Author Archive for jack

Digging For Life:
For an End to Military C02 Emissions & the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

Today, August 9, the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, 16 nuclear abolitionists and climate activists were arrested when they started to dig a tunnel under the fence of Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands. The international group of Dutch, German, Italian and American activists meant to occupy the runway and again call to abolish nuclear weapons and CO2 emissions by the armed forces. U.S. nuclear weapons are stockpiled at Volkel as part of NATO’s “nuclear sharing” practice that continues in contradiction of the 1970 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

“Again” because yesterday ten participants of a Peace Camp at Volkel blocked the runway after climbing over the fence, and were then arrested. Today the intent of a “pink shovel action” was to create an entrance that allows everyone, including those with disabilities, to engage in the life-affirming action. Sigrid Hossbach came out of her wheelchair to take up a pink shovel and start digging.

photo by Cody Boston

Sorrow and hope at the heart of annual Memorial Day remembrance

by Kristin Scheer

PeaceWorks Kansas City held its 13^th annual Memorial Day event this year at the Kansas City National Security Campus (NSC), where parts for nuclear weapons are made and procured. That day, May 29, was warm and sunny, and 63 of us gathered to march, mourn, rally, and picnic to object to the work that happens there. At the end of the event, 14 persons crossed the purple line separating the NSC property from public property. Eleven of our 14 retreated when warned of arrests. Three remained; they were arrested, taken to a police station, processed, and soon released. Their Kansas City, Missouri Municipal Court hearing is June 28.

CODEPINK photo

from CODEPINK

“NO MORE MONEY FOR THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX”

On the afternoon of May 16, CODEPINK activists disrupted a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. featuring the Secretaries of Defense, Commerce, and State. The hearing, called “A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 24 Budget Request: Investing in U.S. Security, Competitiveness, and the Path Ahead for the U.S.-China Relationship,” prioritized war preparations over de-escalation and cooperation. 

Three of the activists wore t-shirts saying “China is Not Our Enemy.” Wearing a shirt and holding a sign that both read “$$$ FOR THE POOR NOT WAR,” CODEPINK organizer Olivia DiNucci stood up and said, “We don’t need more money for the military industrial complex. We need money for the poor and the planet!”

from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action

photo by Glen Milner

Activists blockaded the entrance to the U.S. Navy’s west coast nuclear submarine base, which is home to the largest operational concentration of deployed nuclear weapons, in a nonviolent direct action the day before Mother’s Day.

Eight peace activists from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, holding banners reading “The Earth is Our Mother, Treat Her With Respect” and “Nuclear Weapons are Immoral to Use, Immoral to Have, Immoral to Make,” briefly blocked all incoming traffic at the Main Gate at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Silverdale, Washington as part of a May 13th Mother’s Day observance.