Sharpening Our Resolution – From Trident to Tuskegee

Every New Years Eve, for 33 years, there has been a uniquely Southern  peace, social justice, and anti-war gathering at one of the Gates of Hell--the Kings Bay Trident Nuclear Submarine Base--in St. Mary's, Georgia, about 30 minutes north of Jacksonville, Florida, and arguably the third most powerful nuclear state on the planet (if it were to secede and go it alone). Kings Bay is the Atlantic home port for these nuclear submarines - a Cold War relic and still functional First Strike Thermo-Nuclear Weapons Platform.

In the days before our hair turned silver. 

 
Each submarine, if fully locked and loaded, has the capacity to deliver 24 Trident II missiles;each missile launched can independently target 8 hydrogen bombs; each bomb powerful enough to incinerate a city of 100,000. That’s 192 cities if you’re counting.

Still at it after all these years!

The Alternative New Year gathering is the longest continual annual anti-war/ disarmament event in the South. 


This year a group of early arrivals held signs and handed out literature at the two main gates as workers left for the holiday. John Linnehan, of the Metanoia Peace Community, and one of the founders

John Linnehan nabs an infiltrator

of the gathering, composed an excellent one-page flyer. He assured the Sailors, Marines, and other base workers that we respected them and their right to gainful employment and that we did not come in judgment of them personally.

“It’s not about you, it’s the weapons,” became our refrain as we stood at the traffic median and had brief encounters with workers waiting for the light to turn. Our messaging was clear:  “…we do condemn a system of weaponry that has the very real potential to so affect the ecological systems of the Earth as to make human life and, perhaps, all life on this planet, unlivable."

Submarine surfaces behind Geri at Trident Gates

 The general  response from the base employees was accepting and polite – as if they already knew the risk of operating this thermo-nuclear nightmare– that Trident “… is not a fail-safe system, and the intentional or accidental use of nuclear weapons has ultimate consequences for us all. One failure could be the last one.”  
   
As is always the case in this kind of direct action, we were occasionally reminded by a handful of passing motorists where to stick our flyers, with whom to have sex, and how easy it is for some to ignore others from barely three feet away. 

Wendy, Ann & Robert Feasting in the New Year!

During the rest of our time at the Crooked River State Park, we filled our Celebration of Life with food, spirits, social networking and community building. We shared workshops and reports from the year of Peace Work, and plans for the next.

Our late night New Years' Eve Vigil back at the main gate is held next to a full-scale concrete replica of a submarine surfacing from underground. The vigil is a time of expressing the many reasons that bring us together year after year, with reverence and contemplation, among a community of long-haul activists, faith-based and dissidents, and all fierce peace warriors  juxtaposed against the heavily-guarded base of operations for a fleet of continually deployed, lethally armed, hidden and hair-triggered killing machines--evidence of humanity's inhumanity to itself and to the Earth.

Our eclectic literature at Auburn UU Congregation

As the New South Network of War Resisters, we helped to coordinate the gathering, working with others with decades of presence at the gates.

In our ongoing communications with friends, other war resisters and community activists across the Deep South, many have offered to host our power point presentation: War On Earth! Atomic Appalachia & the Militarized  Southeast US: Environmental  Impact!

Judy Collins & Jim Allen of Vine & Fig Tree with Clare & Coleman

Thanks to our friends at the Vine and Fig Tree Community in Fredonia, Alabama, we were able to speak of our Southern Organizing initiatives and present War On Earth! in several Alabama venues in January, including the Auburn Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, and in Tuskegee where we presented to a group of Tuskegee University students, faculty, and community members on Martin Luther King Day. We also visited Montgomery with anti-death penalty activist Esther Brown who was speaking before the legislature to object to a fast-tracking of state killing by shortening the appeal process.

Tuskegee Students, Faculty and Community members gather for presentation and  discussion on Military Environmental impact in Southeast

Tuskegee's Historic Campus

These experiences in Alabama have opened new doors for future, ongoing collaboration in what can only be termed the New South. The richness of the conversations and dialogue coming out of this bridge- building exchange can be partially summed by the comments of Tuskegee Alumna Norma Jackson, our new friend and contact with the Alabama NewSouth Coalition and the Black Belt Deliberative Dialogue Group -

“The work that you are doing is truly sacred work and I am grateful for it. The young people were profoundly changed by (your) presentation. I look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration with you…”     

Stay connected with our travels and story as we write more about our Tuskegee experience in our next ACTION South post.

Report by Coleman Smith; Photos: Clare Hanrahan & Coleman Smith

Solidarity & Training With the Queen City Occupiers

Responding to a plea
for help from Occupy Charlotte, the New South Network of War Resisters provided a weekend of Nonviolent Direct Action trainings for the Charlotte occupiers who were facing a January 30 eviction. Charlotte City Council expanded police power with controversial new ordinances restricting political activity on city property  in advance of the August 2012 Democratic National Convention. Police Arrested seven occupiers at the central camp who stood their ground asserting 1st Amendment Rights to peaceably assemble.

With more than 100 supporters present chanting and singing, the police destroyed approxiatmately 35 tents as they were tossed into waiting city garbage trucks.

After referrals and encouragement from Mandy Carter , former Southeast Director for the War Resisters League and currently working with SONG, as well as NC Peace Action Board Chair, John Heuer, Coleman Smith contacted the Charlotte group to assist with final prepartions for two Direct Action Trainings. Smith, also a member of Occupy Asheville Nonviolent Direct Action Trainers Group, confirmed participation of Butch Turk, a Ruckus Society trainer and medical professional living in Hendersonville, NC, who provided blockade and physical training Friday on how to use your body and protect yourself and others during an action.

Coleman arrived Saturday to meet and
talk with Charlotte occupiers, listening to
local participants to understand their
experience and expectations for a direct
action. He crafted a 3 1/2 hour training in
Nonviolence for Sunday to help clarify
and focus the potential arrestees and their support people. 

After the action and arrests on January 30 of the "Queen City Seven," Smith and others took on Jail Support roles until all arrested were released without bail on their personal promise to show up in court.  Police returned to the site again on January 31 for further arrests.

Laurel Green, who helped coordinate the support people for the Occupy Charlotte action, remarked that the trainings provided by the New South Network helped to bring focus to the action and confidence to participants.

Reclaim Power! Southeast Action Camp

SAVE THE DATES
Reclaim Power Southeast Action Camp
August 18-22 – Western North Carolina
Day of Action August 22, Location TBA-

www.reclaimpowersoutheast.org

People working for justice, peace and a sustainable future in the
Southeast are coming together for a long weekend of workshops, trainings,
strategizing, and direct action! Our region faces a range of threats from
coal mining, nuclear waste and rising sea levels to racist anti-immigrant
laws and the military industrial complex. It’s time to come together and
reclaim our power.

We will train and build skills to take effective action on social justice
and peace as well as energy and climate justice campaigns active in our
region. We will work together to hone "tried and true" tactics -- and
maybe dream up new ones to try! On Monday we will put our new skills into
practice with an exciting day of action (location TBA)

The camp will be hosted on a beautiful site with a swimming pond almost on
the state line between the Carolinas, a short 40 minutes South of
Asheville. Camping at the site or accommodations in town are available.

Workshops will include: community organizing, anti-oppression, nonviolent
direct action 101, debunking false solutions to climate change, blockades,
sustainable living systems, action climbing, media, disaster response,
street medic training, fighting nukes and coal, and much more.

ACTION MEDIC TRAINING -- A submersion program -- participants will be part
of camp life, but take a separate "track" of trainings focused expressly
on becoming qualified to serve your community as a medic during
non-violent direct actions. For more info and to register into this
program -- please inquire: info@reclaimpowersoutheast.org

All ages and skill levels welcome. Come for renewal -- or come for your
first activist training and dive in. We welcome both expertise and also
new ideas and perspectives to freshen the stream of action. Everyone has
something to share that others can learn from!

www.reclaimpowersoutheast.org

Katauh Earth First! Leads "No Nukes Summer" Day of Action

Taking to the Streets for No Nukes Summer   Photo: Rachel Bliss

With the U.S. Constitution and our First Amendment Right to peaceably assemble as our only permit, organizers with Katuah Earth First! continued the No Nukes Summer Days of Action with a rally, parade and nonviolent direct action in Asheville on July 15.  (Click for Photo video by Jerry Nelson)

Katuah Earth First! collaborated in this effort with organizers from the Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS),  New South Network of War Resisters, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL),  Proposition One, WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Mountain Protectors for a Nuclear Free WNC.  We gathered to say:

 “Keep high-level radioactive waste at the commercial nuclear power plants where it is made. Do not ship it through Asheville and these mountains to the S.C. Savannah River Site. Do not  recover the weapons grade plutonium, and do not return this deadly, toxic waste to Madison County, N.C. for permanent burial.” 

Big Nasty, a marching band recruited from their busking spot on a nearby corner, led the way with lively drumming, banjo and brass  as we stepped off  nearly one hundred strong from downtown Pritchard Park. It was an empowering  show of resistance to the escalating threat in Atomic Appalachia of the nuclear power, weapons and waste industries.

Laura Sorensen and Ray Hearne flank Ole Sorensen holding one of his peace poles.   Photo: Clare Hanrahan

The day was cool, a welcome break from the heat of the previous week.  The streets were filling with a curious crowd of tourists and sidewalk cafes were busy.  We captured the attention of all with well crafted signs and banners. Designer Coleman Smith coordinated days of effort turning recycled cardboard into the colorful messages that we carried along the route.  Multi-colored wooden peace signs on tall poles, crafted by Ole Sorensen, added the historic touch of the symbol for nuclear disarmament.

Monica & Julie at the No Nuke rally.  Photo: Hanrahan

David Ireland, a videographer and coordinator with the  Buncombe County Green Party  helped to document the rally as did Ellen Thomas of Proposition One, and Rachel Bliss, an organizer with Asheville Peacetown. Monica Tilhou snapped photos as her sister Julie handed out information to passersby. 

The giant and prophetic NIRS banner carried our mantra – “Carbon Free/Nuclear Free."

Holding the Banner as the people gather.  Photo:  Ellen Thomas

Our first stop was the Federal Building with the message that President Obama’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future is a tragic misnomer. There is no safe future for America if we persist with this nuclear madness. There are safe, clean, and economic alternatives to dangerous, dirty, and expensive nuclear power.

Some of the APD  crew. Photo Ellen Thomas

The Asheville Police  Department, “dedicated to providing public safety and maintaining order; enforcing the laws of North Carolina, upholding the United States Constitution and enhancing national security,” were present on bicycles, on foot, in cars, and vans.

Our police liaison Coleman Smith spoke with the APD at the rally. They  seemed satisfied with our peaceful intent and worked with us as we paraded towards the Federal Building. When APD Sergeant Lance asked, "Will you be going into the Federal offices?" Smith replied "Not today.”  The police behaved with courteous professionalism as they managed the automobile traffic at intersections and generally facilitated our practice of feisty free speech in action. 

Asheville area residents have been active for decades working to protect our mountains from the devastation of the nuclear industry. In recent years a coalition called Common Sense at the Nuclear Crossroads, have provided well-researched reports to educate residents of the threat to Western North Carolina. As of yet, the Asheville City Council has not seen the purpose or rationale to adopt a nuclear non-transport ordinance, similar to the Nevada ordinance,  to keep the predicted 10,000 truckloads of RAD Waste out of our town.

With social media now a large part of the tool box for activists and organizers, an ad hoc group known as Mountain Protectors Action Alliance used Facebook to organize a “flash mob”  in the Pack Square area downtown on the same afternoon.  We extended our parade route from the Federal Building to Vance monument and coordinated via cell phone with drivers Julius Kerr and his relief driver Bill, to reroute BREDL’s mock Nuclear Waste Cask to Pack Square to participate.

BREDL's Mock Nuclear Waste Cask in Asheville. Photo: Ellen Thomas

People on both sides of the street began falling to the sidewalks in a domino effect as the mock radioactive waste cask passed by.

Nuclear Resisters begin die-in.  Photo:  C. Hanrahan

 

The threat to our ancient mountains and the communities of life that flourish here is real and great. Folks came from throughout the region to stand together. One woman, in an impromptu speech jumped up on the wall and told the crowd:  

“I was born in Western North Carolina. My people have been here a long time.  We love these mountains and we won’t let them be ruined by this nuclear waste.”

Echoing that sentiment was Cherokee-Lakota healer  Amy Walker, who came to Asheville with her nephew Tyson. Elder Walker wanted us to know as we organize resistance to the nuclear threat, that there are allies in the nearby Cherokee nation. There is already evidence of radioactive contamination of the air and water and an increase of cancer on the Eastern Band Cherokee Reservation, they said, which may be from activities at the Oak Ridge, Tenn. Y-12 National Security Complex and Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin, Tenn. The Cherokee reservation is about 100 miles downwind of Oak Ridge.

In an impromptu meeting with organizers from Katuah Earth First! the conversation swung to how all affected by this nuclear tragedy could come together. Cherokee Elder Walker stated,  “It is long overdue for our peoples to be working together.”

Katauh Earth First! Road Kill Faction is part of the global radical environmental movement. As a nonviolent direct action and education group KEF! acts as part of nature, believing there can be no compromise in defense of the Earth. KEF! has been acting to defend and  protect these mountains and the Katuah Bio-region for over 20 years.

Andy & Ed of Katuah EF! Photos: E.Thomas

Smith & Hanrahan signmaking

Save the date: August 18 to 22.  

Reclaim Power! Southeast Action Camp  in nearby Zirconia, North Carolina.  In coalition with Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Rising Tide, New South Network of War Resisters, and Katuah Earth First!   Email for information or call: Mary at 828.254.8409 www.reclaimpowersoutheast.org

Written by Clare Hanrahan & Coleman Smith, lead organizers with New South Network of War Resisters.

Solidarity in Action: Nonviolent Action Trainers' Gathering Strengthens Connections

Trainers, organizers, and facilitators of Nonviolent Direct Action gathered in Asheville, N.C. over the May Day weekend for peer-to-peer exchange, campaign storytelling, tactics and skills swap among Southeast organizers, along with strategical discussions of how to work together more effectively across issues and campaigns in the South.  

Issues that surfaced at the ACTION South Nonviolent Direct Action Trainer’s Gathering were as immediate as Asheville’s Defensa Communitaria police checkpoint vigil campaign in solidarity with Hispanic immigrants, and as far reaching as FBI raids targeting anti-war activists and persons acting to build international relationships. Dissidents caught up in this modern-day Cointelpro State repression are challenging Grand Jury indictments and nonviolent direct action is a tool of the struggle.

Steve Norris of Warren-Wilson College

 Friday night’s meet and greet in the historic Battery Park Hotel rooftop garden included a bird’s- eye view of the “Land of the Sky” and a  sunset view of Asheville’s surrounding mountains. As part of the city-wide YWCA Stand Against Racism events, the Friday discussion centered on the principles and application of nonviolent direct action as used during the historic civil rights struggle. Participants shared personal experiences confronting racism and other persistent injustice using tools of organized nonviolence.

Steve Norris, a professor of Peace Studies and Environmental Justice at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C., led the discussion.

Special guest Oralene Simmons, a nonviolence trainer with  Dr. Bernard Lafayette, and founder of Asheville's 30 year old MLK,Jr. birthday celebration, shared her first-hand experiences with the Asheville Student Committee for Racial Equality during her high-school years. She and other students integrated Asheville's Woolworth lunch counter, the city swimming pools, and public library.
 

Oralene Simmons greets Asheville City Councilman Gordon Smith at Asheville's Woolworth Sit-In commemoration

In1961 Oralene, a native of Mars Hill, NC, went on to become the first person of African-American heritage admitted to Mars Hill College.  Her story is especially poignant. Her great grandfather Joseph Anderson— a slave who laid the bricks that built the college—was seized by contractors as collateral for a debt on the Mars Hill College building and jailed until the debt was paid. His family is now celebrated along with other founding members of the Baptist College.

Panelists Steve Magin, RedMoonSong, Emily Rhyne & Joe Rhinehart

Discussion continued Saturday at Asheville’s Unitarian Universalist Church with panel presentations as varied as Emily Rhyne of Asheville's Defensa Comunitaria,  and Red Moon Song of Earth Haven Eco Village, who spoke of her lifelong practice of “radical simplicity” and “fierce peace,” in her work to end militarism and war. Other panelists included long-time war tax resister Steve Magin, of Madison County, N.C. and Joe Rhinehart, of Asheville’s worker-owned Firestorm Café and Books, who focused on connecting cooperatives with social movements.

Sarah Buchner of UNC-A's SDS gave an update on local efforts in support of FBI-targeted peace activists, and Patrick O'Neill, a cofounder of the Father Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House in Garner, N.C., told of the recent creative action where he dressed as an ICE officer and arrested Lady Liberty to demonstrate concerns for immigrant rights. Patrick’s activist daughters Bernadette and Moira also attended, adding greatly to the richness of the day as they conveyed their experiences as outspoken college and high school students immersed in traditional educational settings.

Patrick O'Neill with daughters Bernadette & Moira

Kim Carlyle, War Crimes Times!

 War Crimes Times! Editor Kim Carlyle shared some VFP experiences in “taking back” the media and the Veterans' creative methods at the Newsuem to distribute copies of the quarterly newspaper.

Mary Olsen at the Nonviolent Action Trainers' Gathering in Asheville

 Ralph Hutchinson, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, rounded off the diverse group of panelists. He provided a “long haul” overview of OREPA’s nearly 30 year campaign to halt production of nuclear weapons at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee Y-12 National Security Complex.

Facilitators included Mary Olsen, regional coordinator of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and Betsy Crites, Director of N.C. Peace Action, along with Coleman Smith and Clare Hanrahan of the New South Network of War Resisters.  In addition of facilitation help, RedMoonSong and Jim Stockwell headed up the kitchen crew that provided the delicious vegetarian fare.

Participants were active in a variety of local and regional peace efforts, including Pax Christi, NC Stop Torture Now! Katuah Earth First! National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, VFP, Peacetown Asheville, N.C. Peace Action, WRL Asheville and New South Network of War Resisters (conveners), Asheville Freeskool, Nuestro Centro's Defensa Communitaria, Firestorm Cafe' and Books, Communnity of the Beloved  the YWCA's Stand Against Racism, NIRS, Proposition One, VFP TV, and more.

The event was deepened with the participation of numerous elders, including feminist scholar and Asheville native Antigua George, and Brad Lyttle of Chicago, both sharing experiences in direct action going back more than half a century. Lyttle, who was arrested for civil resistance at the Y-12 plant in July 2010, made a last minute detour to be at the ACTION South Gathering prior to his federal trial in Knoxville, Tenn.

May Day Chorus at Asheville's Firestorm Cafe & Books

Sunday participants gathered at Firestorm Café’ and Books after being fortified and inspired there the night before by the May Day Chorus and a rousing round of  labor movement songs and stories from the coalfields.

We spent much of our time Sunday going over some of Gene Sharp’s 198 methods of nonviolent action. The group moved through the list, commenting on their familiarity with and the relevance of the nonviolent methods.  The list provided the framework for hours of good discussion as participants offered personal accounts of how they have seen and participated in these methods in action.

Local organizer, David Clover, with the Asheville Freeskool, said Sunday’s discussion “exceeded my expectations.”  We all agreed that we wanted further opportunities to engage in-depth discussions with more diverse participants. The discussion was videotaped by Kasha Baxter, a producer with VFP-TV and Ellen Thomas, of  the anti-nuclear effort, Proposition One.

"Many thanks for your extraordinary organizing and leadership!” said John Heuer board member of NC Peace Action and member of the Eisenhower Chapter of the VFP, ‘Thanks for all your hard work organizing this event.”

Mothers Against Family Separation march in Asheville

At the close of the Trainers' Gathering, many participants joined Defensa Communitaria activists and allies to participate with “Mothers Against Family Separation," a public demonstration against the deportations of immigrants in Western North Carolina.

Collaboration, we all agreed, is vital to the success of our movements, and organizers plan to gather again soon to review the weekend with the aim of making the next gathering of S.E. regional trainers' even more dynamic and inclusive.

"I found my time well spent and rewarding. I met good people and made good connections. The venues worked well, the food was great, and the sessions were well-facilitated. There is much more to be done, but this is a great step forward." Kim Carlyle, VFP 099
  
"Come you discontented ones and give a helping hand..."

Report by Clare Hanrahan & Coleman Smith 
Support for the gathering came from a grant of redirected war taxes from the Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia, with additional support from local activists, allies, and donors,  including our dear friends Judith,  Antigua , &  Monica. Special appreciation to  NC Peace Action for encouragement and participation. Passing the hat for sliding-scale donations was critical, as were the  hundreds of hours of in-kind contributions from organizers and supporters. Thanks to everyone!

NC Stop Torture Now Vigil Challenges Torture Flights

Jan. 23, 2011: Johnston County Courthouse, Smithfield, N.C.

Eleven members of the human rights group,  NC Stop Torture Now  vigiled against North Carolina's role in torture with banners reading, "Torture Accountability Starts at the Top," at the Johnston County Courthouse in Smithfield, NC.  Smithfield is home to the Johnston County Airport, where

Aero Contractors is headquartered.  Aero has provided pilots and planes to fly kidnapped suspects to be tortured at various sites, including Guantanamo. 

Participants in Sunday’s vigil came from Durham, Orange, Wake, and Johnston counties.  They braved the cold for 90 minutes, catching dozens of motorists on their way to or from church and drawing several honks and thumbs-up signals.

NC STN's statewide effort seeks to gather a broad coalition including communities of faith, human and civil rights organizations, peace and justice groups, and community opinion leaders to endorse a Citizens' Commission of Inquiry into state and local governments' role in extraordinary rendition.

Report from  Christina Cowger  NC Stop Torture Now!