GREENHAM COMMON WOMEN'S PEACE CAMP 126 images Created 11 May 2017
Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp in Berkshire England was initially established in 1981 as a protest against nuclear missiles being sited at the RAF base and remained active until the last missile left in 1991.
These photographs were taken in 1983 and1984. Some of the women had lived there continually while others would arrive for months, days or weeks at a time. Living in very basic makeshift dwellings/benders alongside the perimeter fence, the women had created an alternative and creative existence. Through the barbed wire fencing, soldiers perched on lookout towers observed their every move.
On 11 December 1983, there was a massive protest against the cruise missiles which had arrived three weeks earlier. Fifty thousand women circled the base. During a silent vigil, women held up mirrors to symbolically let the base look back at itself and its actions. By the end of the day there were hundreds of arrests as the women pulled down large sections of the fence.
On 4 April 1984, the entire camp was evicted and the makeshift dwellings dismantled. However, once again they returned to reform the camp.
According to David Cortright (2008. Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas, Cambridge University Press) the media attention surrounding the camp "prompted the creation of other peace camps at more than a dozen sites in Britain and elsewhere in Europe".
PLEASE PRESS "ALL" TO VIEW
This is a small selection. For more enter keywords into search or contact me direct
These photographs were taken in 1983 and1984. Some of the women had lived there continually while others would arrive for months, days or weeks at a time. Living in very basic makeshift dwellings/benders alongside the perimeter fence, the women had created an alternative and creative existence. Through the barbed wire fencing, soldiers perched on lookout towers observed their every move.
On 11 December 1983, there was a massive protest against the cruise missiles which had arrived three weeks earlier. Fifty thousand women circled the base. During a silent vigil, women held up mirrors to symbolically let the base look back at itself and its actions. By the end of the day there were hundreds of arrests as the women pulled down large sections of the fence.
On 4 April 1984, the entire camp was evicted and the makeshift dwellings dismantled. However, once again they returned to reform the camp.
According to David Cortright (2008. Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas, Cambridge University Press) the media attention surrounding the camp "prompted the creation of other peace camps at more than a dozen sites in Britain and elsewhere in Europe".
PLEASE PRESS "ALL" TO VIEW
This is a small selection. For more enter keywords into search or contact me direct
