In 1966, when I was a senior at Fortuna High, military recruiters were a fixture at our school. They made regular appearances in their dress uniforms with all their pleats and flaps and brass buttons and medals. And they would give us their best speech. “You'll be heading off to Vietnam,” they told us. “You'll see plenty of action and come back heroes with a chest full of medals because you fought for the most powerful army in the world. And you'll be better for the experience.”
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Nonviolent Resistance
Nonviolent Drone Protester Arrested in Tucson
JOHN HEID ARRESTED AT DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, HOME OF ACTIVE COMBAT PREDATOR DRONE UNIT
On the morning of the Feast of Holy Innocents, December 28, about 15 peace activists gathered outside the gates of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona to commemorate and grieve the contemporary slaughter of innocents. The group held signs calling for an end to drone warfare. An Arizona Air National Guard unit based at Davis-Monthan since 2007 operates armed Predator drones used by U.S. military in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
John Heid read his statement to the group (see below). The names of children killed by U.S. drones were then recited.
Heid, Gretchen Nielsen and Jim Marx met with the security people at the gate to request a meeting with the person in charge of the drone program. The request was refused and Tucson police were called. They arrested Heid when he refused to leave. He was charged with trespass and released from jail at 11 p.m.
For more information, contact John Heid at <jefhsparrow@yahoo.com>.
Holy Innocents Drone Vigil 12/28/12
“I saw men, women and children die during that time. I never thought I’d kill that many people. In fact I thought I couldn’t kill anyone at all.” --
The U.S. carried out 333 drone strikes in Afghanistan in 2012 alone – more than the entire number of drone attacks in Pakistan over the past eight years combined.
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is the staging site for the 214th Reconnaissance Group of the Arizona Air National Guard, a Predator drone unit. Personnel of the 214th have conducted more than 3,000 sorties since 2007 and provided more than 55,000 flying hours of combat mission support from Tucson.
The U.S. military has begun to use the term “harvest” to describe the killing done in this push-button combat of drone warfare. Recently the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in Britain documented 178 children among over 900 civilians killed by U.S. drones in Pakistan and Yemen alone.
Why is there such an aversion to acknowledging the human cost? Our drones are harvesting their children. These revelations are too much to bear sitting still.
“They had their whole lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own.” Thus said President Obama at the memorial service for the 20 children killed in a Connecticut school two weeks ago. The president added: “We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this.”
Today, December 28th, on the Commemoration of the slaughter of Holy Innocents, we embrace President Obama’s exhortation on behalf of the children by coming to Davis-Monthan AFB to call for a change of heart, of policy and practice. Cease drone operations immediately on behalf of the children and all victims of this warfare including U.S. drone pilots who are increasingly being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress syndrome. Our plea is for an end to all warfare. May we pursue peace by peaceful means.
john heid
Casa Mariposa
Tucson, AZ
Tucson, AZ
Conscientious objector Natan Blanc sentenced to prison for the third time for his refusal to join the Israeli Army
Natan Blanc, 19 years old from Haifa, arrived, Sunday, 22.12.12 , to the Induction Base in Tal-hashomer, where he again declared his refusal to serve in the Israeli Army. he was sentenced to 14 days of imprisonment for his refusal, in the military prison No. 6 near Atlit.
In his refusal declaration Natan Blanc wrote:
Rosalie Riegle, Author of "Doing Time for Peace" to Speak in Charlottesville on January 24, 2013
Rosalie Riegle, author of the new book on nonviolent resistance to war, Doing Time for Peace, will be in Charlottesville, Va., on January 24, 2013, to speak and sign copies of the book at Random Row Books on West Main Street at 6 p.m.
Joining her will be Sue and Bill Frankel-Streit, who are among the many resisters featured in the book.
Please click here to sign up for the event on FaceBook.
ENDORSED BY Veterans For Peace, and the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice.
Talk Nation Radio: David Hartsough on Peace Work
David Hartsough has been a peace activist since the 1950s, a conscientious objector, a civil disobedient, arrested over 100 times. In 2002 he cofounded the Nonviolent Peace Force (nonviolentpeaceforce.org). Hartsough is the executive director of Peace Workers (peaceworkersus.org). He discusses the current status of war and peace in our culture.
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Doing Time for Peace
Hundreds of Americans, young and old, are regularly going to prison, sometimes for months or years or decades, for nonviolently resisting U.S. militarism.
They block ports, ships, submarines, trains full of weapons, trucks full of weapons, and gates to military bases. They take hammers to weapons of mass destruction, cause millions of dollars worth of damage, hang up banners, and wait to be arrested. They cause weapons systems to be canceled, facilities to be closed, and Pentagon policies to be changed. They educate and inspire greater resistance.
The people who do this take great risks. U.S. courts are extremely unpredictable, and the same action can easily result in no jail time or years behind bars. Many of these people have families, and the separation is usually painful. But many say they could not do this without their families or without their close-knit communities of like-thinking resisters. A support network of several people is generally needed for each resister.
More often than not, a great sacrifice is made with no apparent success in terms of governmental behavior, either immediately or even after a lengthy passage of time.
Police are becoming more violent. Sentences are growing longer, and prisons are becoming more awful.
Increasingly, the corporate media ignores such actions, dramatically reducing the educational and inspirational benefits. When Steve Downs was arrested for wearing a "give peace a chance" t-shirt in a shopping mall, a reporter called up a local peace group and tried to get them to admit they'd prompted Downs' action. When they said they'd never heard of him, the reporter replied, "Oh, then it's a legitimate story!" "In other words," says Downs, "if a group protests in support of their constitutional rights, it's not a legitimate story. If one hapless individual blunders into an arrest, then it is!"
And yet, people who devote themselves to nonviolently resisting war can know that they are part of a movement that does result in improved policies. And they can know that if more people joined them their chances of success would increase without limit. That is to say, if enough people joined in, complete success would be guaranteed. That is to say, peace on earth.
Rosalie Riegle has just published a wonderful collection called "Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community," in which she transcribes her interviews of 68 peace resisters, friends, and family members -- selected from 173 whom Riegle interviewed between 2004 and 2007. The book is not in the least polemical, more sociological. The speakers struggle with their memories and goals, and with questions about whether what they do is worth it.
The question of whether a sacrifice has been worth the effort often remains an open question for a very long time. This book collects heroic, inspiring, and eye-opening actions and presents them with undeniable honesty and humility. Imagine if millions of people were to read this book. Suddenly countless actions done quietly or with little notice would be having a whole new kind of impact, and actions engaged in decades back would be revived -- perhaps in a more illuminating manner than before, as a result of the insights gained by the participants.
One resister quoted in "Doing Time for Peace," Kathleen Rumpf, recalled an action she was part of in 1983:
"[W]e went [into the hangar] and saw the B-52 and began hammering. My little hammer would ping and then almost fly in my face without even leaving a mark. I painted on the plane: 'This is our cry, this is our prayer of peace in the world.' And the symbols we brought with us -- the pictures of the children, the indictment that we put on the plane, the blood we poured . . . . I hung paper peace cranes on the different engines. (The FBI kept calling the cranes 'paper airplanes' like they called blood 'red substance.')
"We had decided we'd do twenty minutes of hammering and putting our stuff around, no more. In reality, we were there for about two and a half hours. We didn't want to do more destruction, and we kept wondering what to do next. We phoned the press from their top security lines. We sang and prayed out on the tarmac. We went back in to go to the bathroom. We went up into a B-52 and looked around. Now, we were charged with sabotage. Had we been about that, we certainly would have had time to do it. Anyway, finally we were able to wave somebody down to arrest us. They were going to take us to the Burger King and drop us off, like they usually do for protests at Griffiss. I said, 'Well, gee! You might want to check Hangar 101 before you release us.'
"So they go to the hangar and then they get on the walkie-talkies, and then we had about sixteen or eighteen guys with forty-inch necks, marching double time with M-16 rifles. They made us kneel in the sand, holding rifles on us.
"Then sitting on that bus . . . for eight, nine hours . . . with my hands behind my back and hearing this constant 'Shut up! Shut up!' We'd say, 'Well, we didn't join the military, you did.'"
The heroes -- and I use the term intentionally -- in this book include atheists and members of various religions, but they are disproportionately Catholic and part of the Catholic Worker movement. This raises all sorts of questions for an atheist like myself who believes both that the world would be better off without religion and that the world would be better off if more people behaved as do these religiously motivated Catholics.
The primary problem with activists is their insistence on knowing that success is likely before they act. This results in a tremendous amount of inaction. So, when these religious activists say they do not care about success, or they are acting in order to suffer, or they are seeking personal transformation, I'm not eager to reject their position. I believe we are facing a crisis of militarism and environmental destruction that threatens human survival. I believe we have a moral duty to act, regardless of the chances of success. These peace resisters speak of opposing militarism in appropriately moral terms, I think. But I believe our duty is to act in the manner most likely to succeed, as far as we can identify it. Sometimes I think that is this sort of nonviolent resistance, but not always.
The resisters do not agree on everything. Some go limp when arrested. Some plead guilty. Some request the harshest sentence. Some view their defense in court and their attempt to achieve acquittal to be a central part of the action.
And some have moved toward a type of action unlikely to result in prison time, namely travel to nations threatened by or under attack by the U.S. government or its allies. Sending peace teams into zones threatened with war or facing ongoing war and occupation can involve great risk and sacrifice. It can employ the hands-on, face-to-face interactions that peace resisters value. Friendships and alliances can be built across borders that help to educate the people of both nations and influence their governments. And all without the months behind bars.
Peace resisters are my kind of Catholics. Compare them to the Pope, a former Nazi-youth whose Christmas message this week was, first, hatred for gay people, and, second, interaction between the world's religions -- not disarmament, not a cease-fire. Outgrowing the need for religion, and in the process losing a cause of deadly division, wasn't mentioned, of course. But the resisters in Riegle's collection often include their disbelief in death as part of what motivates them, what takes away their fear. And why would I want to take that away from them?
Albert Camus, generally identified as an atheist, is a frequent source of inspiration for religious resisters. Camus was very much a mournful ex-theist ever in the process of very-regretfully losing his religion and proclaiming the world absurd without it. These resisters manage to erase that absurdity. They eliminate their worries over risks of horrible fates, through their willingness to put everything on the line. Perhaps to some extent they believe they're fully insured. They clearly feel a sense of freedom when they set all worry behind them and declare their willingness to accept any suffering whatsoever in order to promote peace and resist war making.
More of us, all of us, should be moving in that direction.
The Government and Your Guns
We're in the grip of twin madnesses, and those who have overcome one of them can still be completely controlled by the other.
The first madness is the idea that spending a trillion dollars a year on weaponry and war preparations makes us safer, that 1,000 military bases abroad protect rather than provoke, that nuclear arsenals discourage terrorism, that drones have civilized the act of blowing up somebody's house, that the Pentagon's business really is "defense."
Why should our 4% of humanity need more weaponry than the rest of the world for protection? We can't be inherently that unlikable. We're caught in a vicious cycle. Our militarism encourages wars, and the wars justify more militarism. The weapons makers that the Pentagon keeps in business arm the rest of the world as well. Some imagine that even this weapons proliferation makes us safer. Meanwhile, back in reality, we're draining our budget, hollowing out our representative government, poisoning our environment, and escalating completely avoidable conflicts.
From libertarians to liberals, there are large numbers of Americans who can say to Dwight Eisenhower and Martin Luther King alike: you're right, the guns are not helping.
There is a second madness, however. It is a madness that appeals to those skeptical of governments. It is attractive to those interested in radical change, popular power, and protection of civil liberties. This is the madness that says: We need our personal supplies of guns to protect us from the government.
If our loyalties are with individual rights, popular revolution, and resistance to the corrupt fascistic tendencies of unchecked power, it's hard for us to question this idea. We hesitate, thinking, "Maybe the government does want our guns. Maybe there will come a day when we need them."
Our hesitation brings us into common ground with the gun lobby. "Take your guns away?" we declare indignantly. "Oh no! We would never want to take people's guns away. We just want them to have the right kind of guns, the right kind of bullets, the right registrations and background checks and mental health screenings. We want our personal militarism civilized by its own Geneva Conventions."
This still leaves huge gaps between those who would seek to limit and control gun ownership and the NRA. And the "reasonable gun rights" coalition can indeed point to instances of a gun being used in actual defense. But the notion of using guns to resist or reform or overthrow the government is bizarrely out of touch with reality.
There is no correlation between personal liberties in a nation and its gun ownership. Campaigns of resistance to tyranny are more likely to succeed, and that success is more likely to be lasting when those campaigns are nonviolent. Milosevic was thrown out of power in Serbia, not by violence, but by nonviolent action. In East Timor, violent resistance failed for many years before the people resorted to nonviolence and began to win. Last year in Tunisia, with not a gun in sight (or hidden away as an implied threat either), the people overthrew a dictatorship and inspired Egyptians to do the same. Meanwhile, Americans are so loaded down with guns that we're killing our own children, by accident, by fits of rage and insanity -- and we can't overthrow a card table.
Are you kidding me? If in 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court openly stole an election, and our gun-heavy populace did nothing, if someone had predicted that our government would legalize warrantless spying, imprisonment without charge, torture, rendition, assassination, and wars fought by the CIA with flying robots before legalizing marijuana, who wouldn't have said that was crazy? We've watched this being done to us. We've watched our wealth being handed over to the war makers and the financiers. We've bought more guns, and we've done nothing. And the guns have done nothing. And anything we could do with the guns would be counterproductive.
Violence does not work anymore, not even in the heart of a society devoted to violence. Resistance movements here at home are hindered, not helped, by weaponry. The government does not want your guns; it wants your obedience. It's not afraid of your assault weapons; it's afraid of your noncooperation. An abusive government has no cause for concern as long as people believe that violence is the field on which to compete. But if we give up that mindset along with the guns, there's no telling what might happen. We might even fix this place up now, without waiting for the apocalypse.
Thirteen anti-drone protesters found guilty of trespassing
By
DeWitt, N.Y. -- Thirteen anti-drone protesters were convicted of trespassing Thursday night, and five were sentenced to two weeks in jail.
Ed Kinane, of Syracuse, and James Ricks, of Ithaca, went directly after their sentencing to the Jamesville Correctional Facility.
Rae Kramer, of Syracuse, and Ellen Grady and Clare Grady, of Ithaca, were ordered to report to Jamesville Correctional on Jan. 11, said Ann Tiffany, of Syracuse, who attended the trial, which took about 5 1/2 hours in DeWitt Town Court.
The jail terms were reserved for repeat offenders, Tiffany said.
All were fined $250 plus $125 in court costs. Those not sentenced to jail were given one-year conditional discharges and required to perform 25 hours of community service, Tiffany said.
The other defendants were Daniel Burns, of Ithaca; Judy Homanich, of Binghamton; George Homanich, of Binghamton; Mark Scibilia-Carver, of Ithaca; John Hamilton, of Ithaca; Dave McClellen, of Ithaca; Nate Lewis, of Trumansburg; and Dan Burgevin, of Trumansburg.
The protesters were charged after they spent more than two hours on June 28 at Hancock Air Base’s main entrance while attempting — and failing — to deliver a “citizens’ indictment” for what they are calling reaper drone war crimes committed at the base.
They were convicted by Judge Robert Jokl in DeWitt Town Court. The 13 defended themselves without using attorneys.
The base, home of the 174th Fighter Wing of the New York Air National Guard, pilots the MQ9 reaper drone, a weaponized aerial robot, over Afghanistan and serves as the national training center for Reaper maintenance.
The indictment, prepared in consultation with former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, invokes international law, the Nuremburg Protocols, and U.S. constitutional law. The indictment charges Hancock personnel and their chain of command with responsibility for large-scale civilian deaths and with terrorism.
Two others were arrested on June 28 at Hancock, but not charged.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/thirteen_anti-drone_protesters_1.html
Write to Bradley Manning in prison. He's there for all of us:
Commander, HHC USAG
Attn. PFC Bradley Manning
239 Sheridan Ave. Bldg. 417
JBN-HH VA 22211
Talk Nation Radio: Erica Chenoweth on the Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict
Erica Chenoweth is co-author with Maria J. Stephan of "Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict." Their research finds that nonviolent action works against tyrannical rule with a higher success rate than violence and with longer-lasting results. Their book has received the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, as well as the 2012 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award, which the American Political Science Association gives annually to the best book on government, politics, or international affairs published in the U.S. during the previous calendar year. Listeners to Talk Nation Radio can pick up the newly-released paperback at a 30% discount from http://www.cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15682-0/why-civil-resistance-works by using the discount code WHYCHE. Learn more at http://ericachenoweth.com
Total run time: 29:00
Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Engineer: Christiane Brown.
Music by Duke Ellington.
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Citizens Are Winning the Battle Over Cops and Cameras
By John Grant
Jennifer Foster, a tourist from Florence, Arizona, was walking in Times Square on a cold night in November and came across a New York City police officer giving a barefoot homeless man a pair of all-weather boots he had purchased out of his own pocket. Moved, she took out her cell phone and snapped a picture.
Veterans For Peace Appeals to Israeli Soldiers to Lay Down Their Arms
Israel's military has in recent days attacked the Gaza strip with drones and F-16s, and has apparently been preparing for a possible ground war. Israel is using weaponry provided by the United States at the expense to U.S. taxpayers of $3 billion per year. Veterans For Peace member Doug Rawlings addresses the following statement to members of the Israeli military:
"I have been to where you are going. From my heart, I beseech you not to join me. In 1969, I was sent to Vietnam as a reluctant soldier, a draftee, who did not have the courage of my convictions. I chose to follow the orders of my government rather than to follow the dictates of my conscience. It’s been over forty years now, and I still remember the faces of the Vietnamese people who were victimized by my lack of moral autonomy. I became one of Pharaoh’s army, and, to this day, I have been wading through the miasma of that murderous indecisiveness. Had I heeded Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. instead of General William Westmoreland, I would have refused to serve as a pawn in my government’s immoral invasion and occupation of Vietnam.
"Westmoreland was one of many who appealed to some kind of base sense of national self-righteousness that relegated a whole people – the “enemy”-- to a form of sub-human existence. He, too, heard from chauvinist generals like yours who demanded that we '…bomb the Vietnamese people back to the Stone Age.' Dr. King, on the other hand, was imploring us to not exploit others, to recognize the sacredness of all people, and to not 'trample over others with the iron feet of oppression.' He recognized that '…peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.'
"You, my friends, have become the means of your government, and it is up to you to say that you would rather be warriors for peace than serve in Pharaoh’s legions. Follow the lead of the Dr. Kings of the world, not the generals who are willing to use the blood of others to seek some kind of political goals. Rejoin the 'beloved community' of world citizens who recognize the sanctity of all human life. Reject the immoral orders of those who would send you to do their bloody bidding. Refuse orders to attack Gaza. The world is waiting for the first army of peace-makers to turn back the tide of war. Why not start with you?"
Veterans For Peace is a national organization, founded in 1985 with approximately 5,000 members in 150 chapters located in every U.S. state and several countries. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) by the United Nations, and is the only national veterans' organization calling for the abolishment of war.
Talk Nation Radio: Brian Terrell Is Headed to Prison for Protesting Drones
Brian Terrell is headed to prison at the end of this month for having nonviolently protested drone wars. Brian is a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. He discusses the immorality of drone wars and the protest and trial that have led to his incarceration.
Total run time: 29:00
Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Engineer: Christiane Brown.
Music by Duke Ellington.
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9 Arrested for Blocking Gate of Beale AFB to Protest Drone Strikes
9 Arrested at Gate of Beale AFB early Tuesday After Veterans, Peace Activists Block Main Gate to Protest US Killer Drones
BEALE AFB (Marysville), Ca. – Nine military veterans and peace activists from throughout California were arrested around at the main gate to Beale AFB (North Beale Road) today, protesting the inhumane and cruel U.S. Drone Program, now killing thousands of innocent men, women and children around the world.
About 100 activists from as far away as Fresno, the SF Bay Area, Sacramento and other Northern California cities unfurled large banners and carried model drones and large photos of child victims of drone strikes to show the dark side of drone warfare.
Beale AFB has been a target of anti-drone protests for years. Beale AFB is home to the U2 and the Global Hawk, the unmanned surveillance drone that is an “accomplice” in drone killings.
There have been a series of direct actions leading to arrests this year protesting President Obama’s use of drones, most recently at Hancock Air Base near Syracuse, NY last Thursday, where 17 were arrested.
Activists demanded: (1) An immediate ban on the use of all drones for extrajudicial killing (2) A halt all drone surveillance that assaults basic freedoms and inalienable rights and terrorizes domestic life in Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia (3) A prohibition on the sale, and distribution of drones and drone technology to foreign countries in order to prevent the proliferation of this menacing threat to world peace, freedom and security and (4) The U.S. must immediately stop this lawless behavior of drone warfare that violates many international laws and treaties.
“US military and CIA Drone attacks have killed thousands of innocent civilians, including women and children, in the Middle East, Somalia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In the name of combating terrorism against the U.S. we are terrorizing innocent people, and creating many more enemies and potential terrorists in the process,” said a statement issued by Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, Chico Peace and Justice Center, Nevada County Peace Center, Peace Fresno, WILPF and World Can’t Wait.
conscientious objectors need our support
ISRAEL: Conscientious objector Moriel Rothman sentenced to 10 days' imprisonment
Israeli conscientious objector Moriel Rothman, 23 year old, from Jerusalem, arrived in the morning of Wednesday, 24 October 2012, to the Induction Base in Jerusalem, where he declared his refusal to serve in the Israeli Army as it is an occupying force. He was sentenced to 10 days of imprisonment for his refusal.
In his refusal declaration Moriel Rothman wrote:
Stopping Trans Canada’s Keystone XL Pipeline--Activism from the Trees and on the Ground
By Ann Wright
It seems as though most Americans don’t know that the Obama administration has backed off its commitment to stop a Canadian oil firm from bringing dangerous and toxic tar sands from the fields in Alberta, Canada to oil refineries in Texas. But in East Texas, the farm lands and forests have been seized for the Canadian company through eminent domain and are already being destroyed for the foreign pipeline.
Yesterday, October 24, Leslie Harris of Dallas, Texas and I visited the “boys” in the trees, the great activists who have been living in the trees along the Trans Canada Keystone XL pipeline that is carving a terrible scar in the countryside of East Texas. Earlier in the day we had been meeting with dozens of Tar Sands Blockade (TSB) activists who are preparing campaigns in East Texas and Houston to challenge the XL pipeline.
Activism in the Air
War Resister Kimberly Rivera Needs Your Letter of Support
Kimberly, from Mesquite, Texas, deployed to Iraq in 2006. After several months, she found that she could not in good conscience continue to participate in the war. While in the US on leave, she and her family sought asylum in Canada. Unfortunately, the Canadian government denied her asylum and on September 20th, she and her family voluntarily returned to the US. She was arrested at the border and is currently at Fort Carson, Colorado, awaiting a decision by her command as to what her fate will be.
We are reaching out to you today to ask if you would be willing to write a letter of support for Kim.
Here is a bit of background about Kim, and below are guidelines for letters of support:
Veterans Among Those Arrested Thursday Protesting Drones at Hancock Air Field
UPDATE: 17 arrested, 4 released, 13 held on bail from $200 to $1000, and all 17 given a restraining order by Earl A Evans, base commander, banning them from the base. The "temporary order of protection" is for a year "protecting" the base commander from nonviolent protesters with posters. The 17 have been charged with trespass and disorderly conduct.
***
Once again nonviolent protesters of U.S. drone wars have been arrested at the gates of Hancock Air Field in New York State. Thursday morning, 19 people blocked the three gates to the base for a period of hours beginning at 8 a.m. Eventually, the front gate was opened after 11 people were arrested, including Elliott Adams of Veterans For Peace, as well as James Ricks, Bonny Mahoney, Paul Frazier, Ed Kinane, Mike Perry, Judy Bello, Andrea Levine, Dan Vergevin, Paki Weiland, and one other.
Vet For Peace Arrested by NYPD Writes to Bloomberg
Veterans For Peace
216 South Meramec Ave
St. Louis MO 63105
http://veteransforpeace.org
(314) 725-6005(office)
(314) 725-7103 (fax)
Organized locally. Recognized nationally. Exposing the true costs of war since 1985.
October 22, 2012,
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly
Dear Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly,
Students Complain to School Mandating Military Recruiters' Test
To: Sandy Husk
Salem-Keizer Superintendent of Schools
Israeli Envoy calls “Estelle” a Provocation While 7 Parliamentarians Sail to Break the Blockade of Gaza
By Ann Wright
Calling the latest sailing of a boat to challenge the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza a “provocation", Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor, called on the UN Secretary-General, the Security Council, and all responsible members of the international community to take immediate action to end this provocation.”
Prosor added, “I want to stress that Israel is not interested in confrontation, but remains determined to enforce its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip — and will take all lawful actions to this end. Their clear provocation raises tensions and could easily spark a serious escalation of the conflict.”
Seven parliamentarians from 5 European countries are on sailing on the sloop “Estelle” to break the Israeli Blockade of Gaza. Among the 20+ passengers are parliamentarians fromGreece, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and a retired parliamentarian from Canada.
Over 80 Irish Parliamentarians have signed a petition of support for the “Estelle’s” mission and 70 Greek Parliamentarians have also signed their petition.
Passengers from Canada, Finland, Greece, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden are on the “Estelle.”
All onboard are peaceful civilians who have received refresher non-violence training.
The “Estelle” carries a cargo of aid to the Israeli blockaded Palestinian population of Gaza, and a cargo of solidarity. It also carries an anchor and communication equipment needed for the construction of Gaza's Ark (see www.gazaark.org).
The “Estelle” is expected to reach Gaza by this weekend.
About the Author: Ann Wright served in the US Army/Army Reserves for 29 years and retired as a Colonel. She was also in the US Diplomatic Corps for 16 years and resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war. She has traveled to Gaza four times since the Israeli attack on Gaza that killed 1440, wounded 5,000 and left 50,000 homeless. She was an organizer for the 2009 Gaza Freedom March that brought 1300 persons from 55 countries to Cairo in solidarity with the people of Gaza and was on the 2010 and 2011 Gaza Freedom Flotillas. She is an organizer for Gaza’s Ark.
NOVEMBER 16-18: Large Scale Mobilization to Take Place at the Gates of U.S. Military Base in Georgia to Shut Down the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC)
Thousands of social justice activists from across the Americas will gather at the gates of Fort Benning, GA, to call for an end to U.S. militarization and for the closure of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly the School of the Americas.
Columbus, Georgia - 10 days after the November elections, the November Vigil will put grassroots pressure behind the demands for an end to U.S. militarization and for the closing of the SOA/ WHINSEC, no matter who wins the elections. The recent announcements by Ecuador and Nicaragua to join Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Venezuela in pulling their troops out of the SOA/ WHINSEC have put the Pentagon on the defensive about the viability of their flagship training school.
The three-day convergence is the largest annual anti-militarization convergence in North America. It will include a massive rally on Saturday, November 17, where thousands will gather at Fort Benning’s gates to demand an end to Washington-backed violence in Latin America. A funeral procession will follow on Sunday to commemorate the victims of U.S. militarism. The mobilization will also include workshops, concerts, a strategy session, and more.
The SOA/WHINSEC is a U.S. taxpayer-funded military training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia. The school made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. But this admission, to say nothing of fact that hundreds of SOA alumni have been implicated in human rights abuses, has never prompted an independent investigation into the training facility. On September 20, 2012, Al Jazeera ran the story, “The School of the Americas: Class Over?” The piece is available here: http://aljazeera.com/
“The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation is part of the failed mindset that says that social problems can be ‘solved’ through military solutions. This mindset has brought us the failed ‘War on Drugs’ and has killed thousands of people.” said SOA Watch founder Father Roy Bourgeois. SOA Watch will be demonstrating in mid-November to set an agenda against U.S. militarization.
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Fasting to Close the SOA
October 30, 2012 will be a day of fasting for SOA Watch; a time to organize fasts in your community to bring attention to SOA/WHINSEC victims and an opportunity for each of us to commit ourselves to closing this place of injustice. Local fasts nationwide can educate the public about the School of the Americas / WHINSEC, the reality of U.S. foreign policy towards Latin America, and the upcoming November Vigil at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia (November 16-18, 2012).If you are fasting as part of a group or by yourself on October 30, please click here to pledge your participation in the 2012 Fast to Close the SOA: http://SOAW.org/fast
Below you will find a few suggestions of possible public fast locations or events you could plan in your community on or around Tuesday, October 30, 2012. We encourage you to be creative in planning your fast or events, and keep us informed of what's going on out in your region! Some fast or event locations could include:
- Outside a district Congressional office that has not supported legislation to close the SOA/WHINSEC
- On your university's campus
- At a community center
Other ideas:
- Organize a screening of Somos Una América, Tom Bottolene's documentary ¡NO MAS! The 20th Annual Sunday Vigil, or Tomas Laffay's 14 minute film Today was a Victory / Hoy Fue Una Victoria, which focuses on the November Vigil as a rallying point and a place to network for many grassroots organizations struggling for social justice in our Americas (all three titles are available on the same DVD).
- Distribute SOA 101 informational flyers and palm cards about the November Vigil.
- Schedule a meeting with your Congressperson
- Hold a "fast-in"
- Dedicate a religious service at your place of worship
- Wheat paste posters around your community
- Support the campaign with a fundraising party
- Get your event picked up by local media outlets
- Mobilize others in your community to join the trip to the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia in November for the vigil to close the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC) and to resist U.S. militarization.
Good luck with your planning! If you have questions or suggestions, please call the DC SOA Watch Office at 202-234-3440
Share the info about the fast on your Facebook page or your Twitter account!
If you are going to organize a public fast, e-mail us at info@soaw.org
Close the SOA Fast!
When we fast in front of Federal buildings, we can raise awareness about one of the great evils that our government sustains. We can invite those who witness our fast to flood the White House comment line with phone calls at 202-456-1111, to express our opposition to the continued operations at the SOA/ WHINSEC. We can use our fast to show the media and the public that the U.S. government needs to be held accountable.
You can participate in this one-day fast by organizing a place for you and your friends to fast together, or by fasting individually.
If you are fasting as part of a group or by yourself on October 30, please click here to pledge your participation in the 2012 Fast to Close the SOA: http://SOAW.org/fast
Charges Dismissed Against Nuclear Missile Launch Protesters
Charges were dismissed on Wednesday in federal court in Santa Barbara, Calif., against fifteen people, including four members of Veterans For Peace, who were scheduled to face trial on Wednesday as a result of their nonviolent protest of nuclear warheads at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The 15 had been arrested on February 25th for protesting the launch of a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Video: http://youtu.be/sGYVee9yW9Y
The Veterans For Peace facing trial were Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg of Berkeley, Calif.; Fr. Louie Vitale of Oakland, Calif. and Las Vegas, Nev.; John Amidon of Albany, N.Y.; and Mark Kelso of Las Vegas, Nev.
The district attorney moved to dismiss all charges. Two of the defendants, John Amidon and Toby Blome, wanting to raise their concerns about the Minuteman III missiles in court, offered motion not to dismiss. The judge sided with the district attorney.
Some of the same people will be among those protesting again on November 13th when another missile test is scheduled:
http://www.facebook.com/
McGregor Eddy, one of the defendants, called the dismissal a victory. "The military," she said, "wants to avoid drawing attention to thermonuclear warheads that serve no purpose and cost a great deal of money. Many young people don't even know about these nuclear weapons. When we say 'nukes' they think of nuclear power."
Fr. Louie Vitale agreed, calling the dismissal "a great victory." Vitale added, "I've been on trial here several times and always lost. This was a victory. And we'll be there in November to protest the next launch."
Vitale said that the public in Santa Barbara had learned a great deal through the work of the coalition formed around this protest and near-trial, including with the help of David Krieger and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
At 7 p.m. PT on Tuesday, October 16th, a free public event called "Putting U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policies on Trial: A Forum with the Vandenberg 15" was held at Faulkner Gallery, 40 E. Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, Calif. Speakers included Daniel Ellsberg, Fr. Louie Vitale, Cindy Sheehan, and David Krieger. The event was cosponsored by Code Pink, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Nevada Desert Experience, Progressive Democrats of Santa Barbara, Veterans for Peace, Western States Legal Foundation, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (Santa Barbara).
"We were protesting a rehearsal of a holocaust," said Ellsberg. "Every minuteman missile is a portable Auschwitz." Video of Ellsberg: http://youtu.be/E-s0_JI8Dp4
"We have 450 land-based Minuteman III nuclear missiles on high alert," said Amidon. Despite hundreds of near-disasters due to human and mechanical mistakes over the years, these nuclear-armed missiles could be sent by a U.S. president in 13 minutes or less. Thirteen minutes, with the very real possibility that false information, an electronic glitch or bad signal, or an error in human judgment, would bring the world as we know it to an end. Minuteman III missiles would not, and nothing can, prevent retaliation. Even without retaliation, their unilateral use would ruin the earth's atmosphere -- all over the earth. The missiles' only function is to kill others in a process that kills us too."
"An easy immediate step toward sanity," Amidon continued, "would be to de-alert the missiles so that 24 to 72 hours would be needed to launch. This would increase our security by reducing the likelihood of an accidental or unauthorized launch. Those intent on achieving nuclear doomsday could rest assured that U.S. submarines and bombers would remain able to complete that job many times over.
"A second needed and obvious step that would also work wonders for our federal budget would be to decommission these missiles. We are also calling for a cancellation of the November 14, 2012, missile (thermonuclear warhead delivery systems) test at Vandenberg Air Force Base. This will save between $20 to $30 million for this one launch."
RootsAction.org has set up an online action page through which people can email the government on this topic:
http://act.rootsaction.org/p/
Veterans For Peace was founded in 1985 and has approximately 5,000 members in 150 chapters located in every U.S. state and several countries. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) by the United Nations, and is the only national veterans' organization calling for the abolishment of war. ##
Veterans For Peace Go to Trial for Protesting Missile Launch
At 7 p.m. PT on Tuesday, October 16th,a free public event called "Putting U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policies on Trial: A Forum with the Vandenberg 15" will be held at Faulkner Gallery, 40 E. Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, Calif. Speakers will include Daniel Ellsberg, Fr. Louie Vitale, Cindy Sheehan, and David Krieger. The event is cosponsored by Code Pink, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Nevada Desert Experience, Progressive Democrats of Santa Barbara, Veterans for Peace, Western States Legal Foundation, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (Santa Barbara).
At 9 a.m. PT on Wednesday, October 17th,fifteen people, including four members of Veterans For Peace, will face trial in federal court at 1415 State Street, Santa Barbara, Calif. They were arrested on February 25th for protesting the launch of a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Video: http://youtu.be/sGYVee9yW9Y
The Veterans For Peace facing trial are Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg of Berkeley, Calif.; Fr. Louie Vitale of Oakland, Calif. and Las Vegas, Nev.; John Amidon of Albany, N.Y.; and Mark Kelso of Las Vegas, Nev.
"We were protesting a rehearsal of a holocaust," said Ellsberg. "Every minuteman missile is a portable Auschwitz." Video of Ellsberg: http://youtu.be/E-s0_JI8Dp4
"We have 450 land-based Minuteman III nuclear missiles on high alert," said Amidon. Despite hundreds of near-disasters due to human and mechanical mistakes over the years, these nuclear-armed missiles could be sent by a U.S. president in 13 minutes or less. Thirteen minutes, with the very real possibility that false information, an electronic glitch or bad signal, or an error in human judgment, would bring the world as we know it to an end. Minuteman III missiles would not, and nothing can, prevent retaliation. Even without retaliation, their unilateral use would ruin the earth's atmosphere -- all over the earth. The missiles' only function is to kill others in a process that kills us too."
"An easy immediate step toward sanity," Amidon continued, "would be to de-alert the missiles so that 24 to 72 hours would be needed to launch. This would increase our security by reducing the likelihood of an accidental or unauthorized launch. Those intent on achieving nuclear doomsday could rest assured that U.S. submarines and bombers would remain able to complete that job many times over.
"A second needed and obvious step that would also work wonders for our federal budget would be to decommission these missiles. We are also calling for a cancellation of the November 14, 2012, missile (thermonuclear warhead delivery systems) test at Vandenberg Air Force Base. This will save between $20 to $30 million for this one launch."
Veterans For Peace was founded in 1985 and has approximately 5,000 members in 150 chapters located in every U.S. state and several countries. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) by the United Nations, and is the only national veterans' organization calling for the abolishment of war.
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Actual Supporters of Peace Put Their Bodies on Line to Stop Latest Nobel Peace Laureate's Mass Murder Preparation
Vredesactie http://www.vredesactie.be - Action pour la Paix http://www.actionpourlapaix.be
Peace activists hinder departure of F16 airplanes to NATO nuclear weapons exercise
As of 7:30 AM peace activists are using non-violent means to try and stop the departure of F16 airplanes from the base in Kleine Brogel. Starting today, Belgian pilots are training for the deployment of nuclear weapons together with their NATO-partners. Small groups of activists are going onto the runway to stop the taking off of the F-16s. Meanwhile, the main gate of the base is being blocked. In this way, Vredesactie and Action pour la Paix hope to prevent the preparation for war crimes.
From 15 to 26 October, Belgian F-16s from the military base of Kleine Brogel are participating in the NATO-exercise “Steadfast Noon” in the German air base of Büchel. This exercise is a way of training for the deployment of nuclear weapons. All NATO-countries that have American nuclear weapons on their territory are participating: Belgium, Germany, Italy, Holland and Turkey. Some other countries are taking on a supportive role.
“The American nuclear weapons stored in Kleine Brogel are not merely relics from the Cold War”, says Roel Stynen from Vredesactie. “This NATO-exercise makes it clear that the deployment of these weapons is being actively prepared. If these nuclear weapons no longer have any military purpose – as we are told – then which scenarios are being practiced?”
Benoit Calvi from Action pour la Paix: “The majority of the population wants these nuclear weapons removed from our country. But our minister dodges any attempt to a debate. Apparently being a member of NATO is more important than having a functioning democracy.”
Preventing the preparation of war crimes
Small groups of activists have entered the base. They head towards the hangars for aeroplanes to stop the departure of combat planes, risking life and limb. Meanwhile a colourful blockade at the main gate stops entry of personnel to the base.
With this action the activists are trying to prevent the preparation of war crimes in a non-violent way. The use of nuclear weapons and the preparation for said use is in violation of international humanitarian law. The International Court has pointed out the fundamental rules of the law of war as applicable to nuclear weapons in its verdict of 8 July 1996.
First of all a distinction must be made between enemy combatants and civilians. It follows that weapons that are incapable of making such a distinction can never be used. Second, it is forbidden to inflict unnecessary suffering to enemy combatants. Therefore, weapons that inflict such suffering can not be used. The consequences of using nuclear weapons cannot be limited in time and space. The nuclear weapons stationed in Kleine Brogel can never be deployed without violating these fundamental rules of the law of war and without committing war crimes.
Belgian criminal law also penalizes these acts of preparation, e.g. in art. 136sexies of the penal code: “the keeping of an object destined for such a crime or which facilitates the perpetration of such a crime”. Participation in this exercise amounts to an active preparation for the use of nuclear weapons and therefore for crimes of war. It also makes it clear that the storage of nuclear weapons in Kleine Brogel is a part of this active preparation.
Belgian peace organizations file a complaint
On October 9 several Belgian peace organizations - Vredesactie, Pax Christi Vlaanderen, Vrede vzw, CNAPD, Action pour la Paix en MIR-IRG - already filed a complaint with the police against this exercise. Tom Sauer (professor of International Politics at the University of Antwerp) participated in filing a complaint: “These weapons are useless and dangerous. It is unacceptable that Belgian pilots are practicing for the deployment of weapons of mass destruction.”
So far neither the department of defence, nor the judicial authorities have indicated that the participation in the nuclear exercise will be suspended, which is why Vredesactie and Action pour la Paix are taking their responsibility to try and prevent these war crimes.
Images on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
Nonviolent Protester of Drone Wars Sentenced to Federal Prison
Catholic Worker Brian Terrell of Maloy, Iowa has been sentenced to serves 6 months in a federal prison for his witness against the use of drone warfare.
Below is a message from Brian and his statement before the court.
Friends, We are just out of court. I have been ordered to surrender to a federal prison not yet designated on November 30 to serve a six months in lock up, co-defendant Ron Faust was sentenced to five years on probation. Below is the statement I made to the court. Judge Whitworth took great offense at my reference to Air Force security personnel as "goosestepping riot police." Comparing our fighting men to Nazis (the judge's word, not mine) was reprehensible, he said. He is not offended, apparently, by goosestepping US military police intimidating nonviolent protestors, nor by Air Force drones committing crimes against humanity and murdering children. Mentioning these embarrassing facts, however, is an affront to good manners.
