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el said: “Songs were the early protests. eral members who folk scene. ontemptuous of the e from down south, too churchy. They y to engage humour, everent, ers up. So s like Ding and The mos that of the .” s kept up . When inned in s left with deterrent. gotiated to own Polaris fleet, to of the Faslane Naval yde estuary. They at nearby Coulport. themes of the ibition is how little anti-nuclear campaigning has changed in 60 years. Direct action was around in May 1960, when demonstrators crossed the loch in kayaks to protest against the subs in Scottish waters. The crew of Proteus used water hoses to send them back.
Isobel handed out leaflets and chatted to shoppers and passers-by in the early days.
She said: “People did not realise what nuclear weapons were. They thought they were just a slightly bigger bomb.”
Scotland CND chair Arthur West tells a similar story. He said: “We do a street stall once a month on Buchanan Street. We ask people if they know there are Trident missiles 25 miles down the road from our largest city.”
CND membership has ebbed and flowed with the perceived threat. In the 80s, at the height of the Cold War, it was a live issue.
But in recent years, climate change, independence and, recently, Brexit, have been the hot topics.
Whenever nuclear weapons move up the news agenda, there’s a surge of interest in CND.
Every debate to renew Trident brings new interest in the campaign to get rid of it altogether. he independence referendum introduced a new generation of young people to anti-nuclear issues. Then there’s America’s bellicose, war-mongering president.
The idea that the finger on the nuclear button is from one of Donald Trump’s tiny hands has concentrated many minds on the need to get rid of the nuclear threat altogether.
Arthur sees the exhibition, which will start at Glasgow’s Mitchell Library then tour to different venues across Scotland, as an opportunity to look at everything CND have achieved, bust a few myths and look ahead to what’s still to be done.
He said: “It should be a morale boost to our members and supporters, there’s a significant body of work there and we should be proud of that.”
He points out research CND have done on the practicalities of disarmament – how nuclear workers could be moved into different roles, how exactly Trident missiles could have their nuclear warheads removed.
There is now a majority in the Scottish Parliament against Trident, with the Tories the only party in favour of renewing the missiles.
Arthur said: “We can’t get away from the fact that Trump and the British Government are determined to renew Trident despite the costs and despite the safety issues.
“This exhibition will be a pat on the back for us but the struggle goes on.”
ISOBEL LINDSAY ON NEWS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS