Activists Speak out – Reports from Hancock and Beyond

Alice’s Nightmare in Droneland- Live at Hancock Air Base

October 31, 2020 ucgdew Leave a comment

Statement Read at the Alice’s Nightmare in Droneland Event: from World Beyond War Blog, published October 29, 2020 We assemble her this morning to petition our government to end its use of killer MQ9 Reaper drones pilonted from Hancock Air Force Base. Hancock is home to the 174th Attack Wing of the New York State National Guard. The 174th – together with all too many troops on other US bases across the planet – has been waging muderous war, in

Shut Down Creech 2020

October 25, 2020 ucgdew Leave a comment

by Tobey Blome Amazing week resisting killer drones at Shut Down Creech, culminating in a blockade and a 30 minute delay of commute traffic into the base early Friday morning, October 2nd, and no arrests. Ground the Drones! Toby, Maggie and all of earth’s Creechers! Press Release Contacts: Toby Blomé, 510-501-5412; Maggie Huntington, (602) 459-5257 Peaceful Anti-drone protestors block entrance to U.S. Assassin Drone Base; Military traffic unable to enter base for half an hour.

Why We Persist: Activists Have Protested US Drone Base for Over a Decade

December 27, 2019 ucgdew Leave a comment

by Ed Kinane, published on Truthout.org, December 22, 2019 “All human beings possess the basic right under international law to engage in non-violent civil resistance activities for the purpose of preventing, impeding, or terminating the ongoing commission of [international crime].” — International law expert Francis Boyle Nonviolent civil resistance against international crime is about effectiveness and persistence. Or as Dorothy Day might say, faithfulness. We sow seeds — awakening the cogs in the machine of imperial crime and informing those

Drones Fly, Children Die

July 2, 2019 ucgdew One comment

by Judith Bello Hancock Air National Guard Base was one of the first domestic drone bases to come on line. The base is located in a pleasant suburb of Syracuse New York, along side the International Airport. The 174th Attack Wing at Hancock is tasked with flying Reaper Drone missions over Afghanistan and other places on the far side of the world that they are unwilling to name. They also fly Drones berthed locally over the Adirondacks to the East

The False Narrative of Unmanned Drones and Trump’s Responsibility to Lead

June 24, 2019 ucgdew Leave a comment

by George Cassidy Payne, Published on Talker of the Town, June 24, 2019 The unmanned drone narrative is wrong. Someone is always operating these highly sophisticated killing/surveillance machines. Militarized drones may be maneuvered thousands of miles away by human pilots, but they are always being flown by someone. More to the point, they are being used by human beings to launch missile strikes that have killed at least 2,000 people since the beginning of Bush’s “War on Terror.” Although estimates

Voices Rising for Yemen – Final Day

November 14, 2018 ucgdew Leave a comment

Header and photos all from Voices for Creative Nonviolence by Kathy Kelly, published on Voices for Creative Nonviolence, November 8, 2018 Over these past three days, Voices and a coalition of justice-minded organizations have been at and around the United Nations in New York City protesting the ongoing U.S.-Saudi attack on famine- imperiled Yemen. Details are available at www.vcnv.org along with next steps for people looking for ways to get involved. Participants Kathy Kelly, Brian Terrell, and Jules Orkin write

Game of Drones

November 7, 2018 ucgdew Leave a comment

Friends, this is a great film on the damage done by drone warfare and the increasing potential for state terrorism presented by drones. The video is from 2016 but I have never seen it before so I’m glad it turned up in my email today. The film has interviews with whistleblower Sean Westmoreland, and many of the antidrone activists and drone victims from Waziristan whom we met there as well. And, interviews with our good friends Nick Mottern of Knowdrones.com

Documenting the Poor People’s Campaign, Albany 2018

June 27, 2018 ucgdew Leave a comment

Image: Taken from the Fort Orange Club Action, 31 Arrested. Why are you here? Ann Tiffany, “Because I’m committed to making a change” Videos by John Amidon of Upstate Drone Action participants and others at the Poor People’s Campaign events in Albany, May and June of 2019. John Amidon is an active member of the Upstate Drone Action Coalition and of Veterans for Peace.

Thousands of Hearts and Minds

April 18, 2018 ucgdew Leave a comment

by Ed Kinane To work against militarism and for social justice is to struggle for hearts and minds. We “educate, agitate, and organize.” We reach out to the public to mobilize its conscience. But the public is large and we are few. Most ways to reach the public are costly. Or shaped by other agendas. So mostly we operate small scale. We could however make much greater use of a familiar and broad public forum: letters to the editor. LTEs

Billboards Opposing Drone Wars Are Going Up All Over Syracuse, NY

March 3, 2018 David Swanson Leave a comment

by David Swanson, originally published on World Beyond War, Feb 21. 2018 World Beyond War has been raising funds for and renting billboards in opposition to war. We’ve run into censorship from numerous billboard companies but persevered, and more billboards are on their way. First we put this message up here in Charlottesville, Va., and then in Baltimore, Md. (see explanation of the 3% calculation here): Now we’re putting these two images up on billboards in Syracuse, NY, where drone