The Nuclear Resister networks the anti-nuclear and anti-war resistance movement while acting as a clearinghouse for information about contemporary nonviolent resistance to war and the nuclear threat. Our emphasis is on support for the women and men jailed for these actions. This website is the online companion to the Nuclear Resister newsletter, a more comprehensive chronicle.
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The following is an adaptation of a presentation given by Jack Cohen-Joppa at the Pacific Life Community retreat held in St. David, Arizona in March 2025 (published in the August 2025 issue of the Catholic Agitator, newsletter of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker).
THE WAR IN OUR BACKYARD
by Jack Cohen-Joppa
On the ancestral lands of the Western Apache and O’odham peoples, the United States is peddling war and death.
In fact, more than sunshine, saguaros and scenic vistas, more than copper, cattle, cotton, and citrus, the largest dollar-value export of things made in Tucson — and in fact in all of Arizona — is war and carnage. Most of that is weapons that come direct from Raytheon’s Tucson plants.
Here in southern Arizona, we have all been sold on and suckered into war. For more than four decades, this region has suckled on the profits of war, and it sucks.
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On the afternoon of August 6, about 25 people gathered at the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania facility of Lockheed Martin to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and demonstrate against Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest war profiteer. The protesters stood side-by-side along the sidewalk, which was lined with bright banners. They waved peace flags, carried protest signs, and tolled the historic peace bell of the Brandywine Peace Community.
Musician Tom Mullian accompanied himself on the guitar and sang two of his songs about resistance and determination. Robert Smith, co-founder and coordinator of the Brandywine Peace Community, spoke briefly about the history of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the urgency of abolishing nuclear weapons, and the importance of persistence.
Following the program, three of those present crossed onto Lockheed Martin property to carry the message of no more war and no nuclear weapons directly to the company’s employees. Paul Sheldon, Bob Smith and Fr. Pat Sieber, OSF were moved off the property by police and cited for trespassing.
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from Art Laffin» Read more…
Blockaders Shut Down Holloman AFB to “Put Our Bodies Between the Drones and the Children of Gaza” – One Arrested
Anti-drone activists from across the U.S. shut down the West Gate entrance at New Mexico’s Holloman Air Force Base early in the morning of April 23 for nearly an hour. The demonstration was part of the third annual “week of resistance” to the covert U.S. drone warfare program.
Activists donned signs with names and ages of young Gazan children killed, and blocked traffic while chanting “15 thousand children killed in Gaza. No drones for genocide.”
One protester, Toby Blomé, was arrested after lying down on pavement in front of a stalled car when military police threatened to arrest her. She was ultimately handcuffed, detained, cited with a federal trespassing charge and released.
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Photo by Glen Milner
from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
by Glen Milner
Sixty people were present on May 10 at the demonstration against Trident nuclear weapons at the Bangor submarine base. Eight demonstrators blocked the main highway entrance into the base for over 10 minutes and were cited by the Washington State Patrol.
At around 2 p.m., the demonstrators entered the highway carrying large banners and signs stating, “Abolish Nuclear Weapons” and “Nuclear Weapons are Immoral to Use, Immoral to Have, Immoral to Make.” T-shirts stated, “Ban the Bomb” and “Pope Francis Said Possessing Nuclear Weapons is Immoral.” All incoming traffic was blocked at the Main Gate at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. Demonstrators were removed from the highway by the Washington State Patrol.
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Photo by Jim Hannah
‘No new nukes!’ say resisters at Kansas City nuke plant
by Jane Stoever
Twenty-three peacemakers resisted nuclear weapons at dawn on May 19. Our signs, made May 18, declared, “No new nukes!” and “Stop escalating nuclear War!”
Why hold signs at dawn? That’s when workers come to make 80% of the electrical and mechanical parts for the nation’s nuclear arsenal at the Kansas City National Security Campus. In our backyard. In the heartland of America, the womb of U.S. nukes.
A few thousand workers drove past our signs into work. To our surprise, we got six honks for peace. Yes! And after six of us crossed the purple line marking the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) property, we chatted there with NNSA guards and Kansas City, Missouri police.
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from Inquest
Nuclear abolitionists in the Plowshares movement have been imprisoned for bringing attention to the fact that nuclear weapons are immoral and illegal under international law.
by Art Laffin
On September 9, 1980, eight peacemakers, known collectively as the Plowshares Eight, entered the General Electric facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where vital components of Minuteman III nuclear missiles were manufactured. The eight, among whom were a number of prominent Catholic anti-war activists, were Father Daniel Berrigan, his brother Philip Berrigan, Sister Anne Montgomery, Father Carl Kabat, Molly Rush, John Schuchardt, Elmer Maas, and Dean Hammer. Motivated by their faith, they enacted the biblical prophecies of Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 to “beat swords into plowshares,” hammering on two nose cones and pouring blood on technical documents. The eight were subsequently arrested and tried by a jury. All were convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from eighteen months to ten years. After a series of appeals that lasted a decade, they were resentenced to time served—from several days to seventeen and a half months.
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Photo by Milo Chandler
from Lakenheath Alliance for Peace
At 9:30 a.m. on April 25, fourteen women, intersex, non-binary and trans activists (FINT) – aged from 24 to 91 – held a blockade of the main gate of USAF Lakenheath, denouncing the deadly entanglements between militarism, climate change, authoritarianism and genocide. Ten activists were topless with chains around their wrists and tape over their mouths to expose the vulnerability and silencing faced by FINT people under systems of war, climate collapse, and oppression. Their bodies were painted with the words “Violence,” “Displacement,” “Brutality,” “Exploitation,” “Silencing” and “Oppression”. They stood hand in hand forming a powerful image blockading the vast military complex. War and climate change are both strongly linked to gender-based violence around the world. Four activists, including two of our international participants, stood behind them displaying flags and a banner saying “Break The Chain”.
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FOR-USA photo
Interfaith Peace Witness Leads to Arrest of 25 at Lockheed Martin Facility in King of Prussia
by Paul Magno, Isaiah Project
On April 18, 2025, I stood with 24 fellow activists in a powerful interfaith act of witness outside Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It was Good Friday—a day that, within Christian tradition, remembers Jesus’ death, and its embodiment of loving sacrifice, nonviolence, and the call to justice. Together, we gathered not just as individuals, but as a united front of people of conscience, representing a broad array of faith-based groups, to speak out against war and the machinery that fuels it.
Over two hundred people of faith and conscience gathered for the demonstration, organized by the Brandywine Peace Community, Red Letter Christians and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, which brought together voices from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Quaker communities—each bringing their own prayers, chants, and sacred presence. We marked the day with songs of peace, solemn reflection, and the tolling of bells as we moved in silent procession toward the entrance of the largest weapons manufacturer in the world.
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Photo by Rose McPartland
On April 17, Holy Thursday, seven participants of a Holy Week peace pilgrimage in Connecticut were arrested while blocking the entrance leading to the engineering building of General Dynamics/Electric Boat. Before they were arrested, together with the other peace walkers, they performed a foot washing in the road and held long banners that read “Holy Thursday: Jesus Commanded ‘Love One Another'” and “Stop Engineering the End of the World.”
Ellen Grady, Clare Grady, Linden Jenkins, Steve Baggarly, Dimitri Kadiev, Karen Gargamelli-McCreight and Chris Spicer Hankle were charged with disorderly conduct, and appeared for their arraignment in Connecticut Superior Court in New London on Thursday, May 1. Five of the activists took the community service that was offered. Chris Spicer and Steve Baggarly are waiting to be notified about a trial date.
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