Here in Rohrbach prison we are awakened by the sounds of doves and other birds, giving the illusion that all is well in the world.

That is until other sounds, keys rattling, doors being shut, and guards doing the morning body check, bring us back to reality.

We are sitting in a prison cell, 123 km from Büchel Air Force Base, where ~20 U.S. nuclear bombs are deployed.

At the moment, the runway at Büchel is being rebuilt to accommodate the new F-35 fighter jets that will carry the new B61-12 nuclear bombs that were designed and built in the U.S.

The planning, preparation, possession, deployment, threat or use of these B61-bombs is illegal and criminal.

The U.S., Germany and NATO know that each B61 nuclear bomb would inflict unnecessary suffering and casualties on combatants and civilians.

They know teach B61 would induce cancers, keloid growth and leukemia in large numbers, inflict congenital deformities in unborn children and poison food supplies.

"We have no right to obey," says Hannah Arendt.

Although our actions might seem futile, we understand that it is our right, duty and responsibility to stand against the planning and preparation for the use of these weapons.

They are illegal under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which both Germany and the U.S. have signed and ratified, and under the Hague Convention, the Geneva Convention and the Nuremberg Charter.

International peace camps

International peace camps in Büchel were organised by the G.A.A.A. which consists of, among others, IPPNW, ICAN and DFG-VK, the German War Resisters League.

During the camps we, together with other war resisters and with the help of many supporters, went onto Büchel Air Force Base.

Our aim was to communicate with the military personnel about the illegality and immorality of the nuclear bombs.

We also wanted to withdraw our consent and complicity to their use.

The judges who sentenced us for these actions made a decision to follow some laws and ignore others.

It is common sense, and we all know, that even the law against trespass can be broken when life is endangered.

The judges and prosecutors, as well as the guards in prison, treat us respectfully and politely.

At the same time they stick to laws and rules that are unjust and cause suffering.

The biggest crime in their eyes is to upset the "order", even though the order is set up to be criminal.

We wake up every day with determined joy to continue our "vigil behind bars".

A joy constrained by knowing that the other women here have pain, from being separated from their family and children or from constant physical or psychological difficulties or from being locked in a cell all day with nothing to do.

Help us cope

We are only able to "vigil behind bars" through the immense support of people making sure our Catholic Worker houses can continue.

We need people to continue sending us cards and stamps, organising visits and money for phone calls, remembering us in their prayers, doing press work and those that continue fighting the death dealing warmakers in the world.

Blessings to you all!

• Susan Crane (pictured left) is serving a 229 day sentence, and Susan van der Hijden (pictured right) a 115 day sentence, for their nonviolent nuclear disarmament actions at Büchel air base.
• Cards and letters may be sent to Crane and van der Hijden. They must be individually addressed to each of the women; the address is JVA Rohrbach, Peter-Caesar-Allee 1, 55597 Wöllstein, Germany.
• Updates can be found Here and Here

Famous for their symbolic Doomsday Clock, the Bulletin's highly respected scientists and 15 Nobel Laureate consultants recently moved the clock to two minutes before midnight - warning that a nuclear war catastrophe is very possible!

The only other time in its seven decade history the minute hand has been set this close to midnight - that is, the devastation of the planet, and virtually everything and everyone on it - was in 1953 after the U.S. and the Soviet Union tested thermonuclear weapons for the first time.

And in less than three weeks after the Doomsday Clock was moved so perilously close to nuclear midnight, the Pentagon on Feb. 2 released its 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), providing the world with even more reasons to be alarmed.

Adding to the insane fact that both the United States and the Russian Federation each have hundreds of nuclear weapons aimed at each other programmed with a "launch-on-warning" - hair-trigger-alert - status, the NPR states that the U.S. will continue its policy to be the first to initiate a nuclear attack if it decides that its "vital interests" and those of its "allies and partners" are at risk.

I interviewed Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which as an organization won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its leading work to achieve a nuclear-free world through the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

She said the Pentagon's NPR furthers President Trump's $1 trillion-plus plan to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and produce new so-called "low-yield" nuclear weapons - similar in destructive power to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - making them more "usable."

Fihn said, "There are no ‘good nukes' and this policy makes nuclear war more likely."

Fihn has deep admiration for Pope Francis saying, "The Holy Father made it clear last year that the only morally acceptable nuclear strategy is one that seeks security through the total elimination of nuclear weapons".

It is of special note that the Holy See was one of the first countries to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. But most unfortunately, the U.S. and the other eight nuclear powers have rejected it.

While writing this column, I paused to watch the 1983 movie "The Day After" which realistically portrays how an escalating set of events could quickly lead to a catastrophic nuclear conflict, and the horrific aftermath of a nuclear war.

I strongly urge all adults and teenagers to watch this unfortunately still very timely film. And it would be very fruitful if church groups would view it together, followed by prayer, discussion and a commitment to action.

God the Creator is calling each of us - clergy and laity - to persistently raise our voices on behalf of humanity and the earth upon which we live - before it's too late!

The day before Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, he prophetically warned us in his compelling "I've been to the Mountaintop" speech: "It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net.

So when the Volvo she was riding in one morning last week crested the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and the skyscraper came into full view, it made a strong impression.

"Oh, my gosh," Sister Rice exclaimed. Drinking in the scenery and the panorama of New York Harbor, she added, "We're well on our way."

It was her fifth day of freedom after two years behind bars for a crime for which she is boldly unapologetic. In 2012, she joined two other peace activists in splattering blood and antiwar slogans on a nuclear plant in Tennessee that holds enough highly enriched uranium to make thousands of nuclear warheads. All three were convicted and sent to prison. But on May 8, an appellate court ruled that the government had overreached in charging them with sabotage, and ordered them set free.

Since her release on May 16, Sister Rice, a Manhattan native, had been reconnecting with family and friends, as well as seeing doctors, lawyers and reporters. She took time to visit St. Patrick's Cathedral, and she made her first purchase: peanut butter frozen yogurt topped with hot fudge.

Now, dressed in a sweatsuit that fellow inmates had given her, the nun was traveling to the American headquarters of her order in Rosemont, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. The agenda was to confer with her superiors about her future — one in which she plans to continue her antinuclear activism. One threat was that the federal government might challenge the recent ruling and try to have her thrown back in prison.

"It would be an honor," Sister Rice said during the ride. "Good Lord, what would be better than to die in prison for the antinuclear cause?" Continue reading

Sources

• The New York Times
• Image: Huffington Post