Background

On February 11-13 2002, 35 Swedes participated in a blockade of nuclear-armed UK submarines. The blockade was an initiative by Trident Ploughshares, which had received the “Right Livelyhood Award” in the Swedish parliament in December 2001. During the three-day blockade the nuclear base Faslane was shut down for several hours, and 186 people from 12 countries were arrested.

Before the blockade activists from Trident Ploughshares were invited to Sweden to hold a two-day action training for those who were going to participate. In spring 2002 those who were interested got together again, and during several meetings the platform for "Ofog - för en kärnvapenfri värld" ("for a world without nuclear weapons") was formulated.

Since then the network has participated in disarmament camps in Faslane, Coulport, Aldermaston, Menwith Hill in UK, as well as in Shape and Kleine Brogel in Belgium, train blockades in Germany, and also some smaller actions. Members of the campaign have also organized trainings, camps and actions, spent some time behind bars, held lectures and so on…

Through the means of blockades, disarmament actions and other open, non-violent actions, Ofog is working to put pressure on the nuclear states to follow international law and disable their nuclear arms.

Since it started, Ofog has developed into a broader spectrum of activities and interests. While the struggle to abolish nuclear weapons continues, we now put the focus also on other areas of war industry, such as the Swedish weapons exports, NATO, and the militarization of space. We intend also to work towards a deepened co-operation between peace-activism groups in different countries.

In accordance with the broader focus, the network in January 2007 officially changed name to "Ofog - for a nuclear free and demilitarised world".

About the name ”Ofog”

”Ofog” literally translates into ”mischief”. But ofog is also a play with words. “Foga” is a Swedish verb meaning to conform, to obey. But in Swedish, if you put an O before a word, you turn it into its opposite.
“Foga” also means, roughly, fixating things together in a decided and unchangeable form, so in this meaning of the word, when we put the O before, this is an allusion to our function as a flexible, dynamic network.