Helen Thomas

16th August 1966 - 5 August 1989

Mae'r frwydr yn parhau.

When you think of the long and gloomy history af man you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
C. P. Snow.

If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution.
Emma Goldman.

Her alleged 'crime', committed sometime between Thursday 25th May 1989 and 1230am Saturday 27th May 1989 involved a can of red gloss paint and buildings 301, 302 and 303 within the Greenham Common camp, the roads surrounding the same and the active runway (to an unknown amount but not exceeding 2,000 Pounds, and Section 1(1) Criminal Damage Act, 1971.

During the time she lived in Cardiff, Helen was actively involved in many issues. She was a firm supporter of the Irish struggle, linking it with the struggle of the people of Wales. A Welsh speaker, she promoted the language at every opportunity. She was also a feminist who fought for women's rights everywhere, working with Women's Aid in Cardiff, and showing solidarity with Irish women on the delegation to Belfast.

Helen was a dedicated and brave woman, who believed that the state should be challenged wherever it was wrong. She was not one for sitting around, and was always ready to take action to highlight and oppose injustice. This often brought her into conflict with the law, and the people who prop up the system that she fought against.

Helen went to live at Yellow Gate, Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, in May 1989. There she continued to be involved in struggles for peace and justice. At the time of her death she had been putting a lot of work into translating pamphlets produced at the camp into Welsh.

Her death was a great loss to all of us that knew her.

On August 16th 1989 - Helen Thomas' birthday - women from the Yellow Gate, occupied the village church at Imber. This had been their aim for the day Helen was killed. What follows is a piece that Helen had written for this action.

We want to draw people's attention to the relationship between the thousands that are homeless in Britain, and the millions of pounds that are spent on death - 15 million pounds at this moment in time on building FIBUA - a village on Salisbury Plain. FIBUA stands for 'Fighting in Built Up Areas'. But nobody will live in this village. It will be used to prepare soldiers to fight on the streets of Germany. How much of this money could have been spent on building homes for Welsh speaking Welsh people to enable them to have the choice of staying in their communities?

There is also another village on Salisbury Plain - IMBER - that was illegally seized by the military. Today IMBER is used to prepare soldiers for the oppression and killing in Northern Ireland.

We want to reveal the evil and secret purpose of this village, and the real purpose of the military in Britain, which is to defend the oppressive state that steals our resources, and oppresses our people every day through poverty and lack of services.

She was also creative woman. The poems that appear here are all poems which she performed one night shortly before she went to live at Yellow Gate at Chapter Arts Centre here in Cardiff. Rather than let them moulder away somewhere, forgotten and unread, I thought it fitting to publish them on the internet. I am sure that the irony of such an act would not have passed her by, because the internet's origin was as a communications system that could withstand nuclear attack.

Beth Junor, who also used to live at Yellow Gate has recently published a book about the work carried out at Greenham, if you were interested in finding out more, here is a link to, Working Press.