10 People Arrested for Ringing in the New Year at U.S. Security Complex
http://www.commondreams.org | 04.01.2002 02:52
OAK RIDGE, TN - January 1 - At 8:00am January 1, 2002, ten Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance activists entered the Y-12 National Security Complex to reclaim the nuclear weapons production facility for peace. Carrying flags, candles and symbols of peace, they made a commitment to work for peace and an end to nuclear weapons production in the coming year. They were arrested by the Oak Ridge city police, charged with misdemeanor trespass and released.
Below is the statement the group read on the property.
WE RECLAIM THIS LAND FOR PEACE
We are a community of people committed to nonviolence. We are here at the dawn of a New Year bringing candles to light a path toward a world free from the threat of nuclear annihilation. We plant the flags of peace to claim the Y-12 National Nuclear Weapons Production Facility (Y-12 National Security Complex) as a facility for disarmament.
By declaring 2002 a "war year", President Bush has made it clear that US terrorism abroad will not stop with Afghanistan. President Bush has abandoned the Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty and the US government boycotted the United Nations Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Review Conference.
While the President has pledged to substantially cut our nuclear stockpiles, the Department of Energy has received billions of tax dollars to rebuild the US nuclear weapons complex, in order to increase production of nuclear weapons.
We demand that US tax dollars now budgeted for nuclear weapons be redirected so that people will have necessary food, decent and affordable housing, quality education, adequate medical care and life-giving jobs.
The threat of annihilation cannot be the basis of any foreign policy. Peace is built by respecting the rights and dignity of all people and acting as a partner within the global community. We are making a committed stand for peace so that future generations, worldwide, will enjoy freedom of speech, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Participants:
Kate Berrigan, 20, Oberlin, OH; Paloma Galindo, 35, Knoxville, TN; Ann Hablas, 76, Jacksboro, TN; Erik Johnson, 57, Maryville, TN; Rebecca Johnson, 22, Washington, DC; Mary Denis Lentsch, 64, Chattanooga, TN; Tim Mellon, 45, Oak Ridge, TN; Laurel Paget-Seekins, 21, Oakland, CA; Sarah Ruth Saunders, 20, Lake Orion, MI; Shelley Wascom, 42, Lake City, TN
Below is the statement the group read on the property.
WE RECLAIM THIS LAND FOR PEACE
We are a community of people committed to nonviolence. We are here at the dawn of a New Year bringing candles to light a path toward a world free from the threat of nuclear annihilation. We plant the flags of peace to claim the Y-12 National Nuclear Weapons Production Facility (Y-12 National Security Complex) as a facility for disarmament.
By declaring 2002 a "war year", President Bush has made it clear that US terrorism abroad will not stop with Afghanistan. President Bush has abandoned the Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty and the US government boycotted the United Nations Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Review Conference.
While the President has pledged to substantially cut our nuclear stockpiles, the Department of Energy has received billions of tax dollars to rebuild the US nuclear weapons complex, in order to increase production of nuclear weapons.
We demand that US tax dollars now budgeted for nuclear weapons be redirected so that people will have necessary food, decent and affordable housing, quality education, adequate medical care and life-giving jobs.
The threat of annihilation cannot be the basis of any foreign policy. Peace is built by respecting the rights and dignity of all people and acting as a partner within the global community. We are making a committed stand for peace so that future generations, worldwide, will enjoy freedom of speech, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Participants:
Kate Berrigan, 20, Oberlin, OH; Paloma Galindo, 35, Knoxville, TN; Ann Hablas, 76, Jacksboro, TN; Erik Johnson, 57, Maryville, TN; Rebecca Johnson, 22, Washington, DC; Mary Denis Lentsch, 64, Chattanooga, TN; Tim Mellon, 45, Oak Ridge, TN; Laurel Paget-Seekins, 21, Oakland, CA; Sarah Ruth Saunders, 20, Lake Orion, MI; Shelley Wascom, 42, Lake City, TN
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