The Nuclear Resister

Witness Against Torture photo

100s DEMAND THAT GUANTANAMO BE SHUT DOWN

from Witness Against Torture

Clad in orange jumpsuits and Shut Down Guantanamo t-shirts, activists with Witness Against Torture (WAT) took over the Hart Senate Building on January 11 with a message for Senators, staffers, and the general public. They marked the 15th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The message was “Shut Down Guantanamo,” “No Torture Cabinet” and “Hate Doesn’t Make U.S. Great.” These statements were painted on banners that activists dropped from a balcony and spread on the floor as 9 members of the group dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods held a die-in, mourning those Muslim men who died at Guantanamo without ever being charged with a crime. The nine, plus three others, were arrested by Capitol Police as supporters sang “Oh America, don’t believe their lies. Their politics of hate will destroy our children’s lives.” The balconies were crowded with onlookers as the action unfolded. One of the two who unfurled the “No Torture Cabinet” banner was also taken into custody.

from Update Drone Action

On December 23, as many throughout the world prepared to celebrate the birth in Palestine of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, four members of the grassroots group Upstate Drone Action were arrested at the main entrance of Hancock Reaper Drone Base on East Molloy Road in the town of DeWitt in upstate New York.

from Code Pink, Veterans for Peace and Nevada Desert Experience

On Thursday morning, November 10, activists blocked the main gate to Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada, impeding early morning Air Force commute traffic. Activists called upon base personnel and Las Vegas police present to “stand down” or assist in the arrest of Commander Col. Case Cunningham for “Crimes Against Humanity.” Creech Air Force Base plays a central role in the U.S. drone targeted assassination program, where the U.S. uses remotely controlled unmanned planes from the desert of Nevada to kill suspects in many countries overseas. Thousands of civilians, including hundreds of children, have been killed according to independent researchers.

Peace Pilgrims Lament at Pine Gap

from #ClosePineGap

Posted by Cairns Peace by Peace

Early on Thursday morning, September 29, five “peace pilgrims” walked on to the Pine Gap U.S. military base at Alice Springs, in Arrernte country, to lament the death caused by the base and to resist the violence that is perpetrated there.

Jim Dowling, Margaret Pestorius, Andy Paine, Tim Webb and Franz Dowling were the pilgrims. Christians committed to non-violence, most of us had undertaken “peace pilgrimages” before on this and other military facilities.

While walking through the Air Show at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach the weekend of September 10-11, Steve Williams-Baggarly of the Norfolk Catholic Worker was arrested. He had received “ban and bar” letters from the base after previous arrests there. The peace activist has a November 7 court date and faces 6 months in prison for trespassing.

by Steve Williams-Baggarly

The annual Air Show at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach is the Navy’s largest open house in North America. Some quarter of a million people attend it over three days, and this year it hosted some very special guests—all 6500 fifth graders in Virginia Beach Public Schools. All were students in the school system’s STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and were invited to the base on the first day, otherwise closed to the public, for interactive science displays along with their own private Air Show.