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Peter DeMott Presente
Feb 27, 2009
Peace activist Peter DeMott, age 62, died in a tragic work accident on February 19th. A loving father and husband, faithful friend and committed activist, Peter was responsible for many acts of civil disobedience. He spent time in prison for numerous anti war protests and often his family was beside him during these acts of resistance. He was a former member of the Jonah House Community, Vietnam War Veteran and part of the Catholic Worker Movement.
In 2003, he was one of the St Patricks' four, where he, two of his sister in laws and a friend poured their blood on the walls, posters, windows, and a US flag at a military recruiting center in order to try to stop the imminent invasion of Iraq. The state trial resulted in a hung jury. Later unsatisfied with this act of justice, the Federal courts retried the St. Patrick's Four and Peter served four months in prison for that trial.
In 1980, he performed the second Plowshares Action http://www.craftech.com/~dcpledge/brandywine/plow/Chronology.ht ml, entering the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard where he noticed the keys in an empty security van, got in and rammed it into the body of a Trident submarine. In 1982, DeMott participated in Plowshares Number Four, when a group of seven activists, one of which was his wife-to-be, hammered on another Trident submarine. This action also resulted in a prison sentence.
These are only some of his acts of resistance.
"My faith in God prompts me to work for a world which unifies us all by ties of love and solidarity and mutual cooperation."
Peter's family is large and his loved ones numerous. His wife Ellen Grady and his four daughters Marie, Kate, Nora and Saoirse bear a great loss and in his life the world was given a great gift. May Peter's words and his deeds be remembered and continue to inspire change. "Nothing of good and lasting value comes without a price, and I have been privileged to be part of the world-wide struggle for peace and justice, along with so many others who have done so much. To the extent the we sit passively by during these challenging times--when the fate of the earth and all its life forms hangs in the balance, to that very extent we give our tacit approval to the forces amassed to destroy us."
