by
Stephen Hancock
The acquittal of the four Seeds of Hope ploughshares women by a
British Crown Court on 30 July was greeted with joy by peace and
human rights activists around the world.
Contrary to some press
reports, it was not a perverse verdict - the 12-person jury did
not oppose the judge's recommendations, but rather considered for
almost six hours whether or not the women had been using
reasonable force in the prevention of a crime - a legal defence
allowed under English law.
The seeds of hope action was the 56th
such ploughshares disarmament action to have taken place since
1980, but the first ever to have resulted in not guilty verdicts on
all charges. (In Britain, aquittal by a jury cannot be over-turned
by an appeal court).
At a recent gathering of european ploughshares
activists there was much debate as to the meaning of the verdict,
how it could be translated into further action, and whether it
affected our relationship to, or understanding of, the law. Does
the not guilty verdict mean that the law is now inviting further
disarmament, making inactivity an act of civil disobedience? If so,
the main obstacle now to disarming the Hawks is our own lack of
organisational and personal commitment.
Some argued that the law,
and our obedience to it, was still the main enemy of change, whilst
others argued that the law was not some solid, predictable entity,
but something open to a great variety of interpretations: the four
Seeds of Hope women had spent six months in prison prior to the
trial because of one interpretation of the law, but were acquitted
in the light of another interpretation. Whether or not the action
could or should be described as civil disobedience or direct action
was also a topic of conversation, with advocates of civil
disobedience keen to define it as not necessarily the breaking of
laws, but the breaking of norms. Even if the law sanctioned such
actions, their execution still demanded a certain attitude of
disobedience, supported by communal preparation.
However, in the
midst of all this creative confusion and debate, we weren't so
self-serious as to forget to party - in celebration of one of the
most remarkable acquittals in the history of anti-militarism, and
in honour of the good work of the four disarming women and their
support-activists. Champagne was opened, and a toast was made to
Josi Ramos Horta, Bishop Belo and
freedom for the people of East Timor.
From biblical injunction to civil injunction
Having been acquitted of criminal damage to a Hawk warplane
destined for indonesia and the killing fields of East Timor, the
four Seeds of Hope ploughshares women had barely enjoyed five
minutes of freedom and press questioning before a representative of
British Aerospace served on them civil injunction papers.
On pain
of imprisonment for contempt of court, this injunction, among other
things, restrains the defendants and each of them, "whether by
themselves, their servants or agents or otherwise from [doing]
whether directly or indirectly...causing, assisting, counselling,
procuring or encouraging in any manner whatsoever any person to
trespass" on any of the Baer sites.
