More faith than hope
Symon Hill reports
A Roman Catholic peace activist is serving a thirty-day sentence in Wandsworth Prison following a nonviolent protest against the arms trade.
Chris Cole protested outside the QEII Conference Centre in London in September 2009 when arms dealers were meeting government figures and military leaders inside. He sprayed slogans including ‘Build Peace Not War Machines’ and ‘Stop this Bloody Business’.
At the original trial in October 2009, Chris Cole was found guilty and ordered to pay £1,545.00, along with £350 in costs. But he decided that to pay the fine would be to collude with the system promoting the arms trade.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 19 January, he argued that ‘The arms industry is pushing military solutions to human security threats that in reality need political and humanitarian responses, not more weaponry’.
Chris Cole is currently locked in his cell for nearly twenty-three hours each day.
In a message sent via his wife, he thanked supporters for the encouraging letters he had received. He wrote: ‘Thank God, we know that this is not the way the world is meant to be and we have hope – more than hope, we have faith’.
