German nuclear resister jailed for 2012 train blockade

Posted on May 16, 2017

Photo by Julia Moras

In Germany, where nonviolent political blockades have been mostly decriminalized, an anti-nuclear activist who refused to pay a record €1650 fine has gone to jail instead.

In 2012, Hanna Poddig and others blocked a uranium transport train. The action was part of an international campaign targeting the production of uranium reactor fuel that involves several facilities across Europe. The train was forced to return to the fuel fabrication plant in Gronau. The Gronau plant has supplied fuel rods for a tritium production reactor in South Carolina, a direct link between civilian and military nuclear programs.

On May 11, Hanna Poddig turned herself in to the jail at Hildesheim, where she could serve up to 110 days in lieu of the fine.

UPDATE, June 2, 2017: Hanna Poddig was released from prison after the balance of her fine was paid.

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Fourteen arrested at Mother’s Day anti-nuclear weapons demonstration

Posted on May 16, 2017

photo by Karol Milner

from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action

Fifty-five people were present on May 13, the day before Mother’s Day, at the demonstration against Trident nuclear weapons at the Bangor submarine base.  Fourteen demonstrators attempted to block the main highway entrance into the base and were cited by the Washington State Patrol.

At around 3:30 p.m., six demonstrators entered the highway carrying a large banner stating, “THE EARTH IS OUR MOTHER—TREAT HER WITH RESPECT”, and briefly blocked traffic at the Main Gate at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.  They were removed from the highway by the Washington State Patrol.

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Shut Down Creech arrests as activists blockade drone base entrance and Highway 95

Posted on April 30, 2017

April 26 highway blockade, Photo by Jerry Monroe Maynard

Drone warfare resisters gathered for the 3rd annual Shut Down Creech actions, April 23-29. Activists from across the United States joined daily themed vigils at the gate of Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada, while two blockades shut down non-emergency traffic on Nevada State Highway 95, the main road leading from Las Vegas to the rural air base where lethal missions are remotely piloted for the Pentagon and CIA. Complementing the nonviolent actions were evening educational programs in Las Vegas, including one featuring two Air Force whistleblowers who worked in the drone program. A commercial aired on Las Vegas TV stations during the week, urging that drone pilots “refuse to fly.”

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Seven activists arrested while praying for peace at Lockheed Martin on Good Friday

Posted on April 19, 2017

photo of Good Friday, 2014 action at Lockheed Martin

from the Brandywine Peace Community

At noon on April 14, the Brandywine Peace Community held their annual Good Friday Stations of Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Resistance at Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.  Crosses laid between banners and signs, while a bell of peace tolled. Each station had a reading not of today, but for these times (for all times) ranging from Chief Sitting Bull to Sojourner Truth, Howard Zinn, Dr. King, Bonhoeffer, Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, William Penn, Gandhi, Jesus.  The backdrop was war, forever more war: U.S. cruise missiles attacking Syria, a near-nuclear bomb (the mother of all bombs) dropped on Afghanistan, the threat of nuclear war with North Korea.  Lockheed Martin, the U.S.#1 war profiteer, the world’s largest arms producer, was the obvious place for us to be on Good Friday.  Understood?

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Seven Catholic Workers arrested on Good Friday at Nevada nuclear test site

Posted on April 16, 2017

On Good Friday, April 14, Catholic Workers and other anti-nuclear activists went to the Nevada National Security Site (formerly known as the Nevada nuclear Test Site) for a nuclear stations of the cross organized by the Las Vegas Catholic Worker. A nonviolent action at the boundary line of the site led to the arrests of four women and three men. They were processed and released on site.

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Four arrests at Good Friday witness at Pentagon

Posted on April 15, 2017

Photo by Lin Romano

by Art Laffin

From Holy Thursday afternoon to Good Friday afternoon, some 20 friends gathered in Washington, D.C. for a Faith and Resistance retreat and public witness that was organized by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker and held at St. Stephen and the Incarnation Church. Those who participated in the retreat/witness included members of Jonah House, the Atlantic Life Community and students from Loras College from Iowa. The theme of the retreat was: “Standing With the Crucified–Stop Crucifixion Today.” Holy Thursday was a day of reflection, sharing, action planning and Liturgy. Good Friday was a day of public witness.

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Good Friday nuclear weapons protest at Livermore Lab, 29 arrests

Posted on April 14, 2017

Photo by Mark Coplan

Early in the morning on Good Friday, April 14, more than 100 peace activists gathered at Livermore nuclear weapons Lab in California.  They walked in a Stations of the Cross procession to the Lab’s west gate.  Twenty-nine participants of various ages and faith traditions were arrested after crossing onto Lab property.  They were given a court date of May 15 to appear in  county court in Fremont.

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Sixteen arrested at Nevada nuclear test site, five at Creech drone base

Posted on April 14, 2017

Nevada nuclear test site, Photo by Wendy Doetkott Rogan

from the Nevada Desert Experience

The Nevada Desert Experience held its 23rd annual Sacred Peace Walk (SPW), which happens every year during Holy Week. On Saturday, April 8, the SPW began at the Atomic Testing Museum, and continued through the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street.  The Maundy Thursday finale for the interfaith group on April 13 was a foot washing ceremony at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), followed by a prayer-action at the white line on the public road leading into the nuclear test site.  Sixteen people were arrested by Nye County sheriffs. The NNSS continues to receive shipments of so-called low-level nuclear waste.  Since the site is on Western Shoshone land, the prayer-activists carried Shoshone permits granting them the right to be present at the NNSS.

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Nine activists arrested on Good Friday at NY drone base

Posted on April 14, 2017

Photo by Ellen Grady

Nine peace activists were arrested on April 14 during a Good Friday witness against drone warfare at Hancock Air Base in New York.  While blocking the entrance into the base, some of them stood with arms outstretched against replicas of cross-shaped drones, while others held cut-outs of drones topped with signs, some of which read “Drones Crucify Love”, “Drones Crucify Families”, “Drones Crucify Due Process”, “Drones Crucify Diplomacy” and “Drones Crucify Peace”. 

When they arrived around 10 a.m., two of the activists delivered a “War Crimes Indictment” to the guards at the guard shack. Supporters stood nearby holding a banner that read, “Whatsoever You Do To The Least, You Do To Me”.

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Nine activists arrested during a snow storm after blocking gate to “christening” of warship

Posted on April 1, 2017

from the Aegis 9

Nine activists were arrested during a snow storm on Saturday morning, April 1 at Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Maine during a “christening” of a destroyer outfitted with so-called “missile defense” systems.

The group blocked the ceremony entry gate and were charged with trespass on BIW property – which ironically is ultimately paid for by taxpayer $$$. BIW is owned by General Dynamics.

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