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Seeds of Hope

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For other uses, see Seeds of Hope (disambiguation).

Seeds of Hope (short for Seeds of Hope East Timor Ploughshares Group,[1] but also known as the Ploughshares Four[2] or the Warton Four[3]) was a plowshares group of women who damaged a BAE Hawk warplane at the British Aerospace Warton Aerodrome site near Preston, England, in 1996.[4] The four were part of a larger group of 10 who planned the action.[5] Their aim was to stop the aircraft from being exported to the Indonesian military, for use in the illegally occupied country of East Timor. They left a video and booklet in the cockpit of the aircraft to explain their motivation.[6]

Direct action

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On 29 January 1996, Andrea Needham, Joanna Wilson, and Lotta Kronlid broke into BAE's Warton Aerodrome and caused between £1.4m[7] £1.5m,[8] £1.7m,[9] £2m,[5] £2.4m,[10] and £2.5m[8] worth of damage to Hawk tail number ZH955. Damage focused on components related to weapons and targeting.[11] The damage or disarmament was done to the Hawk was made with ordinary household hammers.[12] The warplane was part of a £500 million deal to supply 24 planes to the New Order regime of Indonesia.[6] In the tradition of plowshares actions, they stayed at the site intending to wait until they were found by security; however, they had to call security using a phone in the hangar because their presence remained unnoticed. They were arrested for criminal damage and conspiracy to commit criminal damage. A week later, a fourth woman, Angie Zelter, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy after stating she planned to do the same.[13] The four spent six months on remand in HMP Risley before a seven-day trial at Liverpool Crown Court in July 1996.[14] This was the 56th ploughshares action and the third ever in Britain,[15] the group called it "Seeds of Hope - East Timor Ploughshares - Women Disarming for Life and Justice".[8]

Trial

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Accused of causing, and conspiring to cause, criminal damage, with a maximum ten-year sentence, they pleaded not guilty arguing that what they did was not a crime but that they "were acting to prevent British Aerospace and the British Government from aiding and abetting genocide",[6][16] referring to the genocide taking place in East Timor. They were found not guilty of criminal damage at Liverpool Crown Court, after a jury deemed their action reasonable under the Genocide Act 1969.[17] This made it the first Ploughshares action to result in a not guilty verdict.[18]

Recognition and awards

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In recognition of the group's action, they were awarded the Seán MacBride Peace Prize by the International Peace Bureau in 1997.[19]

Angie Zelter was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 by Mairead Maguire, a former Nobel winner and peace activist, for Zelter's (at the time) 30 years of peace activism.[20]

They were also awarded the Order of Timor-Leste by the government of Timor-Leste in August 2019.[21]

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In 1998, a 26-minute documentary called "Seeds of Hope" directed by Neil Goodwin was released, including interviews with the women involved in the action.[22][23]

Additionally, two songs were written inspired by the action and group: "Four Strong Women" released in 1996 by Maurie Mulheron[24] and "With my Hammer" by Seize the Day and Shannon Smy.[25]

A book called "The Hammer Blow: How 10 Women Disarmed a Warplane" recounting the action was written by Andrea Needham and published by Peace News in 2016.[26]

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In 1997, Angie Zelter went on to be one of the original six core members of the Trident Ploughshares.[27]

The 29 January 2017 attempt to disarm Typhoon fighter jets thought to be destined for the Royal Saudi Air Force and therefore to be used in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen[28] by Sam Walton and Methodist minister Dan Woodhouse was "a continuation" of the Seeds of Hope action, with a direct parallel in the action, its goal and its reasoning, the pleading of not guilty at the trial, and the actual use of one of the hammers used by a member of the Seeds of Hope group.[29]

References

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  1. ^ "NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER CALLS FOR UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE IN EAST TIMOR". United Nations. 1997-06-16. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  2. ^ O'Shaughnessy, Hugh (1996-07-30). "pounds 1.5m Hawk attack women freed". The Independent. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  3. ^ Kempster, Tony; Gilmurray, Sue. "SONGS WITH 'AN ATTITUDE' ABOUT WAR AND INJUSTICE" (PDF). Abolish War. Movement for the Abolition of War. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  4. ^ Gregory M. Maney, ed. (2012). Strategies for Social Change. University of Minnesota Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-0816672899.
  5. ^ a b Needham, Andrea (2016-07-01). "When petitions and protests aren't enough: what next?". New Internationalist. Archived from the original on 2023-08-28. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  6. ^ a b c "The FOUR PLOUGHSHARERS "DISARMING FOR LIFE AND JUSTICE"" (PDF). Pax Christi. London. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  7. ^ Kollerstrom, Nick; Haywood, Ted, eds. (1996). "Hammer of Justice - A British Ploughshares' Action". Journal for International Law and Peace. 2 (1).
  8. ^ a b c Zelter, Angie (2004). "Civil Society and Global Responsibility: the Arms Trade and East Timor". International Relations. 18 (1): 126. doi:10.1177/0047117804041745 – via Sage Journals.
  9. ^ Crossley, James (2014). Harnessing Chaos: The Bible in English Political Discourse Since 1968. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 270. ISBN 9780567655509.
  10. ^ Hallam, Roger (2019). Common Sense for the 21st Century: Only Nonviolent Rebellion Can Now Stop Climate Breakdown and Social Collapse. Chelsea Green Publishing. p. 36. ISBN 9781645020004.
  11. ^ "Update". New Internationalist. 1996-07-05. Archived from the original on 2023-08-28. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  12. ^ Goodwin, Neil (1996). "Disarming Women" (PDF). Squall Magazine. Squall Magazine. pp. 20–21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-01-17.
  13. ^ Monbiot, George (1996-07-30). "Hawks and Doves". monbiot. Guardian. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  14. ^ Rogers, Paul (2016-01-28). "Disarming war: the Hawk Ploughshares story". Open Democracy. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  15. ^ Laffin, Art, ed. (2019-11-02). "Plowshares History". Kings Bay Plowshares 7. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
  16. ^ "PLOUGHSHARES WOMEN FREED". Institute for Law and Peace. 1996. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  17. ^ Campaigners face jail for raid on military jet - Home News, UK - The Independent
  18. ^ Tri-denting It Handbook (3rd ed.). Trident Ploughshares. 2001. p. 9.
  19. ^ "Sean MacBride Peace Prize | IPB - International Peace Bureau". Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  20. ^ "Trident Ploughshares Founder Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize". www.peacepeople.com. 2012-01-27. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  21. ^ "Timor-Leste Honored President Bill Clinton". ETAN. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  22. ^ "Seeds of Hope (1998)". Archived from the original on August 24, 2023. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  23. ^ O’Reilly, Ciaron. "Vale Max Stahl". Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  24. ^ "Four Strong Women". Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  25. ^ Bonetree, Clare (2019-02-07). "Finding the courage to hope". Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  26. ^ "The Hammer Blow: How 10 Women Disarmed A Warplane". Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  27. ^ "Angie Zelter". Hrant Dink. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  28. ^ "Activists try to stop warplanes leaving UK bound for Saudi Arabia". The Guardian. 2017-01-29.
  29. ^ Walker, Peter (2017-02-01). "British Quaker 'prepared for jail' after allegedly trying to disarm Saudi Arabia-bound fighter jet". Independent.co.uk.
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