Network of Engaged Buddhists at Faslane

Members of the UK Network of Engaged Buddhists, including a number of FWBO people, spent the weekend of 17th-19th November playing their part in Faslane 365, a year-long peace protest at the nuclear base at Faslane in the west of Scotland.

The purpose of the protest, during which different peace groups each take a 48-hour slot at protesting or blockading, is to raise awareness of the issue of the replacement of Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons system. The debate about Trident will be taking place during the current parliamentary term.

Peace groups estimate that it would cost 75 billion pounds to replace and maintain the weapons over a thirty-year period and that one Trident warhead is capable of 8 times the amount of destruction caused by each of the bombs the Americans dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

NEB joined forces with a Milton Keynes peace group and spent the time at the base taking part in activities ranging from a Quaker silence meeting to Elm dancing, walking meditation and Buddhist ritual. Going as a “non arrestable” group meant that participants did not actively seek arrest, or blockade the base, but instead worked on maintaining a good relationship with the police and a peaceful, metta-ful atmosphere. At the end, flowers were placed on the fence around the base, for some people summing up the weekend as an attempt to create beauty on the doorstep of destruction.

The group is hoping to go back to Faslane during 2007 (the protest is running from 1st October 2006-31st September 2007). To link up with other Engaged Buddhists for future activities contact Maitrisara at secretary [at] engagedbuddhists.org.uk