Archive for the 'Blog' Category

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Activists arrested blockading Trident Nuclear Weapons Depot in Scotland

Posted on July 11, 2017

Trident Ploughshares photo

from Trident Ploughshares

[scroll down for update: Angie and Brian released from prison on July 26; trial on August 3]

Five people from the Trident Ploughshares international nuclear disarmament camp were arrested on the morning of July 11 after they blocked the road leading to the Coulport nuclear weapons depot starting at 7 a.m.

The group of campaigners included two Spaniards and three UK citizens. By 9:30 a.m., MOD police had cut the protesters out of the heavy concrete and metal tubes with which they had locked themselves together.

“The New Reality – We banned nuclear weapons”

Posted on July 9, 2017

Some of the many people who worked on adopting a treaty to ban nuclear weapons: Elayne Whyte Gomez of Costa Rica and Setsuko Thurlow, a Hibakusha who was 13 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Photo by Kathleen Sullivan.

 

The New Reality

by Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will

8 July 2017
 
Yesterday, we banned nuclear weapons.

It’s still hard to believe this is the case. It hasn’t fully sunk in yet, the enormity of what just happened. Even as survivors, activists, politicians, and diplomats celebrated in New York and around the world, many expressed amazement that we actually pulled it off.

It was a long campaign. Activism against nuclear weapons has been fierce and determined for over seventy years. But it wasn’t until recent years, when a few courageous diplomats in partnership with a group of civil society actors working as part of or in collaboration with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons decided to take a leap into the unknown, that we managed to finally develop international law condemning and prohibiting these last weapons of mass destruction.

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Fr. Carl Kabat, OMI arrested at KC nuclear weapons plant on July 4

Posted on July 5, 2017

from Chrissy Kirchhoefer

In keeping with the tradition of Interdependence Day, the recognition of our need for each other as well as the impact of our actions on others, 83-year-old Catholic priest Carl Kabat took action on July 4 at the Kansas City National Security Campus. Carl’s attempt to incarnate the destructiveness of nuclear weapons by symbolically pouring red paint on the National Nuclear Security Adminstration sign was thwarted by employees of Honeywell.

After five years of annual actions on Interdependence Day, Kabat witnessed security personnel at all of the entrances to the facility for the first time. Despite the heavy rainfall and security presence, Kabat opted for the bike path in his single-minded pursuit of nuclear disarmament. Further down the path, Fr. Kabat was met by additional security personnel who prevented him getting any closer to the facility that is responsible for the production of 85% of the non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons. Carl was charged with trespassing and released. He was issued a court appearance for August 8.

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Continued resistance at Des Moines Drone Command Center, 2 more arrests

Posted on July 2, 2017

Photo by Charlie Faraday of Ed Bloomer

from Frank Cordaro 

Twenty protesters attended a July 1 witness and direct action at the Drone Command Center in Des Moines, Iowa, our largest Saturday witness thus far. The Des Moines Woman’s International League for Peace and Freedom chapter, the Des Moines Intentional Eucharistic Community and Occupy the World Food Prize were represented.
Des Moines Catholic Worker Ed Bloomer and Jesse Horne were arrested. It was our campaign’s 7th Saturday witness and direct action at the Iowa National Guard Drone Command Center.

 » Read more…

Veterans arrested at Senate confirmation hearing of “Torture Memo” author Steven Bradbury

Posted on June 29, 2017

Code Pink photo

from Code Pink

At the Senate confirmation hearing for Steven Bradbury as general counsel for the Commerce, Science and Transportation Department on June 28, members of Veterans for Peace and CODEPINK protested Bradbury for his authorship of the “Torture Memos” under the Bush administration. Three members of Veterans for Peace were arrested for speaking out at the hearing: Tarak Kauff, Ken Ashe and Ellen Barfield.

All three veterans, in response to why they protested today, affirmed that Bradbury should not hold any kind of position in the United States’ government and called on the senators to oppose his nomination.  

 » Read more…

Four drone protesters arrested at Volk Field

Posted on June 29, 2017

FOUR CITIZEN ACTIVISTS ARRESTED AT VOLK FIELD AS THEY ATTEMPT TO IDENTIFY THE BASE AS A CRIME SCENE

by Joy First        

Wisconsin Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars has held monthly vigils against drones at the gates of Volk Field for over five years.  This Wisconsin Air National Guard Base is a critical component of the whole drone warfare program being conducted by the US government in a number of countries in the Middle East and Africa.   At Volk Field personnel are trained to operate the RQ-7 Shadow Drone, which has been used for reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition.  However, now there is the likelihood that the RQ-7 is also weaponized.  See http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/7914/was-a-new-type-of-drone-launched-weapon-used-to-kill-al-qaedas-2-man

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Four peace activists arrested after lock down in entry road to Iowa drone base

Posted on June 29, 2017

from a report by Frank Cordaro

Four peace activists were arrested on Wednesday morning, June 28 after they set up three concrete blocks in the road leading into a drone base and chained themselves to them in a desperate attempt to get local attention to what they believe is happening at the 132rd Wing Iowa Air National Guard Drone Command Center at 3100 McKinley Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa.

The road was blocked for hours while fire crews cut through the concrete barriers.

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Nineteen nuclear disarmament activists arrested blockading U.S. Mission to the U.N.

Posted on June 22, 2017

Photo of Martha Hennessy by Bud Korotzer

On June 19, fifty people marched to the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in New York City after gathering at the nearby Isaiah Wall for a nuclear disarmament vigil.  Nineteen of the activists blocked the doors, in protest of the U.S. decision to boycott negotiations on a nuclear weapons ban treaty.  While the group chanted “U.S. join the talks, ban the bomb,” the blockaders were soon arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. All of them were taken to the 7th Precinct on Pitt Street, and were released at 5 p.m. with desk appearance tickets and an arraignment date of August 24th at 100 Centre Street.

Those arrested (list below) are members of the New York City Catholic Worker, New York City War Resisters League and other groups.

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From Kathy Kelly about nuclear abolition and access to clean water: “Would you like a drink of water?” Please Ask a Yemeni Child.

Posted on June 20, 2017

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 19th, 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.

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Three men arrested at Iowa drone command center

Posted on June 11, 2017

Photo by Aaron Jorgensen-Briggs

Report on arrests

at drone command center

from Frank Cordaro

Our numbers remain small. A total of seven folks showed up at 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 10 for the fourth Saturday “Stop the Killing, Shut it Down” vigil/picket line/direct action Des Moines Catholic Worker and Veterans for Peace campaign. The Guard security and Des Moines police were prepared. The gate at the main entrance was already shut when we arrived at 10 a.m.

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