The Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, perhaps one of the most dramatic, and effective, peace demonstrations ever, started in 1981 and continued for 19 years.
It’s probably not surprising that Quaker women played an important role.
The Peace Camp was started to peacefully protest NATO’s decision to house nuclear missiles on British soil. According to Wikipedia, the protests created by the camp were remarkable::
“In September 1981, 36 women chained themselves to the base fence in protest against nuclear weapons. On 29 September 1982, the women were evicted by Newbury District Council but set up a new camp nearby.
“In December 1982, 30,000 women joined hands around the base. The daringness and creativity of the Greenham women was reflected when a small group climbed the fence to dance on missile silos that were under construction on New Year’s Day 1983.
“The camps became well-known when on 1 April 1983, about 70,000 protesters formed a 14-mile (23 km) human chain from Greenham to Aldermaston and the ordnance factory at Burghfield. The media attention surrounding the camp inspired people across Europe to create other peace camps.”
The Quakers in Britain website, in their blog post “8 Badass Quaker Women” notes:
“Over nineteen years, thousands of women took part in the nonviolent actions at Greenham. Moved to act by the peace testimony, a generation of Quaker women were part of this very public objection to war. They included the veteran peace activist Sylvia Boyes and Celia Davies, who, despite sustaining significant injuries as a result of forceful policing at Greenham, campaigns against arms fairs to this day.”
Action, not just words, are an important part of all the Quaker testimonies. Ms. Boyes and Ms. Davies, along with tens of thousands of other women of all beliefs, clearly took this to heart.
Peachtree Friends Meeting 