By Trident Ploughshares activist Ulla Roder... (article)
| Sand
To all the civil disobedients, the resisters, the disarmers
As sand in the desert
We will always be
We are in the sun, warm and dry
We are soaking, cold at night
We are loved and hated,
But it doesn't change us
We are black, red, yellow and white
We are at surface alike
We are never the same
But we can rage and gather in piles
We can in wrong environment grow to thorns
We are soft and flexible, moving easily
We can be caught and restrained
But we stay hard, keeping our condition
We are worldwide
We drift in the wind
We can be broken
But more of us will be
We cannot be cultivated
We cannot be controlled
We can, if many enough, stop the war machines,
But we are always staying firm, because
We will always be
As sand in the desert
Ulla Roder
March 2003 |
I looked at the seat in the cockpit in the streamlined white
Tornado warplane, which I had just entered. In my mind I had the picture of
a young pilot, boy, son, father; the many years of fear for the people of
Iraq; for their survival; for a new world war nuclear war; fear of losing
the little bit of freedom we people have left in this world, to a state which
has officially declared that it wants "Full Spectrum Dominance"
on earth as well as in space and which has shown all willingness and cynicism
to use whatever means of power to gain this. All this made me lift the red
and black bolt-cutters in my hand. Crash! I shouted out aloud in the hangar.
There was no-one to hear, but it helped. "We don't want your war, Bush
and Blair!"
This for all the dead civilians in Iraq and all the children
still suffering at poor hospitals, caused by 12 years of sanctions against
civilians. Crash! The control panel was out of commission.
The echo of the hammering was still in the air when I started
on the wings. The hard surface resisted my attempts. This for my disabled
friend who cannot afford a decent wheelchair. This for my other disabled friend
who daily has to crawl up a stone stairway outside his house, because a proper
house with disabled access cannot be provided for him and his family. This
for all the marginalised people, the sick and older folks; this for all the
people in poverty whose basic needs are not fulfilled; this in hope for the
future of our children in the world. I had done enough.
The nose cone got the rest of my anger and all the energy
I had. Lies! Disarmament treaties and negotiations thirty years! International
law! Ignorance! All lies to buy time for the weapon industries and military
to re-arm for the warfare of the 21st Century. Shame! Shame! Shame on all
nuclear weapon states. Shame for all the time the courts have ignored the
arguments of ordinary people. Now really tired, I slammed the bolt-cutters
down on the back of the plane. This for all the arrogance from intelligent,
learned people, who have never glanced long enough into the eyes of a young
drug addict to understand why they suffer, but coldhearted send them away
for shoplifting for their daily needs instead of giving them access to proper
treatment because that is too expensive. A fiver a week or you go to prison!
Problem solved. Then I returned to the cockpit and silently put the bolt-cutters
down. On top I placed a piece of bread and in silence I symbolically shared
it with all the hungry breaking off small pieces and spreading it around,
praying for peace and justice in the world. I then went down to two fuel containers
on the ground looking like two ugly fat bombs . On each was placed the sign:
TO THE GULF. I put my last bit of bread on each of the signs. My job was done.
No more will anyone face the horrors of war from that plane. One more war
machine was disarmed. I felt a deep inner peace.
I now waited for someone to arrive. After a while I was very
respectfully and peacefully detained and led away, while the alarm sounded
through the whole base. Good! More delay in the preparations for war. And
now I am facing a trial maybe for £25 million pounds worth of damage
more than my entire family will earn in a lifetime by hard and decent work.
A Tornado costs £70 million pounds. We paid for this plane and we will
pay for all the other planes I saw out there that night, being got ready for
an illegal war.
All this world needs is love
Ulla
Trident Ploughshares
NB: Ulla Roder, 48, is a Danish peace activist living in
Scotland, who trashed a UK Tornado Jet at RAF Leuchars in Scotland. Planes
from Leuchars took part in the 1991 attack on Iraq You can write letters of
support to Ulla, she is currently on remand, awaiting trial for £25
million of criminal damage. Address them to Ulla Roder, HMP Cornton Vale,
Cornton Road, Stirling FK9 5NY. She may not receive it if you don't put a
return address on it
Trident Ploughshares website :
www.tridentploughshares.org
