Public meeting for Ash Wednesday act of witness

PRESS RELEASE

On Sunday week, January 13th, 3-6pm, London Catholic Worker are hosting a public event for anyone interested in finding out more about, and preparing for, the annual 'Act of Witness' at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in Whitehall, London on Ash Wednesday. All are welcome.

The Ash Wednesday 'Act of Witness' is a prayerful, liturgical call to personal and corporate repentance, where we mark a part of the 'head' of the national 'body' , which the MoD is, as it is part of the UK government. The call is to repent from British nuclear weapons, currently the Trident sumarine based missiles, and instead to work for a nuclear free world.

Martin Newell, of the London Catholic Worker, said:

'Marking the walls of the MoD with blessed charcoal is an integral part of the act of witness. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent and the journey to Holy Week where we recall the events that led Jesus to arrest, sentence and execution. Those who mark the MoD walls are risking arrest and begining a journey that can lead to court and prison.'

Anyone interested in taking part in marking the walls, this year or in the future, should contact Martin Newell at the London Catholic Worker.

The Open Meeting will be at: Giuseppe Conlon House, 49 Mattison Road, London, N4 1BG.

The Ash Wednesday Act of Witness itself will start at 3pm in Embankment Gardens, near Embankment tube station, on February 13th. More details are here.

Feast of innocents action

Catholic Workers mark "Feast of Innocents" at police siege of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

For radical Christians, the Christmas narrative can only be understood in the context of the "Feast of Innocents" that follows on Dec. 28th. The feast day exposes imperial power and its collaboraters, in this case King Herod, striking back when sensing the imperial arrangement threatened. The children slain by Herod are echoed today by those killed in U.S. and British drone strikes, the thousands who have died in the recent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and those threatened by the continual preparations for nuclear and interventionary war. There are also stories of heroic nonviolent resistance contained within the narrative. The Maji break Herod's injunction and refuse to return to him with targeting intel for his search and destroy mission against the Christ child. Today that resistance is echoed in the lives of Bradley Manning imprisoned in the U.S. facing military court martial and Julian Assange presently encircled by British police in the Ecuadoran embassy in downtown London. Bradley and Julian are being pursued by modern day Herods who would rather we were kept in the dark in relation to the nature of their murderous deeds.

In other news.... our latest newsletter has just been uploaded.

Report from last week's vigil

Twenty anti-war and solidarity activists gathered outside the U.S. embassy in London on Tuesday in solidarity with Bradley Manning. Those gathered included veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, former anti-war prisoners, members of Veterans for Peace, Catholic Worker, London Guantanamo Campaign, Pay Day Mens Network. Nationalities of the solidarity activists included Australian, Canadian, Chilean, Colombian, English, Irish, Italian, Latvian and U.S.

As the group stood in silence and the rain confronitng the U.S. embassy the soundtrack of the www.collateralmurder.com footage was amplified.[ photos | Video 1 | Video 2 ]

Manning faces a week long pre-trial hearing at Ft. Meade Maryland USA, in which he will speak publicly for the first time since his arrests 2 1/2 years ago. Manning faces 22 charges accused of releasing footage and cables of U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere to WikiLeaks in 2010. He was exposed to long months of torture at Quantico marine base in the hopes he would crack and implicate Julian Assange. Manning has refused to speak to investigators.