October 2017 IN THIS E-BULLETIN BRITISH ACTIVISTS FOUND NOT GUILTY FOR FIGHTER JET DISARMAMENT ATTEMPT GREENPEACE ARRESTS AT FRENCH NUCLEAR POWER PLANT TWO ACTIVISTS HANDCUFFED AFTER MOCK DRONE ATTACK BLOCKS CREECH BASE ANTI-DRONE PROTESTER ARRESTED BLOCKING TRAFFIC INTO BEALE AFB PLEASE SUPPORT IMPRISONED ANTI-NUCLEAR AND ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS – THE NUCLEAR RESISTER NEEDS YOU! _______________________________________________________________ […]
Monthly Archive for October, 2017
Occupy Beale photo
BEALE AFB/MARYSVILLE, CALIFORNIA – To draw attention to the 16th anniversary of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, northern California anti-drone activists expanded their protest to include three major commute gates at Beale Air Force Base on October 16 and 17. October 7 marked the 16th year since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, now the longest war in U.S. history.
One activist, Toby Blomé from the San Francisco area, was arrested while blocking early morning rush hour traffic into the Marysville, California drone base on Tuesday, October 17. She was later cited and released, and faces federal trespass charges. Scores of activists have been arrested at anti-drone protests at Beale Air Force Base over the past several years.
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JoAnn Lingle being arrested
Report Back on Codepink Drone Resistance Week, October 5-12
by Toby Blomé
Our drone resistance presence at Creech Air Force Base this year was overshadowed by the tragic Las Vegas mass shooting incident just days before our arrival, that stole the lives of 59 innocent concert goers, injured hundreds more, and left thousands of witnesses changed for life. All week long we contemplated and discussed as a group how we could thoughtfully tie in the senseless violence of the mass shooting event with the routine, intentional and well-disguised mass violence of U.S. foreign policy that occurs daily around the planet, to which few Americans give much thought. We came from 5 states: Indiana, California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii, plus some Las Vegas locals, and Ruben, our courageous ally, who lives in Indian Springs, across the highway from Creech Air Force Base. This key U.S. Reaper/Predator drone base is referred to by the U.S. military as “Home of the Hunters.” Cecile Pineda wrote an excellent blog (here) about our week at Creech and the U.S. Air Force’s great pride in calling themselves “hunters.” Hunting People???
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Daniel and Sam with their lawyer
Sam Walton and Rev. Daniel Woodhouse have been acquitted after breaking-in to BAE Systems factory to “disarm” Typhoon fighter jets.
- BAE’s Typhoon fighter jets are being used by Saudi-led forces in the ongoing bombardment of Yemen
- The UK has licensed £3.8 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since the bombing began in March 2015
On the afternoon of October 26, Reverend Daniel Woodhouse and Sam Walton, a Quaker activist from London, were found not guilty at Burnley Magistrates Court, following their arrest for trying to disarm Typhoon fighter jets at BAE Systems’ site in Warton, Lancashire on 29 January 2017.
Their aim had been to stop the jets, which had Saudi markings painted on them, from going to Saudi Arabia where they would be used to support the ongoing bombing of Yemen. Sam and Daniel successfully argued that their intention was to save innocent lives and prevent war crimes, by physically disabling the warplanes.
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Greenpeace France photo
Greenpeace activists enter French nuclear plant and set off fireworks near spent-fuel pool to show vulnerabilities
October 13, 2017
from The Japan Times
MOSELLE, FRANCE – Greenpeace activists set off fireworks inside a nuclear plant in eastern France early Thursday after breaking into the facility to underline its vulnerability to attack.
The anti-nuclear group, known for its daring and often spectacular publicity stunts, said the fireworks were set off at the foot of a spent-fuel pool — where nuclear plants store highly radioactive fuel rods that are removed from reactors after their use.
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Mordechai Vanunu
by Kathy Kelly
October 14, 2017
Mordechai Vanunu was imprisoned in Israel for eighteen years because he blew the whistle on Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program. He felt he had “an obligation to tell the people of Israel what was going on behind their backs” at a supposed nuclear research facility which was actually producing plutonium for nuclear weapons. His punishment for breaking the silence about Israel’s capacity to manufacture nuclear weapons included eleven years of solitary confinement.
Yesterday, reading about President Donald Trump’s new strategy on Iran, Vanunu’s long isolation and sacrificial commitment to truth-telling came to mind.
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