Tag Archives: Dan Martin

Newsletter February 2007

Dear Friend,

Apologies for not corresponding sooner, but we hope you will have a more than vague memory of the now traditional Ash Wednesday repentance and resistance demonstrations at the Ministry of Defence.

Ash Wednesday this year is 21 February 2007.

Along with Pax Christi, we invite you to join us at the Ministry of Defence in London to say NO, through prayer and symbolic actions of repentance, to nuclear war preparations and the replacement of Trident.  We will meet at 3.00pm in Embankment Gardens (nearest tube Embankment Station).

If you wish to take part in nonviolent direct action on the day, or indeed any other day during Lent, and so risk arrest, prior preparation is required so please contact us or Pax Christi (020 8203 4884;info@paxchristi.org.uk;www.paxchristi.org.uk).

Yours in the peace, and peacemaking-spirit, of Christ

Catholic Peace Action
Dan and Carmel Martin, and Pat Gaffney

“Unconscionable”

The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales (as distinct from individual Bishops) have finally issued a statement that gives me hope and encouragement for our peace work.  From their statement of Nov. 21, 2006 this gem of a sentence appears:

“Our judgment is that, by decommissioning its nuclear weapons, the UK now has a unique opportunity to offer the international community an approach to security and legitimate self-defense without the unconscionable threat of nuclear destruction.”

When I look for the meaning of the word ‘unconscionable’ at dictionary.com I find these results:

“Not guided by conscience; unscrupulous; not in accordance with what is just or reasonable: unconscionable behaviour; excessive; extortionate: an unconscionable profit.

“Not restrained by conscience; unscrupulous: unconscionable behaviour; Beyond prudence or reason; excessive: unconscionable spending.

“lacking a conscience; “a conscienceless villain”; “brash, unprincipled, and conscienceless”; “an unconscionable liar”

“Greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation; unreasonably unfair to one party, marked by oppression, or otherwise unacceptably offensive to public policy…”

What all the Bishops of this country now find ‘unconscionable’, the people of the church and this country must now make politically unacceptable and indeed impossible. 

Dan Martin

For the Record  —  Lent 2006

Sister Susan Clarkson, Lent 2006

From Ash Wednesday, 1 March to Wednesday of Holy Week, 12 April, the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall, Central London, was the scene of many acts of resistance against nuclear war preparations of this Government.

During the six week period of Lent, the Building was marked with blessed charcoal on eight occasions.  The Markers, who risked arrest for each act of resistance, were Sr. Susan Clarkson, Fr Martin Newell and Dan Martin.  Friends saying prayers, holding banners and handing-out leaflets, supported them.

The repentance and resistance season for Christians began early in the morning.  The three, along with a few friends began with prayer and a blessing of the charcoal and ash   The blessing of the ash and charcoal was done by Fr John Concanon.  At the front entrance of the MoD, the three Markers wrote or attempted to write ‘Repent’ and ‘God says: No to new nuclear weapons’, ‘No to Trident’.  The police confiscated the charcoal and escorted them to the bottom of the stairs, where the group handed out leaflets to workers and passers-by and held a banner.  No arrests were made.

The largest of the Lent 2006 gatherings occurred later in the day on Ash Wednesday.  About 60-70 supporters gathered for a liturgy and supportive presence to marking that occurred earlier and was to take place again as an intrinsic part of the prayers for peace and communal repentance.

The process of marking our own foreheads with the ashes of repentance occurred on both occasions.  The participants acknowledge their own sin and complicity with the evil of nuclear weapons.  And, as in the morning, we then brought that same blessed ash and charcoal to the MoD to encourage repentance of and resistance to the nuclear weapon war preparations of this country.

This process, going on its 24th year, reflects the personal and social components of sin and echoes the Pope’s message of Ash Wednesday:

‘”Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). It is an invitation to make firm and confident adherence to the Gospel the foundation of personal and communal renewal.’

In the presence of the prayerful supporters and during the liturgy, the MoD was marked again with the words ‘Repent’.  No arrests were made; the prayers continued; the work for peace encouraged. 

During the Lenten witness the response from the staff was more extreme than usual.  Supporters came from London, Oxford and Kent. 

STAFF

The reactions seemed were more extreme than in the past – both in support and in disagreement.

One called what we did ‘terrorism’.  This word was preceded by a few choice adjectives.

Another man in a naval uniform walked out the building and away from us then turned around.  He came up to Angela and Dan who were holding a banner and said: ‘I have something to say, I have something to say: I am a Christian and what you are doing is a disgrace to Christianity.’

Dan Martin, Lent 2006  

Another young man stopped before going into the building: ‘I agree with you that nuclear weapons are wrong but Jesus would not and did not break the law.’  Carmel replied: ‘You need to re-read your Bible.’

Many were genuinely friendly and apparently supportive and glad of our presence.

Security Personnel

The response from the security personnel was mostly calm and sometimes even friendly.  During the early morning of Ash Wednesday the cold was obvious to all of us.  One police officer offered to get Dan some gloves while he handed out leaflets.  Later in the day, Dan marked the building again and the same officer said in a disappointed manner, ‘And I was going to let you borrow some gloves this morning.’  Dan asked him to not take it personally.  A few during Lent recognised that while they had a job to do so too did we. 

Officer: ‘You have committed criminal damage.’  Dan: ‘Prove it.’  Officer: ‘It is all on CCTV, but we are constrained from proceeding to prosecution.’

By the third day of our witness we were threatened with arrest should be continue our witness.  The same threats were repeated on other days.

On another day, and for the first time, two officers came into the park where we gather for prayer and preparations before walking to the MoD.  They said if we proceeded to do our usual work we would be arrested and a civil prosecution taken out on us by the owners of the Building.  The MoD police would not do it but the owners of the building would proceed with a civil prosecution.  This curious and confused message did not put us off, since we had been prepared all along for the possibility arrest and the opportunity to make our defence in the court. 

On another occasion a senior officer ordered us to move our protest and presence a meter and a half further away from the MOD, so we would be standing on the public footpath.  ‘We respect your right to protest but you must do so off the MoD property.  You need to move further away from the steps and on the other side of the line that separates the public footpath and the MoD.’  He tried to call us together, interrupting our leafleting in order to speak to us.  Sr. Susan stayed standing at the bottom of the steps, continued to hand out leaflets, and said ‘I can hear you just fine where I am.’  Dan agreed and added ‘I am not moving off MoD property.’  What followed was a 45 minute discussion as to the significance of the line in the pavement, our position, and the morality or otherwise of nuclear weapons, as well as continued leafleting.

Twice the markers and once a supporter were subject to a formal Stop and Search.  Both Martin and Dan refused to give them their name and other personal details.  This lack of information might frustrate civil prosecutions.

On another occasion we changed out usual time of marking because the police figured out our Friday pattern.  Getting there at 7 a.m. was a shock to them.  One PC said: ‘It looks like you discovered your alarm clock.’  And as Susan, Dan and Angela were being shouted at by one security man, Martin, unnoticed, continued to write whole sentences.  One in big letters read: ‘Thus says the Lord: disarm your hearts and your nuclear weapons too!’

On the final day, the final approach from the senior officer was a question and warning: ‘Who is in charge?’  And ‘you must ask for permission to demonstrate otherwise you will be liable for arrest.’  Dan’s response: ‘We have been protesting here for 25 years and have never asked permission.’

The nuclear war preparations of this Government are likely to continue.  People of faith will continue to respond to this immoral and illegal situation. 

Dan Martin

Caught in the Crossfire of
Collateral Damage

By Ray Towey

Sometimes one particular patient can cause you to pause and reflect and Martha Okello,(not her real name but the photo is of herself and her mother with permission) a 10 year old girl and patient on the Intensive Care Unit, ICU, for 2 months is one patient whose story I would like to share. She was abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army a few months ago, a rebel group that has been fighting the government troops in Northern Uganda for 20 years and when the government troops caught up with the rebels she was shot in the leg in the crossfire. The wound was bad but not so severe that she needed intensive care but one week later she developed a condition known as tetanus caused by a wound infection.

Many thousands of people and many of them babies die from tetanus in Africa each year and it is a very distressing condition and often a very painful death. The body is thrown into very strong spasms which look like epilepsy and without treatment and even with the limited treatment in Africa most will die from failure to breathe.

So I first came across Martha when she was admitted with tetanus in the ICU earlier this year. Our first line drugs were not working so we decided after much thought to use a treatment which is more expensive and more challenging to all the staff because it meant she would need to have a tracheostomy, a surgical opening in her neck, and would need to be placed on a ventilator for 3 weeks which is a big commitment of care from our nurses and clinicians.

Even with this care we could not guarantee a cure but it was her only hope and we embarked upon it. As you can see from her photo taken just a few weeks ago she survived and although her leg is still in the process of healing she should leave hospital well. Martha has a very wonderful smile as you can see in the photo and she often came to visit us in the ICU after she was discharged back to the ward and all the staff were delighted in her visits and in her obvious gratitude. So what have we learnt from Martha and what do I reflect upon?

In a medical context with the help of your donations we have found that for the bigger children tetanus can be successfully treated with both first line drugs such as magnesium and also with a tracheostomy and ventilation. Tetanus is a major killer in Africa but at least for the bigger children in our setting there is some hope. Our current priority is to buy another ventilator and continue to obtain more tracheostomy tubes from the donations we have.

In 20 years of practice in UK I cannot recall ever seeing a single patient with tetanus because with a few cheap injections almost the whole population is immunised against this condition. In Africa the extreme poverty of the medical infrastructure of basic healthcare means that many thousands are just not immunised adequately and in an area with 20 years of insecurity and with thousands of children being abducted to be sex slaves or child soldiers the weak infrastructure collapses completely. 

She is a victim of war in many ways. She was shot in the crossfire and that was a direct result but she was not immune from the complications of such wounds and that makes her a double effect casualty of war. She is the human face of the so called collateral damage of war and it is all preventable. The evidence is clear that when war comes malnutrition and diseases increase. When human beings choose the violent solution the children die. The LRA rebels believe the ten commandment of the Judeo-Christian faith should be the basis of a new government. As usual all protagonists in war claim to have God on their side. This seems to be true in Europe as in Africa and the Middle East. It is not a God I can recognise as to me the God who loves the poor does not inflict collateral damage on children.

Even in parts of Africa where there is no violent conflict tetanus remains a major cause of death. The healthcare infrastructure is very fragile as there are just too little funds available. If a small fraction of the money spent on war was directed to healthcare we would see a major change. Every global preventable disease is the collateral damage of our global wrong choices. It could be so different if we made a better choice for life. The sad truth is that most children like Martha just don’t survive but we thank God for the part we and our donors have made in her recovery and pray for a change of heart in those who justify war and its inevitable collateral damage and waste of resources.

Dr Ray Towey, rmtowey@tiscali.co.uk, is a long-time member of CPA. This article was published in his August 2006 Newsletter as a medical missionary in Uganda with the Volunteer Missionary Movement.  His support website is www.africanmission.org.uk.

Ash Wednesday 2003

Press Release

Embargoed 8 am Ash Wednesday 5th March 2003

Christians Say No to Nuclear Terrorism on day when Pope calls for Prayer for Peace
Ash Wednesday, 5th March, marks the 19th year of nonviolent civil disobedience and prayer at the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall to draw attention to the British Governments continued commitment to Nuclear War preparations.

While our Government makes demands on Iraq to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction, our own Defence Secretary has threatened the use of nuclear weapons against Iraq.

During the day people will be mark the building with blessed ash and charcoal with words such as , ‘Repent’ and ‘Choose Life.’ These actions are likely to lead to arrest. Ash Wednesday is chosen as the day when we can link personal need for and expression of repentance with a call to the nation to turn away from the sin of nuclear war preparations.

At the same time there will be a Christian liturgy , beginning Embankement Gardens (between Horseguards Ave and the Embankment tube station) and continuing around the Ministry of Defence Buildings in Horseguards Avenue. The liturgy begins at 3.00 pm

“Our action and prayer are all the more urgent as the world is at the brink of war with Iraq. Pope John Paul II has called the world to offer special prayers for peace this Ash Wednesday. Our prayer is that the British Government will turn away from a defence policy that is reliant on nuclear weapons and live up to its own obligations to disarm “

 Dan Martin, 48,
 Scott Albrecht, 41,
 Angela Broome, 67, East London
 David Partridge,

Excerpts from our leaflet issued on the day.

Nuclear Weapons as Much a Threat Today as Ever

  • During 2002 Geoff Hoon threatened the use nuclear weapons against Iraq if an attack with weapons of mass destruction were launched against British forces deployed in the region.
  • The demands made on Iraq should be matched by the actions of the existing nuclear states – including Britain. It is essential that we abide by our own legal obligations to bring to a conclusion negotiations aimed at the abolition of nuclear weapons.

“I die with the conviction, held since 1968 that nuclear weapons are the scourge of the earth; to mine for them, manufacture them, deploy them, use them is a curse against God, the human family and the earth itself”.

Philip Berrigan. R.I.P Peace campaigner and prophet.
5 October 1923 – 6 December 2002, Baltimore, USA

Newsletter February 1989

198902-1

Dear Friend,

Peace be with you,

Ash Wednesday witness of repentance and resistance will continue on 2 March.   As we are still in the season of Lent the symbols and theme used on Ash Wednesday will still apply

We invite you to come and lend prayerful support to the renewed marking of the Ministry of Defence with blessed charcoal and the scattering of ashes.

We will meet in the Victoria Embankment Gardens…

1989 began with flurry of activity. After a ten-month wait, Carmel received a final warning notice from her local court relating back to non-payment of costs and compensation for her part in the Ash Wednesday 1988 witness.  She was eventually sentenced to five days in prison but was soon out. (see enclosed article.)

January also saw the final planning for Ash Wednesday this year.  You will remember that we had evolved, with the other organisations supporting the witness, a set of guide

lines to help everyone taking part maintain a spirit of nonviolence.  A great deal

of effort and thought was put into the day.  About 500 people took part in the service at Westminster Cathedral hall where charcoal and ashes were blessed for later use at the MoD.  Sr. Doreen, co-ordinator of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in England, preached the homily, which is also attached with this letter.

The witness at the MoD was very controlled and prayerful. Without barriers it was easy for affinity groups to make their way to the wall and mark the building. The police had been briefed to keep a very low profile and while they were present in large numbers only made three arrests (and these people were released without being charged. 

Instead, they removed charcoal from people as they marked the building and then left groups to pray as they wished. In parallel to the acts of marking that were going on all around the building, a vigil was maintained from 12:15 to 4pm on the river side of the building.  Over 200 people took part in the vigil, which took for its focus nine miracles of healing in a nuclear age.  Friends in Liverpool and Aldermaston engaged in similar activity and were dealt with in the same way by the police.

If you attended the Witness in whatever capacity you are invited to an evaluation on Saturday 4 March at Heythrop College, Deans Mews, Cavendish square, London W1, from 11-4pm. A reflection and proposals for the way forward is attached.

After 2 March our next witness will be the Low Week, 72 hour, prayer and fast and vigil at Westminster Cathedral and the MoD. You are invited to join us in anyway you can.  There may also be civil disobedience on 6 April, to conclude the prayer.  Contact Dan or Pat for more details.  If you would like to consider risking arrest ring a.s.a.p.

Over the weekend of 19-21 May we invite you to join us for prayer, gospel reflection, and discussion.  (Being involved in civil disobedience is not a criterion for participation.)  We haven’t found a venue yet but it will be in London and cheap, that we can assure you.

Another great Summer School is planned for 27 August-3 Sept ember. Jim and Shelly Douglass from the Ground Zero Centre for Nonviolent Action in Washington will be the main speakers. Washington is also the Pacific home base for the U.S. Trident fleet.

Thank you for your continued support.

Peace and love,

Catholic Peace Action

Ray Towey, Pat Gaffney, Sarah Hipperson, Fr. David Standley, Dan and Carmel Martin

A Busy Week in January

By Dan Martin

‘I am not interested in your conscience. Thus spoke the magistrate. She could have easily added: ‘only your money and obedience, ‘ such was her tone of voice and demeanour as Carmel tried to explain why she would not pay the £18.45.

But the magistrate was having none of it.  ‘Either pay the £18.45 or in seven days you will be arrested and imprisoned for five days.’

This was two days less than the maximum Carmel had expected so she was relieved, but not by much!

Five days prior to her meeting with the magistrate on 23 January, Carmel received another final notice to pay £15 court costs plus 3.45 compensation for cleaning the MoD after Ash Wednesday 1988.  A year later, the slow arm of the law finally reached out and nabbed her.  The notice said that if she did not pay up by 23 January an arrest warrant may be issued. 

The thought of the police knocking on the door at anytime and arresting her in the presence of the children who also would be taken into custody until I returned from work to fetch them was too much to bear.  To prevent that, Carmel began packing her bag for a seven-day stay at Holloway.  The seven days leading up to 23 Jan were full of anxiety, turmoil and fervent prayer to be given the strength to carry through with her initial act of nonviolent resistance, and thereby preserve it integrity and meaning.  It was a difficult wait.

Carmel said to the magistrate: I would like the matter to be dealt with now.

I’ve made arrangements for the care of my children and my decision will be the same in seven days time.’  ‘Very well,’ the magistrate said,  ‘I sentence you to five days beginning now.’

In the middle of the courtroom I handed Carmel her Hollow bag, gave each other a quick kiss good-bye, then she went one way and I another.

But alas! someone else was to have as much regard for Carmel’s conscience as the magistrate. Just before going into the court Carmel told a “friend’: “Do not pay.’ As soon as the sentence was passed this same person went immediately down to the fines office and paid.  Within an hour Carmel was out, barely enough time finish her cup of tea and conversation with the jailers.

While it was good to have Carmel home so soon it would have been better if the friend had taken her, her action, and the need for peace more seriously.  True there was a difference in motivation.  The magistrate acted in the best interests of the State.

The friend acted in Carmel’s best interests.  But I can’t help thinking of a quote from Thoreau who was released from prison early because someone had paid his tax bill.

‘If others pay the tax which is demanded of me, from a sympathy with the State, they do but what they have already done in their own case, or rather they abet injustice to a greater extent than the State requires.   If they pay a tax (fine) from a mistaken interest in the individual taxed, to save his going to jail, it is because they have not considered wisely how far they let their private feelings interfere with the public good.

This same week in January was also memorable by two more public events, one bad and one hopeful. The day that Carmel received the notice to pay up was the same day that a 100 police broke down several doors of the Church in Manchester, which was a sanctuary for Viraj Mendis for two years.  They cut telephone lines and dragged Viraj out and down to London in three hours.  In three days he was back in Sri Lanka. The government showed as much regard for his safety as the magistrate did for Carmel’s conscience.  As 23 January loomed closer mercy was not expected.

The hopeful event occurred on the day Carmel appeared in court. Liz Yates, Stephen Hancock, Jean Dreze and others occupied a long disused hospital near the Oval. They invited homeless people to join them.  Our friends soon made themselves redundant.  At last count over 100 formerly homeless people are living there, making their own decisions, organising their meals and other living arrangements, pooling resources and relating well with the locals.

A good friend, who works with homeless people, said she dropped by there for a visit, to say hello to some friends.  She met one man who she had never heard speak before.  To her amazement and joy, he came up to her, with a smile on his face, and said, “Hello, let me show you my room.  Off they went. In his room they had a great chat, he was so happy.  He then offered her what little bread he had.

When he broke the bread, dirty hands and all, and gave it to her she said it was as powerful and meaningful as receiving the Eucharist.

The theme of this week in January could be ‘Home.’   One person was forced to go home, a home he didn’t want to return to; Another person was allowed to return home early, a home she loves but was willing to be separate from for awhile; and many scores left their cardboard homes for a more real home, allowing one person at least to find his voice, to smile, and offer hospitality and food to a friend.

——————————————————————————————————————

Homily, Ash Wednesday, February 8, 1989
Westminster Cathedral Hall

By Sr Doreen Tobin

Ashes….Charcoal….marking the forehead…Repent and believe the Good News.  Simple symbols, simple actions, and simple words to begin a season of repentance.

Ashes are a symbol of both than repentance and mourning.  It seems they more spontaneously remind us of mourning than repentance.  The burnt city is left in ashes.  The loss is mourned. But for the prophets, such mourning was also a call to repentance.

In Biblical times disaster was so easily seen as a punishment from God, and so the ashes of disaster were vivid reminders of Israel’s deviation from God’s law.  The response was repentance and conversion to God.

Today we do not so easily make the connection between mourning and repentance, because we consider it both psychologically and theologically bad, to interpret disaster and loss as a punishment from God.

But there is a connection, for repentance can be the response to mourning if we know that the loss or disaster could have been prevented.  We can learn from the past to change our behaviour toward the future.  When death and destruction are the results of something we could have prevented by changing our behaviour, then repentance is called for.

Repentance does have to do with the prevention of destruction.  When we remember the ashes of Hiroshima we have cause to repent for what was done.  When we imagine the destruction contemplated in deterrence, we have cause to repent.  We need to be able to see the ashes before they are produced.  Then we might repent of what is intended and change our behaviour, i.e. stop making the weapons.  When we see our reality in this way, the message of the prophets is as valid today: Repent. Turn to the Lord your God again, for God is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness and ready to relent.’

We mark the walls with charcoal as we mark our foreheads with ashes.  Charcoal is but ashes that are less completely burned.  It is like ashes we can write with.  By marking the building with charcoal we transfer the sign of repentance from our forehead to the place that is likewise called to repentance.  Our personal act of repentance is carried to a public place, to the house of death.  In this way, we unite our personal act of repentance to the more general call to repentance.  Those who call to repentance are themselves marked with the sign of repentance. ‘Repent and believe the good news.

In Joel, the trumpets sound and an assembly is called (2:12 – 18).  Must we wait till the weapons are used to sound the alarm?  And has not the destruction already been caused by the lost resources, by the poor who starve, by living on a planet held in hostage, by creating enemies to support a profitable arms trade?  Food is taken from the mouths of the poor to put into the voracious jaws of the war machine.

Come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.  Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn.’  The external sign is to be measured by the heart.  It is the heart that is marked by ashes.  Where is the heart?  Is it broken at the realization at what we are constructing in the name of defence and security?  Weapons that destroy what they feign to protect? 

How clear does the trumpet sound for Christians? Do we waffle and wobble, or is there and a clear “Yes’ to life?  How can we who confess to life continue to abide in a world of death images and images of hatred?  The Reformed (Church) Alliance of the Federal Republic of Germany wrote in its

Confessional statement: “The confession of our faith is incompatible of with all life-threatening

enmity between people all hostile images of others… In obedience to Jesus Christ means of mass destruction are not appropriate or necessary instruments with which a state is entitled to frighten off potential military opponents or in the event of war, to join battle against them…They deserve on the part of Christians an unconditional “No” to weapons spoken out of a confessing

without any kind of “Yes”. This Christian Church has proclaimed a clear carion in its response

commitment to God the Creator, Reconciler and Redeemer, of mass destruction and war-making.  Should we be less clear?

As Christians, we seem gradually to have shifted so far from what Jesus had in mind that the abnormal begins to look normal.  We normalize the abnormal so that the normally abnormal looks normal.  Christians are called to resist the normalization of the abnormal and see the Emperor in his bare nothingness. The role of prophecy is to continue shouting as did the prophets before, that what is accepted as normal is quite not so.

It is the communal call to repentance that leads us to move from here, from our enclosed moment of prayer and reflection, to mark not only our foreheads but also the commonly held property that cloaks the abnormal as normal — that acts and plans and intends the possible mutual annihilation of human beings, as though it were normal to do so.

For, to borrow the reflection of Daniel Berrigan, what is the property of the Ministry of Defence?  Who is it proper to?  Is it proper in any human sense of the word to plan and prepare tools of mass destruction?

To mark the building is to call public attention to the fact that the building is not real property, because it is not proper to any human being.  It is a non-property.

By moving the liturgy from here to the streets we invite those who pass by to become a part of the collective vigil.  The communitarian mourning becomes public.  The ashes are spread on common ground.

If in the process we are jailed it should not seem strange, if we remember the Acts of the Apostles.  Christians do not seek to be in jail.  We look to affirm life and call attention to the House of Death.  We enter the House of Death to affirm life.

Everyone who attends this liturgy in some way expresses his/her affirmation of life. Some will carry the message in writing on the walls of the Ministry of Defense and experience bodily their witness not only today but in the days, weeks, and months to follow.  The follow-through on the call to repentance is more than today.  Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the season of Lent.  This initial act of repentance is the announcement of a season of repentance.

The personal act of receiving ashes on the forehead is extended to the community of believers here, but it is also extended to the community of our fellow human beings at the Ministry of Defense and fellow Christians elsewhere.  It extends also in time, through the season of Lent and in the follow-through court or in jail for those who are arrested.  There are different ways in which we are called to repentance and how we express our response to that call.  The total liturgy moves from prayer, reflection, and song in this location through the procession and action at the Ministry of Defence and the consequences that follow through the year.  It is a liturgy shared by all, each walking at a different pace or in a different way, but all called by the same Spirit to speak the Truth in a bodily form and act publicly to express our hearing of the words: Repent and believe the Good News.

Sr. Doreen Hudson-Tobin
(Co-ordinator of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in England)

—————————————————————————————————————————

Reflections on Ash Wednesday 1989 and Proposals for 1990

By Dan Martin

What does it mean when Christians are allowed to publicly mark the main Ministry of Defense building in Whitehall, just a short walk away from the Houses of Parliament and across the street from No. 10 Downing Street, and NOT be arrested? (Well, three people were arrested but later released without charge. Their arresting officers must have been a bit more zealous for the law than their comrades were. )   The police have ignored such activity in Liverpool the last two years and again this year.   The road was partially blocked at Aldermaston AWE as nine Christians knelt and prayed amongst sack-cloth and ashes, and again no arrests were made.

Could this be what the police are thinking: ‘It is simply not worth the expense and paper work to arrest over forty people for doing something as harmless as using charcoal and ash on the building. Last year we arrested over 60 of them and all but one pleaded not-guilty.  And even when they were convicted many refused to pay up and eventually spent time in police cells and prison.  We, the courts and prisons, have better things to do then to pander to the offended consciences of a few Christians.  So let them have their day of daubing and graffitti.  And probably if we refuse to arrest them, we will reduce, if not eliminate, their publicity, which is why they engage in such antics anyway.  They measure their success and are encouraged in direct proportion to the column inches that appear the next day.  PulI the publicity rug from under them and they will soon get bored and go on to something else.’

Without knowing for sure why the police changed their approach to us I would like to believe that what occurred was of greater significance than perhaps even they realise.

Our work of twice-monthly communication and periodic resistance at the MoD since 1983 can be described in two words: fidelity and conversion.  We cannot predict nor programme conversion. 0ur hope, however, is that through our efforts to be faithful peacemakers the Spirit will lead us all including those who may disagree (e.g. the police, courts, etc.) into a deeper understanding.  In other words we always hope that the police, among others, will recognize the legitimacy of our activity and cooperate with us.

For example, the police could cooperate by not arresting us when we challenge the laws which protect the smooth daily working of the MoD.  In effect, we did achieve this on Ash Wednesday 1989.

Now I can’t say that conversion has taken place, but some significant change has occurred.  Since we began our work at the MoD we have met police, prosecutors and even a magistrate who have expressed their cooperation and agreement with our message and activities in different ways, though all stopped short of risking their jobs.

The decision to avoid arresting people was a major change of policy.  There can be no question that what we did was illegal.  It has been illegal for the last five years and found so by magistrates.

Friends who are sympathetic with our work, but not in full agreement, describe it as ineffective.  ‘What you do is good for your own conscience but not practical, not effective.  Well who knows for sure what is effective (whatever that means) but last Ash Wednesday is evidence that we have had an effect, on the police at least.

Has the State recognized the Ash Wednesday witness as a legitimate Christian witness?  Hardly. Though the behaviour of one part of the State has changed a little there is no evidence of agreement or change of behaviour from the military and politicians who will still push the button.  The police are on the front line protecting them from the likes of us.  So perhaps they are just making their job easier, thinking at the same time we will just go away eventually.

When considering a way forward it is important to not let the police or anyone else interpret where we have been or why. To respond in their terms would deny the spirit and reduce our peace work to merely political and tactical considerations.  A way forward needs to be rooted in the concepts of fidelity and conversion.

In a spirit of friendship we should welcome what cooperation the police showed on Ash Wednesday 1989, apparently it is now acceptable for Christians to mark the MoD on Ash Wednesday.  I believe that we now: need to create other opportunities for the front line of the State to cooperate with us. The police have moved the perimeter closer to the centre, which leaves us more freedom of movement and expression.  The extent of State control has been reduce.  They have stepped back and so we must step forward, always mindful of the need to non-violently challenge and confront a legal system which protects nuclear war preparations.  By a policy of not arresting people, the State defines what is acceptable protest, or what is acceptable Christian activity.  But what is permitted is not a challenge.

To step forward is not to seek arrest for its own sake but to say, ‘Okay, State, you’ve come this far with us after six years of our activity, and for that we rejoice, but we will not stop there.  We will keep coming forward until we reach the weapons, and even further until we reach the enmity that supports these weapons.

Let us enter the work places where the nuclear bureaucracy neatly files, organizes and compute nuclear war.  Let the police stand aside completely.  We are a disarmed people and by our persistence and willingness to suffer in challenging injustice we will, with God’s help, convert a nuclear armed nation.’

During Ash Wednesday at the MoD I thought of a scene from the film Gandhi.  In setting out on his great march to the sea to launch the salt tax resistance campaign a reporter asked him:  what if the government does nothing and lets you pick up the salt and distribute it? Gandhi replied: ‘The initiative is always with the nonviolent resister.’  I forget the rest of what he said but the sense of it was that the possibilities of creative nonviolence are so immense there can be no dead ends for those guided by the spirit of nonviolence.

To paraphrase Sr. Doreen who preached the homily: As Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent let it also announce a season of resistance.  Catholic Peace Action suggests that the Ash Wednesday witness become a Lenten campaign of public repentance and resistance.  We propose that the witness be expanded in time and place.

In regards to time–In London for the last two years 400-600 people attended a prayer service and over 60 and 40 people risked arrest.  Surely we can arrange things so that during every week of Lent, if not every day, a group of Christians will appropriately pray at and mark that Building.  A major service can still be part of the Ash Wednesday event and also include the marking of the MoD.  All the charcoal – used during Lent could be blessed then. The weekly or daily witnesses could begin with a liturgy using symbols which link with the Ash Wednesday service.  These could be organised by different affinity groups and/or by each of the sponsoring organizations. The support of the London-based people and organisations would be there to help provide what may be needed (e.g. overnight accommodation, liturgical space, materials, press work, etc…)

In regards to place — we encourage resisters to act locally, at their near-by nuclear establishment. People in London would be available to help coordinate a national Lenten campaign.

There are so many possibilities.  Finally we (CPA) hope that the guidlelines accepted this last year would still be acceptable to all participants.

Direct Action – A Challenge to the State
A Way of Living Our Lives for Peace and Justice

By Sarah Hipperson

Taking on direct action against the State should not be taken on in any spirit other than, the commitment to a full examination of the consequences. If the full consequence is not part of the reflection and discernment then the preparation is inadequate for this very serious challenge to the State.

I believe that Dorothy Day stated clearly that ‘The State is the enemy’ so when you take on the State you have to be that clear – This is not an easy option – it means the full consequences will take you through arrest, police cells, court and prison and therefore each stage has to be developed in the full spirit of commitment.  If the action is not followed up by a court appearance and well prepared submission and defence statements, to the magistrates then the action may appear as an act of random vandalism and cast doubt on the real work of Resistance, and indeed hinder that work.  If, on the other hand, the action is followed by well reflected reasons for the action to the court, with biblical references – reference to conscience, responsibility to creation and humanity, a voice speaking for tire poor etc, then where does that all go when a deal is made to pay fines and compensation?  Prisons are full of people who cannot pay for their particular challenge to the State.  They cannot produce cheque books, credit cards or well off friends to buy them out of prison.  Part of the discomfort for me in prison, is meeting the powerless, who the State and society just roll over, and feeling powerless myself, I am unable to help.  The least I can do to take a stand with the powerless is not to opt for privileges that would relieve me of my time in prison.

Helen Woodson, in an earlier letter sent out from prison when being ‘persuaded’ to appeal her 18 year sentence said, and I paraphrase her words here: ‘Jesus wanted out when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane – but he didn’t!’  We are all in that dilemma when we take on the State.

When people pay fines and compensation, they don’t ‘break the law,’ they merely dent it.  The law remains intact – even when that law protects the keeping, for intended use, of nuclear weapons.

When asked for my opinion on whether to pay or not to pay a finer I always say.  ‘I never support the paying of fines” and always that stand has been demeaned and downgraded by the pat answers, “not everyone is as strong as you Saraha.’  How do they know how strong I am?  How do they know what the cost has been to those who have chosen not to pay fines?  Prison is difficult for everyone. Women who are in prison are not in there to test their strength or endurance – they are there not out of choice but because the state has imposed its authority on them.

When we are serious about taking on the State we must take them on, on every issue that creates injustice.  Many in the ‘Peace Movement’ pretend otherwise — they confine their activity to the anti-nuclear protest, by-passing all the other issues of racism, sexism, poverty and immigration.  By doing this there is no need to change our personal lives.  The protest can be kept at a social level, under control and out of the real struggle for justice.  The socialization of protest, denies resistance, which is the root of all serious protest, and is an instrument of corruption, which modifies and reduces commitment to non-violent direct action, both as a tactic and a way of living our lives as part of the struggle for peace and justice.

When others decide to pay our fines for us, they have to know that their action props up the State, and authenticates the policies, on the issue that we found so abhorrent when we embarked on our protest and challenged the state in the first place.  Those who decide to keep us out of prison by paying fines, even if done anonymously, deny us the right to our resistance to evil through the full consequences of the protest.  All the preparation, all the reflection and discernment, the time spent on overcoming the fear that’ rises up in us, when we are taking action, time in the cells, the court preparation and presentation which should be a challenge to all in the court ‘for the enshrinement of nuclear destruction by the protection of law, all become invalid, we become powerless.  We have been neutralised and the State is strengthened.

Cecilia Hatt letter in Tablet

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1984-04-07-Cecilia-Hatt-letter-in-Tablet

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THE TABLET 21/28 April 1984

Letters A question for disarmament

Sir: Cecilia Hatt in Viewpoint asks a question and I hasten to answer. The point I made at the London meeting on 20 March and at other times as well was quite a simple one.

If Catholics and others concerned for peace do not agree with the policies of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, then why do they not instead become active members of one of the many organisations with more general aims?

From the Freeze Coalition to the Campaign against the Arms Trade, from Pax Christi to the United Nations Association, such movements exist in quite large numbers and they ought to have solid Catholic support. That they do not is simply a matter of observation.

I am still almost the only British priest with concern for the entirely non-controversial World Conference of Religions for Peace. It is good news that Cecilia Hatt and I can at least agree on the excellence of the American bishops’ pastoral letter, so well prepared and presented.

If we were to apply its conclusions to government policy here, we would very soon be in collision with government policy. It calls for a halt on further nuclear weapons deployment, an end to nuclear war-fighting doctrines, and opposes deterrent policies resting on a willingness to target cities.

Julian Critchley MP, by no means a enthusiast for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, has recently agreed that our present policies in this area can be summed up as “population extermination”

Of course, we can all do things sometimes, which others will judge to be silly, extreme or over-judgmental, though Catholic Peace Action must answer for itself.

I can only speak for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament which has clearly made mistakes in its time. But no one ought to expect perfection from an organisation before getting involved. Or even afterwards, as the failings of the Vatican Bank may serve to remind us….

(Mgr) Bruce Kent

General Secretary Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

11 Goodwin Street

London

N4 3HQ  

28 April 1984

Sir:

Cecilia Hatt has given the wrong impression of Catholic Peace Action and also reveals a lack of understanding of Christian civil disobedience (Viewpoint, 7 April). Her charge against CPA of “self- righteousness” and “uncharitable language” is based on two quotes. The first quote does not support her in the least and the second is not only taken out of context but is a misquote.

To mention three examples: After our second act of civil disobedience on 11 October 1983, CPA supporters and many of the police exchanged handshakes of peace. Our twice-monthly leafleting of the Ministry of Defence workers now elicits friendly greetings, smiles, written responses and often a civil dialogue or two. And when the magistrate sentenced two of us to prison over the Christmas period last year, we did not feel any ill-will toward him; indeed, he acted with more patience and understanding during this, our second trial, than he did during our first one.

Mrs Hatt goes on to take out of context and misquote a statement of ours which explained our Ash Wednesday act of civil disobedience. The full quote, in the proper context, is: “Today we pray for the conversion of this nation and for all those involved with nuclear war preparations. We pray in the place where planning for genocide continues day after day, the Ministry of Defence building in Whitehall. In sorrow and love, we bring a message of repentance to the Ministry of Defence workers and through them the government and nation: ‘Repent; in the name of God and life stop preparing for death and destruction.’ “

As the actual sentence reads, we did not single out the Ministry of Defence workers as the only ones in need of repentance. During the action, the four members of Catholic Peace Action who wrote on the pillars the word “Repent” also daubed their own foreheads, along with the 40 people praying with us. Our statement further read: “We sin by omission if we fail to do what we can to stop this nuclear madness.” Sins of omission and commission cover, I presume, everyone, including ourselves.

Mrs Hatt seems to think that the word “genocide” cannot correctly be applied to nuclear weapons or nuclear war preparations. She and others can believe what they like, but perhaps an even more appropriate word is “omnicide”. What other consequences would follow the use of nuclear weapons? How else could their use be described?

Let us not delude ourselves. Nuclear weapons are here to be used. During the last elections, Mrs Thatcher was quite clear that she would, under certain circum- stances, “Of course” push the button. So thousands of military personnel and many civil servants are involved in maintaining a certain level of readiness so that the button can be pushed (even if they personally do not have the intention to use nuclear weapons themselves).  And these people, of course, are not acting alone — they do their job as servants of the people; the Government sincerely threatens to use nuclear weapons in our name.

Even if every person in this country agreed with such a position it would not, in our opinion, make it right. One of our responses to this situation is non-violent resistance and civil disobedience. We would sin by omission if we did not say “no” as clearly and as powerfully as we could. And we believe that there is nothing more powerful than actions based on love and non-violence. On a point of agreement with Mrs Hatt, I also “take heart” from the American bishops’ pastoral letter The Challenge of Peace. In the section “The Value of Non-violence”, they mention Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King, as having a “profound impact on the life of the Church in the United States”. It may not be well known, but Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, engaged in civil disobedience over many issues. It was during the fifties that she went to jail for resistance to nuclear “defence” preparations.

My heart was most taken, however, when one of the principal authors of the pastoral letter, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, met two members of Catholic Peace Action and thanked them for what we were doing and wished that he could do it also. He was very supportive. We are encouraged also by the statements and actions of Bishop Matthiesen of Amarillo and Archbishop Hunthausen of Seattle. These bishops are active in a campaign to stop the shipment by rail of Trident warheads from Amarillo, where they are assembled, to Seattle, home of the Trident submarine.

In a recent joint statement they encouraged people to “monitor and offer non-violent resistance to each successive violation of our pastoral letter. Our stand in the pastoral letter is that no further deployment of nuclear weapons can possibly be justified. Every missile and nuclear weapons shipment is both a significant step toward a first-strike holocaust and a violation of the moral stand we have taken.  What we can all do along the tracks when these shipments come through is stand in prayerful witness to the alternative power of divine love and non-violent action. “

Non-violent civil disobedience may be “unintelligent” to Mrs Hatt, but it has a long Christian tradition and a growing number of Christian practitioners, both in this country and in the United States.

Dan Martin

Catholic Peace Action

7 Putney Bridge Road

London

SW18 IHX

Dan Martin letter in Tablet

Dan Martin letter in TabletDownload
1984-04-28-Dan-Martin-letter-in-Tablet

28 April 1984

Sir:

Cecilia Hatt has given the wrong impression of Catholic Peace Action and also reveals a lack of understanding of Christian civil disobedience (Viewpoint, 7 April). Her charge against CPA of “self- righteousness” and “uncharitable language” is based on two quotes. The first quote does not support her in the least and the second is not only taken out of context but is a misquote.

To mention three examples: After our second act of civil disobedience on 11 October 1983, CPA supporters and many of the police exchanged handshakes of peace. Our twice-monthly leafleting of the Ministry of Defence workers now elicits friendly greetings, smiles, written responses and often a civil dialogue or two. And when the magistrate sentenced two of us to prison over the Christmas period last year, we did not feel any ill-will toward him; indeed, he acted with more patience and understanding during this, our second trial, than he did during our first one.

Mrs Hatt goes on to take out of context and misquote a statement of ours which explained our Ash Wednesday act of civil disobedience. The full quote, in the proper context, is: “Today we pray for the conversion of this nation and for all those involved with nuclear war preparations. We pray in the place where planning for genocide continues day after day, the Ministry of Defence building in Whitehall. In sorrow and love, we bring a message of repentance to the Ministry of Defence workers and through them the government and nation: ‘Repent; in the name of God and life stop preparing for death and destruction.’ “

As the actual sentence reads, we did not single out the Ministry of Defence workers as the only ones in need of repentance. During the action, the four members of Catholic Peace Action who wrote on the pillars the word “Repent” also daubed their own foreheads, along with the 40 people praying with us. Our statement further read: “We sin by omission if we fail to do what we can to stop this nuclear madness.” Sins of omission and commission cover, I presume, everyone, including ourselves.

Mrs Hatt seems to think that the word “genocide” cannot correctly be applied to nuclear weapons or nuclear war preparations. She and others can believe what they like, but perhaps an even more appropriate word is “omnicide”. What other consequences would follow the use of nuclear weapons? How else could their use be described?

Let us not delude ourselves. Nuclear weapons are here to be used. During the last elections, Mrs Thatcher was quite clear that she would, under certain circum- stances, “Of course” push the button. So thousands of military personnel and many civil servants are involved in maintaining a certain level of readiness so that the button can be pushed (even if they personally do not have the intention to use nuclear weapons themselves).  And these people, of course, are not acting alone — they do their job as servants of the people; the Government sincerely threatens to use nuclear weapons in our name.

Even if every person in this country agreed with such a position it would not, in our opinion, make it right. One of our responses to this situation is non-violent resistance and civil disobedience. We would sin by omission if we did not say “no” as clearly and as powerfully as we could. And we believe that there is nothing more powerful than actions based on love and non-violence. On a point of agreement with Mrs Hatt, I also “take heart” from the American bishops’ pastoral letter The Challenge of Peace. In the section “The Value of Non-violence”, they mention Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King, as having a “profound impact on the life of the Church in the United States”. It may not be well known, but Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, engaged in civil disobedience over many issues. It was during the fifties that she went to jail for resistance to nuclear “defence” preparations.

My heart was most taken, however, when one of the principal authors of the pastoral letter, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, met two members of Catholic Peace Action and thanked them for what we were doing and wished that he could do it also. He was very supportive. We are encouraged also by the statements and actions of Bishop Matthiesen of Amarillo and Archbishop Hunthausen of Seattle. These bishops are active in a campaign to stop the shipment by rail of Trident warheads from Amarillo, where they are assembled, to Seattle, home of the Trident submarine.

In a recent joint statement they encouraged people to “monitor and offer non-violent resistance to each successive violation of our pastoral letter. Our stand in the pastoral letter is that no further deployment of nuclear weapons can possibly be justified. Every missile and nuclear weapons shipment is both a significant step toward a first-strike holocaust and a violation of the moral stand we have taken.  What we can all do along the tracks when these shipments come through is stand in prayerful witness to the alternative power of divine love and non-violent action. “

Non-violent civil disobedience may be “unintelligent” to Mrs Hatt, but it has a long Christian tradition and a growing number of Christian practitioners, both in this country and in the United States.

Dan Martin

Catholic Peace Action

7 Putney Bridge Road

London

SW18 IHX