Friends mark Menwith Hill ‘Declaration of Independence’
'The demonstration aimed to increase awareness of US operations at the base and ensure activities take place in accordance with UK and international law.'
Quakers joined the annual ‘Independence from America Day’ last month at RAF Menwith Hill, where there have been protests for twenty years.
Menwith Hill is an important part of US/UK collaboration in collecting data for surveillance, and tracking and targeting space objects, according to the Menwith Hill Accountability Group (MHAG). The demonstration aimed to increase awareness of US operations at the base and ensure activities take place in accordance with UK and international law.
About fifty people from across the country joined the day, organised by MHAG and Yorkshire CND. This included Jonathon Baynham, youth development worker for Quakers in Yorkshire, and Martin Schweiger, from Leeds Area Meeting, who has been protesting at Menwith Hill for twenty years. There was also a Meeting for Worship held at a car park nearby in Harrogate railway station.
Fiona Macaulay, professor of Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford and former member of Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, spoke about the patriarchal bias in the international understanding of security. Meanwhile Peter Burt, from Drone Wars UK, spoke about the role of Menwith Hill in developing ‘Common Intelligence’, which enables the US military to identify and target ‘people of interest’, including by drones. These targeted killings can maim and kill many other people, he said, but with the collateral damage not accurately assessed, estimates range widely. Friends and relatives of those harmed are also more likely to be recruited into groups that take up arms against US and other western interests.
A letter was also presented to inspector Holly Nicholls of North Yorkshire Police to pass on to the director of NSA Menwith Hill, who was invited to attend. The letter requested to meet with the director so the campaigners could ‘learn his name and something about the American perspective of the rationale for the American control of the Menwith Hill surveillance base’, according to MHAG.
