“You could count on serious time as a consequence,” McAlister said. Growing up, Hennessy witnessed firsthand the evolution of the Plowshares movement under the guidance of Catholic peace activists like McAlister and the Berrigan brothers who dared to take a stand against the threat of nuclear armageddon even in the face of assured retribution from the federal government. They’re doing it themselves.”. And not unlike the nuclear submarines that pass innocuously through the waters of Kings Bay in Georgia, it is happening right under the noses of the American public. Journalist Jeremy Scahill recently gave voice to that concern following the recent sentencing of Kelley and O’Neill. News about the Catholic pacifists’ bold act of nonviolent civil disobedience at Kings Bay and their subsequent trial appears predominantly in progressive or religious publications like the National Catholic Reporter. O’Neill said he is appealing the order but clearly both options pose a risk to his health. “The media is not blacking us out,” said O’Neill. The lack of coverage has prompted some Plowshares supporters to conclude the seven activists have become the victims of a media blackout. Washington, DC It is the largest nuclear submarine base in the world. Mainstream outlets, including those in Atlanta and nearby Jacksonville, Florida, have steered clear of the Plowshares activists. The facility was at the center of a COVID-19 outbreak that was so bad with one in four prisoners infected that it drew legal action from the ACLU. In the wake of gun violence, a march for peace on Smith Hill. McAlister acknowledged her concern that fewer people are willing to join the Plowshares movement than they were 40 years ago at the height of anti-nuclearism. It is the largest nuclear submarine base in the world. The Kings Bay Plowshares 7 (KBP7) are facing a federal trial and years in prison for having confronted a system in which nuclear weapons that can destroy all creation are … So hard that barring any unforeseen conflicts that might actually bring us closer to the brink of nuclear war, Matthews is dubious that Plowshares actions and other grassroots organizing will be enough on their own to force the issue into the national discourse. They face 25 years in prison for exposing illegal and immoral nuclear weapons that threaten all life on Earth. At the Trident D5 monuments were Mark Colville, 55, of the Amistad Catholic Worker, New Haven, Connecticut; and Patrick O’Neill, 61, of the Fr. The grassroots movement against nuclear weapons in the U.S. reached a peak in 1982 when an estimated one million people converged in New York City for a massive demonstration. Kings Bay Plowshares Activists Pay Heavy Price For Resisting Nuclear Warfare. As reported in America, the “Kings Bay Plowshares 7” defendants, arrested for acts of civil disobedience intended to protest the nation’s continuing nuclear weapons program, were … Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. Speaking in October on Democracy Now!, Scahill slammed the press’ refusal to cover the Kings Bay Plowshares Seven. Kings Bay Naval base opened in 1979 as the Navy’s Atlantic Ocean Trident port. They had requested a continuance because they want to appear in open court in Georgia and the virus situation there is still too out of control to safely allow it. The Plowshares movement began in 1980 when Roman Catholic priests Philip and Daniel Berrigan and six others surreptitiously gained access to the Re-Entry Division at the General Electric Space Technology Center in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Join the Facebook Group for conversation and daily updates, Prison Sentences Beginning, Mark's Sentencing Feb. 19, for Trident Disarmament Action Against Nuclear Weapons, May 9 Webinar: Disarm and Divest During Covid-19, Background – About the Kings Bay Plowshares 7. By Bill Ofenloch | August 28, 2020 The six remaining Kings Bay Plowshares defendants have had their sentencing dates moved from September to October 15 and 16. on. On April 4, 2018—the 50th anniversary of King's assassination—Grady, Hennessy, Kelly, Trotta, and Kings Bay Plowshares 7 activists Mark Coalville, Liz McAlister, and Patrick O'Neill entered the base, splashed baby bottles containing their own blood on a wall, spray-painted an anti-war slogan on a sidewalk, and hammered away at a monument to nuclear war. The seven chose to act on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. This is a request that you join distinguished citizens of the world including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, other Nobel laureates and many others by signing our global petition to dismiss all charges against the Kings Bay Plowshares 7. “And please, God, others will continue to do it,” she said. Her decision to infiltrate the Kings Bay naval base in a defiant act of civil disobedience against the world’s most powerful military came only after months of prayerful discernment, a kind of internal examination about what risks she was willing to take on behalf of her religious beliefs and moral convictions. Anti-war activist Carmen Trotta, a member of the Kings Bay Plowshares Seven, photographed at Mary House in New York City on Nov. 14, 2020. O’Neill pointed to a 2019 hearing for the Kings Bay Plowshares Seven attended by the actor and Catholic activist Martin Sheen. Buzz - 11 - 11 - 20 - Martha - Hennessey Jan Miyasaki touches base with Martha Hennessey, one of four members of the “ Kings Bay Plowshares 7 ” Catholic protestors who are to be sentenced this week for their part in anti-nuclear, anti-war protests at the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base on April 4th, 2018. Unlike that empty signifier, the pacifist recognized the immutable power of nuclear weapons. Base security did not appear until an hour after the activists started beating on the hanger doors, which incidentally were unlocked. “Older people remember getting under their desks for nuclear drills when they were in elementary school and putting their coats over their heads. The Plowshares activists, from left: Clare Grady, Patrick O'Neill, Elizabeth McAlister, Fr. The Kings Bay protest builds on a history of similar anti-nuclear Plowshares actions around the world, beginning in 1980 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. In 2001, Republican President George W. Bush withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, an arms control agreement dating back to the 1970s. He has already served 7 weeks pre-trial so should be getting out in less than a year with good time. On top of that, the activists are grappling with an establishment media blackout that they fear could be reflective of Americans’ apathy towards nuclear abolition at a moment when the threat of a nuclear holocaust is at its highest point in decades. 1 year ago. Though he has not publicly commented on the legal fate of the Kings Bay Plowshares Seven, Pope Francis has embraced the Catholic peace activists’ once radical demand for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. “Nowadays, very few people know about it and very few people are organizing around it.”. One person who answered the call was Martha Hennessy. A 71-year-old Catholic priest was sentenced this week to 33 months in federal prison for his role in breaking into and vandalizing Submarine Base Kings Bay, according to U.S. Attorney I’m not sure that too many efforts could claim that at that moment.”. Community & Arts. Since he lives at a Catholic worker house in Garner, North Carolina, O’Neill told Shadowproof that he preferred to serve out his sentence close to home at the nearby federal prison in Butner even though it has become a hotspot for coronavirus infections. They are facing years of … Seven Catholic plowshares activists entered Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia on April 4th, 2018. Shadowproof publishes independent journalism on grassroots movements for justice. “In 1983, when we hammered on the B-52 bomber and related parts, that plane was actually frozen for evidence for five months,” Grady said. Patrick O'Neill and Martha Hennessy reading the group statement before their plowshares action on April 4, 2018. Steve Kelly, S.J., Martha Hennessy, Mark Colville and Carmen Trotta (CNS photo/Kings Bay Plowshares) Time was running short. This new nuclear arms race is a reminder of how even in an era marked by entrenched partisan divisiveness, Democratic and Republican lawmakers remain united on maintaining America’s nuclear supremacy regardless of the financial, environmental or human costs. Instead, O’Neill was ordered to report to the Elkton Federal Prison in Ohio. My simple request is that any decision you hand down will … Kings Bay Plowshares 7 Found Guilty on All Counts. The activists used crime scene tape, hammers and hung banners reading: “The ultimate logic of racism is genocide - Dr. Martin Luther King”, “The ultimate logic of Trident is omnicide” and “Nuclear weapons: illegal / immoral.”  They also brought an indictment charging the U.S. government for crimes against peace. The 2018 infiltration of the Kings Bay naval base was her first Plowshares action, which makes her an anomaly among the other activists. Martha Hennessy, the sixth of the Kings Bay Plowshares defendants to be sentenced, was ordered to serve 10 months incarceration as well as three years supervised probation and restitution. President-elect Joe Biden will likely extend the treaty but the result of all these infractions upon our already threadbare nuclear safety net amount to a running leap into a second nuclear arms race that is expected to continue regardless of who sits in the White House. The Kings Bay Plowshares receive a blessing at the Festival of Hope on the eve of their trial A JURY FOUND THEM GUILTY, BUT TRIDENT IS THE CRIME. Carmen Trotta and Clare Grady will serve more than a year in prison, while Martha Hennessy expects to be incarcerated for 10 months. But McAlister knows just as well as anyone else that nuclear annihilation is not reasonable and she stopped short at saying definitively whether Kings Bay would be her last Plowshares action. Will become International Law January 22. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who devoted his life to addressing what he called the “triple evils of militarism, racism, and materialism.”  Carrying hammers and baby bottles of their own blood, the seven attempted to convert weapons of mass destruction. “You know, walking onto a military base was not the first thing I wanted to do in this resistance work for nuclear abolition,” recalled Hennessy. Add to Calendar 8-11-2020 16:00:00 8-11-2020 17:00:00 America/New_York Disarm, Disarm, Disarm, Kings Bay Plowshares Seven Sentencing Webinar Celebration of Hope Please join us Sunday, November 8th at 4 PM for a Zoom Festival of Hope for Kings Bay Plowshares members, Mark Colville, Clare Grady, Martha Hennessy, and Carmen Trotta, as they prepare to be sentenced by … The Kings Bay Plowshares, from the outset of their 2018 action, placed it in the context of nonviolent resistance compelled by conscience, as all the Plowshares actions are. Recent events have made the existence, threat or use of those weapons of mass destruction like the Kings Bay Tridents even more horrific and the possibility of nuclear war even more likely. Late in the afternoon of October 24, the seven members of the Kings Bay Plowshares – Martha Hennessy, Clare Grady, Elizabeth McAlister, Patrick O’Neill, Carmen Trotta, Mark Colville and Fr. 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