The Nuclear Resister

 by Ellen Barfield

A quick but comprehensive trial today in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Maryland for three women who protested drone targeting at the National Security Agency at Ft Meade, Maryland, resulted in acquittal on one charge and conviction but low fines on the other two charges.

Australian peace activists inside Swan Island Military Facility. Swan Island Peace Convergence Photo

from Swan Island Peace Convergence

Before dawn on October 2, eight peace activists entered the top secret Swan Island military base near Queenscliff, Australia. The group entered in the early hours of the morning to nonviolently disrupt preparations for the imminent war in Iraq. Four of the activists were discovered, detained and assaulted by SAS soldiers on the base. The treatment of the activists by the SAS bordered on torture.

The experiences of the four were:
– Forcibly stripped naked, handcuffed, struck on the face and choked
– Activists’ clothing were cut off with knives
– Hessian bags were placed over their heads and they were told “welcome to the bag, motherfucker” and asked “do you want to go for a swim” before being dragged naked across the ground
– SAS personnel stood on activists’ heads and backs causing injury and said “If you move we will kick you in the face”
– Dragged and dropped on the ground when they didn’t respond to questions

photo by Sharon Delgado

Eleven people, including clergy and veterans, were arrested during two days of peace demonstrations at Beale Air Force Base in California, site of the surveillance drone Global Hawk, which performs reconnaissance for armed drones. The demonstrations at Beale were coordinated with Campaign Nonviolence, a national campaign calling for an end to war, poverty, and climate change. Over 250 nonviolent actions have been carried out in coordination with Campaign Nonviolence in the past week alone.

Two people were arrested at Beale on Monday, September 29, at 3:45 p.m. The Reverend John Auer, a retired United Methodist pastor from Fresno, was assisted in his wheelchair by Guarionex Delgado, a veteran from Nevada City. Mr. Delgado pushed Rev. Auer’s wheelchair the length of the mile-long road to the Wheatland Gate. Rev. Auer stated that he was attempting to deliver a letter to Colonel Phillip A. Stewart, the Base Commander, informing him of a recent anti-drone resolution passed by United Methodists in the California-Nevada region.

Attempting to deliver a letter to President Obama

by Ken Butigan, Pace e Bene, Campaign Nonviolence

Fr. John Dear joined scores of activists, including Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin, at the White House on the morning of September 23 to announce the launch of Campaign Nonviolence’s long-term movement for a culture of peace free from war, poverty, the climate crisis and the epidemic of violence. The assembly linked opposition to the new war launched by the U.S. this morning — bombing Syria and Iraq — to the violence of poverty and climate change.

Sara Beining and her daughter

A single mother and Iraq war veteran is in jail in Colorado Springs. Sara Beining went AWOL a second time last summer after a nearly year-long delay in resolving the original charge that resulted when she left her unit at Ft. Hood in January, 2007.

Just over one year ago, September 14, 2013, Beining was stopped for a traffic offense and held on an outstanding military warrant, more than six years after she and her newlywed husband had together walked away from war service. She was briefly jailed, then given a plane ticket and orders to report back to Fort Carson, Colorado, where, she said, “I tried for another year to play the game” and be quietly processed out of the army as many other recent military refusers have been.

But in her absence without leave, Beining had given birth to a daughter in September, 2008 and become an outspoken opponent of war.