Kings Bay Plowshares 7 Message

This is taken from the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 communication. My way of making sure this message gets spread to as many people as possible. Watch this weekend for Pope Francis and his historic message on nuclear weapons.

Dear Supporters,

      This weekend, in solidarity with Pope Francis' historic journey to Japan where he is expected to speak in Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the abolition of nuclear weapons, three NYC vigils will take place in conjunction with his Nov. 23 - 26 trip. The Japanese Consulate vigil took place on Friday. Attorney Mari Inoue of the Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World, and two of the Kings Bay Plowshares, Martha Hennessy and Carmen Trotta, met with diplomats at the Japanese Consulate to encourage Japan to turn away from reliance on the US nuclear umbrella.Elders of the Japanese people, the Hibakusha, still suffer from trauma, radiation sickness, cancers, and other horrific effects of the August 6 and 9, 1945 US nuclear attack.

Two vigils are planned at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Saturday from 3-6 pm and Sunday, 8:45 am-12 noon. On Sunday, the Pope will give a public address at the ground-zero site of the U.S. nuclear attack on Nagasaki.

The vigils are being organized in NYC partly by Kings Bay Plowshares 7 (KBP7) defendants, awaiting sentencing in January, facing up to 20 years for their faith-based nonviolent and symbolic disarming of Trident submarine's nuclear weapons in GA. Patrick O'Neill, KBP7 defendant has stated that "Trident's fleet of 14 submarines' nuclear weapons has the capacity to kill 14 billion people, while there are only 7 billion people on the planet". The KBP7 applaud Pope Francis' declarations against nuclear weapons. 

Quoting the Pope in their action statement, the KBP7 stated, "We seek to bring about a world free of nuclear weapons, racism, and economic exploitation. We plead to our Church to withdraw its complicity in violence and war. We cannot simultaneously pray and hope for peace while we bless weapons and condone war-making. Pope Francis says the abolition of weapons of mass destruction is the only way to save God’s creation from destruction. Clarifying the teachings of our Church, Pope Francis said, "The threat of their use, as well as their very possession, is to be firmly condemned, weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons create nothing but a false sense of security. They cannot constitute the basis for peaceful coexistence between members of the human family, which must rather be inspired by ethics of solidarity."

Kings Bay Plowshares 7 defendant and co-organizer of the vigils, Carmen Trotta, has served the poor at the St. Joseph Catholic Worker house in the Lower East Side in Manhattan for the last 30 years. He shared his gratitude to Pope Francis who is the first Pope declaring the need for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons. Carmen will be joined among others, by the founder of the Catholic Worker movement, Dorothy Day's granddaughter, Martha Hennessy, also serving at the NYC Catholic Worker house, and Ithaca Catholic Worker, Clare Grady, both KBP7 defendants.

Sam Husseini writes in his Nov. 22nd Counter Punch article, "In her testimony, Plowshares defendant Clare Grady ... tried to explain to the jury the motivation and urgency of the group: US government is using nuclear weapons daily as a gun pointed at the head of the planet." (Interviews Available)

A documentarian, Anthony Donovan, vigil co-organizer, (Good Thinking, Those Who Tried to Halt Nuclear Weapons) working with Nobel Prize winner, ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), referenced the Pope's statement, "the Holy See acknowledges the increasing number of nations who have ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The Vatican also calls for sincere, honest and effective dialogue, to build the trust needed to ratify this instrument." 

Recent News

The Pope and Catholic Radicals Come Together Against Nuclear Weapons, the New Yorker Opinion Piece, by Paul Elie, Nov. 19, 2019

Can the Religious Left Take Down Nuclear Weapons? CounterPunch, by Sam Husseini, Nov. 22, 2019

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/22/can-the-religious-left-take-down-nuclear-weapons/

Pope Francis Takes Nuclear-Ban Mission to Japan. Pontiff expected to pursue disarmament and interreligious dialogue on visit to Asia. WSJ By 

Francis X. Rocca in Vatican City and 

Alastair Gale in Tokyo, 

Nov. 20, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pope-francis-takes-nuclear-ban-mission-to-japan-11574245803

Sponsors: NYC Catholic Worker, Kings Bay Plowshares 7, Pax Christi Metro NY, Veterans for Peace NYC, Granny Peace Brigade, Stand with Okinawa, The Ribbon International, and Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World. 

                                                       

                                      _____________________________________________

Email: Media: kbp7media@gmail.com

General: kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com

Website: www.kingsbayplowshares7.org

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World Day of The Poor

It's Nov.17, 2019. It's a brisk 22 degrees F where I sit. Here on Seneca Lake in Upstate NY the sun is shining. It's the type of day where the squirrels become active jumping from lime to limb, chasing each other and twitching their tails as they sit feeling victorious after a brief encounter. Small flocks of geese and ducks travel up and down the lake, in the water and through the air. It is peaceful.

As I sit in this setting, I reflect on the fact that Pope Francis has designated this as the World Day of the Poor. He has spent the past few days making sure that he brings attention to the poor in his own neighborhood, breaking bread in a shelter that has been established in a Vatican owned building to feed and house men and women who have the need for some assistance.

I like Francis and his approach. He seems to understand the work and the message of Dorothy Day and all of the folks identified as Catholic Workers, the community of saints who live and work in houses of hospitality throughout the world. Poverty is real. It has a face, a smell, a taste. It isn't pretty and can't be fixed by an occasional check or donation. Poverty is also different around the world and in different economies. Imagine the people fleeing wars in Yemen and Syria. Women and children, in some cases with only the clothes on their backs. Or, there is the poverty in many countries in Africa being driven or made worse by climate change. Basic things like water and crops are a huge challenge.

But as I said earlier, poverty is different in different places and changing economies. Today in the United States single mothers and families struggle in so many different ways. Working two or three jobs and having to look presentable and good for work or making sure that their children aren't made fun of because of their cloths. Trying to find affordable health care or not having any at all. Poverty may not look like we think it should but it still hurts and it stresses relationships.

We also have a tendency to blame the poor for their situation, especially when they're not easy to look  at or be with. The same is often true of anyone who looks different than us. Those homeless folks we pass by on street corners or living in tents or under canvas. Who are they? Why don't they move on? Ordinances will save us from this human trash. Won't they? No. Simple as that. We are a community whether we like it or not. Sometimes people need a hand or an ear or a bed. Sometimes people need a community and you tend to get it where you can find it. Community, support and relationships go a long way in identifying problems, needs and solutions. Getting our hands dirty in the struggle with poverty is pretty much essential. Only then can we begin to understand the shoes that someone else is walking in.

So Francis has a lot of this right. Sitting with and listening to the poor is a priority. Judgmental thinking needs to go out the window. Sit, listen and learn. Watch the struggles before coming up with old answers. Find out how messy poverty really can be.

What good is a World Day of Poverty? Reflection of any kind is always good. Reflecting on the poor, poor families is critical. If designating a day or a week or a month helps someone understand the struggles of their brothers and sisters, that's not a bad thing.

The Presidential Saga, Impeachment Hearings, Transcripts, etc.

Well it's hard to get it all in one title but that seems to be where we're at. Of course there's additional news like another school shooting at a High School in California. Sadly within 24 hours, that event disappeared from many news sites and social media. A sign of the times? Perhaps. It may be that we are so bombarded with incoming Breaking News, both real and imagined, that even important events slip away into some abyss or black hole news cycle. I fear it may be worse. It may be that we are no longer shocked by students being shot and killed at their school. It may be that it has become so common place that we are all accepting terrible news like this as normal. It could also be that many have just given up on the issue because no one can seem to convince the supposed leadership of our country to do anything about the epidemic of gun violence. Blame can go everywhere, the NRA, Mitch McConnell, GOP Senators, Chuck Schumer, Democratic Senators, Donald Trump and on and on. In the meantime more will die with no end in sight. It is a sad message we are sending to our young people and to the world. But ahh yes, I must move on because there's more Breaking News!

Yes an Impeachment Inquiry has begun and its damning and messy for everyone. Yes, it's out in the open no matter what some diehard Republicans say about bunkers, basements and cultist behavior. Out in the open it is, for all to see and its not pretty. There are transcripts of more private depositions along with documentation of phone calls between Presidents and advisors. There are Presidential Tweets and grandstanding by questioners. Bottomline - there's a lot. But there are also heroes. The kind of heroes who always tend to appear when a country, a democracy or a government are in trouble. So far, it's been Foreign Service Officers, Ambassadors and those who some would call bureaucrats. We've watched these folks follow the rule of law, defy their bosses and respect legal subpoenas. They've shown courage and strength - moxie I guess. Something I've grown to appreciate in a world that seems to expect and accept bullies.

Speaking of bullies, I do feel badly about Donald Trump. He really is a very sad man. I don't particularly like to make fun of him. He's got plenty of that going on, coming in from all sides. He has brought so much of the hate on himself. His policies, his language, his Tweets, his lies, his poor attempts at jokes and his terrible use of english in trying to express himself. He has an awful lot going against him and he just won't change. Not even an attempt or an olive branch. But that fits the pattern of a bully. In addition, it has become more clear lately that there are some real cowards working for Donald Trump. Imagine a Secretary of State who asks someone to come out of retirement to be an Ambassador and then stands by while the person is attacked as a 'Never-Trumper'? Thats a coward, no two was about it. Or how about standing by as one of your people is threatened and vilified? Yes Mike Pompeo is the worst kind of yes man and a coward. Oh and there are certainly others.

I don't know what the ultimate result of the Impeachment process will be, but in the end, I'm hoping everyone learns something from it. I'd like to think that we can come to some resolution to the partisanship that is tearing us apart. It may be hopeful thinking but what do we have if we don't have hope? Perhaps we could get back to working on things like gun violence, injustice, poverty, violence and hateful behavior. In the meantime we should celebrate the heroes that will continue to pop up before us.

Remembering Roger - Nov. 9, 2019

Every November 9th, I remember Roger LaPorte. Roger's story, life and death are difficult for some to remember or to understand. He was a young man confronted by a time of war and killing that was getting worse by the day. He was frustrated by what he may have seen as an ineffective Peace Movement. No one knows everything that was going through his mind but I do know this - he was a good person, struggling like the rest of us to understand the things we see going on in the world. He was looking and searching for ways to help other people make it through hard times.

The other thing I know is that he deserves to be remembered. I've written other things in the past about Roger's story and those can be found here. RIP Roger.

Nov. 6, 1965 Dorothy Day's Words

It's important to remember and celebrate history and especially the words of leaders who make us think about what's important. Here are the words of Dorothy Day speaking about resistance to war and violence.

DOROTHY DAY, “UNION SQUARE SPEECH” (6 NOVEMBER 1965)

When Jesus walked this earth; True God and True man, and was talking to the multitudes, a woman in the crowd cried out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast that bore you and the breast that nourished you.” And he answered her, “Yes, but rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

And the word of God is the new commandment he gave us–to love our enemies, to overcome evil with good, to love others as he loved us–that is, to lay down our lives for our brothers throughout the world, not to take the lives of men, women, and children, young and old, by bombs and napalm and all the other instruments of war.

Instead he spoke of the instruments of peace, to be practiced by all nations–to feed the hungry of the world,–not to destroy their crops, not to spend billions on defense, which means instruments of destruction. He commanded us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, to save lives, not to destroy them, these precious lives for whom he willingly sacrificed his own.

I speak today as one who is old, and who must uphold and endorse the courage of the young who themselves are willing to give up their freedom. I speak as one who is old, and whose whole lifetime has seen the cruelty and hysteria of war in this last half century. But who has also seen, praise God, the emerging nations of Africa and Asia, and Latin America, achieving in many instances their own freedom through non-violent struggles, side by side with violence. Our own country has through tens of thousand of the Negroe [sic] people, shown an example to the world of what a non-violent struggle can achieve. This very struggle, begun by students, by the young, by the seemingly helpless, have led the way in vision, in courage, even in a martyrdom, which has been shared by the little children, in the struggle for full freedom and for human dignity which means the right to health, education, and work which is a full development of man’s god-given talents.

We have seen the works of man’s genius and vision in the world today, in the conquering of space, in his struggle with plague and famine, and in each and every demonstration such as this one–there is evidence of his struggle against war.

I wish to place myself beside A. J. Muste speaking, if I am permitted, to show my solidarity of purpose with these young men, and to point out that we too are breaking the law, committing civil disobedience, in advocating and trying to encourage all those who are conscripted, to inform their conscience, to heed the still small voice, and to refuse to participate in the immorality of war. It is the most potent way to end war.

We too, by law, myself and all who signed the statement of conscience, should be arrested and we would esteem it an honour to share prison penalties with these others. I would like to conclude these few words with a prayer in the words of St. Francis, saint of poverty and peace, “O Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love.”