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PDF versionUpdated: As we go on trial today for peace witness, join us in prayer
by John Dear SJ on Sep. 14, 2010
Editor's Note: Read about the trial here: Drones on trial, and a judge listens
* * * * * *
Today, September 14th, fourteen of us -- including four priests -- stand trial in the state courthouse in Las Vegas, Nev. on charges of criminal trespassing. The government seeks to jail us for walking onto Creech Air Force Base on Holy Thursday last April.
We walked onto the base -- which is about an hour northwest of Las Vegas -- with nothing but a prayer and a call for an end of the U.S. drone fighter bomber program, which is headquartered there. We went to Creech in a spirit of gentleness, but also of protest. It’s time for the U.S. to end its killing of our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
Needless to say, our call -- and the gift we offered of a letter, roses and pizza -- were rejected. The police arrested us and put us in handcuffs. Then they hauled us to Las Vegas and booked and tossed us for the night in to the local jail. The next day -- Good Friday -- they set us free. But now the government is intent on pressing full charges, hoping to put an end to this anti-drone movement. A nation whose foundation is militarism and war cannot brook dissenters from a different moral order.
It’s an old story. Punish those who nonviolently speak out for justice and peace. Incarcerate those who stand up or sit in. Perhaps that will snuff out the fires of the peace movement.
But thank God, as Dr. King once said, truth crushed to earth always rises. Active nonviolence spreads like a contagion. Love and truth break through like blades of grass through cracked pavement. Hidden movements begin to flourish -- movements of transformation, disarmament and healing.
I do not relish getting arrested, standing trial or facing jail. But in a world of war, nuclear weapons, extreme poverty, corporate greed, executions, global warming and empire, the courtroom must be faced -- just as these drones need to be addressed. “Social change does not come about in the classroom or the pulpit,” Gandhi once said. “It comes about by standing in the courts, in jails and sometimes on the gallows.”
Our drones go on bombing and killing innocent people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. So we went to Creech, walked on to the base and knelt down in prayer. And now we go to court in a spirit of creative nonviolence and even in court we’ll denounce these inhuman death machines and call for their abolition. We go because we have no choice.
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We will begin the day today with a rally and march to the courthouse. In court, we intend to argue that, under international law, we are obliged to oppose these “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” -- the official name for the drones. We also plan to show the court that by entering the base we were enacting our first amendment right to assemble peaceably for redress of grievances.
One of the first issues before the court will be our request to include former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Center for Constitutional Rights legal director Bill Quigley, and retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright -- a former U.S. diplomat posted in Afghanistan -- as expert witnesses. Clark will demonstrate that “usage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles based at Creech Air Force Base to kill ‘high value targets’ constitutes extrajudicial executions and fails to afford all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.”
“When we read in the paper about these robotic attacks we are usually told where the drone strike took place and how many militants were killed,” co-defendant Kathy Kelly wrote the other day.
“But then it often turns out that the victims were simply local people, not militants in any sense. The blood and the smell of charred bodies are realities on the ground, but are simply small images on a screen in front of the drone operator on the air force base. I believe the American people need to know what we are doing, and understand why the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan cannot see us as part of the solution. This is why I want to focus attention on the drones, and why I am willing to appear here in the courtroom.
“Since I am aware of what really happens when a drone attacks, I want to step forward to let the facts be known. The U.S. claims to be in Pakistan and Afghanistan because we want to help the people and deliver them from extremists, but this is not what is happening. The drone attacks have killed hundreds of people during this past year, and few of them militants, most of them simple people. The horror of these attacks ensures that the U.S. appears to be a menacing country. ‘The hatred is rising,’ Safdar Dawar, a Pakistani journalist told us in May of 2010. ‘It’s a big problem,’ he continued, ‘and we can’t understand why people in your country don’t know more about the drone usage. Where is your democracy?’”
The other co-defendants for the action at Creech Air Force Base are: Dennis DuVall; Renee Espeland; Judy Homanich; Jesuit Fr. Steve Kelly; Mariah Klusmire; Brad Lyttle; Libby Pappalardo; Society of the Holy Child Jesus Sr. Megan Rice; Brian Terrell; Eve Tetaz; Franciscan Fr. Louie Vitale; and Franciscan Fr. Jerry Zawada.
Vitale was recently released after six months in prison for protesting the “School of the Americas” in Fort Benning, Ga., now formally known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
Kelly was informed last week that the federal government has placed felony charges against him and four other activists for a plowshares disarmament action at the Trident submarine base near Seattle, Wash. last November. He and the others face ten years in prison.
Another co-defendant has an upcoming trial for protesting weapons testing at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Santa Barbara, Calif.
As P.W. Singer writes in Wired for War: the Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, unmanned aerial vehicles like the MQ-9 Reaper drone are used by the Pentagon not only for surveillance -- but to kill and blow up buildings in Iraq and Afghanistan. Defying international law, the CIA uses the Reaper to assassinate and blow up buildings in Pakistan. The Pentagon and CIA adore these new weapons. With no pilot or crew, no U.S. military officers can be injured or killed. They can be directed by young officers thousands of miles away. Forty other nations are racing to develop similar drone programs.
Welcome to the future.
On the day of our action drones flew low in front of us for hours. It was an astonishing sight to see these black predators hovering over the beautiful Nevada desert. What terror must they invoke as they fly over the villages of the helpless poor in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq?
The drones are the sons of nuclear weapons. They offer a bleak future -- a sky full of black death, hovering over the earth. Our modest gesture -- prayer, roses, and of course, pizza -- advocated another future, a future of peace without drones or nuclear weapons.
If the judge allows our great friends to offer expert testimony we will hear in detail what these drones are doing -- and how they violate international law and the Nuremberg Principles. But I’m also concerned with what they are doing to us. Since violence is a downward spiral their unimaginable destruction will certainly come back upon us like a boomerang. One day, I fear, drones will fly over our own country.
More, they signal our spiritual death -- the loss of our humanity. The children of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq do not threaten us; it’s this self-destructive spirit of war within and among us which is killing us. We need to repent of these weapons and discover a new spirit of love and compassion within us.
Being hauled into court, Jesus taught, is our chance to give witness. If I’m able to take the stand I’ll testify that I went to Creech Air Force Base because I’m a follower of the nonviolent Jesus who went to Jerusalem and confronted his empire. My friends and I were trying to do the same.
I’ll cite the nonviolent Jesus as my expert.
“Love your enemies that you will be sons and daughters of the God who lets the sun shine on the good and the bad and allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust,” Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.
If we continue to kill our enemies and rain bombs down upon them, I’ll say, we are not sons and daughters of the God of universal love. We are, rather, sons and daughters of the false gods of death. I will then urge the judge to dismiss the charges or find us not guilty and join our campaign to rid the planet of these weapons, that we might be peacemakers -- sons and daughters of the God of universal love and peace.
After that I’ll invite the judge to join us for pizza. Why not? We live eternally in hope.
Alas, such talk will probably not be allowed. In that case, our witness will be our nonviolent presence -- the love in our hearts for unseen sisters and brothers in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
And the prayer that rises among us, first at Creech, and now in the Las Vegas courthouse: “God of peace, give us a world without drones, bombs, nuclear weapons, or war. Give us your spirit of nonviolent, universal love that we might relieve human suffering, welcome your reign of peace with justice, and be worthy to be called your beloved sons and daughters.”
Today, as we prepare for trial, please join us in prayer.
*******
To follow the trial of the Creech 14, visit Voices for Creative Nonviolence, at www.vcnv.org.
John Dear's latest book, Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings (Orbis), along with other recent books, A Persistent Peace and Put Down Your Sword, as well as Patricia Normile's John Dear On Peace, are available from www.amazon.com. To contribute to Catholic Relief Services' "Fr. John Dear Haiti Fund," go to: http://donate.crs.org/goto/fatherjohn. For further information, or to schedule a lecture or retreat on Gospel Nonviolence, go to www.johndear.org.
Editor's Note: We can send you an e-mail alert every time Fr. John Dear's column is posted to NCRonline.org. Go to this page and follow directions: E-mail alert sign-up. If you already receive e-mail alerts from us, click on the "update my profile" button to add "On the Road to Peace" to your list.
My prayers are with you. I
My prayers are with you.
I just would like to make one slight correction.
Ramsey Clark is a Former U.S. Attorney General. I believe he can still be called a U.S. Attorney (not former).
Pax vobis cum
Thank you for letting us
Thank you for letting us know. I corrected the error.
the error we commit is our
the error we commit is our building the bomb, and, according to the USCCB, its production, possession and use, this error most grave and most in need of our correction.
please correct.
I would add one more
I would add one more 'correction' and that is that ALL OF YOU are priests.
u2, anne
u2, anne
Well done, faithful servants.
Well done, faithful servants.
Well, are we blessed - or
Well, are we blessed - or what? A new generation of Dorothy Day and Dan Berrigan's to set an example for us - as in
"What would Jesus do?" I am so grateful for the dedication and WORK of John and Kathy and Company! Thanks for keeping us alert, awake to REAL issues and reminded of God's work for ALL God's people! Love/peace/struggle,
Elizabeth
Thank you, Fr. John and
Thank you, Fr. John and companions for doing what most of us would never risk. God bless you, prosper your work, and bring about the peaceful change you advocate.
John you and all those going
John you and all those going to trial are in my prayers. Thank you for your prophetic witness for the world. If only the RCC would listen to its prophets for peace.
our prayers for peace and for
our prayers for peace and for your well being always, and the four priests and the fourteen upon this fourteenth.
and while we anxiously await news of the outcome, we read once more the lead article in the August-September CAtholic Worker by the Reverend FAther John Dear SJ, which begins with the immortal words of the Reverend FAther Daniel BErrigan (whose spirit fills and strengthens us today) frmo his book SOrrow Built a Bridge, that our FAith is incompatible with war.
Be careful when you quote
Be careful when you quote Gandhi as a pacifist, rather than the pragmatic politician he was. Gandhi recruited Indian soldiers in support of both the Boer War and the First World War. In a June 1918 leaflet entitled "Appeal for Enlistment", Gandhi wrote "To bring about such a state of things we should have the ability to defend ourselves, that is, the ability to bear arms and to use them...If we want to learn the use of arms with the greatest possible despatch, it is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army." Gandhi's knew his non-violence would succeed only if he managed to recruit tens of thousands of protesters -- not a dozen or so people who go out of their way to get themselves arrested and then wonder why. Gandhi believed in nonviolence because he saw it could bring down the British Empire in India. It remains to be seen how successful Fr. Dear's efforts will be.
unless you join him. me too
unless you join him.
me too
As Christians, we often are
As Christians, we often are called to do something independent of the "success".
I hope you go to jail for a
I hope you go to jail for a long time, as you deserve.
remember Thoreau's question
remember Thoreau's question from jail, debborah
as we ask ourselves:
what are we doing out here?
Thanks for reminding us of
Thanks for reminding us of his remark. Henry was a prophet, probably a saint, too.
and he went to jail for
and he went to jail for refusing to pay taxes supporting the US invasion of Mexico, stealing Mexican territory.
Praying with all of you
Praying with all of you during these days.
Thank you for standing witness to the non violent way of peace making.
As a follow up, I think the
As a follow up, I think the trial went well. It sounds like the witnesses were able to speak and the Judge who just celebrated his 25 anniversary on the bench seemed open enough to think about the evidence.
I hope that this will be a turning point in the peace movement.
Now we have to close the School of Assassins.
This is a joke - as a
This is a joke - as a Catholic raised man I am disgusted that you feel your opinion puts you above the law - they were all lucky to walk out alive -
If they entered a military base with out permission, they should go to jail thankful and humbled by the tolerance shown by the military in not shooting them on site! If I were in charge, trespassing would be the least of their worries - we have the right to protest, and even if we are right - anyone who expects to parade around on a military base w/o proper permissions, at a time of war, should also expect to be shot promptly!
Even if you are right and they are wrong - it would have been ok, by law and social norms to shoot a trespasser on site. And that's what you were - trespassers. International law permits the drone, State and federal law does not permit trespassing on military bases. If you want to make a stand, take your due punishment with pride. Don't play the "we are religious, we are above the law" card. Even Jesus knew to follow and respect the laws of the land when speaking against them. If these 14 believe in their cause, they should without complaint serve their time, not deny breaking any laws!
Thank you, Anonymous and
Thank you, Anonymous and Debborah before you, for expressing the truth. The sad thing is that by virtue of this judge delaying his verdict for 4.5 months, until Jan 27th, he is probably looking for a way to let these 14 off scot-free.
The ironic thing is that the only reason these 14 are free to express their dissent with US military policy is because of that same US military. Freedom is NOT free, it was won and preserved by military action.
"We will have to repent in
"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people."
Martin Luther King, in a letter from jail during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement.
Thank you for breaking the silence
Peace
Dears All, be of good cheer,
Dears All,
be of good cheer, or at least cheer up one another. will hope for good news of your daze in court.
I think of folk who also join in sending love and hugs.
travel safely,
clancy
I will pray, and as I lead my
I will pray, and as I lead my Communion service, will ask them to pray as well for all of you. Merton once said in relationship to the Cold War & nuclear armament that "while I never considered myself a pacifist, I can see no other way to be. In the face of total destruction, there is no such thing as 'just war'." God bless your fearless stand for peace and the well-being of all of us.
I am not a North American,
I am not a North American, but I admire your courage and all you for peace in our troubled world.
Thank-you and be assured of my prayer
indeed this is a bright
indeed this is a bright shining moment of sanity and sanctity within this deep desert of destruction
Another bright shining moment
Another bright shining moment of sanity would be eating a cheese burrito. It woudn't accomplish anything, either, but it would cost less and waste less time. The Peace Movement has transparently impotent for a long time and even people like John Dear know it's all just a charade.
is not.
is not.
A Ballad for John Dear in
A Ballad for John Dear in Jail
Did I hear why a caged bird sings
Does Father John Dear in jail
Where enters no Episcopal ring
And what are we doing out here?
O tell us all of God's great Love
And bring an end to war!
Teach us peace and nonviolence
We'll study war no more
And we'll study war no more.
Does he recall our love for him
Does Father John in jail?
A Love Supreme his books do bring
Books born behind barred doors.
O tell us all of God's great Love
And bring an end to war!
Teach us peace and nonviolence
We'll study war no more
And we'll study war no more.
Coyote call out all alone in dry New Mexico air
Kid goat wanders off along a dusty desert trail
Quail chicks peep in line behind ghost father debonair
Kids all check the mailbox
For our Father, who's in jail
O tell us all of God's great Love
And bring an end to war!
Teach us peace and nonviolence
And we'll study war no more
And we'll study war no more.
Looks like Fr. Dear had his
Looks like Fr. Dear had his prayers partially answered: " Appearing as witnesses for the Creech 14 today were some of the biggest names in the modern anti-war movement: Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general under President Lyndon Johnson; Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army colonel and one of three former U.S. State Department officials who resigned on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and Bill Quigley, legal director for the New York City-based Center for Constitutional Rights. By the time those three witnesses finished their testimony as to why they believed the activists had protested at the base, they’d managed to convince Las Vegas Township Justice Court Judge William Jansen to delay his verdict for four months — and had managed clearly to frustrate prosecutors."
http://vcnv.org/vegas-drone-trial-makes-history
Fr. John, you have my prayers
Fr. John, you have my prayers and support. I am amazed at the (few) critical or nasty comments, and am left wondering what in the world those commenters have chosen to embrace, and why.
You are brave people. Thanks
You are brave people. Thanks for standing against the "merciless, cruel hostility" that is named in the prayer "St Patrick's Breastplate". May many more follow your example.
Peter Murnane, Dominican friar.
"What would Jesus do?" I do
"What would Jesus do?"
I do not know.
He did allow Peter to carry a sword, healed the cenurian's servant without criticizing the profession, inspired Paul to use the armor of a Roman soldier to make spiritual points and supported an Empire won through force by ordering people to "give unto ceaser what is ceaser's".
Too many people try to make Jesus into their own image. As one person mentioned: Father Dear is a professional protester, so he makes Jesus one as well.
The actual Jesus does not appear to have been a pacifist per se and instead, saw militaries as part of the natural order of a sinful world.
so they say in anglo Texas .
so they say in anglo Texas . . .
the Gospel may differ
Man, is this a stretch.
Man, is this a stretch.
Texas, and New Mexico, we all
Texas, and New Mexico, we all need to really read (forgive the split infinitive please) this AND the latest frmo BIshop Gumbleton on how we develop a relationship with God:
"You have heard that it was said of old, love your neighbor, hate your enemy. You've heard that it was said of old thou shalt not kill. But I say to you, you must not even have anger or hatred in your heart. If you know that some one has something against you or if you have something against someone else, even if you are bringing your gift to the altar to worship God, leave your gift, go first and be reconciled. Only then come back and offer your gift. Just as God is seeking us, reaching out to us, welcoming us to the banquet, this Eucharist. So we too must seek out and welcome, draw back and be reconciled."
The prayer for peace we are
The prayer for peace we are using now in the Cathedral of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, across the river from Texas, on the southern shore of the Rio Bravo where youngster Sergio Adrian Kevin "Keko" Hernandez was shot dead on Mexican soil by our Border Patrol bicycle patrol bullet June 7:
Oración por la paz
Señor Jesús, Tu eres nuestra paz,
Mira nuestra Patria dañada por la violencia
Y dispersa por el miedo y la inseguridad.
Consuela el dolor de quienes sufren.
Da acierto a las decisiones
De quienes nos gobiernan.
Toca el corazón de quienes olvidan
Que somos hermanos
Y provocan sufrimiento y muerte.
Dales el don de la conversión.
Protege a las familias,
A nuestros niños, adolescentes y jóvenes;
A nuestros pueblos y comunidades.
Que como discípulos misioneros tuyos,
Ciudadanos responsables,
Sepamos ser promotores de justicia y de paz,
Para que en Ti, nuestro pueblo
Tenga vida digna. Amen
María, Reina de la paz, ruega por nosotros.
Y cual ha sido la respuesta
Y cual ha sido la respuesta que su oracion ha recibido? Hay mas paz en el mundo porque tu has rezado? O menos? La verdad es que los que trabajan por la paz no son los que rezan y protestan, sino los que defienden sus paises y negocian con los otros en buena fe.
Did you wish to write: los
Did you wish to write: los demás?
Why ask me this question. Ask the congregation at the Cathedral in Ciudad Juarez, and their pastoral team, starting with the Bishop.
No, I didn't mean to write
No, I didn't mean to write "los demas." Apparently, you don't understand Spanish well, and yet you attempt to blog in Spanish and, in one of your prior incarnations, tried to pass yourself off as "Frere Charles of the Desert," "las palomas," among others. The question was: what was the result of your reciting the prayer you proposed? Is there more peace in the world because of prayer? If not, how long does one have to pray in order for peace to come? And if you don't know the answers to those questions, maybe the people who take up arms to defend their lives have no alternative.
we at the cathedral in ciudad
we at the cathedral in ciudad juaresz continue to pray this, and for your peace as well, Robert
thanks for asking!
frere charles
please
pray without ceasing
I go now to pray at the cite of our border patrol killing a young boy last june on mexican soil
to leave a candle, a Saint Benedict medal and a prayer
we will see whether our helicopters buzz me like yesterday
My dear Father John, I have
My dear Father John,
I have been thinking and praying about your peace actions for years now. It confuses me to hear of your stand and belief of necessary actions. I know that I could never do it, but you make sense and touch my heart in so many ways - I didn't know exactly what to think. After much examination of myself in comparison with you, I am (without a doubt) certain that what you are doing (disrespect of law) is not what God would want. I do understand your frustration and desire for peace. I also understand your desire to love God and serve in the best possible way for peace, but this is not it.
I can tell the difference between my will and God's will. I pray that you will soon also know the difference. There is nothing I wouldn't do for God. If that were to include jail or death - I would accept it. But it must be in God's way and in God's time.
My love for you is so deep and so real. Please stop this insanity and allow Thy will be done..... not yours or your well meaning peace buddies.
In prayer and with love,
Gloria
Take on the man in charge,
Take on the man in charge, not his employees.
Why are you in the middle of Nevada? The President is in Washington, so why not there? Afraid you will embarrass your political ally?
President Obama promised war in Afghanistan. He criticized Bush for not supporting the military. You supported him. His commanding general, last month, announced that the good war in Afghanistan will last for another two generations. Maybe you should be protesting yourself.
Oh, the angels are singing
Oh, the angels are singing your praises! The mujahideen would as soon as murder you all in your beds, or behead you, or stone you if you are female!! so go parade all your Peace, love and kindness in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, and get out of the country that provides you the freedom to be imbeciles, fools and peaceniks, the converted do not need your homilies!! Your freedom was bought by the blood of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines that so bravely sacrificed their lives for your silly ideas and the freedom to spout your nonsense. So go to the Sudan, the countries of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, Syria, China, etc, where Missionaries such as yourself are always Loved and Appreciated and preach your Love, Peace, Disarmament, Kindness.See where that might get you! You will be the most fortunate of souls if you are able to die a quick, painless death! And then you can take your place among the ranks of the Martyrs of Heaven and maybe your fellows will be happy to promote your causes to Sainthood!
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