Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement
- INTRODUCTION: MOVEMENT CHALLENGES AND TRAJECTORIES
- Part I The U.S. Plowshares Movement
- Part II The International Plowshares Movements
- 5 INTERMITTENT RESISTANCE: THE GERMAN, DUTCH, AND AUSTRALIAN PLOWSHARES MOVEMENTS
- 6 INTERNAL TENSIONS AND IMPLOSION: THE SWEDISH PLOWSHARES MOVEMENT
- 7 WITNESSING OR WINNING? THE BRITISH PLOWSHARES MOVEMENT
- 8 CONCLUSION: FROM FAILED ATTEMPTS TO PERSISTENT RESISTANCE – UNDERSTANDING DIVERGENT MOVEMENT TRAJECTORIES
- Appendix A Survey Questionnaire
- Appendix B List of Interviews by Author
- Appendix C Chronological List of Plowshares Actions by Region
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - INTERMITTENT RESISTANCE: THE GERMAN, DUTCH, AND AUSTRALIAN PLOWSHARES MOVEMENTS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement
- INTRODUCTION: MOVEMENT CHALLENGES AND TRAJECTORIES
- Part I The U.S. Plowshares Movement
- Part II The International Plowshares Movements
- 5 INTERMITTENT RESISTANCE: THE GERMAN, DUTCH, AND AUSTRALIAN PLOWSHARES MOVEMENTS
- 6 INTERNAL TENSIONS AND IMPLOSION: THE SWEDISH PLOWSHARES MOVEMENT
- 7 WITNESSING OR WINNING? THE BRITISH PLOWSHARES MOVEMENT
- 8 CONCLUSION: FROM FAILED ATTEMPTS TO PERSISTENT RESISTANCE – UNDERSTANDING DIVERGENT MOVEMENT TRAJECTORIES
- Appendix A Survey Questionnaire
- Appendix B List of Interviews by Author
- Appendix C Chronological List of Plowshares Actions by Region
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
When hundreds of activists gathered in Baltimore for Philip Berrigan's memorial service, they joked that this was perhaps the largest gathering of convicted felons that had ever occurred outside of the U.S. correctional system. These mourners came from all over the United States and as far away as the Netherlands and Sweden. Even those who could not attend the funeral found other ways to commemorate Berrigan. One fitting tribute occurred at Shannon Airport, near Limerick, Ireland. Two days after Berrigan passed away, 400 people gathered to protest the use of this airport as a refueling station for U.S. military planes in transit to Afghanistan and Iraq. After several protest speeches were made, six members of the Dublin Catholic Worker walked up to a large sculpture surrounded by a pool of water. They poured red dye into the water, replicating an action in which Berrigan made the White House fountains appear to be filled with blood. Next, they transformed the airport sculpture into a monument to Berrigan and the victims of the Iraq war. They pasted photos of Iraqi children and painted the words “THE WAR STOPS HERE – PHIL BERRIGAN R.I.P.” Then they stated:
We come to Shannon Airport today to bring the works of darkness into light.… We employed the symbols of blood, water, and images of Iraqi children. Over half a million Iraqi children under the age of five have been killed due to the continuing US/UK bombardment and sanctions.… We attempt in a humble and nonviolent way to speak truth to power in an environment of spin, lies, and cheerleading for massacre.[…]
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- Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement , pp. 131 - 154Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008