NUNS' PLOWSHARE ACTION AT SPACE COMMAND
Five women, representing three religious orders in the Catholic Church--Carol Gilbert, OP; Jackie Hudson, OP; Anne Montgomery, RSCJ; Liz Walters, IHM; and Ardeth Platte OP--naming themselves the "SACRED EARTH AND SPACE PLOWSHARES," entered Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs for the purpose of "hammering swords into plowshares." Their prophetic action, which commenced at about 10:15 AM, consisted of all five women acting in concert against a mockup of the Milstar communications satellite and a Warthog A-10 aircraft. In each case, the activists hammered on and then poured blood on the objects of war in question. As they were being arrested, they unfurled two banners which contained an earth-sky logo and an inscription reading "Sacred Earth & Space Plowshares 2000." They then began to read their statements (below). They were detained by Air Force security and were later taken into custody by local police and taken to the El Paso County jail. Charges are pending.
Anne Montgomery, who was part of a plowshares action on September 9, 1980, said: "Twenty years ago, during the first plowshares action at the King of Prussia G.E. Plant, I realized that if there is a weapon before me, I must disarm it." Ardeth Platte added: "All within us and our religious congregations place our trust and security in the God of creation who made heaven and earth. We renew that pledge today by saying 'No, not in our names' to the idols (weapons of false security), of the US Space Command and their vision of dominating and exploiting outer space to protect US investments and vested interests. We refuse to allow false gods to be placed before us. We accept all sisters, brothers, resources, and creatures as one with us in the web of life."
In their letter to friends Carol, 52, Liz, 57, Anne, 73, Ardeth, 64, and Jackie, 65, state: "It is our love for God's people, Earth, and all creation that compelled us to disarm directly and symbolically these war-making idols. We acted with all love in our hearts. Now we await the legal consequences of our disarmament action. . . ."
Local peace activist Bill Sulzman, Director of Citizens for Peace in Space, noted that the action was significant in that "the cutting edge of Christian anti-war resistance has for the first time come head to head with the cutting edge of futuristic, space-based, war-making."