- MENWITH HILL, England
(Reuters) -- From a red camper van parked on a roadside, a British grandmother
and veteran peace campaigner has launched her latest attack on America's
military presence in Britain.
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- Helen John, 66, who set up camp beside a road near a
huge U.S.-run listening post at the end of May, admits she plans to cause
damage and says she won't be deterred.
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- From her vantage point near the base in northern England,
John is surrounded by stunning rural landscape. Rising on the horizon are
rolling hills, dry stone walls, flocks of sheep and what appear to be 20
giant white golf balls, part of the high-tech U.S. surveillance system.
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- "They want to brand me a terrorist because they
don't like how I behave. I set out to damage property, never people, but
I intend to cause damage," she said.
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- RAF Menwith Hill is the site of the world's largest surveillance
base. From here, the United States' National Security Agency operates a
listening system capable of tracking communications as far away as the
Middle East.
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- Armed with wire cutters and banners, John and a group
of fellow local campaigners have been trying to damage the base for more
than 10 years, arguing that it represents American imperialism and is furthering
U.S. efforts to take nuclear weapons into space.
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- "There is not a single person in the United States
that would allow a foreign base on its soil, acting against the interests
of the people of that country," said John. "These Americans are
not monsters, but they are involved in something monstrous."
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- John's move will re-establish a women's peace camp at
Menwith Hill. An eviction notice in the late 1990s forced local women's
campers from the site.
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- GREENHAM LEGACY
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- Camp life will be nothing new for John, who was one of
a group of women who marched from the Welsh city of Cardiff to Greenham
Common in Berkshire, southern England, in 1981 to protest against plans
to house nuclear missiles at the base.
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- When they arrived at Greenham, John and three other women
started a movement that grew into a full-time camp where tens of thousands
of women protested against nuclear arms.
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- "The U.S. base commander said we could stay as long
as we liked ... and we took him at his word," she said.
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- John lived at Greenham Common for a year while her husband
looked after their five children, a decision that earned her vilification
in the tabloid press as an unfit mother who had abandoned her family.
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- Alerted to the station at Menwith Hill, John moved to
Yorkshire in 1993 to focus her energies on the base. When she arrived,
around 100 women were already camped near the site in protest against its
activities.
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- After the camp was evicted, John launched numerous attacks
on the base, setting out to cause as much damage as she could.
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- She appears unfazed by the armed police guarding the
perimeter.
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- PRISON TERMS
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- Police have arrested her many times, and John refuses
to pay fines or do community service. "The only option they have is
to lock me up," she said. She has served several three-month stretches
in prison.
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- John is resigned to the fact that Menwith Hill may never
attract the levels of support that Greenham did.
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- "Women could identify with weapons at Greenham.
War is exciting, weapons are exciting, command and control is not. It just
kills you."
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- She does not expect much support from people in the local
area. "Having the Americans here pumps a lot of money into the local
economy," she said.
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- But her resolve and devotion to the cause are unwavering.
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- "I came here to do a job. As long as the Americans
have bases on the soil of this country, I'll be around showing opposition
and actively trying to harm it in a non-violent manner."
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