In 1977, The Brandywine Peace Community was born in the tradition of radical peacemaking practice and nonviolent resistance by a group of Vietnam war resisters in the wake of the U.S.’s imperial carnage in Vietnam. We have sought to honor the voice of Dr. King and his commitment to nonviolent action. We honor Dr. King’s Legacy by joining together in protest and nonviolent resistance to war, racism, and injustice. We have begun each and every year since January 1977 in nonviolent protest to war and the ravages of war and the greed of war profiteering. We have sought to Listen to Dr. King, not the war makers and war profiteers, not Lockheed Martin, the world largest war profiteer.
Monday, January 16, Noon
Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Time of Nonviolent Action@Lockheed Martin, 230 Mall Boulevard,
King of Prussia, PA 19406 (behind King of Prussia Mall)
Sponsored by Brandywine Peace Community
*Banner and Poster Vigil Display. *Bell-Tolling. *Readings from Dr. King. * Martin Luther King Day litany.
*Ceremony uplifting the Anniversary of the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty and the illegality of Lockheed Martin .
MANDATORY FOR PARTICIPANTS: Adherence to the discipline of Nonviolence [“of fist, tongue, and heart”, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.]
Practice SOCIAL DISTANCING, keeping six feet apart throughout the demonstration. WEAR A MASK If you don’t have a mask, we’ll give you one! Please bring your folding chair if you wish to sit.
Please check this site page for any updates about the event in keeping with Covid-19 pandemic protocol. In the event of severe weather or forecast, please check this site for possible cancellation or postponement. If you are planning on civil disobedience and accepting arrest and legal consequences, please check this site at least a week before.
See the United Nation’s Treaty text at https://www.icanw.org/tpnw_full_tex
Our Appeal and Commitment…
We gather at Lockheed Martin, the world’s #1 war profiteer and nuclear weapons contractor, remembering Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his lesson of nonviolent protest and what it meant for building the “beloved community” of dignity, justice, and peace.
We echo Dr.King’s words on April 4, 1967, one year to the day before his assassination, when he described the “evil triplets” of U.S. society: “Racism, Greed, and Militarism.”
In the persistent face of the vicious Big Lie of racism and hate. We’ve come to see that within the persistent evil of White Supremacy lies evil of war, militarism, and the threat to the earth and the human family posed by nuclear weapons.
Dr. King continues to represent an ongoing martyred lesson in true justice and peace. The Brandywine Peace Community has over the past 45 plus years sought to share in that lesson, here at Lockheed Martin and elsewhere.
We echo Dr.King’s words on April 4, 1967, one year to the day before his assassination, when he described the “evil triplets” of U.S. society: “Racism, Greed, and Militarism.”
It is fitting that on this Martin Luther King, Jr Day, we celebrate the first anniversary of United Nations’ Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Entry Into Force Saturday, January 22, 2021. We declare with the UN and the world, again and again, that “NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL.”
Today, on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, offering our protest as a sign of hope across the darkness and violence of our times, that exists beneath the over arching evil of nuclear weapons
We remember that for justice, human decency, and truth, Dr. King died rather than to give in to racism, war, and the violence he faced.
Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize Speech, Dec. 10, 1964
LISTEN HERE TO THE FULL SPEECH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r98tT0j1a0
“…I refuse to accept the idea that we are mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround us.
I refuse to accept the view that humankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and humanity can never become a reality.
“…I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality…”
“…I believe that even amid today’s mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow.
I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among our children…”
“…I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.
“…I believe that what self-centered people have torn down, other-centered people can build up.
“…I still believe that one day humankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land.
We continue to say NO! to Lockheed Martin, the world’s #1 war profiteer and nuclear weapons contractor. We celebrate the United Nation’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons [the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty], its international adherents and ratifiers, while pushing against nuclear armed nations and corporate interests profiting from the building nuclear weapons.
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NOTICE OF UN TREATY PROHIBITION
King of Prussia, PA, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 16, 2023, this complex of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, as well as related Lockheed Martin facilities across the United States are involved in contracting to the U.S. government, the U.S. military, and the U.S. Department of Energy to develop and build nuclear weapons and related delivery systems which are PROHIBITED by the 2017 United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and its Entry Into Force, January 22, 2021.
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Outlawing Everything To Do With Nuclear Weapons
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) outlaws the use of nuclear weapons. But that is not what makes this treaty so important. Indeed, many would argue that any conceivable use of nuclear weapons would inevitably violate the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law and therefore the use of nuclear weapons was already illegal, long before the TPNW came along. What is illegal now, however, is not just the use of nuclear weapons, but everything to do with nuclear weapons.The TPNW outlaws everything to do with nuclear weapons, and therefore has the potential to seriously affect the companies who make nuclear weapons, and through them, the politicians whose campaigns they finance.
The TPNW outlaws the development, testing, production, manufacture, possession, stockpiling, transfer, stationing and deployment of nuclear weapons. It also outlaws assisting, encouraging or inducing anyone at all from engaging in any of those activities. Why is that so significant?
While the treaty’s prohibitions are legally binding only in the countries (50 so far) that become “States Parties” to the treaty, those prohibitions do not apply only to the activities of governments. Article 1(e) of the treaty prohibits States Parties from assisting “anyone” engaged in any of those prohibited activities. That clearly refers to private companies and individuals who may be involved in the nuclear weapons business.
THE LIKES OF LOCKHEED MARTIN
(Don’t Bank on the Bomb, https://www.dontbankonthebomb.com/ )
Don’t Bank on the Bomb identifies 26 private companies currently involved in the nuclear weapons business globally. These include 15 companies based in the US, as well as a few based in India, China, and Europe. There are offices of at least one of these companies in two dozen of the countries that are about to become States Parties. Honeywell, for example, has offices in 13 of these countries. Many more of the companies have projects, including government contracts, in these countries.
More and more countries will be joining the TPNW in the coming months and years, and the pressure on private companies involved in the nuclear weapons business will continue to grow. These companies are already facing public and financial pressures not only from soon-to-be States Parties, but also from within their own countries. Two of the five largest pension funds in the world have divested from nuclear weapons, and other financial institutions are following their example.
Nuclear weapons still exist largely because the companies involved in the business wield such enormous power over government policies and decision-making, especially in the United States. They are among the largest donors to congressional re-election campaigns. They spend millions of dollars on lobbyists in Washington. And they provide a “revolving door” for out-of-work politicians who may be looking for a lucrative consultancy contract or a position on some company’s Board of Directors.
We are unlikely to see any significant change in US policy towards nuclear weapons until those companies start to feel some real pressure coming from this treaty. Until they realize that their own futures depend on diversifying their activities away from nuclear weapons, these companies will continue to be the driving force for maintaining these weapons.
Public pressure on the nuclear weapons companies in the 1980s led many of them to turn their backs on nuclear weapons. The politicians quickly followed, and we had the first major reductions of nuclear stockpiles since the onset of the Cold War.
This time, we have an even more critical need. We need the money and the brainpower being poured into nuclear weapons “modernization” to create the technologies needed for a green and sustainable future. We are now facing not one, but two, existential threats to our planet. By using the TPNW to put pressure on the nuclear weapons companies, we have at least a fighting chance of surviving both.
