Greenham Common

Greenham Common becomes in my mind the place where many of us as lesbian feminists countered the reality of male violence. Our strategies were many and various some gave up their settled  lives and lived at the camp becoming the conscious of the nation demanding attention to the abomination of American nuclear bombs on British soil. Others slipped to the base on regular trips to support the women living in benders, fragile plastic tents, bringing food, and supplies. Others of us went to the big weekends where thousands of us congregated and embraced the base. It was a miracle of ingenious communication, in those pre internet and mobile phone days, guestetnered leaflets and telephone trees did a very effective job. Once there we met with many intrepid women who were also organising reclaim the night marches  demanding safety for women on the street, pro abortion marches and setting up refuges for battered women.

Looking back it is noticeable that lesbians were selflessly tackling issues that in the main affected heterosexual women. The police in those days were not keen to do much about what they called domestics. We challenged their apathy, we set up refuges and we silenced the endless wolf whistles and shouts that used to pass for compliments from building sites.

25 years on, many of us are still challenging violence, working to enable the police and councils to deal with hate crime effectively, urging our communities to report abuse, and our schools to tackle all forms of prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping.

See images from Greenham Common in Powerpoint:

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