«People come to Scotland to see the Loch Ness monster, » says a hotel owner on Scotland's west coast, «but the real monster's right next to us. » He's talking about the nearby British naval base, and the Trident nuclear subs stationed there. The peace movement has protested and gathered petitions for decades, but to no avail. A new system of protest, however, has evolved. For the group of activists known as the "Trident Ploughshares" all methods to oppose the Trident subs are legitimate, as long as they do not put the lives of people in danger. They perform acts of sabotage on the subs and destroy the base's computer hardware, software and stored information. When standing accused before the judges, the activists claim that their aim is to prevent the crime of nuclear war; their struggle is against the illegality of governments that make use of atomic weapons.
