The Nuclear Resister

Nuclear resister John LaForge, co-director of Nukewatch, writes about why he will not pay fines imposed for trespass convictions for two nonviolent actions at Büchel Air Base in Germany, where up to 20 U.S. nuclear weapons are stored. On January 10, he will begin a 50 day sentence at Billwerder Prison in Hamburg.

from CounterPunch

from the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group 

By Aleksei Ovchinnikov

Translated by Jennifer Castner

Expert anti-nuclear Russian campaigner and public figure Andrey Ozharovsky was accused in August 2022 of discrediting Russia’s state atomic energy corporation, RosAtom. An administrative legal case is being filed against him. In the meantime, Ozharovsky has repeatedly made public statements and continues to serve as a regular expert guest in mass media, including on official Russian channels.

Photo by Chris Knudson

Excerpts from Nevada Desert Experience website

Nevada Desert Experience (NDE) held their Justice For Our Desert event on October 14, 15 and 16, which included peaceful witness at both Creech Air Force Base and the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS, formerly the Nevada Test Site). Creech and the NNSS are desecrations of the land, its people and other creatures in Nevada and represent a threat to all life on the planet.

Justice For Our Desert began in Las Vegas on Friday evening, October 14 with a concert, art and refreshments. On the afternoon of October 15, participants protested at the gate of Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, holding signs and banners as drone operators left the base after their shift. Creech AFB is the center of drone warfare and assassination for the U.S. military and the CIA. NDE began protesting there in 2009. 

Marion Kuepker & John LaForge at the NPT Review Conference in NY on August 1

from Nukewatch

LUCK, Wisconsin – A U.S. peace activist from Luck, Wisconsin has been ordered by a German court to serve 50 days in jail there after he refused to pay 600 Euros in fines for two trespass convictions stemming from protests against the U.S. nuclear weapons stationed at Germany’s Büchel Air Base, 80 miles southeast of Cologne.

      John LaForge, 66, a Duluth native and long-time staff person of the anti-nuclear group Nukewatch, participated in two “go-in” actions at the German base in 2018. The first on July 15 involved eighteen people who gained entry to the base by clipping through the chain link fence on a Sunday morning in broad daylight. The second, on August 6, the anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima, saw LaForge and Susan Crane of Redwood City, California sneak inside the base and climb atop a bunker which likely housed some of the approximately twenty U.S. “B61” thermonuclear gravity bombs stationed there.*

photo by Karol Milner

from Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action

Approximately 40 people were present on August 8th at a flash mob demonstration against Trident nuclear weapons at the Bangor submarine base. The demonstration was in the roadway, and blocked traffic entering the Main Gate of the Trident nuclear submarine base during rush hour traffic. Thirteen demonstrators were detained and cited by authorities.