Gloucestershire Weapons Inspectors
Fairford - Reclaim The Bases 5/6th April
A weekend of indypendent weapons inspections & the world's first sponsored STOP & SEARCH (with prizes) to raise money for charity to help with relief work in Iraq.
Please note: Gloucestershire Police
are preparing to restrict the assembly and procession for this event to
the route used for 22 
March
demonstration - find out more
- since there is no assembly and procession this is an interesting strategy.
Before attending Fairford on 5/6th March please read out legal
and civil liberties watch pages.
We would like to point out that as citizens of a free and democratic country you have the right to take a countryside walk on a saturday or sunday afternoon. So become a plane spotter and count the bombs and don't forget to get your stop and search sponsorship form. (click form for word doc).
advisory note: Due to the political nature of this sponsored
event it is difficult for charities to be directly associated with it.
We appologise to CARE for linking with them with this protest without
gaining their consent. We still think donating any money raised to charity
is a good thing and suggest each participant identifies the charity of
their own choice.
There is a list of charities working in Iraq at: http://www.casi.org.uk/info/charities.html
Fairford Reclaim The Bases
A number of groups have contacted GWI to find out what we're organising
for Reclaim The Bases and wanting a little more info than 'don't get shot'...
well we're not organising anything because any organised event is likely
to be policed to death.
Instead we're going to disorganise the weekend as follows:-
Members of the public, plane spotters, walkers and all manner of ordinary citizens are allowed to travel freely across the country to visit USAF Fairford and inspect the B-52 bombers as they load-up to bomb Iraq. Peaceful protesters are also citizens and are permitted free passage around our free and democratic country to protest at the location of their choosing (how outrageous!). So head for Fairford and conduct your own independent weapons inspections... be creative, have fun, don't get shot!
Here's what to look for - see bomb spotting for beginners! It is quite clear the B-52's are now loading large quantities of dumb-bombs but this isn't getting any press coverage. So lets explode the myth of precision bombing... we're talking about carpet bombing now. Bring cameras, binoculars, telescopes, video cameras and record the loading of dumb-bombs and other dodgy weapons such as cluster bombs or DU tipped cruise missiles. Afterwards hassle your local press, national press contacts and elected representatives until the myth of precision bombing is thoroughly ground into the dirt (which is where it belongs).
The World's First Sponsored STOP & SEARCH
In
conjunction with the weapons inspections we are highlighting the use of
Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 stop and search powers which have
been used at Fairford since 8th March to stop and search literally hundreds
of innocent, legal anti-war protesters. If you are in the vicinity of
the base, visiting G10 Peacewatch camp or observing the bombers you will
likely be stopped by police and searched. This can easily occur several
times in one day.
So if you'd like to take part in the Worlds First (and only) Sponsored Stop and Search then get your sponsorship form here. Word Document
Your mates can sponsor you a fixed amount or an amount per search. Once you’ve collected your sponsorship money send it direct to the charity of your choice – a list of charities working in Iraq can be found at: http://www.casi.org.uk/info/charities.html
PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES
Prizes have kindly been donated by The Green Shop and are up for grabs in the following categories.
- Most stop & search (or same person) over the weekend - Solar powered mobile phone charger.
- Most bizarre arrest (without charge) as judged by the GWI legal support team - 1 litre blood red paint (environmentally friendly & non-toxic for die-ins and other creative anti-war activities).
- Best fancy dress costume - please email photos to fancydress@gwi.org.uk - 1 litre blood red paint.
- Couple of more litres of blood red paint for categories as yet undecided
- suggestions to info@gwi.org.uk
We are compiling a dossier that we'd like to be more convincing than some of Downing Street's recent attempts, we will need to have as much detail as possible. Please can you let us know as many as possible of the following details:
Your name
Date and time of incident
Place where incident happened
Summary of what happened, and why you think it was unreasonable
Names / identification numbers of police officers / armed forces personnel
involved (including US personnel if relevant)
What was the justification given for the conduct by the officers (tell
us
the legal power if the officer quoted one).
Names of any witnesses
Details of any follow-up action (eg complaint made against the police)
Do you have any further material to show what happened, eg photos,
contemporaneous notes, video tape footage?
Anything else you think is important
Your contact details - including name and address
Please pass on the info to us by email to this address berkshirecia@hotmail.com and you're welcome to pass details of the monitoring project on to anyone else who might be interested.
NVDA:
Fairford is becoming a focus for NVDA (non-violent direct action).
If you wish to take direct action we suggest you link up with an experienced
group who can provide support and training. We believe it is vital that
any actions are entirely non-violent otherwise the peace movement risks
becoming discredited and losing the wide public support we now enjoy.
Also please remember the Fairford Peace Camp / G10 Peacewatch are legal activities that we wish to remain in place. Do not give the police any excuses to close down the peace camps - thank-you.