SACRED EARTH AND SPACE PLOWSHARES:
On September 9, 2000, the 20th anniversary of the Plowshares Eight action, five sisters from several religious communities entered Petersen Air Force Base in Colorado Springs where some 150,000 visitors were attending “The Spring 2000 Department of Defense and Open House and Air Show.”
Jackie Hudson, OP, from the Ground Zero Community in Poulsbo, Washington; and previous plowshares participants Carol Gilbert, OP, Ardeth Platte,OP, Anne Montgomery, RSCJ and Liz Walters, IHM, proceeded to hammer and pour their own blood on a Milstar Communications satellite and an F-18 (Hornet) fighter plane used extensively in Iraq.
They struck the plane and nearby satellite four times each— for a total of twenty times, to commemorate 20 years of plowshares-disarmament actions.
They also unfurled a banner with the inscription “Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares 2000.”
After hammering on the plane, the sisters prayed the Lord's Prayer and read their action statement which declared: “We reject the US Space Command Vision for 2020: To dominate space for military operation...to exploit space for US interests and investments…to waste billions and billions of dollars and more human and material resources, causing the destruction of the Earth and desecration of Space…Our security is neither in wealth nor in war. It is the God of the universe who calls us to ‘act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God'… In this spirit we act as an invitation to all to ‘hammer swords into plowshares…that nation will not lift up sword against nation or will they ever again be trained to make war.' ”
The sister's were arrested, jailed and charged with federal criminal mischief, obstructing government operations and two counts of conspiracy.
Troubled that there were sisters in his jail, the commander of El Paso County Jail stated: “I have heard reports from supervisors that the ward has never been quieter. There are special prayer groups going on. But I have a problem with nuns being in my jail.”
The five sisters were all unexpectedly released from jail on Sept. 16 and their charges were surprisingly dropped