Friends,
The comments keep coming. Phil’s spirit always seems to be around. Kagiso, Max
Hi Max,
My
lasting memory of Phil's funeral march from Jonah House to the church was that
the previous day or day before, a fire had apparently consumed a couple of the
row houses along our route, and the pile of bricks and burnt rubble extended
far into the street. But there was nary a barricade nor yellow tape to secure
the dangerous scene from passersby, nor any city crew attending to the blocked
road.
And
of course, the boarded-up row houses, some of which were obviously being
squatted (path leading to a broken door, lights on inside), with stenciled
notice on the plywood to call the city if one heard trapped animals inside…
&
finally, a late night return to the church with Jim Noonan, after a few
whiskeys in Phil’s memory, and Jim’s acerbic comment that he didn’t imagine
Peter Claver’s converts, depicted in a plaque by the front door stacked like
cordwood in the slave ship hull, were all exactly acting from free will.
Jack
Cohen-Joppa of the Nuclear Resister which just celebrated its 200th issue
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2003-07-27-0307270225-story.html
Berrigan's spirit
hangs over peace protest
By Jeff Barker
Baltimore Sun
In
December 1999, in his last act of civil disobedience, Philip F. Berrigan banged
hammers on warplanes at the Warfield Air National Guard Base in Baltimore
County. He was arrested.
Yesterday,
his widow, 21-year-old daughter and a few dozen friends and other peace
activists returned to the gates of that base in Middle River.
Their
purpose was to demonstrate support for three nuns, two of them from Baltimore,
sentenced in Denver on Friday to prison terms of at least 2 1/2 years each for
vandalizing a nuclear missile silo with hammers and painting a cross on it with
their blood.
But,
coming as it did so close to Berrigan's death from cancer in December -- and in
a place linked to his legacy -- yesterday's demonstration couldn't help but
stir memories of the former priest, said those who were there.
"The
main reason I'm here is to honor Philip Berrigan," said Max Obuszewski, an
anti-war activist and Berrigan family friend. "It's like he's here
today."
Berrigan
often cited Isaiah 2:4, which says, "and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares ... ."
Yesterday,
his daughter Kate held up a banner spelling out that biblical passage in
flannel and cloth. "This was a banner we made as Dad was dying. We made it
out of his old clothes," she said.
Said
Elizabeth McAlister, Berrigan's widow: "This is a significant place to be.
It was Phil's last plowshares action."
Berrigan,
who was 79 when he died, spent more than 10 years in jail for various protests
against war and weaponry.
There
were no arrests yesterday. The peace activists formed a circle, and two of them
read aloud the statements that Dominican nuns Carol Gilbert, 55, and Ardeth
Platte, 66, had delivered to supporters before their sentencing. The nuns lived
in Jonah House, a Baltimore pacifist community that Berrigan founded.
Gilbert's
statement had closed with a quote from Philip's brother, Daniel Berrigan:
"Know where you stand and stand there."
As the
nuns' statements were reread yesterday, some passers-by honked their car horns
in support of the protesters, who waved signs with such messages as "Peace
Begets Peace. Violence Begets Violence" and "War is Terrorism."
Other
drivers leaned out the windows of their vehicles and cursed or yelled.
"Traitors!" one man said. "Hey, if you don't like America, move
over there," said another.
"Peace
to you!" a few of the demonstrators yelled back.
One of
the Berrigan's lessons was avoiding bitterness in the face of adversity, said
John Oliver, a local hospice chaplain who attended the rally yesterday.
"Phil
spent 11 years in jail and he was able to retain a peacefulness inside,"
Oliver said. "He was grounded in a way that kept him from getting
bitter."
Oliver
was among the attendees at a ceremony this month in which Berrigan's
hand-carved tombstone was unveiled. "There wasn't a protest that
day," Oliver said, smiling. "There was a joyful gathering. It was
very spirit-filled."
Many
of the anti-war protesters who showed up yesterday have faced chilly receptions
of late while urging an end to the United States' involvement in Iraq.
"I've
been doing this for 15 years, and it seems like it's gotten worse, not better.
But any real societal change takes time," said Ellen Barfield, 47, a local
peace activist. Her first vigil was in 1985 -- a protest at an assembly plant
for nuclear warheads near Amarillo, Texas.
An
Army veteran, Barfield said it is a popular misconception that anti-war
demonstrators don't support the troops in Iraq. "Of course I support the
troops. I think throwing 20- year-olds in front of a pressure cooker is not
supporting them."
She
said the period after Berrigan's death had been a time to reflect -- and then
continue the fight. "Of course it's very hard to lose him, but we're all
the more committed to what we believe, which is that there is a spark of
humanity in all of us," she said.
#####
Donations can be sent
to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206,
Baltimore, MD 21212. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at]
comcast.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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