3 Catholic Worker Arrested in "Peace Break In" at Northwood Permanent Joint HQ
Solidarity | 29.12.2008 15:26
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/DoctrineOperationsandDiplomacy/PJHQ/NorthwoodHeadquarters.htm
Fr Martin Newell 41 and Susan Clarkson 62 are from the London and Oxford Catholic Worker commmunities where they live and work with refugees from wars in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. While the two were arrested praying inside the base, other members of Catholic Worker communities held vigil at the front entrance reading the names of British and Afghani war dead.
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold/memorial.htm http://www.lastingtribute.co.uk/featuredtributes/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/afghanistan Former British Marine Les Gibbons was arrested while engaging armed guards, M.O.D. police and other Base employees making there way to work at the base. During the arrests, sirens and public address messages from within the base could be heard announcing "Operation Round Up" and a return of all staff to buildings as the base's security response was put in place.
Northwood Military Headquarters is the command centre for all British forces deployed abroad in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is a 43 acre site in suburban London accommodating over 2,000 military and civilian personnel. In recent weeks, two British soldiers commited suicide in Basra while the 136th. British soldier to die in Afghanistan was killed on Christmas Eve. The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission estimates over 750 Afghani civilians have been killed by Western forces in 2008.
The anti-war direct action followed a weekend of reflection and liturgy by Catholic Workers from London, Oxford, Dublin, Southampton and the CW farmhouse who live and work with refugees, street homeless and traficked women. A mass was held outside Northwood on Sunday's "Feast of the Holy Innocents" that commemorates the massacre of the children by King Herod who saw the birth of Christ as a threat to his power.
The Catholic Worker is an international pacifist movement focused on work with the homeless and nonviolent anti-war activity. The Catholic Worker has sustained a constant peace presence and nonviolent resistance at Northwood Headquarters since the initial 2001 bombing and invasion of Afghanistan. The entrance sign to the Northwood base, that had been stained by red paint during previous actions, had been removed by military security seemingly tuned into the rhythms of the liturgical calender!
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85631#comment216541 For more information/Text solidarity Ph. 07983 477 819
(outside uk 0044 7983 477 819)
For interview with Fr. Martin Newell on release Ph. 079 3122 1965
*Donations to support those arrested as they travel through the court and penal system should be made out to "London Catholic Worker" c/o 14 Deal Street, London E1 5AH, ENGLAND
Feast of the Holy Innocents 2008
Statement of Faith
We come here today from Catholic Worker communities to witness at Northwood on behalf of all the victims of war.
We come here to pray, repent and create.
We pray particularly for all those who have died in the war in Afghanistan over the past year, especially those connected to Northwood Headquarters. This includes all military and civillian victims, women, men but especially the children. On 28 December the Catholic church commemorates the murder of the children by King Herod in his search to destroy the baby Jesus who Herod believed threatened his empire.
We repent of our complicity in this imperial warmaking of our government and pray to be people committed to nonviolent ways of solving conflict. We invite all whom we meet today to reflect on this power of nonviolence.
In this place, where the military planning of the joint forces of the United Kingdon takes place veilled in secrecy and fear based security, we are here to create a new citizen's gateway through which we enter to pray and through which we invite our fellow citizens to enter and see what is done in our name. We make our own the words of the Bible "Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight"
By coming here today we are trying to put into practice the words of Jesus whom we follow:Love your enemies and do good for those who persecute you" which are the ways to peace.
We ask you to join us in entering this gateway to peace.
Susan Clarkson
Martin Newell cp
Solidarity
Additions
Photos of Nortwood Vigil, Mass & Arrest
29.12.2008 15:47
Susan & Martin
Northwood HQ Vigil
Mass opposite Northwood
Les Arrested Dec29
Susan & Martin Arrested Dec 29
M Albrecht
e-mail:
thecatholicworkerfarm@yahoo.co.uk
Homepage:
http://www.londoncatholicworker.org
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3 CW Mothers Arrested @ Israeli Embassy, DC, Protesting Bombig of Gaza
30.12.2008 16:42
Protesting Bombing of Gaza
(Clare Grady & Ellen Grady, Ithaca, NY
-Heidi Schloegel Bronx, NY)
December 29, 2008 - As part of a group of 60 people from the
Atlantic Life Community, three mothers, Heidi Schloegel and Ellen
Grady and Clare Grady of the Grady clan of Ithaca NY CWers, were
arrested outside the Israeli embassy. The group was petitioning
embassy officials for an end to Israeli air strikes on Gaza. The three
approached the embassy gate singing "Peace, Salaam, Shalom" and
holding signs which read, "Peace. Stop the killing," and "Stop the war
on the children." They knelt and prayed before being arrested. The
three mothers are being held over night, and it is anticipated that
they will appear tomorrow for arraignment in Superior Court of the
District of Columbia.
The action was part of a three day retreat organized by the
Atlantic Life Community to commemorate the biblical Feast of the Holy
Innocence and to protest the slaughter of the innocent of today:
"When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in
a dream. Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to
Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for
the child to kill him. So he got up, took the child and his mother
during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death
of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the
prophet: Out of Egypt I called my son. When Herod realized that he had
been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill
all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and
under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then
what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is
heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her
children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." -
Matthew 2:16-18
Earlier Monday, Dec. 29th, the group held a vigil at the
Pentagon on the retreat's theme of empire and children. Eleven of the
seventy vigilers were arrested and charged with "disobeying a lawful
order" for holding signs outside of the Pentagon's designated free
speach zone. They are scheduled to appear in court on the 6th of
March, 2009.
Washington D.C.
Homepage:
http://www.jonahhouse.org
Anti-war Protest on "Feast of Innocents" at Ft. McCoy/USA Results in Arrests
31.12.2008 00:23
charges at the main gate of Ft. McCoy Monday, Dec. 29, during a
protest of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Organizers said the
action was a condemnation of the "killing of innocents."
More than 3000 Wisconsin National Guard members are set to be sent to
Iraq in 2009. The State's 32nd Brigade Combat Team will be part of the
call-up.
An great number of civilian deaths have resulted from the 2003
U.S.-led attack on Iraq. Iraq- Body-Count.org estimates that over
90,147 civilians have been killed. The British medical journal Lancet
published two reports on Iraqi civilian deaths: in 2004 it estimated
98,000 had been killed; in 2006, it estimated 654,965 civilian deaths.
In June of 2006, the Iraqi Health Ministry reported that at least
151,000 violent deaths had been caused by the war.
A January 2008 survey by the London-based Opinion Research Business
estimated that over one million (1,033,000) total Iraqi deaths had
been caused since the 2003 invasion. This poll's margin of error was
+/- 2.5 %, giving a range of between 946,000 and 1,120,000 — the
largest estimate of innocent victims made by any survey.
Bonnie Urfer, 56, Luck, Wisc., a co-director of the peace group
Nukewatch, who was among those arrested said, "Like any war, the U.S.
is killing mostly civilians. This is criminal, and our National Guard
shouldn't be forced to commit these crimes."
Also arrested Monday were: Cassandra Dixon, 50, of Mary Catholic
Worker House, Wisconsin Dells, and Gail Vaughn, 57, of La Crosse,
Wisc.
December 28 is a traditional religious holiday, known as the Feast of
the Holy Innocents, which commemorates the biblical report (Matthew
2:1-18) of a hated King Herod of Judea ordering "the massacre of all
the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under."
In November, state representative Spencer Black, D-Madison, 77th
Dist., drafted legislation challenging the legality of using state
National Guard troops in unlawful foreign deployments.
The bill notes that the 2002 congressional Authorization for the Use
of Military Force in Iraq has expired. That authorization allowed the
attack on Iraq for the purposes of 1) eliminating an alleged threat
from Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction, and 2) removing
Iraqi president Saddam Hussein from power.
The 2002 Authorization has not been renewed, Black's bill states, so
there is no legal basis for the ongoing war in Iraq. Fifteen other
state legislatures are likewise challenging the warfare use of Guard
troops. — end —
--------------------------------------------
Statement of the Group:
"We are gathered today at Fort McCoy from Wisc., Minn., and Illinois,
to commemorate the deaths of the Holy Innocents from the Christian
liturgical calendar ... and to demand an end to the military
occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
"These occupations have resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000
civilians, most of them children.
"We demand that the Guard remain home in this time to rebuild our
bridges, our levies and our roads. We urge the Guard members to refuse
orders for deployment.
"We call on our elected officials to accept the challenge of our day
to find alternatives to military intervention throughout the world and
to meet the challenges of injustice and violence with nonviolent
intervention and with justice."
Solidarity