Ni igba otutu to koja, ni ile Voices / ile-iṣẹ ni Chicago, a ṣe itẹwọgba awọn ọrẹ meji ti o wa ni ilu fun ipade ijọsin Mennonite kan lori ifọkansi ti awọn idà ti npa ni awọn apọnlẹ. Ise agbese wọn gba ifitonileti lati inu Bibeli "Iwe Isaiah" eyiti o nreti fun ọjọ naa nigbati "nwọn o fi idà wọn kọlù ati ọpa wọn si ọpọn igi-gbigbẹ: orilẹ-ède kì yio gbe idà soke si orilẹ-ède, bẹni nwọn kì yio tun kọ ogun mọ. "Awọn ọrẹ wa ni itumọ ọrọ gangan yii. Wọn lo awọn apamọ lati ge awọn ibon ati awọn iru ibọn ni idaji ati lẹhinna fifa lori awọn ohun ija ibanuje, titan wọn sinu awọn iṣẹ ti o wulo fun dida ati ina-elo ina.
Ni gbogbo iṣẹ naa, ọkan ninu awọn ọkunrin naa ni a le rii, loju iboju kan, ti o duro ni ita gbongan ile ijọsin Mennonite, aṣa, pẹlu ikan ati anvil, ibọn kan sinu ọpa ọgba kan. Awọn ina Sparks fò pẹlu òòlù rẹ̀, ṣugbọn ko si ẹnikan ti o kun fun ibinu. Ina ti awọn ọrẹ wa fẹ lati jo wa ninu wa. Pẹlu iṣẹ wo ni a le fi rọpo ogun? Ti a ko ba gba ikẹkọ fun ogun mọ, kini ohun miiran ti a le ṣe? ”
That winter night, at the Mennonite church, I couldn’t help but think of another activist who had swung a tool last December, in this case, a sledgehammer, because she was inspired to confront weapon makers and encourage alternatives to war. Jessica Reznicek, age 34, didn’t own the weapon system she wanted to transform. But she felt responsible to help the general public own up to its complicity with weapon systems funded by U.S. taxpayers. She took a sledgehammer to the doors of a major weapon producing company, Northrop Grumman, outside Offut Air Force base. In a written statement explaining why she swung her tool at the plate glass, Jessica asks people to understand that Northrop Grumman’s weapon systems shatter and destroy the lives of people the world over.
Bi ọkan ninu awọn tita pẹlu pẹlu ti o tobi julọ ninu ọja agbaye ti Unmanned Aerial Systems, (18.9%), Awọn ere Northrop Grumman laini pupọ lati titaja awọn ọna ṣiṣe ohun ija eka ti a ṣe apẹrẹ nigbagbogbo lati jẹ oju ni awọn oju-ọrun mimojuto awọn ifojusi fun ipaniyan. Iru iwo-kakiri yii ati ipaniyan aiṣedede n ṣe ibinu ibinu ati awọn ẹhin sẹhin ni awọn orilẹ-ede miiran. O tun ṣe igbega afikun ti awọn ohun ija roboti. Ṣugbọn awọn ọmọ ogun AMẸRIKA ati awọn ile-iṣẹ itusilẹ gba wa niyanju lati nireti pe a ti ni aabo nipasẹ awọn ohun ija iparun ti o nira, ati pe o yẹ ki a dipo bẹru ti ọdọmọbinrin kan ti n lo ohun ija lati fọ ferese gilasi awo kan.
On May 24, Jessica Reznicek went to a trial in Nebraska, expected to last two days, for her action. She has chosen to go “pro se,” – to defend herself. Courts in the U.S. seldom allow the necessity defense. If the judge in Jessica’s case does so, Jessica could try to defend herself saying she acted to prevent a greater harm. She could establish that the U.S. government consistently provides Northrop Grumman with lavish funding, devoting immense resources of materials and scientific ingenuity to the study of war, all desperately needed elsewhere. Northrop Grumman steadily experiments in perfecting the high-tech advantage of an empire bent on endlessly dominating the world through endless war.
I wish that the testimony of my friends who literally beat guns into garden tools could be part of the courtroom proceeding. They urge us to make guns and other weapons unnecessary, using raw tools of compassion and service to heal the conflicts in which weapons are used. I wish my young Afghan friends here in Kabul, who live under constant surveillance of Unmanned Aerial Systems, could testify about their desire to refine tools of peace making and constructive service.
Wọn le ṣe idaniloju ẹjọ pe o dara julọ lati ṣe agbekalẹ awọn irin-ajara fun ṣiṣe awọn ọja ati awọn iṣẹ ti o nilo ju lati ṣe agbekale awọn ọna-ipaniyan iparun iparun.
Jessica’s action makes me wonder if the “norm” in our society is the opposite of the biblical plowshares exhortation. Our major institutions study the ways of war comprehensively and our “top crop” in the U.S. has become weapons. Jessica encourages, one might even say provokes, discussion of the role militarism plays in our world.
I hope the words of a legendary barrister in Ireland, Mr. Nix, who defended “The Pitstop Plowshares,” can be recalled as Jessica’s trial nears conclusion. Shortly before the U.S. led coalition began bombing Iraq in 2003, five activists invoked the swords to plowhsares saying from the Book of Isaiah and hammered on a U.S. warplane parked on the tarmac of Shannon airport. Ireland is a neutral country, and they believed that the U.S. Navy warplanes making “pitstops” en route to a war zone violated that neutrality. They undertook the action shortly after attending a retreat during which the Sisters of St. Brigid, in Kildare, Ireland had asked me to speak about Iraqis who suffered under 13 years of U.S. led UN economic sanctions. Before returning to Baghdad, I gave them enlarged, laminated photos of Iraqi children who were among the half million who died, according to the U.N., as a direct result of economic sanctions along with photos of children killed by an earlier U.S. aerial attack on the city of Basra. They used these photos to set up a memorial shrine next to the warplane they had damaged. Mr. Nix, preparing for trial, asked that I come to Dublin as a witness to help establish the defendants’ motivations. I will never forget his closing statement in which he delivered a fiery indictment of war makers and described the hideous punishment wars inflict on innocent people, especially children. He ended his remarks by addressing everyone assembled in Dublin’s Four Courts, saying: “The question isn’t ‘Did these five have a lawful excuse to do what they did?’ The question is ‘What’s your excuse not to do more? What will rise ye?!’ The Irish jury acquitted the defendants on all charges.
Laibikita ohun ti abajade ti idanwo Jessica, Ọgbẹni Nix ká ibeere, "Kini yio dide?" Abides. Bawo ni a ṣe le wa, olukuluku wa, ṣe iranlọwọ lati gbe alaga idajọ soke, sisẹ aye ni alaafia.
Kathy Kelly ([imeeli ni idaabobo]) co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence. (www.vcnv.org)She is writing from Kabul where she is a guest of the Afghan Peace Volunteers. (wajourneytosmile.com)
ZNetwork jẹ agbateru nikan nipasẹ ilawo ti awọn oluka rẹ.
kun
1 ọrọìwòye
Thank you for a most moving account of actions towards peace. It led me to sense drones more deeply for what they really are:
“TERROR GENERATORS FOR BOTH SIDES”.
I suggest this as their new name.