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Winter 2008

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  Winter 2008

Two Anti-War Defiant Grandmothers  

The anti-war spirit is alive and active in a prison near Stirling in Scotland. On Thursday January 12th a pair of grandmothers, Georgina Smith (78) and Helen John (70), were sentenced by Sheriff Richard MacFarlane to jail for 45 days and 40 days respectively. The Edinburgh Sheriff Court found them guilty of writing the truth on the outside of the Edinburgh High Court on Armistice Day November 11th 2006. 

What words so inflamed Sheriff MacFarlanehat he incarcerated the two scribes ?  Ban cluster-bombs.  UK values, what values?  Honour the living.  All bases out.  Respect the war dead.  No war crimes.  £ 76 billion for genocide. 

Georgina Smith

The grandmothers were charged with the peculiarly Scottish offence of  “malicious mischief.”  In the court, Georgina said that malicious mischief applied to Halloween pranks and not to writing on public walls. That is a legitimate way to protest. 

Helen said, “I had every right to do it, because every other avenue of protest is blocked”. 

The sheriff”s ire was clearly aggravated by the calmness of the women and the dignified way in which they spoke. They calmly stated that they would not pay damages for the cost of removing the truth. 

Georgina explained, “I have not paid any fines for 25 years. And I don’t intend to start now.”  The prison sentences are augmented by a demand for £3,500 damages.  The women have three months to think about paying and to pay. If they don’t pay, it looks as though the State will either seize the money from their only income, the old-age pension, or will send them back to jail, a vindictive alternative. 

Helen John

Both women are veteran activists.  Helen John was one of the original women who left Wales to protest against the arrival of the cruise missiles at Greenham Common. That was the start of a 19-year long campaign. The women finally won the removal of the cruise and the land restored to the people. 

Georgina was one of two women who launched a court challenge to the legitimacy of the Greenham Common bylaws. That ended in victory when the Law Lords found that the cruise-missile base was invalidly located on common land that had been improperly confiscated. 

After Greenham, Georgina moved to Scotland and bought some land near Faslane. She used it to facilitate the protests against the Trident submarine nuclear weapon. 

Helen has set up a Women’s Peace Camp at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire. The camp is fighting for the closure of the US “Space War Base” there.  

Anyone wishing to send postcards or letters of solidarity should address them to HM Prison; Cornton Vale;  Stirling SK9 5NU, Scotland. Phone (0044) 1786 832 591.  Interviews with Helen and Georgina may be found on my webpage www.margarettadarcy.com.

Margaretta D'Arcy
Galway, Ireland

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