv any nuclear bomb attack Eight women were ave officer (i.e. bureaucrat) of the area concerned.

The main object is the maintenance of law and order after a nuclear attack, with emphasis being placed on policing at local levels and emergency courts and sentencing.

There is no policy of blast shelters for all, as in Switzerland, or of mass evacuation to the countryside as in the USSR.

In the UK, you are advised to stay put under the stairs or the table until your friendiy neignbourhood bobby comes and sorts you out.

The amount spent on Civil Defence is extremely small. In the West Midlands, for example, with a population of just under three million, it amounts to £200,000 a year, that is less than ip per person per year.

When you compare that to the £6 per week we each pay towards the armed forces and nuclear weapons you can see how much your life is valued at by this government.

So the NFZ declaration can only be of propaganda value. All NFZ councils should take full advantage of their statutory obligation under the Civil Defence Regulations (1974) "to instruct and advise the public"

Most Labour councillors unfortunately see themselves as managers whether of the left or of the right, whereas they should be organisers of campaigns. Thus some see it as enough to make a NFZ declaration and not to be involved in the coming 'Hard Rock" exercise, whereas what we need is continuous publicity campaigns on the con-trick that Civil Defence is and in the need for unilateral nuclear disarmament.

Some councils have set about this in an energetic manner and some activities were reported at the recent Manchester conterence.

These need to be encouraged and spread to other areas by local CND groups and Labour Parties.

Watford and Islington have published their war plans. Watford stressed the need to link with NCCL because of the highly authoritarian nature of the plans.

Darlington have had a series of public showings of the War Game. They have taken a market stall to publicise NFZ and to sell literature. They enclosed a leaflet on nuclear war and defence expenditure with their rate demands.

Bradford have opened up the bunkers to television, the press and the public. They • have widened their Civil Defence Committee into a Peace Action Group, involving 15 councillors and two representatives fran! every Prace Group. They also fund special WEA and FE Classes Peace Studics.

Dunbarton and Avon have both held exhibitions of CND literature and posters in all libraries and public buildings - including the baths. Avon have stressed the importance of Peace Studies in schools and colleges.

Manchester let council facilities free or at cost to all Peace Groups.

South Yorkshire have used their civic newspaper l publicise the nuclear free zone concept.

The GLC are preparing a report on the legal impleations of withdrawing from Civil Defence altogether.

Clearly this is the logical conclusion of any argument on Civil Defence but it also needs great support from the 140 NFZ councils. as well as public backing. There needs to be some unity in action rather than allowing councils to be picked off individually by the government.

Fight

This raises the whole question of the f:, inside the Labour Party Itself. The disgraceful jingoism of the Labour leadership over the Falkland Islands crisis gives us very little hope for any struggle on Civil Defence or on ('ND for that matter. Yet. unilateral nucler disarmament is C'onference policy and the 110 local councils have .P3X made some sort of stand.

It is again up to local activists to give these declarations some real meaning and not to leave it as lip service and a face saver The last Emergency Planning Committee of the Wes! Midlands County Council decided to produce leaflets and material on the Council's NFZ stand for local groups to distribute. We also decided to open up the bunkers to the television and the press, and to form a Civil Defence Forum involving coun

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Socialist Organiser, Thursday 10 June 1982 Page 12

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passers-by what they were JOHN HARRIS