Organizing Notes

Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire....

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Location: Brunswick, ME, United States

The collapsing US military & economic empire is making Washington & NATO even more dangerous. US could not beat the Taliban but thinks it can take on China-Russia-Iran...a sign of psychopathology for sure. We must all do more to help stop this western corporate arrogance that puts the future generations lives in despair. @BruceKGagnon

Thursday, October 19, 2017

More Maine Peace Walk Photos

Bath Iron Works (BIW) from a nearby bridge.  On lower left see the security boat watching us.
Joyakgol from Jeju Island, South Korea joined us for the walk and has been a wonderful addition to our group.  Once he leaves Maine he will speak in Boston, Waterbury & New Haven, Ct. and New York City.

Standing at BIW during the 3:30 pm daily shift change.  Workers are bused in every day from across Maine.  Out of the 5,500 workers at BIW only about 500 actually live in Bath.
A new banner made for us by a local artists collective that makes banners for various protests in the state.

Waiting for BIW workers to pour out of the shipyard.  Our twice daily vigils at 6:00 am and 3:30 pm have helped to create a dialogue inside the shipyard and throughout the community.
Another one of our great banners (click on it for a better view) being held by Morgana Warner Evans and Russell Wray.
Walking the 10-miles to Brunswick on Tuesday this week.

Crossing over the water on the way to Brunswick.
Liz McAlister sits in front of the BIW facility on the old Bath Road.  BIW has several facilities between Bath and Brunswick and we stopped at each one for a while on Tuesday.

Our dear friend Ridgely Fuller from Belfast, Maine walked with us for two days and brought along two of her friends visiting from Washington state.  Each day new people come and go which gives the walk a good new jolt of energy.
Artist Russell Wray carries his anti-sonar sign.  He has taught us all alot about the Navy impacts on sea life by sonar.  Just today while at BIW one worker saw the sign and told me she had never before known that sea mammals are threatened by sonar.  This well illustrates the power that just one sign can have on people.  

These photos are not in any particular order but are intended to give you a bit of a taste of what we have been doing this week.

Today we walked around Bath as a group, in single file like a herd of elk.  At 11:30 am we walked along Washington Street in front of BIW just as a couple hundred workers poured out of the facility for their lunch break.  We were up close and personal and greeted many of them.  Some responded and others did not want to make any eye contact.

At 10:00 am we walked through some Bath neighborhoods and were quite pleased to see the response we got from people outside their homes and driving by.  The majority of the people were friendly and very positive - took our flyers - one woman said, "I already got one here at my house" and then thanked us for doing the walk.  We feel that people are clearly getting our message about the dire emergency to deal with climate change while we still can by converting BIW to build appropriate sustainable technologies.

Tomorrow we will watch John Pilger's important new film called The Coming War with China and then walk around Bath some more.  We will also do our 6:00 am and 3:30 pm BIW vigils as well and then have a pot luck supper and music in the evening at The Neighborhood church.  We've got several excellent musicians in our group so it should be a good time for all.

Bruce

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