F-35 Silent Vigil & Meditation

A group of concerned Windham Country area citizens will conduct a Silent Vigil & Meditation on the Whetstone Path at the Brattleboro Food Co-op on Thursday May 9, between 4:00-5:00 PM to protest the basing of the F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter Bomber at Burlington’s International Airport next year.

This local action is in solidarity with a state action on 9 May in Montpelier that will include a 24 Hour Meditation Protest for Peace, culminating with a one-hour meditation for all to join from 2-3:00 pm on the Statehouse lawn. [Details below]

Participants who join us are encouraged to either stand silently, holding signs, or to join those who will be meditating. Please bring your own chair or cushion

The  F-35A, a stealth bomber, is designed to carry a nuclear payload, thus making it an offensive, not a defensive weapon. This exposes Burlington, and the entire state of Vermont, to being a first-strike target.

The stationing of the F-35s with nuclear capability in Burlington means, that the City becomes a s first strike or a retaliatory target by foreign powers to take out the nuclear weapons and the F-35s to prevent a counterstrike.

Immediate consequences of an accident involving a nuclear weapon will be catastrophic beyond human imagination. Any accident of the F-35, even without nuclear weapons on board, will devastate the greater Burlington area due to the toxicity of the materials with which the plane is constructed; producing fire not extinguishable by conventional means.