#Aegis9 Video + Corporate & Local News Coverage Of Arrests At Bath Iron Works

Natasha Mayers of the Aegis 9 being arrested at General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works shipyard

Thanks to activist videographer Eric Herter for this good short overview of the protest, including our arrests as the Aegis 9, at General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works (BIW) shipyard on April 1.

The Bath Police Department was kind and respectful to us; local residents Bruce Gagnon, Mary Beth Sullivan and other protesters have spent years building good relationships with the force. I for one was quite aware of benefiting from my white privilege during this experience.

One of the best things the Bath PD did for us was to issue a press release after the fact which gave cover to several of Maine's corporate news outlets and a few local newspapers to report on our protests. 

Reporters have told us that BIW management has threatened them with banning from the ceremonies inside if they interview or photograph protesters outside the gates. 

Is General Dynamics afraid that more people might see my Susan Collins power suit?

Here's a digest of the coverage so far:

The Forecaster "Bath Police Arrest 9 Protesters at BIW Christening" by Alex Lear

Popular Resistance "Nine arrested in snowstorm at BIW destroyer christening" by Bruce Gagnon

Bangor Daily News "Protesters arrested at christening ceremony at BIW" by Judy Harrison

Portland Press Herald "Nine arrested during protest at Bath Iron Works"

The Times Record "9 Protesters Arrested"

Wiscasset Newspaper "9 Arrested at BIW Christening Saturday" (this one actually gives Lt. Robert Savary, Bath Police Department, the byline)

WGME (Channel 13) "Nine arrested during Bath Iron Works protest"

Screenshot from WCSH coverage of video projection of Susan Collins speaking at the christening[sic]

WCSH (Channel 6) "Hundreds brave snow for christening of USS Hudner" by Christina Rex

Jason Rawn dressed as Angus King, blinded in one eye by his corporate $ponsor General Dynamics

Working class solidarity means we make common cause with shipyard workers earning a living while the CEO of General Dynamics rakes in several million dollars in compensation each year and funnels big campaign contributions to Senators Susan Collins and Angus King.

We call for conversion of the shipyard's manufacturing might to build sustainable energy solutions for the 21st century.

Worker Jenny Gray at a BIW protest last year

REVISED 4/5 to include this link to news of the Aegis 9 from Gojko Raicevic in Montenegro:

No to war no to NATO - Montenegro and Union for neutrality of Montenegro are giving support to all brave  and honest peace activists, especially to Bruce Gagnon whom was with us when we need him. This  is an article on arrest in Maine Christening in Aegis Destroyer

 

http://www.in4s.net/demokratija-na-americki-nacin-uhapseni-aktivisti-za-mir-video/

On April 29, March Against The Biggest Polluter On The Planet: The Pentagon

Image: Kenny Cole globe "Worlds Seen and Foreseen”– Downtown area Windows / Skowhegan, Maine in 2011.
It's about 32" in diameter and the materials are ink, gouache and paper mache.

The upcoming climate march has a platform that completely ignores war and militarism as a cause of climate change. 

This oversight is ridiculous given that war and militarism are the leading cause of carbon pollution, global warming and climate chaos. Any time you spot this omission, know that the Democratic Party -- cheerleaders for every war the U.S. is currently engaged in -- is behind it.

Sister blogger Cecile Pineda has offered this corrective, a draft of a flyer to use at the upcoming April 29 climate actions. 

(You can read more from the author of Apologies to a Whale: Words to Mend a World here.

Working with groups determined to participate in the April 29 climate mobilization and planning actions of their own, I offer this DRAFT of a flyer text which makes the connection between militarism with Climate Collapse (fits 8 1/2 X 11):

To Fight Global Warming & Planetary Degradation WE NEED PEACE

Fact 1: The U.S. Military is the greatest unreported polluter on the planet with uninhibited use of fossil fuels, massive creation of greenhouse gases, and extensive release of radioactive and chemical contaminants in the air, water, and soil.

Fact 2: While making war to control more oil, it is a top consumer of fossil fuels, burning 340,000 barrels a day, 80 percent of the federal energy demand.

Fact 3: The U.S. military has dumped corroding barrels of nuclear waste in the oceans, and chemical contaminants into the soils and water table.

Fact 4: Life on the planet cannot survive continued conventional war making, let alone nuclear war. U.S. wars have created sacrifice zones in the U.S. and worldwide, contaminated by the use of depleted uranium, land mines and cluster bombs.

Fact 5: The U.S. military is an agent of environmental degradation with its destruction of 70 acres of a Guam world heritage site coral reef for a naval harbor.

Fact 6: With its use of sonar, the U.S. Navy is accountable for the deaths of whales and dolphins, all animals which depend on their own sonar for survival.

Fact 7: Instead of making more jobs available for marginalized people, militarization reduces the number of jobs available in all other sectors, including teaching.

Fact 8: While profiting from its wars, the U.S. bankrupts other countries. The U.S. made $53 million on Gulf War I while costing 40 low & middle income countries 1 percent of the GDP, Yemen, 10 percent, and Jordan a whopping 25 percent.

Fact 8: Militarization is not good for kids, 33% of them live in poverty (that includes the U.S.), while the US spends 60% of its budget on militarization.

Sources:

http://projectcensored.org/2-us-department-of-defense-is-the-worst-polluter-on-the-planet/

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/20146-militarism-and-violence-are-so-yesterday-its-time-to-make-peace-the-reality

https://thenearlynow.com/the-smokestacks-come-tumbling-down-c03ba1294522#.cd3khtjc1

Rosalie Bertell: Planet Earth

Peace Pays!               Peace Pays!               Peace Pays!               Peace Pays!

If you'd like to help people connect the dots between the military and climate chaos, join Cecile and scores of dedicated environmental activists in taking the Natural Guard pledge:

I pledge to speak out about the effects of militarism on our environment, because the commons we all share that sustain life are valuable to me. 

In discussions about security and safety, I will remind others of the need to count in the cost in pollution and fuel consumption of waging wars all around the planet.

In discussions about acting soon to protect our loved ones from the effects of climate chaos, I will remind others of the need to examine the role of the Pentagon and its many contractors in contributing to planetary warming.

Lisa Savage, Solon, ME

Mark Roman, Solon, ME

Bruce Gagnon, Bath, ME

Wade Fulmer

Curtis Cole

Bob Dale

Christine A. DeTroy

Eric Herter

Ann E. Ruthsdottir

Barbara Williamson

natasha mayers

Jacqui Deveneau

Beth Adams

Thomas L. Fusco

Jason Rawn!

Janet Caldwell, Damariscotta, ME

Peter S. Morgan, Jr., Raymond, ME

Dawn Neptune Adams

Dixie Searway, Limerick, ME

Kevin James

Sidney Mitchell

Pat Taub, Portland, ME
Starr C. Gilmartin, Trenton, ME
Lora Louise Somlyo
Helen Anderson
John M. Kinsella
Anne Johnson
Martha Spiess
Janet Weil, Concord, CA

Lynne Harwood

Kirk Robbins, Portland, ME

Michelle Fournier, North Yarmouth, ME

Richard Clement, Pittston, ME

Selene Spivak, Portland, ME

Judith Hopkins

Bob Klotz

Nancy B. Baxter

David Larsen, Portland, ME

Ridgely Fuller

Pat Hynes

Ginny Schneider

Vicki Saint Amand

Mike King

Nathan James

Ken Jones, Swannanoa, NC

Sal Mangiagli, CT

Rachel Lyn Rumson

Rosalie Paul, Brunswick, ME

Margie Deschene, Grand Falls, ME

Bill Deschene, Grand Falls, ME

David Smith, Belfast, ME

Andrew Watkins, Belfast, ME

Carolyn Pressley, Belfast, ME

Adela R. Hulbert, Belfast, ME

Meredith Bruskin, Swanville, ME

Miriam Watkins, Belfast, ME

Suzanne Fitzgerald, Bar Harbor, ME

Ursula Slavick, Portland, ME

Will Thomas, Auburn, NH

Wendy Thomas, Auburn, NH

Amanda Thomas, Auburn, NH

Juyeon Rhee, Tenafly, NJ

Steve Benson, Surry, ME

Judy Robbins, Sedgwick, ME

Mary Rydingsward, Bristol, CT

Michael Cutting, Portland, ME

Debbie Atwood, Brunswick, ME

Sally Chappell

Sue Davis

Sass Linneken, Winthrop, ME

Eileen Kreutz, Industry, ME

Benjamin d'Haiti, Newburgh, ME

Connie Jenkins

Brian Noyes Pulling, M. Div., SC and ME

Paul Sheridan, Northport, ME

Peter Woodruff

Russell Wray

Peter S. Morgan, Raymond, ME

Kevin Brooks, Old Town, ME

Michael Cutting, Portland, ME

Katharine Winthrop, Portland, ME

Sally Breen, Windham, ME

S.G. Packer, Portland, ME

J. Sproul, Gorham, ME

Tim Paradis, Portland, ME

Wells R. Staley-Mays, Biddeford, ME

Beth Streeter, Portland, ME

Linden Thigpen, South Portland, ME

John W. Cole, South Portland, ME

Lesley MacVine, Falmouth, ME

Nancy Aldrich, Cape Elizabeth, ME

Gail Scott, Portland, ME

Jessica Moore, Portland, ME

Dusan Bjelic, Portland, ME

Joe de Rivera, Brunswick, ME

Glenna Macwilliam, York, ME

Eric Rustad, Bath, ME

Joanne Krejsa, Bath, ME

Sally Trie, Portland, ME

Davida Ammerman, Madison, ME

Douglas Lane, Lewiston, ME

Dianne Burns

Susan Hopkins, Westbrook, ME

Selma Sternlieb, Brunswick, Me

Dixie Searway

Stephen Soucy, Ellsworth ME

Cynthia Howard, Biddeford Pool, ME

Richard Brown Lethem

Jonah Watt, Brunswick, ME

Cecile Pineda, Berkeley, CA

Tom Whitney, South Paris, ME

LeRoy Lowell, Casco, ME

Mariah Williams, Liberty, ME