CODEPINK activists disrupt warhawk cabinet at budget hearing

CODEPINK photo

from CODEPINK

“NO MORE MONEY FOR THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX”

On the afternoon of May 16, CODEPINK activists disrupted a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. featuring the Secretaries of Defense, Commerce, and State. The hearing, called “A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 24 Budget Request: Investing in U.S. Security, Competitiveness, and the Path Ahead for the U.S.-China Relationship,” prioritized war preparations over de-escalation and cooperation. 

Three of the activists wore t-shirts saying “China is Not Our Enemy.” Wearing a shirt and holding a sign that both read “$$$ FOR THE POOR NOT WAR,” CODEPINK organizer Olivia DiNucci stood up and said, “We don’t need more money for the military industrial complex. We need money for the poor and the planet!”

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Activists blockade U.S. Navy’s west coast nuclear ballistic missile sub base before Mother’s Day

from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action

photo by Glen Milner

Activists blockaded the entrance to the U.S. Navy’s west coast nuclear submarine base, which is home to the largest operational concentration of deployed nuclear weapons, in a nonviolent direct action the day before Mother’s Day.

Eight peace activists from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, holding banners reading “The Earth is Our Mother, Treat Her With Respect” and “Nuclear Weapons are Immoral to Use, Immoral to Have, Immoral to Make,” briefly blocked all incoming traffic at the Main Gate at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Silverdale, Washington as part of a May 13th Mother’s Day observance.

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Three activists detained protesting nuclear power plant opening in Turkey

Three temporarily detained in Mersin for protesting against nuclear power plant’s opening
The Turkish gendarmerie temporarily detained Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) parliamentary candidate Hakan Güneş and two anti-nuclear activists for protesting against the opening ceremony of the Mersin Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant.
The Turkish gendarmerie on April 27 temporarily detained two anti-nuclear activists and Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) parliamentary candidate Hakan Güneş as they reacted against the delivery of nuclear fuel to the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in the Mediterranean Mersin province. The three were later released.

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Seven German war resisters interrupt construction work at Büchel Air Base

From left to right: Inga Blum, Ernst-Ludwig Iseknius, Ria Makein, Johannes Willbold, Gerd Büntzly, Miriam Menzel-Krämer, Lies Welker, Christiane Danowski

On May 8, the day Germans commemorate the end of a fascist regime and the end of World War II, seven opponents of war entered the Büchel air base. They nonviolently disrupted the preparation for nuclear war by obstructing construction work for the new runway. The new runway is a prerequisite for the deployment of new nuclear weapons that will soon be stationed in Büchel. 

The participants from all over Germany, aged between 43 and 75, thus set a sign for life on the anniversary of the end of the war and demanded an end to the threat of mass destruction, which violates international law. They were arrested and taken to the police station in Cochem before being released.

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Pre-trial hearing for Nevada nuclear test site arrests

photo by Casey Carter

Friends,

Many thanks for the prayers, messages of solidarity, concern and curiosity about Monday’s (April 10) pre-trial hearing in Beatty, answering to charges of trespass at the Nevada National “Security” Site, formerly the Nevada Test Site, back in October. We were good company with some of the holdovers from the Sacred Peace Walk that finished a few days before.

It was a strange morning in Beatty “Justice” Court. The only truths, even on the most mundane level, spoken there Monday morning were spoken by me and John. Likewise, while Deputy DA John Friel and Judge Gus Sullivan occasionally and vaguely referenced Nevada law, John and I seemed the only ones in the room actually familiar with or concerned about the statutes in question.

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Five anti-drone warfare activists arrested at Holloman Air Force Base

photo by Shirley Tung

from Shut Down Drone Warfare

Five Anti-Drone Warfare Activists – Including Three Veterans – Arrested Wednesday Morning at Main Gates of Holloman Air Force Base Drone Training Center Near Alamogordo, New Mexico

HOLLOMAN AFB, NM (Wednesday, April 19) – Five anti-drone warfare activists – including three military veterans – were arrested here shortly after dawn on Wednesday morning for allegedly blocking the entrance to the main gates of Holloman Air Force Base, site of the largest U.S. killer drone training program in the U.S. (700 killer drone pilots/operators graduate annually).

Toby Blomé, Ken Mayers, Elliot Adams, Michael Kerr and Richard Bishop were arrested by Otero County, New Mexico deputies, and charged with misdemeanor obstruction of a roadway. A trial was set for May 15 in Otero County, New Mexico.

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8 nuclear abolition activists arrested at Nevada test site on Good Friday 

photo by Theo Kayser

from Nevada Desert Experience

On Good Friday, April 7, participants in the Nevada Desert Experience’s Sacred Peace Walk engaged the Department of Energy and Nye County Sheriff’s department in dialogue and civil resistance at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS, formerly the Nevada Test Site). Eight peace walkers, calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, were arrested, cited for trespass and released at the NNSS: Jacques Linder, Philadelphia, PA; Richard Bishop, Missoula, MT; Sylver Pondolfino, Staten Island, NY; Tessa Epstein, Salt Lake City, UT; Mark Babson, Salem, OR; George Killingsworth, Berkeley, CA; Theo Kayser, St. Louis, MO; and Catherine Hourcade, Stockton, CA. They have the option of paying a $620 fine or appearing in Justice Court in Beatty, Nevada to contest the charge.

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Four arrested after blockade of two gates at Trident nuclear base in Scotland

photo by Margaret Ferguson Burns

by Margaret Ferguson Burns

This morning, 5th April – an early start and a fine action.

Lying in a lock-on, enjoying the sounds of the gate sliding shut behind us, the warning klaxon overhead, high above the electrified, barbed wire topped main entrance to HMNB Clyde (home of the UK’s nuclear powered and armed submarines of mass destruction) – and the merry call of “Bandit Alarm; North Gate closed; traffic within the base divert to…” blaring out from the loudspeakers.

The heavy rain splashing chill on our faces in the dull coldness, and creeping through the many layers of clothing.

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Three activists arrested at Creech Air Force Base

photo by Theo Kayser

from Nevada Desert Experience

A group of 15 concerned citizens blocked the gate at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. The drone base is on the route of the week-long Sacred Peace Walk, and the peace walkers protested there to bring attention to the illegal drone assassinations conducted by the Air Force and the CIA and possibly other governmental agencies at Creech. 
Three of the activists were arrested. Loranell Breyley (from Medina, Ohio, a retired 70-year-old Lutheran Pastor) and Sylver Pondolfino (age 65 from Staten Island, New York and a member of the Church of Stop Shopping Choir) were arrested for blocking the roadway. CJ Preston (age 24 from Berkeley, California) was arrested for writing the word “drones” on a stop sign which then read “Stop Drones”. They were taken to the Clark County Detention Center.

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CODEPINK confronts warmongering diplomat

CODEPINK photo

CODEPINK activists went to Congress on March 22 to demand diplomacy, not war, during the Senate testimony of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Blinken was testifying before a Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled “American Diplomacy and Global Leadership: Review of The FY24 State Department Budget Request.” The activist group showed up with signs and messages reminding the committee members and Blinken that the United States should actually start practicing diplomacy before they discuss how to fund it.

One by one, five of the protesters stood up holding signs referencing key areas where Blinken is failing as a diplomat including: “Ukraine: Peace Talks Now!”; “China is Not Our Enemy”; “No $$$ to Israeli Apartheid”; “Cuba Off Terrorist List”; “End Cuba and Venezuela Sanctions”; and “No War!”

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