History of the Bombspotting-campaign

Bombspotting started in 1997 as a campaign against nuclear weapons (although it only carries its name since 1999). The most common reaction was asking why we were still busy with nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons were something of the past and the Cold War was behind us. We thought we had to get rid of them before they got much too relevant again. And the Advisory Opinion on the Legality of Nuclear Weapons of the International Court of Justice on 8 July 1996 gave us a legal ground for actions against nuclear weapons, aside of the political and moral grounds. Civil disobedience became upholding international law.

Although the nuclear weapons are not gone yet, the Bombspotting-campaign delivered a lot of political results in Belgium. The call for nuclear disarmament was taken up across the political spectrum and both chambers of the Belgian Parliament voted in 2005 a resolution on nuclear disarmament including a call for the withdrawal of the US nuclear weapons from Europe. The Belgian government refuses to take an initiative out of fear for isolation inside NATO.

Also in other issues we noticed that NATO membership defines the limits of what is politically possible and involves us in military interventions worldwide like Afghanistan and Iraq. Therefore we now take up the military intervention issues in the Bombspotting-campaign as well and target NATO as such with the NATO Game Over-action.
Both nuclear weapons and military interventions are international issues and these policies will not get influenced by a campaign in one country. Therefore we try to make links with movements in other countries and to embed our actions in a broad international campaign.

The Bombspotting-campaign resulted so far in an impressive list of actions:
8 July 1997: A notarized Citizens Summons is delivered to the government leaders gathering in a NATO summit in Madrid by the Nuclear Weapons Abolition Days, a broad coalition of NGO's. This Citizens Summons states that NATO's nuclear policy is illegal, calls to change this policy and warns that otherwise nonviolent actions will follow.
6 August 1997: Citizen weapons inspection of NATO in Brussels.
9 August 1997: Citizen weapons inspection of the military base of Kleine Brogel.
8 July 1998: Citizen weapons inspection of NATO in Brussels.
5-6 September 1998: ‘Treasure Hunt: who finds the nuclear weapons?’ during an airshow on the military base of Kleine Brogel.
1 October 1998: Citizen weapons inspection of the military base of Kleine Brogel.
21 February 1999: Citizen weapons inspection of the military base of Kleine Brogel.
5 September 1999: BOMBSPOTTING: writers invite their public for a citizen weapons inspection annex literary walk around and on the military base of Kleine Brogel.
1 October 1999: Citizen weapons inspection of the military base of Kleine Brogel.
2 December 1999: A new Citizens Summons is presented to the ministers of defense during their NATO summit in Brussels.
16 December 1999: Citizen weapons inspection of NATO in Brussels, during the summit of ministers of foreign affairs.
24 April 2000: BOMBSPOTTING: actors take over the initiative of the writers.
1 October 2000: Nuclear Horror Picture Show, Citizen weapons inspection of the military base of Kleine Brogel with photographers.
16 April 2001: BOMBSPOTTING: more than 1500 people participate in a citizen weapons inspection of the military base of Kleine Brogel. You Tube
7 September 2002: National Complaint Day against nuclear weapons
5 October 2002: BOMBSPOTTING: more than 2000 people participate in a citizen weapons inspection of the military base of Kleine Brogel.
25 October 2003: ‘Get in SHAPE’: Bombspotting-action at SHAPE, the military headquarters of NATO in Mons. You Tube
21 November 2004: 'Everyone Bombspotter': Bombspotters lay complaints against the Belgian government for violations of international humanitarian law.
16 April 2005: 'Bombspotting XL', 1000 Bombspotters inspect NATO, SHAPE and the military base of Kleine Brogel at the same time. Around 500 people got arrested. Pictures
24 November 2005: Bombspotters replace Belgian minister of Foreign Affairs De Gucht for one day and send a request to NATO to put the withdrawal of the nuclear weapons on the agenda of the upcoming ministerial meeting. Result is a diplomatic stir. De Gucht is not pleased and lets prosecute a Bombspotter (still ongoing).
8 July 2006: 10 years Advisory Opinion - 10 years of resistance: Ten years after the Advisory Opinion of the ICJ Bombspotters take action at ten different places connected to the illegal nuclear weapons policy. Pictures
November 2006: European Complaint action: all over Europe people lay down complaints at their local police office against the policy of their government on nuclear weapons. A bailiff delivers a citizens summons at NATO for the NATO secretary general De Hoop Scheffer.
22 March 2008: NATO GAME OVER: About 1000 people from 17 European countries went to the NATO headquarters in Brussels this morning to take part in the international non violent action NATO GAME OVER. 5 years after the start of the Iraq war and 10 days before the Bucharest NATO summit, peace activists from all over Europe show that preventing war starts here in Europe.
Pictures Bombspotting TV