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Activists Block NATO HQ for CO Day

Three protesters were arrested May 15 when conscientious objectors and antimilitarists from Spain, Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Britain and France blocked the main gate of NATO’s Brussels headquarters for about 30 minutes in observance of International Conscientious Objectors’ Day. The three arrestees were released about an hour later.

In their “Schellebelle Declaration,” drafted during a nonviolent training week at Schellebelle, Belgium, the activists declared:

“We are at the headquarters of NATO May 15—International Conscientious Objectors Day—because NATO is a symbol of international militarism, which keeps the global domination system alive.

“Although they pretend to be the guardians of peace, democracy and liberty by so called ‘humanitarian’ intervention, the military achieves the opposite.

“What we do here is … nonviolent direct action to disturb militarism’s daily work and the smooth functioning of the military machine. …

“[W]ith this action …, we express our solidarity with conscientious objectors in South America, the Balkans, Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. They need our support because in many of these countries the expression of conscientious objectors is severely repressed. We condemn such repression.

“Today on May 15, we especially highlight the repression and imprisonment of all conscientious objectors. We are taking peace in our own hands and are asking you to do the same. Peace is too important to be left to the military.”

Two of the three protesters who were arrested had tried to lock on to the main gate of NATO in order to keep it shut. The plan failed because of tightened security, but the main aim of the action—to shut down NATO—was achieved for about 30 minutes. The action was organized by War Resisters’ International in cooperation with its Flemish section Forum voor Vredesactie and was one of many international actions to mark International Conscientious Objectors’ Day and to support conscientious objectors everywhere in the world.

For more information, call War Resisters’ International at +32-(0)485-451070 or see www.wri-irg.org.

—Andreas Speck War Resisters’ International

The U.S. treasury has imposed a $10,000 fine on Bert Sacks of Seattle for carrying medicines to Iraq without a U.S. license in 1997. (For a description of the impact of the sanctions against Iraq, see NVA, September-October 2000.)

Working with Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation and other Washington groups, Sacks has organized, led or assisted with several delegations to Iraq.

On June 17, Sacks and the Chicago-based anti-sanctions group Voices in the Wilderness held a press conference in Washington, DC, at which he explained that he will go to prison rather than apply for a license or pay the fine. Instead, Voices in the Wilderness is raising $10,000 for another shipment of desperately needed medicines to pediatric wards and clinics in Iraq.

Checks can be made payable to Voices in the Wilderness and sent to them at 1460 W. Carmen Ave., Chicago, IL 60640. The War Resisters League has endorsed this campaign.

Colorado Springs activist Bill Sulzman, of the WRL local Citizens for Peace in Space, was sitting peacefully in a squad car May 29 when he overheard a police radio transmission describing him as a possible terrorist.

Along with three other members of CPIS, Mary Lynn Sheetz and Peter and Mary Sprunger-Froese, Sulzman had been arrested a few minutes earlier for refusing to leave what the police described as U.S. Air Force Academy property. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was scheduled to give the commencement address at the academy’s graduation ceremony, and Sulzman, Sheetz and the Sprunger-Froeses were among a larger group of protesters holding banners outside the academy. (One banner quoted Henry Kissinger saying, “Rumsfeld is the most ruthless man I know.” Others read, “Feed the poor not the Pentagon,” “Rumsfeld is a Warlord” and “Let Iraq live.”)

About 30 minutes after the demonstration started, county law enforcement officials ordered the participants to move to the other side of the highway, where, said the deputies, Air Force property began, although they admitted there was no posted sign to that effect. One of the deputies insisted, “The Air Force owns the highway.” Most of the demonstrators moved to an area not visible to most of the motorists arriving for Rumsfeld’s address, but Sulzman, Sheetz and the Sprunger-Froeses chose to remain. A Sgt. Hartley of Air Force Security told them they were “ruin[ing] the day for those going to the graduation” and asked, “Why don’t you just come back some other day?” The activists pointed out that Rumsfeld’s presence was why they were there. At that point the county deputies arrested them.

As the four were being held in handcuffs in police cars, the arresting officers received a message over the police radio: “There is an FBI hit on him [Sulzman], as being a member of a terrorist organization.” A deputy asked Sulzman what organization he belongs to Sulzman answered, “Citizens for Peace in Space.” He added that local police agencies had claimed that there was no listing of peace organizations in our town.

The protesters were charged with third degree criminal trespass. As they were being released, police tried to assure them again that this had been a mistake and asserted that no police list of peace groups existed. All four were ordered to appear in court July 29 to answer the charges.

For more information, see www.pikespeakjusticeandpeace.org

—Citizens for Peace in Space

Thirty-seven human rights activists are scheduled to stand trial in federal court July 8 for civil disobedience at the School of the Americas (renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) in Columbus, GA. They were among 10,000 who gathered last November to call for the closure of the notorious school.

The 37 defendants, who peacefully crossed onto the Ft. Benning site of the school, are charged with trespass and face up to six months in federal prison and $5,000 in fines. The trial is set to start July 8 before Judge G. Mallon Faircloth in Columbus. Judge Faircloth is known for giving maximum six-month sentences to opponents of the SOA/WHISC. Seventy-one people have served a total of more than 40 years in prison for engaging in nonviolent resistance in a broad-based campaign to close the school. Last year 26 people were prosecuted, including WRL National Committee member Clare Hanrahan of North Carolina and 88-year-old Franciscan nun Dorothy Hennessey, who were sentenced to six months each in federal prison.

“Those who speak out for justice are facing harsh prison sentences, while SOA-trained torturers and assassins are operating with impunity,” said SOA Watch founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois.

The SOA/WHISC is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers. Its graduates have been consistently involved in human rights abuses and atrocities. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals used at the school that advocated the use of torture, extortion and execution. In December 2000 Congress authorized the WHISC to replace the SOA. The renaming of the school was widely viewed as an attempt to diffuse public criticism and to disassociate the school from its reputation. SOA Watch maintains that the underlying purpose of the school, to control the economic and political systems of Latin America by aiding and influencing Latin American militaries, remains the same.

“The SOA is the terrorist training camp in our own backyard,” said Bourgeois.

SOA Watch works to stand in solidarity with people of Latin America, to change oppressive U.S. foreign policy, and to close the SOA/WHISC.

For more information, see www.soaw.org.

—SOA Watch

More than 500 activists from around the world came to Manhattan College in New York City June 15-19 to inspire and learn from each other at “The Power of Nonviolence,” the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s National Conference. Among them were Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire, singer Pete Seeger, civil rights leader Rev. Jim Lawson and Christian Peacemaker Teams activist Sr. Anne Montgomery.

Highlights of the conference included:

• Workshops on June 16 led by Sr. Anne on “Getting in the Way” nonviolently in Hebron in the Occupied Territories [see NVA, May-June] and by David Hartsough, Co-Director of the Nonviolent Peace Force, sharing research about global peace efforts and the Peace Force’s own work recruiting and training teams to be nonviolent interveners in crises around the world;
• A rousing plenary speech June 17 on the progress and terrible costs of the “Star Wars” program by Bruce Gagnon of the WRL affiliate Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space (the testing of “missile defense” alone costs more than $100 million for each trial, all to give the United States unrivaled military supremacy in every possible locality, even beyond the Earth, a level of power unrivaled in human history); and
• A revealing and moving panel June 18 on revenge and reconciliation in the context of violent crime and the death penalty, at which victims, perpetrators and bystanders spoke of grief and healing, and David Kaczynski, brother of convicted “unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, shared his story of being torn between wanting to protect his brother and wanting to protect others from him, even if that meant turning him in to save lives. The panel gave participants an important insight into the personal emotions and interactions that exist behind the media’s over-simplified “bad guy/good guy” coverage.

Other workshop and panels provided information on the inner workings of the global money market, the arms trade, the teachings of the Koran on the role of women in society, and the war in Colombia, among other issues. Altogether, FOR brought together a wonderful gathering of participants and speakers, creating hope where at times hope seems absent.

—Kate Berrigan, Liz Proefriedt and Keith Whitmoyer
Kate Berrigan and Keith Whitmoyer are interns in the WRL National Office;
Liz Proefriedt volunteers in the office.

August 3-10, Dublin, Ireland: Stories and Strategies: Nonviolent Resistance and Social Change. The first War Resisters’ International Triennial Conference of the 21st Century. For information, see www.wri-irg.org or contact WRI at 5 Caledonian Rd., London N1 9DX, Britain; (+44)20-7278 4040.

August 5-19, Coulport, Scotland: Disarmament Camp held by Trident Ploughshares. For information, see www.gn.apc.org/tp2000.

August 6-9, worldwide: Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Activists around the globe will protest the atom-bombing of two Japanese cities in 1945 in the hope that the world’s first use of nuclear weapons will be the last. Three specific events: Atlantic Life Community’s “Faith and Resistance” events in the Washington, DC, area (information: (410)233-6238); Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance protest at Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Tennessee (information: www.stopthebombs.org); Nevada Desert Experience vigil at Nevada Test Site (information: www.nevadadesertexperience.org). For suggestions about what to do in your community, call or write WRL at 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012; 212/228-0450; or see www.warresisters.org.

August 9-October 12, New Mexico-Nevada: Family Spirit Walk for Mother Earth. An 800-mile, two-month walk through four states. Sponsored by For Mother Earth, Shundahai Network, NeLake City, UT 84110, or see www.angelfire.com/retro/nuclear.

September 11, nationwide and New York City: Imagine—Another World Is Possible. WRL, Global Exchange and the families of Peaceful Tomorrows and a growing list of others in many cities including New York will hold commemorations of 9-11 that look for peace. For more information, call WRL at (212)228-0450 or see www.warresisters.org.

September 11-30, New York City: Memory and Memorials: Commemorating September 11, 1973-2001. An exhibit of archival photographs collected by Roberta Bacic of War Resisters’ International and paintings by Chilean artist Roberto Arroyo commemorating the coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende of Chile on September 11, 1973. Sponsored by War Resisters’ International and Resistance in Brooklyn. Brecht Forum, 122 W. 27th St., 10th fl., New York, NY; (212)242-4201.

October 4-11, nationwide: “Keep Space for Peace Week.” For information: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, (352)337-5187, www.globenet.free-online.co.uk.