July 2017
IN THIS E-BULLETIN
ACTIVISTS CUT FENCES, OCCUPY NUCLEAR WEAPONS BUNKER IN GERMANY
FR. CARL KABAT ARRESTED AGAIN AT KANSAS CITY NUCLEAR WEAPONS PLANT
ACTIVISTS BLOCKADE NUCLEAR WEAPONS DEPOT IN SCOTLAND
ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS ARRESTED ON U.S. CAPITOL STEPS
ONGOING RESISTANCE AT DES MOINES DRONE COMMAND CENTER
FR. JERRY ZAWADA, PRESENTE!
PLEASE SUPPORT IMPRISONED ANTI-NUCLEAR AND ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS – THE NUCLEAR RESISTER NEEDS YOU!
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Activists cut fences, occupy nuclear weapons bunker in Germany
Five peace activists from the U.S. and Germany got far inside the Büchel Air Base in Büchel, Germany after nightfall on July 17, 2017, and for the first time in a 21-year-long series of protests against the deployment of U.S. B61 thermonuclear bombs there, climbed on top of one large bunker used for nuclear weapons. After cutting through two exterior fences and two more fences surrounding the large earth-covered bunkers, the five spent more than one hour unnoticed sitting on the bunker. No notice of the group was taken until after two of them climbed down to write “DISARM” on the bunker’s metal front door, setting off an alarm. They were eventually taken into custody more than two hours after entering the base. An hour after being detained, searched and photographed, the five were released through the base’s main entrance without being charged.
Steve Baggarly, Susan Crane, John LaForge and Bonnie Urfer (all from the U.S.) and Gerd Buentzly (from Germany) – said in a statement: “We are nonviolent and have entered Büchel Air Base to condemn the nuclear weapons deployed here. We ask Germany to either disarm the weapons or send them back to the United States for disarming.”
Read more here
Fr. Carl Kabat arrested again at Kansas City nuclear weapons plant
On a rainy July 4th, 83-year-old Catholic priest Carl Kabat went to the Kansas City National Security Campus, which is responsible for the production of 85% of the non-nuclear components of U.S. nuclear weapons. His attempt to incarnate the destructiveness of nuclear weapons by symbolically pouring red paint on the National Nuclear Security Administration sign was thwarted by employees of Honeywell, operators of the recently rebuilt and modernized nuclear weapons factory. He was charged with trespass and released, and issued a court appearance for August 8.
Read more here.
Activists blockade nuclear weapons depot in Scotland
Five people from the Trident Ploughshares international nuclear disarmament camp were arrested on the morning of July 11 after they blocked the road leading to the Coulport nuclear weapons depot starting at 7 a.m. The group of campaigners included two Spaniards and three UK citizens. By 9:30 a.m., MOD police had cut the protesters out of the heavy concrete and metal tubes with which they had locked themselves together. The road remained blocked for two and a half hours.
Angie Zelter and Brian Quail, two of the arrested activists, were jailed for two weeks after refusing to accept bail conditions that would require them not to go within 100 metres of the Faslane or Coulport nuclear weapon bases. The restrictive bail conditions were dropped on July 26, and they were released. Trial is on August 3.
Read more here.
On the morning of July 13, for the second time in three days, Trident Ploughshares campaigners blocked roads into the nuclear warhead store at Coulport on Loch Long as part of a week of peaceful disruption of the UK Trident bases in Scotland. A group of four protesters blocked the main route to the base by lying in the roadway joined to each other through “lock-on” tubes while a different group, in carnival costume, occupied an alternative access route. Access to the base via these roads was blocked for over two hours. The “lock-on” group was eventually removed by police and the four arrested on a charge of breach of the peace. Campaigners derived encouragement from the adoption on the 7th July by the United Nations of a Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, backed by 122 states.
Read more here.
Anti-war activists arrested on U.S. Capitol steps
In Washington, D.C. on July 12 – the 200th anniversary of Henry David Thoreau’s birth – six anti-war activists with the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) and several supporters visited both the Senate and House Office Buildings to deliver petitions. Then, wearing tee shirts covered with red paint to depict blood, they went to the Capitol steps with a banner reading “Stop the War Machine: Export Peace.” While reading the petition aloud, the group was removed from the steps and arrested.
Read more here.
Ongoing resistance at Des Moines drone command center
Twenty protesters attended a July 1 witness and direct action at the Drone Command Center in Des Moines, Iowa, where repeated vigils and actions have taken place in recent months. Des Moines Catholic Worker Ed Bloomer and Jesse Horne were arrested for trespass. After a night in a Polk County Jail holding cell, the two men pled guilty to their charges and were given fines and court costs. Jesse had an added charge of interfering with a police officer and got an additional fine and court cost sentence.
Read more here.
Fr. Jerry Zawada, Presente!
Fr. Jerry Zawada OFM – nuclear resister, peace and justice activist, Franciscan friar – died on the morning of July 25 at the age of 80. Jerry was imprisoned for a total of more than four years for protests at nuclear missile silos in the midwest U.S., at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning Georgia, and at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. He worked with the homeless, war refugees and survivors of torture. A few years ago, his advocacy for and celebration of mass with women priests earned a disciplinary letter from the Vatican.
Read more here.
Please support imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists – The Nuclear Resister needs YOU!
The Nuclear Resister is a bare bones operation that depends on grassroots support to chronicle anti-war and anti-war resistance, and support the women and men in prison for their acts of conscience. We need your help to continue this work – please read more here!! Or go directly here to make a secure online donation and find information about how to send a check. Each and every donation, large or small, will be gratefully received – thank you!