September 99
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor
2161 Massachusetts Ave.
Telephone number:
Fax number: pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
Peacewalk, Arrests at Submarine Warfare Facility
Twelve peace activists were arrested for trespassing at the U.S. Navy's "Project ELF" submarine transmitter near Clam Lake Wisconsin Aug. 8 during a demonstration marking the 54th anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. About 65 demonstrators gathered at the secluded Navy facility that sends Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) messages to submerged nuclear-powered British and US Trident and Fast-Attack submarines around the world. The cold war ELF system was designed to "survive" the electromagnetic pulses (EMP) of nuclear bomb blasts in order to maintain communications for submarine-based nuclear warfare. The rally Sunday came at the end of a four-day, 53-mile long peace walk that began at the county courthouse in Ashland, WI. The courthouse has been the site of dozens of hearings, trials and jail sentences endured by demonstrators who have defied local ordinances by conducting sit-ins, Citizen Inspections, blockades and disarmament actions at the transmitter site. Civil resistance at the Navy ELF transmitter just since November 1991 (when Nukewatch began keeping records) has resulted in 495 arrests at the remote facility, which is secluded in the Chequamegon National Forest. More than five years of accumulated jail time have been served in Ashland County jail by ELF resisters who have refused to pay fines. The system has also been the focus of four Ploughshares actions since 1985. Those arrested Aug. 8 were told to appear Sept. 9, 1999 in Ashland County for arraignment, to pay the $209 fine, or risk nine days in jail and/or suspension of their driving privileges for up to five years. For more information: Nukewatch, 715/472-4185; nukewtch@win.bright.net
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