Weep and Disarm
for Children Plowshares

Editor's Note:
Some of you have had the privilege of meeting Ardeth Platte, OP and Carol Gilbert, OP, Roman Catholic Dominican Sisters, who helped us organize a Michigan Faith and Resistance retreat held in Traverse City in 1989. These two women have devoted their lives to bringing about an end to weapons of mass destruction, with a particular focus on nuclear disarmament. They lived in Oscoda where they led a continuous vigil protesting the existence of Wurtsmith Air Force Base. When Wurtsmith closed down they moved up to Sawyer to join the protest against the K.I. Sawyer base and the ELF Project. They now reside at Jonah House, a nonviolent, civil resistance community in Baltimore, MD. The following is an account of their latest protest and trial in Connecticut.

At 3:30 AM on the morning of July 27, 1996, the day the U.S. Iaunched its 18th Trident Nuclear Submarine, Elizabeth Walters IHM, from Detroit, Carol Gilbert OP and Ardeth Platte OP, Michiganians now living at the Jonah House Resistance Community in Baltimore, and Kathy Shields Boylan of Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in Washington, DC, entered the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, CT.

They were not able to reach the four submarines in the pier area, but found a submarine component, where they set up a disarmament liturgy. They poured their blood over the component, hammered on it with household hammers, then placed a 'WEEP FOR CHILDREN' cloth over it, making it into a new instrument, an altar. They read aloud from the scriptures, other reflective readings, and then read their own prepared statement. Security had surrounded them from the beginning of their action, but respectfully waited as they conducted their liturgy. They were taken into custody, where they were detained for eight hours. They were charged with two misdemeanors: destruction of government property and trespass. They were given a summons to appear in the Hartford Federal District Court on Wed, July 31. Then they were released. They appeared before Magistrate Thomas Smith on that date, pleading NOLO CONTENDERE, which was not accepted. They were given a trial date of September 30, 1996. They are free until that time. Their statement follows:

Our Nonviolent Disarmament Action is Our Expression of All the Love We Carry Within Us.

We come, connected in the spirit of many women before us who were not afraid to weep with and for children: Midwives of the Old Testament, Mothers of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Mothers of the Disappeared, Women of East Timor and England's Ploughshares, Women of Iraq, Russia, Chechnya, El Salvador, Rwanda, Ireland, Guatemala, Women of the Underground Railroad, and all indigenous Women.

We weep with suffering and weeping children of the world, conscious of and vulnerable to their causes. Millions of children have been killed in wars. Millions are traumatized in war zones, orphaned and separated from parents. Millions are disabled by landmines and millions more damaged in mind, body and spirit through environmental contamination. Millions are caught in poverty, hunger, homelessness and disease.

We focus on the arms race and wars as the major cause of infanticide, genocide, threatening omnicide in the world.

Our weeping and public lament is our attempt to bring this violence and injustice to light. We weep and our tears give us courage to act strongly. We place conscience above consequences and consider truth spoken clearly as essential for stopping the killing. We weep and we disarm. We reject every weapons system being built and used indiscriminately on God's people today. We disclose by our symbolic action our opposition to the use of force, violence, patriarchy and war. We endorse conversion of heart, conversion of military systems, nonviolent solutions to all conflicts, just distribution of all resources, and mutual relations with all people. We weep and recognize the urgency of this disarmament action.

The United States Nuclear Goliath launched its 18th Trident on July 27, 1996.

The belly of the Thames River spews forth the venom of death from its Seawolf, Tridents, Fast Attack Submarines &emdash; a long process from construction at Electric Boat to the nuclearization of the oceans. The Arsenal Ship and new earth-penetrating weapons are the newest Pentagon dreams for death-dealing and become children's nightmares. Star Wars development in outer space continues. Global domination and policing policies are in process. Injury to Earth and wasted human and material resources deny future generations of children a wholesome life. Threatening methods of subjugating the smallest and poorest developing nations, along with US profiteering from arms sales, kill children daily. Mother Earth weeps...We weep...

All the while government leads the public to believe the arms race is over.

They make false promises about disarmament as they discard the older carriers and weapons and produce the new systems to become more powerful than those discarded. They continue to receive more funding than they need or request! How insane, how costly, how sinful to continue on this course!

We call on all humanity, especially women, to publicly weep and disarm weapons of mass destruction and build true peace according to Gospel Values in our families, in our neighborhoods, and in our world.

-- Kathy Shields Boylan, Carol Gilbert, OP, Ardeth Platte, OP, Elizabeth Walters, IHM

Twenty-three other protestors were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. They blocked the entrance to the General Dynamics shipyard where visitors were arriving later that day for the ceremony, christening the last of 18 Trident submarines to be added to the fleet. Among those arrested were some well-known peace activists, including Philip Berrigan.

From Sigrid's Corner, in the Newsletter of Peace Action of Michigan, 195 w. 9 Mile Suite 208, Ferndale, MI 48220, (810) 548-3920

On Monday, September 30th, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the trial of Kathy Shields Boylan, Carol Gilbert, Ardeth Platte and Elizabeth Walters, for their plowshares disarmament action at the U.S.. Sub Base in Groton, CT. At the Sub Base they disarmed a torpedo tube, following the prophecy of Isaiah to "hammer swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks".

The prosecutions' approach to the case seemed like a sleight of hand. If they could keep everyone's attention on such things as the color of the women's baseball hats, then no one would think about the meaning of the action. Diversion is an effective tool in continuing oppressive systems. The Navy separates the construction and existence of weapons from their purpose&emdash;destruction.

Kathy was the spokeswoman for the defendants for much of the trial. The intelligence and scope of her cross-examinations were a contrast to the trivial and narrow questions of the prosecutor. The difference in intention between the two was apparent. The Plowshares women were present because they are aware of the violence that we have created, and they still have hope and love. The Prosecution seemed afraid to know the story. Neither the sailors nor the magistrate read the literature left at the site which documented the illegality and immorality of nuclear weapons.

Although the Navy didn't want to let the Plowshares message be heard in any way, they could not help but do so. Each witness for the prosecution remembered a different aspect of the action. One spoke of the ringing out of the hammers; another noted the women's dance, and a third their prayer. The baby bottles which had held their blood and the hammers that they had used, decorated with children's pictures and inscribed with the phrases "Disarm! Disarm! Disarm!" and "Thou shall not kill" were brought in as evidence. The Weep for Children Plowshares banner was unfurled to applause from the supporters in the court room.

The defense testimony was presented by Kathy Shields Boylan as well. In one part of her testimony she described the crime of producing weapons: "Our nuclear weapons are like gas chambers without walls,: and she told of the connectedness they felt in breaking the silence. Walking into the base, she "thought of Harriet TubmanÉI am part of a long walk to freedom." She compared their action to hammering on the chains with which men and women were held during slavery. These weapons are also chains which bind us to violence and hatred.

Their conviction was quick. All four women were found guilty of trespassing and damaging government property. The maximum sentence for each woman was a $105,000 fine or 18 months in prison. The defense and prosecution spoke before sentencing. Each woman spoke from her heart, inspired by faith. Carol Gilbert began, "...you are part of the system that protects these weapons. We're in a different arena&emdash;so it is difficult to be here. We speak a different language, different words. That is why I wanted to plead no lo contendre." She voiced her disappointment that the magistrate did not read the documents that they had provided, and closed saying, "My life is one of nonviolence, attempting to live the Gospels. If I am guilty of anything, it is of trying to live the Gospels."

Ardeth Platte also addressed the illegality and immorality of nuclear weapons. She spoke of their Plowshares power as women: "We women are not afraid to weep. It kind of tells us who we love." She asked, "could I ever be against you?" and closed saying, "My bid is peace be with you, peace be with the people in this court. I love you."

The prosecution's final statement put him in a poor light as he tried to conncect the Plowshares with acts of terrorism. Magistrate Smith, before sentencing, pointed out the illogic and silliness of such comparisons. Calling upon "the secular law with which we must live," he gave them six months incarceration (suspended) and 1,000 hours of community service "above and beyond" what they -- a qualification which drew laughter from the supporters.

We exited singing "Rejoice in the Lord's Goodness" and the good feelings were carried across the street to our lunch. The four women joined us, and we all joined hands for our closing prayer. It was an honor to be part of such life-filled community. Kathy, Carol, Ardeth and Elizabeth, your witness was beautiful. Thank you for your beautiful expressions of God's peace and love.

Return to the Index of Synapse 38, Winter 1996