The Nuclear Resister

CODEPINK photo

from CODEPINK

by Danaka Katovich, CODEPINK National Co-Director

On October 4, CODEPINK walked the halls of Congress with over 60 people who came from all over the world to call for negotiations, not escalation in Ukraine following an anti-war rally on the evening of October 3 with Dr. Cornel West as the keynote speaker. The purpose of the last two days has been to point out the hypocrisy of progressives who fund endless wars, even progressive champion: Bernie Sanders.

Our action in the morning began with a sit-in in Senator Bernie Sanders’ office that resulted in the arrest of 11 of us — including a peace movement elder named Joan, who is 89-years-old.

(courtesy of KCTU)

from Hankyoreh

by Kim Yoon-ju, staff reporter

Two made it atop the statue in Gwanghwamun while two others were caught while attempting to climb the statue

Four Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) members were arrested by police around 1 p.m. on Saturday, August 12 while staging a demonstration near the statue of King Sejong the Great on Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, carrying signs with messages opposing Japan’s dumping of radioactively contaminated water into the ocean. 

Police said the four KCTU members, who included Vice President Kim Eun-hyeong, were arrested that day after being caught in the act of violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act.

photo by Karol Milner

by Mary Gleysteen, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action

Ten nuclear weapons abolition activists were removed from the roadway at 7 a.m. on August 7 by the Washington State Patrol after blocking the entrance to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, site of the world’s largest concentration of deployed nuclear  weapons. 

The civil disobedience followed a demonstration at the entrance to the Trident submarine base by Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action,  which involved approximately 50 nuclear weapons abolitionists ranging in age from 16 to elders in their 80’s, and featured a flash dance in the roadway to the song, ”War: What is it Good For?”

Mourning the victims of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and detonated in the Marshall Islands following World War II, and holding banners reading, “Abolish Nuclear Weapons” and “The Use…and Possession of Nuclear Weapons is Immoral – Pope Francis,” Sue Ablao (Bremerton), Susan Delaney (Bothell), Deacon Denny Duffell (Seattle), Carolee Flaten (Hansville), Rev. Anne Hall and Dr. David Hall (Lopez Island), Mack Johnson (Silverdale), Sean Makarin (Port Orchard), Michael Siptroth (Belfair) and Caroline Wildflower (Port Townsend), refused to leave the roadway. They were apprehended by the Washington State Patrol, issued citations pursuant to RCW 46.61.250, Pedestrians on roadways, and released.

Digging For Life:
For an End to Military C02 Emissions & the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

Today, August 9, the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, 16 nuclear abolitionists and climate activists were arrested when they started to dig a tunnel under the fence of Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands. The international group of Dutch, German, Italian and American activists meant to occupy the runway and again call to abolish nuclear weapons and CO2 emissions by the armed forces. U.S. nuclear weapons are stockpiled at Volkel as part of NATO’s “nuclear sharing” practice that continues in contradiction of the 1970 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

“Again” because yesterday ten participants of a Peace Camp at Volkel blocked the runway after climbing over the fence, and were then arrested. Today the intent of a “pink shovel action” was to create an entrance that allows everyone, including those with disabilities, to engage in the life-affirming action. Sigrid Hossbach came out of her wheelchair to take up a pink shovel and start digging.