Sailing into the New Year with The Golden Rule

Friends,

At the recent trial of the Disarm Now Plowshares activists a retired U.S. Navy Captain who had commanded nuclear submarines during the Cold War testified on behalf of the Plowshares activists. Tom Rogers long journey had brought him to an understanding of the need to abolish these horrible weapons of mass destruction, that the government was not paying attention to people's "legal" means of free speech, and that the Plowshares activists' methods were justified.

In 1958 another retired U.S. Navy Captain embarked on his own journey of conscience and civil resistance when he and his peacemaking crew sailed the 30-foot ketch the Golden Rule toward the U.S. government's atmospheric test site in the Marshall Islands in an attempt to stop nuclear weapons testing despite government prohibitions and a court injunction. They were arrested, tried, convicted and put on probation, and undaunted, set sail a second time. This time the government decided to put Albert Bigelow behind bars.

Bigelow was not acting on a whim. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima horrified him, and in the postwar years he took a number of steps on his peacemaking journey. Among them, according to historian Lawrence Wittner, "working with the American Friends Service Committee, Bigelow sought to deliver a petition against nuclear testing to the White House, but was rebuffed by U.S. government officials." Bigelow made every effort to get the government to listen, but his words fell on deaf ears.

Bigelow said of his nautical actions: “In the face of the threats that nuclear warfare preparations put to all mankind, it is my duty, as a man and as an American citizen, to voice both my protest against these preparations and my pleas for a constructive policy instead. If I remain silent, how am I to answer later, should some high court ask: '…and what, knowing these things to be wrong, were you, a free, responsible citizen of a democracy doing to prevent them?'” (Source: The Voyage of the Golden Rule)

The Golden Rule suffered years of decay in a shipyard after being raised off the sea floor near Eureka, California, and its fate seemed sealed until two Northern California chapters of Veterans for Peace (VFP) established The Golden Rule project. VFP volunteers have been restoring the ketch, and hope to complete the restoration by July 2011. They still have a long way to go to reach their fundraising goal of $50,000 needed to complete the project.

The Golden Rule is an important piece of history of the nuclear abolition movement, and it is somewhat of a miracle that it has been (literally) raised from the deep to have a second life sailing the West Coast "in opposition to militarism and the use of nuclear weapons." It is my hope that the nuclear abolition community will come together in support of The Golden Rule Project.

Many thanks to Historian Lawrence Wittner for keeping The Golden Rule on our radar.

Peace,

Leonard

You can learn all about the Golden Rule Project (and contribute toward its completion) at http://www.heritech.com/goldenrule, or by contacting Fredy Champagne at fchampagne@asis.com, or by writing to Veterans for Peace, P.O. Box 5097, Eureka, CA 95502-5097.

Read The "Golden Rule" Will Sail Again, by Lawrence Wittner, December 21,2010, at the Huffington Post

Read The Long Voyage: The Golden Rule and Resistance to Nuclear Testing in Asia and the Pacific, by Lawrence S. Whittner

Resistance is Not Futile!

Friends,

In my December 7th post I not only asked you to push your Senators to ratify New START, but told you about the Disarm Now Plowshares trial that was starting that day.

Well, the trial is now history, and the government got what it wanted; it reduced the conversation to one primarily about trespassing, destruction of government property and conspiracy, rather than one about the real issues of illegal weapons of mass destruction with which our nation continues to threaten the world and around which it builds its foreign policy.

Disarm Now Plowshares represents part of a greater movement that seeks to resist the immoral and often illegal actions of our government. Those who engage in acts of nonviolent civil resistance, whether at a nuclear weapons storage depot, at School of the Americas or at The White House (as on December 16, 2010) are engaged in a great conspiracy of hope.

Chris Hedges, who participated in and spoke at last Thursday's White House action, stated it directly and eloquently, as did Daniel Ellsberg. Essentially, we choose to become enemies of the state or we are enemies of hope. As we move into a new year may we engage ever greater numbers of citizens in acts of nonviolent resistance until our elected officials can no longer ignore us. That is our hope.

Resistance is not futile. It is, in fact, necessary in order to save the soul of this spiritually impoverished and warring nation. Let us resolve in the coming year to resist with all our hearts and souls, lighting the way and creating a path for others to follow.

Peace,

Leonard

DISARM NOW!!! Pass New START!

Friends,

I woke up this morning at Jean's House of Prayer in Tacoma, Washington where I am helping prepare for the trial of the Disarm Now Plowshares 5 that begins today in U.S. District Court. As I looked out the window around 6:00AM I saw the bright lights of the Port of Tacoma, and wondered what it must have been like just before dawn on November 2, 2009 as the Disarm Now Plowshares 5 topped the hill overlooking the Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific (SWFPAC), bathed in bright light, looking like the mythical Mordor in J.R. Tolkein's stories.

Mordor was a terrible, dark place, as is SWFPAC, which (along with the Trident nuclear submarines based at Bangor) contains enough nuclear weapons to end life as we know it on our small planet. Every step taken, whether by Plowshares activists like the Disarm Now Plowshares 5 or by our elected leaders to ratify treaties like New START are IMPORTANT.

Here is an important letter from past presidents of Physicians for Social Responsibility stressing the need to ratify the New START. Please read this and then take action to push the U.S. Senate to ratify New START now! And please hold the Disarm Now Plowshares 5 in your thoughts and prayers as they go on trial for attempting to do what all citizens are called to do - abolish these immoral and illegal nuclear weapons.

There will regular updates each day this week at the Disarm Now Plowshares Website and Blog.

Peace,

Leonard

The diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks this past week show a dangerously escalating nuclear confrontation in South Asia. This growing danger is one more reason why the US Senate should ratify new START without further delay.

Both US and British intelligence experts believe that Pakistan is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, which now numbers 70 to 90 bombs, despite increasing economic and political instability. India has 60-80 warheads in its nuclear arsenal. According to the leaked reports, Pakistan fears that it would be overwhelmed in a conventional war, and looks to establish nuclear superiority to offset India’s advantage in conventional weapons.

The leaked cables also describe an Indian contingency plan, code named Cold Start, to launch just the kind of conventional invasion the Pakistanis fear. While Cold Start is meant to be a purely non-nuclear attack, the Pakistani nuclear build up suggests that it is likely that any future conflict in South Asia would escalate to nuclear war.

A regional nuclear war in South Asia would be catastrophic for the whole world.

Recent climate studies have shown that if only 100 warheads were directed at urban areas, the resulting fire storms would inject upwards of five terragrams ( 5 million tons) of soot into the upper atmosphere. In a matter of days temperatures across the globe would drop an average of 1.3 degrees C., more than twice the warming that has occurred in the last 130 years. There would also be a major decline in rainfall worldwide. These changes would persist for nearly a decade.

While there are no detailed studies of the decline in food production that would result from these climate changes, there is reason to believe that it would be very significant. A cooling event caused by the Pinatubo volcano eruption in 1815 dropped global temperatures only .7 degrees, and the fall in temperature lasted only 1 year, but that was enough to cause widespread famine in Europe and Asia, and the “Year Without a Summer” here in New England when killing frosts throughout the summer devastated crops.

There are over one billion people in the world today who live on the brink of starvation, and global food stockpiles are perilously low. A study that we presented at the Royal Academy of Medicine in 2007 concludes that we have reason to fear that all of these people might starve to death in the event of a nuclear war in South Asia.

What has this to do with New START? Everything.

US efforts to limit nuclear proliferation have been hobbled by our own continued reliance on nuclear weapons despite our having the strongest conventional forces in the world.

New START does not eliminate our arsenal. The 1550 warheads we still retain are enough to destroy India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, China and Russia—and to kill most of the people on Earth in the process. But New START is an important next step in limiting the US and Russian arsenals, and it is essential to the improved relations with Russia necessary for us to work with the Russians to limit nuclear proliferation. Further it restores our ability to monitor Russia’s nuclear arsenal, an ability we lost when the original START expired just one year ago.

The treaty is seen as vital to US security by our entire military leadership and a veritable “Who’s Who” of Republican defense experts. The original START treaty received overwhelming bi-partisan support in 1992, passing 93-6. But today’s Senate Republicans are threatening to block this replacement treaty unless the Senate agrees to extend the Bush era tax cuts for people making more than $1 million a year.

Republicans, including Senator Gregg, need to stop playing partisan politics with our national security and support this treaty NOW.

John Pastore, MD

Ira Helfand, MD

The authors are past Presidents of Physicians for Social Responsibility, US Affiliate of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize

Contact: Ira Helfand, MD at ihelfand@igc.org or 413 320 7829

30 Years of Plowshares Disarmament!

Friends,

September 9, 2010 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Plowshares movement!!!

30 Years ago on September 9, 1980, a small group of peacemakers - Elmer Mass, Daniel Berrigan, Philip Berrigan, Dean Hammer, Carl Kabat, Anne Montgomery, Molly Rush, and John Schuchardt - entered the General Electric Nuclear Missile Re-entry Division in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where the nose cones for Mark 12-A nuclear warheads were being manufactured. They carried hammers and their own blood with which they symbolically enacted the biblical prophecies of Isaiah (2:4) and Micah (4:3) to “beat their swords into plowshares” by hammering on nose cones, pouring blood onto documents and offering prayers for peace.

The Plowshares Eight

It was a deeply spiritual act intended to symbolically (and literally) disarm these horrific weapons the government was building in huge numbers in preparation for the ultimate omnicidal act. Of course all eight waited to be arrested, were tried and convicted in Federal court (the government frowns on people messing with their nuclear weapons), and sentenced to prison terms from 1 ½ to 10 years (they also like to make an example). Ten years later, after lengthy appeals, they were re sentenced.

That first group of citizen disarmers became known as the Plowshares Eight, and had started a movement, known as Plowshares, that continues to do its subversive work of turning swords to plowshares (or ploughshares as our friends across the sea refer to it). One thing unique to the Plowshares movement is that it has no formal organization per se, no storefront, no non-profit status, no licensed merchandise. It is an organic movement in which peacemakers act individually and in community, entering military bases and weapons facilities, symbolically (and in many cases literally) disarming weapons of war (with a particular emphasis on those of mass destruction).

These are no crackpot peaceniks mind you! “Parents, grandparents, veterans, former lawyers, teachers, artists, musicians, poets, priests, sisters, house-painters, carpenters, writers, health-care workers, students, gardeners, advocates of the poor and homeless” have all participated in Plowshares actions, and they take their task seriously, routinely going through an intensive process of discernment, spiritual preparation and nonviolence training. They are also very clear on the risks involved, accept full responsibility for their actions, and are prepared for the consequences.

There have around 100 Plowshares actions around the world since the Plowshares Eight wielded their hammers in 1980; Trident II Plowshares, Thames River Plowshares, Gods of Metal Plowshares, Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares II, and Waihopi ANZAC Ploughshares to name just a few. Plowshares activists have “disarmed” all kinds of armaments, including components of missiles, submarines, surface ships, aircraft, radar and satellites. And yet, Plowshares actions rarely, if ever, show up on even the innermost pages of any newspaper (and the government likes it that way; "out of sight, out of mind").

Nearly 30 years since that first Plowshares action, on September 2, 2010, a Federal grand jury in Tacoma, Washington handed down indictments against the five members of Disarm Now Plowshares. Anne Montgomery, Bill “Bix” Bichsel, Susan Crane, Lynne Greenwald, and Steve Kelly, each face up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the government’s charges of “conspiracy, trespass, destruction of property on a naval installation, and depredation of government property,” associated with their November 2, 2009 Plowshares action. Oooh, "depredation"; now that's a scary word!

Disarm Now Plowshares

Montgomery, who was one of the Plowshares Eight in 1980 recently said that, “It is distressing that 30 years later the nuclear weapons are still here, and the reason that I’m acting is that they’re still here. As citizens of a nation ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people’ we must take our responsibility to use every nonviolent means necessary to eliminate these illegal weapons of mass destruction.” At 83, Montgomery is the oldest of the Disarm Now senior citizen disarmers, the youngest of whom is 61.

These hearty souls entered the Trident nuclear submarine base at Bangor, Washington through the perimeter fence in the early morning hours of November 2nd, walked for 4 hours across the base carrying a banner, “Disarm Now Plowshares: Trident: Illegal + Immoral”, left a trail of blood, hammered on the roadway and fences around Strategic Weapons Facility – Pacific (SWFPAC) and scattered sunflower seeds throughout the base. They cut the last two fences to enter the secure nuclear weapons storage area where they were detained (with hoods over their heads, laying on the ground for about 4 hours)), and after extensive questioning by base security, FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), cited for trespass and destruction of government property, given ban and bar letters and released. All in a day’s work!

Finally, after ten months of waiting for the wheels of “justice” to grind along, the Disarm Now Plowshares defendants are ready to face trial and, in the words of Fr. Bill “Bix” Bichsel, “We hope to expose the fact that these weapons create absolutely no security. They bring nothing but fear and further proliferation of weapons and war.” These Plowshares activists hope to "expose" and shine a bright light on a very dark subject.

As Daniel Berrigan once said, “Plowshares began disarmament in 1980, doing what the government refused to do for 35 years. With equal concern, Plowshares appealed to the hearts, minds and spirits of the American people—‘You must share disarmament!’ The twin goals of Plowshares—symbolic yet real disarmament and sharing disarmament—have reciprocity. The weapons exist because our fear, violence and hatred built them. Plowshares must address these realities…”

And now, even after 65 years the government still builds the weapons of humankind's destruction, even while it engages in the rhetoric of disarmament.

When they get their day in court the Disarm Now Plowshares defendants hope to break through the government’s veil of secrecy and fear, and make their case to hold the government accountable to abolish nuclear weapons. They seek to disarm not only the weapons, but at the heart of it the "violence and hatred" that simmers deep within our hearts. Let’s hope their voices are heard, and may we all be listening.

Read more about Disarm Now Plowshares (including statements by all the members) at the Disarm Now Plowshares Blog. While there add your name to the list of the many individuals and organizations who have signed on in support of the Disarm Now Plowshares.

And then keep speaking out for disarmament; tell your Senators to speak out publicly in favor of and vote for ratification of the New START Treaty!

Peace,

Leonard

END NOTES:

The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles west of Seattle, Washington, is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, housing more than 2,000 nuclear warheads. In November 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council declared that the 2,364 nuclear warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S. arsenal. The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China, France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined.

The base has been rebuilt for the deployment of the larger and more accurate Trident D-5 missile system. Each of the 24 D-5 missiles on a Trident submarine is capable of carrying eight of the larger 455 kiloton W-88 warheads (each warhead is about 30 times the explosive force as the Hiroshima bomb) and costs approximately $60 million. The D-5 missile can also be armed with the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead. The Trident fleet at Bangor deploys both the 455 kiloton W-88 warhead and the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead.

Who or What is the Danger?

Friends,

I have, through my peacemaking journey, learned patience (and hopefully some other things as well).  I have learned that, as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."  Even with a deep understanding of the temporal uncertainty of the struggle for true and lasting peace and justice, I know that I cannot utter the words, "perhaps not in my lifetime," because that is an excuse, and excuses are not acceptable if we truly committed (as Dr. King was) to working for a world at peace.  Of course, we do our work knowing (on a certain level) that we may not see the fruits of our labors in this life; we do it knowing that we may not change the world, but if we choose to not do this important work, that the world will change us, and that is an unacceptable proposition.

Enter Lynne Greenwald; mother, grandmother, social worker, peacemaker, nuclear weapons resister.  Lynne, who moved close to the Trident nuclear submarine base in Kitsap County many years ago based on a deeply held belief that nuclear weapons were an abomination, and that Trident (designed as a first strike weapon) was an abomination of monumental proportions.  She has engaged in the long struggle to abolish Trident and all nuclear weapons as a member of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action.  Lynne is one who understands the long arc, and chooses to put her deeply held faith into action, manifested as resistance to omnicidal weapons that the U.S. government (and other nations) continue to embrace.

On Dec. 9, 2009 Lynne appeared in United States District Court in Tacoma, WA for a detention hearing related to an August 10 trespass charge when she crossed the blue line onto Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor NBKB), Washington. This arrest occurred during Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action's recognition of the 64th anniversary of the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Lynne (and companions) carried a banner stating, "Abolish Nuclear weapons: Resist Trident." (Refer to the October 2009 issue of the Ground Zero newsletter for full article and photo. The charge is a misdemeanor trespass violation 18 USC 1382.

(Watch the slideshow of the vigil and ecumenical service before Lynne's Dec. 9 hearing.)

View all

Get your own

You may ask why the government would want to jail Lynne until her trial for a misdemeanor.  Well, since the August 10 event, Lynne (and others) engaged in an epic plowshares action in which they went a bit beyond the usual blue line crossing.  They were able to get all the way in to the secure nuclear weapons storage area of the base before getting arrested.  Click here for the full details of that action.

After the prosecutor presented the state's case, the judge stated that, in the U.S. peaceful protest "is allowed and encouraged", but violating the law is not. He concluded that, based upon the actions brought forth by the prosecutor, Lynne constitutes a risk to the community. He cited the fact that entering the lethal force area (inside the nuclear warhead storage bunker area at Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific (SWFCAC)) creates a situation where Marines may have to use deadly force. Interestingly enough, not once during the proceedings did the government use any terminology relating to nuclear weapons, even when referring to the high security area in which nuclear weapons are stored; it was only referred to as the "secret area" (definitely a Monty Python moment).  The judge ordered that Lynne be released, but ordered that she not enter the base, and if she does so a warrant for her arrest would be issued.

Susan Crane and Sue Ablao outside the courthouse on Dec. 9

For me, it all boils down to the question in the photo: Who or what presents the real danger???  A nonviolent mom or nuclear weapons???  I will leave that for you to decide.  In the bigger picture, this story speaks to me of the potential that exists within each of us to seek truth and act on conscience.  It may not be crossing the blue line or cutting fences, but there are many layers of engagement with matters of peace and justice, and nuclear weapons are no exception.  Each of us must determine how much we are willing to do and how far we are willing to go to build a peaceful and just world.

Advent, a time of year when we hear so much about the birth of the Prince of Peace, is a wonderful time to reflect on our actions in the world, and to what we are willing to commit.  Lynne's journey is an example to us all.  May we all encourage the peacemaker within.

Peace,

Leonard  

Disarm Now Plowshares - Bake Sales for Bombs

Friends,

When was the last time we had to vote on a bond issue to fund the construction of new Trident submarines or nuclear warheads???  "What?!?!", you say.  Of course the U.S. government would never do such a thing.  That's for schools, hospitals and sewers.  Funding (or defunding) nuclear weapons is up to our elected leaders, and therein lays the rub.  If we leave it completely up to Congress and President Obama (for all his good intentions and rhetoric), nuclear weapons could well be with us (and the rest of the world) for a long time to come, assuming no one finally uses them.

Susan Crane and Lynne Greenwald of the "Disarm Now Plowshares" Five spoke with Mike McCormick this morning on KEXP (90.3) Radio about the November 2, 2009 plowshares action in which Lynne, Sue and the others entered the Trident submarine base known as Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor and made their way into the secure nuclear warhead storage area before being arrested.  They were able to hang a banner saying, "Disarm Now Plowshares", poured their own blood on the fence and road, and pounded on the road with hammers in what is known as a plowshares action, inspired by the Biblical prophet Isaiah who said that it will up to us to beat our swords into plowshares, and make war no more.

Susan spoke of the symbols they brought with them.  As for the simple, household hammers, they are a powerful symbol of Isaiah's call, and she made the point that, "they in the scriptures are us."  "We brought baby bottles that had our own blood... sprinkled some of the blood on the road along the way and also at SWFPAC [Strategic Weapons Facility-Pacific]."  Besides the symbolism of shedding their own blood so that others may live, it was also referring to "the rivers of blood that are starting there[Bangor]."

One other symbol they carried on their journey was sunflower seeds that they sprinkled along the way where they will lay waiting to grow next season as a symbol for a world free of nuclear weapons.  After Ukraine gave up its last nuclear warhead, the Defense Ministers of the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine met on a former Ukrainian missile base, June 4, 1996. They celebrated by scattering sunflower seeds and planting sunflowers. Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry said, "Sunflowers instead of missiles in the soil would ensure peace for future generations."

When asked about their senior citizen status - the Disarm Now members range in age from 60 to 83 - Susan focused on their being, "old enough to know that nuclear weapons are a danger," and that the U.S. has still not pledged to No First Use."  Lynne said that as an adult, human being and parent, she has a duty to see that nuclear weapons are never used again.

One of the final questions related to the point that many critics of the action have made.  Mike asked, "Why didn't you try proper measures", like going to lawmakers in Washington, D.C?  Susan said, "I have spent half my life trying these other ways."  The problem is that not enough people have done so.  We MUST engage (and educate) other citizens to get involved.  When given pennies to put into cups labeled War, Schools, Healthcare, etc., - an exercise that Susan has used to educate and build awareness) - "people don't put half their pennies into war making."  They put them into schools and other positive endeavors that build up society and the world!  But alas; in the real world, roughly half of U.S. taxpayer dollars go to war, while we struggle to fund even the most basic services.  You certainly won't be hearing about bond issues to fund war and nuclear weapons.

So what should listeners to this morning's program get from this?  That we must each do all we can to create a nuclear weapons-free world, and nuclear disarmament starts at home.  Here are a few of the steps Susan mentioned at the end of the interview.

1. Tell President Obama to take nuclear weapons off hair trigger alert. 
2. Adopt a No First Use policy.  China has done so; why can't we?
3. A formal refusal to attack non-nuclear weapons nations with nuclear weapons.
4. Remove all remaining nuclear weapons from Europe.
5. Work towards disarmament - START, CTBT, NPT, etc.  The president must make good on his promises made in his speech in Prague earlier this year.

You can help support these (and other) steps by getting involved in local, national and international organizations working to abolish nuclear weapons (see the listing in this blog under "Hot Links").  Right now you can take action on a number of issues (see the list of "Actions" at the top of my blog). 

While the Disarm Now Plowhares five don't yet know what is going to happen to them as a result of their plowshares action, we all CAN do something to help abolish nuclear weapons.  We don't have to be senior citizens to know that nuclear weapons present an unacceptable danger to humanity (mind you, these plowshares activists began their work decades before becoming "senior citizens."  Here's to bonds and bake sales to fund nuclear weapons; I certainly don't want stale baked goods.   

Peace,

Leonard

Hear the entire interview with Lynne and Susan by clicking here.  Then enter the time (7:31am) and choose your bandwidth.

You can read all earlier posts about Disarm Now Plowshares by clicking here.

Lynne Greenwald is a member of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action.
Susan Crane is from Jonah House.  Note: The beautiful sunflower photo is courtesy of Jonah House.

The bronze statue (in the top photo), representing the beating of a sword into a plowshare, was donated by the Soviet Union to the United Nations in 1959.

Other members of the Disarm Now Plowshares action are Father Bill "Bix" Bischel, Anne Montgomery, and Steve Kelly.

Disarm Now Plowshares - What It Was Really About

Friends,

On November 2, 2009, the Feast of All Souls, a group of five people entered the Bangor nuclear submarine base in Kitsap County, Washington to engage in a plowshares action they called “Disarm Now Plowshares.” They reached the nuclear weapons storage bunkers before being arrested by Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific (SWFPAC) security personnel. Before being arrested they were able to unfurl a banner that read, "DISARM NOW PLOWSHARES; TRIDENT- Illegal, Immoral", pour vials of their own blood on the roadway (shedding their blood so that others may live), and bang on the roadway with hammers (a symbolic act of beating swords into plowshares).

These were deeply spiritual people engaging in a religious act based on the Biblical prophet Isaiah who said that one day the people "shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall no lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."  The Plowshares movement began in 1980 when eight people entered the General Electric Nuclear Missile Re-entry Division in King of Prussia, PA where nose cones for the Mark 12A warheads were made.  The Plowshares Eight hammered on nose cones, poured blood on documents and offered prayers for peace before they were arrested.  Nearly thirty years later, one of the original Plowshares Eight, 83 year old Sr. Anne Montgomery, was also one of the Disarm Now Plowshares Five.  Sister Anne rocks!!!

These long-time peace activists understand that nuclear weapons are illegal under international law; but more importantly for them, they believe that they are an abomination in the eyes of a loving, peaceful God, and they are driven by a deep, abiding faith to bear witness to the immorality of these omnicidal weapons. Their plowshares action was intended not to demonstrate that they could sneak into a high security nuclear weapons storage facility, but to symbolically disarm the many nuclear weapons stored there, and to let the world know that these weapons lay out of sight in their bunkers, waiting to be deployed on missiles, and incinerate millions of people if used.

While politicians and the Pentagon continue to speak of the need for a nuclear deterrent, these five people were willing to risk everything to bear witness to the insanity of such thinking. The longer we embrace our nuclear weapons, the greater the chance that they will one day be used. They are, in a very real sense, the ultimate expression of violence. Perhaps Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best when he described our choice in the nuclear age: "The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence."

Peace,

Leonard

Lethal Force vs the Nonviolence of Jesus

Friends,

I previously shared nearly all the documents carried onto Bangor Submarine Base by those engaged in the November 2nd Disarm Now Plowshares Action.  There is one last document, written by Father William Bischel, that I would like to share.  It speaks to not only the heart of someone who has spent his life caring for those in need and working for justice, but also to the very heart of the violence from which we must extricate ourselves in order to build a world at peace.  This gentle man of God speaks truth far more powerful than any weapons.  Read "Lethal Force" below.

Blessed are the Peacemakers,

Leonard

P.S. - There is an entertaining bit of video from Fox News that they called "Breaking News", even though it was aired 3 days after the plowshares action.  Click here to watch 'Going to the Dark Side'.

The photo of Father Bischel was taken on October 7, 2009, in front of the U.S. District Courthouse, Tacoma, Washington.  And no, Bix was not at the courthouse for one of his many appearances before a judge; he was there to witness another trial and stood with us outside during the lunch hour, leafleting for Keep Space for Peace Week. 

*************

LETHAL FORCE by William J. Bichsel, S.J.

On November 2, 2009, All Souls Day, by the grace of God I choose to enter the Trident Submarine Base at Bangor Washington. I wish to walk to the idolatrous place of nuclear weapon bunkers where lethal force is authorized to guard the hiding places of the most lethal forces in the world. I wish to walk in solidarity with the poor of our world who live with lethal force constantly directed against them. My vulnerability to this lethal force is minimal compared to the lifetime vulnerability of the condemned of our world. My compelling reason for entering the Trident Submarine Base is to be present at this Auschwitz place in order to witness in faith to the transforming power of Jesus’ non-violence and Resurrection which can turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh and compassion. At this place of global death and hopelessness I wish to witness in faith to the life giving and transforming power of this presence which can expel the demon of violence from the hearts and minds of people possessed by the need for nuclear weapons. I believe the life giving power of the Resurrection can flow over the nuclear death machine and stop its destructive force. Compassion can then grow in hearts and minds of people who have been liberated from the prison of fear and violence.

Millions upon millions of people throughout our world live with lethal force being directed against them. Our brothers and sisters and children live in war ravaged places where violence reigns and starvation, disease, absence of medical resources, absence of shelter eventually bring death. One hour from our shores in Haiti, where one in twelve children do not reach the age of five, parents give children mud cakes made of earth, oil, sugar and salt to diminish the effects of hunger pains. From the Sudan to Sub Saharan Africa, mothers watch as their infants and children become emaciated with swollen stomachs and lifeless eyes then die. All of these lethal forces are authorized.

In the U.S., except for the poor, we have been protected and insulated from the death sentences under which half of the earth’s population lives. The drive for security has numbed our citizens to accept nuclear weapons as the ultimate protector of the American way of life. In effect this choice means the acceptance of the use of nuclear weapons if the United States considers itself threatened. The people of the United States accept the deaths of millions of people if a preempted strike is ordered. Thus the use of lethal force is authorized.

Across our nation there are vast numbers of U.S. citizens who face lethal forces directed against them which are not as immediate or instantaneously murderous as the lethal forces directed against the 3rd world poor. In our capitalistic system there are many who will not receive the health care, education, employment, appropriate housing and nutrition needed to live full human lives in this culture. These forces attack the body, soul and spirit of our citizens which eventually bring death of the spirit and then the body. This is especially true of one segment of our population – the mentally-ill, who live on the streets, under bridges, in door ways, jungle camps or in jails and prisons. They belong nowhere. They die. These lethal forces are also authorized.

The continued possession of nuclear weapons by the United States means that resources that could be used to divert the lethal forces that are now killing the poor of our world will continue to be used to fuel the killing machine.

Father Richard McSorley, S.J. has maintained that “the tap root of violence in our society is the acceptance of nuclear weapons.” We must bend our efforts to make known the Non Proliferation Treaty Review which will take place on May 2, 2010 at the United Nations. By our presence we must insist that the NPT Review Committee in the very near future organize a nuclear weapon global conference of these treaty nations which will set a firm date for nuclear weapon abolition.

Nuclear Plowshares - Disarming Our Hearts

Friends,

The five members of Disarm Now Plowshares Action (on Nov. 2, 2009) carried with them a number of documents as they made their way deep into the heart of darkness, the Strategic Weapons Facility - Pacific (SWFPAC).  Among those documents was one written by Susan Crane, 65, of Baltimore, MD.  Susan wrote Some thoughts about going onto Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor, and in her letter reminded us that, "There is no 'us' and 'them.'"  This reminded me of something once written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn:

"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" (from The Gulag Archipelago, 1973

It was the thinking of the "us" and "them", the "evil people", in our hearts and minds that drove the arms race that drove humanity ever so close to the brink of self destruction, and ironically it is those same hearts and minds that can (and must) undergo a sea change in order to bring us back from the brink.  As Susan states in her letter, besides the blood, hammers and sunflower seeds they brought with them that cold, clear morning under a bright moon, they brought something far less tangible, and yet perhaps much more important, "disarmed hearts in hope of a disarmed world."

May we all hope and pray (and work) to disarm our own hearts so that we may then disarm the hearts of others.  Here is the entire, unedited text of Susan's letter.

Peace,

Leonard
 

************

Some thoughts about going onto Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor

All Soul’s Day, Nov. 2, 2009

Today in the US more and more people are coming to food pantries, needing food for their families. The numbers of home foreclosures increase, leaving families homeless; unemployment increases; and many, even those with health insurance, can’t get their basic health needs met. Class size increases as teachers are laid off and dropout rates increase. Many returning vets must struggle for benefits. States are near bankruptcy, and our infrastructure is falling apart. And day by day climate change threatens us all.

As a nation, we know all this. We experience it personally, and hear it on the nightly news. But what we don’t hear is that there may be solutions to these problems. We need to look at where, as a nation, we are allocating our resources: where do our federal tax dollars go? Where do our brightest and best scientists find work? Where do our idealistic and dedicated youth end up? We know that over half of every federal tax dollar is used for warmaking. And we know that the American people never have a chance to vote on a bond issue for the next fighter plane or nuclear weapon. Every dollar that is used for warmaking, killing or planning to kill other people, is a dollar that is not used for human needs, or healing the earth.

Here in Washington state, I was thinking about the Trident submarines which have nuclear warheads on them, and are constantly roaming the oceans. There are 8 subs homeported here at Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor. And each of these subs carries 24 Trident II D-5 missiles, and each of the missiles carries multiple nuclear warheads. Some of the warheads are 32 times the explosive heat and blast of the bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

The Trident subs are stealthy, and at sea their location is secret. They can launch nuclear weapons to anywhere in the world in 15 minutes, which is a constant threat to people in other nations. Here in the US we don’t live under a threat like that.

My faith tradition teaches me that we are to love our enemies, to love one another. Planning to kill others is not an act of love…Indiscriminate killing of whole cites of people, animals and plants is not an act of love.

Here in the northwest where the Trident subs are homeported, the land is beautiful; the trees are aromatic; the water is healing. And I hope that we come to our senses and experience this land we live in, and realize that we—and people all over the earth—are brothers and sisters. There is no “us” and “them”. As individuals and as a nation; we all have good in us; we all have a shadow side. We can all work together if we choose to.

With hope for peace and disarmament, the five of us, Steve Kelly, S.J, Lynne Greenwald, Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, Bill Bichsel, S.J. and myself, go to Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor on All Soul’s Day. We remember the 150 million people killed by warmaking and related consequences of war in the last 100 years. It is in solidarity with all who live in lethal force zones that we enter the lethal force zone on the naval base.

We bring our own blood to pour on the missiles, nuclear weapons, trident subs, or perhaps on the railroad tracks that carry the weapons. We pour our blood to remind us all of the consequences of warmaking. We bring hammers to enflesh the words of Isaiah to hammer swords into plowshares. We bring sunflower seeds to sow to begin to convert the base, and we bring disarmed hearts in hope of a disarmed world. I go onto the base with the support of all at Jonah House, in Baltimore, carrying their prayers in my hip pocket.

Susan Crane

Disarm Now Plowshares - In Their Own Words

Friends,

Seattle's KOMO News did a story today on the Disarm Now Plowshares Action, interviewing Susan Crane, Lynne Greenwald and Anne Montgomery. Watch it below and hear them tell about the action - what they did, and why. What drives them? "Hope" and "Faith".

Peace,

Leonard



Click here to read the KOMO story, 'These weapons can wipe out everything'.

Plowshares and Prophets

Friends,

The Bible (Luke 4.24) tells us that no prophet is ever welcome in his (or her) hometown or country. That is as true today as it was in the time of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Let's face it. People just don't want to hear that God is displeased with their behavior, and that they really need to change their ways (just like those crazy Israelites). So, what's a prophet to do??? Keep at it, that's what.

While it often seems that so many Christians are complicit in the violence of the world, there are those who are steadfast in following the nonviolent Jesus, and fewer still are those who are prophets - endowed with extraordinary spiritual and moral insight, and called to proclaim peace to the world. Father Bill "Bix" Bischel, who was one of the participants in yesterday's Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action, definitely fits that description.

It is natural for people steeped in the structures of violence so deeply embedded in our society to dismiss those who engaged in yesterday's action at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor (see the previous post for details). And just like the prophets of old, Bill (and his plowshares companions) will be reviled by many who are unable or unwilling to look at not only the violence inherent in omnicidal (nuclear) weapons, but also the violence within our own hearts.

I hope that the missioning letter (below) from the provincial, Patrick J. Lee, SJ, provides an insight into Father Bischel's depth as prophet and peacemaker.

Peace,

Leonard

****************

Missioning Letter

October 23, 2009

William J. Bichsel S.J.
Bellarmine Jesuit Community
2300 S. Washington St.
Tacoma WA 98405

Dear Bix,

A provincial writes a lot of letters missioning Jesuits to do the work of God. This is one of the hardest I’ve written, but also one that seems clearly blessed and confirmed by God.

I have told you that I see your role in our province as a prophet – called by God to proclaim a message of peace. Prophets are never appreciated by everyone. Their message is often painful and difficult to hear. Certainly that has been your experience. You have suffered scorn, indignities, and even prison for the message you have proclaimed. Now you find what God is calling you toward may result in more of the same.

We had thought that perhaps your days of protest were over, and that you might be able to live the remainder of your life with some rest from civil disobedience. But in Nagasaki you once again heard God calling you into action. I know you have listened hard to that call, praying and discerning for over a year to make sure it truly was from God. Now there is no doubt.

And so I mission you to hear and respond to what is in that deepest part of your heart. On November 2nd, the Feast of All Souls, you will return to the Trident Submarine Base at Bangor, Washington, to take part in what will happen there. Go with my blessing and my prayers, Bill. And know that you carry with you the prayers and blessing of the Oregon Province.

I will also pray that your life as a prophet and a witness to peace will be an inspiration to younger Jesuits who may be hearing God’s still distant, disturbing call to prophecy against the violence and war.

May God bless your desires, and give you the courage, the strength and the abundant grace to fulfill them.

Patrick J. Lee S.J.
Provincial

Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action

Friends,

In the early morning hours of November 2, 2009, the five members of the Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action, ranging in age from 60 to 83, secretly entered Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, West Coast home port of the nation's Trident nuclear submarines, and also a major nuclear weapons storage facility. These brave peacemakers came to symbolically disarm one of the most deadly places on our planet, and expose it to the world. Read about it in the press release below. I have also included two other documents along with biographical statements about the participants.

Peace,

Leonard

***********

************

5 people arrested on Naval Base Kitsap- Bangor

The “Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action”

Bill “Bix” Bischel, S.J., 81, of Tacoma, Washington; Susan Crane, 65, of Baltimore MD; Lynne Greenwald, 60, of Bremerton Washington; Steve Kelly, S.J., 60, of Oakland, CA.; Anne Montgomery RSCJ, 83, of New York, New York, were arrested on Naval Base Kitsap- Bangor. They entered the Base in the early morning hours of November 2, 2009, All Souls Day, with the intention of calling attention to the illegality and immorality of the existence of the Trident weapons system. They entered through the perimeter fence, made their way to the Strategic Weapons Facility – Pacific ( SWFPAC) where they were able to cut thru the first chain link fence surrounding SWF-PAC, walked to and cut the next double layered fence, which was both chain link and barbed wire, onto the grounds of SWFPAC. As they walked onto the grounds, they held a banner saying…… “Disarm Now Plowshares : Trident: Illegal + Immoral”, left a trail of blood and hammered on the roadway (Trigger Ave and Sturgeon) that are essential to the working of the Trident weapons system, hammered on the fences around SWFPAC and scattered sunflower seeds throughout the base. They were then thrown to the ground face down, handcuffed and hooded, and held there for 4 hours on the wet cold ground. They were taken, hooded, and carried out through the very holes in the fence that they had made, for questioning by Base security, FBI and NCIS. They refused to give any information except their names, and were cited as of now, for trespass and destruction of government property, given a ban and bar letter and released.

In a joint statement, the group stated that “The manufacture and deployment of Trident II missiles, weapons of mass destruction, is immoral and criminal under International Law and, therefore, under United States law. As U.S. citizens we are responsible under the Nuremberg Principles for this threat of first-strike terrorism hanging over the community of nations, rich and poor. Moreover, such planning, preparation, and deployment are a blasphemy against the Creator of life, imaged in each human being. “

There have been approximately 100 Plowshares Nuclear Resistance Actions worldwide since 1980. Plowshares actions are taken from Isaiah 2:4 in Old Testament (Hebrew) scripture of the Christian Bible, “God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And nations will not take up swords against nations, nor will they train for war anymore.”

The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, housing more than 2000 nuclear warheads. In November 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council declared that the 2,364 nuclear warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S. arsenal. The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China, France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined.

The base has been rebuilt for the deployment of the larger and more accurate Trident D-5 missile system. Each of the 24 D-5 missiles on a Trident submarine is capable of carrying eight of the larger 455 kiloton W-88 warheads (each warhead is about 30 times the explosive force as the Hiroshima bomb.) The D-5 missile can also be armed with the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead. The Trident fleet at Bangor deploys both the 455 kiloton W-88 warhead and the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead.

**************

DISARM NOW PLOWSHARES

“I will purify you from the taint of all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and make you conform to my statutes.” Ez. 36:25-27

We walk into the heart of darkness, the Naval Submarine Base Kitsap-Bangor, housing and deploying over 2,000 nuclear warheads for Trident submarines. By their very existence they are endangering the environment, threatening the indiscriminate destruction of life on earth, and depriving the hungry, homeless, and jobless of billions of dollars that could supply human needs throughout the world.

The manufacture and deployment of Trident II missiles, weapons of mass destruction, is immoral and criminal under international law and, therefore, under United States law. As U.S. citizens we are responsible under the Nuremberg Principles for this threat of first-strike terrorism hanging over the community of nations, rich and poor. Moreover, such planning, preparation, and deployment is a blasphemy against the Creator of life, imaged in each human being.

We are called by Isaiah to take seriously our own responsibility to act as citizens of the nation that subjected the civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the hell of nuclear bombing and its deadly consequences. The United States continues to research and develop even more inhumane weapons of mass destruction.

We are called by Ezekiel to transform our own hearts and to invite all those whose hearts are hardened by blindness, fear, and mistrust of the “other” to allow theirs to be transformed into “hearts of flesh:” disarmed, compassionate, and generous.

We bring carpenters’ hammers to symbolically transform these weapons of death into material useful for homes and factories. On this day of remembrance, All Souls Day, we bring our own blood in solidarity with the victims of war, who are invisible to those who target them. We bring sunflower seeds to plant the hope of new life in this violated earth. We intend to beat swords into plowshares as one step up the holy mountain where all nations can unite in peace.

At the beginning of the International Decade of Disarmament, we join with the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 2020 Vision Campaign to abolish all nuclear weapons by that year at the latest. Nuclear weapons can never be guardians, defenders, or upholders of peace. They are sheathed in stainless steel and metal coverings that conceal the evil incarnate lying within. They are filled with death-dealing agents that tear apart humans and leave survivors scarred for life. They leave no place for human care for the thousands who suffer and die in agony. Nuclear weapons are a lie. Their “protection” is an illusion. They must be abolished.

“God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” Isaiah 2:4

Washington State , November 2, 2009

Steve Kelly, S.J., Lynne Greenwald, Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, Susan Crane, Bill Bichsel, S.J.

***********

Disarm Now Plowshares

November 2, 2009

Hand Delivery

Captain Mark Olsen
Commander US Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor
120 South Dewey St
Bremerton, WA 98314

YOU have been involved in the housing, deployment and threatened use of immoral and illegal nuclear weapons on Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor. These weapons and their delivery systems include Trident submarines, Trident II D-5 missiles, and W-88 and W-76 nuclear warheads. These weapons, and their delivery systems, threaten the destruction of other nations and people and as such constitute violation of International Law and of Ruling of the International Tribunal of Justice of 1996.

You are hereby notified that effective upon receipt of this letter that the disarmament of all nuclear weapons at Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor is to begin immediately and continue until all nuclear weapons are disarmed and removed.

You are further informed that delay or failure to begin disarmament will lead to the prosecution before the International Tribunal of Justice of all naval and civilian personnel responsible for the delay.

This barment letter is issued for the protection and security of people, animals, and all creation of our world.

Any compelling reason for naval or civilian exemption from prosecution by the International Tribunal can be entered with the secretariat of the International Tribunal.

(Address; International Tribunal, International Court of Justice, The Hague, Netherlands)


Steve Kelly, S.J., Lynne Greenwald, Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, Susan Crane, Bill Bichsel, S.J.

************

Disarm Now Plowshares Biographical Statements

Steve Kelly, S.J. During his religious formation in our inner cities, in Sudan, Africa, as well as refugee work in Central America following ordination, he encountered the messiah, Jesus incarnate in the poor. At the same time, the relevance of Jesus as a real shepherd inserting himself between the danger of wolf or thief and the flock in his care inspired this Jesuit to try to imitate Jesus. His current collaboration with Catholic Workers and the Pacific Life Community confirms the analysis that the nukes represent, just in their making, a contemporary larceny from the poor, while the wolf, the imminent danger of their use, demands the embodiment of Isaiah 2:4. Will that hammering wake us, those professing faith in a loving God, from our idolatrous slumbers?

Lynne Greenwald is the mother of three children and has worked professionally as a Registered Nurse, Family Therapist and Social Worker for nearly 40 years. She has also been actively involved in the Nonviolent Peace Movement since the mid-1970s. Lynne moved to Kitsap County in Washington State 26 years ago to join Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and to become a neighbor to families involved with the Trident Base and other facilities in this predominately military community. “While the existence of Trident is obvious, the truth of Trident’s nuclear threats and illegality remains hidden. My action of conversion today is one committed out of love for all life.“

Anne Montgomery is an eighty-three year old Religious of the Sacred Heart and former teacher in high schools and programs for dropouts and learning disabled children. As a member of the Gulf Peace Team in 1991 and of Christian Peacemaker Teams from 1995 to 2009 she served in Iraq and Palestine. Since 1980 she has been active in the Plowshares movement and other forms of civil resistance to U.S. militarism, especially nuclear weapons. Since 2005 she has also participated in Witness Against Torture and the Free Gaza boat trip to open the port of Gaza. She acts now to support all efforts to convert weapons of death into resources for human life, especially for the most neglected and oppressed of the threatened earth.

Susan Crane is the mother of two sons, and has taught at a school for marginalized youth in California. More recently she has lived at Jonah House, a nonviolent community in Baltimore, which speaks out against all warmaking, and specifically nuclear weapons. Aware that we take better care of nuclear weapons than of our nation’s children, and that we spend more than half of every federal tax dollar on warmaking rather than human needs, she acts to transform these weapons of mass destruction to life- giving materials.

Bill Bichsel, a Tacoma native, entered the Jesuit Order in 1946 and after studies and teaching was ordained a Jesuit in 1959. He has served in parishes, taught in high schools, and was Dean of Students at Gonzaga from 1963-1966. In 1969 he returned to Tacoma where he served at St. Leo’s Parish for over 7 years and then co-founded the Tacoma Catholic Worker (Guadalupe House) which offers hospitality and transitional housing to the homeless. The Guadalupe Community lives in the nonviolent tradition of Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker foundress. Bichsel still resides and serves at the Tacoma Catholic Worker—one mile from where he was born and raised. He has served jail and prison terms many times for his resistance to the violence of the Trident nuclear weapon system and the violence of the S.O.A. training at Ft. Benning, GA. He believes that unless we, the American people, actively work to abolish nuclear weapons we as a people will continue to threaten destruction to the global community and continue to deprive the poor of the world of resources necessary for life.