hallo Ihr Lieben,
heute Nacht schöne Go-In Aktion, leider nur in Englisch, aber später
auch in Deutsch.
Gruss,
Marion


ACTIVISTS CHALLENGE US NUKES IN GERMANY, OCCUPY NUCLEAR WEAPONS BUNKER
Monday, 17 July 2017
Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
	An international group of five peace activists got far inside the
Büchel Air Base in Büchel, Germany, after nightfall on Monday, 17 July
2017, and for the first time in a 21-year long series of protests
against the deployment of US B61 thermonuclear bombs there, climbed on
top of one large bunker used for nuclear weapons. After cutting through
two exterior fences and two more fences surrounding the large
earth-covered bunkers, the five spent more than one hour unnoticed
sitting on the bunker. No notice of the group was taken until after two
of them climbed down to write "DISARM" on the bunker's metal front door,
setting off an alarm. Surrounded by vehicles and guards searching on
foot with flashlights, the five eventually alerted guards to their
presence by singing, causing the guards to look up. The internationals
were eventually taken into custody more than two hours after entering
the base.
	The five, Steve Baggarly, 52, of Virginia; Susan Crane, 73, of
California; John LaForge, 61, and Bonnie Urfer, 65, both of Wisconsin;
and Gerd Buentzly, 67, of Germany, said in a statement titled All
Nuclear Weapons are Illegal and Immoral: "We are nonviolent and have
entered Büchel Air Base to condemn the nuclear weapons deployed here. We
ask Germany to either disarm the weapons or send them back to the United
States for disarming," it said in part.

	An hour after being detained, searched and photographed, the five were
released through the base's main entrance.

	The action came at the end of an "international week" at the base
organized by “Non-violent Action to Abolish Nukes” (GAAA). The effort
was part of a 20-week-long series of actions—"Twenty Weeks for Twenty
Bombs"—that began March 26, 2017 organized by a 50-group coalition
campaign, "Büchel is Everywhere, Nuclear Weapons Free Now!" Three other
nonviolent direct actions took place during the week, one of which
succeeded in its demand to see base commander. Oberstleutnant Gregor
Schlemmer, actually appeared at the site of a highway blockade and
agreed to received a copy of the newly-adopted UN Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons from activist Sister Ardeth Platte, OP,
of Baltimore, Maryland.

	More than 60 people from around the globe—Russia, China, Mexico,
Germany, Britain, the United States, The Netherlands, France and
Belgium—participated.
	Activists from the United States came to Büchel to highlight the plans
for modernization of the B61. Ralph Hutchison, from Oak Ridge,
Tennessee, where a new thermonuclear core for the “B61-Model12” will be
manufactured, said: "It is important that we show this is a global
movement. The resistance to nuclear weapons is not limited to one
country. The new B61-12 program will cost more than $12 billion, and
when production starts sometime after 2020, Büchel is scheduled to get
new nuclear bombs."
	"The idea that nuclear weapons provide security is a fiction believed
by millions," said John LaForge, of Nukewatch in Wisconsin, which
organized the 11-person delegation from the US. "Tonight we showed that
the image of a secure nuclear weapons facility is also a fiction," he said.
	"Everyone’s children and everyone’s grandchildren have a right to a
nuclear weapons-free world. All of creation calls us to life, to
disarmament, to a world of justice—for the poor, the Earth, and the
children," read the statement, released in both German and English.	

	Susan Crane, a Plowshares activist from the Redwood City, Calif.
Catholic Worker, said, "The Commander of the Base, Oberstleutnant
Schlemmer, came to meet us at 3:00 a.m. and told us what we did was very
dangerous and we might have been shot. We believe the greater danger
comes from the nuclear bombs that are deployed at the Base."

	Büchel is Everywhere, Nuclear Weapons Free Now! continues until August
9, 2017 and will close with a commemoration of the US atomic bombing of
Nagasaki, Japan.


Das Foto links ist 14 Jahre alt. Während des Friedenssommers 2003, einer Friedensradfahrt von 
Kaiserslautern über Ramstein, Saarbrücken, Spangdahlem nach Büchel.
John LaForge und Marion Küpker diskutieren mit Miltärs in Spangdahlem. (Foto: Konni Schmidt)

Photo, right: Caption: Activists prepare to enter Büchel Air Base in Büchel,
Germany to challenge US nuclear weapons deployment. From left, Bonnie
Urfer, Steve Baggarly, Susan Crane, John LaForge, and Gerd Buentzly.
(photo by Ralph Hutchison)