Paul's Perambulations a personal blog

August 6, 2014

Hiroshima Day Civil Disobedience, 2014

Filed under: Love,Peace,Politics,Religion — admin @ 2:36 pm

Today was the usual Hiroshima Day demonstration at Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest war profiteer and nuclear weapons’ manufacturer. Did my usual Civil Disobedience, although a bit different this time. FIRST, instead of standing by the line and first asking to walk onto Lockheed property (in my case, to deliver the petition I carried from the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), we quickly crossed over the line and got on our knees for a prayer service led by the two clergy of our group of seven.  When told we were on private property, we asked for permission to hold a prayer service at the site of the place where mass destruction originates. We didn’t get permission; we prayed anyhow (led by our two pastors); the seven of us were arrested during prayer. SECOND, generally we’re arrested and simply escorted (with minimal questioning and search) to a waiting van that drives the group of us to the police station. This time there were a number of regular police vehicles that carried us in twos. I was handcuffed behind my back with regulation handcuffs and then got a more thorough body pat-down than usual. I offered some cashews and chocolate cookies when my belt pack was inspected, but the officer declined.  It’s a bit of a trick to get in and out of a backseat with your hands behind your back, but I think I have the knack of it. My vehicle partner-in-crime, Father Pat, couldn’t do it. They took his cuffs off and let him get in, and then cuffed him in front.  Pat thinks of this as clerical privilege. 🙂  The rest was as usual.  For my mug shot I make a point of holding my ID sign next to my “Bring the troops home” button and making a “thumbs up” sign with the hand holding the sign on the other side.

1 Comment »

  1. Comments on my Facebook post lauded me for “courage” and being “brave.” Thank you, but I don’t know that this particularly requires bravery or courage. It does require some time, energy, preparation and (perhaps most importantly) a certain faith. I feel that what I do is something anyone could do. Preparation and support are key elements – the only time I felt really anxious was once when I was alone and had no idea what was happening. There are ways of dealing with that – that’s when faithfulness is called upon. My practice is to get on my knees and pray/meditate at arrest/stress times. And to think how minimal this is compared to what folks such as King, Gandhi, and Jesus went through. And to trust that if you’re doing the right thing and what you believe in, that is enough.

    All in all, it’s not as hard as folks might think, and not so much an issue of bravery as just what needs to be done. Ask me if you’d like to learn more about this.

    Comment by admin — August 8, 2014 @ 9:28 pm

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