The principals won’t
like this report. So let’s
press ahead anyway
Life of George
An uncertain stream
Is Scotland to be
regarded as a feeble
child in the playground?
Angus Skinner
Boredom will win
David Mackenzie
It was our annual disarmament camp at Peaton Wood beside Loch Long, half a mile from RMD Coulport, where they store the Trident nuclear warheads and load them onto the Vanguard boats.
It was 6 August 2000, Hiroshima Day, and were discussing how to conduct our commemoration ceremony. The usual thing was to float lanterns on the loch both in memory of the victims and as an expression of our hopes for peace. The lanterns were made and ready but there was a stiff onshore breeze, making it unlikely that we could get them to float into the currents that would take them down the loch. Then someone said: ‘We could ask the MoD boatmen to float them for us!’. Sniggering, perhaps a little cynical.
Then someone else said: ‘Why not?’. The question hung in the air for a moment or two as we pondered the notion of actually asking members of the opposition to help us. No objections were raised and then the third person said: ‘I’ll try to phone them right now’.
As dusk fell we went down to the shore at the arranged time and lit the lanterns. A couple of MoD ribs edged in towards the shore and a few of us waded out shoulder deep to the boats, the lanterns held aloft. The boatmen took the lanterns gently with both hands and then helped a protester on to each of the boats. They moved from the shore and the on-board protesters lowered the lanterns into the water. The current carried them slowly south – the little red, green and yellow lights growing smaller and spreading out in a long line, a beautiful and poignant scene.
We were moved by the empathy and sensitivity the boatmen had shown, as well as their trust, given our record of edgy non-violent direct action. While their response did not diminish our sense of the utter wrongness of the humming orange-lit complex up the road, the human connection their courtesy provided was special.
It was then that I recognised that non-violence is not a passive stance but is liable to spark you off into new paths at any time.
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For rough sleepers,
‘that dog’ is often
all they have left
Michelle Howard
When I asked Tony what helped him, he told me that outreach support
saved his life. Outreach support sees beyond the silhouette in the street,
and instead, considers the life story.
Michelle Howard works in local government. She delivered this paper at a recent Young Thinker of the Year event organised by the Scottish Review team.
