Final Day in Copenhagen

On the final day of our speaking tour in the Nordic nations Dave Webb and I were taken from Malmo, Sweden on the train to Copenhagen by our host Andre Brochu.  It's a short ride and as you cross over the water on the rail bridge in the near distance you see a large wind turbine farm.  To me these wind turbines signify life and the creation of a real future for the coming generations.

We had a lively meeting on the 3rd floor of a former school that has been turned into a community meeting space.  In virtually each of the places we spoke during this tour to Sweden, Finland and Denmark there was a public peace center or community space with offices for progressive groups and rooms for meetings.

One of the big issues facing Denmark is the US pushing them to purchase the F-35 fighter that is getting lots of bad reviews for being a complicated and temperamental war plane.  Peace activists there are organizing a campaign to block their government from buying the planes - the US is even demanding they purchase spare parts up front which is not a real confidence builder in the quality of the 'product'.

Just like in all the other meetings Dave and I participated in during this trip, the demonization of Russia by NATO was at the forefront in our discussions. One Danish woman in the meeting said, "We've got to work together globally and do it around NATO which is at the center of what is creating tensions."

The next official NATO meeting will be held in Brussels on May 24-25 and will be met by European-wide peace protests.  Then in August and September NATO will be holding their Aurora war games in Gothenburg, Sweden and peace groups in the Nordic region are gearing up to organize protests there as well.

One man during the Copenhagen meeting talked about the cuts in social programs they are now experiencing as the US pushes NATO members (and partners) to increase their contributions to the war alliance.  The US-based weapons industry wants NATO members to buy more weapons and that can only be done if each country forces more domestic austerity cuts and sticks the money in the NATO war budget.

The public transit system in Copenhagen (like in all Nordic nations) was impressive.  So were the loads of bicycles on Copenhagen streets.  These countries are doing their part to help move away from addiction to fossil fuels.  I wish I could say we were doing the same thing back home in my state of Maine.

In Maine we are building weapons for endless war, have very little public transportation, our governor has scuttled the offshore wind farm that a Norwegian company wanted to build in the Gulf of Maine, and our governor has been laying underground pipes to move fracked gas into our state.

We've got much to learn here in the US.  It would help if environmental groups took a stronger position opposing the US military which has the largest carbon boot print on Mother Earth.  There is an effort underway to try to get the People's Climate March scheduled for Washington DC on April 29 to recognize the military's massive role as the world's biggest polluter.  You can sign a petition calling on the march organizers to include this important issue here.

Thanks to all those who invited and hosted Dave and me during this trip.  We learned alot, made many new friends, and helped share our story about how space technology now directs all warfare on Earth.  People were interested and receptive and I am sure will integrate what they learned from us just like we will integrate what we learned from them into our work as well.

Bruce

Inciting Ukraine Against Russia

A video has surfaced online in which warmongers Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are caught meeting with the Ukraine military, encouraging them to launch an offensive against Russia and restart hostilities, all the while describing Russia as the “aggressor” that must “pay a heavier price.”

Sen. Graham says, “Your fight is our fight, 2017 will be the year of offense. All of us will go back to Washington and we will push the case against Russia. Enough of a Russian aggression. It is time for them to pay a heavier price.“

John McCain was no less provocative: “I believe you will win. I am convinced you will win and we will do everything we can to provide you with what you need to win.”

(Graham begins speaking at 1:10 in the video and McCain follows)

Just to prove that this was a bi-partisan trip notice that Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), a so-called 'liberal', was along on the trip (in yellow coat).

Yeah - great idea - let's start a real war with Russia - it should be easier than Iraq or Afghanistan has been!

Sunday Song

Shaken 'Em Up...

Japan's right-wing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (grandson of a member of the imperial Japanese war cabinet) got more than he asked for - watch his facial expression at the end.....

Lessons from the North

Inside the cave-like used bookstore in Helsingborg for our talk two nights ago

While visiting Stockholm, Helsinki, Gothenburg, Helsingborg, and Malmo we’ve learned much about the drastic changes now underway in Scandinavia.  The US and NATO cultural and military colonization of this part of the world has been a constant theme in our discussions with local activists.

One woman in Malmo told us, “Our Swedish culture is being erased.”  She reported that about 80% of Swedish TV is American programming. I can attest to that fact as the one time I turned on a TV and surfed the available channels it was more than surprising to see program after program from the US.  Her husband remarked that people no longer go to meetings – they go to work and come home and turn on the TV.

We heard that virtually the entire nation had been programmed to root for Hillary Clinton during the last election.  When Trump surprisingly pulled off his electoral college victory mothers had to take their children aside and reassure them as the kids shook in fear of the new American president.

A man in Malmo remarked, “Swedish leaders look to America but now with Trump in office they don’t know what to do.”  (It might be a good time for a course in corporate deprogramming….)

We learned that in recent years’ conservative Swedish governments have privatized much of the national stock of publicly owned apartments forcing people to take out expensive loans to purchase their flats.  The length of the loans will outlive most of the new ‘owners’ and as a result many people who had routinely voted for the Communist party are now voting for the conservatives. The new land owners fear property tax increases as the valuation of their housing has shot upward toward the moon.  They must now protect their ‘investment’.

The once strong sense of community and civic participation has dried up in the growing capitalist desert that now dominates Sweden.  As we walked down a well-lit street in Helsingborg a youngish man described how the local pubs, that used to be filled with political activists and vigorous debate, have closed and been transformed into ‘plastic’ watering holes for the trendy who have little interest in current affairs.  When people no longer are in touch with their own history their moorings are cut loose and they drift dangerously in the rough seas of present times.

This is the story of corporate globalization and you can hear similar tales whether in Romania, India, South Korea, the US, or most other places.  The public has been conditioned toward consumerism, info-tainment, depoliticization and a historical/political amnesia that ensures total bankster control.

Insert into this vacuum the current anti-Russia demonization by the corrupt forces that see Moscow and Beijing as primary obstacles to complete western (US-NATO) domination of the planet’s resources and economic system.  Thus, legions of people throughout the world are daily smothered with stories of a resurgent Russian bear bent of invading Europe to recreate the Soviet Union.  

People with little interest in, or knowledge of, actual global affairs are shepherded like willing lambs into allowing their tax monies to be shifted into NATO coffers to buy more weapons to encircle a largely defensive Russia and China.  Moscow has a vast northern border and as the Arctic Sea melts western fossil fuel pirates drool over the thought of a potential gold mine from drilling in the region. 

Thus, not only are the people of the Nordic nations being dumbed down they are being prepared for war with Russia to ensure the successful balkanization of the nation that Napoleon and Hitler failed to deliver to the western bankers.  This time nuclear weapons are in the military mix but the desperate US imperial puppeteers seem willing to roll the dice anyway as they fear their own demise before the takedown of Moscow and Beijing can be delivered to Wall Street and London’s financial district. 

Bruce   

Now in Malmo

Standing with Global Network board member Agneta Norberg last Saturday evening during her 80th birthday party in Stockholm.  Agneta organized the space conference earlier that day that brought me to the Nordic region.

Last night Dave Webb and I spoke in Helsingborg, Sweden inside a cozy cave-like basement second-hand bookstore.  Afterward our friend Andre Brochu (originally from Massachusetts and came to Sweden as a draft resister during the Vietnam War) took us on the train south to Malmo where we will be speaking tonight.

I want to mention that two nights ago after our talk in Gothenburg an Iraqi military veteran came up to me and told me that he agreed with a point I made during my talk.  I told the story about the 1991 Persian Gulf War that an aerospace industry publication at the time called the 'first space war'.  The Pentagon pre-identified all of Iraq's military targets with US military satellites, including under ground communications cables, and bombed 95% of these targets in the first 2-3 days of the war.  That meant the war was essentially over at that point.  But the US dragged the war on for weeks, expending lots of weapons that needed to be replaced at military production facilities back home, as they 'field tested' the US space war fighting technology system.  The Iraqi soldier said to me, "We felt the same way.  The war was a field test of US military space technology."

During the next two days we are supposed to take the train to Copenhagen, Denmark for speaking events there.  That train journey will take us just over one-half hour.  During that train ride over the bridge into Denmark we will see the huge offshore wind turbine farm.  I'd seen it once before and have always remained certain that we could do the same in the Gulf of Maine that is said to have the most wind capacity anywhere in the US.  Imagine the jobs at a place like Bath Iron Works in Maine building offshore wind turbines - lessening our dependence on fossil fuels and giving the future generations half a chance at life.

Bruce

Welcome to Alabama

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's State of the State address tonight: "If Alabamians can put man on the moon, we can build new prisons." pic.twitter.com/6Lh6kz7qtl

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) February 8, 2017

Be sure to listen to this short one from Alabama's governor.....

Join us in Huntsville, Alabama on April 7-9 for the 25th annual Global Network's 25th annual space organizing conference. 

Get more details here

NATO War Games Coming to Sweden

Dave Webb and I arrived in Gothenbourg, Sweden (along the North Sea) after flying here yesterday from Helsinki which sits on the Baltic Sea.  Both these bodies of water are currently being militarized by the US-NATO war alliance.

We where met at the airport by one of our local hosts and taken to a high point overlooking the port city.  Gothenbourg as it turns out is an industrial city where Volvo is headquartered (inside the airport we saw many Volvo displays).  But for an industrial city it is quite clean and remarkably attractive.

We are staying in a very quiet and well kept hostel and met for dinner with a couple leaders of the local peace group that is hosting our talk tonight.  The flyer advertising our event carries a photo of Donald Trump - we've seen his picture practically everywhere you turn since we arrived in Sweden and Finland days ago.  Needless to say people are trying to figure out what Trump will do in the coming years.

My early prediction that in the end Trump will at least help further the decline of the US 'exceptional imperial project' is already turning out to be right on.  People are saying that their country should not be following Washington over the cliff.

A major US-NATO war game called Aurora will be held around Gothenburg this coming August-September and will of course be aimed at Russia.  Like across much of the west Russia and Putin are being continually demonized in Sweden (and Finland) and one of our hosts reported that local police and other public institutions are being mandated to become part of the 'total defense mobilization' against the coming Russian invasion.  Non-stop fear mongering does have an impact on a public who are captives of corporate media!

But the numbers don't lie.  In 2015 the US spent 36% of the world's military spending total - when you add the NATO member (and partner) states that figure jumps to well over 50%.  Russia slinks in at 4% of the global total and in 2016 Moscow actually cut their military spending due to economic sanctions and dropping oil prices.  So is Russia, with its huge land mass and many borders to protect from a NATO on steroids, really going to invade Europe and beyond?  Give me a break!

Such is the world we live in these days where truth and real facts have no place.

Peace groups in the Nordic region are planning coordinated protests next late summer/early fall when US-NATO hold the Aurora war games here.  These efforts should be supported by all.

Bruce

This is So Pitiful

Listen to this complete and utter bullshit from one of the leading 'liberal' Democrats in the House of Representatives (Rep. Maxine Waters from Los Angeles)

They have no damn soul....they just make this shit up as they go along and their party faithful follow along like sheep and mouth the same lies.

Who in the Democratic party will call her out on this?

Bruce

No Zumwalt Destroyer on Jeju Island!

A February 7 morning press conference in front of the Jeju Navy base (Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea) regarding people's position opposing to the talk on the deployment of U.S. Zumwalt 'stealth' destroyer in Jeju and/or other parts of Korea.

No Zumwalt!

No Jeju Navy base!

Post by Choi Hye-young

The Forces We are Up Against are Fascist

Jeremy Scahill speaks at the Anti-Inauguration event sponsored by Jacobin, Haymarket Books, and Verso Books. Recorded from The Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC. 

Just to be clear, a moment before speaking about Trump's Administration, Jeremy destroyed Obama's Legacy. He is not one sided, and as you can hear at the end of the talk, he calls of the dismantling of the two-party system.

Jeremy is a founding editor of the online news publication The Intercept, and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, which won the George Polk Book Award. The Intercept was founded with the intention to "produce aggressive, adversarial journalism across a wide range of issues".

Now in Finland

• Dave Webb (UK Chair of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and I arrived in Helsinki, Finland at 10:00 am this morning after an all night ferry ride from Stockholm.  The seas were fairly calm so the ride was quite nice.  

• Two members of the Finnish Peace Committee escorted us on the journey.  We speak early this evening in Helsinki and then move back to Sweden tomorrow for talks in Gothenburg, Helsingborg, Malmo and then Copenhagen, Denmark before heading home on Feb. 13.

• I had my DNA tested some months ago and learned that I am 1% Finnish so it is a bit of a homecoming for me....ha, ha, ha.

• I saw today that Trump told a Fox News host Bill O’Reilly the following:

O’Reilly then said about Putin: “But he’s a killer, though. Putin’s a killer.”

Trump responded: “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country’s so innocent?”

When O’Reilly says he doesn’t know any government leaders who are killers, Trump says “take a look at what we’ve done, too. We’ve made a lot of mistakes” and references the Iraq War.

• A so-called 'liberal Democrat (Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn) then trashed Trump in response.  Lately the Democrats are sounding like major league Cold War Hawks.  They seem unable to acknowledge when Trump does or says anything positive.  I mean for God sakes - give the man some credit for not wanting a war with Russia!  At the least for now he is saying something good on this one issue.

• It's pretty bad when I've noticed some peace activists cheering on Sen. John McCain when he trashes Trump about his position on Russia.  McCain wants war with Russia so bad it is making him crazy.  People here in the US need to develop the ability to see that when Trump does anything good (like dumping the TPP or his position on calm relations with Moscow) we must be able to say something like this:  "OK, good Trump.  Thank you - now let's see some more sensible policies on other issues."  
• In the end this little bit of sanity about getting along with Russia might not last long in a Trump White House.  The neo-cons are pushing back hard against him and we know he can shift his positions quicker than you can say 'Trump Towers'.  But it certainly won't hurt to encourage him when he does something correctly.

• A South Korean newspaper is reporting that the US Navy's new Zumwalt 'stealth' destroyer will be visiting that country very soon.  People in Gangjeong village on Jeju Island have already made a banner saying 'No to Zumwalt'.  When we were arrested last June at the Bath Iron Works 'christening' for the destroyer we read a statement from village activists expressing their solidarity during the rally before our blocking of the street in front of the shipyard.

Bruce

Sunday Song

Walking Away from Endless War

This piece of art is hanging on the wall of the room I am sleeping in.  The house is owned by a woman in the group Women for Peace in Stockholm that organized the day-long conference that I spoke at today.  When I saw this picture I knew I wanted to put it on my blog.  In the middle of last night, suffering from jet lag, I was in bed gazing at it and thinking about the guilty verdict in our Zumwalt 12 trial in Bath, Maine.

I was not at all surprised to hear about the verdict.  I was lucky that Justice Billings let me leave the trial before it was over after I told him I was due to fly from the Boston airport at 9:00 pm on February 3.  In order to get there on time from Maine I had to leave Bath by 4:00 pm.  Fortunately the judge was extraordinarily kind and gave me permission to go.  It was difficult to abandon my friends in the courtroom - we've been through a whirlwind together.

Mary Beth emailed me last night from Maine with word about the verdict.  You always wonder if our group of defendants had touched any of the hearts and minds of the jurors enough that at least one of them would understand what our intentions were and would stand up on our behalf.  But in the end that kind of thinking is naive in a way - it's not their struggle and they didn't sign up to take on the American judicial system although it does happen now and then - mostly not.

One of our friends found a comment by one of the jurors in the comment section of the Bangor Daily News article about the trial (one consolation is there were many comments which is good).  It reads:

Juror #27

I was a juror on this case and I applaud their efforts. Even though we found them guilty of blocking a public way and that their actions were unreasonable toward other public members trying to use Washington street at the time of their sit down. Their actions were nonviolent and peaceful. Other Protesters in our country should take look at these 10 protesters / activist and learn from their Nonviolent efforts.

The picture above speaks to me in the sense that society has conditioned (colonized the minds) of the vast majority of the people around the world to chase the cheese.  Most have left the natural life to head to the ugly and polluting cities in order to find work in order to survive.  Their lives often get wrapped up in materialism and entertainment and soon most people lose touch with nature and with what makes us all human.  We take jobs doing most anything - even ones that we might hate (can't tell you how many people over the years have told me how lucky I am to be doing work I believe in).  Often times people have to do work that promotes and/or enables war such as those who work at military production sites.

In many ways I identify with the man who is walking away from the long queue - willing to give up some level of 'social comfort' but is willing to take his chances as he happily avoids the rat race in the urban jungle.  I live in a community of 10,000, certainly not a village in the countryside, but not a massive city where one chokes on pollution and faces the constant noise and impersonality of the megatropolis.

The conference in Stockholm today was entitled 'The North - A Zone of Peace' and focused on US-NATO encirclement of Russia by using Norway and Sweden as space warfare technology bases.  The Nordic region is being massively militarized including Finland that even during the height of the Cold War stayed neutral in the big power push-and-shove that took the world to the nuclear brink.

In the coming days Global Network board convener Dave Webb (Chair of the UK's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and I will travel to Helsinki, Finland and then back to several cities in Sweden before ending our speaking tour in Copenhagen, Denmark.

If the audience today was any indication there will be strong interest in our analysis about US-NATO use of space technology to prepare for war with Russia (and China).  More than 80 activist leaders turned out from all over Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway to hear Dave and I speak along with our board member Regina Hagen from Germany.

I am determined to continue my nonviolent protests and civil resistance in front of Bath Iron Works in my Maine hometown.  After hearing a woman from Finland say today that 50% of the public in her country believe a war is coming between the US-NATO and Russia I remain compelled to step up my actions for peace.  I must do all I can to help the largely sleeping American people to at least 'consider' what our nation is doing around the globe that is putting to risk literally all life on our Mother Earth.

How could I travel to all these places and meet these wonderful people and not act in solidarity with them as they work for peace - trying to ensure that the madness of war in the age of space technology does not continue to flourish?

Bruce

Zumwalt Jury Verdict: Guilty as Charged!

Zumwalt Destroyer protesters found guilty--sentenced to 30 hours each of community service.  Bath, ME

Justice Dan Billings, after hearing the jury's verdict and recommendations for monetary fines from the Sagadahoc County's District Attorney's office, said the sentence justifies leniency because "the defendants believed they were acting appropriately with the greater good in mind" and that their actions were "within the tradition of civil disobedience and non-violent protest".

12 people were accused of "obstructing a public way" by sitting on Washington St. in front of Bath Iron Works during the "christening" of the latest stealth destroyer on June 18, 2016. Two chose to accept the offer of a $140.00 donation to the United Way rather than face trial, for health and travel reasons.

The remaining ten were given a jury trial that in the opinion of one observer "restored my faith in our justice system". Although the jury deliberated for less than 25 minutes, no defendant ever denied the facts in the case, but was intent on examining First Amendment rights to free speech redress of grievances  and that their actions were "reasonable". As one defendant testified "I know that my first amendment rights do not extend to yelling "fire" in a building, but when the fire is happening, I have a moral responsibility to say so."

Citing long time opposition to war, personal faith, resistance to paying war taxes, rates of military spending, climate change and their status as members of Veterans for Peace, each of the ten spoke their truth to the jury and explained why they were led to take that action on that day. Although they did not all know each other, after their arrests and trial they are now deeply committed friends and allies, counseled by long-time First Amendment and civil disobedience champion, Attorney Lynne Williams of Bar Harbor, ME.

See the Bangor Daily News article here

Day 2: Zumwalt 12 Trial Testimony

The Zumwalt 'stealth' destroyer now made at Bath Iron Works in Maine

My name is Bruce Gagnon and I work for the Global Network Against Weaspons & Nuclear Power in Space - this is our 25th year of operation.  I specialize on space technology and the missiles that are used by the military today.  Every thing the Pentagon does today is directed by space technology.

Most of the destroyers built at BIW carry advanced SM-3 interceptor missiles (Standard Missile -3) that are key elements in Pentagon first-strike attack planning.

Living in Bath I’ve felt a special responsibility to learn about the military role of the warships built at BIW.  They have nothing to do with defending the coastline of the US – the Zumwalt destroyer ‘christened’ on June 18, 2016 at BIW is a stealth, forward deployed, attack weapon to be aimed at China. I became particularly interested in where these ships will go when they head to the Asia-Pacific.

So in recent years I have travelled to places like Japan, South Korea, Australia, Philippines and Okinawa where the US is deploying a growing military presence under a strategy called ‘Asia-Pacific pivot’ created by President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  The pivot requires more ports-of-call for our warships, more airfields for our planes and more barracks for our troops.

The idea is to send 60% of US military forces into the Asia-Pacific in order to encircle China and Russia.  Imagine if the reverse was happening and China (or Russia) were lining up ships along our coasts and putting troops and bases near our borders in Canada or Mexico.  We’d go ballistic.

The reason I missed the jury selection process was because I was attending my son’s wedding in Taiwan at the same time.  From there I went to Okinawa for a week and stood beside local people who have been protesting outside a US Marine base daily for more than 900 days straight.  The reason for their protests is simple: the Marine base sits beside pristine Oura Bay which is now being measured for a twin-runway airfield for US war planes. The runways will sit on top of endangered coral reefs.   People make a living from this sacred water body where endangered sea mammals now live. Two million cubic meters of landfill will be put on top of the coral reefs in order to build the ten meter high airfield. There are presently 32 US military installations on Okinawa taking up 20% of the island.  The people have been protesting regularly since 1952 against US bases but you'd never know that in the United States because these protests are not reported in our corporate run media. 

This is just one example of many as the US now has well over 800 military bases spread around the world.

I was compelled to sit in the roadway at BIW on June 18 as a cry to the American people. Look at what we are doing!  I tried to give voice to the many people (mostly farmers and fishermen) I’ve met in these places who are seeing their way of life destroyed because of expanding US bases in their communities.

We can’t afford endless war nor can we afford the $4-7 billion for each of the Zumwalt destroyers. Climate change and growing poverty are our real problems but there is sadly no money or political interest to deal with these issues here at home.

Even my neighbor who works at BIW told me the day after our arrests that we can’t keep paying for these warships.

We could save lives and the planet if we convert BIW to build commuter rail systems, wind turbines, solar and tidal power systems. This would both create more jobs and address climate change.

A study at UMASS-Amherst Economics Dept. called “The US Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities” says that we would double the jobs at a place like BIW if we built rail systems there.  The study reports that military spending is capital intensive while every other kind of investment is labor intensive.  That means more jobs when we build things we really need.

On May 21, 2015 a protest was held by the workers at BIW that shut down Washington Street in front of BIW for well over an hour.  I was contacted by a union member who invited me to march in that protest.  The person even called the union hall and spoke with the president of S6 to ask if it was OK that I came.  He said sure as long as I didn’t bring a sign.  They were protesting the growing outsourcing of work to non-union sources.  I arrived just before noon and stood around in the big crowd for about half an hour.  There were many hundreds of workers along Washington Street.

Finally the march started off down by the South Gate on Washington Street.  The entire street was shut down and no one was arrested – including me who was marching along in the crowd.  Traffic had to have been blocked for well over an hour.

We must think of our children and grand kids.  What do they need to survive?  More war or a real future on our planet?

I am not guilty of any crime – other than not doing enough to help stop this madness.  Our demands and our actions on June 18 were perfectly reasonable.

I wanted to alert our community to a larger crime – the crime of continued preparation for endless war and destruction of life on our beautiful and sacred Mother Earth.

My decision to sit down in the road was influenced by the oath I took when I joined the military. I took seriously my oath to defend the constitution and our country and I now believe what I was doing on June 18 was in line with that oath.

Thank you.

Bruce

Photos from Today's Protest Prior to Start of Zumwalt 12 Trial in Maine

Photos by Regis Tremblay

Prior to the start of our Zumwalt 12 trial today in Bath, Maine supporters from all over the state gathered at 8:00 am with defendants outside the Sagadahoc County Courthouse.

At the start of trial more than 60 supporters were in the courtroom - with more having to wait outside in the hall because there were not enough seats inside.

After opening statements by many of the defendants the state brought a string of policemen to the stand to point out each of us who were arrested at Bath Iron Works on June 18 when we protested at the 'christening' of a new $4 billion Zumwalt stealth destroyer.

The trial resumes in the morning at 9:00 am in Bath.

Below is my opening statement that I gave to the court and the jury:


Opening statement

My name is Bruce Gagnon and I live here in Bath – in fact our house is just a few doors down Centre St. 

I grew up in an Air Force family, living behind the barbed wire fences on bases throughout the US, England and Germany.  In 1968 (at 16 years old) I was Vice-President of the Okaloosa County, Florida Young Republican Club working on the Nixon for president campaign.

In 1971 I tried to join the Air Force like my dad (who was from a paper mill family in Rumford) but flunked my induction physical because of a high school football injury.  I had to get a medical waiver to get into the military at a time when most young men my age were trying to avoid the Vietnam War draft.

After my training I was sent to a base in California that was an airlift base for the war.  GI’s from around the country came to our base to fly to Vietnam and when the planes returned they would bring the body bags of dead soldiers along with the wounded.

One day a GI came to our base and refused to get on the plane to fly to Vietnam.  Instead he sat on a curb and cut his penis off.  It was at this base that I changed and became a peace activist.  I’ve been organizing full time in the peace movement since 1983 after first working as a organizer for the United Farmworkers Union organizing fruit pickers in Florida.

I want to explain my thinking about this case so that as you listen to us you will have an idea what to pay attention to.  I am going to testify under oath that our actions at BIW on June 18 were reasonable.  I will admit that I sat in the road on Washington Street in front of the shipyard as the ‘christening’ ceremony was beginning. 

The judge will explain to you that the law requires the state to prove much more to you than that we blocked part of Washington Street.  The state must prove we were being unreasonable. 

As you listen to us please remember your oath to presume that we are innocent unless the state can convince you that beyond a shadow of a doubt that what we did on June 18 was unreasonable.

You will hear me testify that I believe our country’s democracy is now in danger and that real citizens input and fair policies are difficult to bring about because of the undue extraordinary influence of corporations (like General Dynamics) and the big money they put into our elections.  I will testify that every day, ordinary citizens, like myself, and like each of us in this courtroom, have a hard time getting our meager voices heard by the big wigs in Washington. 

I will testify that sometimes we need to do a Boston Tea Party type action.  In fact our own national independence was kicked-off by a non-violent act of civil disobedience which I am sure that King George in England at the time thought was very unreasonable.

The evidence will show that I spoke with the Bath police department weeks in advance of our protest (as we always do).  Then nine days before the event I emailed the Bath chief of police a copy of the news release announcing that we were going to do civil disobedience that day.

I will testify that we were trying to remain cooperative while at the same time exercising our first-amendment freedoms to protest what we consider the hugely expensive and horribly destructive Zumwalt ‘stealth’ destroyer that could be used to sneak up on China and blast them with new electro-magnetic rail guns that can fire a shell the distance between Philadelphia and NYC.

We intend to show that we are regular people with important concerns about peace, jobs, climate change, and the cost of the Zumwalt destroyer which will actually worsen our country’s fiscal crisis.

I will testify that I have been a regular peace vigiler in front of Bath Iron Works for many years.  I’ll describe how I have encouraged other activists to hold signs calling for the conversion of BIW – build offshore wind turbines and commuter rail systems up and down the coast of Maine – getting us out of our polluting cars so we can help lessen our carbon footprint on our Mother Earth so the future generations can live.  

Under oath I will share information about studies that show building rail would double the jobs at BIW since military production is the least cost effective way to create jobs.

Some years ago one BIW worker came to me and asked me to help him draft a petition for shipyard workers saying they wanted to build wind turbines.  He got 800 fellow workers at the shipyard to sign it.  I helped arrange for him to meet with the editor of the Times Record who wrote an editorial congratulating him for his vision.  The editor asked these questions: who ever thought the Navy base would close in Brunswick?  What happens if our fiscally broken nation runs out of money and we have to close BIW?  Shouldn’t the community be talking about alternatives to building increasingly expensive warships?

Our BIW friend, very active in the union, was the first worker to ever speak at a shipyard protest during a ‘christening’ some years ago.  On June 18, the day we were arrested, he was with us at BIW filming the whole event. He is sitting here in the courtroom today.

We know it’s asking a lot to bring these issues to you, our fellow citizens on this jury, but we have few alternatives.  I was taught in the schools on Air Force bases where I grew up that the people controlled our government in this democracy but over the years I’ve learned that everything was not actually as advertised in America.

We have to start somewhere if we hope to return sanity, hope and real democracy to our nation.  We ask you to think about these things we say here. 

Thank you for listening.

Bruce

Coverage of First Day of Zumwalt 12 Trial in Maine

Protesters arrested last June at Bath Iron Works' christening of the stealth destroyer USS Zumwalt march into Sagadahoc County Superior Court to stand trial Wednesday morning.

By Beth Brogan, Bangor Daily News Staff

BATH, Maine — Protesters arrested outside Bath Iron Works during the christening of a Zumwalt-class destroyer in June 2016 told a jury on Wednesday that while they did block the main street to the shipyard during the event, their actions were not unreasonable as required by the law they’re accused of violating.

Ten of the 12 people charged with misdemeanor obstruction of a public way last year pleaded not guilty in connection with the protest outside the shipyard’s south gate, which police said blocked traffic on Washington Street for thousands attending the christening of the future USS Michael Monsoor.

Two defendants, Tarak Kauff of Woodstock, New York, and George Ostenson of Hope, previously accepted plea agreements and made contributions of $140 to United Way in exchange for charges being dropped. Ostenson’s health made him unable to sit during long periods such as a trial, and Kauff was scheduled to be at a conference on the West Coast.

The 2016 protest kindled memories of the 1997 demonstration that landed peace activist Philip Berrigan in a Bath jail cell and other acts of civil disobedience commonly associated with the anti-war movement of the Vietnam War era.

Bruce Gagnon, 64, of Bath, a Vietnam War veteran and member of Veterans for Peace and among nine defendants representing himself, said at the time of the arrest that they protested “the celebration of endless war and corporate profit.”

According to Maine statute, prosecutor Alexander Willette must convince the 12-person jury that the protesters “unreasonably obstructed free passage of foot or vehicular traffic on a public way” and refused to move after being ordered by police to do so.

Among the defendants representing themselves, Richard “Brown” Lethem, 84, of Bath introduced himself to the jury, noting that he is an artist, a Quaker, a pacifist, a veteran and has been actively opposed to war since the Vietnam War era.

“My sincere intent was not to block anything but to open a doorway for my country to regain its equilibrium and sanity,” he said.

Connie Jenkins, 68, of Orono, a retired nurse practitioner and psychotherapist, showed the jury a medallion she said she received upon becoming a peace activist during the Vietnam War, which bears the words, “War is not healthy for children and other living things.”

“In my profession, I was called to protect life and do no harm,” Jenkins said, in part. “I could never have imagined it would be necessary to still be wearing [the medallion] more than 40 years later.”

Jason Rawn of Lincolnville told the jury he’s traveled to many “war bases” in Asia, and he said it’s “unfortunate” that General Dynamics, which owns Bath Iron Works, “has decided to dedicate that facility exclusively to war production.”

“Is the message of the possibility of peace reasonable?” Rawn asked, adding, “Obstructing the public way is one of the many reasonable First Amendment protected actions … how could our actions be deemed unreasonable?”

Prior to opening statements Wednesday morning, Sagadahoc County Superior Court Judge Daniel Billings dealt the defendants a blow when he ruled that they could not question police about a May 2015 demonstration by a BIW union, when nearly 1,000 workers marched down Washington Street to protest its treatment by the company, according to The Times Record.

“They may still be protests, and it may still be First Amendment expression, but they are different,” Billings said. “There’s a significant difference between a march down the street on a regular workday and a march down the street during the christening.”

Without the jury present, head of Bath Iron Works security Stan Cielinski told Billings that he estimated 100 to 140 union members marched that day and blocked traffic for about eight to 10 minutes.

“That’s very interesting because I was there that day, and I believe the [newspaper] article says ‘hundreds’ of people were there,” Gagnon said. “I will testify that the entire street, from the South Gate almost to the union hall, was covered with people.”

Attorney Lynne Williams, who represents defendant Joan Peck of Brunswick, had argued that the street was “clearly a traditional forum for First Amendment activity.”

“Police officers are not permitted to have unfettered discretion when it comes to first amendment activity,” Williams told Billings prior to his ruling.

Gagnon said prior to the ruling that comparing the police response to the two protests “shows that there is a double standard at work here. It proves that we were unfairly charged with a crime, whereas other people in much greater numbers have blocked a public way for [a] vastly” longer period of time.

To a question from Gagnon whether the protest in any way halted or delayed the christening ceremony, Cielinski said, “The ship’s crew was marching in as the protest started. I don’t know if it delayed the start … it did create some anxiety for the crew.”

Pressed by Gagnon whether it actually disrupted the safety of the event, Cielinski paused before saying, “It’s my responsibility for getting people and guests into the yard, and you did interrupt that.”

Bath Police Lt. Robert Savary, who led the department’s response that day, said he had discussed with Gagnon a “designated protest space” for the protesters to gather in and that he learned about a week before the christening that they planned an act of civil disobedience, but that Gagnon would not tell him specifically what was planned. He said police had to stop traffic to ensure the safety of protesters and others, and he said he warned the protesters several times before telling them they were under arrest.

As Willette showed Bath Iron Works surveillance video of the protest, Savary said, “Right after that, they sat down” and interlocked arms.

The trial was expected to continue Wednesday afternoon and possibly until Friday.