Archive for October, 2019

Discuss Restorative Justice as alternative to prison Saturday in Hilo with international expert Helen Bowen from New Zealand

Wednesday, October 30th, 2019

An invitation to meet Ms. Helen Bowen, lawyer from New Zealand.

Worked for many years on Restorative Justice in New Zealand and on the international level.

Meeting place: Wailoa State Park, Hilo, in a pavilion if available. Otherwise on the grass. (bring your own chair)

Saturday, November 2, 2019, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Father Jim Considine, who first met with Ohana Ho`opakele in 1999 writes:

“My lawyer friend, Helen Bowen, with whom I traveled in my prime to international restorative justice meetings, is coming to a seminar on Maui from 26 Oct to Sunday 3 November. She is an international expert on RJ processes and continues to work with them in Auckland. She would love to fly to the Big Island, Saturday 2 November, to meet up with you and catch up on how things are re a whole range of issues if that is possible. … She comes with my gold star recommendation”

 

Questions: Contact:

Jim Albertini – 966-7622

Ron Fujiyoshi – 959-9775; (cell) 345-9688

Why do so many people hate the U.S.? Nov. 1, 2019 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet

Wednesday, October 30th, 2019

Why do so many people hate the

U.S.?

bagdadi

      ISIS terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was recently killed in a US Special Operations raid in Syria. The US is good at killing terrorists, but even better at creating them. The US illegal invasion of Iraq, based on phony claims of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) by Bush and company led to the creation of ISIS. It has been endless regime change wars and covert Specials Ops in numerous countries ever since. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed, millions wounded and displaced – all creating increasing hatred and a climate of revenge, escalating the cycle of violence. As Gandhi once said: “An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind.”

      Our world is in urgent need of healing and learning Kapu Aloha before we destroy ourselves and the earth we share through man-made climate disaster or global nuclear war. Kapu Aloha –nonviolence needs to be built on a foundation of justice and respect for one another and all that sustains life – the air, land, and water for people, plants and animals. We are all connected. An injury to one is an injury to all. Respect the sacred — from the mountain to the sea, and everywhere and everyone inbetween.

      We can no more put an end to escalating violence by escalating violence than we can dig ourselves out of a hole. The means we use must be in line with the end that we seek. The U.S. is the most militarized nation on earth and the chickens are coming home to roost in more mass shootings  militarization of local police, increasing surveillance and authoritarianism.  Fascism is on the horizon. Who said it couldn’t happen here?  In Hawaii military covert Special Ops Assassination training is taking place on every island outside of military bases on public lands, beaches, parks, shorelines and not even one public hearing has been held to question this madness.  B-2 nuclear bombers fly, not only from Oahu, but from Louisiana, Missouri, and Guam to practice bomb Pohakuloa in the center of Hawaii Island for nuclear war that could end all life on earth and who is raising a voice of opposition? One $2 Billion dollar US B-2 nuclear bomber has even been named “Spirit of Hawaii.” This is NOT Kapu Aloha. No wonder so many people around the world hate the U.S. and see America as the greatest threat to peace on earth.

It’s time to live Kapu Aloha! Stop Bombing Pohakuloa!

Stop Bombing Everywhere!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties.
4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawaii and around the world.

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawaii 96760 Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org

For more information and to receive our posts go to www.malu-aina.org

Nov. 1, 2019 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 944 – Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Kings Bay Plowshares 7 Found Guilty on All Counts

Thursday, October 24th, 2019

Kings Bay Plowshares 7

Found Guilty on All Counts

October 24, 2019

This is a breaking news update for our supporters. A fuller update will be forthcoming.

BRUNSWICK, GA – More than 18 months after they snuck onto the site of one of the largest known collections of nuclear weaponry in the world, a jury found the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 guilty of all four of the charges brought against them.  

The defendants face more than 20 years in prison for destruction and depredation of government property in excess of $1,000, trespassing, and conspiracy.

“The Pentagon has many installations – and we just walked out of one of them,” Colville said outside the courthouse. “It’s a place where they weaponize the law. And they wield it mostly against the poor, the people who have all the red lined neighborhoods in this county know that very well.

“And once in a while the people who are privileged like us get a taste of it. And when we do we should hear the word guilty as a blessing on us because it gives us an opportunity to stand with people who hear guilty all the time every day.”

The seven expect to be sentenced in 60 to 90 days. Until then, six of them have been released under bond conditions each had prior to trial.

Late at night on April 4, 2018 Mark Colville, Clare Grady, Martha Hennessy, Fr. Steve Kelly, S.J., Elizabeth McAlister, Patrick O’Neill, and Carmen Trotta used a bolt cutter to enter a remote gate at Naval Base Kings Bay in St. Mary’s GA. They walked two miles through swamp and brush. They then split into three groups and prayed, poured blood, spray painted messages against nuclear weapons, hammered on parts of a shrine to nuclear missiles, hung banners, and waited to be arrested.

During the course of the trial, which began Monday morning, the defendants and their supporters had expressed pleasure with the unexpected amount of information they had been able to provide to the jury about their reasons for undertaking their protest. Federal Judge Lisa Godbey Wood had issued an order late last Friday night restricting any evidence or testimony having to do with a necessity defense, international law and treaties restricting nuclear weaponry, and religious and moral reasons.  

“I really think that the verdict was, frankly, reactionary,” Trotta told supporters outside the courthouse. “They (the jurors) heard a lot. The judge allowed them to hear a lot. And it’s a little frightening that nuclear weapons could be hidden in plain sight. We have to understand that we are a remnant.… We remain a remnant of the spirit that I think was stronger in our country at other periods on time.

“But we all know which way the wind is blowing. There’s the Black Lives Matter movement. There’s the Extinction Rebellion. There’s the Me Too movement. There’s an activist community waiting just behind us.”

More forthcoming…


PLEASE DONATE

The struggle continues. Please support this profound sacrifice by these seven requires generosity. Your support of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 will help cover the ongoing costs surrounding this trial and social change effort. You can give at our GoFundMe site and checks can be sent to Plowshares, PO Box 3087, Washington, DC 20010. Further details check the website: kingsbayplowshares7.org.

Thank you!


EMAIL: Media: kbp7media@gmail.com

Update on Trial of Trident nuclear missile submarine resistance

Thursday, October 24th, 2019

After Powerful Testimony

Kings Bay Plowshares Trial Nears End

October 24, 2019

BRUNSWICK, GA—Both the government and the defense finished their testimony yesterday at 5 p.m. in the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 anti-nuclear weapons case.

Defendants were able to say much more than had been expected after the wide “in limine” restrictions established late last week before trial. They spoke about their strong faith motivations and their knowledge of the horrendous effects of nuclear weapons, and read portions of documents they had carried onto the Kings Bay submarine base in their action on April 4, 2018, the fiftieth anniversary of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassination. Thursday will likely see the trial end with closing statements, the charge to the jury, and jury deliberations.

In a recurring pattern, the judge would allow items the seven carried onto the sub base into evidence over frequent government objection. Martha Hennessy was even allowed to read from the indictment that nuclear weapons are always illegal. The judge did always remind the jury the items admitted were only for the fact that they were left on the base, not that they were true.

The prosecution called their final witness in the morning, base Facilities Management Specialist Juan Melgarejo, to verify the expenses of cleaning and repairs after the disarmament action, which he reported totaled $31,833.

Then two defendants, Hennessy and Patrick O’Neill, who had not previously given opening statements did so, and the defense began their case with Attorney Stephanie Amiotte examining Hennessy. After overruling an objection from the prosecution, the indictment of nuclearism the seven carried and which Hennessy had posted at the Strategic Weapons Facility Engineering office (known as SWFLANT) finally was allowed into evidence by Judge Lisa Godbey Wood.

Go Pro video footage was also admitted of Hennessy reading Bible verses from the prayer book “Give Us This Day” which she, Clare Grady, O’Neill and Mark Colville had read as they waited to be apprehended by base security personnel. Hennessy ended her testimony with, “It’s imminent (nuclear war) and it haunts me.”

Next, Attorney Fred Kopp, in examining Carmen Trotta, asked why he and his colleagues went to Kings Bay. Trotta said that the base has one quarter of the US deployed nuclear weapons, and that it cannot be legal to destroy nearly all life on Earth. He noted the “outrage of God at putting his creation in jeopardy.” Trotta was one of three who went to the so-called “Limited Area,” where deadly force is authorized and where the activists believe nuclear weapons are stored in bunkers. Kopp elicited from Trotta the extreme caution the three took to be “careful for everyone’s sake” as they entered the zone and when they were approached by Marine guards.

Grady, in examination by Attorney Joe Cosgrove, said that the consequences of global nuclear war are so atrocious they necessitate the creation of the word “omnicide.”

“Trident is the crime,” she said, explaining her use of crime scene tape, not caution tape, as the government kept calling it, at the SWFLANT office. Grady also noted that her colleagues used hammers to “deconstruct” or “transform” weapons to plowshares, instead of doing damage as the government claims. In cross examination, chief prosecutor Karl Knoche rapid-fired a series of accusations at Grady, claiming that she and her co-defendants believed themselves to be a law unto themselves. Grady calmly answered that the egregious use of weapons is bullying, not the painted peace messages and blood that Grady and Hennessy poured on the engineering office sidewalk.

Attorney Matt Daloisio examined Colville, who quoted his father saying, “Integrity is what you do when no one is looking, taking responsibility to what you know to be true.” Colville also explained his use of the word “idolatry” that he had written on one of the missile replicas, noting that the Bible urges us to remove, even smash, idols. Colville related that it was a long time before any authorities actually confronted him and Grady, Hennessy, and O’Neill in what the activists call the missile shrine area, even though several vehicles approached, slowed and then drove on. So after about an hour they felt they had done enough. They sat down and prayed, then carefully showed their hands when the vehicles finally approached them. In response to the repeated cross examination accusation of arrogantly choosing to run red lights, Colville said that he ran every red light when his wife Luz was in labor. “It was an emergency!”

Representing himself, O’Neill was examined by advisory attorney Keith Higgins. As a “cradle Catholic” grandchild of four immigrants from Ireland, his faith was always his guide and led him to co-found the Fr. Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker in Garner, NC with his wife, Mary Rider. He noted that Catholic workers take nonviolent action and break the law like Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, and Dr. King, to bring social change. In reviewing the items he took onto the base, O’Neill brought international law into the courtroom. He mentioned copies of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the new Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In government’s exhibit 36-1B-6 GoPro video footage O’Neill recorded himself quoting Pope Francis saying the use and possession of nuclear weapons is to be firmly condemned

The seven’s statement is one of love and hope, O’Neill said.

Attorney Bill Quigley questions Elizabeth McAlister during day three of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 trial. Illustration by Chrissy Nesbitt

Elizabeth McAlister was questioned by her attorney Bill Quigley. After briefly describing her life growing up and her life as a nun, McAlister explained how she got involved in the peace movement. As a college professor during the Vietnam War, she said, 30 of her students’ boyfriends came home in body bags.

“One could not be a teacher of these young women without sharing their grief. I felt that we were being called to more.”

She related the story of marrying well-known activist Philip Berrigan, who later co-founded the Plowshares movement. They established the activist community Jonah House in Baltimore. McAlister described how her continued sense of her vocation led her to this action. Prayer, she said, was integral to the action. There is a “reshaping” of conscience that happens within each of us, which mirrors the transformation we seek of weapons into tools for cultivating life. McAlister also explained her reason for using the symbol of blood.

“War involves radical bloodshed. (Using blood as a symbol) is a way of remembering that war is bloodshed, and we long to see the end of war and the end of shedding the blood of another human being.”

Scott Bassett, the communications officer for the Kings Bay base was called as a witness by the defense. Upon prompting, he testified that he had at earlier pre-trial motions hearings given a statement to the Washington Post. His statement said that there was no threat to any assets or personnel at the base from the protestors. He said the statement meant there had been no damage to military assets such as submarines or weapons systems, not a missile display.

Apart from a few objections and brief comments to indicate his agreement with the testimony of his co-defendants, Fr. Steve Kelly, S.J., remained silent throughout the proceedings.

After exiting the courthouse, the defendants told a gathering of supporters and media they were pleased that they were able to say so much more in court about their beliefs and motivation than they had expected because of the judge’s rulings prohibiting mention of their religious motivations, international law, or necessity.

“We are seeing what the courts protect,” said Grady.


PLEASE DONATE

Supporting this profound sacrifice by these seven requires generosity. Your support of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 will help cover the ongoing costs surrounding this trial and social change effort. You can give at our GoFundMe site and checks can be sent to Plowshares, PO Box 3087, Washington, DC 20010. Further details check the website: kingsbayplowshares7.org.

Thank you!


EMAIL: Media: kbp7media@gmail.com

Oct. 25, 2019 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet on Hawaii Training Ground for Nuclear War

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2019