Arrests in Washington, DC
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the Nuclear Resister “A Chronicle of Hope” No. 157 June 1, 2010 Unbowed, Vanunu Europe Acts Against Nukes A European Day of Action to ban nuclear weapons has become a spring Jailed Again tradition featuring nonviolent direct ac- tions where the weapons are stored and Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu again at headquarters where the command to sits in an Israeli prison, this time for three months. use them would be issued. This year, He told Amnesty International after the sentence was protest spread prior to the Nonprolifera- imposed on May 11, “Whether I go to prison or not, it tion Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, as doesn’t matter to me. I feel like I’m in prison already, peace movements in each of the Euro- trapped in Israel.” pean countries with nuclear weapons on After serving an 18 year sentence for treason and their territory took action. In Belgium, espionage (12 in solitary confinement), Vanunu has in fact Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Turkey, been trapped in Israel. Following his release from prison where the United States has stockpiled in April, 2004, Israel forbid him to emigrate and imposed nuclear weapons and enlisted these NATO a list of restrictions on Vanunu’s movement, speech, and partners to help deliver them on demand association with foreigners and journalists. These restric- in the most unimaginable circumstances, tions have been renewed annually because the govern- the call was U.S. Nukes Out of NATO! ment alleges Vanunu has more secrets to reveal once he is Activists in Great Britain and France chal- truly free. Due to threats on his life, Vanunu has chosen lenged their own atomic arsenals. to live in Palestinian-dominated East Jerusalem. In Belgium, where NATO is head- He has been arrested several times since his release for quartered, one thousand “bomspotters” violating one of the restrictions on his freedom or another, marched on the Kleine Brogel Air Force most recently in the company of a Norwegian woman late Base on April 3, a damp and chilly spring day, to denounce the illegal nuclear- last December. Photograph by Martin Leers Vanunu was convicted in 2007 of violating the prohi- hosting policy of the Belgian government. Young and old responded to the appeal Nu French police break up a nuclear disarmament demonstration and bition on speaking to foreign media. Following an appeal, arrest blockaders at Élysée Palace, April 28. he was given the option to perform community service of Nooit!, Now or Never!, and were not in- in West Jerusalem in lieu of a jail sentence. Since the timidated by the massive presence of police on the morning of April 28. Police pulled and dragged the government recognizes no such service in East Jerusalem, and military personnel, kilometers of barbed wire, several demonstrators from the scene, arresting ten. helicopters, police horses and guard dogs. Hundreds continued on page 3 crossed over, under or through fences to enter the base. Two days later, abolitionists locked down and sat-in At the end of the day, 431 people were arrested, cited and at the headquarters of the state-owned nuclear company released. Areva, to protest the contribution of nuclear power to nu- clear weapons proliferation. Outside the building, a long Activist Behind Two hundred people gathered the same day outside the banner held in front of the entrance declared (in French) military base in Volkel, the Netherlands. After a dem- “A world free of nuclear weapons is possible.” onstration with several speakers and music, 35 people Bars For and six shopping carts went over, under and through the On May 5, a small group visited the military base at fence to get rid of the nuclear bombs. They were arrested Taverny, command center for France’s nuclear air force, before they could fill their carts, then released after a few to condemn the new M51 nuclear missile and make a Sit-In at Recruiters hours. citizen’s inspection of the base. Police were expecting them, and only a symbolic blockade was possible. But Norman Lowry returned to the military recruiting On April 3 in France, sixty people initiated a weapons station in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on January 15. On his the activists returned the next day, surprising police. Two inspection at Air Force Base #118 in Mont de Marsan. were able to enter the base, illustrating their demand that last visit ten months earlier, in a conscious act of civil Thirteen activists were able to enter the base. They were disobedience, Lowry calmly took a hammer to the win- France be subject to the same nuclear transparency as arrested and held for a couple of hours. Allied protests demanded of Iran. For more information, visit sortirdu- dows of several vehicles used by the recruiters, “openly took place in Brest and Paris. declaring nonviolent war ... as a Spiritual, Socio-Political nucleaire.org. Protest against the Extreme Violence, Racism and Poverty Later that month, the French network of nuclear In Scotland, about 100 people blockaded the north Production of the United States of America, to me, the abolitionists, Sortir du Nucleaire, sponsored a ten-day gate at Faslane, home port for Britain’s Trident nuclear world’s most evil-ever imperialist empire.” public fast for disarmament in Paris and series of actions submarine fleet, for about three hours on April 3. Police coinciding with the NPT review conference in New York. kept the gate closed and made no attempt to disrupt what Now, less then three months out of jail for that ac- Fifteen activists surprised security police at Élysée Palace, continued on page 6 tion, Lowry simply implored the recruiters on duty and the President’s home, attempting to blockade the entrance potential enlistees to leave behind any association with the military. He refused spoken and written orders to leave the premises and was arrested for trespass. As he did last year, Lowry refused bail and remains in prison, charged also with violating probation. Days earlier, in his FOUR IN PRISON FOR last meeting with his probation officer, Lowry made clear his intent to disengage from the probation process, and in keeping with last year’s renunciation of his U.S. citizen- FORT BENNING PROTEST ship, had presented the officer and her supervisor with the Three of the four people charged with trespass dur- Meanwhile, on March 29 Walli appeared in D.C. Su- shredded remains of his personal identification papers. ing the annual protest and vigil to close the School of perior Court to answer charges from a 2007 protest. Walli Lowry writes, “The court has given me the freedom the Americas/WHINSEC at Fort Benning, Georgia last kept the April 6 court date, when he was taken into federal to leave prison at any time that I will acquiesce to their November were sentenced to the maximum six months in custody and returned to Georgia. On May 5 he appeared mandate for compliance with the parole system (which in- prison, after trials at the end of January. Fr. Louis Vitale in court in Georgia, where he remains in custody pending cludes making restitution for military property destroyed was taken into custody immediately, spending time in a trial for trespass and now also for failure to appear. He last year). Since this will not happen, I am choosing to Georgia county jail and the U.S. penitentiary in Atlanta faces a possible one year sentence on that charge, in ad- max out my time (18 months, less 20 days), plus another before being moved to the federal prison at Lompoc, dition to the six month trespass sentence his codefendants 6-12 months for my most recent protest... The time seems California, nearer to his home. Nancy Gwin and Ken are now serving. Trial is expected sometime in June. little yet the tragedy of “lostness” among my fellow in- Hayes both opted to surrender at their designated prisons For more information, visit soaw.org. mates seems monstrous!” in March. Lowry’s outgoing mail is limited because he boycotts The fourth defendant, Michael Walli, kept the pledge the prison commissary. More of his writing can be found of noncooperation he made when the court released him at normanlowry.blogspot.com. on his own recognizance after arraignment in November. “I walk out and it’s goodbye,” he told U.S. Magistrate Mallon Faircloth. Faircloth signed a warrant for Walli’s arrest in January, and on March 2, federal marshals found Walli at Dorothy Day House, the Washington, D.C. Letters of support should be sent to Michael Walli F-5 Catholic Worker Community. He was jailed until a hear- #4444, Irwin County Detention Center, 132 Cotton Drive, ing in federal court three days later, when he was again Ocilla, GA 31775; Louis Vitale 25803-048, FCI Lompoc, released on his own recognizance until March 12. On that 3600 Guard Road, Lompoc, CA 93436; Nancy Gwin Letters of support may be sent to Norman Edgar date, Walli was ordered to appear before Judge Faircloth 94046-020, FCI Danbury, Rt. 37, Danbury, CT 06811; and Lowry Jr. 10-0237, Lancaster County Prison 2-2 3086, in Georgia on April 2, and then to return April 6 to the Kenneth Hayes 94045-020, FCI Fort Worth, POB 15330, Drawer-C, 625 East King St., Lancaster, PA 17602-3199. federal court in D.C. to review his case. Ft. Worth, TX 76119. Resistance Reflections Register by Allison McGillivray passion flowed from the page and infiltrated my heart. Thirty years. That’s a good amount of time. Enough Regular visits with the archives left me, consequently, in time to raise two children, to earn a permanent ban-and- love with strangers.