November 99

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

Bread & Roses at Raytheon

The following is a letter received from the Bread and Roses Affinity Group, written in pencil from the Essex County Correctional Facility where four of them are serving a month-long sentence for a peaceful protest at the Andover Raytheon plant on May 27 of this year. The unprecedented thirty-day sentence handed down Oct. 13 is the harshest possible sentence for trespassing, which is the crime of which they have been convicted. The judge denied the defendants recourse to the Massachusetts "necessity" defense.

October 19, 1999--We give thanks for having had the opportunity to act in solidarity with the innocent victims of war in Yugoslavia and Iraq when we blockaded the entrance of the Raytheon plant in Andover, MA last May. We dedicate our time in jail to them and pray for an end to their suffering.

Just over a year before our action, our sister, Lauren Cannon, who acted with us at Raytheon, stood in a Baghdad hospital talking with Ima Nouri, mother of a dying child. Her two-year-old son, Mustafa, had gotten sick from drinking dirty water because the US had bombed the water treatment plant in their town. Chances are that the bomb was made by Raytheon which makes most of the bombs we drop on Iraq. Because of the sanctions, the hospital had no antibiotics, so Mustafa's kidneys failed, and he fell into a coma. Ima Nouri told her that if American mothers could feel the pain and grief that she felt, the bombing and the sanctions would end.

Last week, in Lawrence District Court, Judge Mehlan refused to allow Lauren to tell that story or to uphold the international laws that ban war on civilians. But no court and no jail can silence us, and we call on people everywhere to add their voices to ours and demand that Raytheon stop selling our government weapons that kill and maim children in Iraq and around the world.

--Bread and Roses Affinity Group, Essex County Correctional Facility, PO Box 807, 120-B Cell 260, Middleton, MA 01949-2807

Donations are being sought for the six members of the Bread and Roses Affinity Group who were jailed Oct 13. The six young men and women are losing a month of work and pay and so need help with their rent and bills. A supporter has offered to match any donations up to $1000. Donations may be sent to Hattie Nestel, PO Box 248, Athol MA 01331; 978/249-9400; HaleyAthol@aol.com

The next Raytheon Peacemakers' Action at the Raytheon Andover plant will be Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and also Buddha's Enlightenment Day. It was youth who accepted the risk for humanity at the May 27th action. The Peacemakers invite older adults, especially those over 60, to join them this time. Contact Hattie Nestel, HaleyAthol@aol.com or 978/249-9400

International Treaties Supersede Local, State, and Federal Laws in Bangor, WA

On June 10, a Kitsap County, Washington jury found eight activists who had peacefully blocked traffic into Bangor Nuclear Submarine Base on August 9th, 1998, not guilty. After hearing two days of testimony by defendants Marie Bernard, Mary Gleysteen, Anne Hall, MacKnight Johnson, Bernard Meyer, Glen Milner, George Rodkey, and Brian Watson, the jury returned with its acquittal in less than four hours.

In an unusual instruction, District Court Judge James Riehl told the jury to consider in their deliberations the fact that international treaties supersede local, state, and federal laws. Defense attorney Kenneth Kagan noted in his closing statement that the verdict of the jury might be a referendum of how deeply committed Kitsap County remains to providing a haven for nuclear weapons. Defendant Bernard Meyer, who represented himself, made the case for following a moral obligation to intervene when faced with weapons of mass destruction.

The trial was both deeply intellectual and emotional. Defendant Brian Watson of Bremerton presented excerpts from the Hague Convention of 1907, the Nuremberg Principles, and the 1996 World Court ruling on the illegality of nuclear weapons. Defendant Anne Hall of Seattle referenced former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark in saying that "sometimes the only way people can be heard is to step across the line." The presiding juror was visibly emotional after the verdict was delivered, stating that she was "proud to sit with these people."

For more information, contact Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, 16159 Clear Creek Road NW, Poulsbo, WA, 98370.

From the June 16, 1999 Nuclear Resister, PO Box 43383, Tucson AZ 85733 -- information about and support for imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists; Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, editors, phone/fax 520/323-8697; nukeresister@igc.org; US$15/year/US$20 Canada/US$25 overseas. (Selections from current issue, updated prisoner addresses, and more can be read at: www.nonviolence.org/nukeresister.

Trident Illegal, Says Scottish Sheriff--Ploughshares Three Acquited

Wednesday 20th October, Sheriff Margaret Gimblett has decided to instruct the jury at Greenock Sheriff Court to acquit Angie Zelter, Ulla Roder and Ellen Moxley on the charge against them of damaging a Trident facility in Loch Goil in June this year.

In her remarks the Sheriff effectively said that British nuclear weapons were illegal. The defence had submitted that it had been established that there had been no malice in the women's action. They had been acting to prevent a crime under international law and so had reasonable excuse. Thus, they claimed, the Sheriff should acquit the women.

Sheriff Gimblett said: "I have to conclude that the three accused in company with others were justified in thinking that Great Britain in their use of Trident, not simply possession--the use and deployment of Trident allied with that use and deployment at times of great unrest, coupled with a first strike policy and in the absence of any indication from any government official then or now that such use fell into any strict category suggested in the International Court of Justice opinion, the threat or use of Trident could be construed as a threat, has indeed been construed by others as a threat, and as such is an infringement of international and customary law.

"The three took the view that given the horrendous nature of nuclear weapons they had the obligation in terms of international law to do whatever they could to stop the deployment and use of nuclear weapons in situations which could be construed as a threat... I have heard nothing which would make it seem to me that the accused acted with criminal intent... Therefore I intend to instruct the jury that they should acquit all three accused..."

At 11:00 am October 21, the Sheriff directed the jury to acquit on all charges.

Contact: David Mackenzie 01324880744 (07775711054); davidmc@enterprise.net

She Won't Undertake Not To Do It Again

Helen John was sent to Holloway Women's Prison Sept. 16, after not giving an undertaking to the judge that she would not do it again (that is, paint public buildings to draw attention to crimes against humanity). She was arrested outside the House of Commons after painting the following graffiti in foot-high letters on St. Stephen's entrance (which faces Westminster Abbey):

NO STAR WARS (protesting first ballistic missile launch planned for Sept. 29 at Vandenburg AFB, California, USA. This system will pave the way for a new and horrendous nuclear-powered arms race in space)

BAN TRIDENT (protesting planned upgrade to this genocidal weapons system)

BAN DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONS (protesting use of a radioactive, gene-altering weapon in Iraq & the Balkans)

LIFT SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ--THEY ARE MURDERING CHILDREN (She got as far as the letters "LI " before she was arrested!)

This was her statement to the press: "The Scottish Parliament is unable to deal with or cope with the Trident Ploughshares 2000 protest. Over 100 arrests took place at the Faslane base in August, but a political decision was made not to charge any protester. This is clearly an attempt to silence the growing movement against this weapon of mass and indiscriminate destruction, a weapon which is clearly in breach of the Geneva Convention and other milestones of humanitarian law. I am doing this at the House of Commons in London because the Scottish Parliament has no power regarding defence policy in Scotland. The Scottish courts claim not to recognise international humanitarian law.

"The UK and US governments are war criminals for having once again used radioactive weapons against undefended civilian populations. There needs to be an end to their hypocrisy. Following the end of arms sales to Indonesia, all arms sales should be banned and no further arms trade fairs held in this country. Dealing in death has to stop."

--Helen John, Menwith Hill Women's Peace Camp, Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Contact Information: 01436-679194 or 01943-468593; Trident Ploughshares 2000, 42-46 Bethel Street, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1NR, UK; <tp2000@gn.apc.org> www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/

Source: Housmans Peace Resource Project <worldpeace@gn.apc.org>