By Bill Ofenloch, World BEYOND War, March 5, 2024
Twenty anti-nuclear activists brought 27 lifesize images of Robert Oppenheimer mounted on wooden frames with banners saying: “DON’T BE A ‘DESTROYER OF WORLDS’ STOP THE COLUMBIA SUB,” at 6 am Monday morning to block the main entrance gates at General Dynamics Electric Boat facility in New London Connecticut, where the Columbia class nuclear submarines are being designed and constructed.
The demonstrators hoped to bring attention to a new nuclear arms race which is now heating up between the nuclear superpowers in violation of international arms control treaties. They also wanted to protest the fact that an Ohio class Trident submarine, built at Electric Boat, has been deployed in the Mediterranean Sea to enforce Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The group distributed the attached leaflet.
Scott Schaeffer-Duffy said, “especially now that the movie Oppenheimer is up for thirteen academy awards this weekend, we want to remind the scientists and engineers of Electric Boat not to repeat the nuclear sins that Oppenheimer regretted for the rest of his life.”
Jackie Allen, a resident of New London, said, “We come here in the spirit of the 1943 anti-war and anti-Nazi German activist movement called the White Rose to say no to the evil conducted by our government.”
The five who were arrested are affiliated with the Catholic Worker movement, which has been serving the poor and promoting peace and justice since 1933.
They are:
Jackie Allen, New London
Ellen Grady, Ithaca, NY
Frank Kartheiser, Worcester, MA
Mark Scibilia-Carver, Trumansburg, NY
Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, Worcester, MA
