A Malicious Nun? Are you kidding me?????

The following article about Sr. Anne Montgomery and the Disarm Now Plowshares was written by Documentary filmmaker and Emmy award winning writer and producer Helen Young, and published in The Huffington Post today.

A Malicious Nun?

There are many words that come to mind to describe Sister Anne Montgomery, and her work but “malicious” is certainly  not one of them. Sister Anne, an 85-year-old Roman Catholic nun from the Society of the Sacred Heart who once taught students in Spanish Harlem and high school dropouts in Albany, also spent years working for Christian Peacemakers, an  ecumenical anti-war group. She has put her life on the line in some of the world’s most war-torn regions, including the  Balkans in the 1990’s, the Middle East, and more recently in  Iraq. Her life has been devoted to working for peace and on  nuclear disarmament.

A reflection on coming out of prison: on Contradictions and Responsibility

A reflection upon coming out of prison: Contradictions: including Individual and collective responsibility.

Susan Crane, May 2012

Peggy Coleman, Susan Crane, Chet Collins and Larry Purcell in the FCI Dublin visiting room.

After the Disarm Now Plowshares action, trial and sentencing, I was in prison with a fifteen month sentence: an eye-blink in comparison to the sentences of most of the women I was with in FDC SeaTac and FCI Dublin.   FCI Dublin is a federal woman’s prison in California that is behind two fences and rolls and rolls of razor wire. There are about 1000 women there; 85% were foreign nationals, mostly Hispanic, who would be deported by ICE when their sentences were over.  I have no regrets about going onto the US Naval Base in Washington, where the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads are stored, and where 8 of the trident submarines that deploy the nuclear warheads, are homeported.

The time in prison was full of contradictions and bookended by two passages: a quote from George Bernard Shaw about prisons, and a story from the gospel of Matthew about the judgement of the nations. Both bring up the question of how we as individuals and as a collective are responsible for what is happening in the culture we live in. 

Plowshares Appeal: A Photo Finish

Friends,

Here’s a photo of the legal team, defendants and supporters taken March 8th in the courtroom where the case for the Disarm Now Plowshares appeal was argued.

(left to right) Tom Campbell, Fr. Bix, Oratai Tresl, Dale Kremer, Lisa Kremer, unnamed future Plowshares legal counsel, Albert P. Linnell, Ann Linnell, Jerome Kuh, Paula Olson and Roger Hunko.

As for the court’s decision, here’s what Blake Kremer had to say: “The court ruled for the government, finding that international law was not an issue before the trial court, and that the government had adequately established that Sister Anne, Father Steve, Father Bix, Susan and Lynne were malicious.  Onward and forward.”

So there you have it – “MALICIOUS”!!!  I’m sure we are all eternally grateful to the judges on the appellate (KANGAROO) court for confirming the malicious intent of these devoted priests, nun and lay people.  Knowing them as I do I would never have known that any of them have a malicious bone in their bodies.  Well, now that the court has cleared up that little misunderstanding we can move on to other, more important issues, right???  Right???

And of course, President Obama must be relieved to know that yet another precedent has been established in yet another U.S. court that international law is “not an issue” in matters relating to the National Security State.

Click the links below to read the previous posts about the appeal:

Disarm Now Plowshares Appeal: “an exciting morning…”

Disarm Now Plowshares loses appeal (government loses moral values)

With great thanks to all of the attorneys who have supported the Disarm Now Plowshares from pre-trial, through trial and sentencing, and now through the appeals process! 

Peace,

Leonard

Peace activist on tricycle disables helicopter with garden mattock

Peace activist on a red tricycle disables a “Tiger” attack helicopter with a garden mattock.  Now that’s some Ploughshares action!!! 

Australia and the U.S. are inextricably linked militarily.  Currently, the U.S. is building up an additional force of 2,500 Marines being deployed to Australia.

The attack helicopter in question was participating in “Operation Talisman Sabre” joint U.S./ Australian military exercises taking place near Rockhampton, central Queensland in July 2011.  Operation Talisman Sabre exercises are geared around interventionary warfare scenarios.

Bryan Law is the tricycle jockey who disabled the nasty beast.

Said co-conspirator Graeme Dunstan of the Ploughshares action, “It (the helicopter) is a death machine which will otherwise be deployed to Afghanistan and used to kill some of the poorest people on earth who have dared to resist an invasion of the armies of some of the richest peoples on earth,”

Check out Rocky Tiger Ploughshares at http://tinyurl.com/dy2jyjf

Sunday meditation from Phil Berrigan

Meditation for Sunday, May 20th: a quote from holy outlaw Phil Berrigan:

“Nuclear weapons are the scourge of the earth. To mine for them, manufacture them, deploy them, use them, is a curse against God, the human family, and the earth itself.”

Celebrating Mother’s Day in a BIG Way at Ground Zero

Dear Friends,

Yesterday was a great day to be outdoors (not a cloud to be seen), and people gathered at the Main entrance gate to the Bangor Trident submarine base to demonstrate our resistance to the most horrific weapon (system) of mass destruction ever devised – TRIDENT!  Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action held its annual Mothers Day Weekend action – this year’s theme was Moms Against Bombs.

Berkeley gathering to welcome Susan out of prison

The day after I was released from FCI Dublin, friends and peace activists had organized a gathering at the Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship Hall. It was so wonderful to see friends and people who have all worked so hard in different areas for justice and social change..  It was wonderful to be with people who have hope that things can be better.  I was met with smiles, hugs, delicious and colorful food, and news of past and future actions for peace, for justice, for a nuclear free world.