Civil Resistance Today At Zumwalt 'Christening' Will Demand Conversion Of BIW To Halt Climate Change

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Lisa Savage

207-399-7623

lsavage3@gmail.com

MEDIA ADVISORY: CIVIL RESISTANCE TODAY AT ZUMWALT CHRISTENING WILL DEMAND CONVERSION OF BIW TO HALT CLIMATE CHANGE

Statewide peace groups will gather to protest the “christening”[sic] of a Zumwalt class warship at General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works shipyard on April 27. The ship will be named for President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), who was driven from office by anti war protesters over his conduct of the Vietnam War.

Suzanne Hedrick, who will turn 88 next month, spoke with Congresswoman Chellie Pingree in Augusta April 23 at the Youth Day of Action on Climate Crisis. Hedrick  indicated that she intended to risk arrest doing civil resistance at BIW on April 27.

“I spoke to her about the “christening” of this destroyer and its cost, and the ongoing role of the Military Industrial complex...I told Chellie that many in the peace community were upset with her inability to address the massive defense budget,” said Hedrick in an email.

Bob Klotz of 350 Maine said, "The United States is addicted to oil – and to war. These two addictions are inextricably linked, with the realities of climate change revealing the most profound and undeniable impact.”

“An intervention is called for. As with any addiction, we must become honest about the “unmanageable” (the definition of our bloated and destructive “defense” budget), boundaries must be established, abstinence practiced, responsibility taken and amends made.”

“We have a genuine emergency: all are at risk." A 2017 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report projected at least a six inch sea level rise by 2050.

Bruce Gagnon of Brunswick, a member of Veterans for Peace (VFP) said, “Our real security needs as a nation are to urgently address climate change and plan for sea level rise that is already underway. How will this affect BIW’s shipyard in Bath? Continuing to build expensive, provocative and polluting weapon systems like Zumwalt destroyers ignores climate change as the biggest threat to our collective safety.” Gagnon has helped organize protests at BIW for the past several years. In 2018 he fasted for 37 days to oppose a tax giveaway by the state of Maine to General Dynamics.

“Endorsing the Conversion Campaign addresses these truths and provides a rational “lens” through which to “see” an apocalyptic reality,” says Dud Hendrick of VFP, one of a dozen organizations sponsoring the BIW Conversion Campaign. “The absolute imperative of “Conversion” is all the more undeniable to us in Maine, having the longest coastline in the nation. And, a widely predicted collapse of the lobster fishery in Maine waters due to the associated rising water temperatures would be cataclysmic in every conceivable respect for my home town of Deer Isle.”

“Conversion” should influence every decision our Congressional delegates make in the conduct of their work as our representatives,” concluded Hendrick.

“Making warships at BIW is not even a good jobs policy. Researchers have consistently found that investment of the same resources in sustainable energy solutions like commuter trains or wind turbines would produce many more jobs,” said Mary Beth Sullivan of PeaceWorks of greater Brunswick. “We need conversion of the BIW shipyard now.” Sullivan referenced the UMass Amherst study in 2011, “The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities: 2011 Update” by Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier (https://www.peri.umass.edu/publication/item/449-the-u-s-employment-effects-of-military-and-domestic-spending-priorities-2011-update).

Another PeaceWorks member has spent the past year gathering names of people willing to engage in civil resistance on April 27. Karen Wainberg of Brunswick says she had more than 50 names on her list at this time.

Organizations sponsoring the April 27 protests and resistance include Americans Who Tell the Truth, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST), Durham Quaker Meeting, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Island Peace & Justice, Maine Natural Guard, Maine Veterans for Peace, Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center, Midcoast Peace & Justice Group, Pax Christi Maine, Peace Action Maine, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Peace & Justice Group of Waldo County, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, Peninsula Peace & Justice and 350 Maine.

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