by Ellen Barfield
With the two year anniversary of the Transform Now Plowshares action today, July 28, and with Megan, Greg, and Michael (MGM!) seeming to be stable at their prison assignments for now, it is a good time to review the action, the trial and sentencing, and the subsequent responsibility of all of us to support and move forward their work resisting nuclear weapons.
These hot, humid days of deep summer certainly bring back memories of being in hot, humid eastern Tennessee two years ago and beginning to travel Oak Ridge and Knoxville area roads which later became very familiar after so many visits for hearings, trial, and sentencing. When I took Megan’s first call from jail and heard her elation that they had gotten to exactly where they wanted and done all they had planned, it was clear the blessings of God or the universe had again supported the work of disarmament, as so often has happened with plowshares actions.
This was evident too in the fact that they were found by a long-employed guard with prior
experience with peace activists at Rocky Flats, so he knew that he faced no physical threat
and did not use violence. The video of that meeting we later saw in court was touching; MGM
bowing and holding out their hands in friendship, offering bread and flowers, and the guard’s
calm demeanor in response. What a shame that plant management fired him for doing his job
so well. His union continues to support his claim of wrongful dismissal, as well they should.
So then the media frenzy began. I did my best to convey to cameras and scribbling pencils
that Plowshares is a movement, not an organization, and that the whole point of 3 less-than-
youthful people hiking steep ridges in the dark and cutting and crawling through four fences to
risk their bodies to tag and dent the storehouse of tons of highly enriched uranium which has
only one genocidal use, was to try again, as have over 100 prior plowshares actions since 1980,
to wake humanity up to the horrendous maintenance and further development of mass killing
machines, and the knowledge that officials cannot end the arms race, so citizens must.
Long months of legal maneuvering ensued. The prosecutor sought approval from above for the
harsh sabotage charge only ever used for Plowshares actions. Defense tried and failed to get
first-hand testimony admitted as evidence from former Attorney General Ramsey Clark about
personally helping write the nuclear weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty, and therefore knowing
exactly what they meant when they said the nuclear nations must totally disarm at an early date.
A terrific legal team of national and local attorneys formed and wrangled about the best courtroom
strategies. Out awaiting trial, MGM spoke and wrote and attended Congressional hearings where
the meaning of their action was distorted with the government’s focus on the shocking security
breach that MGM were able to penetrate the “Ft Knox” of highly enriched uranium, instead of the
total breach of all human security which weapons of mass destruction are at every step of their
existence, from the mine to the missile silo or submarine to the cooling pools in lieu of permanent
“disposal”, sucking up so much money so critical to meeting human needs.
Media attention continued, and as a military veteran myself and ambivalent about the inordinate
notice peace veterans can gather as compared to other run of the mill peaceniks, I was interested
to find out how strongly an old nun trumps 2 veterans! To listen to many outlets you would almost
think Sister Megan acted alone. Excellent and very accurate work also came when reporters could
spend the time to get to know and understand, especially the long article run in the Washington
Post by Dan Zak with excellent photos by Linda Davidson, drawings by Jeffrey Smith. Exciting
news has come that Mr. Zak has a publisher for the book-length examination of the plowshares
movement he is on sabbatical to write.
Gratifying support from activists and concerned people all over the world generated speaking
opportunities for MGM, donations for legal and travel expenses, and hundreds of signatures on a
petition to the Attorney General seeking to prevent the sabotage charge, and later thousands of
postcards to Judge Thapar urging that he recognize that MGM are not terrorists but responsible
citizens pointing out their government’s crime, and to depart downward from the 30-year possible
sabotage sentences.
However, since sentencing, much generous concern has centered on the relatively mild and
expected 3 and 5 year terms, instead of the ongoing government crime of not only NOT
disarming, but modernizing and reconfiguring nuclear weapons for future missions. It has been
cringe-inducing to see much activist time devoted to calling for reduced sentences or pardons for
MGM, instead of pushing for abolition of all nukes now.
To quote one supporter who does get it:
Misterbadexample
Beyond what you think about civil disobedience and symbolic disarmament, the US has some 1,950 strategic weapons ready to fire at a moment’s notice; the Russians have 1,800. It wouldn’t take much in the way of misunderstandings for those missiles to fly and start splitting atoms. But instead of whittling down those numbers, the US is embarking on a modernization program that will cost us over $1 trillion over the next few decades. This despite the fact that in 1996 the ICJ declared virtually all use of nuclear weapons contrary to international law.
Meanwhile, there are petition drives to get Sister Megan (and now Father Carl) out of prison. I agree they should be released, but I don’t think that serves them. What they want is for the rest of us to get off our couches and do something about the weapons. We owe it to them to take a stand.
PLEASE dear friends, keep pushing to abolish weapons. Sign the petition at nuclearzero.org
supporting the brave Marshall Islanders in their lawsuits against the 9 nuke nations for not disarming,
and learn more and find activist ideas at wagingpeace.org/nuclearzero, help organize and speak out
on the upcoming Hiroshima and Nagasaki days, support strengthening the recent bills in the US
Congress to reduce weapons budgets. Write MGM to tell them what you are doing. That is what
they want us to do.