Monthly Archive for May, 2023

photo by Cody Boston

Sorrow and hope at the heart of annual Memorial Day remembrance

by Kristin Scheer

PeaceWorks Kansas City held its 13^th annual Memorial Day event this year at the Kansas City National Security Campus (NSC), where parts for nuclear weapons are made and procured. That day, May 29, was warm and sunny, and 63 of us gathered to march, mourn, rally, and picnic to object to the work that happens there. At the end of the event, 14 persons crossed the purple line separating the NSC property from public property. Eleven of our 14 retreated when warned of arrests. Three remained; they were arrested, taken to a police station, processed, and soon released. Their Kansas City, Missouri Municipal Court hearing is June 28.

CODEPINK photo

from CODEPINK

“NO MORE MONEY FOR THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX”

On the afternoon of May 16, CODEPINK activists disrupted a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. featuring the Secretaries of Defense, Commerce, and State. The hearing, called “A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 24 Budget Request: Investing in U.S. Security, Competitiveness, and the Path Ahead for the U.S.-China Relationship,” prioritized war preparations over de-escalation and cooperation. 

Three of the activists wore t-shirts saying “China is Not Our Enemy.” Wearing a shirt and holding a sign that both read “$$$ FOR THE POOR NOT WAR,” CODEPINK organizer Olivia DiNucci stood up and said, “We don’t need more money for the military industrial complex. We need money for the poor and the planet!”

from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action

photo by Glen Milner

Activists blockaded the entrance to the U.S. Navy’s west coast nuclear submarine base, which is home to the largest operational concentration of deployed nuclear weapons, in a nonviolent direct action the day before Mother’s Day.

Eight peace activists from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, holding banners reading “The Earth is Our Mother, Treat Her With Respect” and “Nuclear Weapons are Immoral to Use, Immoral to Have, Immoral to Make,” briefly blocked all incoming traffic at the Main Gate at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Silverdale, Washington as part of a May 13th Mother’s Day observance.

From left to right: Inga Blum, Ernst-Ludwig Iseknius, Ria Makein, Johannes Willbold, Gerd Büntzly, Miriam Menzel-Krämer, Lies Welker, Christiane Danowski

On May 8, the day Germans commemorate the end of a fascist regime and the end of World War II, seven opponents of war entered the Büchel air base. They nonviolently disrupted the preparation for nuclear war by obstructing construction work for the new runway. The new runway is a prerequisite for the deployment of new nuclear weapons that will soon be stationed in Büchel. 

The participants from all over Germany, aged between 43 and 75, thus set a sign for life on the anniversary of the end of the war and demanded an end to the threat of mass destruction, which violates international law. They were arrested and taken to the police station in Cochem before being released.