Authority for Action
The Clamshell Alliance: A Protest Model
The PLC modeled their protests on a contemporary protest group; the Clamshell Alliance. Organized in Seabrook, New Hampshire, these activists protested nuclear power plant construction and justified their actions as practical, visible resistance to illegitimate corporate interests. The Alliance occupied reactor construction sites, blocked roads, and sought to create a community of individuals “based on nonviolent direct action…with a vision of a better world.”
Although unsuccessful, the Clamshell's style was adopted by the Pacific Life Community as the “process…we can learn from, in the context of a different campaign and situation.” Intentional trespassing, attempted occupation and road blocks became commonplace, and the PLC grew an anti-Trident community through rallies, demonstrations, and protest workshops. By following the Clamshell model, the PLC successfully transformed their vision of a Trident-free future into a mass resistance movement.
“Nonviolence is an open resistance, respectful of people, with voluntary submission to the penalty for noncooperation with evil. We want to share these truths…through our actions”
-1977 Bangor Summer Strategy Outline
Empowered by their belief in a unified human community threatened by Trident, Pacific Life activists believed they had the moral authority to spread this truth to the public. This dissemination was largely by protesters engaging in civil disobedience actions against the Bangor Base and missile system itself.
In their founding statement the Community made clear that they planned to highlight their commitment to all human life, in addition to the social and environmental dangers of Trident, through nonviolent action. Examples of these activities, almost all of which were carried out by Pacific Life activists throughout the mid to late 1970s, included:
- Climbing/cutting down the Bangor perimeter fence
- Leaflet distributions, marches, and public demonstrations
- Blocking roads and railroads
- Trespassing on foot or by sea
- Occupations of the Trident arming pier or a docked submarine (proposed)
These acts of civil disobedience were morally justified because they were sharing the truths and raising awareness about Trident; the “worst possible crime against…law and humankind.” The Pacific Life protesters accepted the responsibility and penalties for their actions as a sign of “noncooperation with evil,” and hoped these actions inspired others to take up the anti-Trident cause as well. It was imperative that Trident’s true dangers to mankind be known, and the Pacific Life Community would go to any (nonviolent) lengths, and pay any price, to spread the message and mobilize against Trident's presence in Bangor.
