Fr. Bix Bichsel in the hole at SeaTac Federal Prison, fasting and praying

Posted on January 23, 2012

Fr. William “Bix” Bichsel, SJ began a 3 month prison sentence at the SeaTac Federal Prison on November 10.  The sentence resulted from an action at the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on July 5, 2010.

On January 10, Bix left SeaTac, and headed to a federal transition house in Tacoma, Washington for the last month of his sentence.

That evening, friends who are Buddhist monks with the Nipponzan Myohoji Order on Bainbridge Island, were part of a group who were walking and drumming on their way to attend a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day vigil and action at the Trident nuclear sub base in Bangor.  Senji Kanaeda and Gilberto Perez decided to make a small detour to drum and pray in front of the house where Bix was now residing.

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Human rights activist sentenced to six months in federal prison for protest at SOA

Posted on January 13, 2012

from SOA Watch

SOA Watch activist Theresa Cusimano was sentenced on January 13, 2012 to the maximum prison term of six month for a trespass charge, and immediately taken into custody. She had crossed onto the Fort Benning military base in Georgia in November 2011 to protest the continued operation of the notorious School of the Americas / Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

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Three Y-12 nuclear resisters released after 8 months behind bars!

Posted on January 7, 2012 
From Ralph Hutchison, OREPA

Thursday, January 6, 2012 marks the end of eight long months of
imprisonment for Steve Baggarly, Mike Walli and Bonnie Urfer who are
scheduled to be released today from prisons in Lisbon, Ohio;
Morgantown, West Virginia; and Lexington, Kentucky. We celebrate
their faithful witness against the destructive power of thermonuclear
weapons, expressed so courageously at the Y12 Nuclear Weapons Complex
in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in the July 5, 2010 resistance action. For
each of them, the Y12 action was one of many compelling actions in
which these resisters have stood to speak truth to power. Their
odyssey through the legal system took them to jails and prisons in
Knoxville, TN; Maryville, TN; Ocilla, GA; and Oklahoma City, OK in
addition to the facilities from which they are released today.

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Dhafir moved from CMU; resentencing postponed

Posted on December 30, 2011

Iraqi-American physician and humanitarian Dr. Rafil Dhafir, jailed nearly nine years on charges involving his charity to the people of his native country during the years of economic sanctions between the 1991 and 2003 U.S.-led attacks, has been moved from the notorious Communications Management Unit into general population at the U.S. prison at Terre Haute, […]

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Bradley Manning in court

Posted on December 17, 2011

This post is updated with links to each day’s report of the Article 32 hearings, through Day 6, December 21

Day 1 – Getting into the Courtroom
7:35 AM
Manning’s pretrial hearing (called the Article 32) began on December 16, 2011 at Fort Meade in Maryland.  The weather was chilly and grey, but lightened as the day progressed.  Members of the public and media who wished to attend the trial were processed through the main visitors entrance.  Fort Meade prepared for an enormous turnout — designating a soccer-field sized parking lot for trial attendees and setting up an overflow spectator theater with video feed from the trial that could hold 100 people.

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Occupy Entergy! women arrested at nuclear power corporate office

Posted on December 14, 2011

Mic check reading of citizens' arrest warrant inside Entergy's office, from left, Frances Crowe, Susan B. Lantz, and Paki Wieland of Northampton, MA; Hattie Nestel of Athol, MA; Nina Swaim of Sharon, VT. Photo courtesy Marcia Gagliardi.

Eleven women of the Shut It Down Affinity Group occupied the offices of Entergy Corporation on Old Ferry Road, Brattleboro, Vermont, on Monday morning, December 12, and attempted to make a citizens’ arrest of the board and officers of Entergy, operator of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon.

All the women were arrested for unlawful trespass and directed to appear for arraignment on various January dates in Brattleboro Superior Court, Criminal Division.

Shut-It-Downers cited Entergy for “heedless disregard of public health, public safety, and the right of the citizenry to hear the truth.”

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Remember a resister over the holidays

Posted on December 14, 2011
Holiday Greetings People of Peace,
Oh what a year it’s been!  For those of us in the Anti-Nuclear and Anti-War Resistance Movement it has been a year of continued struggle against an ever growing (and out-of-control) Military-Industrial Complex.  From drones to nuclear weapons and more, dedicated peacemakers have steadfastly resisted the dominant culture of war.
At places like Fort Benning, Y-12, Kansas City, STRATCOM, Hancock Field, Downing Street  and Jeju Island, resisters stood their ground taking a stand for justice and peace.  They spoke out against a host of immoral and illegal actions by their governments.  And for their actions many were arrested, tried and put in prison.

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British priest jailed for nonpayment of fine

Posted on December 10, 2011

Fr. Martin Newell, center, with codefendants Chris Cole and Sr. Susan Clarkson

Fr. Martin Newell of the London Catholic Worker community was sentenced to 24 days imprisonment on Friday 9 December 2011 at Highbury Magistrates Court.  Martin was brought before the court for refusing to pay a fine arising from cutting into the Northwood Headquarters/ London
in December 2008.  The anti-war direct action was timed for the “Feast of the Holy Innocents” on the Catholic liturgical calender. The feast day follows Christmas and commemorates the massacre of children in a search and destroy mission by King Herod who saw the birth of Christ as a threat to his power.

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~ From Morgantown FCI, by Steve Baggarly

Posted on December 8, 2011

The one thing which every jail and prison does more than anything else is counting people.  We’re counted five times a day here. Three times we’re returned to our housing units to stand by our bunks and be counted, and they come through twice at night after lights out. We’re counted to the extent that when the announcement came over the intercom last night, “count time, back to your bunks for standing count” that one of the guys said, “Ok fellas, time to go to work”. In Tennessee and Georgia we were counted five or six times each day and always by two guards to ensure accuracy. They take great care lest even one of us be lost.

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British villagers block neighborhood nuke dump

Posted on December 8, 2011

A private firm’s plan to dump low-level radioactive waste in their East Midlands landfill met with nonviolent resistance on the morning of December 2. Three days before, Kings Cliffe Waste Watchers, with the backing of 98% of area residents who opposed the plan in a recent referendum, were given leave to appeal a British High Court ruling in favor of operator Augean. But the court refused to grant an order barring the waste until the appeal is concluded. Augean had earlier agreed to wait until the legal dispute was settled, but now said they’d go ahead, and could just dig it up again if the ruling was not in their favor.

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