Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Time of Nonviolent Action @Lockheed Martin, King of Prussia, PA. to Uplift and Celebrate the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty Entering Into Force
January 18, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Report back, see below program from Jan. 18, 2021, Lockheed Martin, King of Prussia, PA
Masks-up Mandatory! Socially distanced (please sit or stand 6 apart feet apart) Remember, to care is a nonviolent revolutionary act.
Celebration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
& United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition
of Nuclear Weapons Entry In Force
Lockheed Martin, King of Prussia, PA Sponsored by Brandywine Peace Community
Endorsed by Philly Divest from Nuclear Weapons Campaign
These are the darkest days most of us will ever face. For a few days, the news may seem better: not as many deaths, a flattening of the Coved-19 curve here and there. Then we wake up to more bad news, and so forth. Every slight pause in the darkness is a reminder that we don’t deserve this.
In two days, there will a U.S. presidential transition, by which we are reminded that life must be more than this darkness, that people deserve better, and not under armed guard along with threats of insurrectionist violence plaguing the nation.
As though to remind us how glib and without thought our language has descended, the media refers to homegrown terrorism and racist killers in terms of “armed protest.” Armed protest? The two words just don’t go together.
ALL: Today, we’re here at Lockheed Martin, 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 dignity and justice, in the persistent face of the vicious Big Lie of racism and hate. We’ve come to see that the continuing horror of White Supremacy lies in acceptance of war and the threat posed by nuclear weapons. 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.”
READER: 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, during times of “endless war” against the backdrop of world-ending threats of nuclear weapons
It is fitting that on this Martin Luther King, Jr Day, we celebrate the upcoming Entry Into Force of the United Nations’ Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons this coming Friday, January 22. Today, on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we pause to remember and celebrate, and allow a sign of hope and protest across the darkness.
Bell tolling
READER: 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
ALL: [From Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize Speech, Dec. 10, 1964]
LISTEN HERE TO 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.”
Bell-Tolling
Reader: While we 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 building nuclear weapons.
All: We echo the words of the United Nations in its Nuclear Ban Treaty, which enters into force January 22 and declares as international law: NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL.
NOTICE OF UN TREATY PROHIBITION
King of Prussia, PA, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 18, 2021, 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.
Bell Tolling. End
Monday, January 18, 2020, Noon – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Time of Nonviolent Action at Lockheed Martin, King of Prussia, PA., 230 Mall Boulevard (off the intersection of Mall & Goddard Boulevards, directly behind King of Prussia Mall).
Please read fully, especially the MANDATORY FOR PARTICIPANTS below.
CELEBRATE THE UNITED NATIONS TREATY ON
THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
[UN NUCLEAR BAN TREATY]
JANUARY 22 ENTRY INTO FORCE
On Martin Luther Day, Jan. 18, Noon, at the Brandywine Peace Community’s annual Time of Nonviolent Action at Lockheed Martin honoring Dr. King, people will bring the Treaty’s weight of international law to the U.S.’s largest nuclear weapons contractor in a public on-site act at the corporation’s complex in King of Prussia, PA, 230 Mall Boulevard, (located directly behind the King of Prussia Mall) three days before the treaty’s ENTRY INTO FORCE.
People and groups across the country will participate in nuclear weapons abolition actions celebrating and uplifting the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons [U.N. Nuclear Ban Treaty] Entry Into Force on January 22, 2021, declaring across the country with banners and signs, displays declaring, and with people around the world NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL.
For nationally-coordinated demonstrations and events around the country see, http://www.nukeresister.org/2020/11/08/invitation-to-get-involved-nuclear-ban-treaty-entry-into-force-action-day-january-22/
SEE JANUARY 22 PAGE FOR DEMONSTRATION at the Phila. Federal Courthouse, 601 Market Street, for the Noontime Area-wide Announcement of the Issuance of the U.N. Nuclear Ban Treaty Entry Into Force. Related likely announcements forthcoming.
MANDATORY FOR PARTICIPANTS:
Adherence to the discipline of Nonviolence [“of fist, tongue, and heart”, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.]
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Safety concerns for one another and all others in this horrid time of COVED-19, as the severity and spread, rate of infection and deaths from the virus increases everywhere.
Practice SOCIAL DISTANCING and WEAR A MASK OR FACIAL COVERING (no ifs, ands, or buts about it). If you don’t have a mask, we’ll give you one! There will be no movement amongst participants , after the demonstration’s set-up onsite. Greetings to other participants will be verbal and the twinkle in your eyes.
Please bring your folding chair and once you get situated, six feet apart on either side from other participants, with a sign, “SIT-IN’ in your chair and remain there to end of the demonstration.
Please check into this site page for any updates and/or adaptations in keeping with the Covid-19 precautions. TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER, THE MANTRA OF DAY!
REMEMBERING REV. DR. KING
On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his murder in Memphis, TN., Dr. King delivered his Beyond Vietnam Speech before a crowd gathering at Riverside Church in New York City. In this truly historic speech Dr. King called the U.S. government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” and called for nonviolent resistance to what he called the “the evil triplets of American society: racism, materialism, and militarism.
Since the birth of the Brandywine Peace Community in 1977, in the aftermath of the U.S. carnage in Vietnam, we continue to hold tight to these of words of Dr. King as we celebrate his birth on January 15, 1929. We’ve stood at Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest war profiteer and the U.S. chief nuclear weapons contractor for decades in a commitment to peace, to justice, to nonviolence, and the abolition of nuclear weapons. We do so again on this annual Martin Luther King Day observance, January 18, 2020 celebrating, upholding and uplifting the United Nations Nuclear Ban Treaty Entry Into Force
ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Join the worldwide fight to abolish nuclear weapons and rid our Mother Earth of this threat to all humanity
Support the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Declare at Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest war profiteer and the U.S.’s #1 nuclear weapons contractor that NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL
Statement of Commitment
We reach-out to people, near and far, to honor Dr. King in acts and works of justice, love, and protest of injustice, cruelty, and war. We are here at Lockheed Martin to celebrate Dr. King by upholding the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty as it enters into force.
At Lockheed Martin, we listen to Dr. King anew, remembering what he described as the intertwining ‘evil triplets of American society: Racism, Materialism, and Militarism’.
We remember that for justice, peace, human decency and truth, Dr. King died rather than give in to the racism, war, and violence he faced .
We toll a bell of peace for justice, nonviolence and love, declaring the NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL.
We bang drums in celebration of Dr. King, his life and his message of hope in the face of racism, greed, militarism, and the unimaginable threat of nuclear war .
Outlawing Everything To Do With Nuclear Weapons
19.11.2020 – Northampton, United States – Timmon Wallis
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 useof nuclear weapons, but everything to do withnuclear 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 inducinganyone 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 (click on Don’t Bank on the Bomb)
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 untilthose 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.
