Chris Danowski & Brian Terrell

The Only Sane Solution…

Resisting Nuclear Weapons in Europe

“We still hold that nonviolent resistance is the only sane solution, and that we have to continue to make our voice heard until we are finally silenced–and even then, in jail or concentration camp, to express ourselves.” Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, 1940

March 22, 2025

Brian Terrell

When I arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on February 20, my passport was flagged and I was informed that due to a previous arrest at Volkel airbase, where a U.S. Airforce squadron keeps 20 nuclear bombs ready to load onto Dutch planes in a NATO “nuclear sharing” arrangement, I was banned from entering Europe and would be immediately flown back to the United States. I explained to the immigration officer that I had an order from a German court to turn myself in to the prison at Wittlich on February 26 for a 15-day sentence for taking direct action at Büchel, the German airbase where there is a similar nuclear sharing relationship in 2019. After a short wait my passport was returned and I was waved through the queue to join my good friend Chris Danowski patiently waiting in the arrivals area to take me to Jeanette Noel Huis, the Catholic Worker in Amsterdam.

Photo by Felice Cohen-Joppa

Members of the Pacific Life Community from California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Nevada and Arizona met in St. David, Arizona from March 3–6 for their annual gathering and nuclear weapons protest. Two members of the faith-based network were arrested on Ash Wednesday, March 5 during a nonviolent resistance action at the Raytheon weapons factory in Tucson, Arizona. 

In April, 2020 the Pentagon named Raytheon in Tucson as the sole-source contractor for a $16 billion dollar program to develop and produce the Long-Range Stand-Off (LRSO) missile, an all-new nuclear-armed cruise missile to be launched from the wings of warplanes. Production of this missile violates the spirit and letter of the 2017 United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in January 2021. The Treaty’s Third Meeting of States Parties was taking place at the United Nations in New York City the same week as the Pacific Life Community gathering and action.

Photo by Angel White Eyes for NDN Collective

A beautiful and historic day –

This morning, February 18, at 8:40 a.m. eastern time, Leonard Peltier walked out of FCI Coleman in Florida and is headed home to the Turtle Mountain reservation in North Dakota!!

He still has restrictions of home confinement, but after almost 50 years, he is no longer in a prison cell.  

After 45 years of the Nuclear Resister reporting on and encouraging support for Leonard Peltier, today, with full and grateful hearts, we join many thousands of people around the world welcoming him out of prison!

From the White House

Statement from President Joe Biden

January 20, 2025

The President is commuting the life sentence imposed on Leonard Peltier so that he serves the remainder of his sentence in home confinement. He is now 80 years old, suffers from severe health ailments, and has spent the majority of his life (nearly half a century) in prison. This commutation will enable Mr. Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes.  

Mr. Peltier is a Native American activist who is currently serving life in prison for killing two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and escaping from federal prison. Tribal Nations, Nobel Peace laureates, former law enforcement officials (including the former U.S. Attorney whose office oversaw Mr. Peltier’s prosecution and appeal), dozens of lawmakers, and human rights organizations strongly support granting Mr. Peltier clemency, citing his advanced age, illnesses, his close ties to and leadership in the Native American community, and the substantial length of time he has already spent in prison.