California peace activist convicted in German court for protests against U.S. nuclear weapons 

Posted on January 26, 2022
A long-time U.S. peace activist was found guilty of four counts of trespassing January 17 in Cochem, Germany, charges that stemmed from multiple protests against the stationing of U.S. nuclear weapons at Germany’s Büchel Air Force Base* in the west-central state of Rhineland-Pfalz. 
Susan Crane, a member of the Redwood City, California Catholic Worker House and a Plowshares disarmament activist, was tried by District Judge Alexander Fleckenstein who imposed a fine of 1,000 Euros or 200 days in jail. The sentence was heavier than in recent related protest cases, the judge explained, because Crane showed no remorse for joining several “go-in” actions involving entry into the base.

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Prison as an unavoidable and useful part of resistance, by Stellan Vinthagen

Posted on January 12, 2022
It is simple: If you resist, you take a risk. As a logical consequence, prison must be part of our movement strategies and preparation as individuals.
from Waging Nonviolence
by Stellan Vinthagen 
November 10, 2021

No one wants to be locked up in a prison. It is a punishment, an absurd medieval form of punishment that’s really quite primitive. In some prisons, violence, abuse and threats — among guards, prison gangs and individuals — are notorious and systematic. All prisons are not equally violent, but all prisons lock up inmates in a “total institution” that controls every little aspect of their life, 24/7. Therefore, all inmates are — without exception — disciplined, humiliated, deprived, socially isolated and exposed to a meaningless life of “killing time.” In this way, prisons dehumanize everyone involved, those carrying keys and those who don’t.

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Court update re: scheduled compliance hearing, from Mark Colville of the Kings Bay Plowshares

Posted on January 8, 2022

Mark, wife Luz and Bodhi

[Most of the Kings Bay Plowshares, now done with their prison sentences, are on three years of supervised release. Noncooperation brings consequences, as Mark Colville writes about below. His court hearing is now scheduled for February 4.]

by Mark Colville

January 7, 2021

For those who have been trying to keep abreast of my never ending mud-wrestle with the federal government: Thank you, and, uh, there’s an update…
Back in November, I received notice of a summons to appear in a Hartford courtroom for a “compliance hearing” before the honorable Michael P. Shea. At issue is my polite refusal to be housetrained by the local probation office here in New Haven, which expects me to pee in a cup for them and voluntarily disclose all of my personal financial information (which, let’s face it, ain’t much to tell anyway!), simply because I’ve been found guilty of blaspheming against the almighty nuclear god of the national security state. We managed to get the thing postponed until this coming Monday, and have spent the last few weeks getting ready for possible retaliatory strikes that might ultimately include another sojourn in prison.

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Arrests in Two States for Drone War Foe

Posted on December 9, 2021
A principal organizer for more than a decade of periodic protests at two U.S. drone warfare bases was arrested with little warning as she held signs near the entrance of each base this fall. 
The first of Toby Blomé’s two unintended arrests came during the Shut Down Creech actions held September 26 – October 2 outside Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada. Creech is the heart of training and operations for all U.S. remotely-piloted armed warplanes.  This year, more than two dozen people – including members of Veterans for Peace, CodePink and Ban Killer Drones – greeted the “chair force” commuters twice a day, morning and evening. With banners and dramatic tableaus depicting innocent victims, they demanded an end to U.S. drone attacks and a ban on “killer drones.” Other messages urged the military personnel to follow their conscience, and visit askvets.org for support to leave warmaking behind.

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Nuclear resister John LaForge’s May 2021 testimony to Cochem District Court, Germany

Posted on December 8, 2021

Cochem District Court
Ravenestrasse 39
56812 Cochem

Re: 2010 Js 60864/18

John Michael La Forge
31 May 2021

Testimony To the Court:

My name is John La Forge. I am 65 years old, am a U.S. citizen, and I’ve worked in the peace and anti-nuclear movement since 1979. I have been employed by the peace organization The Progressive Foundation in the U.S. since 1992 as a researcher, editor of its Nukewatch Quarterly, and co-director. In my first job for Nukewatch, I traveled about 30,000 miles over a 3-month period to visit all 1,000 land-based intercontinental ballistic missile sites then in the United States. The research was for the Nukewatch book Nuclear Heartland which featured the first pubic atlas detailing the exact locations of the giant ICBMs.

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Digging for Peace –  Resisting Nuclear Weapons

Posted on December 8, 2021

photo by Susan van der Hijden

by Brian Terrell

November 18, 2021

On Wednesday, October 20, I joined “Vrede Scheppen,” “Create Peace,” about 25 peace activists from the Netherlands, Germany and Austria at the airbase at Volkel, Netherlands, making a plea for an end to nuclear weapons. This base is home to two Dutch F16 fighter wings and the United States Air Force 703rd Munitions Support Squadron. In violation of international and Dutch law and part of a “sharing agreement,” the U.S. Air Force maintains 15-20 B61 nuclear bombs there and in violation of the same laws, the Dutch military stands ready for the order to deliver those bombs.

Besides our small multinational protest, on that same day the Dutch and U.S. militaries at Volkel were participating in another international collaboration, this one for a different purpose than ours, the annual NATO exercise “Steadfast Noon,” literally a rehearsal for the extinction of humanity.

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Nuclear disarmament activist Sr. Megan Rice dies at age 91

Posted on October 27, 2021
Sr. Megan Gillespie Rice, S.H.C.J., Presente!
January 31, 1930 – October 10, 2021

photo by Felice Cohen-Joppa

May her memory be a blessing. ❤
Peace and nuclear disarmament activist, Catholic nun and member of the Transform Now Plowshares, Megan was arrested several dozen times for acts of nonviolent protest at military and nuclear weapons sites. She spent time in prison for actions at the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex and for protesting torture at Ft. Benning’s U.S. Army School of the Americas.
Dear friend, we are thinking of times spent with you over the years in courtrooms, around our kitchen table and at protests (at the Nevada Test site, Ft. Benning, Los Alamos, Y-12, Bangor nuclear sub base and elsewhere). Being with you was such a gift.
With gratitude for the example and witness of your life, and for all you did to build a peaceful and nuclear-free world.

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Daniel Hale’s sentencing statement released; GoFundMe started to support him in prison – please help if you can!

Posted on September 24, 2021

photo by Bob Hayes

from Stand with Daniel Hale

Posted below is the statement read by Daniel Hale at his sentencing on July 27, 2021, written by hand in his jail cell after having pled guilty to one count under the Espionage Act of 1917, along with an article by Kevin Gosztola in the Dissenter.

Daniel’s core support team has started a GoFundMe to cover his prison expenses and create a welcome home fund to get him on his feet again upon release. Please donate if you are able! CLICK HERE TO DONATE.

Daniel Hale revealed to us once hidden truths about the shameful legacy of the US drone assassination program. A legacy that continues to this day. Drone warfare not only brings terror upon the world’s poorest, least deserving people but it also invites terror upon us as a nation making everyone less safe.
As a consequence of Daniel’s courageous whistleblowing, he has been saddled with debt, left precariously employed, and now made to serve more than 3 years behind bars. With his permission, this fundraising campaign has been organized by Daniel’s support team to help alleviate the financial duress caused by a decade’s long criminal investigation, prosecution and now, incarceration.
Some of the funds raised will go towards ensuring the safe housing and care of Daniel’s beloved cat Leila. A large portion of the dollars raised will be put towards paying off Daniel’s loans and student debts. The remaining twenty amount will provide Daniel with the funds needed to make phone calls and purchase commissary items so he can stay in touch with friends and family and live more comfortably while incarcerated for the years to come. Any additional funds raised will contribute towards Daniel’s efforts to secure employment, transportation and housing when he is released in 2024.
Daniel would like to express his immense gratitude towards the outpouring of support that he has received thus far.
Daniel wishes that you only contribute if you are in a financial position to do so.
If you are on a fixed income, not fully employed, or make less than 15 dollars an hour then Daniel asks that you please save your money or consider donating to a more needy cause.
Whether you are in a financial position to donate or not, you can contribute greatly by sharing this fundraising campaign on social media platforms and telling Daniel’s story.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE.

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Two activists arrested blockading Raytheon

Posted on August 15, 2021

Photo by Uprise RI

Early on the morning of August 12, members of the FANG Collective and RAM INC (Resist and Abolish the Military Industrial Complex) blocked entry and exit from the Raytheon Missiles and Defense factory in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Right at the gatehouse, they parked two old cars perpendicular to the four entry and exit lanes, and two people locked themselves onto the vehicles. Other members of the group held signs and banners across the roadway to greet arriving workers and live-streamed the action on Facebook.

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8 people cited at Trident nuclear submarine base at Bangor, Washington, marking the 76th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings

Posted on August 10, 2021

photo by Hieu Nguyen

from Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action

Thirty-one people were present on Monday, August 9 at a demonstration against Trident nuclear weapons at the Bangor submarine base in Silverdale, Washington. The demonstration, organized by the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, was at the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor Main Gate during morning rush hour traffic.

At around 7:15 a.m., after peacekeepers entered the roadway and safely stopped traffic, eight demonstrators set themselves and their banners on the roadway blocking entry into the Main Gate. 

Mack Johnson, Silverdale; George Rodkey, Tacoma; and Denny Duffell, Seattle carried a banner reading “Hiroshima Nagasaki Never Again.” Michael Siptroth, Belfair; Mark Sisk, Seattle; and Gilberto Perez, Bainbridge Island carried a banner reading “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons/ Nuclear Weapons are Illegal/ Get them out of Kitsap County.” Sean Foley, Belfair; and James Manista, Olympia held a banner reading “Nuclear Weapons are: Immoral to use, Immoral to have, immoral to make.

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