BANGOR — Activists from a local peace group blocked the main gate and staged a mock funeral at the Navy’s West Coast Trident nuclear submarine base in an act of civil resistance to nuclear weapons, Jan. 17.

More than 60 people participated in Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action’s annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr’s life and legacy with a vigil outside the main gate at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.

Under the theme “Building the World House,” the day focused on King’s commitment to nonviolence and his opposition to war and nuclear weapons.

Some participants, dressed in monk’s robes, carried a coffin containing a globe representing Earth. People walked up to the casket and placed flowers on it, and then another robed participant recited a eulogy, “Mourning the Death of the Earth after Nuclear Annihilation.” A funeral dirge completed the ceremony.

When the ceremony was finished, participants carried the casket onto the roadway, blocking traffic entering the base. Washington State Patrol officers ordered the resisters to move the coffin out of the roadway. They complied and carried the coffin to the median where they were detained. All received citations for being in the roadway illegally, and then released.

According to Ground Zero, those cited were Mary Elder, Seattle; Peter Gallagher, Seattle; Raghav Kaushik, Kirkland; Mona Lee, Seattle; Bernie Meyer, Olympia; Michael Siptroth, Belfair; and Rick Turner, Seattle;

Following the initial action, more protesters entered the roadway and blocked traffic. Gilberto Perez of Bainbridge Island carried a sign calling for no naval base on Jeju Island, Korea. Jonathan Landolfe of Tacoma carried a sign saying “Sea Hawks, Not War Hawks.” Bruce Gagnon of Bath, Maine, carried a sign saying “Human Needs, NOT WAR$”. All were removed from the roadway by State Patrol and cited for being in the roadway illegally.

Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, gave the keynote address earlier in the day at Ground Zero Center. Gagnon said the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding budget is unsustainable, and that “entitlement” programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are being defunded in order to fund the newest ships that include a new fleet of ballistic missile submarines.

Members of Ground Zero Center also participated in the Seattle MLK Rally & March on January 19, carrying a full size inflatable replica of a Trident II D-5 thermonuclear armed missile. Accompanying the missile was a banner with a  quote by King, “When scientific power outruns spiritual power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.” Participants handed out leaflets with facts on Trident.

“The Trident nuclear weapons system was designed during the height of the Cold War and was predicated on the theory of Strategic Nuclear Deterrence, a doctrine that no longer applies long after the fall of the Berlin Wall,” according to Leonard Eiger, media and outreach coordinator of Ground Zero Center.

“Continued deployment of Trident increases the risk of either accidental or intentional nuclear war, and building a new generation of ballistic missile submarines is increasing global proliferation of nuclear weapons at a time when the nuclear armed powers should be reducing reliance on nuclear weapons and making good faith efforts toward disarmament.”

According to Ground Zero, the Trident submarine base contains the largest concentration of operational nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal. Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action presents three scheduled vigils and actions each year in resistance to Trident and in protest of U.S. nuclear weapons policy. The group is engaged in legal action in federal court to halt the Navy’s construction of a Second Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor.

Above, vigil participants dressed in black monk’s robes carry a coffin containing a globe representing Earth, Jan. 17 at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor main gate. Leonard Eiger / Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action