Fall Quarterly 2017
By John LaForge

Photos by Zara Brown, Marion Küpker and John LaForge.

In July, a Nukewatch-organized delegation of US peace activists joined ongoing protests against the deployment of US nuclear weapons in southwest Germany at the Büchel Air Base.
The group joined hundreds of activists from northern Europe that were part of dozens of nonviolent actions that took place between March and August. The efforts forced a reluctant media to take note of US nukes in Germany. News of the protests was widespread and ultimately prodded top politicians and even the current Foreign Minister to call for removal of the US bombs, all in the midst of a national election campaign.
Notable among the 11-person US delegation were seven war resisters who have served a combined total of 36 years in US jails and prisons for protests against nuclear weapons and the war system. After one particularly audacious action by four of the delegates and a German colleague, the German press took up our group’s humorous self-appointed moniker: the “prison gang.”

The delegation, representing seven states and the District of Columbia, also helped put a spotlight on US and NATO plans to replace the current arsenal of B61 H-bombs deployed across Europe with an expensive new version. The new bomb is being touted as the first ever “smart” or precision nuclear weapon and aimed with a new tailfin attachment, making it unprecedented. New nuclear weapons are unlawful under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty which the US and Germany have both ratified.
Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance in Tennessee—where the thermonuclear core for the new “B61-12” might be manufactured—said about joining the group, “It is important that we show this is a global movement. The resistance to nuclear weapons is not limited to one country.” The new B61-12 program will cost over $12 billion if production is authorized sometime after 2020. “Büchel is scheduled to get new H-bombs. Nothing could be stupider when 90% of Germans want them out and the when the world wants to abolish nuclear weapons,” Hutchison said.
In fact, a March 2016 public opinion poll conducted by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), found that 93% of Germans want nuclear weapons banned; 85% agree that US nuclear weapons should be withdrawn from Germany; and 88% said they oppose US plans to replace the current weapons with the new B61-12.
Dubbed “International Week” by Campaign Council organizers in Germany, July 12-18 had over 60 people—from Russia, China, Mexico, Germany, Britain, the US, The Netherlands, France, Belgium and Germany—participate in vigils, trainings, networking, blockades, “go-in” actions, marches, media work, and simply enjoying peace camp. The effort was part of the five-month-long effort—“20 Weeks for 20 Bombs”—launched on March 26, 2017 in conjunction with the start of the final negotiations at the United Nations for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

US delegation achieved a string of “firsts”

While the US delegation was itself a “first” in Germany’s anti-nuclear campaign, the group chalked up a string of additional firsts during its week of nonviolent actions.

On July 15, Susan Crane, of the Redwood City, California Catholic Worker and I walked through the base’s main gate and talked for 30 minutes with military guards and local police about whether their orders to protect nuclear war planning are lawful. While we were repeatedly ordered to leave, and Susan, a participant in five Plowshares disarmament actions, eventually sat down and had to be carried out, we were neither arrested or charged. “They don’t want to arrest internationals and draw attention to the nuclear weapons,” said long-time disarmament activist and Büchel peace camp organizer Marion Küpker.

On July 16, about 35 activists streamed through the base’s flimsy outer gate and then through a heavy steel inside fence which was mistakenly left unlocked. While two people symbolically brought down the US flag, at least 30 others eagerly traipsed through the open fence, squeezed through another vehicle gate, and then fanned out across the broad entryway to inspect the exclusive surroundings and their gaudy display of retired war planes on pedestals. The Dutch activists, most of them from the Amsterdam Catholic Worker, were as shocked as anyone to be able to place a few dozen loaves of “bread, not bombs” on and around the memorialized “gods of metal.” All the while, Dominican Sisters Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte of Baltimore, Maryland, read aloud the text of the new international Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and called for the base commander to come and accept a copy of the treaty.
The next day, July 17, during an early-morning blockade of the base by 30 protesters, the sudden appearance of the commander, “Oberstleutnant” Gregor Schlemmer who arrived on foot, thoroughly shocked the group which had locked arms and stretched banners across the road to his base. It is positively unheard of in the United States for high-ranking Air Force officers to meet openly with anti-war activists. Commander Schlemmer looked at ease and appeared to listen intently as Sister Ardeth explained the newly-minted nuclear weapons ban treaty, and then he calmly accepted her copy before leaving.

“Prison Gang” Go-in Action Occupied Bunker

Later on July 17, after nightfall, a group of five, me included, got deep inside the base, and for the first time in 21 years of protests against the US bombs, we occupied the top of one of the large bunkers potentially used for storing nuclear weapons. (Experts later reported that they are probably kept elsewhere on the base.)
After hiking along shadowy farm roads, shushing through dark rows of corn, clipping through the base’s outer fence, crossing a brightly lit air base road, and tramping noisily through a few wooded brambles, our small group cut through a second chain-link fence. We bumbled past a giant hanger and under the wing of a jet fighter parked in the open, and reached a set of double chain-link fences surrounding four tall, earth-bermed bunkers. After cutting the two non-electrified, unlit fences without tripping a single alarm or even having the lights snap on, the five of us scurried up to the top of the wide-topped, sod-covered concrete Quonset hut. No motion detector or alarm, no Klieg light or guard had noted our intrusion at all. We spent over an hour chatting, star gazing, checking our radiation monitor, and enjoying being flabbergasted that our implausible plan had worked. This was supposedly a severely controlled H-bomb storage depot, but we’ll never know. We didn’t try breaking into it.

Steve Baggarly, 52, of the Norfolk, Virginia Catholic Worker, suggested we label the bunker’s giant metal doors, so he and I scratched “Disarm Now” into the paint and this finally alerted some guards. We hustled back up to the top and we were all soon surrounded by vehicles, moving spot lights, and heavily armed soldiers searching on foot with flashlights. Still unnoticed because of the darkness and our elevation, we decided to announce our presence by singing “Vine & Fig Tree.” This prompted the patrol for the first time to look up. We were detained, and after an hour of being searched, photographed and lectured, Commander Schlemmer, summoned from bed at 2:30 a.m., gathered us for a short lecture. He said what we’d done was “dangerous” and that sneaking onto a military base “isn’t supposed to be fun.” Of course he was unaware that the five people before him had served a combined total of 19 years incarcerated for such actions. All of us—Baggarly, Susan Crane, Bonnie Urfer, Gerd Buentzly, of Herford, Germany, and myself—were released without charges.
News of aging peace activists occupying a nuclear weapons base unnoticed was widely reported in the press. The news moved Green Party Bundestag Deputy Tabea Rössner on Aug. 7 to lambast the “theme park” level of base security. Thanks to Rössner’s high-profile criticism, the head of the Social Democratic Party Martin Schulz unexpectedly called for the ouster of the US weapons, smack in the middle of his national campaign for the Chancellorship. A week later, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, during a press briefing in Washington, DC, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, endorsed Schulz’s call for removing the US nukes. Of course nuclear weapons are the last thing anyone wants to contemplate, so it takes focused inventiveness and a level of personal risk to get the public and the lawmakers to face the Bomb. Sometimes it works.

This summer’s “Twenty Weeks for Twenty Bombs,” made regular headline news thanks to the efforts of the nation-wide Campaign Council “Büchel is Everywhere: Nuclear Weapons-Free Now!” and its international coordinator Marion Küpker of Hamburg. After years of outreach and solidarity work, the five-month peace camp near the gates of Büchel Air Force Base, and its well-known use of nonviolent direct action, was endorsed by all 50 peace groups and organizations in the the Campaign Council which now includes mainstream bodies like International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms, and the DFG-VK, Germany’s oldest anti-war organization.
*The US delegates were Steve Baggarly, Kathy Boylan, Zara Brown, Carmella Cole, Susan Crane, Sr. Carol Gilbert, OP, Ralph Hutchison, John LaForge, Leona Morgan, Sr. Ardeth Platte, OP, and Bonnie Urfer.

See our photo gallery of the US delegation here.

“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.

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.

 

July 15

“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.

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

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

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.