August 2016
IN THIS E-BULLETIN
ANTI-NUCLEAR DEMONSTRATORS ARRESTED IN CHINA DURING DAYS OF PROTEST
SUPPORT ACTIONS NEEDED FOR CHELSEA MANNING AND LEONARD PELTIER
ARRESTS AT HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI DAY ACTIONS IN U.S. AND FRANCE
SIX ACTIVISTS ARRESTED WHILE ATTEMPTING CITIZEN’S ARREST OF CALIFORNIA DRONE BASE COMMANDER
REVIEW OF DAN ZAK’S BOOK “ALMIGHTY: COURAGE, RESISTANCE AND EXISTENTIAL PERIL IN THE NUCLEAR AGE” (ABOUT THE TRANSFORM NOW PLOWSHARES AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS)
PLEASE SUPPORT IMPRISONED ANTI-NUCLEAR AND ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS – THE NUCLEAR RESISTER NEEDS YOU!
__________________________________________
Anti-nuclear demonstrators arrested in China during days of protest
Thousands of residents of Lianyungang, a port city in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, took to the streets for four days of anti-nuclear protest, (coincidently?) from Hiroshima Day, Saturday, August 6 through Nagasaki Day, August 9. The mass assemblies began just days after it was revealed that the city was favored on a short-list of potential sites for a joint French-Chinese uranium reprocessing facility that is integral to China’s expansive nuclear power plans.
While state-run media ignored the protests, social media facilitated their organization and spread news and images from the demonstrations around the world. As a result, at least one man was detained by police on a charge of disrupting social order, accused of encouraging support for city workers preparing to go on strike over the issue.
About a dozen people were reportedly detained for throwing stones. By Wednesday, August 10, the local authority reacted to the protests with a single post to its Weibo social media account: “The preliminary work of the nuclear fuel recycling project’s site is suspended.”
Read more here.
Support actions needed for Chelsea Manning and Leonard Peltier
CHELSEA MANNING
Imprisoned whistleblower Chelsea Manning received a document from Army officials on July 28 telling her that she is being investigated for serious new charges related to her July 5 attempt to take her own life. If convicted, Chelsea could face punishment including indefinite solitary confinement for the remainder of her decades-long sentence, reclassification into maximum security, and an additional nine years in medium custody. They may negate any chances of parole.
In addition to these new charges, the Army continues to deny Chelsea access to basic health care, including inadequate medical treatment after her suicide attempt. Since she was first taken into custody in 2010, Chelsea, a transgender woman being forced to serve out her sentence in an all-male prison, has been subjected to long stretches of solitary confinement and denied medical treatment related to her gender dysphoria.
Sign the petition here.
Tell the Secretary of the Army: Punishing Chelsea Manning for attempting to take her own life after systemic mistreatment is inhumane. Drop these new charges, and immediately give Chelsea access to adequate health care.
Read more here.
LEONARD PELTIER
The clock is ticking before President Obama leaves office, and Leonard Peltier’s bid for clemency hangs in the balance. The International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee is asking for help. There will be a media forum, a human rights conference, trips to Capitol Hill and more in Washington, D.C. in December. Donations to help it all happen can be make here.
The Defense Committee also asks that people take action and contact President Obama to tell him it is time to free Leonard Peltier. People can also write to the Office of the Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice, to express strong support for Peltier’s application for clemency. More information and multiple ways to contact the president, as well as the Office of the Pardon Attorney, are here.
Arrests at Hiroshima & Nagasaki Day actions in U.S. and France
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA
On August 6, 30 members of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker, the Guadalupe Catholic Worker and Veterans for Peace gathered at Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During their peace vigil, Mike Wisniewski and Karan Benton were approached by base security and warned that they were in violation of Ban and Bar letters received from the base commander after prior arrests there. The two activists were told to leave immediately or face arrest. Wisniewski chose to leave the protest area, while Benton refused to leave and was immediately arrested.
Later, after the vigil and prayer service, Los Angeles Catholic Worker Jed Poole and Veterans for Peace member Chris Knudson crossed the green line marking the lawful protest area, processed down the base road and were arrested near the visitor’s center. While those arrests were taking place, David Omondi walked into the street without the intention of being arrested, but was nevertheless arrested. All were cited for trespass and released 30 minutes later at Vandenberg Village, seven miles from the base gate.
Read more here.
LIVERMORE LABS, CALIFORNIA
Approximately 200 anti-nuclear activists gathered outside the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab on August 9 to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and to stand with survivors of nuclear weapons from Hiroshima to the Marshall Islands.
A rally was followed by a march to the Livermore Lab main gate where peace advocates then staged a “die in” and had their bodies chalked on the roadway to symbolize the victims vaporized in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Forty-five peaceful protesters were arrested after blocking the roadway at both the West and Main East Avenue gates to the Lab. All but one signed a citation and were released. Jesuit Fr. Steve Kelly refused to sign, and was jailed for two days before being released. All were given a September 6 court date.
Read more here.
BANGOR TRIDENT SUB BASE, WASHINGTON
Early in the morning of August 8, activists in Washington state held a vigil and nonviolent direct action at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. While people vigiled on the roadside, and after Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action peacekeepers safely stopped traffic, four activists risked arrest by entering the roadway carrying banners and blocking traffic into the Trident nuclear submarine base.
Sue Ablao and Mack Johnson carried a banner identical to the bus ad currently running on Seattle Metro Transit buses that reads, “20 miles west of Seattle is the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the U.S.” After they were removed from the roadway, Philip Davis and George Rodkey entered the road carrying a banner that read “No More Genocide In My Name,” a reference to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. They were also removed from the road, and the four activists were issued citations for being in the roadway illegally before they were released.
Read more here.
Y-12 NUCLEAR WEAPONS COMPLEX, TENNESSEE
Even before the sun rose on August 6 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the deep sound of a pealing bell resonated across the landscape, and the names of Hiroshima victims were read aloud, an origami peace crane tied for each one on a makeshift fence across from the main entrance to the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex. That afternoon, a concert for peace in Bissell Park concluded with a two-mile march in the withering August heat to the bomb plant. Scores of demonstrators tied ribbons together to form a chain which they carried across the road and draped on the security fence that encircles the bomb plant.
Afterwards, Beth Rosdatter broke from the ranks of demonstrators and walked into the middle of East Bear Creek Road, the main thoroughfare into the bomb plant. When she reached the blue line, she sat down on the hot asphalt. Police arrested her, charged her with obstructing a highway and took her to the Anderson County Jail, where friends posted a $500 bond to secure her release. The shirt she wore read, “There is no place in this world for nuclear weapons.”
Read more here.
PARIS, FRANCE
On Hiroshima Day, August 6, Rémi Filliau and Sophie Jallier took part in a demonstration outside the Paris headquarters of Les Républicains to denounce the historical responsibility of the pro-nuclear French political party. Police arrested the two Désobéir Collective activists and held them overnight after they pasted a few adhesive anti-nuclear stickers on the windows and chalked a simple message, “No to nuclear weapons – which cost us €4 billion per year.”
Read more here.
Six activists arrested while attempting citizen’s arrest of California drone base commander
Six “Peace Patrol” activists were arrested at Beale Air Force Base in California while attempting a citizen’s arrest of the commander of the base, Col. Larry Broadwell, for his high level role in crimes against humanity committed daily at the base. Beale is home to the Global Hawk Drone, which plays a critical role in the unlawful surveillance and ultimate targeting of individuals in the U.S. drone assassination program. The group was detained, handcuffed and processed after walking into the base hand in hand.
A video of their line crossing, and the reading of the statements they made beforehand, can be seen here.
Read more here.
Review of Dan Zak’s book “Almighty: Courage, Resistance and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age (about the Transform Now Plowshares and nuclear weapons)
by Frida Berrigan at theNation.com
On How a Nun, a Vet, and a Housepainter Stood Up to the Threat of Nuclear Weapons
Dan Zak’s Almighty reminds readers that the United States’ poisonous and very expensive history of nuclear-weapons production is far from over.
Read the review here.
Please support imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists – The Nuclear Resister needs YOU!
The Nuclear Resister is a bare bones operation that depends on grassroots support to chronicle anti-war and anti-war resistance, and support the women and men in prison for their acts of conscience. We need your help to continue this work – please read more here!! Or go directly here to make a secure online donation and find information about how to send a check. Each and every donation, large or small, will be gratefully received – thank you!