Pit Stop Ploughshares Find WMD in Berkshire

by Ithaca (NY/USA) Catholic Worker Wed Apr 14, 2004 15:08

St. Patrick’s Day Four Speak the Truth:

“Killing Can Never Be With Christ!”

With hearts, heavy with grief, yet swelling with hope, we send an update of the St. Patrick’s Day Four Trial in Ithaca, NY. This week as violence has escalated in Iraq, Peter DeMott, Daniel Burns, Teresa Grady, and Clare Grady, all of the Ithaca Catholic Worker, are standing trial in front of a jury of their brothers and sisters, during the most appropriate of weeks: Holy Week and Passover, for their March 17, 2003 witness at the Marine recruiting center in Lansing, NY.



“As our nation prepares to escalate the war on the people of Iraq by sending hundreds of U.S. soldiers to invade, we pour our blood on the walls of this military recruiting center. We mark this recruiting office with our own blood to remind ourselves and others of the cost in human life of our government’s war making.” (March 17, 2003)



With opening statements that moved many, including jurors, to tears, Peter, Daniel, Teresa, and Clare eloquently revealed not only the truth behind the deceit of the U.S. government, but also personal journeys of faith, resistance, and life-long commitments to nonviolence. We hope that their words and witness bring you hope in a time of madness; inspiration in a time of despair; and ultimately remind us that the only real power is love.



Daniel: “I have an infant son, now 17 months, at the time of the action he was four months. As I went into the recruiting center, I was thinking of him-as an Iraqi child, possibly about to be killed by bombs, as a young man – being recruited into the military and killed or asked to take a human life. We poured our blood in the place where our most precious ones- our children- are lured into a life of killing under orders- orders they must follow under the guise of duty.”



“We meant no disrespect to the flag when we poured blood on it. There has been blood on the flag before. The killing Native Americans bloodied our flag, slavery bloodied our flag. Our country dropped an atom bomb on a civilian city, killing 10s of thousands of innocent people and then three days later did it again and our public schools are still trying to justify it to our children. That bloodied our flag.”



Clare: “Going to the recruiting center was, and being here today is our humble attempt to follow Jesus’ call to pick-up the cross- to love one another as I have loved you. Also this week marks the 36 anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., April 4, 1968. He was a man who tried to follow Christ; a man who answered the call to pick-up his cross and follow…(He said) non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good; love is the only creative, redemptive, transforming power in the universe.”



“Where does Christ fit into all of this? I would say that Christ is the Beginning, the middle, and the End.”



Peter: “I would like to announce at the onset of this trial that while we knew that our action at the recruiting center would put us at risk of arrest and jail, I never for a moment believed that our action was either criminal or illegal. ON the contrary, I believe now, as I did then, that I had a moral obligation to act as I did insofar as my intent was to alert potential recruits and the broader public of the illegal unjust, immoral character of the war which was about to ensue. The lies, forgeries, and deception used by the Bush administration to gain the support of the American people for this war needed to be exposed and revealed to all…”



“Our feelings about depleted uranium have been confirmed. Veterans are coming back contaminated with uranium, will likely contract cancers and …(pause)…offspring with birth defects is a real possibility…the U.S. government refused to test these soldiers and they had to go to an outside source. Over 300 tons was used in 1991 and we’re doing it again. I met people sick with uranium poisoning when I went to Iraq last year with a Christian Peacemaking Team. We visited hospitals and met children dying of cancers.”



Teresa: “My intent was to be a sign of hope in very dark times. On 9-11 we lost a lot of our own citizens…and our government has taken advantage of people’s desire for recompense…that our pain and sorrow could be brought to another country if we attacked. That, to me, is horrifying”



“We have asked young people to kill and be killed for an illegal war! Killing…it hurts their being.”



“My son, Michael Thomas, is fourteen-years-old. If we don’t teach our children how to be hopeful, by speaking the truth and confidence about truth and God’s love, then we are not passing on life and the gift of understanding. God’s love is profound and can move mountains.”





With Peace and Love,

Caroline Arpe

Haley House

Boston Catholic Worker

carpeic3@hotmail.com

by Catholic Worker - Washington DC/USA Wed Apr 14, 2004 14:56

SUBVERTING THE MYTH OF REDEMPTIVE VIOLENCE

HOLY WEEK 2004 “FAITH AND RESISTANCE” RETREAT

The myth of redemptive violence defends the belief that violence saves, that war brings peace, that might makes right. It is one of the oldest stories in the world. It, and not Judaism, Christianity or Islam, is the dominant religion in society today.

It invokes God’s sovereignty as its own.

It misappropriates the language, symbols, and scriptures of Christianity.

Its God is the tribal god worshiped as an idol.

Its metaphor is not the journey but the fortress.

Its offer is not forgiveness but victory.

Its good news is not the unconditional love of enemies but their final elimination.

Its salvation is not a new heart but a successful foreign policy.

It usurps the revelation of God’s purposes for humanity in Jesus.

It is blasphemous. It is idolatrous. And it is immensely popular.

How do we subvert it? How do we live an antithesis to the domination system that propounds this myth? Faced with seeming endless war and ever escalating violence, we entered the 2004 Holy Week “Faith and Resistance” Retreat with these questions. Our keynote speaker was to have been Walter Wink. He was forced to cancel because of failing health. As the retreat got underway on Wednesday, Liz McAlister, Steve Baggarly, and Bill Frankel-Streit did their best to present key ideas from his writing. The ideas – even the vocabulary – were new to many present. All wrestled nobly with them.

On Thursday morning, we returned to Wink’s ideas, this time in the context of prayerful reflection led by Steve Baggarly. We then began preparation for subverting the myth (a way of speaking about direct action and resistance). All embraced the proposed street theatre with energy and enthusiasm and we performed it (3 times in 3 distinct locations) outside the Navy League Sea-Air-Space Exhibition at the Marriott Hotel. This Arms Bazaar is held in this hotel every year during Holy Week – the week that asks us to understand that the trial, crucifixion and death of Jesus were legalized murder. We announced and we exposed what was going on in the Marriott as legalized murder:

(From the script of the theatre) Few understood what was happening with Christ. Few understand what is happening today. Maybe Pilate grabbed it best and so he washed his hands of the whole matter. Or he tried to. He could never wash them clean. Where there is no repentance, there can be no cleansing.Here – the crime of “The War Against Iraq. It’s everywhere. It’s infecting everything. Let’s try to wash it out. Look. It’s still clear as can be. We’re still doing it. More - we’re still celebrating it. Hang it up for all to see – then maybe we’ll repent. And so it continued with the occupation of Iraq, the War against Afghanistan and so forth - through some 17 crimes of the U.S. Empire.

Meanwhile, directly across the street, Brian Barrett, Brian Buckley, and Bill Frankel-Streit found their way to the roof of a three story building and unfurled a banner reading “U.S. Empire Crucifies Humanity and our Earth.” (The roof was the ready option when the rented helium tank was found to have no helium and the weather balloons meant to lift the banner could not be filled.)

Thursday afternoon we evaluated that witness and proceeded to plan for our witness at the Pentagon early Good Friday morning. We then walked to The Festival Center where we were joined by about one hundred people for a heartrending presentation by Cindy and Craig Corrie, parents of Rachel Corrie, killed by an Israeli bulldozer just over a year ago. Rachel’s blood mingled with the blood of thousands in that tortured land. Pat Humphries and Sandy O. graced the occasion and deepened its power with music.

Around 6:30 a.m. on Good Friday, we made our way out of the Metro Station at the Pentagon and faced dozens of overly prepared police. Despite some of our group immediately being herded into the “free speech” zone by police, Bill Frankel-Streit and Ellen Naney managed to unfurl a banner and block pedestrian traffic long enough for Susan Crane, Erik Johnson, Kathy Boylan, Patrick Stanley, Sarah Rose Clune, Mary Grace, Libby Johnson, Art Laffin, Brian Buckley, and Steve Baggarly to chalk a cross on the pavement and sit down inside the cross and block the entrance to the Pentagon. All were arrested, charged, and released around 11:00 AM. The men were given the court date of July 16th (the testing of the bomb at Trinity) and the women were given August 6th (Hiroshima Day). Are the police are learning to assign court appearances on days we usually mark with resistance?

Those not arrested remained at the Pentagon with signs and spoke out – one by one - against the crucifixions America commits daily. The paranoia of the police was most manifest as the vigil came to an end and they approached Bill Frankel-Streit and Erin Sieber and asked if either had blood or weapons and then proceeded to search them.

We returned to Saint Stephen’s (where the retreat was held) Friday afternoon for an evaluation of the action and a reflection on Leonardo Boff’s Way of the Cross led by Art Laffin. Art enabled us to enter the meaning of the day and the reality of human suffering which is the consequence of our injustice; it was, appropriately, a quiet and thoughtful time. Between Art’s sharing and evening prayer, we took the time to prepare for the final witness of the retreat. So, according to plan, on Saturday we repeated our street theater at two locations near the White House. Because of the ANSWER mobilization against the war occurring that afternoon, there was a large media presence in Lafayette Park that took interest in our action.

Through Friday morning, we were joined by ten students and faculty from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. Their energy and insight were a wonderful addition to the retreat.

We closed the retreat Saturday at noon with the faith that the Resurrection followed Jesus’ crucifixion and death. However, in the face of the horrific news from Iraq in the days following the retreat and the call for more U.S. troops to be sent to the region, we see even more clearly how pervasive the myth of redemptive violence is after wrestling with these concepts in community during this holiest of weeks in our tradition.

by Pit Stop Ploughshares - ARRIVING AT ALDERMASTON Tue Apr 13, 2004 12:10

Pretty sweaty, sunburned, four daze and 50 miles later we arrive at Aldermaston Britain's nuclear bomb factory (see Pantex, Amarillo Texas for the US of A!).

Great crew of folks on the walk.......Venus, Frodo, the guy from Blur, a few originals from the '50's, samba band Sheffield & London, Margaret Jones awaiting trial for disabling B52 supply vehicles at Fairford, Andrea Needham who had been acquitted after disarming a Hawk fighter in '96, lots of Trident Ploughshares crew, 7 aussies, Hare food crew...hopefully a more detailed report when we get back.




http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289059.html