The Nuclear Resister

Photo by Justin Norman

From Ferguson to Guantánamo: White Silence Equals State Violence
Demonstrators Interrupt U.S. Senate; Block D.C. Central Cell Block Entrance

from Witness Against Torture

Witness Against Torture held one action at two locations on January 12 in Washington, D.C. condemning domestic racism and the violation of human rights in the War on Terror.

Inside the United States Senate chamber at 2:30 pm, eleven demonstrators interrupted Senate proceedings to call for prosecutions of those who committed torture, as detailed in the U.S. Senate report on CIA interrogations. Chanting “Torture, It’s Official, Prosecute Now!” the protestors addressed the Senate before being arrested by Capitol Police. In the Senate Visitors Center, another group held banners with such slogans as “Accountability for Police Murder, Accountability for Torture.” Ten were arrested in the Visitors Center.

by Art Laffin

On December 29, over 50 people from the Atlantic and Southern Life Communities held a nonviolent witness at the Pentagon to commemorate the feast of the Massacre of the Holy Innocents (the actual feast was on Sunday, December 28). The noon-time witness began with a procession in which participants carried banners and signs from Army Navy Drive to the designated “protest” area located near the Pentagon south metro entrance. The lead banner, carried by young adults, read: “Peace To All Children of the Earth.”

Upon our arrival we encountered a sizable Pentagon police presence who directed everyone to go into the fenced off designated protest area. Ten did not comply and proceeded farther along the building side of the sidewalk holding a large banner that said “Wage Peace–Practice Nonviolence.” I also held a sign which said “Love Your Neighbor Means Don’t Bomb, Occupy and Kill Them!” At first, it appeared the ten of us would be stopped. But surprisingly, we were able to move farther down the sidewalk so that we could face the rest of the community who were directly across from us behind the fence in the police designated protest area.

from the Support Dr. Shakir Hamoodi Facebook community

Dr. Shakir Hamoodi was released from the Federal Prison Camp in Leavenworth, Kansas this week, and transferred to a halfway house in Columbia, Missouri. He will stay there for an undetermined time, then transfer to house arrest (in his home) until the end of his sentence. Although the halfway house is not ideal, this is one step closer to the time he completes his sentence – a sentence he is serving because he paid for food, medicines, clothing, and shelter for his own poor family members who were suffering under the brutal sanctions on Iraq from 1991-2003.   His final release date is April 7, 2015.

You can read background information here.

DECEMBER 27 UPDATE – Dr. Hamoodi is now under house arrest.  Read more here.

Kathy and Georgia after court. Photo by Jane Stoever

Two peace activists sentenced for drone warfare protest at Whiteman Air Force Base

from Voices for Creative Nonviolence

On December 10, Human Rights Day, a federal magistrate found Georgia Walker of Kansas City, Missouri and Kathy Kelly of Chicago, Illinois guilty of criminal trespass to a military installation. On June 1, the women attempted to deliver a loaf of bread and a citizens’ indictment of drone warfare to authorities at Whiteman Air Force Base. Judge Matt Whitworth sentenced Kelly to three months in prison and Walker to one year of supervised probation. Kelly will begin her prison sentence in January.