“Do you swear/affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you [God]?”, Dennis Apel was asked as he took the stand in Federal court for his witness at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Dennis looked to the judge and said, “If I am allowed to, I will, believe me, tell all […]
Monthly Archive for April, 2018
When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples […]
Note from Jessica Stewart: Please read the words of Liz McAlister below. Yesterday when I spoke with Clare [Grady], she related a beautiful story about Liz. The women in the jail have an emerging prayer circle. They asked Liz, as the elder, to lead a prayer. Liz was reluctant but eventually agreed. She began by saying, […]
April 16, 2018 We say, “the ultimate logic of Trident is omnicide”, and yet, the explosive power of this weapon is only part of what we want to make visible. We see that nuclear weapons kill every day by their mere existence. Their production requires mining, refining, testing, and dumping of radioactive material, which poisons sacred […]
After being released by police, Dr. Babu Rao addresses the meeting.
Farmers near the uranium mine and mill at Tummalapalle, in India’s Andrha Pradesh state have been protesting contamination of soil and groundwater and the depletion of their irrigation wells by the operations of the nuclear industrial site. Some have had to abandon their homes to the invisible blight and have suffered health problems they blame on the widespread pollution. When independent testing documented the levels of contamination, the Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL) arranged for their own tests before scheduling, then postponing, a meeting with village leaders to dispute the findings and try to calm the growing protest in the heart of India’s richest uranium deposits.
The meeting was finally set for Monday, April 9. That day, police arrested three prominent activists as they traveled to the meeting at the invitation of the farmers.
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Early Spring 2018 IN THIS E-BULLETIN SEVEN KINGS BAY PLOWSHARES ACTIVISTS ARRESTED INSIDE TRIDENT NUCLEAR SUB BASE THREE ACTIONS AT NEVADA NUCLEAR TEST SITE TWO ARRESTS AT CREECH DRONE BASE DURING SACRED PEACE WALK, FOUR MORE DURING CODEPINK DRONE RESISTANCE WEEK SIX PEOPLE ARRESTED AT ARMS FAIR PROTEST IN WALES FRENCH POLICE SMASH NUCLEAR DUMP […]
Mother-daugher Liz McAlister and Frida Berrigan
From Waging Nonviolence
by Frida Berrigan
“Our grandma is in jail,” Madeline tells a woman wrestling a shopping cart at Target.
“She went over a war fence and tried to make peace,” Seamus adds helpfully. “They arrested her, and she is in jail now.”
“Where?” the woman asks, looking from them to me in disbelief and maybe pity.
“We don’t remember,” the kids say, suddenly done with their story and ready to make passionate pleas for the colorful items in the dollar section over the woman’s shoulder.
“Georgia,” I say, but I don’t have a lot of energy to add detail to my kids’ story. They hit all the high points.
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Seven Catholic plowshares activists were arrested early Thursday morning, April 5 at the Kings Bay Naval Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia. They entered the base late in the evening of April 4, 2018 in an attempt to nonviolently transform weapons of mass destruction and inspire Americans to reject racism, militarism and economic injustice. They are being held at the Camden County Public Safety Complex in Woodbine, Georgia. On April 6 at 9:30 a.m. the seven had a first appearance in Camden County court before Chief Magistrate Judge Jennifer E. Lewis. They were charged with two felonies, Possession of Tools for the Commission of a Crime and Interference with Government Property, and a misdemeanor, Criminal Trespass. Despite their well-established commitment to nonviolence and integrity and a clear promise to reappear, the seven were denied bond for the felony charges. Magistrate Lewis acknowledged the seven posed no flight risk, but claimed they were a threat to the community because she believed they might return to the base.
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The Kings Bay Plowshares – Clare Grady, Patrick O’Neill, Liz McAlister, Steve Kelly SJ, Martha Hennessy, Mark Colville and Carmen Trotta (L-R)
(Updates at the Kings Bay Plowshares Facebook page here, and website here)
Seven Catholic plowshares activists were detained early Thursday morning, April 5 at the Kings Bay Naval Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia.
They entered on Wednesday night, April 4. Calling themselves Kings Bay Plowshares, they went to make real the prophet Isaiah’s command: “beat swords into plowshares”.
The seven chose to act on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who devoted his life to addressing the triplets of militarism, racism and materialism. In a statement they carried with them the group quoted King, who said: “The greatest purveyor of violence in the world (today) is my own government.”
Carrying hammers and baby bottles of their own blood, the seven attempted to convert weapons of mass destruction.
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photo by Michael Kerr
Four women – Toby Blome, Eleanor Levine, Susan Witka and Maggie Huntingon – were arrested on April 3 while blocking the entrance to Creech drone base in Nevada. The funeral procession and action, protesting drone warfare, was part of the Codepink Drone Resistance Week at Creech.
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