Politics of Greenham Common

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IN THEIR letter entitled 'Greenham Sexism?" SO 114, Dianne Pearson and Brian Scott make a number of false assumptions about the politics behind Greenham Common and the nine other peace camps now existing throughout Britain.

The implication is made in their letter that Green ham is a branch or offshoot of CND and is controlled by them. This is untrue. Greenham is part of the women's peace movement who organise entirely independently of national and local CND groups and operate in a completely different way. More about that later.

In answer to doubts about the relevance ot Greenham to the women's struggles as whole: involvement in Greenham 14 21 7 22 Monday 16 23 8 15 Wednesday 2 9 17 24 3 10 18 25 Thursday 4 11 19 26 Friday 5 12 20 27 Saturday 6 13 Sunday WHAT'S SPARTACIST Truth Kit -a 68-page analysis by John Lister, published by the Workers' Socialist League. £l plus 25p postage from WSL, PO Box 135, London NI ODD. Common has been a first political step for many women and a politicising experience for all of us.

Through our actions, which have been in direct confrontation with the state, we have grown more aware of its nature and power, through, for example, daily police harassment and the distortions of the media. At the same time we have grown more conscious of our own power to act.

Neither are we naive enough to think, as the letter suggests, that nuclear weapons are an isolated issue. We have been working solidly within the unions and the Labour Party - regularly sending speakers to discuss opposition to cruise and other nuclear weapons, and to talk about the links between the arms race and BAN Plastic Bullets: a labour movement delegate conference. Saturday f'ebruary 26, from llam" at UMIST, Barnes Wallis Building, Sackville St, Manchester 1. Sponsors include Labour Committee on Ireland. Plastic Bullets Conference, Box 15, 164-6 Hanging Ditch, Manchester M3 4BN.

WOMEN, Immigration and Nationality: meeting to discuss our future as a campaign. Sunday March 13, 1.30 to 4.30pm, County Hall, London SEI. All women welcome. Creche on premises.

NOTTINGHAM Campaign Against Rayner conference: Saturday February 19, 10.30 to 4.30, at Nottingham Centre for the Unemunemployment, cuts in services and so on. Much of our financial support comes from Labour and trade union branches.

Women from Greenham Common have joined in with the picket outside South Africa House, the health workers demonstration on September 22 and demonstrated against the Falklands War during the "Victory Parade"

One action now being planned is a women's one-day national strike on May 24. We are calling on women in paid employment, women working in the home and women students to leave their usual jobs for the day to picket nuclear bases and construction companies engaged in work on nuclear bases. We will be building support for this through the Labour Party and trade ployed, Hounds Gate. Creche and lunch available. Morning includes speakers from CPSA NEC and Child Poverty Action Group, and a Labour MP; afternoon workshops on ESSP, job centres/ethnic monitoring, new supplementary benefit legislation.

Open to all unemployed people and delegates from trade union and labour movement organisations.

LABOUR democracy and local government: day conference for District Labour Parties, Saturday March 26, 10.30 to 4.30, at Manchester Poly Students' Union. Sponsored by Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester DLPs. Contact: Frances Done, Manchester City Labour Party, Hulme Labour Club, 1 Stoneylow Close, Manchester M15 unions as well as women's and CND groups.

We certainly don't see ourselves as objects sympathy, and object strongly to the media's portrayal of us in recent weeks. However, we have very little control over what the "gutter press" choose to write about us any more han do, tor example, the Labour Left who have beer subjected to smear campaigns.

The action on New Year's Day when 44 women entered the base and occupied the top of the missile silos was designed to refocus media attention on what is happening inside the base and away from the shock horror stories of "burly man-eating lesbians" and trivial domestic details of the camp.

We have future actions planned along similar lines NHS SHOP Stewards' conference: Saturday February 5, 11am, Memorial Hall, Barker's Pool, Sheffield. Agenda includes Joint Shop Stewards' Committees, privatisation/cuts, and defending the unions. Contact: Peter Taylor, c/o Dept. Immunology, Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Ra, Shettiela S10.

LABOUR Briefings national conference: Saturday February 5, 10.30 to 6, County Hall, London SE1.

LABOUR COND nations conference: Saturday Fabruary 19, West Midlands County Hall, Lancaster Circus, Birmingham. but aiso important are our moves to decentralise the campaign. We are anxious to make it clear that the Women's Peace Movement exists not only at Greenham but that there is now a rapidly growing and nationwide (no, European-wide) network of women engaged in anti-nuclear and anti-militarist activity of an effective nature.

All our actions are planned and all decisions made on a collective basis, involving all women who live on the camp, women who visit the camp and the women working in our London support Groups.

We have no leaders or hierarchies, and this is fundamental to the way we work, because we recognise that we have to break down these power structures which are the very thing which on a larger scale Labour Movement Campaign for Palestine public meeting:

THE FIGHT FOR PALESTINE Speakers: Tariq Ali, Brown MP (Leith), Jeremy Corbyn, and speakers from Women for Palestine and Lebanese National Movement.

Wednesday February 23, Spm at County Hall, London SEI.

LABOUR Committee on Ireland: annual general meeting 1983 will be on March 26. Resolutions to be in by February 27. There will be an extended meetgave rise to nuclear weapons.

We know it is not simply a question of getting rid of the weapons because it would be impossible to get rid of the knnwledge of how to make them; it is the whole structure of society that must be changed and that the need to possess these weapons in order to protect positions of power and privilege eradicated.

ANDREA HEATH Greenham Common Peace Camp ing of the LCI National Council on January 22.

LABOUR Against the Witch-hunt National Council meeting.

Saturday February 12 1pm to 6pm, County Hall, London SE1. All CLPs affiliated to LAW should send delegates. Doubly important because of th NEC's definite decision to start proceedings against Militant.

Sheffield Labour movement conference on Ireland. Satur day March 19, Sheffield University Students' Union, 9.30 to 4.30. Sponsored by Sheffield Trades Council, Sheffield District Labour Party, and Sheffield LCI.

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A number of letters in this and recent issues of Socialist Organiser have focused on the question of political perspectives for Ireland, and in particular the politics of the Republican movement and the issue of the Protestant working class in the Six County Northern statelet.

This question is of paramount importance both for th British left and for the building of a revolutionary leader-

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leland - which way forward?