Photos Of Todays Anti War Vigil At The GPO

by Elaine Tue Aug 09, 2005 04:30

Our Shrine got a lot of attention

Maybe We Should Have Brought A Table

Our Makeshift Shrine Stops Traffic - Nearly Gets Swept Up In Waste Management Dude's Enthusiasm

Da Lads Take A Breather

Damien(DCW), Richard (Oregon), Henrietta (Netherlands) and David (Wicklow)

Nick and Ciaron - Solidarity!

by Elaine Tue Aug 09, 2005 04:35

With many people stopping to express their support for the cause.

Pimp My War!

Hats Off To The Banner Men

Time For Reflection

Give Us A Go Of That Banner

by Ciaron - Pit Stop Ploughshares/Dublin Catholic Worker Tue Aug 09, 2005 13:24 087 918 4552

We gathered back at the GPO the afternoon after
farewelling RedJade who had offered so much solidarity in our time awaiting trial for the Pit Stop
Ploughshares disarmament at Shannon. We keep going publicly denouncing Ireland's role in this illegal and immoral war sustained by a sense of solidarity and community.

The old Dan Berrigan advice from the '60's of "Don't just do something stand there!" brings us back to this weekly vigil. To vigil is to stay wake while society slumbers to a war that is escalating. Standing in one place and experiencing the beauty and multiplicity of humanity is nourishing in itself. Anti-war folks from Ireland, Italy, Spain, U.S. drop by the vigil to reflect and connect. A guy who was in our Tai Chi class in Limerick Prison back in Feb 2003 (once a week only 3 of us in it so a complete reunion!)also dropped by.

Don't just do something stand there! We are reminded by the steadfastness of the Rossport 5, Les Gibbons in Bristol Prison after being arrested breaking in to Aldermaston nuke weapons factory on Friday and Cindy Sheean now camped outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, demanding to see the guy who told the lies and sent her son to kill & die in Iraq. We are reminded of of Tim & Ed and the long hours they keep watch at Shannon Airport as the culture tells them to turn away
and learn to live with it. Learn to live with
Ireland's role in this brutal war and 25,000 U.S.
troops passing through Shannon Airport each month.

Today we have brought with us to the vigil "The Book of Condolences to the Family of Jean Charles de Menezes". Charles was brutally executed by the London Met Police and targeted by a SAS trained covert British military team in London a few weeks ago. The team that put a bullet into his shoulder and pumped 7 bullets into his head have not been suspended during
the investigation. The Book of Condolences was
initiated by members of the Brazilian community in
Dublin at a vigil outside the British Embassy last
week. it will be filled and sent to the family in
Brazil, please consier signing it.

The British state has used the opportunity of Jean
Charles death to mainstream the shoot-to-kill policy the practised frequently in the north of Ireland in the '80's. Like the time following Sept. 11th. all sorts of agendas that have been carefully prepared in the wings are being rushed through to shrink freedom and strengthen injustice & the warmaking state. We are promised more security by more guns and laws, we know that is a lie.

Meanwhile the war escalates in Iraq and spreads. The Pentagon announces a rise in troop levels in the second half of this year, the role of Shannon Airport will duly escalate. The Pit Stop Ploughshares will return to trial October 24th. at the Four Courts. We will maintain this weekly vigil on Mondays 4pm-6pm. You are most welcome to drop by!

by Reality Check Tue Aug 09, 2005 14:17

Ciaran,
I'm just wondering why you didn't open a book of condolences for the people that were killed in the Tube and bus bombings.
Are the lives of those killed accidentally by police more important than those murdered deliberately by Muslim terrorists.

by CWatch Tue Aug 09, 2005 14:30

The Catholic worker group are a religious group that are loyal to the teachings of the Pope and the catholic church hierarchy. People should ask them about their backward and reactionary views on womens right, abortion, divorce, contraception, homosexuality. This group are not a left wing group they are a group within the catholic church that are pacifists thats it, on all other issues they are identical to the church's 'teachings'.

by Joe Fallon Tue Aug 09, 2005 16:01 Dublin

"I support the war, but can't defend itso I'll just slaq off the peaceniks instead"
People might be more convinced if you weren't throwing mud from the anonymous sidelines. I'm not into religion but fair play to the CW posse and everyone else whose trying to change things for the better rather than just deciding to sit back and enjoy the party until the last drop of Saudi oil runs out and then all hell breaks lose in Iran the Caspian and the South China Sea.

by Ciaron Tue Aug 09, 2005 16:16

Reality Check - We didn't open this book. Members of the Brazilian community in Dublin opened it at the British Embassy last Thursday. They brought it to a party out our place Sunday night. We brought it to the vigil and to the anarcho gig on Monday night at Lower Deck. If anyone else wants to borrow it and pass it around their communities and gigs that would be great. If someone wants to intiate a book for any victims of this war...Iraqis, military dead, London commuters etc. We would bring it to vigil etc. The young Brazilian like a lot of the Iraqi kids killed are written off as collateral damage by those who launched this war.

Other guy - left and right comes from the seating arrangements in the first French parliament. CW's don't vote we are anarcho-pacifists like the early criminalised church. We have been around since 1933 and are 185 autonomous communities based on practyising the acts of mercy and nonviolent resistance. DCW has been vigiling in Dublin against the role of Ireland in U.S. wars since 2002.

We aren't into recruitment but are willing to work with anyone on the basis of nonviolence and direct democracy to oppose this war and Ireland's role in it.

by Update Tue Aug 09, 2005 18:10

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/iraq

by Stephen Hancock - Ploughshares Tue Aug 09, 2005 18:13 Oxford, Eng

Beyond Protest
Stephen Hancock

Who is responsible for disarming and transforming the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston?

On Saturday 6th August I found myself in front of three Reading magistrates for planting vines and fig trees at the nearby Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. It felt an appropriate place to be on the sixtieth anniversary of the mass incineration of one hundred thousand civilians in deliberately hitherto undisturbed Hiroshima.

Along with ten others – from the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland and Australia – I had, the previous dawn, planted five small vines and fig trees both outside and inside Aldermaston’s perimeter fence. Arresting Ministry of Defence police were offered a choice of grapes or fig rolls; some accepted. The bottle of wine we carried with us was bagged as evidence.

The vines and figs came, so to speak, from the prophet Micah. Many will be aware of the first lines of the prophecy that inspired us – “swords into ploughshares” being a direct prophetic crib of the words of Isaiah made particularly famous by their inscription on the Isaiah Wall near the UN Headquarters in New York. Micah fleshed out Isaiah’s vision into a poetic manifesto that still burns urgently thousands of years beyond its writing:
“They will beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Every [one] will sit under [her] own vine
and under his own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid.” (Micah 4, 3-5, NIV)

In these times of mutual threat and violence, in which unexamined fears seem capable of manifesting themselves with uncanny precision, it’s worth considering any advice, however old, for getting to a place where “no one will make [us] afraid.”

First up: disarmament. The nuclear swords should be hammered, the cluster-bomb-tipped spears too. Taking that responsibility upon our shoulders – and within our elbows – means risking prison.

Second: the military economy should be converted, into ploughs and pruning hooks, into peaceful and appropriate technologies and skills, into health and education and leisure – into whatever tickles our fancy. To update the postcard that adorned so many fridges in the eighties: “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the military has to collect Tesco vouchers in order to buy a new bomber.”

Third: no more fighting. And no more threats of fighting. There’s enough understanding and experience of creative conflict resolution, enough good people willing to offer their services, enough will and imagination in the world to sink the need for battleships once and for all.

Fourth: no more training for war. Demilitarise our culture, de-glorify war for our children, teach ourselves basic emotional literacy and conflict-solving skills, offer working class men and their higher class superiors genuine forms of “travel and adventure”.

Fifth: give people back their vines and fig trees. Especially in Israel/Palestine. We’re all longing to eat your surplus grapes and figs with a clear conscience. Two of our arresting officers wore “Make Poverty History” bracelets; one of them chastised us for not offering him fairly-traded grapes. Quite right. Fair trade means fair land ownership – resources in the hands of the people who handle them.

Sixth: don’t forget to spend time sitting underneath your vine or fig tree. When we first arrived at AWE Aldermaston we actually lay underneath our small plants and looked up at the clouds in the sky. With the full potential and fear of the base right there next to us, it was a naïve act, a sweet and wishful glimpsing.

There’s a seventh step we noticed in the prophecy too: no protest. Protest has for me involved too much complaining and asking others to act on my behalf. It reinforces both my passivity and the hierarchy’s power. It leaves us, at the end of the day, with dog-eared placards and our fate still in the hands of distant leaders invariably seduced by the heady culture of power. A healthy and democratically fluid definition of leadership is: whoever takes responsibility for this situation.
If you spell-check the word nonviolence, Microsoft will suggest a hyphen. But its hyphenlessness is a deliberate compression and synthesis on our part. The “non” to violence is a good start, but we have to go further, beyond protest, into the realms of resistance and creation. Gandhi used such terms as satyagraha (loosely, Truth Force) and constructive programme. We’re also making it up as we go along.

In the anti-war protests of 2002 and 2003 a dominant slogan was “Not In My Name.” The powers that be concurred, and launched a war that wasn’t committed in our names. Just imagine if even a tenth of the million of us who marched in London had crossed out the “Not” and instead had engaged in creative nonviolent action…

Literally as I write the C.I.D. officer in charge of our case phones and says the Scene of Crimes Officer is happy to look after the plants we left inside.
Let a hundred thousand vine and fig trees bloom.

Stephen Hancock
[email protected]

by Update Tue Aug 09, 2005 18:19

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/london_bombings

by Damien - DCW/PSP Tue Aug 09, 2005 19:08 ploughsharesireland at yahoo dot ie

Remembering Jean Charles De Menezes:
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=71131

******************************************************

Pit Stop Ploughshares Head to Oct. 24th Trial
Update & Call for Solidarity!

www.peaceontrial.com [email protected]
Mobile: 087 9184552

Before the illegal invasion & bombing of Iraq, five members of the pacifist Catholic Worker movement made their way into Shannon Airport and non-violently disarmed a U.S. navy war plane in the early hours of February 3rd. 2003.

The Pit Stop Ploughshares Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop, Karen Fallon, Ciaron O'Reilly & Damien Moran spent 4 to 11 weeks in Limerick Prison. They went to trial in March 2005 on two counts of Criminal Damage - €100 and $2.5 million. Penalties if convicted carry a maximum of ten years imprisonment. The week of trial saw 80 international & numerous Irish anti-war activists converge on Dublin. It was a week of public witness against the war, evenings of celebration of the disarmament and public meetings concerning ongoing Irish involvement in the war on Iraq.

The March trial collapsed on 6th. day when the Judge called a mistrial, dismissed the jury and instructed the media not to report on the reasons for a mistrial.

Nuin & Karen have been allowed to leave the country to return a month before trial. Deirdre, Ciaron & Damien are required to sign on weekly, all are banned from a 5 mile radius of Shannon Airport.

The Pit Stop Ploughshares 5 return to trial at Dublin's Four Courts on Monday October 24th. The trial is likely to run for over a week. Pit Stop Ploughshares hope to run a series of events running up to and around the trial. They need your help. Please make contact.

CONTENTS

1. Peace on Trial DVD

2. Accommodation Oct.24th. trial Dublin

3. Dublin Ploughshares Benefit Gigs

4. Regional Ploughshares Benefit Gigs

5. Monday Anti-War Vigils

6. Sunday Evenings Open House at the Catholic Worker

7. Defendants Available for Public Meetings, Speaking at Schools, Churches & Community Groups

8. Solidarity Vigils at Irish Embassies, Consuls & Sites of Significance

9. Donations to "Ploughshares Defence Fund"

********************************************

1. "Peace on Trial" (35 minute DVD/Video on Pit Stop Ploughshares March Trial) Now Available!

The Pit Stop Ploughshares went to trial in Dublin, Ireland during March 2005 charged with $2.5 million "Criminal Damage" to a U.S. Navy War Plane at Shannon Airport(see www.peaceontrial.com). The plane was en route to the invasion of Iraq. Following the disarmament it turned around and headed back to Texas.

The 35 minute DVD/video covers the week of the trial as peace activists converged on Dublin from around Ireland, the U.S. & Europe. The DVD/video features the Pit Stop Ploughshares 5, U.S. Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Iraq Veteran Kelly Dougherty, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire, former U.N. Assitant Secretary General Dennis Halliday and "Voices in the Wilderness" founder Kathy Kelly. The video also contains file footage interviews with Dorothy Day and Fr. Daniel Berrigan SJ.

The "Peace on Trial" video is an excellent resource for schools, universities and community groups.

PRICE

€10 in Ireland (covers postage) 10 pounds in Britain (covers postage) $20 in Australia (covers postage) $15 in USA (covers postage)

*If in U.S. designate whether you need PAL or NTSC Format.

Make cheques to "Ploughshares Defence Fund" 518 South Circular Rd. Rialto Dublin 8 IRELAND

2. ARE YOU PLANNING TO ATTEND THE OCT 24TH. TRIAL

If you are planning to attend the trial of the Pit Stop Ploughshares in Dublin starting October 24th.(will probably last 2 weeks).

Please make contact with [email protected]

Initial indications of "possible" or "definite" at this stage in relation to attendance would help us organise. Make it clear if you are in need of accommodation, we will do our best to accommodate!

If you can offer to billet/accomodate people please make contact.


3. DUBLIN PLOUGHSHARES BENEFIT GIGS

We are organising a benefit gigs in Dublin for the Ploughshares Defence Fund.

*Thursday September 15th. 8pm Lower Deck (Performers to be announced!)

*Thursday October 13th. 8pm Lower Deck (Performers to be announced!)

4. REGIONAL PLOUGHSHARES BENEFIT GIGS

In the lead up to the October 24th trial we hope to have a series of benefit gigs celebrating the Pit Stop Ploughshares disarmament of a U.S.Navy War Plane at Shannon Airport and opposition to the continued use of Shannon to facilitate the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Please make contact with us if you can help set up gigs between mid-Sept & mid-Oct in

-Galway -Cork -Wexford -Derry -Belfast -Oxford -Liverpool -Dublin

If you can help email [email protected] Ph. 087 9184552

5. MONDAY ANTI-WAR VIGILS

Ploughshares maintain an anti-war vigil every Monday 4pm-6pm at the G.P.O. O'Connell St.

6. SUNDAY EVENINGS OPEN HOUSE AT THE CATHOLIC WORKER

Sunday Evenings

*6pm-Catholic Worker Liturgy *7pm-Soup *7.30pm Reflection & Discussion
Text or phone 087 9184552 to RSVP or confirm.

7. DEFENDANTS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC MEETINGS, SPEAKING AT SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, COMMUNITY GROUPS

Ph. 087 9184552
Email [email protected]

8. OCT 24TH - TRIAL DAY SOLIDARITY VIGILS AT IRISH EMBASSIES

If you can commit to a solidarity vigil with the Pit Stop Ploughshares on the opening day of their trial -at an Irish Embassy or consul or a site of anti-war significance, make contact so we can publicise

9. DONATIONS TO "PLOUGHSHARES DEFENCE FUND"

Donations can be lodged at any Bank of Ireland Branch. Ploughshares Defence Fund

Account No. 80965573
Sort Code 900551

by Elk Tue Aug 09, 2005 19:26

I'm curious...

If the Catholic Workers do believe in the teachings of the Catholic church, how can you be anarcho-anything? Religion is compatible with anarchism, but hierarchal and authoritarian institutions aren't.

by Justin Morahan - Peace People Tue Aug 09, 2005 19:33

that the Catholic Workers are more in line with the original Catholic (Christian) Church and the anarchist Jesus who upturned more than tables in his homeland

by Thomas Merton Tue Aug 09, 2005 21:54

"The reason for emphasizing nonviolent resistance is this: he who resists force with force in order to seize power may become contaminated by the evil which he is resisting and, when he gains power, may be just as ruthless and unjust a tyrant as the one he has dethroned. A nonviolent victory, while far more difficult to achieve, stands a better chance of curing the illness instead of contracting it. There is an essential difference here, for nonviolence seeks to "win" not by destroying or even by humiliating the adversary, but by convincing him that there is a higher and more certain common good than can be attained by bombs and blood."
- Thomas Merton "Toward a Theology of Resistance" 1968

"Christian nonviolence is not built on a presupposed division, but on the basic unity of man. It is not out for the conversion of the wicked to the ideas of the good, but for the healing and reconciliation of man with himself, man the person and man the human family.
The nonviolent resister is not fighting simply for "his" truth or for "his" pure conscience, or for the right that is on "his side." On the contrary, both his strength and his weakness come from the fact that he is fighting for the truth, common to him and to the adversary, the right which is objective and universal. He is fighting for everybody."
- Thomas Merton "Blessed are the Meek: The Christian Roots of Nonviolence" 1966

"There is another essential aspect of Christianity: the interior, the silent, the contemplative, in which hidden wisdom is more important than practical organizational science, and in which love replaces the will to get visible results. The New Man must not be a one-sided and aggressive activist: he must also have depth, he must be able to be silent, to listen to the secret voice of the Spirit. He must renounce his own will to dominate and let the Spirit act secretly in and through him."
-Thomas Merton "Rebirth and the New Man In Christianity" 1967

The Only Solution

by Elaine Tue Aug 09, 2005 22:05

As If

Revolutionary Jesus

by Raymond McInerney - Global Country of World Peace Tue Aug 09, 2005 22:56 raymond.mcinerney at ul dot ie Limerick 086 0638611

Fully agree


To remove the darkness, just introduce the light.

by Ciaron Tue Aug 09, 2005 23:53 087 918 4552

I think its a waste of time defending CW as @ on this stream, takes attention away from the war and Ireland's role in it. The first lefty "stranger danger" comment alert and the attempted anarch inquisition comment are based on self-admitted ignorance.

I would recommend some reading....

Peter Marshall's "Demanding the Impossible - A History of Anarchism" (really big book with several chapters on thiest anarchist traditions the Catholic Worker being one)...could be a copy of this in Red Ink to browse through!

Nicholas Walter's "About Anarchism" ( a smaller booklet that refers to the Catholic Worker as one of the olderst existing anarchist movements in North America)

.....or for the low energy option the Utah Philips (IWW agnostic)/Ani DeFranco (rad feminist) track "Anarchy" on "The Past Didn't go Anywhere" album celebrating Ammon Hennacy (who personally politicised Utah P), Dorothy Day & the Catholic Worker movement.

We are not out to recruit or dominate campaigns, we are out to work mutually & nonviolently with others. The Brazilians who approached us had first approached Amnesty International who rebuffed them. Go figure on that one!?

by Update Wed Aug 10, 2005 10:38

Their last port of call was probably Shannon Airport, 5 more U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, 6 wounded...
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050810/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

by Jonah Wed Aug 10, 2005 10:42 DC, USA

August 9, 2005
In Remembrance of the bombing of Nagasaki 60 years ago, people at the Faith and Resistance retreat in Washington D.C. went to the Pentagon
early this morning. Dressed in sackcloth, some 40 protesters held signs, prayed and sang. They held a banner that read: "We sit in sackcloth and ashes to repent the sins of war and nuclear weapons."

Those risking arrest wore sackcloth and sat in ashes they poured on or around themselves while blocking the way of workers going into the
Pentagon.


Arrested were Steve Baggarly, Kathy Boylan, Brian Buckley and Susan Crane, Art Laffin, Liz McAlister, and Bill Frankel-Streit. The Pentagon police were unusually rough, reminding us all that we
never know what to expect when we engage the powers. They told us that they had been expecting us since Friday a.m. and were mustered
by 3:00 a.m. each day. All those arrested have a court appearance on November 18.

As we were blocking the entrance way, some of us were remembering a video of footage taken directly after the bombing of Hiroshima, where
we heard in detail that school children were killed in their classrooms, prisoners were killed in their cells, half the medical doctors died in hospitals, people were killed going to work. After this description of the bombing of Hiroshima and of Nagasaki, we wonder how we don't see our own terrorism in the world.

The resistance at the Pentagon creates hope. That was manifest when one of the arresting officers (one not using compliance holds or
gratuitous violence) said that he agreed with most of what we were saying.





--

by Dan - Catholic Peace Action Wed Aug 10, 2005 11:07 London, England

9 August 2005
Christian Anti-War protestors chained themselves to the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall and encourage closure of the Ministry of Defence for the day in order to commemorate the incineration of Nagasaki 60 years ago today and prevent future crimes against humanity.

Today, 9 August 2005, in Central London, two Christians (Dan Martin and Angela Broome) chained themselves to the door of the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall and passed out leaflets to the workers as they entered the Building.

After a warning from the police and a refusal by the protesters to leave the area the police cut the chains and carried/dragged the two down the steps, off the property. They were then told they could demonstrate freely there. No arrests were made. The two joined supporters and continued to hand distribute the leaflet below.

The action began in a nearby park with prayer and readings from scripture.
The message of the leaflet used by the two and their supporters is as follows:
Close the Ministry of Defence
9 August 2005
In Memoriam

We call on all staff to return home and reflect on the anniversary of the incineration of Nagasaki, Japan, 60 years ago today; and to reflect on the nuclear war preparations carried out in the Ministry of Defence.

On Nov. 7, 1995, the mayor of Nagasaki recalled his memory of the attack in testimony to the International Court of Justice: ‘Nagasaki became a city of death where not even the sound of insects could be heard. After a while, countless men, women and children began to gather for a drink of water at the banks of nearby Urakami River, their hair and clothing scorched and their burnt skin hanging off in sheets like rags. Begging for help they died one after another in the water or in heaps on the banks.’

Quoted in ‘Apocalypse Soon’ by Robert S. McNamara, former Secretary of Defense of the USA, who further states:

‘Four months after the atomic bombing [of Nagasaki], 74,000 people were dead, and 75,000 had suffered injuries, that is, two-thirds of the city population had fallen victim to this calamity that came upon Nagasaki like a preview of the Apocalypse.

‘This in a nutshell is what nuclear weapons do: They indiscriminately blast, burn, and irradiate with a speed and finality that are almost incomprehensible.’

‘I would characterize current US nuclear weapons policy as immoral, illegal, militarily unnecessary, and dreadfully dangerous.’
Robert S. McNamara | Apocalypse Soon; www.truthout.org/docs_2005/050505B.shtml

Where Mr McNamara speaks of ‘US nuclear weapons policy’, we believe the UK policy, though with fewer nuclear weapons, is qualitatively the same: ‘immoral, illegal, militarily unnecessary, and dreadfully dangerous.’

The Ministry of Defence should be closed today:
* In memory of the atomic victims of yesterday and today (victims are still dying as a result of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
* As an act of repentance for that horrendous slaughter and for continued readiness to the repeat it, on a much greater scale.
* As an act of penance, however slight, to right this wrong.
* As an act of reparations for the money stolen from the poor of this world because of nuclear war preparations.
* As acknowledgment of our hypocrisy in the eyes of the world. While we possess, and are willing to actually use these horrendous weapons, we preach and enforce restraint to some countries (Iran, Iraq, North Korea) and ignore others (Israel).
* To give us a chance to recover our humanity and let our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh.
* Because nuclear weapons are not safe in anyone’s hands.

Catholic Peace Action
------
This action is sponsored by Catholic Peace Action, a group that has been working for peace through non-violent direct action at the Ministry of Defence since 1983.
The two who risked arrest in today’s action are:
Dan Martin, 50, charity worker, Catholic, married and father of four, of Wandsworth, London
Angela Broome, 69, Anglican, pledged to resist nuclear armaments with Trident Ploughshares, East London

by Vine & Fig Trees Thu Aug 11, 2005 11:51

Les released; vine and fig planted at AWE Burghfield; Vine & Fig Tree
Planters head home

News and reflections by Stephen Hancock

On Wednesday 10th August the nine arrested Vine & Fig Tree Planters appeared before Newbury Magistrates. All nine of us entered pleas of “Not
guilty” to charges of criminal damage to the perimeter fence of Atomic Weapons Establishment Aldermaston. Les Gibbons, fresh from Bristol Prison, told the magistrates that our action had “enhanced the base.”

The magistrates committed all of us to trial, and imposed the bail condition that we do not go within a hundred metres of the Aldermaston perimeter
fence. Les Gibbons was released from prison, and the group was briefly united outside court before the three Swedes went to catch the train to
begin their journeys home.

We were blessed inside and outside court with supporters from both Southampton and Oxford. The Ministry of Defence CID police officer in charge of the case was also present. He returned our bottle of wine and told us that the Scene of the Crime officer was very happy to replant and look
after the vines and fig trees that had been planted on August 5th. Susan Clarkson
signed the vines and figs over.

After a picnic by the river – which included the returned wine – we then travelled to nearby AWE Burghfield, Britain’s nuclear bomb factory to plant
the remaining vine and fig tree. The MoD officer there said he looked forward to eating the figs. A vine – called St Francis – was planted to
the right of the entrance, and a fig – called St Clare – was planted to the left. The jaws of a nearby dead fox were placed at the base of each
plant and Rachel and Susan from St Francis House, Oxford, gave a blessing. This
Burghfield planting included several new gardeners, and it was good to see
the peace-planting spreading and growing.

We watered the plants and headed home for rest. Thirteen days in community. A rich chapter closing.

When we have a court date, we will inform you.

We have been moved and sustained by support from our Oxford base and from all around the world.

Let’s keep communicating and conspiring and planting.

One Love
Many thanks

Stephen Hancock



A brief chronology:
March At the Dublin trial of the Pit Stop Ploughshares, Susan Clarkson, Per Herngren and Stephen Hancock discussed the idea of vine and fig tree planting around the time of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing anniversaries.

June Invitations to act are sent out. The main ingredients were: Inspiration of the words of the prophet Micah; a commitment to nonviolence;
a commitment to forming community; awillingness to risk arrest; a commitment to not protesting; a commitment to using positive language
and action.

July 29-31 The Vine & Fig Tree Planters community is formed, eleven-strong:
Community building, nonviolence training and decision making.

August 1-3 Action preparation.

August 4 The first planting. Vines and fig trees planted outside AWE Aldermaston. Police are informed that we intend to return to carry out
further planting.

August 5 In the early hours, six of us enter AWE through a freshly-cut garden gate. Vines and fig trees are planted inside and outside the
base. Police arrive and arrest nine of us in total. Eight planters give their addresses as AWE Aldermaston, and so are held in police custody
overnight.

August 6 All nine arrestees appear before Reading Magistrates. Eight released on bail; Les Gibbons remanded to Bristol Prison for declining
to give his date of birth – instead saying that “August 6th is the only important date to remember.”

August 7-9 Reflection, evaluation, prison visits, court preparation.

August 10 All nine appear before Newbury Magistrates. Les is released. Bail conditions not to go within 100m of AWE Aldermaston are imposed on all nine. Old planters and new instead go to AWE Burghfield and plant the remaining
vine and fig tree. Everyone heads home.

to be continued…

by Elk Thu Aug 11, 2005 12:33

I don't see any problem with trying to figure out what a group's ideas are. It didn't make sense to me, so I asked about it. The immediate reply from Justin seems reasonable.

by Ciaron - DCW/PSP (personal capacity) Thu Aug 11, 2005 14:30

No problemo..there is a heap published academically and also subjectively by participants about the Catholic Worker Movement.

A primary role of radical Christians is to call the Church back from being hierarchical & institutional back to being church as movement.

The Constantine shift in the 3rd. century is significant in terms of the church as dissident movement being co-opted, the legalisation/patronage, the development of private property and the evolution of the relativist Just War theory to use vioelnce to defend it.

Theologically speaking, all dissident movements are co-opted bythe tempatations Jesus wrestled within thedesert 1) power 2)status 3) wealth. This is what has happened to Christianity,Buddhism, punk rock, rap, feminism, Irish Republicanism, the trade unions, New Age movement etc

Simply to say the Church has no monopoly on being co-opted, its just that it's been around for 2,000 years to be messed with.

The hierarchs would rather the radicals in these traditions would go away. The role of radicals should be to hook up with rads in all traditions, we would say in a spirit of solidarity, nonviolence & direct democracy. And as you are doing here seek a deep understanding of those traditions rather than adopting simplistic prejudices.

by Ithaca Catholic Worker Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:33 Ithaca, New York, USA 001 607 273 7437

Join us during the St. Patrick's Four Trial -
The Only Federal Conspiracy Trial of
Civilian Anti-War Activists
September 19, 2005 - Binghamton, NY
Federal Court

Also join us every evening after trial @ 7 pm for a Citizens' Tribunal on the Iraq War across from court @ Christ Episcopal Church
A 5-night tribunal to articulate the legal, moral, and historical
defense for civil resistance to this illegal war.

CONFIRMED: Ray McGovern, Medea Benjamin, Camilo Mejia,
Kathy Kelly, John Bonifaz, Cindy Sheehan, Jimmy Massey,
Liz McAlister, U.S. Rep. Hinchey and others.

September 18, Sunday @ Christ Episcopal Church, a
"Festival of Hope" to kick off the trial!
A day of sharing faith, hope, music, food and community!

check web site http://www.stpatricksfour.org for more info and
please sign on to letter of support on web site.


What: Two days before the beginning of "Shock and Awe" four concerned citizens went to their local military recruiting station to say no to the
war. They acted in the spirit of non-violence and civil resistance pouring their own blood in the lobby of the recruiting center.

They then knelt and prayed. They were later tried in County Court. Nine of the twelve jurors voted for acquittal. Despite this overwhelming majority to acquit, the Federal government has decided to bring new charges against them.

If convicted, they could face up to six years in prison, a period of probation, and fines of up to $250,000 each.


Who: Peter De Mott, Danny Burns, Teresa and Clare Grady

When : Begins Monday - Sept. 19th, 2005 - through the week

Where: Federal Court, 15 Henry St., Binghamton, NY

Contact: http://www.stpatricksfour.org 001 607 273-7437

WE NEED YOUR HELP - READ BELOW

INFORM JURORS OF THEIR RIGHTS
"It is not only [the juror's] right, but his duty...to find the verdict according to his own best understanding judgement, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court" John Adams-1771
http://www.americanjuryinstitute.org or
http://www.fija.org (Fully Informed Jury Association)

MEDIA
a) send us your media contacts - email & phone #'s
b) Journalists to cover the story during the week of the trial
c) News articles leading up to the trial
d) Letters to the editor in local papers

DONATE
a) http://www.stpatricksfour.org
b) funds for trial support, travel expenses for expert witnesses, etc.
c) funds for hospitality for those coming from out of town
d) food or funds for meals - providing lunch and dinner for 150 or so each meal during the week
e) checks can be made to: Ithaca Catholic Worker - memo: St. Patrick's Four P. O. Box 293, Ithaca, NY 14850
f) Donations can be made online at
http://www.stpatricksfour.org/?page=donations

ATTEND THE TRIAL & THE CITIZEN'S TRIBUNAL ON THE IRAQ WAR
a) Meetings and meals @ Christ Episcopal Church-
across the street from the Federal Court House.
b) trial starts on Monday will probably continue through the week.
c) attend in the courtroom and outside the courthouse
d) volunteer to help serve the people coming
e) call ahead to let us know if you will be attending or connect
through the web site.

VOLUNTEER YOUR TIME NOW
a) call or email if you'd like to help with outreach - especially
in the 5 counties from which the jury pool will be drawn,
(Chenango, Otsego, Tioga, Broome, Delaware Counties)
. http://www.stpatricksfour.org 607-273-7437
b) we need help leafletting, collating and bannering.
c) Leaflets can be downloaded at
http://www.stpatricksfour.org/?page=outreach
d) we need help selling bumper stickers and yard signs.
e) sign the letter of support
http://www.stpatricksfour.org/?page=support

by Update Fri Aug 12, 2005 15:35

Over 40,000 U.S. reserves who receive only one weekend/2weeks a year training are presently deployed to Iraq. They are taking increasing casualties
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050812/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_reservist_deaths

by Update Sat Aug 13, 2005 21:59

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1506&e=1&u=/afp/20050813/ts_alt_afp/usiraqbush_050813191727

by Frank - Des Moines Catholic Worker Sat Aug 13, 2005 22:05

The DM Catholic Worker, the Omaha Catholic Worker and the Omaha Spirit of Peace Community hosted their annual August 6 to 9 vigil at the
gates of Offutt Air Force Base, in Bellevue, NE, home of the Strategic Nuclear and Space Commands (STRATCOM).

For 3 ½ days we stood, sat, held banners, prayed and did penance for the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on August 6
and 9, 1945. We also contemplated the work and mission of the current god-awful STRATCOM command stationed at Offutt AFB, the challenges
this command now poses to all life on our planet, and the demonic claim it holds on the soul and spirit of our nation.

This was the Des Moines Catholic Worker community's 27th year of returning to Offutt AFB to remember the August 6 & 9th 1945 A-bombings
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The need for our presence each year has not diminished through the years.

Located just 10 miles south of Omaha, NE, Offutt AFB has been the command headquarters for US nuclear weapons since the end of WW II. Its new and expanded post Cold War command, STRATCOM, is truly the mind and nerve center for the global US war machine (as if the targeting of 8,000 nuclear weapons were not horrific enough). The STRATCOM command facility has the ability to initiate and direct what is called "Full Spectrum Global Warfare." With the melding of the nuclear and military space commands at Offutt AFB, the Pentagon can now wage war at any point on the earth's surface in a 30-minute time frame. From nuclear weapons to direct control and command of clandestine secret military missions, the people at STRATCOM will have a direct hand in it all!

This year's vigil began at the Kinney Gate of Offutt AFB on Saturday August 6th at 8 a.m. which is the hour the USA dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It lasted till 8 p.m. each day until August 9th. On Tuesday August 9th, the vigil concluded at 11 a.m., the hour the A-bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. There were always at least five people on site during the vigil, with Catholic Workers from Des Moines and Maloy, IA, Yankton SD, and Omaha, NE, participating.

On Saturday August 6th at 10 a.m., we were joined by over 100 people who came to participate in a Rally sponsored by the Omaha based SOS
(Speak Out at STRATCOM ) Speakers included veteran
peace activist Medea Benjamin of "Code Pink: Women for Peace"
and "Global Exchange"
www.globalexchange.org. (an international human rights organization
dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice),
Loring Wirbel, author of Star Wars: U.S. Tools of Space Supremacy, and
DMCW Frank Cordaro. National and internationally know protest singer David Rovics opened and closed the rally with protest songs.

The vigil ended with a prayer circle, personal testimonials and a reading of Tomas Merton's "The Original Child Bomb" on the driveway
leading unto the base. During this 30 minute time frame, the Offutt security people closed down the entrance to the main gate to allow us to have our closing ceremony. This year no one crossed the line.


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Aug 10, 2005 Omaha World Herald
Public Pulse
This was a war crime

For 27 years, we Catholic Workers have returned to Offutt Air Force Base every Aug. 6 to 9 to remember and repent for the 1945 U.S. atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

We do so for four reasons:

• The bombings did not end World War II. It already was nearing its
end by August 1945.

• The perceived lives saved by the bombings are hypothetical. The real
lives destroyed were an estimated 225,000, including women, children
and the elderly.

• A war crime is a war crime. It matters not who commits the crime or
for what reason the crime is committed.

• If we Americans cannot see the true criminal nature of the bombings,
it will be impossible for us to see any possible criminal acts of war
that we are committing today in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Frank Cordaro, Des Moines
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