National Days of Action to Stop Drone Wars ─ TWCW, Know Drones

April is “National Days of Action to Stop Drone War.”  Protests are being held around the country; a Congressional hearing on drone war and targeted killing to be held in Washington

Drone song “Drones” by Nora Freeman (Raging Grannies in Westchester County, New

York), WOWW gaggle tune “This Old Man” 12/4/10 at Know Drones, http://www.knowdrones.com/FAQ.pdf

G uns and bombs, nukes and tanks Mean lots of money in the bank For KBR and Boeing too Who foots the bill? It’s me and you  Even if they replace tanks Those for peace cannot give thanks A company called ITT Makes unmanned drones for you and me.  Every drone costs thirteen mil A “safer way,” they say, to kill!* Americans, not in harm’s way But Pakistanis die each day. *solo for Shirley   [Musical interlude]  Drones over Afghanistan Kill many women, kids, and men Controlled from half a world away They stalk people at work and play.  Thirteen million dollars, wow! We could use that dough right now For teachers here and nurses there And for green jobs everywhere.

 THE WORLD CAN’T WAIT EVENTS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Drone Wars: The Constitutional and Counter-terrorism Implications of Targeted Killing Hearing (before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights) 

April 23, 2013 Time: 10:00 a.m.; tentative location: Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226; check website to confirm: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/

Alert at http://www.worldcantwait.net/

APRIL DAYS OF ACTION 2013 “Know Drones”

• April 16 -18: Drone Research and Training  

·         Identify colleges and universities doing drone-related research and/or training of drone pilots, conduct teach-ins on the relationship of that research and training to drone warfare and surveillance and call for an end to these activities. 

• April 27 – 28: Drone Bases
• Identify drone bases, conduct teach-ins on how these bases are involved in drone war and drone surveillance and call for an end to US drone attacks and drone operations at these bases. 

Planned 

U.S. Drone attacks Yemen

• April 26 – 28 – Syracuse, NY 

·         Workshops and panel discussions on drone warfare and mass protest at Hancock Air Base over its Reaper drone operations.

Links to background material identifying drone manufacturers, schools doing drone research and training and drone bases:  NSDSW Background File and Research Tips; article by Fran Quickley

Dramatic Productions

"The Predator" - Many groups have use the play by Jack Gilroy as part of anti-drone education efforts. See http://awaketodrones.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-communities-are-using-play-predator.html which includes a link for downloading the script.

Ground the Drones - 48-page book is redacted and only slightly edited from the original courtroom transcripts of the trial of fourteen activists arrested at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada while protesting the use of robotic ‘unmanned aerial vehicles’ (drones) for extrajudicial executions in Afghanistan and Pakistan[also Somalia]. http://vcnv.org/now-available-ground-the-drones-the-trial-of-the-creech-14

Graphic Arts

Source of protest art about drones created by AFSC: http://windowsandmirrors.org/artwork (Steve Fryburg – steve@missingpeaceart.org)

Videos/films

“The Other Side - of drone attacks in Pakistan ...” awarded Best Audience Award at National Film Festival For Talented Youth, Washington, Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgkvYmelMFQ

Counter-recruitment

 

“‘The Woes of an American Drone Operator’

“A soldier sets out to graduate at the top of his class. He succeeds and becomes a drone pilot working with a special unit of the United States Air Force in New Mexico. 

He kills dozens of people. Then, one day, he realizes that he can’t do it anymore,” http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-woes-of-an-american-drone-operator/5315869

Books

Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control (Medea Benjamin)

Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050 (Nick Turse and Tom Englehardt)

 Patriotism, Peace and Viet Nam, a Memoir (Peggy Hanna)

Pakistani women protest
U.S. killer drone attacks

The Race for What’s Left  (Michael Klare)

And

Other background materials, links, sessions available at “Know Drones” including “video interviews with expert commentators discussing why the United States is conducting drone strikes in various countries, including Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia; and why the United States is establishing a drone presence in Africa.”

See also Network to Stop Drone Surveillance and Warfare, http://www.knowdrones.com/NETWORK-MEETING-REPORT-SUMMARY.pdf

• Report of a meeting of representatives of national and local organizations working to stop drone warfare that was held in New York City on December 15, 2012  Source: http://www.knowdrones.com/

________________________________

Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
________________________________