At our weekend meeting in january2 009, 12 active people brainstormed how we can use non-violent actions this year to increase the pressure on our government, to the extent that the nuclear weapons and the nuclear sharing agreement within NATO can be abolished by 2010 the latest:
To bring attention to the illegal breach of national and international laws through the nuclear weapons deployment in the region – we want to enlist each day for one whole month (13th July to 9th August - Nagasaki day) groups who are willing to engage in non-violent actions at, around and onto the base.
Various types of actions will take place: vigils, blockades, Go-In actions, tree climbing with banners at the federal road, encirclements of the base with the distribution of flyer to the soldiers with a call for disobeying their illegal duty, tabling and events in the neighborhood villages and cities... There are many possibilities. The only limit to the imagination of possibilities is that all actions must be non-violent in nature. Groups and individuals, you are invited to come to Büchel and connect your political theme with the nuclear weapons issue. This can be done through press releases, banners, and communication with the local community. We intend to interrupt the daily normal base operation, which will be the case by our constant visual and audio presence.
The Camp
To make this action possible, we want to set up the infrastructure needed to support your participation: a four-weeks long camp will be built at a meadow close to Alflen (2 km from Büchel`s main gate). Concerts are planned at the main gate every Saturday during the camp. The whole time GAAA-activists will be engaged at the camp. Like last year: water, solar energy, compost toilets, a camping trailer with internet access for the press work, material- and cooking tent, and group-sleeping tents will be provided. Different action groups and individuals can be in the camp for short or longer periods of time. They can get informed about the base-surrounding and our previous resistance, and can also think through and carry out demonstrative and "disobedient" actions. We will report the dates of the actions from the different groups on our website.
On Aug. 9th and 10th, the last two days of the camp, the main actions will take place. We hope that for the last Saturday on August 8th, we will again be able to greet a well known artist (last summer Nina Hagen supported us with a concert). On Sunday, August 9th (Nagasaki day) we plan to rally from the village Büchel to the main gate of the base. It will have been 64 years ago that the Plutonium bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, where approximately 70 000 citizens died directly and more than 200 000 later as a result.
A mobilization flyer shall be prepared by the end of February - like last year — also with a declaration of non-violent intent. It shall be distributed at the 60th NATO anniversary protest this April. You can order the flyer: hamburg at bombspotting.org
Already the peace walk Footprints for Peace (www.footprintsforpeace.tripod.com) has announced they will come to Büchel from June 17th to 19th. For this a public event will be organized in the region by a local peace group. The peace walk begins on April 24th in Geneva and ends on the 9th of July in Brussels. On August 8th the Pacemakers will come to Büchel. We know at least one group already plans a blockade in Büchel, but they don`t want to publish the date. The campaign, “Our Future – Nuclear Weapons Free” will also help mobilize for the main events in Büchel.