Two members of Nottingham Young Greens, the youth wing of the Green Party, will be cycling from Nottingham to Helensburgh (near Glasgow) to take part in a peaceful blockade of Faslane nuclear base.  Andy Birkby and Dan Casey are both students and members of the Young Greens Society at the University of Nottingham, bucking the trend of apathy seen among people.  They will be joined by more Nottingham students and Young Greens in Helensburgh.

They will be taking part in the week long student blockade of Faslane nuclear base.  The blockade is part of an audacious campaign of non-violent direct action called Faslane 365.  The idea is to attempt to keep the facility blockaded for an entire year, with different groups blockading every day.

Andy Birkby said, “Many young people will be using their summer as an opportunity to travel the world.  However, we mustn’t forget our responsibility to engage in national and local issues.  That is why I will be spending my summer in the UK trying to effect change rather than jetting abroad.  By cycling to Scotland to blockade Faslane, we hope to draw attention to the two biggest security threats of the future:  climate change and nuclear proliferation.  The UK is one of the biggest offenders in the world on both of these issues.  There is no excuse for a country like the UK to still possess nuclear weapons, let alone be updating them.  The UK is one of the safest countries in the world, the only serious threat is terrorism, which Tony Blair himself admits Trident is useless against.  Nuclear weapons are more likely to encourage then discourage terrorism.  How can we expect a country in such a dangerous position as Iran to not develop nuclear weapons when we’re doing it ourselves?  It is not even an independent deterrent; America controls the guidance system and could abort a missile if we tried to fire it.  The money would be much better spent on education or the NHS.”




Andy Birkby is an economics student, aged 22 and Co-Elections Officer of the Young Greens.
Dan Casey is an electrical engineering student, aged 19.
They will be leaving on Thursday 21st June. 
Andy Birkby was arrested at a peaceful blockade of Faslane nuclear base on April 1st 2007.