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
 

Ground the drones demo hits the headlines.

This is an eye witness account of the Ground the Drones protest last Saturday at RAF Waddington organised jointly by CND and Stop the War Coalition.    The remarkable aspect of a comparatively small demonstration was the degree of media interest which was intense judging from the TV crews on the ground and subsequent news bulletins.   There was prominent reportage on the main BBC news.    An interesting departure for official news outlets which have consistently blanked out news coverage of many anti nuclear and anti war protests over the last few years.    So why the sudden media concern?    This can best be answered by describing what drones are

Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles and are aircraft either controlled by "pilots" on the ground or autonomously following a pre-programmed mission  they are either used for reconnaissance purposes or armed with missiles and bombs.   Armed drones were first used in the Balkans War and then in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan by the United States.    In June 2008 the MoD confirmed that a British Reaper UAV had fired its weapons for the first time.    In May 2012 MoD reported  that British Reapers had undertaken 281 armed attacks in Afghanistan since 2008.   In July 2011 the MoD  was forced to admit that Afghan civilians had been killed in a British drone strike.

British Reaper drones will be controlled from RAF Waddington and it is likely that yesterdays march and rally will be a prelude to further such protests.   Will the British media sustain its interest as the obscenity of drone warfare in the coming months as their use filters through into the public consciousness.    What is also disturbing is the probable use of drones for domestic surveillance and thus a dramatic expansion of the power of the state  and a further erosion  of human rights.

The protest was conspicuous by the absence of young people and most of those present were either veteran peace campaigners or politicos from groups such as Counterfire, SWP, Socialist Resistance.and a small group of Marxist Leninists.    Trade Union banners and anarchist flags were nowhere to be scene.   Overall it was a pleasant afternoon out in the Lincolnshire sunshine but the rally on waste ground near the base was fairly perfunctory.    In a way the day was saved by the presence of the news media and hopefully future direct action will challenge the legitimacy of these pernicious war machines.