December 31, 2015 --
Talked to Jess today on the phone. She is in good spirits and anxious to get
her message out. She will not have access to stamps, paper, pens until early
next week... the pace of jail store stuff...
In the meantime we are
just starting this campaign. More, much more to come... Happy New Year. Frank
Cordaro
---
Peace
activists arrested on grounds of Neb. defense contractor
Patrick O'Neill | Dec. 30, 2015
A
security guard's encounter with an anti-war protester who was holding a
sledgehammer in one hand and baseball bat in the other led to the arrests of
four peace activists Sunday night on the grounds of defense contractor Northrop
Grumman in Bellevue, Neb.
At
their first court appearance Tuesday, large bonds were set for Michele
Naar-Obed, Jessica Reznicek, Frank Cordaro and Mauro Heck. The four were each
charged with felony burglary and felony criminal mischief after police
encountered them on Northrop Grumman property. Some windows were broken, and
the damage was estimated at $8,000.
Reznicek,
34, who was holding the bat and sledgehammer, told television station KETV that
she alone did the damage. She was given the highest bond at $100,000.
Naar-Obed, Heck and Cordaro were each given $20,000 bonds. Naar-Obed, Cordaro
and Heck were released Tuesday after posting a percentage of their bonds.
Reznicek remains in jail.
"My
intention was to be on the property and to do property destruction, that's what
I wanted to do," Reznicek told a KETV reporter via a jailhouse phone
interview. "I didn't want to hurt anybody. I didn't want to scare
anybody."
Michele
Naar-Obed's husband, Greg Boertje-Obed, told the television reporter that the
four were engaged in an anti-war protest at Northrop Grumman.
"We
oppose nuclear weapons as Catholic Workers," said Boertje-Obed, a
long-time anti-war activist who was released earlier this year after serving a
two-year prison sentence for a Plowshares protest with two others at the Y-12
weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. "We oppose the making and selling of
weapons for profit."
Following
their arrests Sunday, the four were booked into Sarpy County Jail. In a
telephone interview following her release, Michele Naar-Obed, 59, told NCR she
had only gone along for the car ride to Northrop Grumman to support Reznicek,
who, along with Cordaro, is part of the Catholic Worker community in Des
Moines, Iowa.
"My
role in all this was to be with the group that drove her there," Naar-Obed
said. "I had no intention of going in or participating in the action
itself."
Naar-Obed
and her husband Greg Boertje-Obed are members of the Duluth, Minn., Catholic
Worker community. Cordaro, 64, is a former Catholic priest and another
long-time peace activist. Heck is a photographer and long-time Iowa peace
activist.
Recalling
the events, Naar-Obed said Reznicek was planning to be the lone actor in an
attempt to "disarm" computer equipment at Northrop Grumman, but after
dropping her off, the group -- concerned for her safety -- stayed behind and
waited for things to unfold.
Heck also took a picture of Reznicek shortly
before her arrest. His camera was confiscated, Naar-Obed said. By the time the
trio decided to drive off, the police had already been called. When a police
car spotted a lone car leaving the Northrop Grumman property, the three were
pulled over and detained.
Naar-Obed,
who, like her husband, has also spent time in prison for anti-war activities,
said Reznicek's action was a "disarmament" action, but not a
traditional "plowshares action" in which the actors cite Isaiah 2:4:
"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into
pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they
train for war anymore." Plowshares activists often give a name to their
actions and write a statement explaining their motives. Naar-Obed said Reznicek
did write a statement, but it was lost or misplaced en route to the protest.
Heck
told the KETV reporter that he was not involved in the planning process with
Reznicek, but he did say he drove the group to Northrop Grumman "in hopes
of raising awareness on government spending."
"We
have to be conscious of how people's taxes are spent," Heck told the
reporter. "People are not even aware."
In
court Tuesday, Reznicek said: "I assure you I did all the damage. I will
not back down from that statement."
Reznicek
said she had no plans to post bond. She also told the television reporter she
used a sledgehammer to break the glass as part of a research project for a
grant.
"She
wanted to get in, and she wanted to hammer on the computers if they became
available to her," Naar-Obed said. "She didn't have a specific plan
other than to get in and see what things there might be available for her to do
this kind of disarmament action."
Naar-Obed
said Reznicek had decorated her bat.
"The
baseball bat had some slogans on it like, 'Drones are immoral, illegal' --
'Stop killing' -- 'Stop war' -- kinds of stuff," she said.
The
four are scheduled to be back in court in January.
Patrick
O’Neill is a longtime NCR contributor.
---
As the word of Jessica
Reznicek's action is getting around, I thought I might add a bit more substance
to the story.
I've known Jess for a
little while now. I know she's lived in Central America. She's lived with
Occupy Des Moines, and now with the Des Moines Catholic Worker. She's seen
poverty and despair. She's seen the suffering of people in small nations as
they deal with the oppressive and deadly interactions from the empire building
nations. Now, in researching out the weapons systems contracted out from the
Pentagon to private developers like Northrop-Grumman and used out of places
like Offut Airforce base and STRATCOM, she put all of this together and a spark
ignited in her spirit to cry out loud and clear; ENOUGH.
Intending to take full
responsibility for her action on the night of Dec. 27, 2015, on the Feast of
the Holy Innocents, Jess took hammer and baseball bat with the intention of
entering the Northrop-Grumman office building in Bellevue, Nebraska to
dismantle and disarm the computer systems that hold the contracts and plans for
a variety of illegal and immoral weapons systems. She fully intended to adhere
to the principles of nonviolence in that she was committed to making sure no
person was injured, harmed or felt threatened by her action. She intended to
hammer out a message that lethal danger to humanity exists on those computers
and it needs to be stopped. She intends to give up her freedom by remaining in
jail so that the rest of us might continue ringing the bell of freedom from the
captivity of fear mongering generated by the weapons developers and
researchers. She intends to sing out the song of love between our brothers and
our sisters from behind the jail cell wall and hopes that our song of love will
join with hers and amplify this message.
I had the privilege of
driving Jess to the site where this action would be carried out. I knew very
little of the plan but I felt I knew enough of Jess's heart to, at the very
least, help with transportation to the site. I had no intention of doing
anything but that. The act itself was Jess's. That's what she made clear to all
of us that she wanted.
The act, however, leads us
to a bigger challenge which is to ignite the spark and get the fire of passion
burning in all people of good will to say ENOUGH to death and destruction,
ENOUGH to fear and hatred, ENOUGH to war and killing, ENOUGH, ENOUGH, ENOUGH.
I know people have raised
questions about the tactics used in this action. Some might see the use of the
baseball bat and hammer as tools of destruction by smashing the windows. Maybe
another way to look at it is the windows are now open to allow us to see the
horror of the plans developed in that building. Her intention to dismantle and
disarm the computer systems might also be viewed as a means to clearing out the
communication system of death and opening up a space to communicate love and
hope.
I for one, thank Jess for
the challenge and the opportunity. As time goes on, I'm sure we will hear more
from Jess directly. Until then, I hope we can hammer out justice, ring the bell
of freedom and sing the song of love between our brothers and our sisters all
over this world.
----
Please feel free to write
Jess:
Jessica Reznicek
Sarpy County Jail
1208 Golden Gate Dr,
Papillion, NE 68046
----
Previous posting: "If
witnessing the Witness is a crime, than I am Jessica Reznicek" - Mauro
Heck, Michele Obed & Frank Cordaro out on bail, Jessica Reznicek "The
Witness" remains in jail ..
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
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