Conversion Toward Peace, Right Here In Maine

The Rev. Mair Honan in blue raincoat being arrested by Bath police for blocking Washington Street during a war ship "christening" at General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works shipyard.

Below are the wise words of The Reverend Mair Honan of the United Church of Christ. Mair had the microphone and was just beginning to speak in Bath on April 27 when she decided to join the civil resistance action, so I invited her to share her thoughts via a guest post to this blog.

Conversion Toward Peace

Martin Luther King wrote “when we are met by physical force we must respond with soul force.” The US is the largest arms dealer in the world. We have the biggest navy in the world, we have more nuclear weapons in our arsenal that any other nation. We are not interested in soul force.

April 27th Bath Iron Works  “christens” the $7 billion Zumwalt stealth destroyer.

One of the myths General Dynamics, owner of BIW, believes is that this production makes America safer. We already have the weaponry to blow up the world - has it made us safer, healthier, happier? Many question whether this “security through destructive strength” can bring us any closer to world peace. Our understanding needs to change. The current global issues of climate change, population growth, water shortages, poverty, failing states, reveal more clearly that security must be global if it is to exist at all.

One step, toward real security, would be the conversion of BIW from a company that builds destroyers to a company that takes its ingenuity and dedicated work force and leads us into the concrete reality of supporting this country by building wind /solar projects, hospital ships, and modern rail systems. This would be a move, right here in Maine, toward real security, toward world peace.

Rev. Mair Honan

Most of the LBJ 25, so named because the war ship was named after the Vietnam War criminal, after our release by the Bath PD. We were charged with obstructing a public way. Photo credit: Jim Anderberg

Another of the LBJ 25 arrested on April 27, Judy Robbins, shared a useful news service with me, Pressenza IPA (in English). In my daily news email from them, I noticed an article from March 5: "These 28 companies are building nuclear weapons" based on a report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. 

Guess which company doing business in Maine is on the nuclear weapons list?

General Dynamics (United States)General Dynamics has a number of contracts related key components for the UK & US Trident II (D5) systems. An initial US$ 30.6 million (€ 28.2 million) contract awarded in 2015 has been modified repeatedly (including five times between November 2017 and December 2018) bringing the total contract value to over US$ 174.4 million (€ 155.6 million). Another General Dynamics subsidiary, General Dynamics Electric Boat received a maximum dollar value of US$ 46.5 (€ 43.4 million) contract in September 2017 for integration work for United Kingdom Strategic Weapon Support System kit manufacturing for the Columbia class ballistic missile submarines. In 2018 this contract was modified significantly, first in April for US$ 126.2 million (€ 102.4 million), and again for US$ 480.6 million (€ 414 million) in September 2018.

Here's a political cartoon I created during our campaign last year to stop General Dynamics from getting a big tax giveaway from our low income state (we succeeded in getting the amount reduced, but the tax bonanza from feds, state and local continues as the climate catastrophe rolls on).

I guess I could have put a mushroom shaped cloud in the background instead of a yacht.