Author Archive for Jack & Felice

Code Pink photo

from Code Pink

from a report by Frank Cordaro

by Kathy Kelly

June 20, 2017

This week, in New York City, representatives from more than100 countries will begin collaborating on an international treaty, first proposed in 2016, to ban nuclear weapons forever. It makes sense for every country in the world to seek a legally binding ban on nuclear weapons. It would make even more sense to immediately deactivate all nuclear weapons. But, by boycotting and disparaging the process now underway, the U.S. and other nuclear armed nations have sent a chilling signal. They have no intention of giving up the power to explode, burn and annihilate planetary life. “The United States is spending $1 trillion USD over the next thirty years to modernize its nuclear weapon arsenals and triple the killing power of these weapons,” says Ray Acheson, programme director at Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Acheson also notes that the excessive spending for nuclear weapons contrasts with U.S. cuts to vital anti-poverty programs.  On June 19^th, more than a dozen people blocked the entrances to the U.S. Mission to the UN, in  protest of  Washington’s decision to boycott the negotiations. They were arrested for disorderly conduct, but I believe it’s incomparably  more disorderly to plan for nuclear war.

Occupy Beale Photo

Thanks to Barry Binks for his report on the action.

On May 22 and 23, peace activists gathered at Beale Air Force Base for their monthly anti-drone warfare protest. On the morning of the 23rd, Air Force police had placed traffic cones in the entry road to separate traffic into 3 lanes – one lane to exit, one lane for the military entering the base and another for contractors and civilians going in. Just before 7 a.m., Elliott Adams, Shirley Osgood, Mauro Oliveira and Michael Kerr moved the cones so that they blocked the roadway, and then laid down across the road.

The contractors began to try to drive around the die-in blockade, and the activists moved their bodies and the cones closer to maintain the blockade. One big 18 wheeler drove down the shoulder of the road past all of the stopped traffic. When the angry driver came to the gate, he stopped just a foot and a half from Elliott Adams’ legs. Several protesters ran in front of the truck, yelling and trying to stop the driver from running over Adams. The driver started screaming and swearing, revving his motor, honking his horn and threatening to drive over Elliott’s legs. Finally, one of the Air Force police spoke to the driver.