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Koinonia volunteers protest nuclear weapons
production
13 May 2004
Ann Karp
One sunny April weekend, three
Koinonia volunteers—Ellie Castle, Femke Holkenborg, and
I—decided to spend time at a large, securely gated compound
polka-dotted with No Trespassing signs. Why? We were vigiling
at the Y12 Nuclear Energy Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Through
the nonprofit organization Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance
(OREPA),
we learned about what goes on there, and were so disturbed we
felt we had to take action.
Briefly, Y12 is involved in designing
new nuclear weapons, including the mini-nuke and Robust Nuclear
Earth Penetrator. They are also upgrading older nuclear warheads
with the “Stockpile Life Extension Program.” Meanwhile,
the plant ignores a ten-year backlog of weapons components awaiting
dismantlement, and thus regularly violates safety standards in
storing highly enriched uranium. (A full report on Y12’s
activities can be found at OREPA’s website, www.stopthebombs.org.)
Nuclear weapons production violates
many international laws, including the UN Charter, the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty, the 1949 Geneva Convention, and the
1945 Nuremburg Principles, to name a few. Femke, Ellie and I
recognize these weapons as a hazard to all people, and to our
environment: we marched past signs, posted along the edges of
the Y12 facility, warning passerby, “No Water Contact—Stream
Contaminated.”
As U.S. taxpayers, Ellie and I
are concerned that our money supports Y12. Ellie, a repeat attendee
of the Oak Ridge vigils, says she returns because she’s “convinced
of the importance of this issue… and because the demonstration
itself was so peaceful and rich.” Femke is Dutch, but still
found it important to attend: “Nuclear weapons are a global
issue, and I think it’s important for Americans as well
as non-Americans to protest these types of weapons… Please,
let us not forget what happened in Hiroshima.” As world
citizens and Koinonians, we believe that the path to national
and world security is not more weapons, but the devotion of resources
to conflict prevention and eliminating the root causes of war:
poverty and fear.
When we arrived in Tennessee, we
joined other people from across the nation in nonviolence training,
a movement-building session, and good conversation over lasagna
donated by the local Quaker group. After spending the night in
OREPA’s Peace House with veteran peace worker Sister Mary
Dennis, we headed to the rally site. After renewing our commitment
to nonviolent resistance, the crowd of approximately 90 people
began to march toward the gates. Two Buddhist monks tapped drums
in time with our footsteps. Once we arrived, we sang and vigiled,
and two people committed civil disobedience. One of them, of
course, was Sister Mary. We waved goodbye for now as she was
escorted away in a police car, and shortly afterwards, we headed
for home.
Back at Koinonia, we shared our
experiences at noontime devotions, discussing the issue with
other Koinonians. Some of us wrote to our legislators, urging
them to fund cleanup and disarmament, rather than further nuclear
weapons development and refurbishment. Not everyone agreed that
the plant should be shut down, and others wondered whether protest
was the best way to affect change. But as long the Y12 vigils
help us to keep world events in our minds and hearts, and inspire
us to talk about and work on peaceful solutions, I believe they
are worthwhile. As members of a community grounded in loving
nonviolence, we must try everything we can to respond to injustice
and fear.
Ann Karp is a volunteer at
Koinonia, she grew up in Minnesota and has a degree is
in Latin American Studies with a minor in Dance. Her website
is at: www.geocities.com/alphanunu/
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