Seeds of Hope

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

Seeds of Hope (shorted from Seeds of Hope East Timor Ploughshares Group,^[1] but also referred to 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 that planned the action.^[5] Their aim was to stop the aircraft 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 in order to explain their motivation.^[6]

Direct action

On the 29 January 1996, Andrea Needham, Joanna Wilson and Lotta Kronlid broke into BAE's Warton Aerodrome at Warton, and caused somewhere in the range of £1.4m,^[7] £1.5m,^[8] £1.7m,^[9] £2m,^[5] £2.4,^[10] and £2.5m^[8] worth of damage to Hawk tail number ZH955. Damage was focused on components and sections related to weapons and targeting.^[11] A warplane that was to have been supplied, along with 23 others, to the New Order regime of Indonesia^[6] as part of a £500 million deal.^[12] In the tradition of plowshares actions, they stayed at the site intending to wait until they were found by security, however instead they had to call security using a phone in the hanger due to their presence remaining 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 coming to a seven day trial in Liverpool Crown Court in July 1996.^[14] The action 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

Accused of causing, and conspiring to cause, criminal damage, with a maximum ten-year sentence, they plead 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 one taking place in East Timor. They were found not guilty of criminal damage at Liverpool Crown Court, after a jury deemed their action was reasonable under the Genocide Act 1969.^[17] This made it the first Ploughshares actions to result in a not guilty verdict.^[18]

Recognition and awards

In recognition of the group's action they were award 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]

As well as being awarded the Order of Timor-Leste by the government of Timor-Leste in August 2019.^[21]

Related Media

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

Additionally two songs were written with the action and group as inspiration; "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]

Related Direct Actions

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 contination" 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 trail and the actual use of one of the hammers used by a member of the Seeds of Hope group.^[29]

References

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. Needham, Andrea (2016-07-01). . New Internationalist. Archived from the original on 2023-08-28. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
6. "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. 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. . 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. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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 – the Peace PEOPLE". www.peacepeople.com. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
21. "Timor-Leste Honored President Bill Clinton". ETAN. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
22. . 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.