'Zombies' in nuclear weapons protest (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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'Zombies' in nuclear weapons protest
4:06pm Sunday 9th August 2009 in
Bradford city centre was transformed into a scene resembling a horror movie as more than a hundred “zombies” descended on Centenary Square as part of a protest against nuclear weapons.
Protesters dressed as the walking dead as a tongue-in-cheek way of highlighting the potential catastrophe a nuclear war could bring to Bradford.
Protester Joel White, 19, of Undercliffe, Bradford, said the weekend protest was held in the city due to its proximity with the US missile defence base at Menwith Hill.
Mr White said: “We think it’s really important right now with the current debate going on about nuclear weapons that young people show they are still passionate about it.
“This is a tactic of raising awareness that Trident is coming up to be renewed and there also going to be a conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty next year.
“So we just want to make sure that it gets talked about and it also proves there are still young people who don’t want to inherit a nuclear legacy.”
Mr White said Bradford’s proximity to Menwith Hill makes the city a target if nuclear arms were to be used “because Menwith Hill is the biggest American spy base in the world.” He added: “We were born in the cold war generation and we don’t want to see it happen again.”
The zombies attracted curious looks as they marched through the city centre on Saturday.
The protesters dressed as zombies to show the “inhuman” nature of nuclear weapons.
Mr White said: “We are passionate about exposing the inhuman, braindead nature of nuclear weapons and missile defence.
“These beasts are effectively ‘undead’ in themselves, surviving the end of the cold war due to war-fixated politicians.
“So we personify these dastardly devices, along with their ardent followers, hopefully raising a smile while challenging those in power.”
A simultaneous smaller protest also took place in Menwith Hill.
Comments(39)
albion
says...
4:41pm Sun 9 Aug 09
Moon on a stick
says...
5:28pm Sun 9 Aug 09
Mike Strutter wrote:I second that. A protest in Bradford Centre on a Sunday is pointless anyway, was there actually anyone there other than the T and A photographer?
Protester Joel White, 19, of Undercliffe, Bradford, said the weekend protest was held in the city due to its proximity with the US missile defence base at Menwith Hill.
Why not Harrogate then ?
Get a job !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rambo
says...
5:29pm Sun 9 Aug 09
All these protesters probably don't even realise it was this week in 1945 when they actually dropped the 2 bombs on Japan.
They should also remember its not just the US that has nuclear weapons. How about India, Pakistan and North Korea? I wonder if they'll have a go at them....
Black Sheep
says...
5:50pm Sun 9 Aug 09
rongtw
says...
5:54pm Sun 9 Aug 09
Iona Cortina
says...
5:57pm Sun 9 Aug 09
Rambo wrote:Don't forget Israel... (oops, have we said too much ?)
Bradford city centre doesn't need nuclear annihilation for there to mindless zombies wandering around. Drink, drugs and unemployment do that enough already.
All these protesters probably don't even realise it was this week in 1945 when they actually dropped the 2 bombs on Japan.
They should also remember its not just the US that has nuclear weapons. How about India, Pakistan and North Korea? I wonder if they'll have a go at them....
t'old man
says...
6:43pm Sun 9 Aug 09
webess
says...
6:57pm Sun 9 Aug 09
rongtw wrote:Any chance of a joke that an 8 year old couldn't come up with?
ooops we had a dead city center then ,,,,, nowt strange there
webess
says...
7:00pm Sun 9 Aug 09
Surely they should be protesting in the country which is targeting us with nukes??
webess
says...
7:01pm Sun 9 Aug 09
Surely they should be protesting in the country which is targeting us with nukes??
Biker71
says...
8:53pm Sun 9 Aug 09
In fairness it would be terrible, it could do 10-20 pounds worth of damage...
footysnoteverythin
says...
9:35pm Sun 9 Aug 09
albion
says...
10:06pm Sun 9 Aug 09
footysnoteverythin wrote:"ignorants n uneducated", And your post is such a fine example of spelling and grammar!
to all the ignorants n uneducated that posted on here,esp Mike Strutter, the reason governments get away with murder is cos we let em, the reason they get away with slighlty less murder is cos people like this protest, you aint got a clue 'av ya, fkn idiots. That Joel Whittle is more of a man than any of you will ever be, n people moan about teenagers....
Mike Strutter
says...
10:32pm Sun 9 Aug 09
footysnoteverythin wrote:Back to "skool" me thinks sunshine.
to all the ignorants n uneducated that posted on here,esp Mike Strutter, the reason governments get away with murder is cos we let em, the reason they get away with slighlty less murder is cos people like this protest, you aint got a clue 'av ya, fkn idiots. That Joel Whittle is more of a man than any of you will ever be, n people moan about teenagers....
Mike Strutter
says...
10:35pm Sun 9 Aug 09
footysnoteverythin wrote:Who mentioned Joel Whittle ?
to all the ignorants n uneducated that posted on here,esp Mike Strutter, the reason governments get away with murder is cos we let em, the reason they get away with slighlty less murder is cos people like this protest, you aint got a clue 'av ya, fkn idiots. That Joel Whittle is more of a man than any of you will ever be, n people moan about teenagers....
Now who is the "fkn idiot" ?
joege
says...
10:44pm Sun 9 Aug 09
Rambo wrote:I was on the protest, and i would like to point out that, that was why we were doing it, is there any chace it was a coinsidence really?
Bradford city centre doesn't need nuclear annihilation for there to mindless zombies wandering around. Drink, drugs and unemployment do that enough already. All these protesters probably don't even realise it was this week in 1945 when they actually dropped the 2 bombs on Japan. They should also remember its not just the US that has nuclear weapons. How about India, Pakistan and North Korea? I wonder if they'll have a go at them....
why are you all getting so angery about this? if anything your ignorance is proving that you need people like us to tell you these thigs! but if you don't care that you are being made a target for nuclear wepons by the US then feel free to be ablitorated...
Rambo
says...
11:03pm Sun 9 Aug 09
Angry? No, sceptical.
Ignorance? Like I said, nowhere in the article did it say that this protest was to coincide with this week which was the anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks leaving 200,000 dead and effectively ending the second world war. However it just comes across as another anti-US bandwagon people are only too quick to jump on.
I say this every times theres an anti-war/anti-israel
/anti-US protest in Centenary Square. Unless you protest to the embassy involved, all protesting here does is give you peace of mind and achieves nothing else.
joege
says...
11:21pm Sun 9 Aug 09
Rambo wrote:the US won't target but in putting a spy base a mere 22 miles away from bradford, that makes bradford a target! i am not even slightly anti-american, just when my life is put in danger by the actions of the american government i feel rather disgrunteled! the protests was not just to chage policy, no government is going to listlen tyo a load of young people dressed as zombuies, it was to rais awareness about nuclear based policy and to let people know anbout Menwith Hill which almost none of the people i spoke to did!
Have I missed something? Why would the US target us? Angry? No, sceptical. Ignorance? Like I said, nowhere in the article did it say that this protest was to coincide with this week which was the anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks leaving 200,000 dead and effectively ending the second world war. However it just comes across as another anti-US bandwagon people are only too quick to jump on. I say this every times theres an anti-war/anti-israel /anti-US protest in Centenary Square. Unless you protest to the embassy involved, all protesting here does is give you peace of mind and achieves nothing else.
allie_cabab
says...
12:28am Mon 10 Aug 09
Rather than actually argue with what people are saying you pick up on their grammar, or give out personal insults when you know nothing about the people!
We were protesting in Bradford to raise awareness, and we're not anti-american. The first thing I would like is the U.K. government to wake up to how stupid our nuclear weapons and power stations are and not renew a new generation of either.
They're are going to cost us SO much money £100s of BILLIONS!!! for what? We couldnt fire our nukes without Obamas permission anyway.
Any new nuclear power stations wouldnt be ready for at least 20 years, so are no solution to the energy gap. They will create huge amounts of highly dangerous waste that will be around pretty much forever! If the government are so set on new nuclear power plants why are they not even considering thorium reactors instead of uranium which create waste which will degrade much faster. Could it have something to do with the fact you cant make nuclear weapons from them?
Zombieminus
says...
10:31am Mon 10 Aug 09
Juice Terry
says...
11:08am Mon 10 Aug 09
albion
says...
11:38am Mon 10 Aug 09
Juice Terry
says...
12:53pm Mon 10 Aug 09
Black Sheep
says...
1:05pm Mon 10 Aug 09
allie_cabab
says...
1:32pm Mon 10 Aug 09
how would we be a bigger target with no weapons that just doesnt make any sense???
LCannell
says...
2:54pm Mon 10 Aug 09
Why not Harrogate? Ask yourself where there's more people on a Saturday afternoon?
We have an ongoing campaign which is aimed at TOTAL Nuclear Proliferation NOT just the U.S. and definitely including Israel.
You cannot call this a stalemate where having nukes makes us invulnerable! The sides are so uneven and the countries with the red buttons so unstable!
And surely we would be vastly safer if simply no-one had any weapons?
Protest in one of the other countries?
Are you gonna get us there easily, because we would if we could?
But why should we anyway? Britain has nukes, Britain has America's nukes, Britain has the necessary international influence needed to influence the other countries with weapons to disarm too. Britain is a big player in the international nuclear community, we may not have many nukes but our friends do and what we do have is still terrible.
We wanted awareness. You need this before you can protest to actually change things.
Hope my grammar was OK, because that's clearly the most important thing in the discussion.
LCannell
says...
2:57pm Mon 10 Aug 09
The Zombies want total nuclear proliferation.
khspanthatworld
says...
4:51pm Mon 10 Aug 09
we are part of a charity- and one of our campaigns for this year is "no nuclear future"- as our organizations age ranges from16-21 we designed a campaign so that people from that age range could comprehend, understand and campaign against nuclear weapons-
ZNA (zombies for nuclear apocalypse) is an ironic twist on a really important issue- we are designed to raise awareness and spread information to the public and thats EXACTLY what we did-
as part of our display in bradford we also handed out leaflets (which we ran out of by the end of the day!) because people were so interested in what we do-
young people in our organization now have the education and confidence to do further campaigns against nuclear weapons. Job well done if you ask me.
khspanthatworld
says...
4:53pm Mon 10 Aug 09
Joel White does have a job- and still finds the time to campaign
what is it you do exactly.
khspanthatworld
says...
5:01pm Mon 10 Aug 09
We were very aware it was the anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks as we are an intelligent group of young people- it wasn't just a clumsy coincidence i thought maybe the public would pick up on that one themselves and it doesn't need spelling out to them by a group of 16-21 year olds?
Black Sheep
says...
6:09pm Mon 10 Aug 09
allie_cabab wrote:As it is now, no country would launch a nuclear strike on us as it would also ensure their destruction as well(Mutual assured destruction or M.A.D). With no nuclear weapons what detterent is there for a country not to attack?
just the initials tell you about it it is MAD!
how would we be a bigger target with no weapons that just doesnt make any sense???
cheelvis
says...
6:17pm Mon 10 Aug 09
Zombies.... how could you tell the differance.
t'old man
says...
6:32pm Mon 10 Aug 09
what a great idea, when the new council tax bills come out next year why dont we all dress up as the teletubbies !!!!!!
Mike Strutter
says...
9:09pm Mon 10 Aug 09
khspanthatworld wrote:Never you mind but it has managed to buy myself a nice big house.
And also- for the writer of the top comment-
Joel White does have a job- and still finds the time to campaign
what is it you do exactly.
LC SpanThatWorld
says...
10:59pm Mon 10 Aug 09
And it wasn't supposed to challenge those in power it was supposed to raise awareness!
Try reading what people write before you moan and complain!
Oh and what would stop people attacking with nukes if we didn't have any? If they didn't have any either.
Oh and we chose Zombies because it's an eye catching engaging popular monster, is easy to dress up as and signifies how we're all just a mass of the walking dead so long as nuclear war is still a threat, which it is.
It was either that or irradiated sheep. You choose which is more effective.
Although maybe we should go for zombie sheep next time...
LC SpanThatWorld
says...
11:02pm Mon 10 Aug 09
Get on to www.spanthatworld.co
m
Or for our campaign go to
http://www.spanthatw
orld.com/what-we-do/
campaigns/no-nuclear
-future/
Rambo
says...
11:48pm Mon 10 Aug 09
khspanthatworld wrote:I think it does need pointing out. A good deal of people, young and old have no idea about the second world war, nevermind the battle in the Pacific. And to them nuclear bombs are just something they see in Hollywood films. I was telling people last week I thought it was pretty bad how there were no programmes on TV about the H&N attacks (some had absolutely no idea what I was on about), and how such an enormously important event in world history is unknown for a lot of people.
"Ignorance? Like I said, nowhere in the article did it say that this protest was to coincide with this week which was the anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks leaving 200,000 dead and effectively ending the second world war." We were very aware it was the anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks as we are an intelligent group of young people- it wasn't just a clumsy coincidence i thought maybe the public would pick up on that one themselves and it doesn't need spelling out to them by a group of 16-21 year olds?
Lee
says...
1:24pm Wed 12 Aug 09
i'd rather keep the US defence base for just a few more years thank you very much. while religious nut jobs are out to get some of there own i'd hope we could defend against any threats they make when they finally get hold of them.
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Some of the anti-nuclear protesters dressed as zombies in Centenary Square to highlight the weapons issue
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Mike Strutter says...
4:23pm Sun 9 Aug 09
Why not Harrogate then ?
Get a job !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!