September 25, 2014
12:45 – 2:00 p.m.
Mount Mercy University
1330 Elmhurst Dr NE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Contact: Marianne Comfort: mcomfort [at] sistersofmercy.org
This event is one of the dozens of Campaign Nonviolence actions
taking place nationwide during September, 2014, many of them
organized by groups with a strong history of protesting drones
Related posts
Perhaps the single most significant consequence of the advent of killer drones is that they allow the state to efficiently separate war-making from the emotional involvement of the people of the country using them. In other words, with the coming of drone warfare, we have been denied the opportunity for empathy with those affected by our (direct and indirect) actions.
(See Why is "Ending the military drone program" a pillar of Campaign Nonviolence?)
"There seems to be in these last weeks a new openness to speaking about the issue of the drones. It is as if with the dreadful distraction of the presidential election over, people are wiping the sleep from their eyes and are shocked to see the evil that had been festering while they were not looking."
(See Brian Terrell: "I go in solidarity with prisoners every place")
The defendants, Ron Faust of Kansas City and Brian Terrell of Maloy, Iowa, participated in the April 15 “Trifecta Resista” protest at Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base, from where killer drones engage in combat in Afghanistan by remote control. They were arrested for trespass as they attempted to deliver an “indictment” to Brigadier General Scott A. Vander Hamm, the base’s commander. The indictment charges the chain of command, from President Obama to General Vander Hamm to the drone crews at Whiteman “with the following crimes; extrajudicial killings, violation of due process, wars of aggression, violation of national sovereignty, and the killing of innocent civilians” and demands that these crimes immediately cease.
(See Put the Drones on Trial! Join Ramsey Clark, Kathy Kelly, Ann Wright and Bill Quigley )
In Pennsylvania, demonstrations to stop the establishment of the Drone War Command Center at the Horsham Air Guard Station, outside of Philadelphia, have been going on monthly. There will be a protest on September 27, 2014, in conjunction with the Campaign Nonviolence week of actions.
(See September 27 - Stop Drone War Command Center at Horsham )