Angie Zelter

Angie Zelter, 2014.

Angie Zelter (born 5 June 1951) is a British activist and the founder of a number of international campaign groups, including Trident Ploughshares and the International Women's Peace Service. Zelter is known for non-violent direct action campaigns and has been arrested over 100 times in Belgium, Canada, England, Malaysia, Norway, Poland and Scotland, serving 16 prison sentences.[1] Zelter is a self-professed 'global citizen'.[1]

Life

In the 1980s Zelter founded the Snowball Campaign,[1] which encouraged mass civil disobedience with participants each cutting one strand of a fence around US military bases in the UK, then waiting to be arrested. During the campaign, which lasted three years, there were around 2,500 arrests and many of the activists were sent to jail for non-payment of fines.[2][3][4] Caroline Lucas, future Green party leader and MP was involved in the campaign,[5] and poet Oliver Bernard was sent to prison.[6]

In 1996 she was part of the group Seeds of Hope that disarmed a BAE Hawk Jet, ZH955, causing £1.5million damage and preventing it from being exported to Indonesia where it would have been used to attack East Timor.[7] She was acquitted for this action in a victory which forced the issue of arms control onto the mainstream agenda.

Along with American Ellen Moxley and Ulla Røder from Denmark, she became known as one of the Trident Three of the Trident Ploughshares, after the women succeeded in entering Maytime, a floating trident sonar testing station in Loch Goil, and damaged 20 computers and other electronic equipment and circuit boxes, cut an antenna, jammed machinery with superglue, sand, and syrup and tipped logbooks, files, computer hardware, and papers overboard.[8] In December 2001 the Trident Three were awarded the Right Livelihood Award.[1]

Between 2001 and 2005 she was active in many actions with the International Solidarity Movement and other organisations designed to protect the Palestinians on the West Bank against the violence of the Israeli army and of the illegal settlements which made their lives increasingly difficult. The Israeli government eventually refused to allow her to return.

In 2012 Angie Zelter was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Mairead Maguire a former Nobel winner and peace activist, for Zelter's (at the time) 30 years of peace activism.[9]

In March 2012, the South Korean police arrested Angie Zelter for obstructing the construction of the controversial Jeju-do Naval Base.[10]

In September 2014, Zelter received in Istanbul the Hrant Dink Award for her fight against nuclear weapons.[11]

Extinction Rebellion

During the April 2019 Extinction Rebellion London occupations Zelter was arrested on Waterloo Bridge and in Parliament Square, becoming the first activist to be prosecuted.[12] She was given a conditional discharge in June 2019, after arguing in court that humans faced mass extinction unless governments implemented wide-ranging changes.[13]

Zelter was one of more than 1,400 protesters arrested during the October 2019 'Extinction Rebellion Autumn Uprising' two-week campaign in London. She was charged under Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, pleaded guilty, and was ordered to pay a £460 fine, £85 costs and £46 surcharge.[14]

In 2021 she published a book detailing her work between 1982 and 2021 with the title "Activism for Life" (Luath Press Limited ISBN 978-1-910022-39-9).[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Walters, Kerry; Jarrell, Robin (2013). Blessed Peacemakers: 365 Extraordinary People Who Changed the World. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 9781608992485. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  2. ^ Bove, Genny Bove (April 2007). "Looking Back - the Snowball Campaign" (PDF). Wrexham Peace & Justice News. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Appendix 1: Introduction to the Campaign". www.wussu.com. genetiX snowball. September 1998. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Portsmouth Green Party Event Highlights Plight of Refugees". Star & Crescent, Portsmouth. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  5. ^ "Profile on Caroline Lucas MEP". The Argus. 30 July 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2019. At that time Caroline was also involved with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Inspired by the women at Greenham Common, she took part in the Snowball Campaign, a countrywide movement against nuclear weapons which saw growing numbers of people cutting fences at various military bases with the aim of getting arrested. "The idea was you had so many people doing it, the courts wouldn't be able to process everyone and, hopefully, it would prompt a rethink of nuclear weapons. Sadly, it didn't get to that level. I did get arrested but eventually they dropped the charges, which was a bit disappointing."
  6. ^ Barker, Elspeth (30 June 2013). "Oliver Bernard obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2019. In 1985 he became a Catholic and was involved in the Snowball campaign to cut the wire perimeter fences at airbases, in protest at the government's attitude to nuclear weapons. For this he was sent to prison for several weeks, emerging in a very good mood: "I felt grateful to just about everyone," he said.
  7. ^ SchNEWS 62 - 23 Feb 1996 - Hawk Jet get smashed by Trident Ploughshares women Archived 2006-12-12 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Guardian Staff (25 October 1999). "The hammer that cracked a nuclear lab". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Trident Ploughshares Founder Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize – the Peace PEOPLE". www.peacepeople.com. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  10. ^ Koh (고), Seong-sik (성식) (14 March 2012). 해군기지 반대시위로 추방되는 외국인은?. Yonhap News (in Korean). Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  11. ^ "Hrant Dink Ödülü". hrantdinkodulu.org. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  12. ^ Lewis, Ffion (19 April 2019). "'Very, very nice' Welsh protesters arrested in London climate protest". walesonline. When I was released, I came straight back out and went around all the four places where the blockades were still held and checked where they needed more support. I went back to a friend's house, had a rest then came and joined here at Oxford Circus this morning. I plan on being here for at least two weeks. If I get arrested again, so be it.
  13. ^ Taylor, Matthew (25 June 2019). "Extinction Rebellion protester convicted of public order offence". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  14. ^ "UPDATE: Extinction Rebellion protests". Met Police. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  15. ^ "Activism for Life". luath.co.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2022.