Swords into Ploughshares?
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Posted by
Andrew
Yesterday 3 Christian protestors broke into the Waihopai Spy Base and deflated one of the large domes covering one of the satellites. Their actions came out of their Christian convictions about peace and Jesus Christ being the Prince of Peace. One of the activists said they felt they were just being faithful as to how they understand the Gospels and their faith in terms of peace-making and following Jesus. How does this sit as an expression of Christian faith for you?
Below is the statement that has been issued from the protestors. You can read more at the Ploughshares website along with the The New Zealand Herald.
STATEMENT OF THE WAIHOPAI ANZAC PLOUGHSHARES (from the Ploughshares website)
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation; and there shall be no more training for war. Isaiah 2:4
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation; and there shall be no more training for war. Isaiah 2:4
Waihopai Spy Base Penetrated
This morning, 30 April 2008, we entered the Waihopai Spy Base near Blenheim. Our group, including a Dominican Priest, temporarily closed the base by padlocking the gates and proceeded to deflate one of the large domes covering two satellite dishes. At 6am we cut through three security fences surrounding the domes - these are armed with razor wire, infrared motion sensors and a high voltage electrified fence. Once inside we used sickles to cut one of the two 30-metre white domes, built a shrine and knelt in prayer to remember the people killed by United States military activity. We have financed our activities through personal savings, additional part-time employment and a small interest-free loan from one of our supporters. We are responding to the Bush administration’s admission that intelligence gathering is the most important tool in the so-called War on Terror. This war will have no end until citizens of the world refuse to let it continue. The ECHELON spy network including Waihopai, is an important part of the US government’s global spy network and we have come in the name of the Prince of Peace to close it down.
The base is funded by New Zealand tax payers and located on New Zealand soil which makes New Zealand a target through our association with the UKUSA intelligence cooperation agreement. Five years ago the Clark government opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq. Yet at the same time the Bush administration was using the National Security Agency’s ECHELON system, of which Waihopai is an integral component, to spy on UN Security Council members so it could more easily swing them in favour of an invasion. There have been over 100 Ploughshares actions over the last twenty years around the world. Ploughshares direct actions are linked through the common factors of: entry to locations connected to military activity, Christian prayers and most involve some form of property destruction.
The base is funded by New Zealand tax payers and located on New Zealand soil which makes New Zealand a target through our association with the UKUSA intelligence cooperation agreement. Five years ago the Clark government opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq. Yet at the same time the Bush administration was using the National Security Agency’s ECHELON system, of which Waihopai is an integral component, to spy on UN Security Council members so it could more easily swing them in favour of an invasion. There have been over 100 Ploughshares actions over the last twenty years around the world. Ploughshares direct actions are linked through the common factors of: entry to locations connected to military activity, Christian prayers and most involve some form of property destruction.
5:20 PM
I was having dinner with two older (over 70yo) Christians who were outraged by the actions at Waihopai.
"Christians don't protest" "What right have they to bring JESUS into their silly protest? What they did is JUST NOT CHRISTIAN!!"
Being just a baby to faith compared with them, and having never been required to serve in a war I hesitated to reply that I applaud thepeaceful anti-war stance of the Ploughsharers.
Wasn't Jesus an activist? The rulers in his time wanted him dead for his anti-authoritarian words and deeds. The early apostles were imprisoned and martyred for their beliefs. They did not preach a message that was good news to those in power...
I think Christians should point out the vast disparities in the world - that many can't feed their families well while billions is spent fighting unpopular wars.
Protestors make us think... they bring us face to face with realities that we might not be happy with... they bring the world's attention to issues that would make Jesus hopping mad!
He might have said 'blessed are those who protest in a prophetic way. Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS'
We are too comfortable with our Christianity in the west. Warm and well-fed. No longer martyred, I think we forget that Jesus was a revolutionary, a man who lived and died for the powerless. A man who upset the authorities in standing up for what was right. Just like the ploughshare activists.
That's my belief anyway...
9:47 PM
I don't really have much to say about this specific action and the following comment isn't alluding to anything but I think it's important to remember we never really saw Jesus with signs etc protesting about how the poor and outcast were treated. He was certainly all about action. Whether this action in the post is appropriate or what Jesus would do, I am unsure.
9:04 AM
Jesus didn't carry a sign because he WAS a sign. I guess my feeling is that we have forgotten his sign language, and don't live like Jesus did.
I want to be a signpost of his kingdom on earth, a herald of peace, but don't know how to do it without protest..
Any ideas????
9:24 AM
BAndy, I reckon Jesus did do things like this. He turned over the tables in the temple. NT Wright reckons this wasn't simply about money changers but Jesus knew it would cripple the Jewish temple system for a short period - no more sacrifices being sold and therefore crippling the system. This act was a subversive act of protest against the ruling religious system and this was Jesus showing them that their time was up. This is just one of many actions of protest that Jesus did.
However, the question for me about Waihopai is whether that's what beating swords into ploughshares means. In the passage, Isaiah's vision is that because of God's reigning glory nations will stream to God's city to be taught in God's ways and they will beat their swords into ploughshares. It does not say "WE will beat THEIR swords into ploughshares". The beating of swords into ploughshares is a voluntary act of the nations in response to God's glory not an enforced act done by God's people.
So, I am torn. On the one hand I support Christian protest and on the other I don't think the protestors have exactly captured Isaiah's vision. Perahps a passage from Matthew would fit better what they were doing at Waihopai- "Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves."
11:05 PM
Just to clarify, I didn't mean to say Jesus didn't protest. He certainly did. But his methods were not just to talk about how lame things were. He complimented that with action. Jesus == ActionMan.
8:40 AM
Ahhhh, gotcha BAndy. I had misread what you were saying. Thanks for the clarification....
11:57 PM
Great conversation folks - I guess in part this was what the action was designed to provoke - the other option was over-turning the tables of CDs at Parachute Music Festival, but someone else could do that perhaps?
Just responding to how we interpret Isaiah's prophecy I think it reads 'they will beat their swords into ploughshares' - I guess the guys involved felt that as NZ tax-payers/citizens they had some ownership of the 'swords' and while other attempts to transform the weapons into productive tools hadn't worked through more acceptable diplomatic and lobbying efforts over 20 years they decided to try another method?
One of the most important points to consider (and John Howard Yoder has a whole book on the subject called 'The Politics of Jesus') is around the right and responsibility of citizens in 'free' societies to use non-violent civil disobedience as a way to influence positive change (like Te Whiti at Parihaka, Gandhi in South Africa and India, Bastion Point, Raglan Golf Course, anti-nuclear and Springbok Tour protestors, etc.). The point Yoder makes (as did Martin Luther King Jnr) is that Paul in Romans argues that people who decide to break the law in these cases must be willing to submit to it - through this process they have the opportunity to expose the authorities and reveal the truth of the situation. And as I understand it, God is into the truth, wherever it resides or tries to hide.
- Manu.
10:09 AM
Hi Manu, welcome and thanks so much for stopping by and enriching our conversation. Thanks also for adding further clarity to the actions at Waihopai. I am familiar with John Howard Yoder's excellent book and totally agree with you about non-violent civil disobedience and the examples that you cite. I also totally agree with you that after 20 years of diplomatic attempts there were no other options. I don't know if you're familiar with the 16th century radical Thomas Muntzer but that's the point one of his biographer's made on his actions of a violent uprising against the oppressive rulers - he could legitimately say that he had exhausted all other options (I'm well aware this action was non-violent and therefore quite different to Muntzer).
On the Isaiah passage, I hadn't considered the point you make about them (or we) as taxpayers/citizens having ownership of the swords - thanks for that insight. I might still want to emphasise from my understanding of Isaiah's vision that the many people are drawn to God's holy mountain by God's glory and in response to God's glory they voluntarily beat their swords into ploughshares.
I thought it was a masterstroke to make use of garden tools (tools for peace and productivity) to disable high tech weapons of violence. I also smiled wryly at your point about Parachute - so true :)
Thanks again for stopping by and for your input. I'd love to hear more (and I check for updates on your site regularly).
- Andrew.