End Pentagon Climate Crimes! Say Veterans Arrested In DC

Before deciding to reduce my own emissions by taking action closer to home, I used to join Veterans for Peace members risking arrest in Washington DC to protest U.S. wars. VFP members' motivation this week was an issue I've been focused on for years, and one that is finally getting some traction in the corporate press: the climate impact of the U.S. military. So I'm a bit sad that I wasn't there with them.

I appreciate this group's efforts to get our warmongering government to recognize that we're in a climate emergency and act accordingly. VFP members also called attention to other dangerous enivronmental impacts of military pollution, from toxic burn pits to leaking jet fuel into the groundwater in Hawai'i.

Here's the press release from their action in DC.

Military Veterans Arrested Demanding Presidential & Congressional Action on Climate Crisis

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.- On Wednesday, August 3rd, seven military veterans and supporters were arrested near the U.S. Capitol Building. Members of Veterans For Peace, an organization of over 120 military veteran chapters worldwide, gathered at the foot of the Capitol demanding more robust action on addressing the climate crisis.

Veterans For Peace demands that the President and Congress:

• Stop the U.S.-driven wars and all military weapons sales, shipments and support to nation states engaged in open armed conflict.

• Require the U.S. military release a full report on their greenhouse gas emissions. The United States military does not publicly and regularly report its overall fuel consumption or greenhouse gas emissions—despite requirements laid out in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021. DoD is estimated to emit more CO2 than over 120 separate countries.

• Declare a Climate Emergency NOW–and use all the resulting Presidential powers including stopping the granting of new resource extraction permits and leases, e.g., drilling on public lands and pipeline construction, and strengthening of standards including air quality and methane emissions.

• Cut the Pentagon Budget- Military spending should be reduced by at least $200 billion annually, freeing up $2 trillion or more over the next decade for domestic and human needs priorities. With those spending cuts, the Pentagon's budget would remain more than enough to keep America safe at a level well above our nation's post-World War II historical average.

• Prioritize investing in communities in the U.S. impacted by the military and climate change and in the Global South including paying the U.S.' climate debt.

• Prioritize diplomacy over the threat of military force, beginning with negotiations for a global Climate Emergency Treaty and the renegotiation of lapsed nuclear arms treaties between U.S. and Russia.

"The military has done next to nothing to reduce their carbon footprint, either ignoring the climate mandate completely or just focusing on creating more advanced weapons systems that can continue to operate under worsening climate conditions. From the burn pits to nuclear waste to water contamination in Hawai'i, the U.S. military is responsible for an unprecedented amount of climate disasters. It is past time for Congress and the President to hold the U.S. military accountable for their catastrophic effects on the planet." -Garett Reppenhagen, Executive Director of Veterans For Peace, U.S. Army, Cavalry/Scout Sniper, OIF Veteran.

"I chose to risk arrest today because as a Marine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, I saw firsthand the devastation that the military has wrought on countries around the globe, including just 48 hours ago when the U.S. military issued yet another drone strike on Afghanistan. The U.S. spends unprecedented amounts of money on an ever-expanding U.S. military, using veterans like me as pawns in their justifications for more money. We need to be reducing U.S. militarism and redirecting that money towards climate solutions like renewable energy and resources that meet human needs." -Chris Velazquez, OIF/OEF Veteran, 2004-2010

Interviews available upon request

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 For Photos of the Event

"As a retired research geologist I fear the climate crisis. As a veteran, I know our military fuels this crisis and they have no accountability for their actions. It is too late for more talk, we need immediate action." -Jim Rine, U.S. Army, 1970-73

"As a lifelong resident of Hampton Roads, Virginia, which has the largest naval institution in the world, I've seen the domestic environmental harm the military causes in my own backyard. From the dumping of jet fuel into wetlands in Virginia Beach to the contamination of our waterways from shipyards, it's important to recognize all impacts of incessant militarism and say no to the military's war on the climate." T.J. Thompson, U.S. Navy, 1998-2004, deployed to South America, Mediterranean Cruise and the invasion of Iraq

"It is totally irresponsible for our government to spend billions of dollars funding wars abroad that accelerate the climate crisis while people are suffering at home without housing or food." -Jeff Parente, U.S. Marine Corps, 2006-2014, OIF Veteran

"The money needed to avoid the worst results of climate change, as well as many other social issues that lack adequate funding, is the wasteful and bloated military budget. Not only that, the U.S. military is the greatest contributor to mounting ecological catastrophe." -Joshua Farris, U.S. Army, 2000-2004, OIF veteran

"We've passed the point of return for our climate and our world. I am here because I know that we must do everything we can to mitigate the worst of what is to come. We must not sit back in apathy and hopelessness. The time to act is NOW." -Stephanie Atkinson, U.S. Army Reserve, 1984-1990

"As a veteran I have seen first hand the waste of the U.S. military. I have also watched Congress say that they care about veterans and active duty members of the military as an excuse to enrich lobbyists and military contractors, while defunding any military benefits. Since leaving the military I have become a land conservation advocate and I believe I have a responsibility to speak out against U.S. militarism and the pollution that the military creates." -Mike Marion, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1988-90, Panama

"One of the ways I atone for my actions when I was in the military in Iraq, before I knew any better, was to work towards a better world.  I want future generations to have a chance to live in a world that is not on fire."  -Jules Vaquera, U.S. Air Force, OIF Veteran, 2000-2006

Contact: 314-899-4515, press@veteransforpeace.org

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Check out VFP's Climate and Militarism Project which is doing great work educating and resisting. 

Is Indivisible The Invisible Hand Of The Ukraine War Thought Police?

Much of the narrative control in my area around the Ukraine war has been taken up by liberal Democrats, many affiliated with the so-called grassroots group Indivisible.

When I blogged about being the turd in the punchbowl at an alleged peace demonstration that was actually a pro-NATO, anti-Russia event in California I had not yet figured this out. I was just surprised to find myself at a rally for Ukrainian nationalism where people couldn't figure out why I was carrying this sign:

A former ally in the mascot retirement battle took great issue with my stating that George Soros was the money behind the color revolutions movement in Europe. She accused me of antisemitism (I had not at the time realized that Soros was Jewish but I do now) and of consuming and sharing antisemitic tropes from the dregs of the right-wing internet (something I never do because I try to practice mental hygiene while still following the news of the day). At the time I removed Soros' name due to her objections and because it was an aside in a post about the pressure to abandon anti-imperialist analysis of the war in Ukraine.

She was wrong. 

Soros is deeply involved in Ukraine present and past. 

This is clear now that I've had more time to read up on this aspect of the current war.

Indivisible is an organization with deep ties to the Open Society Foundations founded by Soros. It sprang up as a sort of Tea Party wannabe during the heyday of the demagogue with bad hair who became our 45th president. Indivisible is currently infiltrating and pushing aside peace organizations in Maine. Narrative control is their trademark and is accomplished sometimes by online shouting matches and sometimes by overwhelming numbers of Ukraine flag wavers at well-established vigils for peace.

I began to notice that the talking points of Indivisible members in New England were curiously alike.

Not just the perjoratives routinely assigned to the Russian Federation's president, but the recurring theme that dissenting voices have no right to speak up. And if they dare to speak up anyway, they are routinely accused of being aligned with Putin, or 45, or white supremacists, etc.

Then a friend mentioned that ads for an Indivisible leader in Maine who is running for District Attorney ended with rapid fine print narration that included funding from...Soros. I reached out to Jackie Sartoris' campaign to ask if I had misheard this and got a prompt response from the campaign manager explaining that those are PAC ads and not within the control or purview of the candidate. Also that Indivisible Brunswick was a "grassroots" group operating independently of the national organization.

So I shared with the campaign manager some of what I'd found:

"Of Indivisible’s 2017 revenue, 35 percent was raised through small dollar donations, and 65 percent was received through major gifts and foundation grants." source: https://www.indivisibleannualreport.org/financials/

"Angel Padilla, Indivisible Project’s policy director, previously worked as an analyst with the National Immigration Law Center (an organization funded by grants from Soros’ Open Society Foundations).." source: https://indivisible.org/staff.

Today I had already decided to peek behind the curtain that obscures the workings of narrative management around the U.S./NATO proxy war with Russia in Ukraine only to discover that, by coincidence, I was suspended yesterday from posting in the VFP Discussion Group on Facebook. The group is run by moderators that might as well work for the Pentagon and they like to note that it's a private group not affiiliated with VFP (odd choice for a name in that case). They decide what are acceptable and unacceptable news sources -- with guidance from the same government that is silencing and shadow banning dissenters on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google search.

I wonder, does that fact that Veterans for Peace (VFP) national has been in dire financial straits the last couple of years have anything to do with the shift in narrative to defend U.S. government warmongering policies under a Democrat? Or to silence dissenters? It's impossible to say for sure but these are questions worth asking. The Russia Working Group of VFP recently reported having a heated discussion that included a fellow calling various people "communists." Research on Ben Schrader turned up his claim of a visiting professorship at Central European University, sometimes called "George Soros University" because it was created with an endowment from Soros and because, as board chair, he would confer diplomas.

Also sad is observing the Democracy Now! media organization become more and more aligned with the Democratic Party, probably due to accepting support from the Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, and the like. DN! touted the faux humanitarian White Helmets of Syria and has done some serious flag waving for Ukraine. Is it worth mentioning that DN! is strapped for cash, too?

Source: Caitlin Johnstone

A final note on the subject of narrative control: I see that the neo-Nazi Azov battalion that the U.S. taxpayer has been arming has revised its logo. Having the Buffalo mass shooter targeting Black grocery shoppers wear the same design as the background for the Azov logo was...inconvenient. So Azov removed it. 

I'll bet they wish they could scrub the internet of evidence of past usage, but that would be difficult. Keep sharing!

Hold Your Own Nation Accountable For Its Wars, Or Include Other Nations? That Is The Question

Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff outside court in Dublin Photo credit: Ellen Davidson

The formal entry of Russia into Ukraine's civil war has propelled peace advocacy organizations in the U.S. into spirited discussions. Organizations like Veterans for Peace grew themselves on opposition to U.S. militarism and have frequently done outreach to the victims, beginning with the people of Vietnam and often expanding to the U.S. border with Mexico. 

How best to now respond to a U.S./NATO sponsored war conducted behind the scenes? 

Deep confusion has resulted from years of the Russiagate misinformation campaign plus the chronic dearth of useful information on foreign affairs delivered by the corporate press.

Perhaps the actions of two leaders in VFP who called out Ireland on its covert participation in U.S. wars will be helpful to examine. 

I believe they shed light on the essential question: 

What is our responsibility toward the warmaking of other nations when we are citizens of the most violent empire ever to bestride the planet?

Meet Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff. Many of you already know them. Ken does a lot of work supporting migrants at the border, and Tarak publishes Peace & Planet News in partnership with Ellen Davidson, another VFP member.

The most recent issue was sent out with this editorial note:

A Special edition on Ukraine

The administration and corporate media have been flooding the public with extremely slanted information, misinformation, and outright lies about the war in Ukraine. Censorship of differing viewpoints has been pervasive. The staff at Peace & Planet News has worked hard to present something the public has been denied – a balanced and accurate assessment of the situation, placing it in historical context and focusing in particular on the role of our own government as an obstacle to peace. You will find different viewpoints in this 16-page special edition but there is an underlying emphasis on truth, accuracy, and good clear writing in everything we have presented.

Cut to Dublin where Ken and Tarak are on trial for charges related to cutting a fence at Shannon Airport and attempting to inspect planes they believe were carrying U.S. troops to combat in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.

Photo credit: Ellen Davidson  Ken & Tarak at Shannon Airport, March 17, 2019

The two activists were jailed and then not allowed to leave Ireland for 8 months after their arrests. International pressure helped them get their passports back. In December, 2019 they returned to the U.S. to await trial for entirely non-violent actions bringing attention to the uber violence of the U.S. war machine in collusion with allegedly neutral Ireland.

Full reporting on the actions, arrests, and trial can be found here at Stop The Wars. Here are some excerpts I found interesting from the reporting on Day 1:

On the opening day of the trial, jury selection was interrupted for nearly half an hour when one juror asserted his right to take the oath in Gaelige (Ireland is officially a bilingual nation), and the court officer could not find the appropriate text. After much searching online and elsewhere, a scruffy book was produced that had the required text, and Judge Patricia struggled through the pronunciation to administer the oath.

...

Kauff and Mayers have a different view of what the trial should be about. “The purpose is to, in our own way, put the government and the U.S. military on trial for killing people and animals, destroying the environment, and betraying the Irish people’s concept of their own neutrality,” said Kauff. “U.S. warmaking is literally destroying this planet, and I don’t want to be silent about it.”

...

When Kauff and Mayers returned to Ireland April 21, the immigration officer noted that “when you here the last time you caused some trouble, is there going to be any trouble this time?” The only trouble I’ve ever known these two to get into is “good trouble.” Let’s hope they continue that tradition. 

Were the two men right in bringing the discussion to a nation not accountable to them as taxpayers or citizens?

Should U.S. activists concern themselves with, say, Saudi Arabia's long and gruesome war on the people of Yemen? Does the U.S. supplying and supporting that war make it a fair target?

Should U.S. activists concern themselves with Ukraine which has received $1 billion in weapons from the Biden administration, is allied with neo-Nazi militias who receive many of the weapons, and has killed thousands of Russian-speaking people in the Donbass region?

Should U.S. activists hold Russia accountable or the CIA coup-installed U.S. aligned government in Kyiv?

These are significant questions and worthy of debate. Silencing them will do nothing to further peace in our time.  

Mainers Brave Bitter Cold To Join Thousands Across The U.S. Demanding: No War With Russia!

photo credit: Martha Spiess

Yesterday thousands rallied across the U.S. to protest the threat of war with Russia, expansion of NATO, and arming Ukraine at taxpayer expense. 

photo credit: Bob Klotz

Around 30 people stood in Topsham at the big intersection where thousands of people passed by during the hour long protest. Sponsoring organizations Maine Natural Guard, Peaceworks of Greater Brunswick, Peace Action Maine, Maine Veterans for Peace and WILPF-Maine sent representatives. It was also exciting to see members of many other organizations in our state join us including Maine Poor People's Campaign and 350 Maine. 

WMTW Channel 8 and WABI Channel 5 news both ran segments on our protest that included my statement: "I have grandchildren. They don't want nuclear war. My children don't want nuclear war. And all the people you see standing out here don't want nuclear war.

What happened to diplomacy? Let's sit down and talk. Let's talk about our mutual security needs and work something out."

Many of the messages shared yesterday reflected a concern that nuclear war could be a consequence of U.S.-NATO military attacks on Russia. 

Cynthia Howard in Topsham photo credit: Martha Spiess

Although the corporate press have repeated that unnamed sources believe Russia plans to invade Ukraine, no evidence for this claim has been produced.  Ukraine and NATO nations have moved approximately 150,000 troops and nuclear-capable weapons to several borders with Russia, and in response Russia has increased to around 100,000 the troops stationed on its own border with Ukraine. 

Russia has repeatedly said it has no intention of invading Ukraine.

The president of Ukraine has asked the U.S. and NATO to tone down their bellicose rhetoric as it is alarming the people of that nation.

Note that Russia has a long-standing no first use policy on nuclear weapons. The U.S. does not, nor has it signed the United Nations treaty on the ban of nuclear weapons after more than a year in effect.

photo credit: Russell Wray

Elsewhere in Maine yesterday a group including Veterans for Peace members gathered on a bridge in Ellsworth. Russell Wray reported: "We stood for an hour and got quite a bit of positive response, honks, thumbs up, and even clapping." It was bitterly cold throughout, and Rob Shetterly reported that he thought about jumping into the Union River to warm up. We also heard that a group stood in Bucksport.

An online rally at noon brought together representatives of national and international peace groups including the Black Alliance for Peace, United National Antiwar Coalition, the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, World Beyond War, WILPF-U.S and many more. Recording on YouTube & Facebook. 

Bruce Gagnon and I were on from Maine, and Bruce spoke to his experiences visiting Russia and the Crimea and Donbass regions of Ukraine following the 2014 coup that installed a Nazi-aligned government there. Bruce's same day blog post about U.S. mercenary corporation Blackwater joining the Nazi Azov battalion in Donbass may be read here.

Photo source: Organizing Notes

Militias displaying Nazi insignia are common in Ukraine and operate there with the tacit agreement of the government.

I spoke about how U.S. imperialism is in trouble abroad as Russia and China released a joint statement on security, economic development, and public health policy just prior to the opening of the Winter Olympic games in Beijing. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is in trouble at home with extremely low approval ratings. No national plan for public health in a pandemic as U.S. deaths approach 900,000 without universal healthcare and galloping inflation further impoverishing those struggling to feed and house themselves are contributing to loss of faith in the current government's ability to respond to people's needs. 

Promoting a land war in Europe seems to be a desperate strategy to improve the Biden administration's approval ratings as nonstop war coverage by corporate press outlets tends to improve a war president's standing in opinion polls.

Meanwhile, in calls with investors, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin expressed pleasure that the worsening situation in Ukraine is helping their profits.

See reporting by Sarah Lazare here.

Feb 5 demonstrators in New York City, photo courtesy Codepink

Guard Against The Greed And Ignorance Driving Climate Crisis

Research in the UK turns up the unsurprising fact that a tiny group of humans cause the lion's share of air pollution via air travel. I'm old enough to remember when the fawning press called these elites "the jet set" due to their excessive use of machines that allow for swift travel. 

The wealthy use travel to show off their privilege. For example, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz flying to Cancun during a statewide power outage last winter in Texas. 

Or, in an anecdote I was told by an Afghan friend, a bride in Kabul flying to Dubai for her wedding makeup.

Of the two examples, one was the direct result of unprecedented freezing weather crashing a U.S. state's (unregulated) power grid. 

Thus, climate change begets climate change.

Then there's greedy capitalist Elon Musk's SpaceX flops that belch carbon and other greenhouse gases to exalt his ego if not to consolidate his wealth.

My friend and neighbor Barry Dana, past chief of the Penobscot Nation, has been ringing the alarm bell about air travel for years. His response to my sharing the news that a handful of people cause most of the climate damage due to aviation was, "I see flying to be one thing we have in our daily choices that we have the power NOT to do." He is critical of Native environmental activists who fly in indigenous experts from around the globe to confer about our climate problem.

My response is to listen to Barry, an educator for traditional wisdom about how to live sustainably on this planet, and to make my choices accordingly.

But the elephant in the climate change room is actually military aviation.

Neoliberal rag The Guardian naturally did not offer this context in their article about elite air travel.

Source: Brown University, Watson Institute, Costs of War Project

Luckily for us, academics have been studying military contributions to climate crisis for a while now. I've been collecting their reports here for a few years and was excited to learn that peace activist emeritus Kathy Kelly referred to my collection in an interview recently. Podcaster Kollibri terre Sonnenblume characterized this as:

"most US Americans are ignorant of the consequences of US militarism." 

No kidding.

Like The Guardian, the corporate press here in the U.S. works overtime to ignore the real drivers of climate change. To help craft this false narrative, military emissions were exempt from being quantified in the Kyoto climate protocols, and were made optional in the Paris climate accords. Because our planet's atmosphere isn't affected by pollution if it has the right flag on it?

Now, with a former Raytheon board member heading the Pentagon, this problem is unlikely to be addressed. The U.S. military is well aware that climate change is a thing and they have lots of contingency plans for dealing with the coastal flooding of many of their 800 bases around the planet.

I founded the Maine Natural Guard to help people connect the dots between climate crisis and U.S. taxpayer funded military aviation. So few people seem to care that we bomb civilians constantly no matter which of the two corporate parties is in power at the moment, but many do care about the existential threat of climate emergency. 

I'm glad to see Veterans for Peace has a web page for their Working Group on Climate Crisis and Militarism with their #1 focus: "The unequal burden of both climate change and militarism on people of color and the poor." 

This point is important to bear in mind as we witness the ramp up to war with China, Russia, or (are the generals insane?) both. When I read Ann Wright's comprehensive review "In Alarmist Turn, NATO Is Increasingly Positioning Itself In Opposition To China, I saw our carbon bootprint spreading like the stain it is.

Want to be part of the solution?

Add your name to join the Natural Guard effort from wherever you are!

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.

US Drones Still Kill And Terrorize People Around The World, And A Few People Care

Source: VFP Madison website

I will not be enthused about the warmongering Democratic Party reclaiming the White House. They, along with Republicans, and Independents like my Senator Angus King, have voted for higher and higher military budgets used to execute people without judge or jury involvement. The judge only gets involved penalizing the few brave and hardy souls who put their bodies on the line to bring attention to this moral travesty performed at the US taxpayers' expense.

Here's a report back from Wisconsin on the trial of some of a group of seven who resisted the continued use of flying killer robots to terrorize children and their families: Bonnie Block, Joyce Ellwanger, Joy First, Bob Graf, Jim Murphy, Phil Runkel, all of Wisconsin and Brian Terrell, of Iowa. All were arrested for trespass on November 12, 2019, in a protest at Volk Field, a Wisconsin Air National Guard base that trains personnel to operate the RQ-7 Shadow Drone. 

Source: VFP Madison report on denied motion to delay trial due to covid

Report from Bob Graf

Reflexive Justice

Today [November 16, 2020] Phi Runkel, Catholic Worker Archivist, and I were convicted of trespassing on the Volk field military base in Juneau County, Wisconsin on November 12, 2019.

The court procedure reminded me of the military training of soldiers, to kill reflexively without the use of conscience. 

 

Volk Field is a training base for the RQ-7 shadow drones base.  These are small drones that set up the operation of Killer Drones and the killing by Apache Helicopters in the eight wars that the US is engaged in presently.    A statement we gave at the time when we entered the base is attached.

Five of the seven of us who entered the base, due to serious Covid 19 concerns were not present for the trial at Juneau County Courthouse.   Those not present had sent the judge statements of why they were not there and why they entered the base that day.  The Judge quickly dismissed their concerns and order them convicted of trespassing and they were fined.

The district attorney then presented the case against Phil and me.  He had two defense witnesses, a security chief for the base and a Sheriff’s deputy who had issued the trespassing citations.  He also showed on a large screen a body cam the deputy had taken of our arrest.

When it came to our testimony we were warned by the Judge that he would show some leeway but that he should stick to the issue of trespass as he narrowly defined it.  Both our testimonies were based on religious convictions of conscience.  Phil tried to bring in international law and testimony of others, including Ramsey Clark, the former attorney general of the USA.  Our testimonies were constantly interrupted by the Judge and considered not relevant.  We both got about ½ to ¾ of our testimony (attached below) 

During our testimonies and after the Judge kept saying how he agreed with some of our values and convictions but they were not relevant to the trial.  This reminded me of my research on “reflexive killing” the practice of training a soldier to kill on instinct or, command orders without consideration for conscience.  Now I know why a panel of military command officers refused to consider a Catholic West Point’s ethic teacher’s plea to have them state that “reflexive killing was justified.  Despite the terrible toll this type of killing played on the minds of returning veterans they could not admit of the harm this practice played.  They just ignored it as we largely ignore the killing by drones in the eight US wars of today.  

When Phil tried to state that the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg declared that “Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience imposed by the individual State” he was cut off.  

The Judge said over and over again that he understood and sympathized with our views but that they had nothing to do, like reflexive killing with our trial.  Society, politicians and media ask us, like the Judge to separate our conscience from our action of killing on reflex or by drone.  We had just witnessed the court version of reflexive killing, Justice without conscience.  I pray for all drone operators, their victims and all of us who are silent to drone killing. 

---

From: Max Obuszewski <max-2@comcast.net>

Friends,

 When I go to court to challenge my arrest for protesting, I play a lawyer.  However, I am far from an expert in law.

 

Nevertheless, I do know that besides being immoral, U.S. killer drone strikes are unconstitutional.  A drone pilot is the judge, the jury and the executioner.  The victim is denied due process as s/he has been denied the right to challenge in court the evidence amassed against this individual determined to be a “terrorist.”

 

How does this argument get into a court of law? Several of us, including Joy First, filed a complaint against killer drone strikes with the U.S. Attorney in Alexandria, Virginia.  Outside of a two-hour meeting with two U.S. attorneys, our complaint went nowhere.  

Let me know if you have a strategy to get a court that would entertain the notion that U.S. killer drone strikes are illegal?

 

Kagiso, Max

Protests At BIW Warship Launch On April 27: Convert Weapons Industry To Address Climate Change

This press release goes out to Maine news media this week. Please share!

MEDIA ADVISORY: PROTESTERS AT WARSHIP LAUNCH AT BIW WILL CALL FOR CONVERSION OF THE SHIPYARD TO ADDRESS 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.

Bruce Gagnon of Brunswick, a member of Veterans for Peace (VFP) who became a activist while in the Air Force during the Vietnam era, 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.”

Left to right: Bruce Gagnon and Mary Beth Sullivan outside General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works shipyard, February 2018

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.

The Pentagon has identified climate change as the greatest national and global security threat---yet, at the same time, the Pentagon has the largest carbon footprint on the planet.

War machines endanger all life and exacerbate climate change.

A 2017 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report projected at least a six inch sea level rise by 2050.

Banner by the Artists' Rapid Response Team (ARRT!) of the Maine Union of Visual Artists

“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.

Civil resistance action at BIW on April 1, 2017 resulted in nine arrests for criminal trespass; all defendants were acquitted of the charge, with the judge ruling that they were exercising their 1st amendment right to free speech.

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.

Mark Roman of Solon plans to be there representing the Maine Natural Guard, an organization dedicated to pointing out the Pentagon’s enormous carbon footprint.

“I cannot stand by and watch lawmakers waste our tax dollars on warships that are huge polluters when that money could be spent on climate change solutions, or on housing and food for the 43,000 children in Maine living in poverty,” said Roman.

He has been active in the Bring Our War Dollars Home campaign at BIW since 2009.

Naming the warship after LBJ supports the Pentagon’s attempt at revisionist history around America’s most unpopular war. VFP, which was founded in Maine by Vietnam War veterans, maintains a website called Vietnam Full Disclosure to counter the Pentagon’s efforts to whitewash that war. Several VFP members from around the U.S. are expected at the April 27 protest.

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, and Peninsula Peace & Justice.

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