Monthly Archive for May, 2016

Memorial Day 2015

On May 30, more than 50 people took part in a Memorial Day peace walk from the old Kansas City nuclear weapons parts plant to the new one, about ten miles away. Surviving former employees of the old factory addressed the walkers about the legacy of their work.

“We are memorializing those who died and got sick because of the toxic chemicals used at the old plant to make parts for nuclear weapons” from 1949 to 2014, said Lu Mountenay, a minister in Independence, Missouri. “If it happened then, it will happen again at the new plant.”

Photo of Colm (left) and Dave by Vicky Donnelly

At approximately 6 a.m. on May 25, there was a faith-based action at Shannon Airport in response to Ireland’s continuing support of U.S. wars conducted in the Middle East. Dave Donnellan and Colm Roddy entered the airfield and sprayed the main runway with red crosses to represent all the innocent blood spilt by these wars. They carried a banner reading “U.S. Military and CIA out of Shannon Airport” and an Irish flag, signifying the abuse of Irish sovereignty by U.S. military at Shannon Airport, while crossing two runways and walking over half a mile. Before entering the air field, they said some prayers for peace, for the victims of violence in the Middle East and for the suffering of refugees fleeing these wars being actively facilitated by the Irish Government, An Garda Siochana and the Shannon airport authority.

Jessica Reznicek and supporters in front of the courthouse before start of trial, May 24, 2016. Photo by Aaron Jorgensen-Briggs

In a Nebraska courtroom, a jury found Jessica Reznicek guilty of misdemeanor criminal mischief and criminal trespass on May 24. On May 25, District Judge Patricia Lamberti sentenced her to 72 days in jail, with credit for time already served (so no additional jail time) and just under $5000 in fines and restitution.

from Common Dreams

by Kathy Kelly

Last winter, at the Voices home/office in Chicago, we welcomed two friends who were in town for a Mennonite church gathering focused on the symbol of beating swords into plowshares. Their project embraces a vision from the biblical “Book of Isaiah” which longs for the day when “they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they study war anymore.” Our friends quite literally enact this vision. They use saws to cut guns and rifles in half and then hammer on the broken weapons, turning them into useful tools for gardening and light construction.

from Voices for Creative Nonviolence

by Brian Terrell

“What happened to us was a shakedown by gangsters wearing police uniforms and judges’ robes, not for the sake of justice, but to maintain the civic infrastructure behind the glittering façade of Las Vegas with dollars squeezed out of its poorest citizens.”

“The degree of civilization in a society,” wrote the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, “can be judged by entering its prisons.” As a frequent visitor to Nevada in recent years, I have often been surprised by the cultural diversity and spiritual richness that can be found in Las Vegas. Still, I think that Dostoyevsky was right. A more accurate assessment of the degree of civilization in Las Vegas and for the broader society that the city claims to be “The Entertainment Capital” of can be made by entering the cells of the Clark County Correctional Center than by going to the top of the Stratosphere, cruising the Strip or even by taking in a Cirque du Soleil show.