Linked Arms

Shows how a rural group used civil disobedience to defy the nuclear industry and governmental authority, preventing the building of a nuclear dump in western New York.Through character development, snappy dialogue, and vivid scenes, Linked Arms tells the story of a rural people's successful struggle to keep a major nuclear dump out of Allegany County in western New York. Five times over a twelve-month period hundreds of ordinary people-merchants, teachers, homemakers, professionals, farmers, and blue collar workers-ignored potential jail terms and large fines to defy the nuclear industry and governmental authority by linking arms in the bitter cold to thwart the siting commission through civil disobedience.The hearts and minds of the resisters emerge in the narrative, as we find out why these people found civil disobedience compelling, how they organized themselves, and what moral dilemmas they addressed as they fought for their convictions. While becoming more engaged in the resistance, they confronted critical issues in contemporary America: democratic decision making, environmental policy, legal rights, corporate responsibility, and the technology of nuclear waste.>Thomas V. Peterson is Professor of Religious Studies at Alfred University and the author of Ham and Japheth: The Mythic World of Whites in the Antebellum South.