Our Dear
Sisters and Brothers,
We send
warm greetings and many thanks to all who actively engage in
the
transformation of weapons of mass destruction to sustainable
life-giving
alternatives. Gregory Boertje-Obed (U.S. Penitentiary,
Leavenworth,
Kansas) Michael Walli (Federal Correctional Institution
McKean,
Bradford, Pennsylvania) and I are sending you some of our
observations
and concerns on the 2nd anniversary of our Transform Now
Plowshares
action.
On July
28, 2012, after thorough study of nuclear issues, and because
of our
deepening commitment to nonviolence, we engaged in direct
action by
cutting through four fences at the Y-12 National Security
Complex in
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the U.S. continues to overhaul
and
upgrade thermonuclear warheads.
On that
day, two years ago, when we reached the building where all
U.S.
highly-enriched (bomb-grade) uranium is stored, we prayed and
also wrote
messages on the wall, such as"The Fruit of Justice is
Peace." (Realistically, the higher and stronger fences built as a
result of
our nonviolent incursion can never keep humans safe from
inherently
dangerous materials and weapons.) We
acted humbly as
"creative
extremists for love", to cite one of our most important and
revered
leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr.
There are
a number of reasons for what we did. We three were acutely
mindful of
the widespread loss to humanity that nuclear systems have
already
caused, and we realize that all life on Earth could be
exterminated
through intentional, accidental, or technical error.
Our action
at the Y-12 site in Oak Ridge exposed the storage of
weapons-making
materials deliberately hidden from the general public.
The
production, refurbishment, threat, or use of these weapons of mass
destruction
violate the fundamental rules and principles by which we
all try to
live amicably as human beings. The United States
Constitution
and the Laws of War are intended to ensure the survival
of
humanity with dignity. However, it is abundantly clear that harmony
and
cooperation among nations can never be achieved with nuclear
weapons.
(These arguments, we assume, will be made on our behalf
during the
eventual appeal of our convictions that accused us of
sabotage,
though it was never our intention to harm our country.)
Our "crime" was to draw attention to the criminality of the
70-year-old
nuclear industry itself and to the unconscionable fact
that the
United States spends more on nuclear weapons than on
education,
health, transportation, and disaster relief combined.
We three
Transform Now Plowshares consider it our duty, right, and
privilege
to heighten tension in the ongoing debate of Disarmament vs.
Deterrence
because history has repeatedly taught us that the policy of
deterrence
doesn't lead to security, but rather to the proliferation
of weapons
of mass destruction. During our trial, the U.S. prosecutors
and the
U.S. courts accused the wrong people when they claimed that we
violated
the law, because what we did was to make America's citizens
aware of
egregious preparations for mass murder.
We took
action because we were acutely aware that our government has
failed to
keep its long-standing promise to pursue nuclear
disarmament.
(As Ramsey Clark testified during one of our pre-trial
hearings,
the U.S. entered into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
in the
1960's because our country was finally facing up to the severe
human and
environmental consequences of the U.S. atomic bombing of
Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, as well as to the hideous results of countless
nuclear
tests conducted by the U.S. government within and beyond our
own
borders.)
One of our
pressing concerns is that U.S. prosecutors and the courts
adhere to
an obsolete view of security with no cognizance “or
consciousness“ of the horrific effects caused by nuclear weapons.
Greg,
Mike, and I believe that, undeniably, the U.S. is in a state of
denial.
Itâ's what Hannah Arendt called not evil, but the banality of
evil. There's nothing deep about it. It's nothing demonic! There's
simply the
reluctance ever to imagine what the other person is
experiencing,
right? (Hannah Arendt, "Eichmann was Outrageously
Stupid"
in The Last Interview and Other Conversations, Melville House,
Brooklyn
2013, p. 48).
We
citizens cannot permit ourselves to be rendered passive and mute by
the
banality of evil! Only complete nuclear disarmament can save
humanity.
At stake is the honor and dignity of the Hibakusha, along
with the
physical, environmental, emotional, and psychological trauma
long
suffered by victims of the nuclear system, from uranium miners to
down-winders.
(From 1946 to 1958, Marshall Islanders were bombarded
with 67
atomic and thermonuclear tests that were carried out by the
United
States.)
Michael
Walli, Greg Boertje-Obed and I are in U.S. prisons because,
ironically,
our action at Oak Ridge was based on the common sense
reality
that we human beings have endured more than enough destruction
and
exploitation. We believe that we citizens can exercise our
collective
power to consciously transform our nation's priorities. We
all need
to actively insist on more humane uses for the billions of
dollars
now budgeted for the nuclear weapons/industrial complex.
Two years
ago, as we neared the building in Oak Ridge, we were
extremely
surprised by the ineffectiveness of the system that
supposedly
guarded our nation's most important National Security
Complex.
We believed that we were about to expose the source of
unfettered
violence that has led to the chronic spiritual and economic
decline in
the U.S. As it turned out, it was the laxity of the
security
system at Y-12 that caught the attention of the courts and
the
mainstream media. Security weakness became the big story. There
was no
mainstream acknowledgement that the national security complex
is rotting
from its own irrelevance.
Most
surprisingly, our July 2012 action and our court cases have
revealed
that it is not the U.S. government that is in control of the
nuclear
weapons complex, but in reality it is the corporations that
are in
control through their solicitation and manipulation of endless
funding
for the refurbishment of unlawful thermonuclear warheads. We
three are
incarcerated because we stood up to a nuclear weapons
industry
that is kept thriving by the interlocking and obsolete
institutions
that subscribe to the long-discredited notion that law
and
security can be enforced by ever-greater force.
Regarding
the 22.8 billion dollar contract recently awarded for the
operation
of the Y-12 site in Oak Ridge and the Pantex site in Texas
for the
refurbishment of thermonuclear warheads and a new Uranium
Processing
Facility (UPF), the relevant corporations don't actually
operate
under the long-discredited myth of a "nuclear deterrence".
Rather,
corporations such as Babcock and Wilcox, Lockheed, and Bechtel
operate
under limited liability subsidiaries, joint ventures,
consortiums,
and partnerships for the main purpose of making profits
by
engaging in huge nuclear weapons production/refurbishment
contracts.
By this time, Congress certainly is aware that valid
contracts
can be issued only for the dismantlement of all nuclear
weapons
and for the environmentally-sound treatment and disposition of
all
nuclear materials.
In order
for the U.S. to negotiate for nuclear disarmament in good
faith, we
say it is essential to peaceably transform these very
corporations
so that they are no longer able to violate the most basic
moral and
legal principles of civilized society by deliberately
precipitating
planetary self-destruction.
We thank
you for your letters and your concerns. We ask you to support
the
Republic of the Marshall Islands in their current legal actions
against
the United States in U.S. federal court
and against the U.S.
and all
the other nuclear weapons states in the International Court of
Justice,
for failure to eliminate their respective nuclear arsenals.
You can
learn more and add your support by signing the petition at
Blessings,
Greg,
Michael and Megan
[You can
learn more about the July 28, 2012 Transform Now Plowshares
action,
and find prison addresses to write a note of support to Sr.
Megan
Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, at
No comments:
Post a Comment