In the '80s,we grew familiar with planning actions that included nonviolent civil disobedience. We aimed for radical, uncompromising actions that called for an end to U.S. intervention in Central America. I was incarcerated for a year at a maximum security prison in Lexington, KY --it was one of the most educational years of my life. I emerged with a strong desire to be part of ongoing peace team efforts.

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My guest today is Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Welcome to OpEdNews, Kathy. You 'ran afoul of the law' recently. What can you tell us about it?

On December 10, 2014, Georgia Walker and I were found guilty of trespass, criminal trespass to a military installation. The charge was based on our June 1, 2014 effort to deliver a loaf of bread and a letter to the commander of Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Missouri. We wanted to open a dialogue about use of the base to pilot weaponized drones over Afghanistan and other lands. The judge, a federal magistrate, found us guilty. Georgia was sentenced to one year of probation. The prosecutor recommended six months in prison, for me, and the judge sentenced me to three months.

Let's back up a bit, Kathy. Did you go into this assuming there was a good possibility that you would be apprehended? What were the actual chances of the commander agreeing about the importance of opening a dialogue with you?

I didn't believe I was acting criminally. In fact, I think Whiteman Air Force Base officials have usurped their authority over the land because they are using it to launch attacks against civilians in other lands. But, yes, I was prepared for the likelihood that soldiers at the base would be under orders to arrest us. Regarding the chances of a commander agreeing to open a dialogue with us, of course I maintain the belief that it's possible to meet with people, even commanders, and reason with them. If that possibility is dismissed, what will prevent despair? It may seem outlandish, but I think we must pursue the possibility of persuading people that nonviolence is a preferable alternative to war.

Have you ever successfully fulfilled a mission of this sort? That is, did a commander ever agree to sit down and have a serious conversation?

I want to mention that in the late '80s, I was part of a group of peace activists who were acquitted for a nonviolent trespass at a base conducting psychological operations (psyops) in Arlington Heights, Illinois. We were not able to speak with the commander, but our action helped bring public opinion into the equation which helps, I think, to raise questions with military officials. Along those lines, when I and others planted corn on nuclear missile silos, in Whiteman Air Force Base, in the summer of 1988, we were part of a series of actions protesting the nuclear weapons buried underground. Whiteman AFB, at the time, was one of several bases being considered as a site for the MX Shuttle system, a strategy which would have constantly shuttled nuclear weapons to various parts of a large base. The Whiteman AFB was turned down due to "negative public opinion." We can't help but wonder if the series of protests actions contributed significantly to building negative public opinion. Such a development can help prompt dialogue with officials.

How did you get started with this in the first place?

Idealism about living simply, sharing resources and preferring service to dominance started to sprout during the years when religious women, "nuns," educated me. I felt intense admiration for them and presumed I would join a religious order. I never did, but later in life, in 1979, when I moved into an impoverished neighborhood in Chicago and started chipping in at the soup kitchen, shelter, local house of hospitality and drop-in center for women, I felt a wonderful sense of having finally arrived where I belonged" I could align my lifestyle with deeply held values.

In 1980, Karl Meyer helped me decide to become a war tax refuser. Karl radicalized many young activists in our neighborhood, and we grew familiar with planning actions that included nonviolent civil disobedience. We aimed for radical, uncompromising actions that called for an end to U.S. intervention in Central America. In 1987, a group of us began to plan the Missouri Peace Planting action. We spent a year, meeting and planning. During August of 1988, we planted corn on nuclear weapon silo sites. Several of us did so repeatedly--after we were arrested and released, we went out and did it again. I was facing six criminal trespass charges and was eventually found guilty, sentenced to a year in prison, and incarcerated at a maximum security prison in Lexington, Kentucky --it was one of the most educational years of my life. I emerged with a strong desire to be part of ongoing peace team efforts.

So, you weren't 'rehabilitated' at all and your activism is really all of a piece. Have other actions also landed you behind bars? And does being locked up scare you or does it get easier?

I spent three months in federal prison, in 2005, for crossing the line at Ft. Benning, as part of the School of the Americas Watch annual protest. The judge at our recent trial frowned over a four page, single space listing of other court cases which have landed me in jail. I haven't met "the bad sisters" in jails or prisons. The most onerous aspect of imprisonment is the lengthy sentences imposed on women who should never, ever be punished with long separations from their loved ones. I lived in a world of imprisoned beauty when I was locked up in Lexington prison and Pekin prison.

Agreed. You're the coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. How did that come about and what kinds of things does your organization do?

Voices for Creative Nonviolence has its roots in Voices in the Wilderness which campaigned to end the economic sanctions against Iraq. We failed. We tried hard, and activists who traveled to Iraq, breaking the sanctions, along with their support groups, educated people across the U.S. and the UK, perhaps contributing to the outpouring of protest when the U.S. neared the Shock and Awe war. A number of us formed the Iraq Peace Team and stayed in Iraq throughout that war. Upon return, we continued efforts to stop U.S. supplemental funding for war in Iraq and we began to live alongside refugees who had fled to Jordan. Eventually, we decided to change our name to Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Anyone who decides to work closely with us can become a co-coordinator. Several of the most active members in the group have lived here in Chicago, maintaining an office.

We have been closely allied with the Afghan Peace Volunteers since 2010. Voices activists, as guests of the APVs, help support the duvet project, a street kids project, and their "borderfree center." We've also organized several vigils and walks, protesting drone warfare. Last summer, we walked from Chicago to Battle Creek, Michigan, where Michigan's Air National Guard is operating weaponized drones over other lands.

In the past year, three Voices activists have traveled to Jeju Island, and we're organizing a group to go there this spring. At Jeju Island, activists combine efforts to preserve the environment and protest militarism. We're edified by their determination and want to continue learning from them.

Voices activists are available for speaking, and several of us write regularly for various blogs.

We also try to maintain a welcoming community, here in Chicago, where we frequently have house guests and dinner guests whose presence helps us learn about activism in other places and contexts.

Clearly, lots going on! Your comment raises so many questions in my mind. Hmmmm, where to begin? Living in a war zone, voluntarily, for a long time... I can't even imagine. Did you live every day in a heightened state of alert? Please tell us what life was like.

Yes, I suppose we did live every day in a heightened state of alert. In Baghdad and in Gaza, I lived with families. I remember how frightened and desperate mothers felt. They wanted to protect their children, but there was nowhere to run, no place to hide. They were angry, petrified, and distraught. I remember how terrified Umm Miladah was, in Baghdad, whenever bombs would explode nearby. And even when the bombing ended, she had no way of finding out how her family in the southern city of Najaf were faring. She felt deep insecurity about the future, and she murmured over and over that she never believed such a thing could happen to her and her family.

In Gaza, when the bombing ended (Operation Cast Lead, 2009-10), Umm Yusuf sank into a stuffed chair, put the back of her palm on her forehead, and said: "Can you imagine? This is the first time I breathe in all these 22 days of bombing. I was so afraid for my children."

In Lebanon, at the funeral for her daughter, Zahara, killed in an airborne attack, Umm Zahara pointed upward to a drone flying above the village of Qana, south of the Litani River. It hurt her to make this motion because she had been injured by the explosion that killed her beautiful six year old daughter. She wore a medical hood and a neck brace. But she wanted to ask, "Didn't they know? Didn't they see?" By "they" she meant whoever was operating the drone. "My Zahara, just she stay in the shelter overnight, and then she comes to me each morning. I give her breakfast. We play." And then she asked, very gravely, "Who is the terrorist?" The drone still circled above.

What's the duvet project you mentioned earlier? And where is Jeju Island? I've never heard of it before.

Afghan women from three different ethnic groups have been invited to participate in the duvet project. 60 women, representing Hazara, Tajik and Pashto ethnicities, are paid a living wage to manufacture heavy blankets which are then distributed free of charge to people who would otherwise be living with no protection from harsh elements. Generosity of people in the U.S., UK and Australia has funded the project. This year, as was done in two previous years, Afghan Peace Volunteers will organize manufacture and distribution of 3,000 duvets. Young women volunteers gain experience as informal social workers, interviewing numerous families and growing familiar with the concerns of needy people in Kabul, many of whom are widows, orphans, and refugees.

Off the coast of South Korea is a beautiful island where residents have struggled to preserve their island's environment and resources from the terrible encroachment of a Korean naval base construction project. The Korean government and major corporations are building a gigantic port facility which could accommodate, if needed, nuclear powered submarines if they wanted to dock in the newly constructed berths.

Villagers have engaged in daily reflection, prayer, and nonviolent civil disobedience. Westerners are welcome to visit and become familiar with the people and their projects.

In a few weeks, you'll begin your three-month sentence for your drone protest. Do you know where you'll be serving your time? Are you afraid? And what do you plan to do while you're in prison?

In the next two weeks, the Bureau of Prisons will probably notify me about where I should turn up to begin serving the three-month sentence. I feel some anticipation, but I don't feel dread or fear. In past experiences, I've encountered "a world of imprisoned beauty." I would like to listen to and learn from people confined inside the prison. The most onerous aspect of the U.S. criminal justice system is the length of sentences imposed on people, separating prisoners from children, family, community life and meaningful work. People form community behind the razor wire and the walls, befriending one another, helping each other, and easing some of the loneliness and isolation inherent in the mercilessly long sentences.

Yes. Anything you'd like to add before we wrap this up, Kathy?

Barbara Deming was a theorist and practitioner of nonviolence who was active in the civil rights movement, antiwar efforts, and many human rights struggles. She highlighted connections between issues of oppression. I think this is a good time to engage in what she termed "radical and uncompromising action" as we confront violence in all of its forms.

Thanks so much for talking with me, Kathy. I look forward to hearing about your time in prison if you choose to share it. You seem to have a knack for making lemonade. Good luck to you, during your stint behind bars and beyond!

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Kathy Kelly's recent piece:

Drones and Discrimination: Kick the Habit

other pieces by Kathy:

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.