U.S Syndicalists Protest Against Drones

ON Saturday, 29 June 2013, near Langley, Virginia, fifty people protested against the government's killer drones at the main gates of the CIA, and six individuals were arrested.  The action was initiated
by several groups, including the Syndicalist Action Network, that have been active in challenging the U.S. drone-assassinations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine, and other countries.

Those arrested for civil disobedience were Joy First, from Mount Horeb, Wisconsin; Malachy Kilbride, from Arlington, Virginia; Max Obuszewski, from Baltimore, Maryland; Philip Runkel, the Archivist of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Janice Sevre-Duszynska, from Lexington, Kentucky; and Cindy Sheehan, from Vacaville, California.

Because we have been concerned about the continuing deaths from drone strikes, and especially the many deaths of innocents, we decided we must act.  So we went to the CIA and asked for a meeting.  We were joined by the National Committee for Non-Violent Resistance, Cindy Sheehan, Brian Terrell, and other activists from “Code Pink,” “World Can’t Wait,” “Veterans for Peace,” “Answer,” and a number of individuals.  (Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Casey Sheehan who was killed in Iraq in 2004.  Terrell was recently released from federal prison after serving a 6-month term for a peaceful protest against the drone assassins at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri).

Our group walked up to the gates of the CIA.  When we were denied a meeting, six individuals crossed onto the base.  After announcing a mock drone strike, five people lay down on the ground and were covered with photographs of REAL drone victims.  The sixth person keened and wailed over the bodies.  After 20 minutes, this group rose up and began to walk further onto the base carrying more photographs of drone victims.  Then they were arrested and cited on site.

Somewhere between 3,500 and 4,500 people have been killed by drones in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and other places around the world with no due process.  According to a joint study from Stanford University and New York University only 2% of those killed are high-level targets.  Over 200 children have been killed in Pakistan alone.  According to Malachy Kilbride, 'These illegal drone strikes are not making people in the U.S. any safer and will only perpetuate the cycle of violence.'

From Syndicalist Action USA 09/07/2013