Lockheed Martin, Eisenhower, and the Military Industrial Complex

Last week marked the 50th anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s famous farewell speech to the nation in which he warned against the rise of a “military-industrial complex.” Watch Democracy Now’s interview with William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, who traces the rise of the military-industrial complex through the story of the nation’s largest weapons contractor, Lockheed Martin. Hartung’s new book is Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex.

If the rise of United States federal debt and military spending during a recession bother you, take action by registering for the Pacific Life Community’s 2011 gathering in the Bay Area.

30 years of Nuclear Resistance

The folks at Nuclear Resister put together an 18 minute slide show with music celebrating 30 years of Nukewatch, the Nuclear Resister and the Plowshares 8, with lots of photos of anti-nuclear actions, including Plowshares actions, and a couple of PLC actions are in there, too. It was shown at our sister community, the Atlantic Life Community. It’s available at the Nuclear Resister website.

Is Lockheed Martin Shadowing You?

In preparation for PLC 2011, we’re putting up articles and information related to Lockheed Martin which is the focus of this year’s Pacific Life Community gathering. William D. Hartung has written an article “Is Lockheed Martin Shadowing You?” which describes the frighteningly extensive contract work which Lockheed Martin does for the Pentagon, the IRS, the Transportation Security Administration (the guys who check your ID and pat you down at the airport), and even the Post Office.

William writes, “the company receives one of every 14 dollars doled out by the Pentagon…its government contracts, thought about another way, amount to a ‘Lockheed Martin tax’ of $260 per taxpaying household in the United States.”

We, in the Pacific Life Community, are making our citizen’s initiative at Lockheed Martin’s Sunnyvale plant because of the corporation’s active role in the immoral and illegal Trident nuclear weapon system—a submarine-based first strike missile that threatens to destroy all life on earth. If you are interested in joining our resistance, contact me at bryceadamfisher dot com.

Read “Is Lockheed Martin Shadowing You?” on Truthout.

Guide for Nonviolent Direct Actions

The Pacific Life Community is a group of grass-roots activists dedicated to nonviolent citizen intervention for the abolition of nuclear weapons which threaten all life on earth. The San Francisco Bay Area hosts of PLC 2011 endorse this Guide for Non-violent Acts of Witness from Ground Zero.

Guide for Non-violent Citizen Intervention

·Refuse to engage in verbal abuse or physical violence;

·Pledge not to bring or use any drugs or alcohol other than for medical
purposes;

·Carry no weapons;

·Refuse to retaliate if injured;

·Maintain a spirit of openness, friendliness and respect toward police
officers, court officials, and all others I encounter;

·Share my message of peace with clarity;

·Listen with my self fully present and alert;

·Remain gentle, never self-righteous or hostile;

·Keep in mind that transformation and conversion to peace must
begin with my own life;

·Sustain this discipline throughout all consequences, even under arrest.