Sir, - The Grand Master of the Orange Order, Mr Robert Saulters, has been reported as saying that Drumcree would "probably quieten down into a Greenham Common-type protest" (The Irish Times, July 14th).
We take this use of our name as a serious matter. Our camp has lasted almost 17 years and is still here. We work in all non-violent ways against the nuclear weapons of our own country and all the nuclear weapons of the world. We believe the work is measured, non-violent and vitally important for the whole of humanity. There have been different phases, it is true. The all-out effort to end the Cruise Missile deployment involved tens of thousands of women. The current determined opposition to AWE Adermaston and AWE Burghfield and the whole Trident system is no less vehement and the same non-violent methods are used. By non-violent direct action and by work in the courts, we mediate the dangers of Trident, its research, development and deployment in the so-called defence policy of Great Britain. Scientists and international lawyers are brought to court to witness to the veracity of our claims that the emissions of radioactivity from the production of Trident is a crime against the population and unacceptable according to international law.
We trust that this description of our work shows the type of encampment we still run.
We object to being referred to in comparison with the Drumcree encampment because that is a part of the British state. It is not for us to describe the Orangemen's encampment, but perhaps now Mr Saulters has had this brief description of our work he may wish to withdraw his allusion to us.
We look for 1) withdrawal of the statement re Greenham Common, and 2) an apology which we would seek to have published in The Irish Times, where the whole matter began. - Yours, etc., Sarah Hipperson, Katrina Howse, Peggy Walford, Jean Hutchinson, Margaretta D'Arcy,
Greenham Common Women's Peace Group, Berkshire, England.