The Nuclear Resister

The July 27th test missile launch by USA in violation of Non Proliferation Treaty failed!

by MacGregor Eddy

Fr. Louie Vitale and MacGregor Eddy (myself) were arrested at 1:20  a.m. July 27,  protesting the launch of a nuclear weapon delivery system from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.   The missile was destroyed by Vandenberg Air Force Base over the Pacific Ocean because of a malfunction (anomaly) .

Jim Haber and Mary Lou Anderson of the Nevada Desert Experience as well as World War II veteran Bud Boothe and legal observer Kelly Gray attended the midnight protest of the ICBM launch from Vandenberg Space Command near Lompoc, California. The nuclear-capable, solid fuel, high speed test missile was set to land in Kwajalein Atoll, in the Marshall Islands of the Pacific Ocean.

July 24, 2011

Dear friend,

As we write this, 1,200 police in riot gear are descending upon Gangjeong village, the site of resistance to the US/ROK naval base; 500 are from the mainland peninsula and 700 from Jeju.

Last week, undercover police arrested three leaders. The village Chief Kang Dong Kyun was released, but Brother Song Kang Ho and Ko Kwon Il still remain in prison along with peace activist Choi Sung-hee, who has been in prison since May 19.

Peace activist Bryan Law being taken away in a police car from Rockhampton Airport after he damaged an Australian helicopter. Photo by Chris Ison

BRYAN LAW DISARMS MILITARY HELICOPTER

For over two months Bryan Law has been telling the authorities and everyone else he was going to disarm a military helicopter during the Talisman/Sabre U.S./Australian military exercises, as an act of  nonviolent resistance to the Afghan war.

Friends and foes alike barely believed it possible. But in broad daylight at 9 a.m. on July 21, Graeme Dunstan helped Law cut the lock on a perimeter fence at Rockhampton Airport and Law, despite very  poor health from diabetes,  rode his tricycle onto the tarmac and  hammered on the helicopter with a garden mattock.

A miracle? One can only think so.

Bryan’s action follows in the tradition of the Ploughshares Movement,  the nonviolent disarmament of weapons of war. Inspiration is found in the Bible scriptures of Isaiah (2:4) and Micah (4:3) where the prophets tell of a time when swords will be beaten into ploughshares, and Nations will no longer prepare for war.

Nonviolent resistance to this (Australian) winter’s fourth annual Talisman Sabre war games in Queensland was anchored at a community center in Rockhampton, where a few activists have been publicly promoting the protests for months.  Notably, Bryan Law regularly spoke out on the town mall, declaring his intention to disarm a helicopter during the military exercises.  Police arrested him for speaking out, only to be chastened by the judge who declared the case a matter of free speech, but nevertheless continued the case.

But then another offense was alleged, and Law was cited July 8 with threatening an aircraft, a crime punishable by up to ten years in prison. He was released with an order to stay away from the military base – an order breached two weeks later when Law kept his promise [see ploughshares story].