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Mary Grace
@emgeekay.bsky.social
Retired archivist, librarian, and linguist who is a feminist, reader, mom, grandma, pacifist, socialist, supporter of Amnesty International, trade unions and the welfare state. I like digital preservation and old photographs. Banner photo is two toy robots
1.3k followers909 following4.3k posts
MGemgeekay.bsky.social

In 1983, 50,000 British women staged a peaceful protest against storing US nuclear cruise missiles at Greenham Common in Berkshire. While the missiles did eventually arrive, further protests led to their removal by 1991. This was the largest women's protest since the suffragettes.

Some of the 50,000 women leaving the airbase perimeter are observed by soldiers in a sentry post tower as an army helicopter flew overhead. Photo and caption from Berkshire Live. 

https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/berkshire-history/gallery/powerful-1983-greenham-common-protest-22193828
Mary Millington was one of the protesters at the time, seen here preparing dinner. Photo and caption from Berkshire Live.

https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/berkshire-history/gallery/powerful-1983-greenham-common-protest-22193828
Women began a sit down protest on the road leading to the airbase gates. Photo and caption from Berkshire Live.

https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/berkshire-history/gallery/powerful-1983-greenham-common-protest-22193828
The signs put together by the protesters were excellent in getting their message across. Photo and caption from Berkshire Live.

https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/berkshire-history/gallery/powerful-1983-greenham-common-protest-22193828
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Hhoneywallbeer.bsky.social

My mum was there. She's 91 now. Still she does not comply.

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MGemgeekay.bsky.social

As this excellent article shows, the power of this protest was that it was women leading it. "Women could use their identity as carers and mothers to say, this is about the future safety of our children. We weaponised traditional notions of femininity." www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017...

How the ​Greenham Common protest changed lives: ‘We danced on top of the nuclear silos’
How the ​Greenham Common protest changed lives: ‘We danced on top of the nuclear silos’

The 1980s peace camp against US cruise missiles was a demonstration of joyous female power that echoes through to the women’s marches of today. Activists recall those heady, scary, inspiring days

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Mary Grace
@emgeekay.bsky.social
Retired archivist, librarian, and linguist who is a feminist, reader, mom, grandma, pacifist, socialist, supporter of Amnesty International, trade unions and the welfare state. I like digital preservation and old photographs. Banner photo is two toy robots
1.3k followers909 following4.3k posts