Author Archive for jack

Page 14 of 68

Military recruitment disrupted; Two arrested at University of Michigan career fair

Posted on February 13, 2023

@StopCampGrayling photo

Compiled from whatsleftypsi.com and The Base Among the Jack Pine by river valley revolt

Protesters disrupted a University of Michigan career fair in Ann Arbor on February 9, in solidarity with the movement to Stop Camp Grayling.

A number of military, police, and surveillance recruiters were gathered in a western hall of the Michigan Union that afternoon when anonymous members from the crowd suddenly shouted: “You have blood on your hands!” and squirted red liquid “blood” on the tables of both the NSA (National Security Agency) and the U.S. Navy. Police on the scene responded to this nonviolent disruption by tackling two protesters outside the hall and then arresting them. The two activists were cited for trespass and released a few hours later.

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Nuclear Resister E-bulletin Winter 2023

Posted on February 8, 2023

Winter 2023 IN THIS E-BULLETIN LINK TO VIDEO OF ZOOM PROGRAM CELEBRATING 200 ISSUES OF THE NUCLEAR RESISTER! AMERICAN ACTIVIST IN GERMAN PRISON FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROTEST   TWO WOMEN LOCK ON AT UK’S TRIDENT NUCLEAR SUB BASE IRISH PEACE ACTIVISTS ACQUITTED ON CRIMINAL DAMAGE CHARGE  ITALIAN PACIFIST SPENDS 7 MORE MONTHS IN PRISON   APRIL […]

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Turi Vaccaro completes seven more months in prison

Posted on February 6, 2023

Photo by Comunità delle Piagge

The Italian pacifist Turi Vaccaro, known for his ascetic lifestyle and numerous barefoot and silent protests against war, was arrested and again imprisoned on December 2, 2021. When last released from prison in April, 2020, the anti-war activist anticipated his eventual return to jail “because I’ll break some law to stop the war.”

His repeated acts of principled noncooperation with war making, police and the courts led to his being apprehended that day at the train station in Florence. Authorities said that he still had five months left to serve from earlier convictions, plus two more months for good measure. His most recent arrests were during widespread protests of the American-run MUOS military satellite ground station in Sicily.
Friends concerned over the 72-year-old activist’s declining health arranged for Vaccaro to serve any remaining sentence with the Comunità delle Piagge in Florence, and he was released there on July 25, 2022.

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Irish peace activists acquitted on charge of criminal damage

Posted on January 29, 2023
January 25, 2023

The trial of two peace activists, Edward Horgan and Dan Dowling, ended today at the Circuit Criminal Court in Parkgate Street, Dublin after a trial that lasted ten days.

Almost 6 years ago on 25th April 2017, the two peace activists were arrested at Shannon Airport and charged with causing criminal damage by writing graffiti on a US Navy aircraft. They were also charged with trespassing on the curtilage of Shannon Airport. The words “Danger Danger Do Not Fly” were written with a red marker on the engine of the warplane. It was one of two US Navy aircraft that had arrived at Shannon from Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia. They subsequently flew on to a US air base in the Persian Gulf having spent two overnights at Shannon.

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Two women locked-on at the entrance of the UK’s Trident nuclear submarine base in Scotland

Posted on January 22, 2023

Photo by Finlay Hobson

Margaret and Willemien, greeted by name on arrival, locked-on at the North Gate at Faslane HMNB Clyde on January 22 in celebration of the 2nd anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons coming into force, and to make peaceful protest against the UK government’s continued intention to retain and proliferate Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction. 

The protest lasted just under five hours in the usual cauld and damp. There were over seven police vans including the cutting crew; two cars, one 4WD; four of the vans full of police; plus 16 assorted officers around us outside the gate, and the usual MOD officers behind the closed gate.

~ from Billwerder Prison, Hamburg – Prison reflections by American nuclear resister John LaForge

Posted on January 19, 2023

January 15, 2023 This month has three important political anniversaries, anti-war and anti-nuclear holidays if you will, events I’ll celebrate privately for a change, since I’m temporarily cooling my heels in a German prison on the west end of Hamburg. It’s not that I killed or robbed very many people, but I have acted contemptuously […]

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American Activist Enters German Prison for Protesting U.S. Nuclear Weapons Based There

Posted on January 10, 2023

John speaks outside of the prison before the start of his sentence (Photo by Marion Küpker)

Amidst heightened nuclear tension between NATO and Russia in Europe, U.S. peace activist John LaForge entered a German prison on January 10, 2023 to serve jail time there for protests against U.S. nuclear weapons stockpiled at Germany’s Büchel Air Force Base, 80 miles southeast of Cologne. LaForge entered JVA Billwerder in Hamburg as the first American ever imprisoned for a nuclear weapons protest in Germany.

The 66-year-old Minnesota native and co-director of Nukewatch, the Wisconsin-based advocacy and action group, was convicted of trespass in Cochem District Court for joining in two “go-in” actions at the German airbase in 2018. One of the actions involved entering the base and climbing atop a bunker that likely housed some of the approximately twenty U.S. B61 thermonuclear gravity bombs stationed there.

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Peace activists take on the Pentagon and its corporate outposts – Decry the Merchants of Death

Posted on January 3, 2023

Decry the Merchants of Death
by Kathy Kelly

Peace activists take on the Pentagon and its corporate outposts.

Days after a U.S. warplane bombed a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killing forty-two people, twenty-four of them patients, the international president of MSF, Dr. Joanne Liu walked through the wreckage and prepared to deliver condolences to family members of those who had been killed. A brief video, taped in October, 2015, captures her nearly unutterable sadness as she speaks about a family who, the day before the bombing, had been prepared to bring their daughter home. Doctors had helped the young girl recover, but because war was raging outside the hospital, administrators recommended that the family come the next day. “She’s safer here,” they said.

The child was among those killed by the U.S. attacks, which recurred at fifteen minute intervals, for an hour and a half, even though MSF had already issued desperate pleas begging the United States and NATO forces to stop bombing the hospital.

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Celebrating 42 years and 200 issues of the Nuclear Resister!

Posted on December 26, 2022
Thanks to all of the people who joined us on Zoom on December 3 to celebrate – not just 42 years and 200 issues of the Nuclear Resister – but four+ decades of a vibrant, persistent, creative, international, inspiring, courageous and hopeful resistance movement for a peaceful and nuclear free future!

Since 1980, the Nuclear Resister has reported on more than 100,000 anti-nuclear and anti-war arrests while encouraging support for more than 1,000 imprisoned activists. The special online celebration includes photos, songs and stories from decades of direct actions and more, honoring our resistance history and drawing inspiration for today’s movement for a peaceful, nuclear-free future.

For those of you who weren’t able to attend, here’s the link to watch the video. 

https://youtu.be/gDu9UCK632o

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Why John LaForge won’t pay fines imposed for nuclear weapons actions in Germany

Posted on December 23, 2022
Nuclear resister John LaForge, co-director of Nukewatch, writes about why he will not pay fines imposed for trespass convictions for two nonviolent actions at Büchel Air Base in Germany, where up to 20 U.S. nuclear weapons are stored. On January 10, he will begin a 50 day sentence at Billwerder Prison in Hamburg.

from CounterPunch

December 16, 2022
by John LaForge
Why Not Pay Fine Imposed for Actions Against Nuclear Threats

I’ve been sentenced to a 50-day jail term in Germany for refusing to pay fines imposed for trespass convictions after two “go-in” actions against nuclear weapons threats. The actions were two uninvited entries into Germany’s Büchel Air Base where up to 20 US hydrogen bombs are stationed under a policy called “nuclear sharing.” The sentence will begin January 10 at the Billwerder prison in Hamburg.

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