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UK Activists Shut Down Israeli Arms Factory

August 6, 2014 London Palestine Action, www.londonpalestineaction.tumblr.com , , , ,
For nearly a month, Israel has bombarded Gaza from land, sea and air. More than 1800 Palestinians have lost their lives and war crimes have been committed. To our collective shame, the UK government has not only failed to take action to pressure Israel to stop its massacre, but has refused to take steps to end the material support it provides to Israel’s brutal regime of apartheid and colonialism. When governments support crimes against humanity, grassroots movements must take direct action. A group of activists from the London Palestine Action network have today (5/8/14) chained the doors shut of an Israeli weapons factory based near Birmingham in the UK and are now occupying the roof. As part of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) and in response to calls for action from Palestinian movements, we are demanding the permanent closure of the factory and an end to all forms of military trade and cooperation with Israel. The factory that we are occupying produces engines for drones and is owned by Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military company and the world’s largest drones producer. Drone engines manufactured at this factory have been exported to Israel in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and Elbit Systems drones are being used in Israel’s ongoing massacre. Any claims that components manufactured at this factory are not being used in Israel’s current attack on Gaza are not credible. Drones are a key part of Israel’s military arsenal. By allowing this factory to export drone components and other arms to Israel, the UK government is providing direct support and approval to Israel’s massacres.

Vietnam Vet Drone Resister ACQUITTED!

August 1, 2014 Staff, www.upstatedroneaction.org , ,
fter two hours of deliberation,Vietnam Veteran and Buffalonian Russell Brown, was acquitted tonight by a six person jury in DeWitt Town Court, East Syracuse. He was facing charges of Obstruction of Governmental Administration (OGA), a misdemeanor carrying up to a year incarceration and up to $1000 fine, as well as Disorderly Conduct charge, a violation. Mr. Brown who went before the court Pro Se (he served as his own counsel) was assisted by Buffalo Attorneys Daire Irwin and Paul Fallon. Mr. Brown was arrested during a nonviolent protest at Hancock Air National Guard Base on April 28, 2013. In a roadway across from the Airbase, he lay down to symbolize the death of drone victims. There are biweekly demonstrations at Hancock Airbase. Several times a year there are larger demonstrations and nationally coordinated events. On six occasions there have been arrests, leading to six trials since 2011. Mr. Brown's trial is the second acquittal. There are twenty activists are facing prosecution, working with Upstate Drone Action.

Vietnam Vet Drone Resister’s Trial Ongoing In DeWitt Town Court

August 1, 2014 Upstate Drone Action, www.upstatedroneaction.org , , ,
Vietnam Veteran and Buffalo resident Russell Brown’s trial began today in DeWitt Town Court in East Syracuse. Mr. Brown is representing himself and is facing charges stemming from his arrest during a nonviolent protest at Hancock Air National Guard Base, home of the 174th Attack Wing, on April 28, 2013. Mr. Brown laid down peacefully with red paint to symbolize the death of drone victims in a roadway across from the Airbase. He is charged with Obstruction of Governmental Administration (OGA), a misdemeanor carrying up to a year incarceration and up to $1000 fine, as well as Disorderly Conduct charge, a violation. Mr. Brown’s trial follows about a dozen trials since 2011 in the DeWitt Town Court and is one of 20 upcoming trials of drone resisters working with Upstate Drone Action there. Judge David S. Gideon imposed an Order of Protection (OOP) on Mr Brown on behalf of Colonel Greg Semmel, the Hancock commandant. The OOPs have been imposed on more than 50 nonviolent civil resisters arrested at the Hancock Reaper drone hub in DeWitt since October 2012. Under oath, a military official acknowledged that the protesters were acting nonviolently and posed no threat to the Airbase or military personnel.

No Drones Illinois Endorses Call To Drop Boeing From Chicago Air & Water Show

July 31, 2014 No Drones Illinois, www.nodronesillinois.blogspot.mx , , ,
No Drones Illinois has endorsed the following call by Anti-War Committee – Chicago, Jews for Justice in Palestine, U.S. Palestinian Community Network and 8th Day Center for Justice: Protest Boeing Death Machines in Gaza: Demand Chicago Drop Boeing from Air and Water Show! Boeing Company is a major sponsor of Chicago’s annual Air and Water Show this summer. Many people come to the lake shore every year to see displays of jets and other aircraft. Boeing weaponry are responsible for many of the over 1000 dead and over 6000 seriously wounded Palestinians in Gaza in the past three weeks. The dead are mostly civilians, including over 200 children. Israel’s fighter jets – the F15s and F16s – as well as Apache helicopters are all made by Boeing. Boeing has made billions from the sale of weapons for use in Israel's attacks, as part of its eight year old siege of Gaza. The City of Chicago should drop Boeing from the sponsors of the Air and Water Show. No company that makes profit from the slaughter of civilians should be included.

The Seductions Of Manhood: Drone Morality

July 28, 2014 Michael Schwalbe, www.counterpunch.org , , ,
In the fall of 2006 a local anti-war activist spoke to the students in my social inequality class. He criticized U.S. military intervention in the affairs of other countries and the profit-driven “global war on terror.” He was a compelling speaker in part because of his twenty years in the military, including stints in Special Forces as an Army Ranger. No one could dismiss him as a naive pacifist. At the end of his talk, a young woman asked, “If you feel the way you do, why did you join the army?” He said that it had taken him decades to arrive at his views. “Remember,” he said, “in 1970 I was a typical 18-year-old American boy.” My guest speaker was a typical American boy in the sense that he saw military service as a rite of passage into manhood and a way to live out his macho fantasies. He was also a typical American boy in that he knew almost nothing about people in other countries, about history or geopolitics, or about U.S. imperialism. His ignorance and his desire for manhood status led him into the arms of a vast apparatus of violence from which it took twenty years to extricate himself. The same trap captures many young men today. Turning adolescent fantasies and the desire for manhood status into collectively wrought horrors would not be possible, however, without the mass inculcation of drone morality, by which I mean a morality that reveres power and control, equates the good with rule-following and obedience to authority, and refuses to extend empathy to those defined as Others. Military socialization is the paradigm case of instilling drone morality.

Seven Arrested At Hancock Drone Air Base Receive Outrageous Bail

July 24, 2014 Staff, www.upstatedroneaction.org , ,
Eight Atlantic Life Community activists joined with Upstate Drone Action at the main gate of Hancock Air Base, in Syracuse, New York. Hancock is the home of the 174th Attack Wing of the New York State Air National Guard. The 174th Attack Wing pilots weaponized MQ9 Reaper drones over Afghanistan – killing and terrorizing an uncountable number of civilians. The eight delivered a People’s War Crimes Indictment to the Hancock chain of command by affixing it to the fence after being refused by the base personnel. Also delivered was an Order of Protection on behalf of the children of the world who are subject to U.S. drone surveillance and attack.

Syracuse Drone Activist Released On Appeal

July 21, 2014 Staff, www.upstatedroneaction.org/ , ,
Last night Mary Anne Grady Flores was released on $5,000 bail from the Syracuse Justice Center after appearing before County Court Judge Thomas J. Miller who granted a stay of execution of her one year sentence, pending appeal of the Order of Protection granted to Col. Earl A. Evans by the DeWitt Town Court judges requiring drone protesters to stay away from the Hancock Airbase. Grady Flores, grandmother of three, was the first alleged violator of the 50 drone activists who have been given the Order of Protection in 2012. She was tried and sentenced for a year in jail. Despite being out on bail, she still faces returning to jail. Her appeals process will take months. “There are 30 upcoming trials over the next year. DeWitt Town judges threaten to sentence activists to a year in jail, many of them in their 60’s and 70’s,” said Judy Bello of Rochester.

Another Hancock Anti-Drone Protester Convicted

July 16, 2014 Staff, www.upstatedroneaction.org , ,
Jack Gilroy of Binghamton, NY was convicted after a two-day jury trial in DeWitt Town Court of charges stemming from his arrest during a nonviolent protest at Hancock Air National Guard Base on April 28, 2013. Jack was convicted of Trespass, a violation, and Obstructing Governmental Administration, a misdemeanor by a jury of five women and one man. He will be sentenced by Judge Robert Jokl on October 1st, a year and a half after his arrest. The sentence for the latter charge may be up to one year in jail and a fine of $1000. Jack’s Order of Protection was also reissued today as a 2 year Permanent Order protecting Commander Greg Semmel, the commanding officer at Hancock Base.

Drones 101: An Animated Presentation

July 15, 2014 American Friends Service Committee, www.afsc.org , ,
Are you looking to start a conversation in your meeting/group around drones? Interested in a survey of the drone program for class discussion?Concerned about the impact of the drone war on communities around the world? If so, Drones 101 is for you. The presentation outlines the evolution of the U.S. drone program, provides an explanation of whom it targets and how, and surveys the countries where drones are being used. While a great deal of documentation has been made available through the work of human rights agencies and news reports, this remains a covert program with many questions unanswered. It was only April of 2012 that the Obama Administration admitted for the first time that armed drones were used to target and kill individuals in countries with whom we are not at war. Drones 101 looks at the power of the Congressional drone caucus and the increasing dependence of the Air Force on unmanned vehicles -- 50 percent of the fleet by 2018 -- and exposes the enormous profits being made by drone manufactures. Profit-making and current policies of secrecy have ushered in a new era of military violence.

Nonviolent Drone Resister Sentenced To One Year in Prison

July 11, 2014 Staff, , www.PopularResistance.org , ,
On July 10, grandmother of three, Mary Anne Grady Flores was sentenced to one year in prison after being found guilty of violating an Order of Protection. A packed courtroom of over 100 supporters was stunned as she was led away, and vowed to continue the resistance. Mary Anne began her sentencing statement with, “Your honor, a series of judicial perversions brings me here before you tonight.” She concluded that the “final perversion is the reversal of who is the real victim here: the commander of a military base whose drones kill innocent people halfway around the world, or those innocent people themselves who are the real ones in need of protection from the terror of US drone attacks?”

Update: On The Road To Ground The Drones March

July 7, 2014 Ralph Heibutzki, www.vcnv.org , , ,
For Grand Island, N.Y. resident Alice Gerard, there are many compelling reasons to oppose America’s use of drone aircraft - starting with the personal side. “In my opinion, there are two kinds of people in this world - there are my friends, and friends that I haven’t met yet. I can’t see killing my friends, especially the ones that I haven’t met yet,” Gerard said. Gerard was among 44 people who came from Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Kalamazoo, Minneapolis, Tennessee, Seattle and the United Kingdom who lent their collective voices to “On the Road to Ground the Drones,” a 160-mile protest march aimed at raising public awareness about the issue. The route began at Boeing’s corporate headquarters in Chicago, Ill. - a company that makes drones - and continues through Watervliet, Paw Paw and Kalamazoo today, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Marchers will then proceed through Galesburg-Augusta on Friday, and wrap up their efforts in Battle Creek. Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a Chicago-based peace group, sponsored and coordinated the activity - which paused for a break Monday night at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, 1753 Union, Benton Harbor.

Grandmother Facing 1 Year In Jail For Drone Protest

June 27, 2014 Peg Gefell, www.upstatedroneaction.org , ,
July 10, 2014, Mary Ann Grady-Flores, a grandmother from Ithaca, NY, is liable to be sentenced to up to one year in prison for violating an order of protection granted by judges in DeWitt, NY, to shield drone operators at Hancock Air Base against non-violent protesters. ( Hancock is located in DeWitt, adjacent to Syracuse.

Obama Uses ISRAELI Supreme Court Decision To Justify Drone Killing

June 25, 2014 Rania Khalek, www.electronicintifada.net , , , ,
Almost three years have passed since the United States government extrajudicially murdered American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki with a drone strike in Yemen. Al-Awlaki, although described by the government as a “terrorist” mastermind, had never been charged with any crime. The Obama adminstration refused to disclose the legal reasoning behind the killing. But thanks to Freedom Information Act lawsuits by The New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a redacted version of the Department of Justice memo which outlines the Obama administration’s rationale for killing American citizens abroad without trial is now public. Authored by David Barron — former chief of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, who has since been appointed by Obama to a federal judgeship — the 41-page document seeks to legitimize so-called targeted killings, a practice Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, vigorously condemned Israel for using against Palestinians during the second intifada.

Why They Kept Drone Murder Memo Secret

June 24, 2014 David Swanson, , www.warisacrime.org ,
I expect most, however, will now be willing to drop the pretense that ANY memo could possibly legalize murder. Oh, and yall can stop telling me not to use the impolite term "murder" to describe the, you know, murders -- since "murder" is precisely the term used by the no-longer secret memo. The memo considers a section of the U.S. code dealing with the murder of a U.S. citizen by another U.S. citizen abroad, drawing on another section that defines murder as "the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought." David Barron, the memo's author, needed a loophole to make murder-by-missile a lawful killing rather than an unlawful killing, so he pulls out the "public authority justification" under which the government gets to use force to enforce a law. It's a novel twist, though, for the government to get to use force to violate the law, claiming the violation is legal on the Nixonian basis that it is the government doing it.

Youth Pushed To Build Drones By Military

June 20, 2014 Seth Kershner, www.occupy.com , ,
The unequal distribution of quality science education also seems to reflect stark racial and class divisions in American society. In last year'swidely-read article from Orion magazine, Belle Boggs wrote of America’s “poorest citizens,” for whom “science education is largely ignored, especially in the foundational elementary and middle school years." To address this deficiency, the military has used its vast resources to develop a sort of shadow education system where tens of millions of dollars get spent every year on programs to stimulate children’s enthusiasm for the STEM fields. Educational Outreach (EO) offices and STEM coordinators exist on almost every major military installation. In Dayton alone, between 2003 and 2013, Wright-Patt’s EO office provided more than $7 million in free programming to 200,000 local students.
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