The American Pussy Riot

Dear Mr. President,

One billion a year to the Energy Department for security of nuclear material and three gray-haired pacifists armed with bolt cutters, hammers and a flashlight cut through fences and hammer their way into the Y-12 building complex at Oak Ridge, Tennessee? This is supposed to be one of the most secure sites in America but now we learn that many of the video cameras don’t work, others can’t be pointed properly and the sensors and alarms are mostly ignored because deer and raccoons are constantly setting them off. A billion a year and we can’t keep out raccoons? Not to mention an 82-year old nun and her 65 and 57 year old companions. Hilarious, if it wasn’t so sad. The three peace activists do a slow walk into the complex that contains 100 tons of highly enriched uranium and spend several hours spray-painting “Woe to the empire of blood” and “the fruit of justice is peace” on the walls, then hold a prayer vigil for peace before a lone guard happens upon them and stops them? A billion a year. Money that could do so much good wasted on non-existent security to protect us from imagined threats by imagined terrorists. The three activists are being charged with vandalism, a felony, and I couldn’t help but wonder if vandalism isn’t comparable to hooliganism, the charge brought against the three girl band members of the Pussy Riot in Russia. Is hooliganism a felony in Russia like vandalism is in America? But what also saddens and upsets me besides the waste of a billion a year on non-existent “national security” – and that doesn’t count the tens of billions wasted every year by the other security agencies – is that there aren’t tens of thousands of younger people (along with older people) in the streets of America protesting the injustice and wars you and your administration promote and pursue, a continuation of the failed policies and dreams of empire by your predecessor. The unconscionable waste of billions, trillions, spent on unjustified and immoral wars, on weapons of mass destruction, on tax breaks for millionaires, and the criminality of corporations and banks, the lack of accountability for any of it, from the war crimes of Bush II and Cheney to the financial crimes of Jamie Dimon and Bob Diamond. The real heroes of peace are people like Sister Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Gregory Boertje-Obed, the three who penetrated Oak Ridge to protest war and nuclear weapons. They are the ones who deserve your Nobel. Peace Prize, Mr. President.

The Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee

 From Left: Michael Walli, Sister Megan Rice, Gregory Boertje-Obed