Aug 2 #Zumwalt12 Arraignment For Civil Disobedience In Bath BIW @GeneralDynamics

Zumwalt 12: Bruce Gagnon,  Dud Hendrick, Cynthia Howard, Constance Jenkins, Tarak Kauff, Richard Lethem, John Morris,George Ostensen, Joan Peck, John Peck, Jason Rawn, and Russell Wray, 

The Zumwalt 12 will be arraigned on August 2 following their arrest at the Bath Iron Works ‘Christening’ of a $4 billion destroyer ship.

After the Zumwalt 12 sat down in the street and were arrested at Bath Iron Works on June 18 they were taken to police headquarters and charged with ‘Obstructing a public way.' Their arraignment will take place in West Bath District Court at 1pm on August 2.

The Zumwalt 12 intends to plead not guilty and will seek a unified trial.  Bar Harbor attorney Lynne Williams will represent the group.

Statements from some of the Zumwalt 12 about their action.

Connie Jenkins: “We felt we were carrying out our responsibility as citizens to use the first amendment to speak against expensive and provocative US endless wars.  As we can see from the recent “Chilcot investigation” in the UK, that found the legal justifications for military action were far from satisfactory, we in the US have a legal and moral responsibility to stand against these wars – and to prevent the next ones.”

Dud Hendrick: "This destroyer, the Monsoor, is another piece, another symbol, albeit a small, but expensive one, of how misguided our leaders are.   How wed to imperialism and world domination they are. The price tag on this destroyer is $4 billion and rising.  Alternatively, we could enable 40,000 students to attend four years of college debt free.  Whether we call it socialism or not, that would seem to make more sense than building one more warship to better arm a country that already spends more than the next seven biggest spending countries and already has the world’s most powerful navy by far." read more on Common Dreams

Bruce Gagnon: "We wanted to "interrupt the celebration of endless war and corporate profit" going on inside the event. All the Maine big wig elected officials were there - Republican and Democrat alike - all on their knees begging for more $$$$ to build more damn warships while the rest of the nation is put on life support.

We called for the conversion of BIW to build rail, solar, wind, and tidal powers systems so the future generations can have a life. The Pentagon is the recipient of the golden treasure chest that the pirates in Washington have grabbed. Nothing good can happen until we take the national treasury back.

We don't need a war with Russia and China. We are dealing with fascists now and we must move into the streets quickly. We found a lot of support from the law enforcement crowd today - one police officer told one of the Zumwalt 12, "You all are the conscience of the community."

Resist and survive.....you are not alone!"

Arrests underway in Bath at General Dynamics' BIW shipyard on June 18, 2016.

John Morris: “We will seek a unified trial so that we can communicate with the greater community why we did what we did at BIW on June 18.  These arrests for non-violent civil disobedience carry on the long tradition of such actions at the shipyard.  We want to see BIW converted to build commuter rail systems, solar, wind, and tidal power which are urgently needed to help us deal with climate change.  We have taken these steps in order that our children and grandchildren can have a real future.”


This poster state the rationale for the action: