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“It will take a long time before we understand what we did at GE King of Prussia.”
Phil Berrigan shared this reflection with me during a jail yard walk shortly after the Plowshares Eight action in September 1980. The name of the action is derived from the biblical vision: “You shall beat your swords into plowshares. And you shall study war no more.”
With household hammers, we disarmed two nose cones for the Mark 12A warheads built by the General Electric Nuclear Missile Re-entry Division in King of Prussia, PA1. The sound of hammers disarming mass-killing weapons echoes in my mind, heart, and soul, evoking memories of that day at GE and the succession of Plowshare actions in the United States, Europe, and Australia2. The reflective process forty years later offers a new understanding of
The Plowshares Eight were found guilty of criminal mischief and other charges. Some of the Eight were released on bail three months after the action, while others refused bail and served two years during the decade-long appeal process. In April 1990, we were resentenced to time served. Dean Hammer (VT), Molly Rush (PA), and John Schuchardt (MA) continue to work for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and the other five have joined the great cloud of witnesses.
A history of Plowshares actions in the United States, Europe, and Australia: .
this lived experience, personally and as an act of resistance to genocidal weapons. The process of sketching the Plowshares Eight narrative stirs deep appreciation for the privilege of participating in a community of conscience. We disarmed components of genocidal weapons in the tradition of Gandhian satyāgraha, non-cooperation with institutional violence. We intended to obstruct the preparations for nuclear war. Our legal defense was grounded in the Geneva Conventions and Nuremberg Principles of the United Nations. These international law codes instru