Vredesactie (Peace Action), a “movement that radically acvocates a society in which conflicts are settled without violence or the threat to use violence,” posted this video on YouTube on Monday of a group of Bombspotters sneaking into the Kleine Brogel Air Base in Belgium, where they say around 20 NATO nuclear warheads are stored.
April 3rd will be a European Day of Action to ban nuclear weapons. Mass actions will take place at every European NATO nuclear weapons base in Germany, The Netherlands, France, Italy, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Belgium.
To learn more about the history of Bombspotting actions, which involve widespread “civil disobedience by trespassing and inspecting military bases and headquarters,” click here.
One of our good friends, Sr. Anne Montgomery told Kairos – a local peace group that I’m a part of in New York City – at our last meeting about this great satirical video that the Seattle Times made about the Disarm Now Plowshares action that she participated in, along with four others, at the Kitsap-Bangor Naval Base in Washington State.
They entered the base in the early morning hours of November 2, 2009, All Souls Day, to call attention to the illegality and immorality of the existence of the first strike Trident weapons system. They entered through the perimeter fence, and walked through the base for four hours. During that time they made their way to the Strategic Weapons Facility – Pacific (SWFPAC) where they cut through the first chain link fence surrounding SWFPAC. They then walked to and cut the next double layered fence, both chain link and barbed wire, and entered the grounds of SWFPAC. This bunker area holds the largest nuclear weapon stockpile in the United States.
As they walked they held a banner saying…… “Disarm Now Plowshares: Trident: Illegal and Immoral”. The Plowshares activists knew that they were in a shoot to kill zone, but they also remembered the many people who live in shoot to kill zones all the time because of US occupation of their country.
The unarmed activists were then held on the ground face down, handcuffed and hooded for over three hours. They were carried out, still hooded, through the very holes in the fence that they had made, and questioned by FBI and NCIS for several hours.
Although they gave only their names, they were given Ban and Bar letters and citations for trespass and destruction of government property.
The last I’ve heard on the status of their case is that the misdemeanor charges were dropped, but the government is currently exploring whether it should file felony charges against the group. To learn more about their action, follow their case as it develops or show your support, visit their blog.
Five peace activists were arrested Monday for entering a naval base in Bangor, Washington as part of a Plowshares action. The activists cut a hole in a fence to access the base. As they walked onto the grounds of the base, they left a trail of blood and hammered on the roadway and fences, and scattered sunflower seeds throughout the base. The base is used to service Trident nuclear missiles carried by US submarines.
On Tuesday, seventeen people were arrested at the New York offices of the insurance giant Aetna. The activists linked arms and chanted slogans “People Not Profits, Medicare for All.” The action was the first in a campaign by the group Mobilization for Health Care for All to hold sit-ins at insurance company offices nationwide.
The World March for Peace and Nonviolence kicks off today in New Zealand, marking the start of the world’s first six-continent peace march calling for the elimination of wars, nuclear weapons and violence of all kinds.
Stores, schools and other establishments were shuttered on Thursday in predominantly Arab communities in Israel, including the Biblical city of Nazareth, as 90 percent of the Arab Israeli population took part in a general strike to protest what organisers called “racist” policies and to mark the ninth anniversary of demonstrations at which police killed 13 Arabs.
On Wednesday, the Ecuadorian Police staged a violent raid on a group of indigenous people blockading the bridge to protest proposed new war and land rights laws. The attack has left at least one confirmed dead, a teacher and member of the Shuar nation, and some 49 civilians and police injured.
In India, over 10,000 engineers and account officers of state-owned telecom firm BSNLwill go on hunger strike today on Gandhi Jayanti Day demanding absorption of officers on deputation and pay revisions, nearly one and a half months after engineers struck work for four days.
About 150 immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India who had been living and working for years in Greece began a mass hunger strike on Sunday at the airport in Athens after being detained.
In Vermont, four women were arrested earlier this week after blocking entry to a nuclear plant in the town of Vernon. The four members of Vermont Yankee Shut It Down Affinity Group entered the plant housing the Vermont Yankee reactor and sat down on folding chairs. The group includes the ninety-year-old peace activist Frances Crowe.
A group of migrants from Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Palestine, and Egypt, began a highly visible hunger strike on Wednesday in France that they plan to continue until Western countries co-operate to offer them asylum.
Cara Degette/Colorado Springs Independent, via the New York Times
The story tells of his early work with the Berrigan brothers during the Vietnam War. Despite a life of hardship and imprisonment for his convictions, he continues the struggle into his old age:
At 75 he continues his crusade against nuclear weapons at missile silos across the United States, armed with a hammer and a pair of bolt cutters. He usually wears a clown suit, in homage, he says, to St. Paul’s words: “We are fools for Christ’s sake.”
Though his actions are mostly symbolic — the authorities have always seized him before he could damage a live missile — he has spent half of the last three decades in state and federal prisons.
His most recent protest unfolded on a quiet dawn last month, when he drove down a country road outside Greeley, a few hours north of Denver, used the bolt cutters to cut a hole in a chain-link fence, wedged his aging body through and stepped atop the silo of a Minuteman III nuclear missile coming up from the ground. He had enough time — about 45 minutes — to drape antiwar banners from the fence, say a prayer and try without success to open a hatch leading to the silo before he was arrested by Air Force security personnel.
Peace monuments can be found in some strange places. During a recent trip to Cardiff, Wales, a statue in the entrance way to the rather lavish Renaissance-styled City Hall caught my eye as I was visiting a collection of official buildings and public spaces.
The doves and the peace symbol there suggested some sort of anti-war message or references. I then noticed the plaque, which reads, “Her soul ignited goodness on our nuclear land; The burning bush of her sacrifice and faith will never be extinguished.” But with no apparent link to historical events, the significance of this particular statue was lost on me at the time.
After seeing the write-up in the Cardiff City Hall Visitor Information Guide, I began to understand how the statue and plaque are linked back to anti-nuclear civil disobedience at a military base in Berkshire, England. The text and the imagery at the monument actually are references to the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
As a Canadian visitor, I came to the monument with almost no grasp of the Greenham Common references. Since my trip to Cardiff, I have investigated and reflected on what I saw there.
In a write-up about the monument, the Cardiff City Hall Visitor Information Guide indicates that:
On the 27th of August 1981, a total of 36 women, four babies and six men set off on a march from Cardiff to RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire. The protest march was against the American ground launched cruise nuclear missiles to be located at the RAF base on Greenham Common. The site then became a world famous icon for protests against nuclear weapons.
The Visitor Information Guide also quotes Thalia Campbell, a Greenham Common protestor who has said that “this statue is of a woman, who is every woman from all over the world who took part in Greenham” and “she was the spark that rekindled the Peace Movement.” Read the rest of this article »
Last Saturday, about 30 activists demonstrated outside of the Los Angeles Air Force Base (LAAFB) in El Segundo, CA. The “Space and Missile Center” located there is used to monitor launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) about 160 miles northwest of LAAFB. The timing was set to precede the test of a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) from VAFB early the next morning. The Vandenberg and El Segundo bases are also used to receive and distribute communications via satellite for the targeting of conventional weapons by ground forces and airplanes as well as hunter-killer Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). These air-strikes are increasingly implicated in widespread civilian casualties despite attempts by the military to downplay them and reduce their number.
There hadn’t been a demonstration at LAAFB for many years, so this was seen as groundbreaking by the organizers. Given the obscurity of the base, and the lack of recent organizing about its mission, the turnout was seen as encouraging. More actions will probably be forthcoming.
From midnight until 3:30am Sunday morning about a dozen people also demonstrated outside the main gate of VAFB. Despite the late hour, there was a fair amount of traffic as some members of the base community and press arrived to watch the launch from an official viewing site. At 1:30 am, Fr. Louis Vitale, OFM and Sr. Megan Rice, SHCJ tried to enter the base to present a letter to the base commander from Japanese opponents to such missile tests. A guard did take the letter, though she did not unequivocally state that she would deliver it. When the two activists were stopped from entering the base they knelt and prayed. The citations mentioned “entering federal installation without permission.” They were released about an hour later and escorted across the highway from the base entrance. Future legal proceedings are “to be determined;” no date for court appearances were set.
The Japanese letter, signed by over 150 people and groups, made the point that the US frequently tests ICBMs that in fact are functional, can travel over 6,000 miles, can be launched on a moment’s notice and can carry three nuclear warheads. Such tests make it hypocritical to seriously reprimand or sanction North Korea for its recent missile tests, which would actually take 2 to 3 days to prepare for launch, only can travel several hundred miles, are not inter-continental, and as yet aren’t able of being loaded with nuclear bombs. Until the actions opposing Sunday morning’s test launch, they were unaware that the US was testing ICBMs too.
On August 6, the day started off with a vigil outside of Camp Williams Volk Field. An estimated 30 anti-war activists were organized, holding placards calling for, in-short, the ouster our military-industrial complex and the rebuilding of what the U.S. has destroyed. The fenced-in U.S. Army base loomed in the distance while police watched us with cameras in hand. This would set the tone for the next three-day Walk for Peace through Tomah, Camp Douglas and Tunnel City, Wisconsin before ending at Fort McCoy’s main gate.
Hailing from Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and New York, the protesters ranged from war veterans to activists affiliated with Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV) and Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). By the third day, 50 civil resisters turned out at Ft. McCoy to remind others of the lack of concern the government has shown for the U.S. troops. With 21,000 additional U.S. troops being redeployed to Afghanistan – along with 130,000 still remaining illegally in Iraq – the proof of the military empire’s unwillingness to desist shows with each passing day. There’s also the skewing of Afghani and Iraqi civilian death tolls along with the widening death rate of American troops.
With each step closer to our destination, we faced more opposition. People driving by yelled out, “We’re fighting for a reason!” But none of them told us what those reasons were. Why are American soldiers risking their lives for us? The Public Affairs Officer, Linda Fournier, at the base told reporters “the soldiers that are here training at Ft. McCoy and come through here, they are fighting for the rights of the people to protest.” But were we not already free before we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan? So is it for freedom? Safety? Women’s Rights? Democracy? Or is it because if U.S. soldiers were to refuse to follow unjust orders they’d risk being lambasted by their fellow officers and face punishment?
While at a hotel, a woman came up to one of us and said, “My son’s being redeployed into Kandahar, Afghanistan.” When asked if she and her son believed in what he’s doing, she replied: “Initially, we believed in the governments cause, but now we’re not sure what’s going on. He’d rather be home.”
The nine activists who trespassed and were arrested at Ft. McCoy demonstrated how we all felt. The message was clear: We’re no longer afraid. We’re tired of the wars, the lies, the threats against peace. We’re not going to go passively into quietness. You’re going to have to physically deal with us. There will be no white flags in our hands, but just a peace banner lifted above our heads in solidarity.
A column of about 10,000 anti-coup protesters marched into Tegucigalpa on Tuesday to demand the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. An additional 4,000 Zelaya supporters gathered in San Pedro Sula, the country's second largest city. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Yesterday, I attended a moving commemoration of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima 64 years ago at the Buddhist temple here in New York City (video above). They hold their annual event on August 5th, because in Japan – when the difference in time zones is taken into consideration – it is already the morning of August 6th.
There was music, poetry, and various speeches against not only the use of nuclear weapons, but all war and violence. At 7:15pm (which was 8:15am in Hiroshima), the exact time that the bomb was dropped, prayers were said as a peace bell was rung. The group of about a hundred then proceeded to walk with signs and candles some twenty blocks to a church where an interfaith service and concert was held for peace. I was very moved by the event, including the presence of a man who actually survived the horrific bombing that day.
My good friend Frida Berrigan, daughter of the longtime anti-nuclear activists Phil Berrigan and Liz McAllister, wrote a wonderful piece about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that is worth quoting at length.
In Hiroshima, Little Boy’s huge fireball and explosion killed 70,000 to 80,000 people instantly. Another 70,000 were seriously injured. As Joseph Siracusa, author of Nuclear Weapons: A Very Short Introduction, writes: “In one terrible moment, 60% of Hiroshima… was destroyed. The blast temperature was estimated to reach over a million degrees Celsius, which ignited the surrounding air, forming a fireball some 840 feet in diameter.”
Three days later, Fat Man exploded 1,840 feet above Nagasaki, with the force of 22,000 tons of TNT. According to “Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered,” a web resource on the bombings developed for young people and educators, 286,000 people lived in Nagasaki before the bomb was dropped; 74,000 of them were killed instantly and another 75,000 were seriously injured.
In addition to those who died immediately, or soon after the bombings, tens of thousands more would succumb to radiation sickness and other radiation-induced maladies in the months, and then years, that followed.
In an article written while he was teaching math at Tufts University in 1983, Tadatoshi Akiba calculated that, by 1950, another 200,000 people had died as a result of the Hiroshima bomb, and 140,000 more were dead in Nagasaki.
She then discusses where we are at today in the struggle to rid the world of these terrible weapons and provides some shocking numbers that remind us how far we have yet to go:
The nine nuclear powers — the United States, Russia, France, England, China, Israel, Pakistan, India, and North Korea — have more than 27,000 operational nuclear weapons among them, enough to destroy several Earth-sized planets.
[...]
According to the authoritative Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the United States still maintains a nuclear stockpile estimated at 5,200 warheads — of which approximately 2,700 are operational (with the rest in reserve), while the Obama administration will spend more than $6 billion on the research and development of nuclear weapons this year alone.
[...]
Keep in mind as well that the bombs which annihilated two Japanese cities and ended so many lives 64 years ago this week were puny when compared to today’s typical nuclear weapon. Little Boy was a 15 kiloton warhead. Most of the warheads in the U.S. arsenal today are 100 or 300 kilotons — capable of taking out not a Japanese city of 1945 but a modern megalopolis. Bruce Blair, president of the World Security Institute and a former launch-control officer in charge of Minutemen Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles armed with 170, 300, and 335 kiloton warheads, pointed out a few years ago that, within 12 minutes, the United States and Russia could launch the equivalent of 100,000 Hiroshimas.
What does an article he wrote for his college paper mean for a president’s policies in office?
On the front page of today’s New York Times, William J. Broad and David E. Sanger report on Barack Obama’s past and present interest in nuclear arms reduction. It centers on a 1983 article he wrote for Columbia University’s magazine Sundial in which he profiles a pair of anti-nuclear-weapons groups then active on campus and laments “the relentless, often silent spread of militarism in the country.” In those days, he recognized that the nuclear freeze many activists called for in response to Reagan’s monstrous buildup wouldn’t be enough; outright reduction, he believed, was necessary.
By all appearances, a quarter-century later, Obama hasn’t grown out of his college-age instincts. On the campaign trail and in office, he has spoken repeatedly of hope for “a world without nuclear weapons” and proposed initiatives to bring it about, including ratifying the comprehensive test-ban treaty and negotiating a new treaty to ban the production of fissile material. Earlier this year, he overruled Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s effort to secure funding for a new generation of nuclear warheads.
Predictably, nuclear reduction isn’t an easy task, politically. The usual suspects on the Right have voiced concern ever since the Columbia article surfaced late last year on the internet. Nevertheless, respected Republicans like Henry Kissenger and George Schultz—Reagan’s secretary of state—have raised their voices in favor of reduction. Lately, Obama has framed the cause for reduction mainly in terms of diplomatic efforts to keep nukes out of the hands of Iran and South Korea. While this argument has some sense to it, as well as the benefit of bipartisan urgency, it runs the risk of reducing arms control to mere tactics, jeapordizing the whole effort if, in these cases, it doesn’t work. Ridding ourselves of our biggest guns will require a whole lot more willpower than the desire to beat out a rougue state; many, many more of us will have to come to realize that we don’t want them anyway.
For those of us working to bring an end to our government’s apparently boundless faith in the efficacy of violence, Broad and Sanger’s article is encouraging. But it does raise questions about how fully Obama understands the “often silent spread of militarism in the country,” which continues under his watch. We’re still fighting two raging wars abroad and devoting enormous resources to do so. As American manufacturers lose their business arrangements with the automobile industry because of the recession, there is a real danger that more and more of them will turn to making weapons. At present, there’s no industry so dependable than war. More of our factories, workers, and communities will depend on vast military expenditures, and politicians will feel pressure to provide the wars to fuel them.
The young Obama was right about nuclear weapons: freezes aren’t enough. We’ve gone too far already, and it is long past time for reduction. We have to remind him now that nukes are only part of the problem, and that we’ll stand behind efforts he makes to find true, lasting solutions.
Today marks the 27th anniversary of the largest protest in NYC history. Upwards of one million people gathered on the Great Lawn in Central Park to rally against nuclear weapons while the UN held a Special Session on Disarmament. Two days later 1,600 demonstrators were involved in acts of civil disobedience at the consulates of five countries.
The Nation ran an editorial two weeks later heaping significant praise on the days’ events:
It was a good refresher course in the power of civil disobedience–deliberate, nonviolent violations of valid laws through which protesters invite punishment or injury to themselves in order to call attention to matters of overriding moral urgency. As carried out by the antinuclear protesters last week, the action was lawbreaking in the spirit of fidelity to law.
The following video does a good job of recapping the protest and the events that led up to it.
Relatives of people who have been disappeared by police or troops in Kashmir hold a sit-in on the 28th of every month to demand their whereabouts be released
When Irish plowshares activist Damien Moran was denied entry to the U.S. last April, I had hoped that the squelching of dissent would ease after the Bush years. But times have apparently not changed much with the new administration. On her way home from attending a Nobel Womens’ Conference in Guatemala earlier this month, Mairead Maguire, the Irish Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, was detained, questioned, fingerprinted and photographed for two hours at the airport in Houston by the Department of Homeland Security. Upon her release, Maguire stated:
This kind of behaviour and treatment is unacceptable. They questioned me about my nonviolent protests in USA against the Afghanistan invasion and Iraqi war. They insisted I must tick the box in the Immigration form admitting to criminal activities. I am not a criminal, my nonviolent acts in USA opposing the war on Afghanistan, and Iraqi, are acts of conscience and together with millions of USA citizens, and world citizens, I refuse to be criminalized for opposing such illegal policies. Every citizen has a right, indeed a moral obligation, to nonviolent civil disobedience in the face of illegal and unjust laws, especially war. If anyone is to be criminalized for these illegal and immoral policies it is the USA Government, who must be held accountable before the International community for these acts of crime against humanity.
Later in her remarks, Maguire said that she still plans on returning to the U.S. this August to participate in the annual Hiroshima Day peace vigil in Los Alamos, New Mexico. For more information, visit Pax Christi New Mexico.
Today marks the 27th anniversary of the largest protest in NYC history. Upwards of one million people gathered on the Great Lawn in Central Park to rally against nuclear weapons while the UN held a Special Session on Disarmament. Two days later 1,600 demonstrators were involved in acts of civil disobedience at the consulates of five countries. 
When Irish 
