Defiant Anti-War Grandmothers

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Monday January 14, 2008 12:37 by Margaretta D'Arcy - Women in Media & Entertainment

Writing the Truth puts Two in Jail

The anti-war spirit is alive and active in a prison near Stirling in Scotland. On Thursday January 12th, at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, 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, for writing the truth on the outside of the Edinburgh High Court on Armistice Day November 11th 2006.

Georgina Smith

The words which so inflamed the sheriff that he incarcerated the two scribes were "Ban cluster-bombs. UK values, what values? Honour the living. All bases out. Respect the war dead. No war crimes. £ 76 billion for genocide." They were charged with the peculiarly Scottish offence of “malicious mischief.” In the court, Georgina said that malicious mischief applied to Hallowe’en pranks and not to writing on public walls, which 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 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. They are both veteran non-violent direct-activists. Helen John was one of the original women who left Wales to protest against the siting of the cruise missiles at Greenham Common, the start of a 19-year long campaign that finally saw 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, ending in victory when the Law Lords found that the cruise-missile base was invalidly sited on common land that had been improperly confiscated. After Greenham, Georgina moved to Scotland and bought some land near Faslane to facilitate the protests against the Trident submarine nuclear weapon. Helen has set up a Women’s Peace Camp at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire to fight 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, Scotland, phone (0044) 1786 832 591.
For interviews with Helen and Georgina, see related link

Helen John