The Nuclear Resister networks the anti-nuclear and anti-war resistance movement while acting as a clearinghouse for information about contemporary nonviolent resistance to war and the nuclear threat. Our emphasis is on support for the women and men jailed for these actions. This blog is the online companion to the quarterly Nuclear Resister newsletter, a more comprehensive chronicle.
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Photo of Martha Hennessy by Bud Korotzer
On June 19, fifty people marched to the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in New York City after gathering at the nearby Isaiah Wall for a nuclear disarmament vigil. Nineteen of the activists blocked the doors, in protest of the U.S. decision to boycott negotiations on a nuclear weapons ban treaty. While the group chanted “U.S. join the talks, ban the bomb,” the blockaders were soon arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. All of them were taken to the 7th Precinct on Pitt Street, and were released at 5 p.m. with desk appearance tickets and an arraignment date of August 24th at 100 Centre Street.
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by Kathy Kelly
June 20, 2017
This week, in New York City, representatives from more than100 countries will begin collaborating on an international treaty, first proposed in 2016, to ban nuclear weapons forever. It makes sense for every country in the world to seek a legally binding ban on nuclear weapons. It would make even more sense to immediately deactivate all nuclear weapons. But, by boycotting and disparaging the process now underway, the U.S. and other nuclear armed nations have sent a chilling signal. They have no intention of giving up the power to explode, burn and annihilate planetary life. “The United States is spending $1 trillion USD over the next thirty years to modernize its nuclear weapon arsenals and triple the killing power of these weapons,” says Ray Acheson, programme director at Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Acheson also notes that the excessive spending for nuclear weapons contrasts with U.S. cuts to vital anti-poverty programs. On June 19th, more than a dozen people blocked the entrances to the U.S. Mission to the UN, in protest of Washington’s decision to boycott the negotiations. They were arrested for disorderly conduct, but I believe it’s incomparably more disorderly to plan for nuclear war.
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Photo by Aaron Jorgensen-Briggs
Report on arrests
from Frank Cordaro
Our numbers remain small. A total of seven folks showed up at 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 10 for the fourth Saturday “Stop the Killing, Shut it Down” vigil/picket line/direct action Des Moines Catholic Worker and Veterans for Peace campaign. The Guard security and Des Moines police were prepared. The gate at the main entrance was already shut when we arrived at 10 a.m.
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Photo by JC Guillaume via LaLibre.be
A broad international coalition of peace activists, environmentalists, anti-globalists, and more were involved in a month of preparation and action for the NATO summit in Brussels at the end of May.
Occupy Beale Photo
Thanks to Barry Binks for his report on the action.
On May 22 and 23, peace activists gathered at Beale Air Force Base for their monthly anti-drone warfare protest. On the morning of the 23rd, Air Force police had placed traffic cones in the entry road to separate traffic into 3 lanes – one lane to exit, one lane for the military entering the base and another for contractors and civilians going in. Just before 7 a.m., Elliott Adams, Shirley Osgood, Mauro Oliveira and Michael Kerr moved the cones so that they blocked the roadway, and then laid down across the road.
The contractors began to try to drive around the die-in blockade, and the activists moved their bodies and the cones closer to maintain the blockade. One big 18 wheeler drove down the shoulder of the road past all of the stopped traffic. When the angry driver came to the gate, he stopped just a foot and a half from Elliott Adams’ legs. Several protesters ran in front of the truck, yelling and trying to stop the driver from running over Adams. The driver started screaming and swearing, revving his motor, honking his horn and threatening to drive over Elliott’s legs. Finally, one of the Air Force police spoke to the driver.
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On Saturday, May 20, the 9th day of a continuous vigil and picket line at the entrance of the Iowa Air National Guard 132nd Drone Command Center in Des Moines, the Des Moines Catholic Workers and the Bill Basinger Des Moines Chapter of Veterans for Peace hosted the “Honor the Dead – Stop the Killing Arms Forces Day” Ezekiel 33 Watchman’s Witness.
Twelve protesters were present. The Iowa National Guard security and Des Moines police were ready for more, and the National Guard security had already closed down the main gate. This allowed the activists to set up on the drive in front of the closed Command Center entrance gate. Some of them shared reflections, including Gil Landolt and Ed Bloomer.
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Chelsea Manning @xychelsea
Here’s to freedom and a new beginning. https://www.instagram.com/p/BUNp_YDB54-/?taken-by=xychelsea87 … #chelseaisfree
from The Guardian
American army private is free after serving seven years of 35-year sentence for leaking classified documents and videos downloaded to WikiLeaks
Chelsea Manning, the army private who released a vast trove of US state secrets and was punished by the US military for months in penal conditions denounced by the UN as torture, has been released from a military prison in Kansas after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence.
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Photo by Julia Moras
In Germany, where nonviolent political blockades have been mostly decriminalized, an anti-nuclear activist who refused to pay a record €1650 fine has gone to jail instead.
In 2012, Hanna Poddig and others blocked a uranium transport train. The action was part of an international campaign targeting the production of uranium reactor fuel that involves several facilities across Europe. The train was forced to return to the fuel fabrication plant in Gronau. The Gronau plant has supplied fuel rods for a tritium production reactor in South Carolina, a direct link between civilian and military nuclear programs.
On May 11, Hanna Poddig turned herself in to the jail at Hildesheim, where she could serve up to 110 days in lieu of the fine.
UPDATE, June 2, 2017: Hanna Poddig was released from prison after the balance of her fine was paid.
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photo by Karol Milner
from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
Fifty-five people were present on May 13, the day before Mother’s Day, at the demonstration against Trident nuclear weapons at the Bangor submarine base. Fourteen demonstrators attempted to block the main highway entrance into the base and were cited by the Washington State Patrol.
At around 3:30 p.m., six demonstrators entered the highway carrying a large banner stating, “THE EARTH IS OUR MOTHER—TREAT HER WITH RESPECT”, and briefly blocked traffic at the Main Gate at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. They were removed from the highway by the Washington State Patrol.
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April 26 highway blockade, Photo by Jerry Monroe Maynard
Drone warfare resisters gathered for the 3rd annual Shut Down Creech actions, April 23-29. Activists from across the United States joined daily themed vigils at the gate of Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada, while two blockades shut down non-emergency traffic on Nevada State Highway 95, the main road leading from Las Vegas to the rural air base where lethal missions are remotely piloted for the Pentagon and CIA. Complementing the nonviolent actions were evening educational programs in Las Vegas, including one featuring two Air Force whistleblowers who worked in the drone program. A commercial aired on Las Vegas TV stations during the week, urging that drone pilots “refuse to fly.”
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