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Activists Keep Heat on Bangor Trident Base
Latest civil disobedience honors the memory of Martin Luther King Jr.
story from the Ground Zero Center
photos by Helen Jaccard of Veterans For Peace of Greater Seattle, and Leonard Eiger of the Ground Zero Center
Some 65 people participated in a vigil and nonviolent direct action against the Trident nuclear weapons system at the main (Trident Avenue) gate to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor (Washington) nuclear submarine base on Saturday, January 16, 2010.
Two protesters—Ann Kittredge, 52, of Quilcene, WA and Denny Moore, 65, of Bainbridge Island, WA—attempted to enter the base using a ladder to climb over the perimeter fence near the base entrance. Moore made it over the fence, while Kittredge, a member of CODEPINK Women for Peace, was pulled off the ladder just before topping the fence. Security personnel climbed over the fence and tackled Moore moments later. Both were questioned by base security, cited for trespassing, and released.
Federal agents chase Ann Kittredge and Denny Moore, who are climbing a ladder over the Trident base perimeter fence.
Kittredge, being handcuffed.
Moore is arrested after running into the base grounds.
Members and supporters of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action held a peaceful vigil along the roadway by the base entrance within the designated free speech zone established by the Washington State Patrol. Participants held signs and banners calling for peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Participants included the members of the Buddhist-led week-long Interfaith Peace Walk, various chapters of Veterans for Peace, including the Squadron 13 Peace Bus from Eugene, Oregon, and representatives from Seattle First Baptist Church and Cedars Unitarian Universalist, Bainbridge Island.
The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, housing more than 2000 nuclear warheads. In November 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council issued a finding that the 2,364 nuclear warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S. arsenal. The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China, France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined.
Kittredge and Moore, shortly after their release from Federal custody.
Feds drop misdemeanor charges in earlier action; felony charges to follow?
On December 31, five Disarm Now Plowshares peace activists who broke into the Trident base last November (see wafreepress.org/article/091202military-ablao.shtml) received a notice of dismissal of charges from Jenny A. Durkan, United States Attorney, and Barbara J. Sievers, Assistant United States Attorney. The letter was addressed to Magistrate Judge Karen L. Strombom, in the US District Court in Tacoma Washington.
The cover letter stated: "Attached hereto is an Order for Dismissal in the above-entitled case. Our office is working with the relevant law enforcement agencies to determine whether felony charges should be filed as to the underlying conduct in this case. As a result, we do not intend to proceed as to these misdemeanor charges at this time. "
The Plowshares Five are perplexed about where the decisions are coming from and what the politics are behind the decisions.
"On Nov 2,2009, we were able to walk into a high security area where the nuclear weapons were stored, we were detained with hoods over our heads for hours, and then, later in the day, we were released without giving addresses or signing citations," Susan Crane reflected, "and now the misdemeanor charges against us are suddenly dropped!"
Father Bill Bichsel reflected, "We understand our civil resistance action to be the upholding of international and domestic law. We would be complicit in our country's illegal course of action if we did not show our willingness to uphold the law."
Meanwhile, support for their Plowshares action, international law and the abolition of nuclear weapons grows. Over 300 people and 30 organizations have joined Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire, West Wing "President" Martin Sheen, and Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton in signing the Disarm Now Plowshares support statement.
In Japan, Mr. Sekiguchi, the Director of NBC Nagasaki TV has said that the information about the Disarm Now Plowshares is being translated into Japanese, and that support for the Plowshares action in Japan is growing.◆
For over thirty-two years Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action has engaged in education, training in nonviolence, community building, resistance against Trident and action toward a world without nuclear weapons.