photo by Claire Schaeffer-Duffy
from the Atlantic Life Community
Nine peace activists were arrested and charged with criminal trespass, criminal mischief and breach of peace on the morning of November 13 during a blockade of the two main entrances to the General Dynamics-Electric Boat (GD-EB) nuclear submarine engineering complex in New London, Connecticut, where nuclear submarines are designed.
Holding long banners spanning the driveways, the activists blocked cars of employees entering the facility for the morning shift. The 24-foot banners read “Building Nuclear Weapons is Illegal, Abide By Our Treaties, Stop Building Weapons of Mass Destruction.”
At each entrance one activist wheat-pasted on the driveway Article 6 from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, ratified by the United States in 1968, which commits us to nuclear disarmament.
“We are seeking to make connections between General Dynamics’ preparation for nuclear war here in New London and Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza,” said Mark Colville of the Amistad Catholic Worker in New Haven, one of the blockaders. “We are calling for a ceasefire now.”
One of the banners was painted with the message “Trident Supports Genocide.”
In addition to the blockaders, dozens of activists lined the sidewalk adjacent to the two entrances holding banners and distributing a leaflet to General Dynamics employees in cars backed up along Pequot Avenue. “We come to the gates of General Dynamics Electric Boat in New London, Connecticut today when the United States has budgeted $114 billion dollars for the ‘upgrade’ of the nuclear arsenal with 12 new Columbia Class submarines. The destructive capacity of these nuclear submarines is unspeakable,” the leaflet read.
A half hour into the demonstration, New London, Connecticut police began arresting the nine activists who were blockading the two gates to the General Dynamics facility. Police issued citations to an additional two activists, charging them with public disturbance. One officer noted that traffic to the gates was backed up by some 400 cars.
Those arrested were held at the New London police station for processing for up to seven hours and then released. An arraignment date is set for November 27 in New London Superior Court.
The morning’s action occurs amid increasing global nuclear tensions and as General Dynamics ramps up manufacturing of the nuclear Columbia Class submarines. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock is set at 90 seconds to midnight. Al Jazeera reported on November 6 that a nuclear-capable Ohio Class submarine was deployed off the coast of Gaza, more deeply implicating the United States as Israel’s largest provider of military aid and weapons in this illegal war.
photo by Claire Schaeffer-Duffy
“Columbia Class submarines will escalate war-making around the world. The production of these submarines ignores the global call for nuclear disarmament reflected in the Treaty on The Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), adopted by over 120 nations of the world community,” the group said.
Those arrested:
Ed Kinane, Syracuse, New York
Dan Burgevin, Ithaca, New York
Mark Colville, Amistad Catholic Worker, New Haven, CT
Bill Ofenloch, New York Catholic Worker, New York, NY
Ellen Grady, Ithaca Catholic Worker, Ithaca, New York
Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, SS. Francis and Therese Catholic Worker, Worcester, MA
Art Laffin, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Washington, D.C.
Jackie Allen-Doucot, Hartford Catholic Worker, Hartford, CT
Paul Magno, Washington, D.C.
Those cited:
Paki Weiland, Northampton, MA
John Bach, Boston, MA
All of the above are members of the Atlantic Life Community (ALC), a network of faith-based activists. Members have protested at submarine christenings and launches from the 1970’s into the early 1990s. They have now returned to New London to say NO to the spending of U.S. taxpayer’s money and resources for more death, destruction, and profiteering on the part of the weapons industry. The ALC demands that the U.S. ratify the TPNW and convert General Dynamics to non-military production to meet urgent human needs.
Action Statement
We come to the gates of General Dynamics Electric Boat in New London, CT today when the United States has budgeted $114 billion dollars for the “upgrade” of the nuclear arsenal with 12 new Columbia-class submarines. The destructive capacity of these nuclear submarines is unspeakable. The Columbia-class submarine program and the existing Trident program are a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which the United States has signed and ratified, a treaty that commits us to work for complete disarmament. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock is set at 90 seconds to midnight. Columbia-class submarines will escalate war-making around the world. The production of these submarines ignores the global call for nuclear disarmament reflected in the Treaty on The Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), adopted by over 120 nations of the world community.
Currently, the Israeli government is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The Pentagon has sent the USS Florida, an Ohio-class nuclear submarine, to the Middle East as a backup in support of the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. This comes at a time of great danger as we witness the perpetration of crimes against humanity through the wars in Ukraine, Palestine, Yemen, Somalia and other countries around the world.
We say stop this madness and breach of international law and human decency. We say NO to the spending of US taxpayer’s money and resources for more death, destruction, and profiteering on the part of the weapons industry. We say NO to the threat to creation to maintain US domination of global resources. We call on the US to ratify the TPNW. We call for the conversion of General Dynamics to non-military production to meet urgent human needs.
Let us put love into action and disarm our first-strike weapons of mass destruction. Let us heed Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The choice today is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.”
In Peace,
The Atlantic Life Community
photo by Claire Schaeffer-Duffy
photo by Claire Schaeffer-Duffy