The Nuclear Resister
January, 2012
IN THIS E-BULLETIN:
1) WOMAN GIVEN 6 MONTH PRISON SENTENCE FOR FT. BENNING PROTEST
2) THIRTY-SEVEN ANTI-TORTURE ACTIVISTS ARRESTED AT WHITE HOUSE
3) NINE ARRESTED OCCUPYING TRIDENT SUB BASE ENTRANCE ON KING DAY
4) PERSISTENT WOMEN ARRESTED AGAIN AT VERMONT YANKEE
5) PENTAGON ARRESTS MARK FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS
6) FR. BIX FASTING AND PRAYING IN LONE PRISON CELL
7) WRITE A NOTE OF SUPPORT TO ANTI-NUCLEAR & ANTI-WAR PRISONERS
8) UPCOMING NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTIONS
Woman given 6 month prison sentence for Ft. Benning protest
SOA Watch activist Theresa Cusimano was sentenced on January 13, 2012 to the maximum prison term of six month for a trespass charge, and immediately taken into custody. She had crossed onto the Fort Benning military base in Georgia in November 2011 to protest the continued operation of the notorious School of the Americas / Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
Read more here.
Thirty-seven anti-torture activists arrested at White House
MESSAGE TO OBAMA: NO GUANTANAMO, NO BAGRAM, NO NDAA!!
Thirty-seven members of Witness Against Torture were arrested in front of the White House on Thursday, January 12 around 3 p.m. Dressed in the iconic Guantanamo orange jumpsuits and black hoods, and accompanied by a cage representing indefinite detention, the activists were warned to clear the sidewalk by National Park Police or risk arrest. After occupying the sidewalk for more than three hours, they were arrested one by one.
Read more here.
Nine arrested occupying Trident sub base entrance on King Day
On January 14, 2012, activists from a local peace group blocked entry to the main gate at the Navy’s West coast Trident nuclear submarine base for nearly a half hour in an act of civil resistance to nuclear weapons.
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action held a peaceful vigil and nonviolent direct action at the main gate to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Silverdale, Washington. The group protested the U.S. government’s continued deployment of the Trident nuclear weapons system. Its continued reliance on nuclear weapons as an instrument of foreign policy is in contravention of both U.S. and international laws.
Read more here.
Persistent women arrested again at Vermont Yankee
As they participated in a walking meditation in the Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant driveway to mourn cancer deaths caused by radioactive emissions, fourteen women of the Shut It Down Affinity Group were arrested Wednesday, January 18 by Vernon police and Vermont state police when they refused to move.
Read more here.
Pentagon arrests mark Feast of the Holy Innocents
Report from Art Laffin, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Washington, D.C.
On December 28, the feast commemorating the slaughter of the holy innocents in Bethlehem ordered by King Herod, our community held an early morning witness outside the Pentagon metro entrance. Displaying a small mock drone warplane, eleven people staged a ”die-in” to represent children and numerous others who have been murdered by U.S. Drone attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and elsewhere. They were arrested and charged with failure to obey a lawful order and released several hours later with a February 17 court date. Following the arrests, as hundreds of military and civilian workers streamed into the Pentagon, the remainder of the community held a prayer service in the fenced-off area outside the Pentagon metro known as the “free speech” or “protest zone.”
Read more here.
Fr. Bix fasting and praying in lone prison cell
On January 10, Fr. William “Bix” Bichsel, SJ left SeaTac, and headed to a federal transition house in Tacoma, Washington for the last month of his sentence for a July 2010 protest at the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in Tennessee.
That evening, friends who are Buddhist monks with the Nipponzan Myohoji Order on Bainbridge Island, were part of a group who were walking and drumming on their way to attend a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day vigil and action at the Trident nuclear sub base in Bangor. Senji Kanaeda and Gilberto Perez decided to make a small detour to drum and pray in front of the house where Bix was now residing.
Bix was very happy to see and hear them. His captors were not as happy, and reported the incident. Early the next morning, Bix was abruptly awakened, shackled, and returned to SeaTac by marshals. Upon his arrival, he choose not to comply with demands and was placed in a solitary cell in the special housing unit (SHU).
Read more here.
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