Anti-war action

The UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, said on 8 April that the Pentagon was refusing to allow him a private interview with Bradley Manning, held for allegedly leaking secret US military documents to Wikileaks. On 21 March, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg was among 35 arrested during a solidarity protest at Quantico marine base, Virginia, where Bradley was being held. Banners read: “Caution, Whistleblower Torture Zone”. On 20 April, it was announced that Bradley is…

I don’t doubt that this is an important book, it’s got a quote from Chomsky on the front, so it must be. And there are plenty of powerful stories in it that need to be heard. But, I did struggle to love it, which might perhaps be my problem.

I think it’s partly stylistic – the writer does tend to describe events in rather breathless “action hero” mode when a simpler clearer prose might do. But it’s also infused at other times with the kind of earnest dourness that gives the peace…

It was in January 2003 that Mary entered Shannon airport in Ireland and took an axe to a US warplane bound for Iraq. She was arrested and held in Limerick prison before being charged with $1 million criminal damage and released on bail.

A few days later, the same warplane was disarmed by the Pit Stop Ploughshares after being repaired. They were charged with $2.5m criminal damage, but were unanimously acquitted after four trials. In Mary’s case, after two trials, one resulting in…

Christian peace activist Chris Cole was released from HMP Wandsworth this morning after serving 15 days for an act of civil disobedience. Cole was arrested in 2009 for criminal damage in response to a nonviolent direct action at the Defense and Security Equipment International 2009 Arms Fair. He spray painted the entrance to the conference center with ‘Make Peace, not war machines’ and the ground outside with ‘Stop this bloody business’ and ‘Arms trade = death.’ After his arrest, Cole was…

Disarm Now verdict

After a seven-day trial, on 13 December a US jury found five peace activists guilty of trespass, damage and conspiracy to damage federal property in November 2009 when the five entered the “strategic weapons facility, Pacific” at the Bangor, WA, naval base, home port for eight Trident nuclear submarines, where more than 2,000 warheads are stored. Sentencing was adjourned to 28 March, when the five face up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

White House protest

Despite snow, in a protest organised by Veterans for Peace on 16 December, over 100 people, many veterans, handcuffed themselves to the White House fence in an act of civil resistance to “unjust” charges being brought against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and associates and to call an end to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. The protest resulted in 134 arrests for “refusing to leave the sidewalk”.
Whistle-blower Daniel…

Americas Watch

In November 5,000 protestors engaged in religious witness, performances, processions, vigils and direct action at the School of Americas in Georgia, USA, renowned for training Latin American soldiers in repression.
Thirty people were arrested and held for several days by police. Six people were sentenced to six months for trespass.

We were a group of five people who went from Bristol to Brighton, and it did become part of our case: Why did we choose this factory in Brighton? We had to prove our “genuinely-held belief” that this factory was involved in the Israeli attack on Gaza.

One part of the evidence shown to the jury was the On The Verge video about the campaign against the EDO MBM arms factory, made by Smash EDO. The action happened at the end of Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli attack on Gaza, though…

On 30 October, Alternativa Antimilitarista-MOC activists breached security at the Bétera NATO base in Valencia. Wearing white coats and umbrellas with anti-war symbols, 15 activists took scooters and bicycles under the security fencing and rode around inside while others played football and other games.

The activists were detained for an hour and then released. The organisers said that this was the first of a series of international anti-militarist actions against the Afghanistan…

On 4 November, sentences were handed down to the remaining two defendants who took part in actions in Sweden in October 2008, disarming 12 grenade launchers and parts to nine howitzers at arms factories in two different locations.

Anna Andersson and Martin Smedjeback were ordered to pay damages totalling nearly £7,000 to the arms manufacturer Saab AB. They had both previously been sentenced to four months for their action. Co-activists Catherine Laska and Pelle Strindlund had…

Thousands of anti-war activists protested in Lisbon in late November against the NATO summit. Activists carried out a flashmob die-in in front of the Estacao do Rossio train station and 20 were arrested blocking a road leading to the summit venue.

Police had barred at least 200 people from entering Portugal during the run-up to the summit. As many as 10,000 people marched against NATO in Lisbon on 20 November, while in London around 5,000 marched against the NATO war in Afghanistan…

Immediately after being fined £500 for blockading Faslane two women painted their judgement on the walls of the Dumbarton court building. Barbara Dowling wrote “This JP court does not uphold international law” on an interior wall while Janet Fenton painted “We want a peace court” over the brass plaque by the entrance. They now may face jury trial for an alleged £3000 worth of damage on vandalism charges.

The painting was an indictment of the Scottish courts’ persistent refusal…

We now have the prison address of Swedish peace activist Anna Alvine Andersson, from the resistance group Ofog. Anna began a three-month prison sentence on 15 September for helping disarm 14 grenade launchers at the Saab Bofors Dynamics factory in October 2008 as part of series of coordinated actions against Swedish weapons exports.
Anna’s address for postcards: Anstalten, Hinseberg, Box 1005, 71892 Frövi, Sweden.

On 8 October, five US Ploughshares peace activists appeared in court on charges arising from their entry into the US navy’s nuclear weapons storage depot in Washington state last November. Fathers Bill Bichsel, 82, and Stephen Kelly, 61, Sr Anne Montgomery, 83, Sr Lynne Greenwald, 61, and Sr Susan Crane, 65, all pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, trespass, destruction of property on a naval installation, and depredation of government property. These charges carry sentences of up to…

A mass siege of the EDO arms factory in Brighton took place on 13 October.

The Hammertime demonstration effectively closed the factory for the day. However, with massive resources and the invoking of public order powers, the police kept control of the streets.

At the start, over 100 police surrounded the convergence centre, and demanded everyone go to a “designated protest area”. Protesters insisted on going to the announced start point, which the police had to…