Two Years On, the Crime Remains the Same

TWO YEARS ON, THE CRIME REMAINS THE SAME:

TO HONOR TNP’s MGM, WE MUST CONTINUE THE WORK OF DISARMAMENT

by Ellen Barfield

With the two year anniversary of the Transform Now Plowshares action today, 28 July, and with

Megan, Greg, and Michael (MGM!) seeming to be stable at their prison assignments for now, it is

a good time to review the action, the trial and sentencing, and the subsequent responsibility of all

of us to support and move forward their work resisting nuclear weapons.

These hot, humid days of deep summer certainly bring back memories of being in hot, humid

eastern Tennessee two years ago and beginning to travel Oak Ridge and Knoxville area roads 
which later became very familiar after so many visits for hearings, trial, and sentencing. When 
I took Megan’s first call from jail and heard her elation that they had gotten to exactly where they 
wanted and done all they had planned, it was clear the blessings of God or the universe had again 
supported the work of disarmament, as so often has happened with plowshares actions.

This was evident too in the fact that they were found by a long-employed guard with prior

experience with peace activists at Rocky Flats, so he knew that he faced no physical threat

and did not use violence. The video of that meeting we later saw in court was touching; MGM

bowing and holding out their hands in friendship, offering bread and flowers, and the guard’s

calm demeanor in response. What a shame that plant management fired him for doing his job

so well. His union continues to support his claim of wrongful dismissal, as well they should.

So then the media frenzy began. I did my best to convey to cameras and scribbling pencils

that Plowshares is a movement, not an organization, and that the whole point of 3 less-than-

youthful people hiking steep ridges in the dark and cutting and crawling through four fences to

risk their bodies to tag and dent the storehouse of tons of highly enriched uranium which has

only one genocidal use, was to try again, as have over 100 prior plowshares actions since 1980,

to wake humanity up to the horrendous maintenance and further development of mass killing

machines, and the knowledge that officials cannot end the arms race, so citizens must.

Long months of legal maneuvering ensued. The prosecutor sought approval from above for the 
harsh sabotage charge only ever used for Plowshares actions. Defense tried and failed to get 
first-hand testimony admitted as evidence from former Attorney General Ramsey Clark about 
personally helping write the nuclear weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty, and therefore knowing 
exactly what they meant when they said the nuclear nations must totally disarm at an early date.

A terrific legal team of national and local attorneys formed and wrangled about the best courtroom 
strategies. Out awaiting trial, MGM spoke and wrote and attended Congressional hearings where

the meaning of their action was distorted with the government’s focus on the shocking security

breach that MGM were able to penetrate the “Ft Knox” of highly enriched uranium, instead of the 
total breach of all human security which weapons of mass destruction are at every step of their 
existence, from the mine to the missile silo or submarine to the cooling pools in lieu of permanent
“disposal”, sucking up so much money so critical to meeting human needs.

PLEASE dear friends, keep pushing to abolish weapons. Sign the petition at nuclearzero.org
supporting the brave Marshall Islanders in their lawsuits against the 9 nuke nations for not disarming, 
and learn more and find activist ideas at wagingpeace.org/nuclearzero, help organize and speak out 
on the upcoming Hiroshima and Nagasaki days, support strengthening the recent bills in the US

Congress to reduce weapons budgets. Write MGM to tell them what you are doing. That is what

they want us to do.