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October 13, 2017 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Did Nonviolent Actions Propel Issue into Germany’s National Elections? A partial timeline

“Top German politicians want US nuclear weapons out”

Fall Quarterly 2017
By John LaForge

Photos by Zara Brown, Marion Küpker and John LaForge.

The series of actions that occurred at the base during the “20 weeks for 20 bombs” brought wide media attention to the US weapons, prompting serious criticism from leading German politicians. A brief timeline of “international week” events shows how the work may have moved officials to speak out.

Marion Küpker, a disarmament campaigner and the International Coordinator for DFG-VK, Germany’s oldest peace organization, organized this years “20 Weeks for 20 Bombs.”

Upon its arrival in Germany, four members of the 11-person US delegation held a press conference in Frankfurt accompanied by Marion Küpker, the international coordinator for the national peace organization DFG-VK, and the German-wide campaign. News of the unprecedented US delegation and our plans for protest was reported in the Frankfurt Journal (“Activists from the US land in Frankfurt: Campaign against US nuclear weapons in the [southwest Germany]”), the online magazine FOCUS (“Nuclear fighters receive support from the US”), the magazine Volksfreund [People’s Friend], and elsewhere.

Role playing near the kitchen tent at camp.

 

July 15
A large crowd gathered near the air base’s main gate to hear the popular singer-songwriter Konstantin Wecker on July 16.

“Konstantin Wecker sings for the peace,” was news all across southwest Germany the day after the well-known singer-songwriter performed at the “Music Not Bombs” gathering July 15, near the base’s main gate. Between 300 and 400 concert-goers crowded the roundabout directly in front of the entrance. Other papers reported: “Music for Peace: Wecker Supports Activists,” and “Action day against nuclear weapons: Today in Büchel.”

July 17

Five peace activists including four US delegates traipsed deep into the air base, clipping, undetected, through four chain-link fences using wire cutters, and climbed to the top of a large sod-covered cement bunker or reinforced hanger. The five remained there over an hour before guards were alerted. Detained for an hour and ID’d by military and civilian police, the group was released around 3 a.m. without charges. As we go to press, still no charges.

Long-time Nukewatch co-director Bonnie Urfer joined the “go-in” action with Susan Crane’s banner: “Disarm all Nuclear Weapons!”
July 26

News of the “go-in” action was reported widely, and the Rhein-Zeitung used Nukewatch’s own humorous moniker: “‘Prison Gang’ Inspects Büchel Air Force Base—Peace movement claims five activists succeeded in penetrating the inner security area.”

July 28
From left, musician and composer Gerd Buentzly, of the German peacegroup “LifeSounds,” Nukewatch’s John LaForge, and Ralph Hutchison of the Oak Riege Environmental Peace Alliance at the Büchel peace camp.

Journalists asked weapons analysts and Air Force officials in Berlin whether the activists got near the US nuclear bombs. When Air Force headquarters was asked to explain the event, they assured the press that “security had been maintained.” This news went nation-wide. Yet the press and information center of the Luftwaffe in Berlin did acknowledge the breach of security. “The Luftwaffe confirmed that on the night of 18 July, five persons were in the military security area of the airport, where they illegally gained access by cutting fences with cutting tools,” RZ reported, referring to the regional daily Rhein-Zeitung. Another widely reported story quoted, “Military expert [Otfried] Nassauer: ‘Prison Gang’ was probably not in the sensitive area of the Büchel airfield.”

July 29

Eslayer Nachrichlen, the daily paper of Nuremberg with a circulation of 300,000, interviewed four of the US delegates at length (Urfer, Platte, Gilbert and Baggarly), and its detailed story and photos ran under the headline: “At night on the atom bunker”—Joint protest of peace activists from the region and the USA.”

August 7
German Green Party Bundestag Deputy (Member of Congress) Tabea Rössner said of a recent protest action that got deep into a nuclear weapons base, “If peace activists are in the inner security area of the Tactical Air Force squadron, Luftwaffe, Büchel, then that can mean only one thing: The security concept is more than bumbling.”

Criticism of security at the Büchel base reached a high point when Green Party Bundestag Deputy Tabea Rössner openly criticized the security services. Her questions in the parliament about the fence-cutting go-in action prompted the headline: “Is Air Base Büchel just as safe as an amusement park?”

The accompanying article—circulated widely on social media—reported that “The Greens demanded information about the safety situation at Büchel air base. The reason is an action by activists who entered the inner security area of the airbase. “The federal government must fully explain the incident,” said Deputy Rössner of Mainz [near Büchel]. “If peace activists are in the inner security area of the Tactical Air Force squadron, Luftwaffe, Büchel, then that can mean only one thing: The security concept is more than stupid,” Rössner complained.

This is not a trifle, even if those responsible would try to downplay the incident. “It is more than frightening that at a time of significantly increased terror, the safety measures of such a site fall below the level of a theme park,” Rössner said.

 

August 22

Martin Schulz, the Social Democrat Party candidate for Chancellor in the upcoming national elections, unexpectedly called for the ouster of the US nuclear weapons. Reuters, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Politico and major German media reported, “German rival of Chancellor [Angela] Merkel vows to remove US nuclear weapons from the country”; “Searching for another point of difference, Schulz pledged on [August 22] to have US nuclear weapons withdrawn from German territory if, against the odds, he defeats Merkel”; and “Germany’s Schulz says he would demand US withdraw nuclear arms.” The LA Times reported that Schulz said at a campaign rally, “As chancellor, I’d push for the ejection of nuclear weapons stored in Germany.” Schulz also said Trump’s threats against North Korea “show us more than ever before how urgently we need to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and encourage disarmament.”

Conservative politicians and editors attacked Schulz as unrealistic or uninformed about military matters, but the criticism was short-lived when Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel made a surprise endorsement of Schulz’s proposal.

August 29

German Foreign Minister Gabriel, at a press conference with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington, DC, joined Schulz’s call for ridding Germany of the US weapons. Minister Gabriel’s surprise announcement included his straightforward admission that, “I agreed with Mr. Schulz’s point that we need to get rid of the nuclear weapons that are in our country.” The news was startling and media across Germany and the world reported: “Foreign Minister joins call to withdraw US nukes from Germany,” “German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has supported Social Democrat (SPD) leader Martin Schulz’s pledge that he will push for the removal of US nuclear warheads from Germany if elected Chancellor.”

The International Business Times and the Financial Tribune online declared on Aug. 31, “Top German Politicians Want US Nuclear Weapons Out.” The reports noted, “Germany’s top diplomat has backed the suggestion of SPD leader and Chancellor hopeful Martin Schulz, who has pledged to rid his country of US nukes. Washington, meanwhile, is pressing ahead to modernize its nuclear stockpile.”

The issue of ending US nuclear weapons deployment in Germany has been raised by top officials in the past. In 2009, then German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the B61 stockpile in Germany was “militarily obsolete” and urged the US to remove them.

Filed Under: B61 Bombs in Europe, Direct Action, Newsletter Archives, Quarterly Newsletter, US Bombs Out of Germany

October 6, 2017 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Nukewatch Delegation to International Week – Day 4 – July 17, 2017

All photos by Zara Brown, member of the US delegation, unless otherwise noted.

We shall not be moved. The international delegation took over an entrance to the Base as a police van approached.

 

“Oberstleutnant” Gregor Schlemmer, commander of the Buchel Air Base, Germany, was prompted to address the street blockade and accepted a copy of the newly adopted UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons from Sister Ardeth Platte, O.P., of Baltimore Maryland. (Photo by Marion Küpker)
The blockade sat down reinforcing their position.
The blockade was removed one by one, just as they had practiced in the non-violence training the day before. (Photo by Marion Küpker)
One by one. (Photo by Marion Küpker)
You are the last one. Are you going to leave peacefully or do we have to haul you out too? (Photo by Marion Küpker)
I will not cooperate in your defense of nuclear weapons. (Photo by Marion Küpker)
Police lined the blockade, which formed again alongside the Base entrance.
Photo by Marion Küpker.
These five got farther into the supposedly high-security base than any others had managed to in two decades of “go-in” protests here. They crossed lighted fields and roads, tramped noisily through several woodlots, clipped through four chain-link fences, and climbed atop a huge weapons bunker that may have contained nuclear weapons — all without being detected. (Photo by Ralph Hutchison) Read more about their action.

To view more of Zara Brown’s pictures from Day 4 click here.

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, Photo Gallery, US Bombs Out of Germany

October 6, 2017 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Nukewatch Delegation to International Week – Day 3 – July 16, 2017

All photos by Zara Brown, member of the US delegation, unless otherwise noted.

Leona Morgan of Diné No Nukes and Carol Gilbert, OP at the gates to the Büchel Air Force Base.
On Sunday the 16th, a pair of firsts was accomplished when a group of 50 protesters, accompanied by photographers and reporters, walked through the same gate and toward a “hardened” steel inner gate which was for the first time anyone could remember left inexplicably unlocked. At least 30 of us traipsed through the open steel door, fanned out, and began inspecting the otherwise exclusively military surroundings and their gaudy display of three retired war planes on pedestals.
Come on in! (Photo by Marion Küpker)

Susan Crane and I took up an idea from Sister Carol, and lowered the US flag. It had occupied a position superior to Germany’s, even at this German base. Having had a lot of experience with flags as a former Boy Scout, the task was done in a blink. But when Susan asked me, “Now what do we do with it?” I had to admit, “I don’t have a lighter,” and could only shout to the other “go-in” activists: “US out of Germany!” (There are some 50,000 US military personnel still occupying the country, 28 years after the end of the Cold War and 72 years after the end of World War II.) Our hosts told us later that no one in Germany would dare to take down the US flag for all the accusations of “anti-Americanism” that would result. Peace activists get called enough names as it is. -JL

The Dutch activists, most of them from the Amsterdam Catholic Worker, had gotten exactly what they wanted: to place loaves of “bread not bombs!” — as the old peace slogan goes — around the old “gods of metal.”
Bread not Bombs! (Photo by Marion Küpker)

To see more of Zara Brown’s photos from Day 3 click here.

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, Photo Gallery, US Bombs Out of Germany

September 12, 2017 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

“Top German politicians want US nuclear weapons out” — Did anti-nuclear actions propel issue into national elections?

By John LaForge

German Green Party Bundestag Deputy (Member of Congress) Tabea Rössner said of a recent protest action that got deep into a nuclear weapons base, “If peace activists are in the inner security area of the Tactical Air Force squadron, Luftwaffe, Büchel, then that can mean only one thing: The security concept is more than bumbling.”

A series of anti-nuclear weapons actions between March and August at Air Base Büchel in Germany brought widespread media attention to the 20 US nuclear weapons still deployed there. Surprising demands for the bombs’ removal soon came from high-ranking political leaders including Germany’s foreign minister. A timeline of events between July 12 and 18, involving a Nukewatch-organized delegation of 11 US peace activists, shows how the work may have moved the officials to speak out.

July 12 — Upon its arrival, four members of the US group held a press conference in Frankfurt accompanied by Marion Küpker, international coordinator for DFG-VK — Germany’s oldest anti-war group — and organizer of the 5-month peace camp. News of the unprecedented US group was reported in the daily Frankfurt Journal (“Activists from the US land in Frankfurt: Campaign against US nuclear weapons”), the online magazine FOCUS (“Nuclear fighters receive support from the US”) and picked up around the country.

July 15 — Headlines like “Today in Büchel: Action day against nuclear weapons,” and “Konstantin Wecker sings for the peace,” was news across southwest Germany when the well-known singer-songwriter drew about 400 to his performance near base’s main gates. The US delegates all spoke briefly to the gathering through interpreters.

July 17 — Five activists including four from the US snuck deep into the air base at night, clipping four chain-link fences, and climbed to the top of a large weapons bunker. The five went undetected on base for over two hours, before they themselves alerted guards. Detained by military and civilian police, the group was released around 3 a.m. without charges, and none have been leveled.

July 26 — News of the “go-in” action reaching a bunker was reported widely. The daily Rhein-Zeitung’s headline used Nukewatch’s moniker: “‘Prison Gang’ Inspects Büchel Air Force Base — Peace movement claims five activists succeeded in penetrating the inner security area.” (The reference was to seven of the US delegates who have served a combined total of 36 years in jail and prison for anti-war actions.

July 28 — Journalists asked experts and military officials in Berlin whether the go-in group got near the US nuclear bombs. Air Force headquarters in Berlin assured the press that “security had been maintained,” and this news went nation-wide. Yet the information center of the Air Force in Berlin did acknowledge the breach of security. One paper reported, “The Luftwaffe confirmed that on the night of 18 July, five persons were in the military security area of the airport, where they illegally gained access by cutting fences with cutting tools, RZ reported,” referring to the regional daily Rhein-Zeitung. Another widely reported story quoted, “Military expert [Otfried] Nassauer: ‘Prison Gang’ was probably not in the sensitive area of the Büchel airfield.”

July 29 — The daily paper of Nuremberg, Eslayer Nachrichlen, with a circulation of 300,000, interviewed four of the US delegates and its article was headlined: “At night on the atom bunker” — Joint protest of peace activists from the region and the USA.”

August 7 — Public criticism of lax security at Büchel went national when the Green Party Bundestag Deputy (Member of Congress) Tabea Rössner openly lambasted the base for not stopping the fence-cutting action. Rössner’s call for an investigation prompted the headline: “Is Air Base Büchel just as safe as an amusement park?”

Accounts of Rössner’s statement, circulated widely on social media, reported, “The Greens demanded information about the safety situation at Büchel air base. The reason is an action by activists who entered the inner security area of the airbase.” Rössner’s statement said in part, “The federal government must fully explain the incident. If peace activists are in the inner security area of the Tactical Air Force squadron, Luftwaffe, Büchel, then that can mean only one thing: The security concept is more than bumbling.”

“This is not a trifle,” Rössner said, “even if those responsible would try to downplay the incident. It is more than frightening that at a time of significantly increased terror, the safety measures of such a site fall below the level of a theme park.”

August 22 — The US H-bombs then burst into the national election campaign when Martin Schulz, the head of the Social Democrat Party (SDP) and candidate for Chancellor in this month’s elections, unexpectedly called for the ouster of the US nuclear weapons. Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Politico and major German media reported, “German rival of Chancellor [Angela] Merkel vows to remove US nuclear weapons from the country,” “Searching for another point of difference, Schulz pledged on Aug. 22 to have US nuclear weapons withdrawn from German territory if, against the odds, he defeats Merkel,” and “Germany’s Schulz says he would demand US withdraw nuclear arms.” Schulz in a campaign stump speech said, “As chancellor, I’d push for the ejection of nuclear weapons stored in Germany.”

August 29 — Conservative politicians and editors attacked Schulz as uninformed or naive, but the criticism was short-lived when Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel made a surprise endorsement of Schulz’s proposal. At a press conference with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington, Gabrial joined Schulz’s call for withdrawal of the US weapons. The foreign minister’s surprise announcement included his blunt admission that, “I agreed with Mr. Schulz’s point that we need to get rid of the nuclear weapons that are in our country.” The news startled media around the world, which reported: “Foreign Minister joins call to withdraw US nukes from Germany,” and “German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has supported Social Democrat (SPD) leader Martin Schulz’s pledge that he will push for the removal of US nuclear warheads from Germany if elected Chancellor.”

Sept. 5 — The Left Party introduced a motion to “Refuse rearmament and withdraw nuclear weapons from Germany.” Endorsed by deputy leader Jan Korte, the motion calls for immediate negotiations with the United States to remove its nuclear weapons from Germany, and condemns NATO’s demand that member states increase military spending. The motion was partially supported by the Green party, which said in a statement, “The Greens are for a nuclear weapon-free Germany and Europe.”

The International Business Times and the Financial Tribune online declared on Aug. 31, “Top German Politicians Want US Nuclear Weapons Out.” The papers noted that “Germany’s top diplomat has backed the suggestion of SPD leader and Chancellor hopeful Martin Schulz, who has pledged to rid his country of US nukes.”

To help the German’s win permanent elimination of the US nukes, the movement here has to generate enough push-back to cancel Congress’s plan to replace instead of retire the US H-bombs in Europe. Nixing the replacement plan would save at least $12 billion.

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, On The Bright Side, US Bombs Out of Germany, Weekly Column Tagged With: B61, Buechel peace camp, direct action, nonviolence, nuclear weapons

August 28, 2017 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

The Fourth Branch

This article appeared August 18, 2017 on Counterpunch.

By Kary Love

I am a lawyer. My pro bono clients are often those who offer nonviolent resistance to wrongs committed by our own government.

I read that, this week past, some nonviolent resisters entered a nuclear weapons storage facility in Germany.


Damn if it is not a list of many of my clients. These people are incorrigible. Next time at sentencing I will argue jail is a waste of time and public money for those sorts; you just cannot deter some people from a life of “crime.”


What a world, in which those acting peaceably for peace are criminals while those in power ordering the killing of people “for their own good” are not.

 

I still subscribe to law professor Francis Boyle’s view; nuclear weapons  and related materiel are not property–property rights attach to legitimate things, not to criminal instrumentalia that have no use but criminal annihilation.

I’ve argued all this a few times with success and many other times not. As to the juries in cases of nonviolent resistance to injustice or in defense of higher laws, I trust them if they are allowed to hear all germane facts.


In one case in which I argued that the nonviolent defendants—who had used hand tools to dismantle a portion of a US nuclear Navy command facility—did not interfere with the defense of the USA because technical experts—whose published work the defendants had read—those defendants were innocent of sabotage charges.

 

We won this case in great part because of Captain James Bush’s (Ret.) testimony; the members of that jury were fully informed. Bush told the jury of 12 that as he commanded a United States nuclear submarine loaded with ‘city-busting’ weapons that he was also earning a graduate degree in International Relations and that he came to understand that he was in violation of the law every day. Hearing that from a retired commander made quite an impression. The jury rose to the occasion and acquitted, even with a hostile judge.

But it’s degenerating. The recent Espionage Act prosecutions have prevented defendants such Kiriakou et al. from even saying the word “whistleblower.” Reality Winner will be so shackled in her defense.

I have experienced this abuse of the law in nuke protest cases in US federal court–to the point I conclude such trials are Soviet Mock Potemkin Trials (back in the US, back in the US, back in the USSR).

In my judgment the jury is the 4th branch of government. The Founders knew power corrupts, and that sooner or later, the Congress, the President and the judges would abandon the Constitution for power and that only fully informed juries could stem the tide of corruption.

The Federal judges who issue orders in limine so jurors do not hear all the evidence (as to both the law and the facts) are complicit in destroying the check and balance the jury must be–as all others involved, i.e., Congress, President, judges, are beholden to the system.

In the case to which I referred above, the State Court Judge had some residual fidelity to the Constitution and we kind of boxed him in to allowing Bush to testify as he did–though I expect the Judge did not think a “military man” would have such a complicated mind, capable of rational thought and a moral code superior to his willingness to “just follow orders.”

Kinda tricky of me, I guess. But my oath is to the Constitution, not Congress, White House, or Judge–all of whom are creatures of the Constitution deserving of no respect nor obedience when they violate same (as is the ordinary course of all branches these days.)

Despite many disappointments, I still have faith in juries of ordinary people when fully informed to make “just” decisions even if necessitating deviation from the law. Thus, government fears the people so long as there is trial by jury.

This is as it should be. A government making unjust laws as ours does ought to fear its ability to convict when justice is not served by conviction. The three branches have become unmoored from being “bound down in the chains of the Constitution”–with the result it is a lawless beast.

Ultimately it will be up to the people: a nation of law, or a nation of beasts? Our “leaders” have no interest in curbing their own abuse of power. As victims of such abuse, the people are responsible, for the sake of their progeny and the future of liberty.

Kary Love is a Michigan attorney.

 

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, US Bombs Out of Germany, Weekly Column

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