YOU CAN GET ANYTHING YOU WANT…
Okay, folks. I admit
it. I have been kind of an activist in
my time. I have challenged the rationale
for war. I have questioned the foreign
policy of the U.S. government when its foreign policy demanded questioning. Campaigned for social, gender and racial justice. Worked for and spoken out in favor of change
when change was needed. I have protested
in the streets when I thought it warranted.
I have not been as dedicated or consistent as others, but when there was
a cause that I considered just and with which I could get involved in some way,
I did. At times (many times) I have been lazy,
centered on my own stuff, ambivalent about speaking out. But I have always tried to keep informed of
what is going on in the world and contribute what little grains of sand I can.
And yes, I was once even
arrested.
Thrown in jail.
Had my day in court.
"Page
16 Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, Indiana, Sunday, December 14, 1986 Protesters
Arrested At Trident Launch GROTON, Conn. (UPI) About 250 anti-nuclear
protesters demonstrated Saturday despite sub-zero wind chills as the USS
Tennessee — the nation's ninth Trident submarine — was launched. About 50 of
the protesters — some of whom were lying on the cold streets — were arrested on
minor charges while the ship was being launched before 1,143 spectators at the
Electric Boat shipyards, Groton police said. The $1.5 billion Tennessee is the
first Trident built to carry the multi-warhead Trident 2 missile, also called
the D-5, which is to be deployed by the end of the decade. The demonstrators
said they were protesting against the Trident program and in support of a number
of demonstrations across the nation Saturday against U.S. policies in Central
America. "This is the first Trident in a series aimed at creating a fleet
which carries missiles accurate enough and powerful enough to destroy every
single Soviet missile in silo," said Joan Cavanagh, a spokeswoman for the
Coalition To Stop Trident. "The creation of this first strike weapons
system exponentially increases the threat of nuclear war because it provides an
incentive for each side to start a nuclear exchange in a situation of
heightened international tensions," she said in a statement".
If I remember correctly, I met the group of people
organizing the protest at a gathering in the Weston Priory in Vermont, a community
of Benedictine Monks renowned for their dedication to peace and social justice,
especially in Latin America, as well as their contribution of liturgical music within
the Catholic Church. The organizers were
part of the “Plowshares” movement that had been protesting nuclear
proliferation for the past decade. The
December action at the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, manufacturer of the
Trident Nuclear Submarine, was another in a long series of protests aimed at
the site. In preparation for the
protest, volunteers were provided training in non-violent resistance. With the humor and humanity typical of the
movement, many of the protestors were to dress in Santa Claus and Santa’s Helper
outfits, handing out “gifts” consisting of copies of the book “The Hundredth
Monkey” - a fable citing the importance of reaching a “critical mass” among
people made aware of the dangers of nuclear proliferation. An underlying objective of the peaceful
protest, during which the doors into the main administrative office of the
plant were to be temporarily blocked, was to introduce into the legal system a
defense based on the argument that committing a crime (civil disobedience) to
prevent a much greater crime (nuclear proliferation) was justifiable.
I was scheduled to not directly participate in the
protest. I was a “support” person, there
to act as witness and provide logistical support to those who would be
arrested. The protest was well
organized, and the police had been notified about the planned action a week
prior. Given the number of actions that
had been carried out at the site over the years, everything was like a
well-rehearsed play. The bus loads of
demonstrators arrived and took their places, began singing Christmas Carols, handing
out the gift books and other information to the plant workers as they entered
through the large gates at the end of the parking lot. The police arrived, and parked two or three
vans to the side. At a given point, a
group of about 10 protesters moved to the steps in front of the administrative
offices and lay down, blocking the way. The
head of the police detachment moved in and informed the protesters that they
were in violation of statute such and such of the civil code and requested that
they move. The protesters declined. The citation and request was repeated. The protesters declined once again. The police chief signaled for one of the
vans. The first group were (urrrgh!)
bodily lifted and placed in the van.
Another group of protesters replaced them. The process played out once again. More Urrghs
as ten more protesters were loaded into the vans. Just as the last of five groups of protesters
were taking their places, I suddenly had the feeling that I needed to do more
than observe. I laid down with the others and ended up heading for the Groton Connecticut Police Station to be processed.
Once inside the station, we were led to two large holding
cells; women in one, men in the other. A
plain clothes detective came over, looked through the bars, spotted one of the
veterans of the protest movement and said “Hey Charley! You've been here before. Explain to these others what’s going to
happen now.” After about an hour, we
were taken individually into an office where our personal information was
collected and each of was assigned a court date a month later.
The court session was, quite honestly, a circus. The judge had been dealing with these cases
for years, was well aware of the desire of the movement to get these cases into
the court system in order to argue their defense in terms of the need to stop
nuclear proliferation, and he very simply and rapidly called everyone forward,
gave a little lecture about what bad little protesters we were, and dismissed
the charges. Gavel!
Soooo. Like it says
in the news clipping - those streets WERE cold so I guess I did my bit for the
movement. I don’t think there was ever a
complete elimination of the nuclear weapon stockpile, so maybe I wasn't as effective as I should have been. Well, maybe there's a silver lining: we can just nuke Russia over Crimea,
Iraq over ISIS, Gaza over Hamas, Mexico over
immigration, Afganistan over…
That’ll fix things.
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