April 5, 2018

National Catholic Reporter

Plowshares activists arrested for action at Georgia naval base

By James Dearie

ST. MARY’S, GA. — Seven activists from the Catholic Plowshares movement were arrested the morning of April 5 after breaking into a nuclear submarine base.

Elizabeth McAlister, Mark Colville, Clare Grady, Martha Hennessy, Jesuit Fr. Stephen Kelly, Patrick O’Neill, and Carmen Trotta were all taken into custody after illegally entering the Kings Bay Naval Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia.

According to a press release by Kings Bay Plowshares, the activists entered the base the night of April 4, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Once on the base, the activists split into three groups, with some going to an administration building, some to a D5 Missile monument, and others to the weapons bunkers.

The base hosts several submarines capable of launching Trident missiles, which are armed with nuclear warheads.

“Nuclear weapons kill every day through our mining, production, testing, storage, and dumping, primarily on Indigenous Native land,” the activists said in a statement read at the time of the arrest. “This weapons system is a cocked gun being held to the head of the planet.”

In addition to banners reading “The ultimate logic of racism is genocide,” a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, “The ultimate logic of Trident is omnicide,” and “Nuclear weapons: illegal — immoral,” the activists also carried with them an “indictment” of “the United States government, President Donald Trump, Kings Bay Base Commander Brian Lepine, the nuclear triad, and specifically the Trident nuclear program” for war crimes…

Read more- https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/plowshares-activists-arrested-action-georgia-naval-base