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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by Jason Nellis
Mercury, Nevada – On Friday, April 20, more than two dozen people were arrested during a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration for nuclear abolition and indigenous rights (to end the occupation of the Western Shoshone Nation’s homeland) in the roadway leading to the Nevada National Security Site (N.N.S.S., formerly known as the Nevada nuclear Test Site).
Thirty-three people were detained on N.N.S.S. land until the remaining crowd left the roadway, uphill towards the historic Peace Camp. Twenty-five of those arrested were issued written warnings by Nye County, with the threat that if they return for such ritual, supervised line-crossing events the warning will turn into an actual citation with attached court dates. But eight men and women – the “Good Friday 8” – were taken to the Pahrump Jail (1520 E. Basin Ave., Pahrump, Nevada).
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[Good Friday actions at the Nevada Test Site, Livermore Labs and Lockheed Martin in Pennsylvania will be added to the Nuclear Resister website soon.]» Read more…
Liz McAlister and Phil Berrigan with baby Frida
From Waging Nonviolence
Nuclear weapons ruined my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way
I want to offer you something different than the barrage of facts and figures around nuclear weapons. But let’s establish the basics. There are nine countries that possess them: France, China, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea and — of course — Russia and the United States. Together these nine countries possess a total of 14,575 nuclear weapons, with the United States and Russia accounting for 92 percent of them.
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MESSAGE FROM THE KINGS BAY PLOWSHARES Like most of you who have been supporting and praying for The Kings Bay Plowshares, the seven of us are very surprised that a year has passed since our April 4, 2018 faith witness at (Trident) Naval Station Kings Bay in St. Mary, Georgia.
It appears our decision to apply the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to our defense has slowed down the works. We were last in court November 19, and we are still awaiting the government’s response to several of our motions.
On the bright side, our lawyers think the delay is a good sign that we have stumped the system by making it work hard to deny us our rights.
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Photo by John Amidon
from Shut Down Creech
Week-long Actions Protest Killing of Civilians in Expanding U.S. Killer Drone Program
CREECH Air Force Base, Nevada – Six people – holding up bloody hands to illustrate everyone’s complicity in war crimes – were arrested at Creech drone base about 7:50 a.m. on Wednesday, April 3 as they stood at the entrance to Creech Air Force Base drone center in an attempt to stop the killing of civilians in the ever-expanding, worldwide U.S. killer drone program.
Two women and four men – two of whom are military veterans – were arrested and taken to the Clark County Jail on misdemeanor counts. When arrested they were holding a banner reading: “Drones = Blood on our Hands.” The theme of the protest was “No more blood on our hands. Stop the terror. Stop the drone wars.”
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Basel Burgan has been released on bail after seven days in detention by Jordanian authorities. Basel became the focus of concern in Jordan when he was put into administrative detention on Tuesday, March 19. He was detained and then arrested that day during a meeting where he and his lawyer had voluntarily gone in for questioning with the state prosecutor after being summoned. » Read more…
photo by Ryna-Ria Ignacio
from the Des Moines Catholic Worker
Veterans for Peace and Catholic Workers from across the Midwest converged on the Iowa Air National Guard Drone Command Center in Des Moines on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day at 1 p.m. Eight activists were later arrested for blocking the entrance.
The Midwest Catholic Workers – a loose collection of dozens of autonomous communities spread out in urban shelters, soup kitchens and rural farmsteads across the region – were holding their annual “Faith and Resistance Retreat” March 15-17 in Des Moines. This year’s focus was the two year Des Moines Catholic Worker and Veterans for Peace “Close the Des Moines Drone Command Center” campaign.
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photo by Len Tsou
For the third time in nine years, the Pacific Life Community (PLC) met in Menlo Park, California for their annual gathering, each time concluding with a blockade of the main gate at the nearby Lockheed Martin factory in Sunnyvale that produces the intercontinental ballistic missiles for launching nuclear weapons from both U.S. and British Trident submarines.
On Monday, March 18, about 50 people from the Pacific Life Community were joined outside the Lockheed Martin gate by members of Code Pink and the Musicians Action Group, a marching ensemble of percussion and horns who enlivened the crowd of activists with rollicking renditions of Down by the Riverside and other peace and labor rights songs. A large banner made for the last PLC blockade at Lockheed Martin – four feet tall and long enough to block four lanes of traffic – was rolled out and carried around the intersection with a bold-lettered message for the auto and rail commuters passing by: Lockheed Weapons Terrorize the World.
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Photo by Ellen Davidson
from Veterans for Peace
Two U.S. Veterans For Peace were refused bail at Ennis District Court
Charged with Trespass and Causing Criminal Damage at Shannon Airport
A group of seven U.S. Veterans for Peace took part in a protest against U.S. Military Base at Shannon Airport on Sunday, March 17th.
WHY? Shannon used for refueling troop planes bound for Middle East wars in which up to one million [1,000,000] children have died since 1991.
MARCH 29 UPDATE: At a preliminary hearing on March 28, Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff were granted bail and after 12 days in Limerick Prison, released on March 29 pending trial. Their passports were taken and they were ordered to stay away from airports. The men may not be able to leave Ireland before their trial.
Two U.S. veterans were arrested at Shannon Airport on March 17 for entering the airfield to inspect and investigate an OMNI Air International plane on contract to the U.S. military. The two, Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers, were refused bail at Ennis District Court on March 18. (See below for support actions.)
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from BBCA Virginia judge ordered her taken into custody until the grand jury’s work is finished or she decides to testify.
Manning said she shared everything she knows during her court-martial.
Manning was found guilty in 2013 of charges including espionage for leaking secret military files to Wikileaks, but her sentence was commuted.
Manning, 31, told US District Judge Claude Hilton that she would “accept whatever you bring upon me”, but would not testify, the Associated Press reported.
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