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by Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, Editors
-Resistance 2002
With our roots in the nuclear disarmament and anti-nuclear power movements, this newsletter has published an annual tally of arrests for anti-nuclear actions in the U.S. and Canada since 1983. Since 1991, we have also tracked the related statistic of anti-war arrests in North America. As U.S. military policy has developed in the post-Cold War years, the distinction between these categories of civil disobedience and direct action has become less and less significant. Likewise, there is little difference between resistance to nuclear power and resisting The Bomb, as the two are linked historically; the public health issues are much the same; and we know that energy policy and foreign policy are closely, and for some fatally, connected.
The Bush administration's
preemptive war policy includes continued use of depleted uranium munitions
and threatens nuclear
attack. It is backed up by preparations at the Nevada Test Site for
treaty-busting tests of new earth-penetrating, bunker-busting nuclear
weapons. The threat to use the ultimate "weapon of mass destruction"
looms larger than ever over every military action the United States
takes. Victory over "terrorism" and the end of war will require
dismantling the U.S. nuclear arsenal and the industry that supports
it. How can other governments be persuaded to disarm before the
United States is willing?
In 2002, there were 431 arrests for anti-nuclear actions in the U.S., in the course of 36 different actions at 16 sites. Also last year, anti-war arrests more than doubled to 1,800 from 730 in 2001, while the number of anti-nuclear arrests was down from the previous year. This reflects a shift in attention as Iraq was increasingly threatened with invasion. The anti-war arrests in 2002 were reported from at least 108 different actions at more than 87 different sites, with over two-thirds of those actions taking place in the last half of the year. And far from slowing down, a multitude of civil resistance actions against war on Iraq continued at a brisk pace into 2003 - part of an explosion of anti-war activity that reverberated around the world.
We encourage the use and republication of this information. We ask only that credit be given to the Nuclear Resister.
-This issue Editors' note:
After over five months, we are back in print with a double issue, jam-packed with news. This was a tough issue to get done. The building, then lingering crescendo of anti-war protest and widespread nonviolent resistance that occurred around the world resonated locally in Tucson, where we were swept up in the veritable flash flood of local resistance efforts. We've made an enormous effort in recent weeks to spend more time in the office than at protests, vigils, meetings, etc. so we could make up lost ground and bring you this news.
This issue is somewhat a departure from the norm, because circumstances demand it. We've been simply overwhelmed by hundreds of direct action reports and leads to follow up on.
Most of this issue is a day-by-day annotated chronicle of anti-war-related arrests. The other articles are mainly limited to the actions and campaigns that now have activists in prison, plus anti-nuclear actions not included in the anti-war chronicle. Due to space limitations, we have omitted many updates we would normally include because a current jail sentence was not the result. For the most part, this issue's chronicle of war resistance concludes on April 15. We had to stop somewhere just to catch up and get this issue out! Information about prisoners and prison addresses is current to date of publication. The arrest reports will continue in the next issue as we publish a chronicle of anti-war related arrests and their consequences that is as complete as possible. Please send us reports of actions you know about!
