ABSTRACT
In June of 1999, three middle-aged women—Angie Zelter, Ulla Roder and Ellen Moxley (the Trident Three)—boarded a Trident 1 control station stationed on a Scottish loch; with the use of their hands and small hammers they disabled much of the computer equipment aboard the station and threw all computer equipment that was not attached overboard. In total, they caused over £80,000 of damage and temporarily disarmed one third of Britain’s nuclear weapons system. They subsequently sat atop the barge awaiting arrest, a pivotal part of their plan. Their nonviolent actions were strategically designed to provoke a legal reaction which would lead to a court case. In their defense, they argued that their actions were justified on the basis of the illegality of the use or threat to use nuclear weapons proclaimed by the International Court of Justice (ICOJ) in its advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons. In this opinion the International Court found that “the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, and in particular the principles and rules of humanitarian law” (ICOJ, Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (General List No. 95), section 1). The Trident Three hoped that the court would find in their favor and declare the government’s continued possession of nuclear weapons illegal.
