May 2004

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

Chain Reactions for Peace

Hattie Nestel is a member of the Chain Reaction Affinity Group. For more information on the action, and how to get involved in organizing against BAE Systems' military contracts, contact Carol Tashie at CZTashie@yahoo.com or Tim Anderson at Tim@NHPeaceaction.org.

Commemorating both Human Rights Day and the Winter Solstice, eleven members of the Chain Reaction Affinity group locked and chained ourselves together across the driveway of BAE Systems headquarters in Nashua, New Hampshire on December 22, 2003.

BAE Systems, as reported by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade website, is the fourth largest military contractor in the world. Their total military sales are more than $15 billion annually, and they employ more than 100,000 people worldwide. They produce a long list of aircraft, warships, submarines, and missiles for the Pentagon as well as for the UK. They are also involved with the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense and THAAD. Their wholly-owned subsidiary, RO Defense, makes depleted uranium-tipped ammunition. BAE Systems also arms countries with serious human rights abuse records including Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. In short, BAE Systems is one of the most aggressive arms manufacturers in the world, a Goliath indeed.

A hundred supporters watched as the eleven, ranging in ages from 17 to 88, were able to close the driveway to one of the world's largest military contractors for more than one hour! This significant civil resistance success resulted from years of commitment to this work.

For the past decade, members of the New Hampshire peace movement, along with some of us from Massachusetts, have participated in this annual event. Notably, we have maintained solidarity by not paying fines and have served between one and two weeks in jail for these actions.

This year, the group decided to go pro se, which means that we would act as our own lawyers. We also decided to plea nolo contendre: which means we would not contest the facts as reported by the police about where we were and what we did, but we also would not state that we were guilty.

One member of the group called the prosecutor and asked him what recommendation to the court he would make if we entered that plea. This negotiation proved very fruitful, as the group was able to process ahead of time what our options were. It also paved the way for the usually distant, dehumanized court atmosphere, to be transformed into a comfortable, personalized collaboration between defendants and the prosecutor. Here is a significant and creative breakthrough in the tenor of interaction between the New Hampshire authorities and the peacemakers.

At our trial on March 4, 2004, the entire group was able to negotiate with the prosecutor beforehand. Foremost was the group's desire for solidarity, which meant no special consideration for our octogenarians or teens, although it had been proffered. Also, we would not agree to a stipulation that we stay away from BAE property for one year, as he initially had proposed. Several in the group expressed our objections to being charged differently although we all were chained together across the driveway. To be in solidarity requires that all be treated the same, and it was important to us as we represented ourselves to make this point to the prosecution.

The prosecutor agreed to drop the stay-away condition and to treat both the disorderly conduct and criminal trespass charges similarly. He dropped the monetary fine he had intended to request in lieu of jail time (and which we would have refused) and instead recommended 20 hours community service to be undertaken at our own discretion for each charge. He also agreed to a sentence imposing no court costs and allowing the community service to be performed in our own communities at a non-profit of our own choice.

In exchange, we agreed to take up less court time by having only three of the eleven give statements, which in fact were consolidations by us of the major points we wanted to raise. When Clare Gillingham, who had just turned 89, went up to read, we asked the judge if we could be closer so as to better hear her. Surprisingly, he invited all 50 or 60 of us in the courtroom, including a local judge who had come to observe the proceedings, to come to the front so that we could hear her wonderful statement!

Clare spoke about her experience living in war-battered France after WWI. She remembered her brother, killed in Normandy during WWII. She spoke of the "billions of dollars going to make war equipment while we are told there is no money for the life saving work of hospitals, the building of new schools…or even the barest shelter for the homeless." Clare ended with an appeal for "all world leaders to end war and to sit down and reason together for the benefit of all humankind." The judge seemed extremely attentive and respectful as Clare eloquently and with great dignity thanked him for his consideration.

To fulfill her sentence, Clare reports, "My community service is organizing a local Good Friday program here in Concord. It will include the reading of names of folks killed in Iraq and Palestine/Israel, soldiers or civilians, adults or children. After each name we will say, 'Presente' and sound a gong followed by silence. Folks from the Voices in the Wilderness/Wheels of Justice Bus Tour will then tell us stories of their time in Gaza and Iraq."

Each year, the continuing activism of Ruth Mckay, one of the octogenarians in Chain Reaction who has been faithfully opposing the military industry in Nashua, her hometown, for over two decades, is particularly impressive. As part of her community service, she reports, "My hope is that my strength will not diminish too soon before I can carry out my planned volunteer work. I will help two children of an immigrant family fit into an age-appropriate grade. This program is part of Concord's Rumford School's Multicultural Project. English is a foreign language for this family with four children and they need help with reading and writing English."

Although disappointed that the illegality of the United States pre-emptive war and weapons of mass destruction manufactured and sold by BAE Systems was not allowed to be entered as evidence of our innocence, and found guilty by the judge, we've rattled the chains of complacency and militarism, and forged new strong links of community resistance.

For an overview of BAE Systems corporate crimes, see www.caat.org.uk/information/publications/companies/baes.php. For info on BAE's role in fueling Indonesian repression, please see www.etan.org/et/1998/july/july29-31/29charges.htm.

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