I was looking through a box of old prints yesterday and came across a couple of photographs I’d taken at Greenham Common back in the early 80s. Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp was established to protest at nuclear weapons such as cruise missiles being based at the RAF site in Berkshire, England. The women’s camp began first appeared in September 1981 and was only disbanded in 2000. I’m not sure when these were taken exactly but looking back at the history I imagine it was at one of the mass protests of 1983, involving many thousands of protestors. Coincidentally BBC news today reports that the UK government has approved a new nuclear power plant in Hinkley Point, which has also been the site of recent protest.
This is the first picture I found – I remember at the time focussing on the young child wearing the striped hat in the centre of the image. She must be in her late 30s now!!
In the picture below the women I went with, Nan Greifer (on the left) and Gabriela Cohen, can be seen holding wool or string. All the women passed the string round and held hands and so were encased in string. The wool and string were also used to make giant webs which were attached to the gates of the plant as part of the iconography of feminist peaceful protest.
