Vigil behind Bars
July 30, 2024
Dear friends,
Greetings from the open prison of Koblenz. Since July 30th, we have exchanged the Rohrbach prison desert, where most women are locked up alone or in pairs for 21 hours or more a day, for the relative freedom of a so-called open prison. Did the devil tempt these activists in their desert, you may wonder? True enough, we did not apply to move but were offered it by a person with power in Rohrbach prison.
And all power is given by the devil, the bible says. (Lk 4:6)
It was not an easy decision to accept this offer and it might have been a mistake that we will have to rectify in the future. However, this offer also seems an attempt from the German justice system to rectify their mistake in finding us guilty. What kind of peacemakers would we be if we denied this gesture, even if they are not fully aware of making it?
We gratefully accept the offer from the German justice system to give us a few months of food and lodging while allowing us to work with the people who suffer the most from money going towards war preparations instead of education, health care or social housing. And holding regular vigils and talks about nuclear disarmament. Who are we to refuse this attempt of redemption? Perhaps it is a first step to recognizing the value of war resistance and more positive court verdicts?
Soon it will be the 79th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We intend to use those dates, August 6-9, to start our peace work in Koblenz, either behind bars or on the streets. We hope many of you will join either alone or with a local group (of which there are many!). Fold cranes, hang up a banner, join a vigil, but most importantly talk to your neighbours, express your fears for war and longing for peace and build community!
We too shall use the month of August to speak about the horrors of war, the cancers and birth defects still caused by depleted uranium in Iraq (1), the cancer-causing pollution of the Mississippi River in the USA by tritium (2), the huge increase in CO2 emission by the arms upscaling of NATO (3), the hunger in Sudan, the return of polio in Gaza because of the destruction of health care and sanitation (4), the 10,000s of amputees in Ukraine (5).
Let us work together for a world with more peace, justice and freedom!
(1) NIH 2012
(2) Nukewatch Summer 2024 “NRC apologizes, admits: Monticello’s leake tritium reached the Mississippi River”
(3) Climate Crossfire: How NATO’s 2% military spending targets contribute to climate breakdown” Report Okt 2023
(4) TAZ 23/7/2024
(5) TAZ 17.07.2024
[Susan Crane is serving a 229 day sentence, and Susan van der Hijden a 115 day sentence, for their nonviolent nuclear disarmament actions at Büchel air base. You can write cards and letters to them, individually addressed to each at JVA Koblenz – Offener Vollzug, Simmerner Str. 14a, 56075 Koblenz, Germany. Updates can be found at https://noelhuis.nl/acties/kernwapensweg/ and http://www.nukeresister.org/2024/06/04/three-more-to-prison-for-nonviolent-anti-nuclear-actions-at-germanys-buchel-airbase/]