The Nuclear Resister

Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ December 28. photo by Charlie Rooney

DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE

John Heid Arrested at Davis Monthan AFB, Home of Active Combat Predator Drone Unit

On the morning of the Feast of Holy Innocents, December 28, about 15 peace activists gathered outside the gates of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona to commemorate and grieve the contemporary slaughter of innocents.  The group held signs calling for an end to drone warfare.  An Arizona Air National Guard unit based at Davis-Monthan since 2007 operates armed Predator drones used by U.S. military in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

[Nuclear Resister update: Professor Shimoji was released from jail on December 28.]

Information from Civic Activity – an organization supporting citizens opposing spread of radiation.

On December 9, 2012, Masaki Shimoji, an associate professor of economics at Hannan University was arrested and jailed by the Osaka Prefectural Police.  This arrest is extremely unjust in form and content.  It is clearly a crackdown on citizens’ movement.

Professor Shimoji and others are opposing the “area-wide management of the disaster debris” measure, which intended to spread, incinerate and bury harmful substances in the disaster debris all over Japan that should not be incinerated, such as radioactive material and asbestos.  Osaka-city is trying to begin regular incineration and burial beginning in February 2013.

Below is the timeline for the arrest. A letter from Prof. Shimoji follows this information.

from Upstate Drone Action:

In DeWitt, New York,  Town Court, in a swift four and a half hour trial on December 13, Judge Jokl found eleven of the original fifteen protesters of Reaper drones, guilty of trespass. Hancock Air National Guard Base is home of the MQ-9 Reaper drone maintenance and training center, adjacent to Syracuse Airport where soldiers pilot drones used in the extra judicial killings in Afghanistan.

Judge Jokl did not allow the war crimes indictment into evidence, thus limiting his scope of interpretation to NY State law. Within ten minutes of deliberation the judge found the eleven guilty.

The judge sentenced Ed Kinane and Rae Kramer, of Syracuse, Clare and Ellen Grady, and James Ricks of Ithaca, to 15 days in jail. Ed Kinane and James Ricks started their 15 day sentence in Onondaga County Jail immediately. The other three report to jail at 5 pm on January 11th, 2012.

Courtroom scene when David Coombs played a Quantico video. Sketch by Clark Stoeckley.

Accused Army whistleblower Bradley Manning testified on November 29 and 30 at a motions hearing for court martial proceedings in Quantico, Virginia. It was the first time he spoke in public since his arrest and imprisonment 917 days ago in May 2010.

Manning testified about the abusive treatment he was subjected to in captivity, in support of a motion to dismiss the charges against him or at least mitigate any punishment should he be convicted.

from Save Jeju Now

[Nuclear Resister editors’ note:  This is the latest of many ongoing acts of resistance to the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island, Korea.]

On November 28, in response to the news that the Jeju Naval Base project budget for 2013 – 200,900,000,000 Won – was passed completely without any cuts by the National Assembly and the majority holding Saenuri Party, Jeju citizens, villagers and activists rose up in anger with direct action. Three people were arrested.

Two vehicles were parked in front of the gates to the naval base site and people chained themselves underneath. At one gate, Anglican priests held a prayer service and at the other another person climbed on the roof of a van, wrapping himself in barbed wire. People surrounded the vehicle with their bodies, firewood, junk and whatever else they could find as usual. Soon hundreds of police arrived. They surrounded the Anglican prayer service so that they couldn’t leave and join the other gate’s struggle. Then they moved to the main gate of the construction site.