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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
October 7, 2007
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| August 8, 2007 |
Against the nuclear threat: The youth of Europe take action with a BANg! |
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BANg! members on Peace Boat (L-R): Karol Felsner (17), Georgia Coles-Riley (16), Nora Lehner (21), Nina Eisenhardt (17) and Emily Freeman (20) |
Across Europe – as north as Finland, as east as the Ukraine and to the west and south of Portugal – more and more young people were becoming frustrated by the global inaction against nuclear weapons. “How can this threat to humanity continue to be ignored?” they wondered. Left to the sparring and empty gestures of the world’s politicians, there has been little progress in getting rid of the 27,000 nuclear warheads that still exist around the world. Rather than disarming, many countries still develop more deadly warheads. When the 2005 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of the UN failed to even set an agenda for disarmament, enough was enough. The youth of Europe decided to take matters into their own hands and so began BANg! - The Ban All Nukes generation! |
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| BANg! has been focussing its work on the protests against the UK nuclear submarine base at Faslane. Photo: BANg! |
In just two years, the BANg! network of youth activists has grown to well over a hundred members. Its dynamic community is already taking a range of actions across the continent, from producing educational materials for schools to raising public awareness through events such as their ‘Cycle for Peace’ across Belgium in 2006. This year, the focus has been to support the blockades held at Faslane in the UK – home to Britain’s 48 nuclear missiles – where a year-long international protest is trying to persuade the UK Government not to renew these decaying warheads. By urging the UK to reject its nuclear arms, currently equivalent to 1,536 Hiroshima bombs, the campaigners also hope it can serve as a leading example to other major nuclear powers and encourage them to follow suit. |
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| Nora clowns around in support of the Faslane blockaders. Photo: BANg! |
It was at Faslane that five BANg! representatives caught up with the Peace Boat. Georgia Coles-Riley and Emily Freeman from Wales, Karol Felsner and Nora Lehner from Austria and Nina Eisenhardt of Germany teamed up with Peace Boat’s Global University before returning to the ship to spread their message of “no more nukes”. All joined the non-violent direct action in Faslane, demonstrating against its presence with banners, chanting and even clowning. |
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| Police offers swiftly carry Georgia away from the road blockade. Photo: BANg! |
Showing her commitment to the cause, 16-year-old Georgia also joined a human road block to stop vehicles entering the military base. While blocking the road is against UK law, the BANg! campaigners were quick to justify their actions, arguing that the use of nuclear weapons is against international law. The contradiction does not end there. “Georgia was actually arrested for a ‘breach of the peace’” says Emily, “which we feel is ironic as we were the ones trying to uphold peace!”. |
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| Morita Erina wins the postcard competition with her entry, Who Will Be Happy?, asking who wants to inherit a nuclear future? |
Back on the ship, the BANg! members shared their experience of the protest as well as giving an overview of the nuclear situation in each of their respective countries. Nina – or the ‘Queen of Anti-Nuclear’ as her colleagues dub her – engaged the Japanese participants as she explained what drew her to campaign against nuclear arms. “There were just four lines written in my school history textbook on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings” she recalls, “It made me want to raise wider awareness about the terror of nuclear weapons”. |
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| Karol and fellow guest, Michimasa Hirata, engage in nuclear discussion |
Participants were invited to get involved in BANg!’s work through a variety of workshops, exploring ways to support nuclear disarmament as well as creative activities such as a postcard competition. Even outside of the designated educational spaces of the ship, each could be heard striking up debate with those eager to speak to them. “What do you mean you’re not against nuclear power?” Karol would good-humouredly challenge the participants. Now looking ahead to their next major action, BANg! is turning its attention to the NPT’s next meeting in 2008, ready to pressure representatives to set out a clear timetable for nuclear disarmament. Knowing this is a problem we all have to face up to, the group has already sought support from the friends they have made on the ship. “C’mon,” Nora jokes, “we’re all in the same boat!”.
Find out more, get involved and see the results of the postcard competition at the BANg! website:
www.bang-europe.org
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