Monthly Archive for August, 2010

Hiroshima & Nagasaki Memorial Actions

Four of the eight people who blocked the entrance to the current plutonium processing facility at the Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Lab, New Mexico, August 6. Photo by Felice Cohen-Joppa

The 65th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were observed around the world on August 6 and August 9.  A handful of the memorial events across the United States included acts of civil resistance calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Arrests were reported at nuclear weapons laboratories in Livermore, California (31) and Los Alamos, New Mexico (8); at the nuclear war merchant Lockheed-Martin’s facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania (7); at the missile launch test site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California (7); outside the Pentagon (8) and the strategic nuclear command center at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska (4); and blocking the entrance to the Trident nuclear missile launching submarine base in Bangor, Washington (9).  The full report on these memorial actions and more will be in the next print edition of the Nuclear Resister.  Please subscribe, or to receive a free sample copy of the next issue by first class mail, hot off the press, e-mail your postal mailing address to nukeresister@igc.org.

For links to action reports,

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E-Bulletin August 2010

The Nuclear Resister E-bulletin August, 2010 IN THIS E-BULLETIN: 1) HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI DAY ACTIONS 2) SIGN PETITION FOR VANUNU’S FREEDOM TO LEAVE ISRAEL 3) TWO WAR TAX RESISTERS BEGIN PRISON SENTENCES 4) SERVING TIME FOR PEACE IN SWEDEN by Martin Smedjeback 5) VIEW NOW!  SLIDESHOW CELEBRATING NUCLEAR RESISTANCE 6) WRITE A NOTE OF SUPPORT […]

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Bomb Plant Construction Blocked

Photos by Joshua McElwee, Staff Writer for the National Catholic Reporter

Construction on the first of three new nuclear weapons production facilities was brought to a halt on Monday, August 16, when demonstrators occupied the Kansas City, Missouri site.

Among those arrested was Nuclear Resister co-editor Felice Cohen-Joppa.

Writing for the National Catholic Reporter, Joshua McElwee reports:

“The acts of civil disobedience came at the end of a three-day conference which drew peace activists here from around the nation. The efforts were aimed at building awareness of and resistance to the construction of the weapons plant, which will replace an existing plant here.

“The new plant, which will make non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons, is set to be the nation’s first new major nuclear weapons production facility in 32 years.

“Before their arrest the protestors walked onto a soybean field being plowed by several earth moving vehicles as part of the plant building preparation effort. The group, walking in a single file, held hands; some carried large signs. They approached and surrounded one of the vehicles, forcing the driver to stop her work, and eventually leading 20 other vehicles to halt theirs as well.

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Another War Tax Resister Jailed

Carlos Stewart, photo via NWTRCC

Another man (hot on Frank Donnelly‘s heels), who had privately resisted payment of federal income tax, for reasons of conscience in opposition to war, has recently been prosecuted and sent to prison.  With belated serendipity, Carl (Carlos) Steward learned about the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) too late to avail himself of the experience, knowledge and counselling available, but not too late for the positive publicity and moral support that this network and clearinghouse for conscientious military tax refusal is well-prepared to offer.  On Hiroshima Day, August 6, Stewart reported to the federal prison camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama to serve a two-year prison sentence

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Celebrating Nuclear Resistance

Double-click on image to view in full-screen mode (18 minutes)

Celebrating Nuclear Resistance from the Nuclear Resister on Vimeo.

A slide show with music prepared for the Resistance for a Nuclear Free Future gathering, July 3-5, 2010, at Maryville College, Tennessee, and the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex. Celebrating 30 years of the Nuclear Resister, Nukewatch, and the Plowshares Movement.

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Vanunu Out of Prison Again – Sign Petition for Freedom to Leave Israel

Please sign this petition, adding your signature to a letter that has been sent by Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate, and Gerry Grehan, Chair of the Peace People, Northern Ireland, to President Barak Obama, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, other world leaders and prominent personalities, to ask for their help in obtaining the lifting of all restrictions on Mordechai Vanunu and for him to be granted freedom to leave Israel.
Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Out of Prison Again

By DANIELLA CHESLOW (AP) – August 8, 2010

JERUSALEM — An Israeli nuclear whistleblower who spent 18 years behind bars was released from jail Sunday after serving an additional three months for violating his release terms.

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Record of Civil Resistance Keeps U.S. Activist Couple Out of Canada

Report from George & Maureen Kehoe Ostensen

On July 22, 2010, we packed up our 1982 VW camper van and drove to Lubec with the intention of crossing the Canadian border to explore the coast for wildlife, to experience the incredible tides and to do some bicycling. However, the Canadian Border Patrol people decided that George was “inadmissible”, meaning that we had to return to the United States because of his long record of acts of nonviolent resistance to militarism.

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War Tax Resister Reports to Federal Prison

(From Larry Dansinger, Maine War Tax Resource Center, via NWTRCC.org)

About 40-50 people rallied in Bangor, Maine, in support of war tax resister Frank Donnelly on June 14, 2010. Donnelly, who had pled guilty in 2009 to tax fraud, appeared in court and was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. He self-reported to the federal prison at Estill, North Carolina on July 26 to serve his sentence.

Frank Donnelly on sentencing day

Frank Donnelly is not a typical war tax resister, most of whom try to express their values of nonviolence directly to the IRS. Some send letters to the IRS, some fill out a return but do not pay, and some don’t file at all. Donnelly knew he could not pay for war, but he did that by under- reporting his income. The IRS interpreted that as tax fraud and prosecuted him in federal criminal court.

His statement to the court was simple; he declared that he should have presented his war tax resistance differently, more openly. But, he was clear his refusal to pay sprung from his opposition to all wars.

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~ from Skenäs Prison, Sweden, by Martin Smedjeback

SERVING TIME FOR PEACE IN SWEDEN

17th of June, 2010

I am led into the central office of the prison Skenäs outside of Norrköping. Two guards help me to carry my stuff.  “It looks like you are moving in here!” says one guard. “That’s exactly what I am doing, temporary anyway,” says I. “Do you have your sentence papers with you?” asks another guard. “Yes,” I answer and hand them the papers which say that I was convicted to four months in prison. I am asked to step out and wait while they handle some of my paperwork. I take a seat on the stairs. The sun is shining. I start reading yesterday’s paper. Two inmates come out from their dorms.  Sitting on a bench on the other side of the yard, one of them shouts to me, ”Are you new here?” “Yes,” I shout back. “What are you in for?” he continues. ”Criminal damage,” I answer. “What have you destroyed?”  “Bazookas,” I answer.

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