Author Archive for Jack & Felice

Photo by Greenpeace France

from Greenpeace

On Tuesday, March 18 at 5:50 a.m., 60 Greenpeace activists from France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Poland staged an occupation of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant,  France’s oldest nuclear power station.   They criticized the risk that French nuclear power poses to the whole of Europe, and called on the French government, which has programmed the closure of the Alsatian power station, to bring about a real change in energy policy in France.   Some activists first displayed a banner at the side of Reactor 1, while others climbed up the side of the reactor pool of Reactor 1 and onto the reactor dome.  Once there, the activists unfurled a banner which was 200 metres square and read, “Stop risking Europe”. They stayed in place holding this banner for four hours.  Twenty of the activists were arrested.

Photo by Joyakgol

from the Santa Maria Times, by Janene Scully

Activists from around the world held a Friday afternoon vigil [on March 14] at Vandenberg Air Force Base to oppose military programs and show solidarity with local protesters, two of whom again were arrested for trespassing.

Approximately 30 people attended the hour-long vigil which launched this weekend’s 22nd annual space organizing conference in Santa Barbara. The conference involves the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, made up of 150 peace and religious groups opposed to what they say is the development of a new arms race in space.

But as protesters spoke Friday, Air Force security forces members walked up to Santa Maria resident Dennis Apel, handcuffed him and led him away as other sign-holding protesters chanted “Free Dennis Apel.”

from the Santa Maria Times

by Janene Scully

A week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that military commanders can decide who can be on their installations, activist Dennis Apel and another protester were arrested again for trespassing at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Apel of Santa Maria and another longtime activist, Father Steve Kelly from the Bay Area, were detained by security forces members shortly after the protest began in front of Vandenberg on Wednesday afternoon.

Here is the prepared statement Megan Rice read to the court on Tuesday, February 18, 2014:

PART I

As I sat observing the facial expressions of participants present in the hearing on January 28th, I sensed a clear sense of a shared mental reaction during the arguments on this restitution evidentiary Table submitted by the Prosecution (identification…) (display my Exhibit I)

I think we felt something of a Master’s compassionate consternation with the hypocrisy at his accusers.  (Luke 6:5-11  Mark 4:20-30)

I was stunned that 8 months had elapsed with apparently no prior conversations, out of court, between the opposing sides and the court in this case, and would have imagined it had been resolved by negotiation during those delays, and relegated to where it deserved to be disposed. – unworthy of evidence in any court of law.

Photo by Choi Hye-Young

by Jack Cohen-Joppa, the Nuclear Resister, December 18, 2013

This fall the Korean Prime Minister’s office declared that the conflict over the naval base in Gangjeong village had been resolved. “The disclosure came as a surprise to the villagers, who still meet hundreds of police every day,” reports Gangjeong Village Story (GVS). “They denounced the Park government, asking how the situation could be considered resolved when the village is under a Martial Law-like situation with even rallies prohibited. They further criticized the government for pretending that the villagers’ claims are unreasonable or that there is nothing wrong with the base construction.”

GVS reports that Jeju congresswoman Jang Ha-Na declared in October that recent independent surveys demonstrate that, “Compared to last year, the soft corals, endangered species in the Gangjeong Sea, are dying from mysterious causes or have stopped growing. It has also been confirmed that floating detritus from the construction is forming deposits in various locations.” Furthermore, she said that the police and prosecutors have unjustly arrested and imprisoned citizen monitors 55 times between January 2012 and September 2013.