LA CW Vandenberg Resistance Post-sentencing story Pre-conviction story Story of our trial Summary of VAFB protests ( Peace Organizations Are Not Terrorist Organizations ) Post-9/11/001 FEAR in INDIANA

SOMEWHAT ACCURATE ACCOUNT OF MARC'S STATEMENT @ M19 SENTENCING "I fully accept responsibility for praying at Vandenberg Air Force Base to stop the violence of the US Government (via star wars and other threats to democracy). Like all citizens of the USA we are complicitly guilty of Vandenberg's crimes, due to the fact that the people of the US have failed to thwart such violence. We conspired in peacemaking to stop the illegitimate war-mongering and anti-democratic activities of Vandenberg. "Your Honor, we went to Vandenberg to try to protect our species from destruction. We want peace--we want all the violence to stop. Vandenberg and the Base Commander have no right to commit violations of international law, and they have no authority to supercede peaceful assembly. Their crimes against life, against democracy, against foreign nations are shameful to all of us. "It would have been WONDERFUL if, when the military police/secutity forces encountered us..." (Judge Rae interjects: "If they'd just let you go?", i reply...) "No. If they had actually JOINED us in our prayer-action. I guess we failed to be attractive enough to appeal to their sense of conscience and decency and respect for Mother Earth. Of course they were in a totally different mindset at the time, with their guns and all, but perhaps we failed them. I know we failed to convince the jury of their ability to uphold international law and the US constitution even when it is in conflict with current laws. "So i encourage YOU to take a stand in support of TRUE JUSTICE and to make a departure (from the guidelines) in our sentencing, to cancel out the sentence you just handed to two of my co-defendents, and to refuse to sentence me as well. Please impose NO SENTENCE for me and my co-defendents, in the interest of justice for the land, justice for the people of earth who live in the shadow of terror from the US Space Command, and justice for future generations. Please choose this courageous path that would be heroic! Our country was founded by such heroes. Our country has been reformed by such heroes; and we need more of this courage to diminish the hatred that others have toward the USA all around the world." (US Assistant Attorney McCaslin responds: "I find it a repugnant idea that the US destroys democracy...As you can see, these defendants are arrogant and naiive...") ^^^^^by Marcus Patrick Blaise Page; 15 Oct 2001^^^^^ We don't have the transcripts of this, so the accuracy of the above text is estimated to be 80% correct in the way the statement came out and the wording of the courtroom opponents as well.

Make Love Not War

Following the M19 main gate formal trespass, on M20, ten people were arrested backcountry at VAFB. For this May 20th prayer-action, Jeff Dietrich, Elizabeth Griswold, Liz Wyrsch, Brian Buckley, Scott Galindez & Marc Page went with the other four to Kern County jail for holding until a May 21 appearance before a judge in Los Angeles. Jeff Dietrich refused to sign papers to be released at that time. He later pleaded guilty and promised to refuse to cooperate with probation, and thus ended up incarcerated from May 20th until November 22nd. Brian Buckley also stayed in custody until a few weeks after his trial. The other four in that affinity group (with the LACW) signed out on M21 and also appeared in subsequent court hearings. Elizabeth accepted a plea bargain (one misdemeanor count--sentenced to three years probation), so Brian, Liz, Scott & Marc went to trial at the end of July and beginning of August. All were found guilty on three counts. Scott was sentenced to three months in jail, the remaining three sentenced to a year of probation and some fines plus court costs. All four who went to trial said they would not pay any money. For various probationary violations, Liz & Brian were taken back into custody in early December. Liz saw the judge shortly after New Year's Day. Brian was sentenced for violating his probation to another month in jail on the 9th of January. Liz has been released, after serving a month in jail. Upon release, Liz & Brian are no longer on probation, and do not have to pay the $500 fine nor the $60 filing fee. Scott went to jail for three months--he was released at the end of January. Marc's probation ended in early October, 2002. .................. Meanwhile, the GreenPeace activists charged with felonies took a plea bargain in January 2002 :Mother Jones has an article on this solution to their court case.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT STAR WARS PROTEST BIZ?

In the 1980s people came to Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) to protest missile testing and pray for nuclear abolition. At he end of the Cold War the protests receded. With the resurgence in missile defense (star wars) research and development in the late 1990s, peace activists returned to Vandenberg in large groups to focus attention on the star wars tests there. VAFB is the largest US Space Command Facility, covering almost half of the coastline from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo (about 30 miles of the pristine coast). In a document called the “Vision for 2020” which outlines the reasons for further space weaponry, the US Space Command says: “The globalization of the world economy will also continue, with a widening between 'haves' and 'have-nots'. Historically, military forces have evolved to protect national interests and investments - both military and economic.” The document points out that space warfare technology is essential in maintaining the status quo—the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots”. Many Christians and other social justice activists have thus gotten involved out of disgust for the ideology of using outer space for war instead of peace, and out of the belief that people are meant to SHARE resources.

A flyer put out by activists organizing protests at VAFB compares VAFB to other large entities representing the US Empire: the “U.S Space Command is increasingly the coordinating hub of the 21st century military terror, of space-age counterinsurgency war to enforce the economic and environmental violence of corporate globalization.”

“Our Government is being bribed by these Corporations pushing for Star Wars.”
--Alice Slater of GRACE
Around $95 billion has been spent on missile defense since 1983 according to the Center for Defense Information (CDI) in Washington. But the program has yet to produce a successful missile system. Many billions more are slated to be spent in coming years. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and TRW have the biggest take in missile defense program monies. These companies aggressively lobby Capitol Hill on defense spending.

“Spending hundreds of billions of dollars on Star Wars will take money away from education, programs for women and children, and health care,”
-- Bruce Gagnon of Global Network Against Weapons in Space

Since the Summer of 2000 more than 77 arrests have been made of over 50 people in about 7 different actions. A few of the cases went to trial, including the 15 people from different continents charged with felonies for trespassing from the ocean during a missile test, and the 6 people connected with the Los Angeles Catholic Worker (LACW). The activists at least call attention to the works of war at VAFB and at best attempt to literally stop such violence and threats thereof. Elizabeth Griswold was one of the defendants from the LACW affinity group. She writes about the trial where the US Attorney defended the US against the people of peace and their prayer-action last May 20th: “And the truth [we] came to tell is that God is the God of Life. Vandenberg Air Force Base proclaims death, with its launch tests for the country’s missile defense program and its counter-insurgency satellite activities; and these activists came to federal court to expose Vandenberg for what it is and to alternatively proclaim life.” Four of her co-defendants went to a jury trial where the US won. One of her codefendants was in jail for six months, others did up to four months. Many of the activists prosecuted are still on probation for actions taken at VAFB in the past two years. Regarding the 15 internationals who slowed down a test for at least 10 minutes last July, Greenpeace USA spokesperson Carol Gregory says "Even before Sept. 11, there seemed to be a movement in this country to stifle peaceful protest, and our guys were among the first victims of that trend. The felony charges are a worrying sign for future non-violent protesters in the United States."


Nonetheless, people are still planning nonviolent civil resistance against space warfare and in favor of life. In California’s San Francisco Bay Area, there was an International Space Organizing Conference and Protest from May 10-12 2002 in Berkeley, & Sunnyvale CA. The following weekend, about 200 miles further south, there was another action for peace in space at VAFB. 80 people attended and 2 women were ritually arrested.



See the story of the invasion of the little red car in Indiana