Kathy Kelly
reflects on Closing Speeches in Pit Stop Ploughshares Trial
This July in Dublin, five peace activists were put on trial for disarming a U.S. warplane parked on the tarmac of Ireland's Shannon airport.
In February, 2003, with the U.S. completing its build-up for "Shock and Awe", these five activists broke into an airport hangar which the U.S. was using as a "pit stop" for planes en route to the war zone. They had dubbed themselves the "Pitstop Ploughshares" and, following the biblical injunction to hammer their weapons into plowshares, they took a hammer to the nosecone of a C48 U.S. Navy supply plane and disabled it. You'll find full details at www.peaceontrial.com.
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The five defendants were represented by three of the most talented barristers in Ireland. The final summations of each defense counsel urged jurors not only to ask whether the defendants were right to take action, but also ask why it is that the rest of us haven't acted. Mr. Nix, praised by the prosecutor as "the last of the great orators," noted that the prosecutor had characterized the action of the defendants "political" as if that were a bad thing. "I'll tell you of someone who made a great political speech," said Mr. Nix, "the greatest political speech of all time and that's Jesus Christ." He went on to quote the Sermon on the Mount to the jury. I could hear the pencils stop scratching, see the jaws drop all around the courtroom. It was an awe-inspiring moment. The shock was yet to come.
Mr. Nix told us he had recently been in a park where he'd listened to children laugh and shout as they happily chased ducks and each other around on the green grass. He thought a sound of universal happiness must be the sound of children playing.
But now his tone darkened. "Now Lebanon is burning," he thundered. "Today, children swimming in a pool were bombed. A swimming pool is now filled with burning children. This is war."
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When he had finished his talk, Mr. Nix asked the jurors and all of us present: "What would rise you to action?
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What's the verdict?
So. The verdict. What, pray tell, is the verdict?
I'll tell you. I know you're dying to find out.
The suspense must be driving you nuts.
The verdict is ...
All five have been aquitted!
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