Peace camps are a form of physicalprotest camp that is focused onanti-war andanti-nuclear activity. They are set up outsidemilitarybases by members of thepeace movement who oppose either the existence of the military bases themselves, the armaments held there, or the politics of those who control the bases. They began in the 1920s and became prominent in 1982 due to the worldwide publicity generated by theGreenham Common Women's Peace Camp. They were particularly a phenomenon of the United Kingdom in the 1980s where they were associated with sentiment againstAmerican imperialism but Peace Camps have existed at other times and places since the 1920s.
In the United Kingdom, people came to live outside military bases atprotest camps in order to witness their opposition to andnonviolently protest against the presence ofnuclear weapons inEurope that were directed against the thenSoviet Union by the United States, calling fornuclear disarmament. The women atGreenham Common Women's Peace Camp were particularly against the placing of UScruise missiles there, something they claimed made the area a direct target of Soviet Union aggression. During the 1980s theUnited States Air Force had land-based cruise missiles at several of the above locations, not only Greenham Common; they have since been moved back to the United States, though there remains aUS military presence in the UK, and the UK continues to possess and develop nuclear weapons itself. Due to these factors, the concept of the peace camp remains alive today, and because of the presence ofFaslane Peace camp, there has continuously been at least one peace camp outside a military base in the UK since 1982.
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The first peace camps are known to have originated in the 1920s.[citation needed]
The first modern peace camps were the various (initially mixed but later)women-only peace camps at the military base atGreenham Common, England, set up in 1981.Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp maintained a presence at the camp until 2000. Women-only peace camps were based at Waddington, Lincs from April – September 1982 and Capenhurst from October 1982 – March 1983. Other, mixed-sex, peace camps sprang up at the military bases ofUpper Heyford,Daws Hill inHigh Wycombe,RAF Molesworth,Lakenheath,Naphill andFaslane.Faslane Peace Camp, which was established in 1982, is still in existence today. There has been a women's peace camp atAldermaston for one weekend a month since 1985 that continues to meet.[1]
Abunker was constructed forRAF Strike Command onNational Trust land (Bradenham Village) nearHigh Wycombe, England between 1983 and 1985. Naphill Peace camp was set up to witness and oppose this construction.The Angry Pacifist magazine was produced out of Naphill Peace camp.
Thomas andConcepcion Picciotto are founders of the longest running peacevigil in the US. TheWhite House Peace Vigil has been located opposite theWhite House atLafayette Square on the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue inWashington, D.C. since June 3, 1981.[2]
TheBrambles Farm Peace Camp was set up in 1982 on the site of a research and development facility for the production of theSpearfish 7525 torpedo for theRoyal Navy. The camp, although anti-war and anti-nuclear in its beliefs, was also supported and attended by local people demonstrating against the loss of green space and the lack of public consultation. The protesters held up the construction work for a number of months and was visited by some 3,000 people from this country and abroad. ATorpedo Town festival was held in the area for a number of years afterwards, the largest in 1991 atLiphook in Hampshire when some 25,000 people danced to theSpiral Tribe sound system. These festivals fell foul of therave party andfree festival crackdown in the early 1990s by the Tory government.
In 1983,feminists established theSeneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice inRomulus, New York, the site of the 1848Seneca Falls Convention, to demand the abolition of nuclear weapons.[3]
In 2001Brian Haw set up theParliament Square Peace Campaign outside theHouses of Parliament inLondon. In August 2007, others who had joined him were evicted, but he was allowed to stay.[4]
A peace camp was set up atFairford on 17 February 2003 in protest against theIraq War.[5]
In February 2005, peace activists and residents began a peace camp at the village ofDaechuri,South Korea, in opposition to the expansion ofCamp Humphreys, which declared autonomy from Korea on February 7, 2006. As of October 2006, resisting residents remain on-site, despite demolition of homes owned by residents who have accepted compensation.
On May 13, 2005, protesters set up a peace camp onDrake's Island, just offPlymouth.
In August 2005,Cindy Sheehan set upCamp Casey, a peace camp named after her son, outside theTexas ranch of United States PresidentGeorge W. Bush, through which she has attracted considerable media attention.
The term peace camp is primarily used for a form ofanti-warprotest camp particularly prevalent in the UK in the 1980s, however, it is also sometimes used to describe political factions before or during wartime that are opposed to a particular war. These are not a physical camps but political alliances. Currently, there is anIsraeli peace camp.
In addition, the term is sometimes used forsummer camps that bring together youth from different groups in conflict (e.g.,Palestinian andIsraeli youth) to work towards transformation and improvement of mutual relations. While the organizers of such camps clearly support peaceful solutions, participants may not do so, or at least not to the same extent. In addition, these camps are not intended as a "protest camp", but rather to constructively work towards their goals and bring about change in the participants, which are intended to serve as disseminators of peaceful attitudes in their home communities.
In the early 19th Century, "Apaches de Paz" orApache peace camps were established for the purpose of religious conversion. They were established nearpresidios in the early 19th century by the Spanish in what is now Mexico and thesouthwestern United States. These were administrated by theRoman Catholic Church to convert the Apaches toRoman Catholicism and - in the eyes of the Spanish - gaining the salvation of theApaches. Rations and farming supplies were also given out at the camps in an attempt to turn the Apaches into farmers.[citation needed]
