Angie Zelter
Angie Zelter (born June 5, 1951 in London ) is a British peace activist and co-founder of Trident Plowshares . She is a widow and mother of a grown daughter.
During an act of sabotage at British Aerospace on January 29, 1996 , three members (Lotta Kronlid, Andrea Needham and Jo Wilson) of the ploughshare group Seeds of Hope pounded at a Hawk fighter plane that was to be sold to Indonesia . They did £ 2.25 million in damage. Angie Zelter was also arrested on February 7, 1996 as a "supporting accomplice". After six months of pre-trial detention, the jury acquitted the four women because the women did not want to destroy the aircraft, but only disarm it and thus prevent the murders of the civilian population in East Timor .
Against the background of this experience, Angie Zelter invited 100 people from 15 countries in 1997 to take part in an initiative against the British Trident nuclear weapons system. In May 1998 this formed the Trident Plowshares . Zelter did not want to found a small group like the groups of the ploughshare movement , but wanted to create a revolutionary structure.
In June 1999, Angie Zelter, Ellen Moxley and the Danish Ulla Røder drove a rubber boat on the Scottish Loch Goil to the laboratory ship Maytime . Important acoustic research was carried out at this floating laboratory for the British submarines armed with Trident nuclear missiles . The three women boarded the Maytime and "armored" a large part of the facility by throwing computers, typewriters, printers and other important equipment into the water. Then they entered an engine room through an unblocked window and poured syrup mixed with sand over the engines from a bucket they had brought with them. Zelter and her fellow activists were acquitted on September 22, 1999, because the judge could not find a criminal offense. The International Court of Justice had already declared nuclear weapons illegal in 1996.
In 2001 Trident Plowshares received the Right Livelihood Award - Angie Zelter accepted it for the organization. " Trident Plowshares is a model of a principled, transparent and non-violent community of action for the liberation of the world from nuclear weapons," said the jury's statement.
In 2002, Angie Zelter founded the International Women's Peace Service (IWPS), an organization that works for peace in the Middle East . Zelter was already deported from Israel in December 2002 , and on October 24, 2004, after twelve hours of interrogation at Ben Gurion Airport, she was refused entry to Israel. The Israeli authorities cited Zelter's non-violent activities for the Palestinians as grounds for deportation and described them as a "security risk". After a week in detention, Zelter was flown to England on October 31, 2004.
On August 30, 2019, Francisco Guterres , the president of the now independent East Timor, awarded Angie Zelter and three of her colleagues with the medal of the Ordem de Timor-Leste .
Quotes
- "What's your profession?" - “I am human. - I don't like professions, but I am a potter. "
- “Do you think citizens have a morality right to destroy the property of a corporation or of a government that is engaged in crimes against humanity? If they use peaceful means? Is it peaceful to hammer on an aircraft? Is it peaceful to hammer down a wall (eg the Berlin wall )? " (Angie Zelter)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ President of East Timor: PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC BESTOWS UPON TEN INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES THE ORDER OF TIMOR-LESTE , September 1, 2019 , accessed on September 3, 2019.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zelter, Angie |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British peace activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 5th June 1951 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |