Join us for a Zoom webinar on nuclear issues and the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 this Sunday!
On May 17
, at 4 pm ET/ 3 pm CT/ 1 pm PT, hear Martha Hennessy
, a member of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, their lawyer Bill Quigley, and fellow Catholic Worker and NukeWatch activist John LaForge speak about nuclear issue criminal trials and their efforts to use the Necessity Defense.
Please join our webinar by clicking on this link
. (If this is your first Zoom meeting, allow extra time on Sunday to download and launch the Zoom app.)
If you're joining only by phone, find your local number
here
.
(When you call in, you'll be asked for the meeting ID - 848 2685 4079 - and password - 640646.)
Kings Bay Plowshares 7 on April 4, 2018: Clare Grady, Liz McAlister, Patrick O'Neill, Carmen Trotta, Steve Kelly SJ, Martha Hennessy, Mark Colville
(Photo with permission from Kings Bay Plowshares 7 website.)
May 17 Webinar Speakers and Content
Martha Hennessy is the granddaughter of Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker movement. The seven Kings Bay Plowshares activists nonviolently broke into the huge Trident submarine base in Georgia in April, 2018. The fleet of Trident subs based there contain one-quarter of the U.S. deployed nuclear weapons. After pouring their own blood on symbolic icons of nuclear weapons, they waited for arrest. They were found guilty of three felonies and a misdemeanor last October, and they will be sentenced on May 28 and 29. They are represented by attorney Bill Quigley, who will join the call. NukeWatch activist, John LaForge, will also be on the call. After a 1984 Plowshares action, he used the "necessity" defense in his trial. Defendants using necessity argue a 'crime prevention' defense, based on international law. Nevertheless, he was convicted.
In the webinar, the speakers will describe the break-in, reasons for it, and discuss the importance of reviving the necessity defense. Courts have tended to disallow this defense approach in recent years.
The May 17 webinar launches a monthly webinar series about key events in 1945, which led to the establishment of the United Nations and the development and use of nuclear weapons.
2020: A Year of Significant 75
th
Anniversaries
Robin Lloyd, Cherrill Spencer, and Charlotte Dennett have focused on researching what happened in 1945, including WILPF's involvement in the founding of the United Nations, and the continuing effects of decisions made in that tumultuous year.
On the one hand, 1945 marked the release of weapons of unparalleled destructiveness; and on the other, the world developed the U.N. structure that allows nations to cooperate in peacemaking. The paths of these two initiatives are inextricably combined: The five nations who control the most powerful branch of the UN, the Security Council, also maintain the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
Through this year we hope to take you on a revealing journey:
- What forces were acting behind the formation of the UN?
- Who and what influenced President Truman to drop the nuclear bombs?
- Why does all this matter and what is and could WILPF be doing about it?
Webinar Series Continues Through the Year
Save these dates for the rest of our series!
On June 28 -
Phyllis Bennis of Institute for Policy Studies about issues surrounding the founding of the United Nations and the uphill battle to democratize it.
In July
- about the Downwinders of the July 16, 1945, Trinity A-bomb test in New Mexico and later nuclear bomb tests in Nevada.
In August -
Hideko Tamura's experience of the Hiroshima bombing and life before and after.
On September 20
- Alice Slater of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation on the new and hoped-for Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
On October 24, United Nations Day
- a speaker from Reaching Critical Will about WILPF's active role in disarmament efforts before and since the United Nations was founded.
Co-Chairs, WILPF US Disarm/End Wars Committee
