Women in struggle

Scan page 5

Because such an offence cannot be dealt with by magistrates, and would have to go to Crown Court, and this means trial by Jury. Dealing with offences in a magistrates court is snappy and more difficult to campaign around.

Prepared

Most women at Greenham are prepared to get arrested. Some have been arrested so many times that they no longer care about being arrested any more. And the feeling is that if you are going to get arrested, it's as well to get arrested for doing something big.

The government has over 8,000 men guarding Greenham -police, army, paratroopers, helicopters, bugging devices, cameras, spotlights, trucks, and vans and is spending somewhere above €500,000 per week on it.

But despite the tight security it is pretty certain that there will be further break-ins at the camp.

The army and police try variety of tactics to demoralis. uS. These including taking the helicopters down low enough to blow down tents, revving up cars, continually making noises at night, taunting women with sexist and anti-lesbian and even abuse, and even smashing up carefully built kitchens.

But you can use ear plugs to keep out noise at night. And it is easier for us to wind these men up and demoralise them • especially when some soldiers are doing 47 hour shifts - than it is for them to demoralise the women.

We have to laugh at the attitudes and antics of the men there, especially the police.

They never quite know what's going to happen next, or where: The male bonding systems have "We have to laugh at the antics of the men defendı gone to pot with the police hating the army, who hate the paratroopers, who hate the people that drive the cars, and so on...

Greenham gives women a real feeling of power. You can leave there with a strong will to fight, but you also leave there feeling that enough support could bring that base to a standstill. The government still sees the women there as a threat. Heseltine's blunder in Parliament has not helped them either.

Feeling powerful and confident of your own strength means nothing if you don't use it to real effect. Greenham needs our support. We must campaign to get Labour Parties, Trade Unions, etc., to sponsor groups of women to go to the camp. A coachload of women factory workers would give the camp an added boost.

Supporters of Socialist Organiser share a lot with the Greenham • women. We should be using our credibility and strength in the labour movement to turn the rhetoric we write about Greenham into real action.

This means organising the left inside the disarmament movements to secure the unilateralist policy.

No accident It is no accident that when the CND leadership is trying to break up the CND left it is also talking of the time being right to make the camp at Greenham mixed -no doubt as a means of taking it over and getting into firm control of it.

National meeting of Greenham support groups in Manchester, November 12 & 13.

Women only demonstrations Newbury court on 17, 18, 24, November.

Essex Road, London N1 2SY.