The Nuclear Resister

from Disarm Now Plowshares

Friends,

At 10:15 a.m. on February 9, William “Bix” Bichsel, SJ was released from SeaTac Federal Detention Center.  According to Theresa Power-Drutis, Bix’s first request was to “head over the bridge to Bangor.”  His second request was a latte.  His chauffeurs went for the second request.  With all the milk he consumed during his liquids-only fasts while in solitary he seems to have rediscovered a desire for dairy products.

report from Art Laffin, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Washington, D.C.

Focusing on the theme: LET ALL THE WORLD’S CHILDREN LIVE–REMEMBER THE MASSACRED CHILDREN AND CREATE THE BELOVED COMMUNITY IN A DISARMED WORLD, over 60 people from the Atlantic and Southern Life Communities, and the New Jerusalem Community in Philadelphia, gathered in Washington, D.C. from December 27-30 for the annual Holy Innocents Faith and Resistance retreat. The retreat included a moving ritual on the theme of the retreat, several compelling panels with parents and children reflecting on their experience living in Catholic Worker and resistance communities,  prayerful reflection and liturgy,  three nonviolent actions, and a spirited talent show.

photo by Leonard Eiger

On January 14, 2012, activists from a local peace group blocked entry to the main gate at the Navy’s West coast Trident nuclear submarine base for nearly a half hour in an act of civil resistance to nuclear weapons.

Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action held a peaceful vigil and nonviolent direct action at the main gate to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Silverdale, Washington. The group protested the U.S. government’s continued deployment of the Trident nuclear weapons system. Its continued reliance on nuclear weapons as an instrument of foreign policy is in contravention of both U.S. and international laws.

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.

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.